"They're what?"

"Pretending to be married. Or together. Whatever. Sawyer's idea." Charlotte shrugged, twisting the cap off the bottle of water as she sat with Daniel at one of the tables in the 'cafeteria' of the Barracks, eating lunch before she had to ship back out to the Hydra, and he had to return to the Orchid.

"Really? Why?" Daniel frowned.

"He said something about it being more realistic or something." She said, picking at the grilled cheese on her plate. She wasn't really that hungry. Daniel had gone silent again, munching on his own sandwich for the moment.

"Maybe we should do the same." She suggested after a moment of silence. He nearly choked on his food, and she snorted.

"Smooth Dan."

X

Charlotte was royally pissed.

"Get the goddamn tranquilizers!" She snapped at the nearest worker, who instantly ran off to fulfill her order. Charlotte stood a few steps away from the polar bear's cage. The bear was running in circles, and would every once in a while throw itself up against the cage wall in an attempt to get out.

The worker from before returned with a gun, and the tranquilizers she had asked for. She loaded them in, and put the barrel of the gun between the bars, aiming at the bear before firing it. It was tougher in the dark, but she saw the outline of the bear collapse to the ground. She tossed the gun back to the worker and took the keys from her pocket, unlocking the cage.

"Faraday, I don't think you should go in there." Another one of the workers, Peter said to her. She glanced at him.

"Well, when you're leader of this station you can tell me what to do." She growled, kneeling next to the bear, who's breathing had slowed. She moved to check over it, when its head suddenly turned, teeth snapping at her. She drew back, but the teeth clipped her arm.

Apparently, the tranquilizer didn't work, because the next thing she knew, it was up, trampling over her feet and running out the door – which she had stupidly left unlocked and wide open. Cursing herself under her breath, she scrambled to her feet and grabbed the gun roughly from the worker, aimed, fired again, and missed.

"Bloody hell." She hissed between clenched teeth, resting her back against the cage. "Peter, go get Evan and Kyle. Load up on tranquilizer darts and guns, as well as flashlights, and track that bear down."

"Yes ma'am." He muttered and darted off into the dark. Charlotte looked down at the tear in her suit, and the blood that tinged the edges. Stupid bear. She locked the cage door back, and moved across to the other cage, where the two other bears lay, sleeping. She watched them for a moment, the male growling slightly at her presence near the female bear, who Charlotte knew was pregnant. It was the first successful animal pregnancy so far, or so she had been told.

"Don't you get out of whack too." She muttered to the bears, and headed off down the path, around the aviary. She used her flashlight to see along the path. Brightly colored birds twittered and sang and fluttered around the large enclosed area as she walked by, heading for the docks again. Her shift was almost over and she needed sleep, but she'd have to leave her walkie on in case they couldn't catch the bear.

By the time she reached the Barracks, most of everyone had gone inside, done with the dancing and the partying. She quietly crept across the yards, back into her own house, where she was not surprised to find Daniel passed out on the couch, still fully dressed.

Shaking her head and yawning, she removed his shoes and tossed the blanket on the back of the couch over him, not having the heart to wake him up. She headed upstairs to bed soon after.

XXX

"Daniel, do you think we'll ever get back to our own time?"

Daniel looked up, surprised by Charlotte's voice as they sat on the docks, feet hanging over the side. Charlotte had just returned on the ferry from her first day of work, and Daniel had been sitting there, waiting for her. She'd joined him, and they'd been sitting there for a good twenty minutes now, just staring at the water below.

"I-I suppose we will." He said after a moment, speaking very quietly.

"I've been thinking about it Daniel – and we need to get off this Island." She said, swinging her feet, toes trailing against the surface of the water. He looked at her. Was she serious? They had nothing to go back to off the Island – most of the other survivors, and himself included, were under the age of ten.

"Why, Charlotte? Why leave?"

"Daniel, 15 years from now, we'll all die if we don't get off this Island. 15 years from now, a younger Benjamin Linus will poison the entire Island, and cause something called the Purge."

He looked at her, noting the serious tone in her voice. She looked at him very carefully, guarding her emotion about the entire thing.

"How do you know that Charlotte?"

"I've researched Dan. And I've heard stories, back in our time." She replied quietly. "But before then, we need to leave."

"We will Charlotte. I won't let anything happen to you." He whispered. She smiled and kissed his cheek.

XXX

Daniel and Charlotte had taken a habit of walking around the Barracks at night, along all the little concrete paths, where they would eventually end up near the gazebo, and sit and talk for another hour before heading inside for a bit of sleep before they had to get up again.

The sun had just set when they began their walk. They didn't talk, and the only sounds were those of the few stragglers still outside. Charlotte's hand felt abnormally cool in his hand, but he figured she was just chilly.

How wrong he would be in a few moments.

Beside him, she suddenly stopped, her hand dropping from his. Frowning, Daniel turned to look at her. Her eyes locked onto his, and on her face she looked almost sick, the fear rolling off her in waves. And then, without warning, she collapsed, her knees buckling and her body falling like a broken toy. He moved quickly, trying to catch her before she hit the grass, but she hit the ground like a lead brick.

"Charlotte!"

His hand came up to rest at her cheek, running along the pale, freckled skin for a moment until he realized people had come outside, and we watching. Daniel frowned, but knw they had to get Charlotte to a hospital or something before something happened.

Something bad.

XXX

Short chapter, and I leave you with a cliffy. Sorry!