In the jungle, a woman is making a net. She picks up a stalk of plant, splits it open with a fingernail, scrapes out the center and flattens the remainder. She knots it to another one which is part of a twisted rope she has kept clenched between her fingers. Then, almost too quickly to see, she twists the top piece away from her then holding it tight to preserve the twist, pulls it toward her and around a bottom piece. Now the bottom has moved to the top and the operation begins again. Sweaty and careworn, she is obviously not accustomed to tropical conditions, her pale skin shows signs of sunburn and insect bites. Her jeans are becoming ragged from the wear and tear of the jungle. Her hair is completely hidden by a tightly wrapped piece of cotton. The work is monotonous, the surroundings monotonous, but on this island everything can change in the blink of an eye. And then, it does.
A blast echoes through the woods and the smell of cordite is right behind the sound. She is up and running in an instant, tearing through the undergrowth heading for the hatch. But before she can get there something new and terrible begins-a sound like God's own window fan and then a violet-white light. For a woman her age there can only be one response to this: duck, cover and wait for the shock wave. As she does, she flashes back to her childhood. In the elementary school.
The children are huddled in the windowless hall kneeling along the concrete wall, bent over with their heads touching the ground and their hands protecting the backs of their necks. All are motionless and silent until in the distance the all-clear silence is heard. "All right, children" the teacher raps out, "we will be going outside for recess and then straight to lunch." "My daddy works at the Pentagon," boasts a boy with sandy hair and buck teeth, "and he says there's no point to drills here, 'cause if there's ever an attack, we'll all be vaporized instantly!" The other boys gathered around him and began to add sound effects of blasts, bombs falling and machine gun fire. Among the girls is one who is oddly colorless, the kind of sad child who inevitably draws teasing with plain looks and awkward shyness. She is one of the few children who is not visibly excited about recess. Once out on the playground, she waits her turn for the swings watching wistfully the children playing in groups. One of the popular girls turns to her and says, "Come on, Diana, we're playing follow the leader!" With a joyous grin, she joins them following all over the playground until they come to the boat. The boat, an old Chesapeake crabbing vessel is partially buried, and all the children love it, except Diana. She looks dubiously at it and hesitates until goaded on with taunts of "Fraidy cat! Fraidy cat!" Then, she swallows her fear and joins them. The leader takes them round the deck and then down into the hatch, the cargo hold with no windows, moldy, dark and dank. Everyone is watching her, so she dares not pause or she will be publically shamed. She crawls down through the hatch doing the pirouettes the leader has shown and just as she reaches the hatch to get out, it is slammed shut in her face. She can hear their giggles as she knocks and says "Let me out!" And then, the bell rings and recess is over, the children run to line up and leave her there, out of teacher earshot, banging and yelling helplessly.
She waits several minutes after the cessation of the light and then gets up and again runs toward the hatch. As she runs, she steels herself:she may have to go into that underground place to help rescue someone. She wonders if she can ever be that brave. As she approaches the place she has avoided she is relieved to see four dirty figures. Coughing and sneezing from the smoke, Eko, Charlie, Locke and Desmond are stumbling out. "Is there anyone else inside?" she cried urgently.
"No, no, we are the only ones" said Desmond.
"Are you okay?" she asks. "What happened? I heard a blast; I smelled TNT."
Eko said, "No one was hurt by the dynamite, I was trying to blow open the blast door, which John had closed to keep me out."
"John Locke! Why would you lock Father Eko out?"
"Diana, I was wrong, but I thought the button didn't do anything. When I had tried to talk Eko out of pushing it earlier, he wouldn't listen." Then, he took in the reactions on the faces around him and added, "And he punched me."
"Father Eko, you punched John?"
"But, Diana, he tried to wreck the computer, it could have been the end of the world so I had to punch him."
"The end of the world, Father? Of all the ridiculous things..."
