Disclaimer: I don't own Lost.
Chapter 11
Daniel went to his room, and realized he was sharing one with the two other male members of the team. He stood in the doorway awkwardly, until the man with the bright shirt turned around.
"Hi, you sleeping in here, too?" the man asked.
Daniel stuttered nervously in response. "Ye - -yes. I'm…Daniel Faraday"
"Nice to meet you, Daniel. I'm Frank". Frank looked at the other man, and then back at Daniel. "He's Miles" Frank gestured in the other man's direction.
"Hi, Miles" Daniel greeted him, but Miles disregarded him.
"Ignore Miles" Frank said. "I have a feeling he's going to be a pain in the ass, anyway" Miles glared at Frank, then left the room. "So, Daniel, have you met any of the other team members yet?" Frank sat down on a bed, and Daniel looked around wondering which one was his. "That one's yours" Frank said, pointing at the bed opposite his own. "Miles took the top bunk"
"Thanks. And I've met…Charlotte" Daniel replied, sitting on his bed.
"What's she like?" Frank asked.
"She seems…interesting. Have you met…um…Naomi yet?" Daniel wasn't sure what she was like. She hadn't been mentioned in the journal.
"No. We will soon, though. I heard she wants to meet with all of us after dinner" Frank replied.
Daniel made a mental note, hoping that he wouldn't forget about it. "Thanks, Frank. I'm going to go back on deck. I - - I want to get some fresh air"
Frank nodded. "Suit yourself. I'm gonna get some sleep. This jet lag isn't fun. See you later, Daniel"
Daniel nodded to show he heard Frank, and left the room. As he rounded a corner, he saw Miles. He tried to ignore him, but Miles stepped in front of him. "So you're the physicist. I thought you were supposed to be smart"
"I - -I am" Daniel was taken aback at how Miles was treating him.
"You sure don't seem like it. You seem more like a head case" Miles scoffed, and pushed past Daniel.
Daniel was frozen in shock, and at first didn't notice someone was calling his name. "Dan. Dan. Daniel"
Daniel blinked, and noticed Charlotte standing in front of him. "Oh, sorry Charlotte"
"What's wrong?" Charlotte asked. "And don't say nothing. You look upset"
"It's - -it's really nothing. Honest. I…just talked to Miles, and…" Daniel trailed off, bothered that he had let a small comment like that affect him.
"I heard what he said. You don't have to repeat it" Charlotte smiled gently at him.
"But…I …" Daniel faltered, not sure what he wanted to say.
Charlotte walked closer to him, and touched his arm softly. "And just so you know, I don't think you're a head case"
"Thanks, Charlotte" Daniel felt a lot better after her last comment.
"It's the truth, Dan. You don't have to thank me for saying the truth" Charlotte replied. She thought for a moment, and Daniel saw a flash of determination in her eyes. "If you'll excuse me, I need to take care of something. I'll see you at dinner" Charlotte made a move to walk away, then stopped. "Do you want to eat with me?"
"Uh…sure. That'd be…nice" Daniel replied. "I'll see you at dinner" Charlotte flashed him a smile, and then walked down the corridor. Daniel was curious as to where she was going, but he decided not to pry for information.
Daniel walked into dinner and looked around for Charlotte. She hadn't arrived yet, so he got his food and sat at a table with Frank to wait for her.
"Hey, Daniel. How was your walk?" Frank asked genially.
"It - -it was pretty good" Daniel replied, glancing around for Charlotte.
"Who're you looking for?" Frank had noticed Daniel's searching.
"What? Oh…no - -nobody" Daniel was a little embarrassed that he had been caught.
Frank lifted an eyebrow, as if he didn't believe him, but he dropped the subject. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, until Daniel felt someone sit next to him.
"Hey, Dan. Sorry I'm a little late, but the thing I needed to do took longer than expected" Charlotte spoke easily, and then noticed Frank. "Oh, hello. I'm Charlotte Lewis"
"Frank Lapidus" Frank replied, giving Daniel a look as if to say 'I knew you were looking for someone'.
Daniel ignored him, and went to say something to Charlotte but he was interrupted by Miles sitting down next to Frank. He thought Miles was acting strange, and when Miles flinched at the sight of Charlotte it only confirmed Daniel's suspicions. Miles had kept his head tilted a certain way, but when he went to eat Daniel noticed that he had a black eye.
