Title: Found
Author: bookworm835
Category(s): Drama/Angst/blah-blah-blah-other-stuff
Summary: Uhm, it's been so long since I've written in this that I've forgotten what happened in chapter four. Ehem. Uhh, Locke was being an ass. LOL. There's all ya need to know...
Disclaimer: I'm not even supposed to be on the internet now. Tee hee. I'm such a naughty child.
A/N: HUGE wait, I apologize very much. Dunno what else to say. Hm.


Charlie sat hunched over at a small, dark Australian bar, clutching a cooled mug in his shaky fingers. He had tried to keep his mind off the drugs and, unfortunately, ended up, instead, getting a beer.

The room was relatively crowded. Charlie shut his eyes, a pounding headache threatening to burst his skull in half. His empty hand idly fidgeted with the tapes on his fingers. He couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated at Locke. Why couldn't the bloody man just speak English, for God's sake?

With everone packed so closely together, it was very hot, especially on that humid night. His beer wasn't so cold anymore. Charlie unclenched his hand from the handle and rubbed his sweaty palms against his jeans. His stomach was churning, his head still aching terribly, and maybe it was just in his head but it felt like his heart was hurting, too.

He heard voices behind him.

"Yes, Sarah, for the last time, I'm okay. I just don't want to talk about it."

"But it must be very stressful. Are you sure you don't want to --?"

"Positive, Sarah."

"I was so worried when I'd heard that the plane had crashed."

"I know, Sarah."

"You worry me with all your unsaid secrets, Jack."

Charlie whirled around -- a bit too quickly. He overbalanced in his seat and tipped over drunkenly, although he was quite certain that he wasn't drunk. He fell to his knees on the ground, holding his head, mumbling, "Jack, Jack, Jack..." Colors were swirling and fading around him, his vision blacking out. He heard malicious, mocking laughter. He sucked in a few breaths, trying to relax. The muscles in his arms and legs jerked and he collapsed. Then he felt swift hands on his shoulders, pulling him back up.

"Hey, hey, you okay? Sarah, get your cell phone. Hurry up, call an ambulance."

His head lolling, Charlie blinked. "I'm okay," he muttered almost sleepily, pushing away the hands irritably. It hurt even more when he was touched. "I -- I'm just tired..."

"Tired? No, no... Sarah, damn it, call that ambulance."

"I'm trying, Jack, don't rush me!"

"Rush you? This guy's hurt. You've gotta hurry up. Are you hurrying, Sarah?"

"Yes, Jack, I'm hurrying!"

Charlie heard a wavering tone in her voice, as if she was crying. He gazed up and indeed saw a pretty blond woman rummaging through a bright pink purse, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm okay, Jack," Charlie insisted, grabbing two fistfuls of Jack's shirt and pulling himself to his feet, wobbling a bit but regaining his balance. His head was still spinning but the jeering crowd had dispersed, letting him breathe better, though the air was still hot and sticky and very unpleasant.

"Hey, hey, easy," Jack said, one arm around Charlie's back and the other around his front, keeping him standing. "You sure? You alright?"

Sarah had stopped digging through her bag. Her eyes were wide, like an owl's. She slung her bag over her shoulder and stood behind Jack. "Jack? Do you know this man?" she asked cautiously.

"No," Jack answered distractedly, fumbling around for Charlie's wrist and taking a pulse.

"How does he know you, then?" Her voice was suspicious now.

"I don't know, honey, maybe he heard you talking to me."

"Then he was eavesdropping?" Now she sounded angry. "You don't need to help every drunken bastard in this friggin' bar, Jack. I never wanted to go here. You -- a doctor, of all people -- you were the one who insisted. I can't believe this! Jack, are you even listening to me?"

"Yes, Sarah. Hey, man, tell her -- how do you know my name?"

Charlie forced Jack's hands away. "I knew you," he said. "I knew you and you knew me. We were on a sodding island together for who knows how long, Jack! No one except me and Locke know. Well, I don't exactly know... but Locke does. Don't you remember me? Or Claire or Sayid or Sawyer or... Kate? Do you remember Kate?"

Sarah let a little offended gasp. "Who's Kate, Jack?" she demanded.

"I don't know, Sarah," Jack hissed through clenched teeth. "I don't know who any of these people are. I don't know who this guy is. He fell; I'm a doctor, I helped him. Is that so terrible, dear?"

