A/N: Here is chapter 2, sorry it took so long but I've been very busy with work and volunteering. I hope you enjoy it, please read and review! Oh and this chapter is for my awesome beta LittleMissBones.
Disclaimer: I do not own Lost, if I did Charlotte and Dan would still be alive and they would have already kissed :D
Chapter 2: Wanna Play a Game?
The next morning was the first morning Charlotte slept in since she arrived on the Island 9 days ago. When she awoke, it took a few moments to realize what has all happened.
Daniel.....medical station......Korean guy..........hurt Daniel....crying....mango....Daniel......Daniel??
Just then, Daniel stirred beside her. "Morning, Dan." She smiled as he blinked a few times, slowly waking up.
"Hey Char, are you okay?" he asked groggily.
"I'm fine now." she replied, she was always fine when Dan was beside her. "Let's go grab some breakfast, yeah?" They both got up, a little embarrassed but they both didn't mind as they were used to it. People still stared at them, and this still bothered Charlotte immensely. They heard faint whispering; most of it was about her. Charlotte wanted to go tell them off, but Dan put a hand on her shoulder. He was really good at reading her mind.
"Don't worry about them, okay?" Charlotte shrugged him off. She then pulled him away from the kitchen to talk to him privately.
"They hate me Dan! Why, why do they hate me?" she whispered fiercely.
"Charlotte....." he sighed. "I've already told you before, it's your attitude. That's why they don't trust us."
Charlotte was about to hit Dan, but stopped. Everyone was watching out of the corner of their eyes, looking away hastily when she shifted her gaze towards them. Not now Charlotte, she thought. Instead, she turned her back to him and walked over to the edge of the jungle---she needed some time alone to think about what is happening. After a while, Miles came over and sat down next to her.
"What's going on with you and Twitchy?" Charlotte shot him an evil glance. "What?? How could you guys fight when you know he-" he was cut off as Charlotte punched him hard in the face.
"OW! What the hell was that for?" he yelled, putting a hand over where she can see a faint bruise appearing. "For being a pain in the ass. And stay out of my business!" Charlotte said coldly, and he walked off. Why can't people leave me alone?
After a while, Charlotte was almost calm as she was transfixed by the rolling waves. She didn't even notice when Daniel came and sat next to her. When she realized he was there, she almost jumped.
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He started. "Look, I'm umm...sorry about before. What I meant to say-"
"It's okay." Charlotte whispered, still looking at the waves. "It was my fault, I overreacted."
"Uh, was it you who punched Miles? I walked by him a while ago and he had a bruise on his face." Daniel asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, that was me. I've always wanted to do that, it felt good." Charlotte smiled and she looked over to see Dan was smiling too.
"Me too. Ever since I got on that boat." They both sat there watching the waves until Charlotte broke the silence.
"Want to play a game? We can work on your memory again." She said, looking enthusiastically at him.
"Sure, do you have the cards?" he asked. Maybe I'll be a little bit better, he thought.
"Yes, they're in the tent. Can you meet me over at the table?" she replied and started walking back towards their tent.
"Okay, I'll see you soon." Dan responded and he headed off in the other direction to the table where they usually played their card game. By then, the sun was already starting to set and nightfall will be here soon.
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It was nighttime on the Kahana, and all but two were asleep. Charlotte looked across the hallway to see another light was on. She was bored out of her mind, so she mustered up the courage to go and knock on his door. She went up and knocked softly, she was about to turn around when the door slowly opened.
"Charlotte?" Daniel said softly. "Wha-what are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry Daniel; I didn't mean to wake you." She said, when she looked up she saw he was wide awake too.
"Uhhh I was already...awake." he replied. "Couldn't sleep?"
"No, I was just thinking. What about you?" There was a long pause before Dan replied to her question.
"Uhhh....yeah, same here." He said slowly, looking at her in confusion.
"Can I come in, if that's okay?" Charlotte said, hoping maybe she can have a little bit of company. Daniel opened the door a little wider.
"Sure, maybe we can talk." Daniel said. "Maybe I would feel a little better with some company". He muttered.
