Disclaimer: I don't own Lost.

Chapter 36

A week after Daniel and Charlotte watched the first take of the Arrow's orientation video, the alarms blared in the early morning. Running to their living room window, they saw other Dharma residents peering outside as well. Strolling casually into the middle of the compound was Richard Alpert, followed by Benjamin Linus. He was carrying himself differently than he had before, Daniel could tell even from a distance. He watched as Ben took in his surroundings in a calculating way. Charlotte's hand found his, and they both tensed.

Jim hurried out of his house towards Alpert, followed closely behind by Horace. They could see Jim and Alpert talking, but they couldn't make out the gist of the conversation. Horace had hurried over to Ben and took him from Alpert's side, but Ben pulled away almost immediately. Daniel saw as Ben's eyes passed over Annie's still destroyed house, but he had no visible reaction.

Alpert left Ben standing in the compound and returned to the forest. Alpert left, and Charlotte whispered "No, Annie"

Daniel looked and saw Annie hurrying over to Ben as fast as her crutches would allow her. They were staying in an empty house next to Daniel's until theirs was repaired. She moved to hug him, and although Ben allowed it he didn't return the hug. Annie backed away, and Ben said something. Annie hurried back to her new house, and Daniel could see she was crying. "I guess whatever happened to him while he was gone is what turned him into the Ben we know" Daniel told Charlotte.

"Bastard" Charlotte muttered before she closed the curtains. "I can't watch anymore"

"Why don't we get ready and then go talk to Jim? Maybe he can fill us in" Daniel suggested.

They didn't have to search for Jim though. He came to their house a half hour after. "What happened?" Charlotte demanded as soon as he walked into the living room.

"Alpert brought back Ben" Jim said. He sounded a bit tired.

"We saw that" Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Now, will you tell us what happened?"

"He seemed to go along with what I was sayin'. He knows a bit about our situation, considering you two and Miles met him in the fifties. My meetin' with him our first night here let him know that. He covered for us. Ben's different from the way he was, though. He wasn't very warm and fuzzy to begin with, but now he's even worse" Jim revealed. "I wanted to smack him for what he said to that girl, though"

"What'd he say?" Daniel wasn't sure he wanted to find out, but he knew it might be important.

Jim's eyes narrowed. "She said she was glad he was all right. He told her to get away from him, and said he was surprised that she was up and walkin' around. The way he sounded, it was almost like he wished she had been badly hurt"

"Now I want to smack him" Charlotte muttered.

"Besides his…personality, how is he?" Daniel wrapped an arm around Charlotte's waist.

"Physically, he's fine. Mentally, he's the Ben that we know in the future" Jim looked up at the clock. "I gotta get going, and you two probably do, too. I'll see ya later"

Everyone in the compound was talking about Ben's return, and their concern about his behavior. The way he treated Annie had traveled faster than Daniel had expected. As he had done for the past week, Daniel worked harder than ever to find a way to get back. Now that Ben was a Hostile, he knew it was only a matter of time until the Purge took place. He had ten years, but with the progress he was making he needed to make more progress soon. He needed to find a way to protect everyone.

He had temporarily considered taking Annie with them when they returned to the future. The girl had grown on him during the past week. She would come over his house after dinner and she would spend time with him and Charlotte. Sometimes they would play a game, other times they just talked. She had a hard time when Ben was gone. He learned that although she was well-liked, the only person she really considered a friend was Ben.

The idea dissipated almost as soon as he thought of it, though. Annie belonged in this time. Whatever happened to her, he couldn't interfere. He had told himself not to get too close to any of the people here, but in the three years since he made that promise he had befriended James, Amy, and Horace. Annie had quickly become added to that list, as well.

They hadn't heard from Sayid since the night he escaped, and Daniel was apprehensive about that. Did he join the Hostiles, or did he somehow meet up with the other survivors? He had also wondered about Claire. Jim, Miles, and Jin had gone out into the forest daily. The Dharma Initiative believed they were looking for Ben. In reality, they were looking for Claire, but they couldn't find any sign of her. Two nights previous, Miles had visited their house.

"Look, we haven't found her. We've searched all around the compound, and there's no sign of anyone" Miles eyed both of them. "Are you sure you saw her?"

'"What are you insinuating? That we made it up?" Charlotte appeared calm, but Daniel could tell she was becoming angry.

"Just…that was a stressful night. Sayid took off and shot Ben. A house had a burning van crash into it. I'm not saying that you intentionally made it up, but…" Miles trailed off as Charlotte slapped him in the face. "What'd you do that for?" he yelled.

"We did not make it up, Miles" Charlotte's voice was deceptively calm. "If we were going to make up seeing someone, why would it be a woman that Daniel never even met, and I only saw once?"

"I don't know" Miles became thoughtful.

"Miles" Daniel interrupted the argument. "We didn't make up anything. Just…she's out there somewhere. Keep looking"

"Jim may want to quit soon" Miles told them.

"He's spent three bloody years looking for Rose, Bernard, and everyone else" Charlotte glared at Miles. "He's not going to give up on Claire. Not after we saw her"

"Miles" Jim's voice came from the walkie Miles was carrying. "Where are you?"

"At the Faraday's" Miles replied.

"Stay there. I'm coming over" Jim said before the walkie went silent.

Jim showed up less than two minutes later. When Daniel let him in, he greeted him with "Are you going to - -to give up on Claire?"

"We're gonna have to. We have to give up looking for Ben soon, too" Jim sighed. "We can't look for her if we ain't looking for him"

"But you've been looking for everyone else" Charlotte argued. "Why is this any different? You haven't given up on them"

"We had to give up on Walt" Jim muttered, then appeared panicked when he realized what he had said.

