This was written very quickly, like about fifteen minutes. And Sawyer is very OOC. It just kind of came out after the season premiere and I didn't ever revise it. But...eh...review anyway. :


I should have noticed something missing. I guess I did, but the Scotsman kept going on about telling the others about the boat, I suppose it got pushed to the back of my mind. Hugo always had a way of getting us to realize things, though – like Ethan, for one, and how much this island sucks, for another.

"WHERE'S CHARLIE?!"

For the first time, I think, we all simultaneously noticed the absence of the One Hit Wonder. Even Juliet seemed a bit disturbed. I looked down in the sand, some unknown feeling washing over me – regret or sadness, I suppose. I tuned out the words as Desmond explained what happened under the water, no really wanting to hear of my comrade's demise. Hurley did, too. He was staring out at the ocean.

I didn't expect it to affect me as it did. We weren't even close, Charlie and I. In fact I think I remember us fighting more than we actually got along. But we did have our moments, I guess, some better than others.

Not Penny's Boat.

Desmond was unusually silent during our bickering. You'd think he would've cared to explain what it meant. He obviously knew, or Charlie wouldn't have written it. But he didn't say any thing; he just followed Hugo's lead

I don't know why I offered to talk to Hurley. It's not the kind of guy I am. But he's gonna crack, and soon, if he doesn't talk about it. I saw it in his eyes when he refused to talk. And I saw it when his faced paled back at the beach. It's hitting him, hard.

Maybe Blondie will have something to say and it will open him up. I was watching when she came up, she was looking for him and when Hurley was the one to embrace her instead of Charlie, the confusion was immediately replaced with sadness. I've seen it before; it's an unmistakable look in a woman's eyes, sadness. I couldn't help the stinging at my own eyes when they were crying.

Kate does nothing when she shows up. I don't get a kiss, a hug, or even a glance. She's a little too preoccupied, I guess. Not that I blame her, considering the way we parted yesterday. It still would have been nice.

And I think that's probably how Claire feels when she watches the Koreans and the older married couple being reunited. She's lacking that presence. She wants someone to hold onto.

Somewhere in the midst of Locke's speech it dawns on me what he's been trying to get across. Those people aren't who Naomi said they are. Hurley's decision, although it probably shouldn't have been the basis for which I made mine, it is. I'm used to doing things my way. That's the only way they should be done, I think.

Showing her first sign of concern since she appeared, Kate grabs me by the arm. "What are you doing?" Her voice is incredulous.

"The same thing I've always done." Although it isn't that same thing I've always done. I'm listening to someone else, for once. I'm listening to Hurley. I'm listening to Charlie.