Charlotte sat down at the end of Daniel's bunk and he closed the door quietly and followed suit. There was an awkward silence until Charlotte broke it.
So why are you going to the Island?" Charlotte asked hesitantly. "I'm going to do some research."
"Y-you really want to know? Just don't tell anyone." Daniel looked up and stared into Charlotte's bright blue eyes. Charlotte immediately nodded, who would she tell? She could see the pain in his brown eyes and understood the seriousness.
Th-there....was an accident. And someone got hurt." He started. Charlotte wanted to ask him Did this happen at Oxford? I thought I heard about something to do with a physics professor, but she didn't want to interrupt him. Her thoughts were put on hold as he continued.
"Back when I used to teach at Oxford, I used to do experiments. I experimented with time travel; I started on Eloise, my rat. It worked but then she died of a brain aneurysm. I didn't think it would have an effect on humans. So Theresa, my lab assistant..." He rambled on, but intentionally left out she was his girlfriend. "She volunteered after I tried the device on myself a few times. I-I didn't know the long term effects would have any influence on us. I didn't...I didn't think anything would happen, until one day I found her laying on the ground. She started showing effects of temporal displacement, she told me she was fine...b-but she got worse, she was unstuck in time. She continued to deteriorate until she couldn't even care for herself. Once Oxford found out, they gave me the boot so I fled to Essex, Massachusetts. The experiments wrecked havoc with my memory too, I-I had to have a caretaker because I couldn't remember the simplest things." He looked up at Charlotte with teary eyes. She simply looked at him and he knew she understood. He sighed and continued.
"A man, Charles Widmore told me to go there; to the Island...h-he told me the Island will heal me. I didn't believe him until my mother told me to go, she..." he choked.
"Sh-she said....she would be proud of me." He whispered and let out a small sob, and Charlotte immediately wrapped her arms around him.
"That was an accident Dan; you didn't mean to hurt her. And don't worry, the Island will heal you." It slipped out before she could stop herself.
"Y-you really think so?" he looked up at her. Her response was a simple nod.
"You said you had memory problems?" she asked.
"Yeah, the experiment screwed up my memory." Dan replied. Charlotte nodded before asking him another question.
"Want to play a game?" she asked with a bright smile on her face.
"Wha-what kind of game?" he asked, slightly confused.
"A memory game, to help you." She answered. "How about I show you a few cards and you try to remember them over a period of time. What do you say?"
"Sure, and...thanks Charlotte. For listening…and helping me." He looked over at her with sincere eyes. "Okay, let's start."
Charlotte smiled as she laid down the first three playing cards.
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After retrieving the playing cards from their tent, she headed over to their table where she joined Dan. She sat down quietly and neither of them spoke for a moment. Charlotte laid down three cards; a four of spades, eight of clubs and queen of hearts. She let Dan look at them for a minute.
"Okay, time's up." Charlotte said, flipping the cards over to reveal the DHARMA symbols on the back. After that they sat in comfortable silence. The minutes went by quickly, and soon the 10 minutes was up.
"Time. Okay, what do you remember?" Charlotte said. She can remember, but could he?
"Uhhh, there's a four of spades. An eight...of umm, clubs?" He paused and frowned, trying desperately to remember that final card. After a moment, his face lit up.
"The.....queen of hearts." He looked anxiously as she flipped over all three cards.
"You got them all right! A four of spades, eight of clubs and queen of hearts." She looked over at him with a bright smile. Her eyes met his warm, brown ones and he returned her smile. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she lost the nerve to say it, they heard a familiar whirring sound.
"I-It's the chopper!" Dan muttered. He was almost as shocked as Charlotte was. It's Keamy, he thought. He's going to torch the Island. His jumbled thoughts were interrupted as he heard a crash. He and Charlotte looked over and saw Jack, who was holding a bag.
"This can't be good." Dan said as they began to walk over to see what was going on.
A/N 2: Okay I have a big question that will decide the ending of the story: Do you want an angsty ending or a happy AU ending? The happy one will be a chapter longer. Thank you so much for reading and please review with the answer to the question. Namaste!