Disclaimer: I don't own Lost.

Chapter 37

A month passed without any event of significance. Despite the seeming peacefulness, Daniel was on edge. He knew that eventually, a war would break out. The Dharma Initiative was training their people to fight. Daniel and Charlotte had both been trained on how to shoot, and it reminded Daniel of when he was handed a gun on the freighter. It made him uneasy then, and it still made him uneasy now.

Even though the majority of the Dharma people appeared to have no worries, families with small children had practically disappeared from the Island. The only child left under the age of ten was Ethan, and there were hardly any teenagers around either. Besides Annie and Ben, there were only a handful of other teenagers on the Island. Annie and Ben could barely even be considered teenagers anymore. Daniel thought of Annie as a girl, but she was almost an adult. Same as Ben.

Daniel knew, because of Juliet, that Ethan would eventually become a Hostile. He was waiting for the day the child would be stolen. Charlotte was jumpy as well. She hid it exceptionally well, but anytime there was a loud noise she would jump, and during their nightly walks her eyes were darting everywhere. The only time she fully relaxed anymore was when she was at home with Daniel.

Daniel was lost in thought when Charlotte entered the living room, Annie trailing behind her. "Dan" Charlotte said softly as she sat down next to him. "Dan" she repeated as she touched him on his shoulder.

"Char?" Daniel blinked slightly. "Annie…? What are you doing here?" He moved to get up, but he thought better of it and sat back down.

"It's Ben" Annie said mournfully. "He's been saying some really horrible things. About how everyone in Dharma is going to pay, and how I should leave if I want to live"

"Bloody hell" Charlotte whispered as she practically fell onto the couch. "Annie, you should tell Jim"

"He'll just put him in the jail, or send him away" Annie wiped her bloodshot eyes. "He's just having a hard time, isn't he?"

"Annie" Daniel said quietly. "No one knows what happened to him with the Hostiles. Something might've…changed him. He - -he doesn't remember being shot"

"He doesn't?" Annie's eyes went wide.

"No. He thinks that he was taken and no one wanted to look for him" Charlotte said to Annie when she realized Daniel wasn't going to say anything.

"I need to talk to him" Annie said determinedly and she left without another word.

"We need to tell Jim" Daniel said as they both stared at the door.

"I'll call him" Charlotte touched Daniel's arm for a second before moving to the phone.

"Jim" Daniel heard Charlotte say. "Can you come over? Annie was here, and she told me something that you should hear"

Charlotte hung up and walked to the window. "That was short" Daniel glanced at the phone and looked back at Charlotte.

"He said he'd be right over and hung up" Charlotte leaned up against the window sill and sighed. "Did we do the right thing?"

"With what?" Daniel got up, walked to Charlotte, and wrapped his arm around her waist.

She leaned into him as she explained. "Calling Jim. What can he do? Right now, it's just a threat"

"Still, he needs to know, Char" Daniel said gently. "If something happens and he finds out we knew about it…"

"He'd flip out" Charlotte finished.

"Faraday's! Open up. I ain't got all day" Jim called from outside.

"And you didn't knock why?" Charlotte raised her eyebrows as Jim pushed past her. Daniel stifled a chuckle.

"Sounded important" Jim turned to face them both. "So what is it?"

"Annie came over" Daniel started. "She said Ben's been…making threats. How Dharma's in trouble, and he told her that if she wants to survive she should leave"

Jim ran his hand through his hair. "I had an idea something like this was gonna happen. You know how you guys have guns?" Daniel nodded slightly. "Well, Horace's preparing us for a war. All of security's bein' trained, and so are the people in charge of defensive strategies in the Arrow. A bunch of other people are, too, but they're scattered around the other stations" Jim's face became even more serious than it was before. "Look, you can't tell anyone. This ain't common knowledge"

"We won't" Daniel reassured Jim. "We swear. Just…when's it going to start?"

"The war?" Jim shrugged. "Whenever Horace gives us the go ahead. Red, there's something you should know" He looked straight at her as he continued. "Your dad? He's one of the ones being trained"

Charlotte tensed but showed no other signs of having heard him. Daniel barely even noticed when Jim left. He was too busy watching Charlotte. "Are you okay?" he asked softly. He didn't want to startle her.

"He's been dead for most of my life. Why is this bothering me?" Charlotte asked as she looked at the floor. "Most of people here are going to die soon. I'm upset about it, but it doesn't make me react like this. I can talk to them, knowing their fate. I can't talk to my dad, though. It's too hard"

"It's hard because he's your dad" Daniel hugged her. "Look, it's all going to work out…somehow. I'll get us out of here before it reaches the worst part. I promise"

Later that night, Daniel and Charlotte were talking a walk around the compound. They didn't leave the area with the houses in it, but neither of them wanted to sit around and do nothing. They saw Jim talking to Ben, and after having a silent conversation they moved closer without being obvious.

They were too far away to hear what Jim said to Ben, but by the time he replied they were within earshot. "It's already started" Ben said to Jim emotionlessly. As he walked away, Daniel and Charlotte walked over to Jim.

They didn't have a chance to say anything because Horace raced up to them in a panic. "Have any of you seen Amy or Ethan?"

"No. Why?" Jim answered. Daniel felt his heart sink and he inched closer to Charlotte.

"They're gone. Both of them. I looked everywhere" Horace was frantically looking around everywhere.

