Jack walked back into the clearing, blanket in hand. He noticed that Charlie was still asleep and that Claire was still by his side.

"Has anything happened?" wondered the doctor as he headed over to them.

"Nothing too drastic though I think he's dreaming again," replied Claire as she continued to look over Charlie.

Jack looked to see that Charlies eyelids were slightly twitching, indicating that he was indeed dreaming.

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Jack said as he knelt beside Charlie, who began to move his head from side to side.

"What for?" Claire wanted to confirm. "By how he's acted before?"

"Yeah. You and I have both seen how Charlie reacted to the previous dreams he's had so far. At the moment, he's the only one who knows what he's dreaming and we won't know how he's going to react with it until he wakes up. But most likely, he'll react the same as before," Jack replied as he placed the blanket over Charlie.

"Serena," came Charlie's voice, barely audible. "Don't leave me. You can't die. You just can't."

Both Jack and Claire looked down at him, becoming slightly worried with what was said. They weren't sure exactly what it meant but they knew it wasn't going to be good. They glanced at each other, preparing for almost anything.

Charlie suddenly gasped out in pain, causing himself to awake with a start. He grasped his broken arm, his face showing the obvious pain that he was suffering.

"Charlie, are you alright?" Jack asked him, a concerned look on his face.

"I'll be fine, just moved my arm too quickly," Charlie replied as he began to breathe heavily. "But I don't know for how long I'll be fine though."

"Charlie, what did you dream now?" Claire asked him.

Charlie managed to sit up with some help from Claire and Jack. He stared at her with a sad look on his face. Claire became scared because despite the short time that she knew Charlie, she had never known him to be so scared or sad.

"She is dying Claire," Charlie quietly replied, placing his good hand on his forehead.

"Who is? Serena?" Claire wanted to clarify.

Charlie nodded as he turned to stare at her. He appeared to be almost in tears.

"And there's nothing I can do about it. I hope they find us real soon. I want to be with my sister more than ever now. Now that I know she's fighting for her life," Charlie replied.

Jack looked over him before deciding to say anything.

"Charlie, maybe we should get you back to the caves. Maybe there, you can..." started Jack.

"No, Jack. I can't go back just yet. I don't want the others to see me like this. They would act questions. Questions that I don't want to answer," Charlie quietly replied.

Jack nodded his head, understanding. He glanced over at Claire, who gave him a nod of the head, indicating to him that she knew what to do. She sat down next to Charlie.

"Charlie, would it be alright if I stayed here with you?" Claire asked him.

Charlie was a bit surprised by the question as he stared at her, the tears obvious in his eyes. He soon managed to find the strength to nod.

"Yeah. I'd like that a lot Claire," Charlie managed to reply before he stared at the ground.

"Then maybe you can talk to me about Serena. You don't have to hide her from me anymore Charlie. I'd like to know more about her, if you'll tell me," Claire told him with a quiet voice.

Jack soon stood up, diverting his stare to the trees and plants nearby. Claire looked up at him, knowing what he was doing.

"I'll head back to the caves now. I'll leave the two of you alone now. They'll probably be wondering where we are," Jack told them before turning around and heading into the forest.

Claire and Charlie made eye contact and he smiled at her.

"Of course I'll tell you about Serena. I wish you could have met her. I think the two of you would have gotten along rather well. Of course, if the plane never crashed, we never would have met," Charlie said with a smile.

"Yeah but how do you know that we're not going to be saved before anything happens to her? Or maybe she will live in the end. I have this strange feeling that you will introduce me to her after some time," Claire told him, a smile creeping onto her face. "I would like to meet her once we get off the island."

Claire smiled back at him. Charlie looked at her and saw a look on her face that clearly said 'tell me more', so he decided to do just that.

"Well, she's a very patient person. After dealing with two older brothers, I don't know how she managed to stay sane. She was a really good friend to me, not just a sister. She helped me in more ways than you can imagine," Charlie started.

00000

When Jack walked into clearing alone, Locke had a few questions to ask him. He walked up to the doctor and motioned for him to follow. Once they walked out of earshot of the others, Locke opened his mouth.

"So what happened with Charlie? Did he face his inner demons?" Locke asked.

"They weren't inner demons Locke. By what Charlie's told Claire and myself so far, they were dreams being sent to him by his younger sister, who's lying in an LA hospital, fighting for her life. What do you make of it Locke?" Jack explained to him.

Locke's eyebrows became slightly elevated with this. Jack immediately began to believe that he wasn't expecting something like this.

"This is unexpected. I never thought something like this would happen," Locke muttered.

"What was that Locke?" Jack had to ask, not quite hearing what the man had said.

"The island Jack," Locke replied. "I never thought the island could do something like this: helping one dying person make contact someone here on the island."

"I never mentioned the island," Jack told him, becoming slightly nervous.

"Who's to say that it wasn't the island? We don't know everything about this place Jack. We don't know the limit of its capabilities. I mean, we've come across a mysterious monster that we have never seen yet and a polar bear among other things. I should know best of all how different this place can be Jack. Take it from me. Who's to say that it can't do this as well?" Locke told him.

Jack opened his mouth, but no words were able to come out. The doctor didn't know how to respond to this new revelation.

"Then what if we can make contact with the outside world," Jack finally managed to say.

"I doubt it. We probably would have done it by now. I think that since Charlie's sister is dying might make it a one time thing. Maybe now our only hope of rescue lies with a young woman lying in a hospital bed. If she survives and remembers this experience, she can tell the others the basic direction that we're in. That is, if they believe her," Locke replied.

"Who knows?" Jack replied. "I guess all we can do now is wait."

Locke nodded, who was left to wonder about what Charlie had just experienced.

'What is Charlie thinking now about his sister?' Locke thought to himself. 'Speaking of his sister, will she live through whatever she's been through? And how will Charlie react if she doesn't?'

TBC...