Daniel looked at Charlotte curiously, wondering if she was the cause of it. Charlotte looked at Daniel, and he titled his head towards Miles with an unspoken question. Charlotte smiled innocently. "What?" but Daniel noticed a look in her eye that indicated she was the one responsible.
"Nothing, I - -I was just wondering something" Daniel responded. The two fell into a quiet conversation, until Frank interrupted.
"Charlotte, have you met Miles already? You didn't introduce yourself when he sat down.
"I had a brief encounter with him earlier". Charlotte looked at Miles, and smiled. "What happened to your eye, Miles?"
Miles wouldn't look at anyone when he responded. "I walked into a wall"
After dinner, a man approached them and said that Naomi wanted to meet with them. The man led the four to what appeared to be a meeting room, and left without a word. Daniel and Charlotte sat down next to each other, Frank sat on the other side of Daniel, and Miles sat separately from the rest of the group.
Daniel glanced at Miles, then leaned to whisper to Charlotte. "Charlotte, did you punch Miles?"
Charlotte flushed and didn't quite meet Daniel's eyes. "Well, I just wanted to tell him off for calling you a head case, but then he insulted me, so I punched him"
Daniel looked back over at Miles, and he heard Frank stifle a laugh. He looked back and Charlotte and said "It seems to have…shut him up, at least" He paused, and then said quietly "Thank you"
Charlotte whispered back "It's no problem".
Then, Frank couldn't hold in his laughter anymore, and it burst out of him startling Daniel and Charlotte. "Charlotte, all I have to say is nice job" Frank managed to say, while laughing.
Charlotte's blush grew darker, and Daniel couldn't stop a smile from spreading her face. The two looked at each other, and then they began to laugh as well.
An unfamiliar voice sounded through the room. "If you're finished laughing, can we start?"
Daniel immediately stopped laughing and turned to look and the source of the voice. He found himself looking at a dark skinned woman with long, dark brown hair. He looked at Charlotte, who was looking at him, and then they both glanced at Miles, who looked smug.
The woman cleared her throat. "Now that everyone is paying attention, my name is Naomi Dorrit, and I'm your team leader. You are a science team, and you are needed to do specific things on this Island. Daniel, we need you to calculate a safe bearing to fly in on. Travel to and from the Island can be extremely dangerous. Charlotte, you're needed because a civilization once existed on the Island, and it may still exist. We want you to learn as much as you can about them. Miles, we want you to corroborate Charlotte's findings. Frank, you're here so you can fly the team to and from the Island. Also, we are here to find Benjamin Linus. I have packets here, and they will explain what you are expected to do more thoroughly than I have. Any questions?"
Miles spoke up. "I have one" Naomi looked at him expectantly, and Miles took that as a sign of encouragement. "Are you single?"
"I don't think that's any of your business". Naomi handed out the packets, and then spoke again. "Now, any legitimate questions?"
They shook their heads 'no'. "Okay, have a good trip. I may call occasional meetings, so pay attention" Naomi then left, and the others glanced around wordlessly.
Charlotte was the first to stand up. "I'm going to go read this. Dan, want to come with me?"
"Sure" Daniel stood up as well, and the two walked to find a quiet spot to read. They found a place on the top deck, far away from the main activity that was taking place.
They read silently, before Daniel let out a gasp. Charlotte looked up from her papers. "What is it?"
"Re - -read this" Daniel held his papers to him, and she read the part he indicated.
She looked up at Daniel in horror. "Oh my God. Dan, they want you to kill everyone that could be on the Island once Linus is off? By releasing a poisonous gas? What did we get ourselves into?"
"Char - -Charlotte, I'm not the only person expected to do it" a passage in Charlotte's papers had caught Daniel's attention.
"What do you mean?" Charlotte still looked horrified.
"Here" he indicated a place in her papers.
"I'm supposed to help? Dan, what do we do?" Charlotte was panicked.
"I don't know, Charlotte. But we won't do it. We'll figure out something" Daniel's calm voice caused her to look up, and she calmed down.
"You're right. We've got time to figure something out. And we will" Charlotte assured herself.
The two sat in silence, planning how to get out of becoming killers. They had figured out a few different ways, and they agreed that they should wait before picking a final plan. Daniel looked at his watch, and was shocked to realize that it was almost midnight. Dinner had been at 7, and the meeting was at 8:30. They had left around fifteen minutes later, so they had been planning for at least two and a half hours.
"Charlotte, it's practically midnight" Daniel said, still staring at his watch.