"Yes, actually," Sarah huffed. "It's a bar full of alcoholics! What are we doing here? Leave him, Jack, we're going home."

"No, I'm helping him," Jack argued. Charlie heard a dull ringing in his ears. He wished they'd shut up... or at least be more quiet. Everyone needed to be quiet. Everyone needed to leave him alone.

"Fine!" Sarah exploded. A few curious people around the bar risked a peek over at her. She glared at Jack. "Fine, you go help your little friend, you go have fun with Kate and Claire and all the other women, you son of a bitch." Then she stormed out.

Jack glanced over at Charlie. "Um, well then... you, uh, want help still?" he asked awkwardly.

"Listen, man, I'm... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that..."

Jack quickly shook his head. "No, you didn't know she'd explode like that. You don't know Sarah."

There was a long moment of silence between them as other actual drunks loudly conversed in the background. Then Jack continued, "Uh, well... if you want to... I don't know --"

"Can I stay with you for a while?" Charlie interupted.

Jack, flustered, nodded numbly. "Yeah, that's what I was gonna -- yeah."

Charlie pressed on his temple and shut his eyes again, sighing in relief.

"You sure you're alright?" Jack urged.

"I... I think I'm just hungry or something," Charlie explained, scanning the counter and seeing his untouched beer, realizing that the only thing he'd eaten in at least the past forty-eight hours was a bit of imaginary peanut butter and a hit of heroin. Suddenly, as if on cue, his stomach grumbled unappreciatively. Jack smiled and even laughed.

"Okay," he said. "Let's get you in my car. I don't know where Sarah went but I'm sure it wasn't back home. We should go there, then. You wanna get a bite on the way or can you make it back?"

"I can wait."

Smiling again, Jack said gently, "Okay."

Jack lead Charlie out into the hot, starry night. The parking lot was just about as warm as inside. There wasn't any hint of wind anywhere in the air but the air was clearer with the absence of the sweat and alcohol and such. Charlie took a deep breath and sighed again. They clambored into Jack's beat-up red car and drove off. Charlie leaned back in the chair, his eyes shut again, gusts of wind from the air conditioner feeling like heaven on his hot, sweaty face, drying his dampish hair. Jack glanced over.

"You sure you're --"

"God, Jack, you're just like you were on the island," Charlie mumbled, his eyes still closed.

Jack pressed his lips back together and stared out at the road. Then he asked, "What island?"

Charlie sighed harder. "Listen, if you don't know now, you won't know later. Trust me. It's an either you-know or you-don't sort of thing, sorry." Charlie could feel Jack's quizzical stare. He complained, "Don't act like I'm crazy, Jack. I know what I'm talking about. Locke believes me."

There was another long silence.

"Don't ask who Locke is," Charlie said.

"Alright," Jack said kindly, "I won't. We're almost home."

"Okay."

"...So, you know my name. What's yours?"

Charlie wondered if he should lie but what would the use of that be if the guy didn't remember him in the first place?

"I'm Charlie."

"Okay. Okay, Charlie."

For the rest of the ride they sat in silence, dark trees and black skies rushing past, Charlie's eyelids drooping as the cool air brushed against his face. Then he felt the car jolt slightly then stop. Charlie jerked up, rubbing his eyes.

"I thought if you were a doctor you'd made enough money to buy a better car than this... thing, Jack," he commented scathingly. He crawled out of the car seat and felt a jot of pain shoot up his back. He grumpily looked back down at the hard, uncomfortable car seat. Bits of stuffing and springs popped out through the artificial leather.

Jack laughed at this. "Yeah, I thought so too. C'mon, I've got one of those handy sofas that fold out into a bed."

Charlie yawned.

Jack's house was small and old, the shutters on the windows hanging haphazardly across the off-white shingles of the building. It was utterly black inside until Jack turned the keys in the doorknob and flicked the switch inside. Charlie nearly tripped over the doorway. Jack lead him into the kitchen and filled a chipped glass with tepid tap water. Charlie sipped it.

"Honestly, Jack, where do you spend all your money?"

Blinking almost guiltily, Jack mumbled, "I, uh... got my dad fired once. I paid him a bit to make up for it. Afterwards I gave a lot of the money to Sarah. I... I dunno where it goes. Well, there are more important things than money, right?"

