Author's note: This chapter is a series of short scenes which take place over the course of a few weeks. It is supposed to show how The Other's community works and contrast that with life on the beach. The final scene with Sawyer and Charlie is my favorite in the whole story so far. (But Sawyer's my favorite minor character to write) Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Lauren the Oxymoron and Gniak, you rock!

Chapter 4 Changes

Days ticked on and things started to change for Charlie. It was still hard to pinpoint what had changed. Maybe it was the new levels of comfort he felt when dealing with the "Others" or maybe it was his instant rise to power with his friends. One thing remained hard fast, Claire wasn't speaking to him.

Aside from that, he found himself drifting away from his friends. People had stopped asking him about his day and starting asking for "stuff". Jack was the first and asked for antibiotics. Charlie decided as long as he could afford the time and it was beneficial to the rest of the group, he could try his best. Kate asked for shampoo and her request was denied. Hurley said, "You know what would be cool, a survival guide." It arrived in his tent the next day. Charlie brought Sun some new vegetables to grow in her garden, mostly out of guilt.

Charlie had a theory that would improve life at the camp if he could just get Sawyer to go along with it. He kicked some sand into Sawyer's tent, and stood, arms crossed, "You're coming with me today."

"The hell I am." Sawyer glared.

"There's a hot girl who's kinda slutty and doesn't wear a lot of clothes who will be there."

Sawyer grinned and jumped up. "You ready to go, VH1?" He complained the entire walk and about half way there even Locke was ready to kill him. At the bottom of the Valley, Kevin, the Glassworker of the community met Charlie and shook his hand. Sawyer frowned, "Where's the hot girl?"

Charlie rolled his eyes, "You're getting an eye exam, enjoy." Charlie headed up the hill.

Sawyer stood confused, "You mean I'm getting glasses?"

"Don't blow it!" Charlie called back. He didn't see Sawyer smile or any indication of gratitude. He knew better.

Jacob rubbed his eyes and sighed, "I just don't understand why you would go out of your way from Sawyer. I mean the DEBT alone."

"Look if he's reading, he isn't brothering anyone or stealing guns or harassing Kate and Jack. It's a morale booster for the whole team."

Jacob placed his elbows on his desk, "still. You're going to have to increase your time here."

Charlie understood. Quite frankly, he didn't even mind. He could take on more students as long as he got to spend a few hours with Daniel everyday. He wanted to teach the three year old all of his letters.

"Isn't there anything you want?" Beth stood in the doorway. "You're spending so much on the group but nothing for yourself."

He shrugged, "What I want, you guys can't give me."

It was one of those rare moments when her voice was soothing and kind, "She'll come around."

Jacob grinned, "How is she?"

"I don't know. She's still not speaking to me. But Aaron is getting fussy and drooling a lot."

Jacob nodded, "sounds like he's teething, Beth go stop by Amy's office and get some of that numbing gel before you take Charlie to the work site."

"Work site?" Charlie didn't like the sound of that.

"Yeah, come on." Beth led him through the hallways. "You know you should ask for something…"

"Like a bit of earth?" He chuckled.

"Seriously, Charlie, are you a girl? Little Women AND the Secret Garden."

"You've been stuck on an island your life, I use classic references so you'll get it."

She changed the subject and became serious, "Charlie, you said you wanted to write again, right?"

He shrugged, "So, I'm not getting off the island, it doesn't matter."

"No, but you need hope." She pushed her hair from her face as they walked out of the building through the village to the far end where trees were being cleared. "You're going to start working here, until you pay off everything. Four hours with the kids, teaching music, one hour with Daniel and three hours here." She pointed to fallen trees.

"What am I supposed to do here?"

"Build a house." She stated matter of factly.

"Um, I don't know how."

A third voice, "You won't need to. I'll teach you as we go along."

Charlie spun around, "Michael!" Both men smiled and embraced, Charlie took a step back. Michael was using a cane. "What happened?"

Michael started to scratch his head, "Um, remember how John was teaching me how to shoot?"

"Yeah."

"He neglected to tell me not to shoot my own foot."

Charlie froze, "Are you kidding?"

