In silence, the three men continued the hunt. Finally, they heard a sound that was familiar: the cries of the two babies.

"Danielle, please…the children need their parents." Sayid cried out, feeling a deep pain due to his daughter's crying.

Calmly, the Frenchwoman stepped out from her hiding place, one child in each hand. At the sight of her Charlie made a move of raising his fist but Sawyer grabbed his arm.

"Let Sayid handle this." He ordered.

"I never intended to harm them." Danielle said softly as she handed Esther back to her father, then walked in front of Charlie. "I never once had any plans of injuring them."

"HA!" Charlie snapped, grabbing Aaron back.

"But why did you do this, Danielle?" Sayid asked, rocking his crying daughter gently.

"I want to find my Alex…but I know that no one will help me, not even you." Danielle replied evenly. "The only way that I could get you to help me, is if you suffered the same pain as I am feeling. That is the reason I kidnapped Esther, I know you can find me easily, but despite everything you would still feel the pain of risking your daughter."

"Why did you kidnap Aaron then?" Charlie demanded angrily.

"I was afraid that if I only kidnapped Esther, it might make Sayid think I want to harm her as I specifically took his child."

"You don't even know whether Alex is alive or not." Sayid interrupted.

"I know my daughter is alive!" Danielle said passionately. "A mother knows whether her child is dead or alive and as she is alive she will be on this island. Before I could not go to her as I was alone, but now if you will help me…"

Laughter was not the reply anyone expected from Sayid, even the baby girl seemed to have been shocked as she stopped crying.

"You want me to help you to find your daughter?" Sayid finally chocked out. "The man who your archenemy intended to use against you, the man who would have killed you. Most of all, the man whom you tortured the worst way, by injecting him with drugs so he hallucinates his beloved wife being hurt by you!"

(SPACE)

Flashback

"Ou est Alex? Donna esta Alex? Where is Alex?" these phrases were repeated over and over again as the electricity jolted through his body. Just as she kept on demanding, Sayid continued telling her that he had never even heard of the name Alex before.

"I don't know who Alex is!" he yelled again, expecting her to repeat the questions once more.

She did ask him a question, only it was to do with 'who' instead.

"Who is Minta?" Danielle began, approaching him with a needle. "I know she must be someone dear to you as you keep on whispering her name. Is she the woman with you in your photograph? If you love her as much as I love Alex, surely you can understand my wish of finding Alex?"

"Yes, I can understand as I feel the same pain you have in losing Alex as to some extend I have lost Minta." Sayid said kindly, but panic quickly resurfaced when the woman grabbed his arm. "No, whatever is it that you plans to do please do not do it!"

"Will you only tell me where my Alex is if you are undergoing the exact pain as I am?" she yelled as she injected the liquid in.

The first thing Sayid felt was a deep drossiness, he struggled great to even keep his eyelids open, trying to free himself was impossible. Somehow he was lifted and then thrown onto something hard, his feet were left alone but his hands were chained…strapped.

"If this is the only way then I will use it." Danielle hissed.

A figure was lying on the torture rack he had previously occupied. A form in a blue dress with dark hair. Blinking his eyes Sayid tried to focus his distorted vision on the person.

The hair was midnight sky's colour, only slightly curly. As the figure moaned in agony, she…for it was clearly a woman…tossed her head to one side, making her face visible.

The face of his wife was there.

"NO!" Sayid screamed. In his desperation he tried to get up but his hands prevented him from doing so. It was not as if he didn't try, as within a minute his hands were bleeding.

"Danielle, I honestly do not know anything!" he screamed again. He couldn't even bother to try and work out how Danielle managed to get her, her safety was his only thought. "Please don't hurt her. Stop torturing her! She is completely innocent."

"And you are not?" at this crisp remark Danielle pulled the lever further down, causing Minta to scream piercingly. The pain filled voice literally made Sayid shook with sadness, the worse part was that he could do nothing but watch her.

"I am begging you, let her go! Torture me or kill me, but do no hurt her." He only realized that he was crying when the blood on his left hand suddenly became very runny.

At that stage he actually would have strapped himself onto the racket if he could stop Minta's pain that way and he wanted the tortures as it would prevent him from continuing to hear the most horrible sound in the world: Minta's cries of pain.

Suddenly the screaming ceased, and Danielle was crouching beside him.

"Yes, I believe that you really don't know, as you defiantly would have bluttered out the information if you knew anything in regard to it."

(SPACE)

"I do apologize for the first action, it was cruel and inhumane." Danielle admitted. "But Sayid, you are the only one I can trust, that is why I kidnapped your daughter. Even if you are a man who will hold grudges, surely I have redeemed myself by helping you to save your wife."

Turning around, Sayid handed his daughter to Sawyer.

"Please take her back to Minta and tell her why I am doing this." Sayid said simply. "I think Minta will understand.

"You are my friend, Danielle." at this Sayid smiled almost bitterly. "One of my few friends on this island…no, even in my life.

"Beside, my life is full or irony so this one more will not be out of place. I was an torturer and ended up being tortured myself. Despite growing up in an Islamic dominated country with their education I became a strong Christian. I who never got any further level of education past the most basic ones, became a high school teacher. Then my best friend is the man who threatened to harm my wife, whom I tortured.

"So why not?"

Author's Note: For those who have read the previous series might remember that in Part 3, Danielle and Sayid had a conversation about this drug/herb that causes hallucination (basically the thing Locke used on Boone), in it Danielle had mention how Sayid had experienced this drug before and Sayid replied by saying she was the one who used it on him: him seeing Minta being tortured was what happened.

Enjoy and please review!