A/N: So, I refuse to believe that Charlotte is dead. So I'm writing this, just because I'm in a mood. So enjoy! And this will probably be more than one chapter!

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own LOST.

XXX

Her entire body ached, her muscles stiff and sore. She couldn't move, but her brain was functioning properly enough to know that something had happened. Something bad. A heavy feeling had settled deep within her stomach, and she felt as though at any moment, she might throw up.

Letting out a soft groan, she rolled over on her side, finally getting her body to function. But rolling over just made it worse, her eyes squeezing tightly shut as she tried to ignore it and push herself up to her knees. After a moment, she managed to force her eyes open, bright light flooding them and causing her to blink rapidly to allow her pupils to adjust to the sudden light.

Looking around, she shaded her eyes with one hand, pulling herself to her feet by grabbing a low branch from a tree with the other.

Charlotte Lewis took a ginger step forward, making sure her body was able to support itself, and she wouldn't go falling to the ground. Once assuring herself that she was fine, she began to examine her surroundings more – nothing but foliage and dirt, and the occasional bug or rock. Frowning, she did a complete 360-degree turn, trying to figure out just why the hell she had just awakened in the middle of an empty, deserted, isolated jungle.

"Don't move."

The voice was harsh, and very low, so low that she didn't almost hear it. Charlotte hadn't even heard the person approach. She raised her hands in defense, but otherwise remained stationary.

"What are you doing on our Island?"

She carefully turned her head, looking out of the corner of her eye at the man with the gun currently pointed at her head.

"Your island?"

"Yes, our Island." He confirmed, and reached forward, grabbing her by the arm. "You're one of them aren't you?"

"One of who? I don't know what the bloody hell you're talking about!" She said in a clipped tone, struggling as he attempted to tie her hands together behind her back. "Stop it!"

"Stay still or I'm going to shoot you!" The man hissed in a low tone. She winced as the harsh rope dug into her skin. A cloth came from behind and he gagged her with it, tying it behind her head. "If you don't want to answer my questions, then you'll answer his." The man said and with a rough movement, shoved her forward deeper into the jungle.

Charlotte could feel the blisters forming on her feet as they walked, every once in a while the man shoving her forward in an attempt to make her go faster. And every time, it just made her want to go slower. Her headache had gone for the moment, which was the only good thing about her current situation.

Night was falling, and fast. The sun had set over the trees, and very little light was left, but yet, the man kept her walking. So she was surprised when he grabbed her by the arm again, stopping her in her tracks.

She muttered something from behind her gag, but he glared at her, signaling for her to keep quiet. Charlotte did remain silent for a moment, jumping in surprise when suddenly torches lit up all around them in a circle.

"Peter, what had you got there?" A familiar voice said. She couldn't place it, until another man stepped from the line of torches, holding his own torch light to her face. He frowned.

"You." He said, studying her face. Charlotte remembered the man, from one of the last time jumps. Richard Alpert or something. And he still looked the same – she didn't even want to know how that was possible. He reached up, and pulled the gag down from her mouth, letting it hang from about her neck.

"What's your name and how are you still alive?"

"I'm not telling you anything until you tell me how you're still alive. Last time I saw you, you were dragging Daniel out of the tent to disarm your bomb." She stated.

"You mean your bomb. You're from the U.S. Military that brought the bomb here." Richard said, hands on his hips as he looked at her.

"No, I'm not." She said.

"Then you're part of the Dharma Initiative."

Charlotte arched an eyebrow. How in the world would he know that?

"Maybe." She muttered. Going with being part of the DI was probably her best bet.

"What are you doing on our side of the fence then? You're breaking the treaty." He told her. She frowned – what treaty? She had never remembered anything about a treaty. Charlotte just remembered the fence she had used to play around, and the fence that her mother and father always told her to stay away from.

"I got lost." Charlotte said flatly. "I'm new here."

"Bull." He said, an angered look on his face now. "You were here before. I had you tied up in a tent at my camp – now tell me how you're still here and looking the same."

"I could ask the same of you."

"Don't get smart or I will have my people shoot you." He threatened.

"Look buddy, I don't know anything about any treaty. You want the truth? My friends and I have been time traveling because some man by the name of Benjamin Linus turned this wheel or something and sent the Island spinning through time!"

"So you're telling me you're time traveling, and that's why you and your friends disappeared?"

"Yes! And apparently they've gone on and left me, or something, because the last thing I remember is a bright flash of light, and then I woke up in the middle of the jungle where your rope-friendly buddy found me." Charlotte said, pulling at the ropes that tied her hands behind her back. The rope had rubbed the skin around her wrists raw – she could feel it every time she moved her arms.

"She's obviously delusional Alpert. I say we kill her." The man he had called Peter spoke, gripping her arm tighter. Charlotte's heart hammered in her chest. She couldn't die yet, not until she found Daniel. He'd been crying when she'd last seen him above her, and she feared he thought she was dead.

"No, we can't kill her. Not yet. If she's part of the Initiative, then we'll ruin the treaty – not that I have any objections to it." He muttered.

"Hello! Still standing here." Charlotte stated, and he looked at her, seemingly trying to decide what to do with her.

"Bring her back to camp and tie her to the tree near my tent until I decide what to do with her."