"I wish I was." The two men chatted. Michael was able to stay in the community as long as he proved himself a valuable member. Ultimately, this was the best place for Walt; there were kids his age and a better education system then on the mainland. Michael could leave whenever he wanted too, but he has to wait until his foot fully healed. Michael asked about Jin and the rest of his friends. Once all the pleasantries were finished Michael laid out his plans for the three bedroom house. Charlie's mind was still trying to figure out how he was going to build it.

He had to tell Jack and he wasn't looking forward to it. Jack never liked the idea of Charlie leaving the group, paying some debt that wasn't even his to pay. Jack definitely didn't like the idea that Charlie would never talk about what happened on the other side of the hill, and his secret knowledge was scaring the hell out of Jack.

"Jack, I don't want you guys walking with me anymore." Charlie couldn't look Jack in the eye.

The doctor's voice was sharp, "why not?"

Charlie couldn't tell Jack the truth. Something was following him in the underbrush. There was a very good chance he could be attacked, or killed along the path. He couldn't tell Jack about how much his skin crawled while he was trekking crossed the grasslands or the "Neutral" zone as Beth had called it. He couldn't tell Jack that Jo had giving him a bowie knife because she had the same feeling in her stomach when she hunted in that direction. He couldn't tell Jack that the survivors needed Jack, Locke, Mr. Echo and Sayid to live on this island. He couldn't tell Jack that his life was useless in the grand scheme of things. No, he wouldn't play the warrior's pain off; instead he was playing the nice guy card. Not sure what you meant by this.

"You guys are busy and you don't need to waste your time trekking though the jungle every day."

"It's no big deal, Charlie." Jack eyed him up.

"Look, all that stuff I bought you, it isn't free and I need to start paying off the debt. I can't do that if I'm worried I'm holding you up. I need the freedom to come and go."

"Whatever, Charlie." Jack wasn't buying it, but Charlie was a grown man and had proven himself to be trustworthy, at least in the past few weeks. The truth was: Jack's biggest fear was Charlie would never comeback. "Here's the deal, we walk you there in the morning but you can come back on your own at night."

Charlie wasn't happy with the agreement but it was the best Jack was going to offer and he accepted.

There was pressure building, tension. The water crashing into the shore, the constant change in weather, people's tempers were shorter then normal. Charlie was isolating himself farther from the group, taking fewer requests for items and the resentfulness started. More pressure.

Pressure: His body was aching, between hatch duty, walking four miles every day, clearing a jungle to build a house and teaching kids the beauty of music, he was being pulled in all directions.

Mostly the pressure was building in his sinus. He was getting an infection, not surprising he used to get them frequently. In fact, he used to know when to pay his rent by them.

He wasn't sleeping but neither was anyone else for that matter, hence all the pressure, tension and bad moods. It was only a matter of time before something gave away. Aaron had spent most of the evenings weeping. Claire had been trying to sooth her child, but it wasn't working.

The last item he had picked up from Jacob's Community was sitting his tent; it was just a matter of working up the nerve to give it to Claire. He was going to give it to her the first night, but he wanted to test the numbing gel first. It worked and he spent the rest of the night drooling.

Now, seemed as good a time as any. He straightened up his "stupid hair" as Beth called it daily. He left his tent and started towards Claire's, but he saw someone had beaten him there.

"CAN'T YOU SHUT THAT BABY UP?" Sawyer screamed in Claire's face. Aaron screamed louder, Claire became flustered and frightened. Sawyer's fist started to lift into the air. Claire flinched. Danger!

Charlie's leg muscle's burned as he sprinted towards Sawyer. He tackled the American with all the force his body had. Charlie started punching furiously into Sawyer's body.

Claire screamed for help. There were other cries, Aaron maybe, but it was a blur of sand, blood and sweat to Charlie. He felt his face explode as Sawyer's fist made contact with his nose. Pairs of arms pulled to two men apart.

Sayid screamed, "Enough!"

"Don't you go near her! What the hell is the matter with you, screaming at a baby?" Charlie bellowed.

"I HAVE'T SLEPT IN THREE NIGHT BECAUSE OF THAT…" Sawyer's eyes madly crazed

"Dude, choose your words carefully." Hurley whispered, as he held back Sawyer.