"Who's Walt?" Daniel thought for a moment. "Was he one of the survivors?"

"Yeah. He's a kid. He was taken by the Hostiles, and his dad went crazy looking for him. the rest of us gave up, but his dad didn't. The man ended up setting Linus free and killin' two other people to get him back" Jim sat down on a chair.

"Did he?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah, he did. It's a bad example. They left the Island on a boat" Jim paused. "How's this? Claire's disappeared more than once"

"What?" Charlotte appeared a bit taken aback at the news.

"Yeah, Ethan…you know Ethan, Amy's kid. Ethan took her. She showed up not remembering anything" Jim adjusted his glasses. "Claire's a survivor. If she's alive, she'll turn up"

"If she's alive?" Daniel studied Jim closely.

"Locke was seeing Walt on the Island after he left" Jim told them. "We started calling him taller ghost Walt. This place can mess with your head if you aren't careful"

Daniel had a feeling that Jim was right when he said this place can mess with your head. He knew that he saw Claire, though. Charlotte had seen her as well, which cemented the fact that he didn't just imagine her.

On the way back from the Orchid, Daniel saw Ben. "Ben" he greeted him. "How are you doing?"

"Why do you want to know?" Ben fixed him with a stare that was unnerving.

"You - -you were gone for a week" Daniel stuttered. He hadn't felt intimidated by someone younger than him for a long time, if ever.

"I'm fine, not that any of you care" Ben said coldly. "I was missing for a week, and no one came after me"

"We did look. And Annie…she cares" Daniel told Ben.

"She shouldn't" Ben glared at him, but the mask had slipped for a moment when Daniel said Annie's name. "It's my fault that she's hurt. She's better off staying away from me, or getting off this Island"

"I felt that way, once" Daniel revealed. He had no idea why he was telling Ben this, but maybe he could still prevent him from becoming a killer. "With my wife. I felt like she'd be better off away from me. She refused to leave, though, and everything worked itself out"

"You're not me. No one here cared about me, not even her. She didn't stop my dad. She didn't look for me" Ben said before walking away, leaving Daniel stunned into silence. Whatever had happened to Ben with the Hostiles, his path was set.

"How's Ben?" a voice came from behind him. Daniel turned to see Annie.

"He's - -he's not doing so well" Daniel told her.

Annie's normally smiling face was grim. "He's different. Something happened to him. Will he be okay?"

"I don't know, Annie. I just don't know" Daniel sighed.

"Thanks for telling me the truth, Mr. Faraday" she said finally.

"Annie, I've told you to call me Daniel" he reminded her.

"I know, but it feels weird" a hint of a smile appeared on her face before it disappeared. "I'll see you later"

"Bye, Annie" Daniel said and he walked back home. He was almost there when he walked past the house that Jack, Hurley, and Kate were staying in. He made a quick decision and knocked on the door.

"Daniel, what are you doing here?" Kate was bewildered at why he was at her house.

"Is Jack here?" Daniel craned his neck to look behind her.

"Come on in. I'll go get him" Kate studied Daniel for a moment. "You've changed"

"Not much. And so have you" he pointed out.

"Not that much" she said before she left the room. Daniel looked around while he waited. It seemed like most Dharma houses had the same layout. There were really no personal touches that he could see, but they had only been here for a short amount of time.

"Daniel" Jack said in greeting. "What are you doing here?"

Daniel mentally prepared himself. He wasn't going to chicken out now. "It's your fault"

"Excuse me?" Jack wasn't sure what was going on, and from behind Jack Daniel could see Kate also looking confused.

"Ben. It's your fault" Daniel repeated.

"What are you talking about? He's walking around. He's alive" Jack defended himself.

"You're the reason he became what he did" Daniel told him. "You - -you didn't know him. He was a good kid. Being taken to the Hostiles is what made him into the Ben that you knew. It's your fault, and you don't even feel guilty" Daniel shook his head. "What happened to you? Before, you gave everyone the benefit of the doubt. You gave everyone a second chance, or even a third, even if they didn't deserve it. I know Char and I didn't" He looked at Jack for a few more seconds, who appeared stunned, before leaving. As soon as he shut the door behind him, he muttered "Why did I just do that?"

The door opened behind him, and he almost fell back into the house. The person steadied him, and he turned around to see Kate. "Daniel, thanks for doing that. I've wanted to yell at him since it happened"

"Why didn't you?" Daniel knew Kate had no problem calling Jack out on anything before.

"A lot happened after we left. He changed a lot. What he did is nothing new" Kate attempted a smile. "Maybe this is the wake-up call he needs"

Daniel shrugged before heading to his house. "You're back later than normal. Something happen?" Charlotte looked up from her book when she saw him walk in.

"I tried to talk to Ben" Daniel told her. "What are you reading?"

Charlotte smiled and held the book out of his reach. "Keep talking, Dan"

"He's completely changed" Daniel shook his head. "After I talked to him, I talked to Annie for a few minutes. She's pretty upset about the whole thing. Then, I don't know why I did this" he groaned. "I went to talk to Jack. I told him that that what happened to Ben was his fault"

"Well, it is" Charlotte said quietly.

"But I shouldn't have done that" Daniel put his head in his hands. "It was…completely out of line"

"It might be what he needed" Charlotte reassured Daniel. "We'll just have to wait and see. Worst case scenario, he won't do anything to help anyone. Best case, he'll actually start to give a damn again"

"Char" Daniel kissed her. "What would I do without you?" he asked after they broke apart.

"Go back in time to try to save me?" Charlotte chuckled.

"Sounds about right" Daniel smiled.