"Ok, I'll go to the security station. Jin's on duty tonight. I'll ask him if he say anything on the monitors" Jim grabbed his walkie and called someone. "Miles" he said quickly when the other person answered. "Go to the Flame and see if Radzinsky picked up anything on his monitors over there. Amy and her kid are missing"

Daniel quickly walked away from the collection of buildings and towards the perimeter of the compound. "Dan, what the bloody hell are you doing?" Charlotte called after him, and he could hear her footsteps catching up to him.

"I'm going to look for Claire. Maybe she has some answers" Daniel refused to slow down, but by then Charlotte was matching him step for step. He waited for a reply but he got none. They hurried in silence to the pylons and went to deactivate them, but they realized they were already turned off.

The two exchanged grim looks and they passed through without looking back. As they approached the tree line, they saw a figure standing there. As the shape moved towards them, they saw a man.

"Who are you?" Charlotte asked bravely, but Daniel noticed that she moved closer to him.

"That isn't important" the man informed them. "But if you must know, I'm Claire's father. Now, I understand you have some questions?"

"Two people were taken from the - -the compound. We were wondering if you knew what happened" Daniel felt uneasy in this man's presence.

"You already know what happened to them" the man said. "They're safe" Daniel blinked, and the man was gone.

"Did you see what…happened to him?" Daniel turned to Charlotte.

"No" Charlotte shook her head. "Dan, we should get back before they notice we're gone as well"

"But, Char, he knows more. He knows where Claire is, where everyone else is. We - -we should go after him" Daniel took a few steps forward.

"No" Charlotte said forcefully. "Dan, we're going back" She grabbed his arm.

"But…" Daniel started to protest.

"No" she repeated. "We're going back now" She took a few steps back towards the pylons and pulled Daniel after her. "Dan, we can talk to him later. It's not safe to be out here. And, everyone back at the compound is already panicked about Amy and Ethan"

Daniel stumbled after her willingly but glanced back towards the trees multiple times. He could see the man watching them go, but he made no move to fight her. She didn't let go of him until they could see the lights from the houses.

"Where were you?" Jin shouted when he spotted them. He hurried over to the pair, who had stopped when they were noticed.

"We were walking along the edge of the compound to see if there was any sign of Amy or Ethan" Charlotte said quickly. If Daniel didn't know any better, he would've believed her. "Have you found them?"

"No. We think a Hostile took them. We just can't figure out how they got in without the alarms going off" Jin sighed. He knew, just as Daniel and Charlotte, that this was the start of many problems for Dharma.

"Someone on the inside had to have gotten them out. Someone she trusted" Charlotte glanced around before lowering her voice. "I think it was Ben"

"Ben?" Jin repeated.

"He's been different since he came back" Daniel told him. "I think he's joined the Hostiles. Amy would trust him. She's known him for - -for years"

"We can't tell people this. They will panic" Jin whispered. "And how do you know he's been different?"

"Annie told us" Charlotte said seriously. "He's been treating her pretty bad since he's gotten back, and he's been making threats"

"James told me" Jin told him. "It's just hard to find a way to put this all together"

"What's going on?" Miles asked casually as he strode over.

"We're talking about what could've happened to Amy and Ethan" Charlotte slipped her hand into Daniel's.

"I'll explain later" Jin said at Miles' look of impatience.

"Look, you guys should go home. Something else might happen tonight, and I want you and everyone else inside if it does" Miles studied Daniel and Charlotte intently. "And you better tell me what they told you" he said to Jin. Daniel and Charlotte nodded and walked towards their house.

Inside, Charlotte hurried over to where she had put their guns. "Char, what are you doing?"

"Getting the guns. We might need them" Charlotte rummaged around for them and put the guns and bullets on the coffee table.

"We don't need them" Daniel eyed the guns uneasily. He had never used one, and he never wanted to, but it seemed like he would have to sooner or later.

"Dan" Charlotte left the guns alone and walked to his side. She caressed his face for a few seconds before dropping her hand. "People are being taken. You know as well as I do that it isn't safe here anymore. I don't want anything to happen to you. I'll start teaching you how to shoot tomorrow. I know you don't want to, but you may need to one day"

Daniel studied her. He could see the fear and love in her eyes, and he stroked her hair. "Okay" he finally agreed. A noise from outside distracted them.

Daniel opened the window despite Charlotte's protests, and voices floated into the room. "The damn fence was deactivated" Jim said angrily to someone. "You're not doing anything, this is my job"

"No" Horace said back just as angrily. "The Hostiles have my wife and son. I'm going to get them back no matter what it takes"

"No, Horace" Daniel watched as Jim moved in front of Horace.

"What's going on?" Charlotte asked Daniel quietly.

"They found out the fence was deactivated, and it looks like Horace wants to go after them" Daniel replied quickly before directing his attention back to the window.

"Son of a bitch. Damn it, Horace. Get back here. You're not going after them by yourself. You'll probably be killed before you even seen them" Jim ran after Horace, who was leaving the area with the houses. Horace hesitated, and Jim took advantage of that. "Look, Horace. I know you want to bring them back. And we will. We can't go barging in there after them, though"

Charlotte reached over and shut the window. "Dan, we've heard enough"

Daniel nodded. "Jim got through to him…for now" He shut the curtains and walked over to the bookshelf as he perused the titles. He pulled a random book of the shelf and showed it to Charlotte. "You were reading this. You started it last month, and you finished it two weeks ago"

"How do you even remember that?" Charlotte took the book from him and put it back on the shelf. "I can't even remember when I finished it"

Daniel smiled gently at her. "I remember because you're different. You're special…just you. It's easy to remember things that have to do with you"

Daniel watched as she smiled brightly and the fear disappeared from her eyes. He knew it would come back, but he didn't want it to happen anytime soon.