Amidst all the drama concerning hydrogen bombs and Hostiles vs. Others and total evacuation, one little girl found time to play on her favorite swing. Her mother had seemed distracted all day and she was tired of being ignored. Maybe if she played outstide, someone would see her and talk to her. She wasn't however, expecting a strange man to come over to talk with her.
"Hello. Are you Charlotte?" asks the man with the beard and tie.
"Yes I am. Who are you?"
"I'm Daniel. Daniel Faraday. Listen, you need to get off the Island, understand? You need to leave and never ever come back here. It's not safe," he pleads with her.
She has no idea what he wass talking about, but she didn't like it. It made her scared. Mother had always told her that if someone was bothering you, you should hit them and try to get away. Tears well up in her eyes as she debates what to do.
"Please, Charlotte, tell me that you understand," he begs.
In a choked up voice she answers, "No. I don't!" Tears begin streaming down her face.
He lets out a sigh and unthinkingly takes her hand, trying to sooth her as he did when they were both adults.
"Stop! Leave me alone! You're a bad man!" she yells, recoiling her hand from him.
"I'm sorry! I'm just trying to keep you safe," Dan desparately tries to explain.
"From what?" She may still be afraid, but she's still curious enough to ask.
"I-I can't tell you. It's to complicated. You just really need to trust me, ok sweetie?"
Charlotte's five year old mind tried to process what she's being told. To blindly trust someone's vague wishes seems silly to her, even though she is very young. She doens't understand what this stranger is trying to tell her, but she feels like she needs to trust him. She nods her head as fresh tears fall from her eyes.
"Here," he says, holding out a handkerchief to her, "To wipe your eyes."
Charlotte mutters a soft thank you before using it and tries to hand it back to him. She always was polite, English mother and all that. He tells her to keep, and he makes a move to get up.
"I have to go now." He dusts off his pants and begins to walk away.
"Will I ever see you again, Daniel?" she asks.
For a second, he pictures that it's adult Charlotte asking him the same question as she lay dying in his arms, some time in the future. He is careful about how he answers: "Maybe."
He holds back a sob as he sees her give a small wave to him when he looks back at her, one last time and sees her tuck the blue handkerchief into her dress pocket. He wonders if she notices that his initials are on it and how long she'll keep it for. Dan knows he needs to man up and walks determinedly into the jungle so he can go set off an atomic bomb to save the world.