"Yeah... yeah," Charlie muttered, shrugging.

Jack nodded. They stood in an awkward silence before Jack said, "Listen, I'm gonna fix that bed up for you. You can get anything you want from the kitchen. You want pajamas? I got pajamas, you want pajamas?"

Charlie furrowed his brow. "Uh, no thanks."

"You sure you're feeling okay?"

"I am now." Charlie tried to ignore how heavy the knot in his stomach and the little baggie of heroin in his pocket felt. His hands around the chipped cup shook slightly with a craving.

"I'm gonna, um, hit the sack then."

"Sure."

After a long moment of hesistating, Charlie blurted out as Jack disappeared down the hall, "Thanks a ton, mate. I owe you. I can't believe you'd just... let me... in your house without question -- without even knowing my name. I know you don't believe me about the island thing but you're the only one not to label me as insane so far, which is pretty brilliant, Jack, considering that you're a doctor."

"...Who else did you talk to, Charlie?"

"John Locke..." Jack nodded. "...and... C-Claire Littleton." Charlie felt his face growing hot; his eyes clouded over and he hurriedly dipped his head and took another small swig of the lukewarm water.

Jack nodded sympathetically. He saw Charlie's hands tremble. "Maybe I should take a look at you..." he offered.

"Don't," Charlie snapped, a sudden wave of anger rushing over him. He slammed the glass on the already-chipped countertop. "I don't need your help!" He hardly realized what he was saying. "Stop treating me like a bloody child, Jack."

Jack squinted as if he could almost remember something but not quite. Then a look of realization came over him and he murmured, "Charlie...? You're Charlie... Pace? You're Charlie. Charlie Pace. You're him. Oh my God, I can't believe this, I can't believe this --"

Charlie's mood lifted. "You remember?" he asked eagerly.

Blinking rapidly, Jack said, "I -- I think so. No. No, I don't -- I don't know."

Charlie sighed. "No one ever does."

Jack also looked a bit disappointed. He opened his mouth half-way. "Charlie, I've gotta tell you something --"

He never got to finish because, at that exact moment, the door flew open with a bang and a dark-haired, dark-skinned man stepped in purposefully, a gun held in his outstretched hand.

Charlie's jaw dropped. "...Sayid?"

Sayid's black eyes narrowed. "Where is she?"


Oooh, cliffie. Who is 'she'? WHO IS 'SHE'? It shall haunt you for the rest of your days... distracting you from school, making you lose your appetite, sleep, etc. Muahaha. As usual, sorry for typos, grammar errors, you know, stuff that doesn't make sense, that sort of thing. I will try not to take so long to write one stupid chapter but I make no promises! Oh, and I don't remember where my last reviews ended and my new reviews began so I'm sorry if I forgot you... if I did, go ahead and write an angry review! LOL. :) I'll make sure to get you in, then.

Esmarelda Gamgee: LOL, poor Charlie indeed! Final three episodes! HURRAY! Yes, I know Locke is being stupid, hehe, I don't like Locke. I know, like, EVERYONE likes him, and I'm sorry Locke-luvers, but I just don't like him. :) Glad you like and sorry again for the wait!

CharlieClaireforlife: First of all, I just want to tell you how obsessed I've been with your screen name or whatever you want to call it since Charlie took care of Claire's little "Turnip-Head". CC is such an awesome ship! Anyhow, happy you were waiting patiently because if I was you I wouldn't have been patient at all. :) Thanks for the review!

CrazyWomanLovesYou: Ooh, new reviewer! Thanks for the correction! You live in Australia? LUCKY:) I'd luv to go there... as long as the polar bears don't eat me... though, technically they'd eat me in Hawaii, but hey, I'm rambling.

Joralie: Woo hoo, 'nother new reviewer! Haha, thanks, glad you think my story is "hot"... I think Dom is hot. Do you? XD Gotta luv him! Thanks for revieeeeeewing!

Um, yup. Dunno what to write. I'm not in a talkative -- er, typeative? -- mood. I've got a ton of half-done chapters for other stuff in my story folder so hopefully you'll be seeing me go post-happy soon. Mostly new story chapters, though. I have so much stuff in my brain and so little time to put it down! Ah well... please please please please please please pleaseeeeeee review!