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Chapter Four

Charlie raced up towards Kate that evening, feeling very happy. After his talk with Jack, he was feeling extremely optimistic about everything. He felt he could take over the mountain with Kate. He hoped that she was the one, because personally, he was falling fast in love with her and hoped that with his skills he could make her do the same with him.

He skidded to a stop in front of Kate, panting slightly, for he had been jogging down the beach, trying to keep his figure. He felt like every bone in his body was aching, but he felt proud. He was in his 20's and was in a fairly good shape. Maybe he should stop his drug addiction... Charlie shook his head. He'll do that once he ran out of his drugs. Without any drugs left, maybe he'd be able to beat his addiction.

Kate looked up at Charlie, amused. "What're you tryin' to do, run the marathon?"

"I think I just might do that when I get back home, you never know," Charlie said smiling. "Can I sit with you?"

Kate scooted over, inviting him to sit next to her. Charlie smiled at her and took the offer by sitting down. Kate smiled back before looking into the fire again.

All at once, Charlie felt shy. He always froze up when he was around somebody that he liked really well. The worst she could say would be no, but it still made Charlie nervous and he didn't think he could get the courage to ask her out, no matter what their circumstances are on this island.

Kate glanced over at Charlie. "Are you alright there?"

Charlie nodded somewhat unconvincingly. He didn't want to ask her out just yet. There was plenty of time to do that and it wasn't like she was going to go and date somebody else here on the island. The other guys weren't all that great...well, except maybe Sayid and Jack, but that was beside the point. The point was that dating probably wasn't a top priority in a situation like this. Maybe, one could never know.

"I'm alright. I've always been alright," Charlie stated.

"Really?" Kate looked over at Charlie, not looking very convinced.

"Really. I'm all right; don't worry about me. I've got everything figured out with Jack," Charlie assured her.

"That's not what I meant, Charlie," Katie said.

"Maybe not, but I'm all right," Charlie exclaimed.

Suddenly Charlie felt wary. What if somebody found out that he used drugs? Shannon almost did the other day when she came to ask him about fishing, but he didn't get caught, which was a good thing. After all, he was going to quit after he ran out of his small stock. That was the only way; after all of his known stock of drugs run out and knowing that he ran out, he'll be able to quit. Hopefully, but he knew he'd be able to quit.

As Charlie and Kate sat staring into the fire, Jack came over after doing whatever he was doing. Charlie scooted over so the doctor could sit next to him.

"Hi, Jack," Charlie said as the man sat down.

"Hi. How's it going with you, man?" Jack asked.

"Not bad, considering the circumstances," Charlie replied, smiling slightly.

"I'm glad to hear that. You didn't seem all that great earlier today," Jack exclaimed.

Charlie shook his head. "No, but life is great. I can survive anything."

Silence elapsed as they watched the slow cooking of fish on the fire that Michael was cooking up. They all found out that he was a good cooker, considering him being a bachelor and had to do all the feminine stuff on his own.

Charlie was glad that somebody could cook, because he sure couldn't. Well, he could cook well enough for him to survive on, but he didn't think anybody else would appreciate it too well if they ate their food that it didn't taste as normal as it should've been.

"Are you sure you're all right, Charlie?" Kate asked.

"Well...um..." Charlie began, trying to find the words to ask her out. He decided that it was now or never. He might not get the courage to ask her again after this.

Just as he was about to ask her, Walt came bounding into the fireplace area.

"Vincent and I were playing hide and seek and I can't find him, dad," Walt exclaimed.

"I'll go help you look for him," Charlie said, standing up a little too quickly. "I love hide-and-seek. And we're looking for Vincent the dog?"

"Yeah, that's my dog. I always find him, but he's in an extra good spot tonight," Walt said.

"Walt, go look for Vincent yourself. Don't trouble this man with your problems," Michael said.

"Oh, don't worry, it's no problem at all. I think it's good to have a little exercise worked into your schedule," Charlie said as he glanced at Kate out of the corner of his eye. She seemed to have apprehension written all over her face, but he didn't care what she thought at the moment.

"Well, thanks for helping out with him," Michael called after him as Charlie and Walt left to look for Vincent.

"Oh, it's no problem!" Charlie called over his shoulder. Then he turned and followed Walt into the darkness, hoping against hope that he'd have another chance to ask Kate about dating.

A/n: A little short chapter, but that's ok. I don't have much time to write a drawn out chapter for this chapter. Anyways. If you ask me, I think the show 'Lost' is getting pretty intriguing, wouldn't you say? I mean, Jack thinking his dad's alive, Jack becoming the leader, Claire passing out, Charlie falling for Claire (maybe, perhaps...), and the possibility of them going to some valley next episode. I personally think it's getting quote interesting, and I'm getting more intrigued by each episode. But I'll stop jibbering now.

Thank you to those who've been reviewing my story, I greatly appreciate it and I hope you keep reading though I might not be updating much during the week considering I have school and homework and a job to go to sometimes. So I extend my heartfelt thanks -.