Well, at least it was better than death at the moment.

The gag was thrown back in her mouth, but this time a bag was placed over her head. Again being forced to walk, she sighed dejectedly. Hopefully wherever Daniel was, he wasn't stuck in the same situation as her.

X

"Here. You better eat."

Charlotte glanced up from where she had been drawing in the mud with a nearby stick as she sat on the ground, nearly 24 hours later. She'd heard no word since she'd been bound to this tree by the rope attached to her ankle, which the other end was wrapped and tied around the tree. She could have untied it, but she had someone guarding her at all times. It was like they didn't trust her.

But her attention was focused on the woman standing above her, holding out two different fruits for her. Charlotte took them without a word, but the woman remained standing there, watching her.

"You don't have to stand there and stare me down." Charlotte snapped, examining the fruit.

"You don't have to examine our fruit – we wouldn't poison you." The other woman replied just as sharply. "We wouldn't bother – of you're one of them anyway it would be breaking the treaty." She shrugged, and quietly headed off in the other direction.

Sighing, Charlotte sat there and ate her fruit, the jungle heat bearing down upon her. Richard seemed to have been waiting for her to finish eating, because the moment she had taken the last bite of fruit, he approached her from nowhere.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Go? Go where?"

"To your side of the fence. Back to the Barracks, as you call them. We're going to see if they'll claim you as you say they will." He said as he untied her from the tree, and removed the rope from around her ankle, instead moving to bind her wrists. He handed her a pair of what seemed to be earplugs.

"Put these in your ears."

"Why?"

"Because I said so." He said in a serious tone. She placed them in her ears, and when she had lowered her hands, the bag was put back over her head. And then began the familiar trekking halfway across the jungle.

She couldn't hear a thing as they walked, for the earplugs in her ears. It made her wonder why she had been required to wear them, but she didn't say anything, just kept walking as she was led by the elbow.

Soon after, someone tugged her elbow, signaling for her to stop. The hand let go of her elbow and the bag came off her head. She was standing in the center of the Barracks with Richard, who had tossed the bag to the ground. However, the gag remained on her mouth, so she couldn't even talk.

Someone approached them, a man by the name of Horace, according to the name stitched onto his suit. The suit was all too familiar to Charlotte, at least, the design. She'd seen her father and mother both wear them.

She couldn't hear what the two were saying, as the earplugs were still stuck in her ears. But by their actions, they appeared to be arguing. Then a woman emerged from a nearby house, long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and dressed in a blue dharma suit.

Juliet.

If she recognized Charlotte in the dark, she didn't show it, simply spoke something to Horace and to Richard. Richard looked at her, watching for a moment before giving a curt nod. Juliet took Charlotte by the arm and led her away, proceeding to pull the gag out of her mouth and untie her hands. Charlotte reached up and pulled the earplugs from her ears.

"Thanks for that." She muttered.

"No problem Charlotte." Juliet replied. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Am I?" She inquired. "Well, I'm obviously not. Where's Daniel?"

"Asleep. And you need to understand something – I just told Horace and Richard that you were one of our people, on our ship that crashed here on the Island."

"Ship?"

"Yes. We can't tell them we've been traveling through time now can we?" Juliet said with one of those small smirks. "Come on. I'll get you something to wear – those people brought us some new clothes earlier. Apparently we're working here now." Juliet said, turning and walking back toward the house she had come from. Charlotte silently followed, glancing around. The place was so familiar to her.

"Come on. Sawyer – I mean Jim – is asleep too, so you have to be quiet." She murmured once they had entered, Juliet leading Charlotte up the stairs.

"Jim?"

"James, Jim, whichever. Just don't call him Sawyer." She replied silently once they reached the hall. She motioned for Charlotte to remain standing there, as she disappeared into the bedroom. She didn't want new clothes. She wanted to find Daniel, and tell him she was all right. Tell him that everything would be all right.

But yet, Juliet came back with a dark purple top and a pair of bell-bottomed jeans, pointing silently to the room across the hall. Charlotte understood this as where she could change, and did so promptly before returning back downstairs. The clothes were a bit too large for her, but she'd get over it.

"Where does Daniel live?" She asked as she came down the stairs. Juliet laughed slightly.

"Obsessed?"

"No, but he needs to know I'm alive." Charlotte persisted; frowning as she pulled at the shirt Juliet had given her.

"As I said before he's asleep, but if you must know he's in the house next to this one."

Charlotte was already out the door, into the cool night breeze. Richard and Horace were both gone, so Charlotte silently crept to the house next door, crawling up the front steps. She tried the door and found it unlocked – Daniel really needed to take extra precautions.

The house was completely dark, but she managed to find the stairs and make her way up them without incident. Now just finding the right room was the problem. The first door she tried was the bathroom, and the second a linen closet. The third, she found was the bedroom. She could see Daniel's outline from the moonlight that shone through the open window – he'd fallen asleep, fully clothed on top of his blankets. She shook her head.

Creeping across the room, Charlotte decided it would be best not to wake him up. As quietly as she could, she crawled onto the bed next to him, burying her face in his shoulder. He didn't wake up, but stirred ever so slightly and mumbled something in his sleep.

And she could have sworn it was her name.

XXX

So never fear, this isn't the only chapter. I'm going to update it soon!