Daniel and Charlotte were finally reunited, but she wasn't happy to see him at all. She had been living in the jungle with Claire for the last three years. She wasn't herself that was plain to see. The blonde had grown out of her hair and it had been cut short up to her neck. It was red again and matted in places. Her face was streaked with dirt and she carried a rifle with a scope. Claire was about in the same condition as Charlotte if not worse. Charlotte got him out of the bear trap and dragged him back to the camp she shared with Claire. Daniel was held there for days. Claire helped Charlotte torture him. Someone had mislead them to believe the Others had Rome and Aaron. Daniel explained over and over again that Kate took Aaron off the island and Rome was at the Temple with his friends but they didn't believe him. After a few days, John Locke and Sayid came to their camp. Daniel thought he was hallucinating. Locke made the women release Daniel and they moved on to a larger camp where what was left of the Others had moved to. John Locke shared with them that he had a plan to get all of them off the island. He also shared that he had an opponent coming to the island and this opponent wanted to kill them all. Daniel knew better. When he came back to the island Jack and Kate told him Locke died back on the mainland. This creature was not John Locke. This was the man that threatened Rome and took Charlotte from the Dharma barracks in the dead of night. More than anything, Daniel was angry. For now, he was going to play the Locke imposter's game. He'd play until he had a way to get Charlotte and Rome off the island. Maybe if he got Charlotte home and cleaned her up she could be Rome's mom again. Daniel still loved Charlotte and he refused to give up on her. He watched her from a distance and wrote in his journal. She and Claire were taking their guns apart and cleaning them. Locke had sent Sayid over to Hydra Island on some kind of mission. Daniel was glad he wasn't there lest he try to kill him again. He had to get away from these people but he wasn't going anywhere without Charlotte. So he watched her, wrote in his journal, and began to make another plan. He was going to be of use while behind enemy lines.
By the time Miles lead Richard and Alex to the bear trap Dan was caught in Charlotte had already taken him. Alex picked up a trail but it went cold shortly after. They were out of options so Alex decided they would go back to the beach and search the coast for their friends. After a day of walking a trail took them to where their friends were hiding. New and old faces greeted them once they reached their camp. All of their friends that had been at the Temple were there except for Daniel and Sayid. Jin and Sun were finally together again after all these years. Rome ran forward to hug Alex the moment he saw her. There was a new woman and a man that Alex recognized vaguely. He was the man that was piloting the helicopter Alex and Sawyer jumped out of. Their group was so happy to be reunited that Alex didn't notice Ben until he approached her.
"Hello, Alex." Said Ben. She slowly turned around.
"Hi, Daddy." Said Alex. Before Ben could get another word in Alex cocked her arm back and punched Ben square in the nose. The cartilage crunched and blood spilled onto the sand as he crumbled to the ground. If you watched a replay in slow motion, you would see Alex neatly break Ben's nose in one carefully executed rabbit punch.
"Go to the Temple, you said," Alex was yelling "You'll be safer there you said! " Alex began to kick him and he curled into the fetal position in an attempt to protect his head.
"I thought you would be." Ben said from behind his hands. Alex kicked him in the ribs but by now the rest of the camp had joined them. Miles grabbed her and dragged her away from Ben.
"Do you want Rome to see you like this?" Juliet asked her. Jin and Sun had taken Rome down the beach to build a sandcastle after Alex punched Ben. The less violence he saw, the better. Jin, Sun and Rome were the civilians in all of this. This wasn't their fight they were just caught in the middle. Alex was in charge now she was a soldier just like everyone else on the list. She had to make this right or a lot of people were going to die and it would be on her. Sawyer came up to Juliet and kissed her shoulder.
"What'd I miss?" he asked.
"What didn't you miss?" the pilot, Lapidus retorted.
"Why don't y'all just explain what's going on to Alex so we can make a plan." Sawyer snapped back. Miles yelled for Kate and Angel to join them so Angel came sauntering over with his arm around Kate. Ben finally gathered himself and filled them in on current events. The smoke monster was prancing around in Locke's body, Jacob was dead, and a submarine had arrived on Hydra Island where the plane also was. This information was courtesy of Ben.
"Who was dumb enough to kill Jacob?" asked Angel. Before anyone could answer Richard spoke.
"It was Ben. I saw it in a vision." Said Richard. A hush settled over the group and Illana stood. She pointed her gun at Ben so he didn't try to run.
"I knew Locke couldn't have killed him," she said through clenched teeth "You're going to dig yourself a grave, then I'll shoot you."
"I second that, kill him already." Said Sawyer.
Ben whimpered and begged for his life but no one cared. Miles was going to get him a shovel when Alex stopped him.
"We can't kill him, yet," she said "We're going to need him to carry the dynamite." A slow, malicious, smile spread over Alex's face.
"What the hell do you want with dynamite?" asked Lapidus.
"Locke wants to leave the island. My job is to stop him. There's a plane and a sub over there," Alex began "We blow one of them as a diversion and get all of our people on the other to escape."
Sawyer didn't know when Alex got so smart but he was proud of her. The old switcheroo, he should've come up with it himself. The only one that didn't agree with the dynamite plan was Hurley but eventually Alex convinced him. Most of the camp stayed on the beach and Richard, Ben, and Illana went to the Black Rock for dynamite. It was safer that way. She didn't care about Ben or Illana and Richard's immortality would withstand the dynamite. In spite of his size, no one saw Hurley slip away after they left.