Eko turned sheepishly to John and said, "Forgive me for hitting you, John"
Locke just stared sadly and the ground as he replied, "It was all my fault, Eko. All of it, and I was so sure I was right."
"Wait, wait" Diana said, shaking her head, "Where did you get dynamite?"
"That would be me" admitted Charlie, with an impish grin.
" Why would you give Father Eko dynamite to blow up the hatch?" implored Diana, obviously on the edge of hysteria.
"He told me he was absolutely certain everyone on the island would die, if he didn't."
"And of course, you believed that?" Diana stared at Charlie with complete incredulity and obviously could not think of a follow-up question to that. So she summarized, " So Father Eko believed that if the button were not pushed, everyone would die. John Locke believed the button didn't do anything. Charlie believed what Father Eko told him. You locked each other out, tried to blow each other up over whether or not to push the button? And you," asked Diana, looking at Desmond with resignation, "what did you do?"
"I think I crashed your plane." Desmond admitted.
After a double take at Desmond, Diana shook her head and began to weep, " I am so disappointed in you all. Don't you know you are loved? You just cannot behave this way when people love you. People need you, people would be demoralized without you. Can you imagine how devastated we would all have been if one of you had been killed? How about all four of you? We just buried Ana-Lucia and Libby, we can't take any more. Think of all the dead we have lost from accidents and murders since the crash. Joanna, that young man on the beach, Boone, Shannon, Mr. Arzt, Ana-Lucia, Libby...how many more will die before we start learning caution." Charlie mumbled under his breath, "Can't think of anyone right off who loves me." Diana, turned to him and with a sigh, she said, "Okay, rant over. Charlie, I love you and I am so glad you are okay; you're the music man, we can't do without you" she said with a smile breaking through the tears as she gave him a big hug and kiss on the cheek. "Father Eko, I love you and I am so glad you are okay. What would our little congregation do without you?" She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his cheek. "I am so glad you are okay" she said to Desmond and gave him a polite little hug and smile, "and I am so sorry you were locked up in that cave for so long." "And John, I love you and I am so, so glad you are okay," she said advancing toward Locke and beginning to open her arms. Suddenly she blushed deeply and looked discomfited, she turned away and said, "I'll see you later."
Desmond thoughtfully watched her go and then turned to Locke, "Hey, Boxman, I think you've got yourself a secret admirer, yeh?"
Locke turned his tormented face to Des and said "What?"
Desmond said, "Everybody got a hug but you, mate, and did she blush when she decided she didn't have the nerve for it."
Charlie quipped, "Boxman and Spiderwoman-who would've guessed it?"
Locke demurred, "No, no, Desmond, she's just very shy. I think she was just embarrassed."
Desmond slyly grinned and noted, "Shy, Boxman, that's why she said all that about takin' care of yoursel' because somebody loves you, all the while sneaking glances at you and weeping. Oh, very shy, that one, yeh. Why do you call her Spiderwoman, hey?"
"That's one of Sawyer's nicknames," Charlie grinned, "she's the one makes all the ropes, rope hammocks, nets for Jin." Seeing Desmond's puzzled look, he added with a mock exasperated sigh, "So she always looks like she's weaving a web. Sawyer really got her with that one, said that was sure the only way she's ever catch a man with her age and looks, to catch one in a web. Heh, heh, good one that."
Charlie, who had greatly enjoyed the dressing-down since he was the only one who felt no guilt whatsoever, now began to consider how to turn the situation to his best advantage. "I'll make sure I get back to the beach first," he thought, "and stay mum. Then Locke will have to tell the story again and again. If I'm lucky, I'll get to watch him screamed at twice or even thrice, if I keep a good poker face." Just then, he cleared the tree line and saw the sight which had impelled him to help Eko in the first place, Claire and Aaron, safe and sound. In that moment, he knew that he had proven, if only to himself, that he was worthy of her. He had risked death to protect her and her child. Someday soon, she would know he was worthy, too.