"Really?" Charlotte grabbed his arm to see for herself. "Wow, we've been out here awhile. I should probably be getting back to my room. I'm sharing with Naomi, and she seems like the type that hates to be woken up"
"I - -I should be heading back, too" Daniel stood, and then offered his hand to help Charlotte up. "Go - -good night"
"Good night, Dan" Charlotte smiled, and they went their separate ways.
Two hours later, Daniel was still awake. He couldn't sleep again, which was normal for him, and he was tossing and turning. Sighing, he got out of bed and decided to talk a walk. He found himself in the area that he was sitting with Charlotte earlier that night. He stood at the railing, and stared out at the ocean. He heard footsteps, but he didn't turn around, thinking that it was just a crewmember.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Daniel turned to see Charlotte, and she walked over to the railing and stood next to him.
"No. Sometimes I think I have…insomnia" Daniel stated.
"I know the feeling. I always have trouble sleeping anywhere besides my apartment. I almost didn't become an anthropologist because of it" Charlotte replied. She stared out at the ocean as well. "It's so peaceful out there"
"You're right, it - - it is" Daniel spoke softly.
Charlotte suddenly turned to him. "I never got to ask you earlier, what exactly do you do? I know you're a physicist, but…I'm not sure what else you could do besides teach"
"I…used to teach. I'm…in-between jobs at the moment. Th - -that's why I decided to do this" Daniel spoke vaguely, not wanting to reveal more unless she asked.
"If you don't mind me asking, why are you between jobs?" Charlotte was curious.
"I was a professor at Oxford for a few years, and I was researching…" Daniel trailed off and hoped this wouldn't change her opinion of him. "I was researching time travel. I - -I figured out a way to do it safely with rats. I would send their consciousness through time. My…research assistant convinced me to try it on her and…there were side effects. Oxford looked into my research, and said it'd be best if…I quit. So I did, and I moved back to Massachusetts, which is where I grew up. I got a job as a professor at a local college near my apartment, but I quit that job, too"
"Why'd you quit there?" Charlotte asked. "Was it for the same reason?"
"It was…related to that. The time travel…I worked with radiation. I – I had too much exposure to it, and it affected my memory. I was - -was forgetting a lot. What I was going to say, when my classes were…things like that. I quit because…it was getting too hard to teach the way I wanted to" Daniel explained.
"I'm sorry" Charlotte sighed. They stood in silence for a while, then Charlotte spoke. "I have an idea"
"What about?" Daniel asked.
"How to improve your memory, maybe. This way, when we're done with this, you can teach again" Charlotte pulled a deck of cards out of her jacket pocket. "I was trying to find a place to play solitaire when I saw you. We can use the cards for this instead" She turned and sat down.
"For…for what?" Daniel tilted his head, wondering what Charlotte was talking about.
"We can play a type of memory game. Come sit down. I'll give you three cards, and you look at them for a certain amount of time…say, two minutes to start. Then, you'll hand them back to me and you'll try to keep those cards in your memory for…five minutes. Then, you tell me what you think the cards were"
"All right. We can…try it" Daniel agreed, and sat down across from Charlotte.
"Here are the cards" Charlotte placed three cards in front of Daniel. They were the king of spades, ten of hearts, and the four of spades. Daniel studied the cards, while Charlotte kept time. After two minutes had passed, Charlotte said "Time". Daniel gathered up the cards, and as Charlotte began to time again, humming softly.
Daniel tried to focus on the cards, but he was having a difficult time. Then, Charlotte said "Time" and Daniel's mind went blank. Still, he tried his best.
"Uhhh…the…umm, ten of hearts. king of spades, and…three of clubs" Daniel replied, but made it sound like a question.
Charlotte smiled. "You got pretty close" and she showed him the cards. Daniel was disappointed, but did not show it. Charlotte could already see through him, though. "Don't be disappointed. We'll do this every night. You'll improve"
"Do you really think so?" Daniel wondered.
"Yes. I really do" Charlotte responded.
"I hope you're right" Daniel looked at his watch, and stood up. "I - -I should be getting back to bed. Hopefully I'll get some sleep"
"I should be getting to bed, too" Charlotte stood up as well.
They turned to go off in their separate directions, but Daniel stopped and turned towards Charlotte again. "Charlotte…will I see you to - -tomorrow?"
"Of course, Dan. I'll see you at breakfast" Charlotte smiled.
"See you at breakfast" Daniel smiled as well. Charlotte turned, and walked back to her room. Daniel watched her leave, and then walked to his room once she was out of sight. He slipped in quietly, and he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