Daniel was minding his own business just writing in his journal. He looked down for a moment and someone tackled him from behind while he was distracted. Hands closed around his throat and slammed his head into the ground. Charlotte had attacked him.
"Tell me where he bloody is!" screamed Charlotte. Daniel gasped for air and struggled. Why did he leave the island back in 77? If he had stayed this never would have happened.
"Charlotte, he's with our friends," said Daniel "Alex and Juliet and Sawyer, don't you remember our friends?"
"You're lying!" her hands tightened and Daniel began to lose consciousness. Just when he was starting to think he was going to die, Locke grabbed Charlotte and hauled her off of him. She fought Locke with all of her might. Daniel had never seen her hysterical like this. When she didn't calm down Locke struck her in the face.
"This behavior is completely inappropriate, do you understand?" He shook her shoulders to make his point. Daniel shoved him away from Charlotte and squared his shoulders, ready to fight to the death.
"Keep your hands off of her." Daniel sounded calm but Locke could hear the anger in his voice. Locke held up his hands in surrender.
"My mistake." He said. Daniel nodded and turned to Charlotte. He touched her cheek where Locke slapped her.
"Are you all right, Charlotte?" asked Dan. Tears flowed down her cheeks and she began to cry.
"I miss him, Daniel." Said Charlotte. Daniel held her against his chest and rubbed her shoulders in an attempt to soothe her.
"I know they'll come for us, Charlotte. Then you'll see him again I promise." Said Daniel. Charlotte was calm now and she didn't fight him. Dan knew the old Charlotte was in there somewhere it would just take some time to find her. Sayid had come back from Hydra Island and he was having a rushed, secret conversation with Locke. Daniel overheard Desmond's name. Locke gave Sayid a knife and a handful of bullets. Then Sayid left again in the direction from which he had come. Dan couldn't ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach.
Richard, Hurley, and Ben returned to the beach with no dynamite or Illana. Not much had changed since their departure. The plan was the same: get explosives, find their missing friends, make a diversion, and escape the island. Miles was the first one to speak when they reached the beach camp.
"What the hell happened out there?" he asked incredulously.
Richard and Hurley exchanged looks.
"We got a couple sticks of dynamite and we were leaving when Hurley says he forgot his pack and goes back. I was holding the dynamite and Illana insisted we needed more so I gave it to her and went back for more." Said Richard. He was looking at the ground.
"Before he could get it this moron comes running outside and yells at us to run, so we ran. Before Illana could give Richard the dynamite she just….spontaneously combusted," Ben finished the story for them "Hurley blew up the Black Rock so no more unstable dynamite."
"Son of a bitch!" exclaimed Sawyer. Sun frowned at him and covered Rome's ears. The three-year old is like a sponge he absorbs everything. Without a word Sun hoisted Rome on her hip and walked away from them to look out at the ocean. Soon she and Jin would be home and maybe Rome and Ji-Yeon could play together. While Sun had Rome distracted Alex gathered everyone in a circle and they were sitting around the fire in their camp. Just like the old days with some new companions. Sawyer was holding Juliet in his arms and Angel rested his head in Kate's lap, perfectly content to be sprawled out in the sand. Everyone was still getting used to Angel's presence. Kate brought him with them from the 70's and it was strange having a new time-traveler. Alex was sitting with Richard on one side of her and Miles on the other. They weren't trying to kill each other, which was progress.
"Doesn't her death bother you, Alex?" asked Ben. Alex had been lost in her thoughts.
"Illana?" asked Kate.
"Yes, Illana," said Ben "She was hand-picked by Jacob himself. Trained all her life to be his soldier. Then she just gets blown to hell because Richard put the bag down for a second."
"That don't matter right now," said Sawyer "What about the rest of our people?"
"Our people have been captured or turned to the dark side," said Miles "Dan was caught in a bear trap and someone got him out of it."
"I don't care about Sayid," said Juliet "Charlotte is out there and so is Dan. We have to find them."
"We're all going to the same place," said Alex after a moment "The plan stays the same. Frank, what condition is the plane in?"
"I need to make a few small repairs but she'll fly." Said Lapidus. He ran his hands through his hair in a worried fashion. "Which one are we gonna blow?"
"I don't know yet," said Alex "We need to go talk to him."
"What about the explosives?" asked Angel. He was a chemist before he came to the island so he usually handled anything they needed to blow up.
"I need a small team to head for the barracks and look for more dynamite." Said Alex. Ben cleared his throat like he was asking his daughter for permission to speak. Alex nodded to him.
"I have c4 in my secret room. I can save you some time." Said Ben.
"That's much better than unstable dynamite. I'll go." Said Angel. Kate protested but he silenced her with a kiss. It wasn't easy to tell the blue-eyed dark-skinned scientist no. Richard got up and went to get his pack. He knew Alex would send him to carry the explosives it made the most sense. Richard, Angel, and Ben were to head for the barracks while the rest of them caught up to Locke. Alex circled a spot on Richard's map where they would meet before joining Locke's camp. It was very important they had the c4 before going to meet up with him. If they all headed to Hydra Island together there was a better chance their entire group would escape.