Sawyer stopped, and saw the glaring eyes from the camp. Kate's eyes stung him the most. He shook Hurley off and headed back towards his tent. He had gone too far and he knew it. Worst of all Charlie was the only one he could get his glasses from, and now that opportunity had passed. "This ain't over, VH1!" But it was an empty threat, he had already lost.

Aaron's screeching wails echoed over the sand and waves. Charlie wanted to reach out to the child, but Claire clung to her baby and shrank away from Charlie, terrified. He pulled into his pocket and turned to Sayid, "Here." He handed him the tube, "you should give this to her. Tell her it for his teeth, it numbs the gums. If you don't believe me, try it yourself, Sayid, but be warned you'll drool." Sayid's lips curled up. "The baby's exhausted. He should fall asleep once the gel kicks in." Charlie walked passed Sayid, towards the water, as fall away from Claire has he could get. He had scared her, once again. He had let her down, would she ever trust him?

He touched his face; warm, thick sticky liquid, coated his lips. Blood. Great, just great. Sawyer was the one who screamed at a baby and his mother and Charlie was going to be the villain.

Forty minutes later, the rest of the camp was fast asleep, except Charlie, his self loathing was keeping him awake. Jack knocked on the tarp in the darkness with his torch to light the way.

"Hey, I brought you some ice and I wanted to check up on your face."

Charlie looked up, his whole face hurt. "Aren't you going to check up on Sawyer?" He asked taking the ice.

"Nah, he can wait until the morning." The two men sat in silence, "Charlie this attack on Sawyer doesn't have anything to do with you not wanting us to walk with you, does it?"

Charlie would have been more confused but his face burned with the ice. "No, unrelated. I didn't almost die for those two, just to have Sawyer hurt them."

"As much as a jerk Sawyer is, I don't think he would have hurt Claire or Aaron, although sometimes I'm not sure."

Charlie pulled the ice from his nose, "It wasn't worth the risk."

They sat in silence for a while. A slow grinned formed on Jack's face, "So, how did it feel?"

"What?"

"To punch him?"

Charlie would have smiled more, "Totally worth the black eye and broken nose."

The next morning, Locke and Mr. Echo walked Charlie to the community. None of them spoke about the incident the night before. Jacob took one look at Charlie and sent him to work on the house. There was no way he was going to work with the kids looking bruised and battered. It was a poor example of a role model. But even Jacob was a little impressed Charlie had taken down Sawyer without a thought to his own safety. Even more so a few days later,when the glasses were finished, Charlie thanked Jacob and took them with him as he walked back alone.

He was always uneasy walking through the "neutral zone" and it often left him in a bad mood when he finally made it to camp. He held the glasses in his hand and stood over Sawyer. Sawyer's face was different shades of purple and a small sense of satisfaction washed over Charlie.

He held out the glasses with his fingers on the lenses, "If you EVER go near her again," he started to squeeze and the frames started to bend. "I'll snap them in half in front of you and you'll have your own "Twilight Zone" moment." Charlie dropped the glasses along with a book, neither made much of a noise when it made impact with the sand.

Sawyer picked up the book and smirked, "Lord of the Flies, huh? You've got quite a sense of humor there."

Charlie turned back around, "Yeah, I'm a funny guy."

Sawyer stood and cleared his throat, "You know Anna Lucia thinks its hysterical you sucker punched me last night."

Charlie was about to argue about the attack, but Sawyer started to talk again. "She thinks it's funny a wussy Brit like yourself could take me on."

Anger was building in Charlie; how dare Sawyer insult him.

"But that's because she doesn't know." Sawyer continued, "She doesn't know someone hung you from a tree and you lived, or that you kicked a heroin habit or that you killed Ethan because there was the potential he could come back and hurt Claire and the baby. Or that you ran into the jungle to save Aaron from the Crazy French chick and ended up with a massive scar on your face. She doesn't know you're the second toughest guy here."

Charlie didn't speak, but stared at Sawyer. Was this him saying sorry? Or that he respected Charlie?

A devilish smirk crossed Sawyer's face, "I don't mind that you punched me, but if it happens again, I'll kill you."

Charlie nodded, "Enjoy the reading."

Sawyer wiped the smudge off the book and placed the glasses on his face as he started to read.