A/N: Hello again everyone! Sorry this took six months to get done, it's been pretty crazy. I promised myself I would get this out after the finale, so here it is. I hoped everyone liked the finale as much as I did, I also liked seeing a bit of Charlotte/Daniel this past while too :) So anyways here it is, Chapter 5!
[Disclaimer: I do not own Lost, or any of it's awesome characters]
Chapter 5- It Could Be Forever
Charlotte kept watching until the Zodiac was out of sight, still she stood there for another minute until she saw everyone else had left. Seeing as she was already packed, she headed towards the kitchen. At the kitchen, she opened her pack and pulled out the Hydra collar, one of the reasons she's here. She ran her finger over the dull surface and wondered to herself if this was the DHARMA Island. She was so transfixed that she didn't notice Miles behind her.
"What's that?" Miles questioned, his usual smirk on his face.
"It's none of your bloody business." Charlotte replied quickly, shoving the collar in her bag. She shot him a quick glare and he just walked off, probably out to eat some food. To take her mind off of where Dan was, she started to reorganize her bag and pack a bit of food. Miles was eating some peanuts, and a lady carrying a bowl of fruit noticed (Charlotte remembered her as the one her and Dan were arguing with before).
"Uh who told you you could eat those peanuts?" She asked cautiously.
"May-may I eat these peanuts?" Miles replied, shaking the can.
"I'm gonna keep my eye on you, shorty." She replied shaking a finger at him. And Miles sat there defiantly and continued to eat the peanuts. She then heard Daniel's voice, and Charlotte quickly composed herself. "Dan, you're back." She said, happy her voice was nonchalant, then she noticed the concern written on his face. "What's wrong?"
"I'm leaving in 10 minutes, taking the next group of people to the freighter. You need to make sure that you're with me on that raft, all right?" Daniel said, glancing at both Charlotte and Miles and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.
"Don't worry about me cause I'm gonna stay." Miles replied.
"Miles, no, I-I don't think I'm getting across the direness of the circumstance." Daniel pleaded. Charlotte shot Miles a confused glance, Why the hell does he want to stay? she thought.
"No, no. You're very dire. But I'm still gonna stay." Miles said, walking off. Charlotte looked after him, still a puzzled look on her face until Daniel turned to her.
"Hey, ten minutes." He told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Charlotte nodded and replied with a "Yep." As Dan walked away, Charlotte picked up her bag and was going to follow him but Miles spoke to her.
"I'm surprised you want to leave."
"Sorry?" She replied, giving him a puzzled look. Miles shook his head.
"It's just weird you know, after all that time you spent trying to get back here."
"What do you mean Get back here?"
"What do I mean?" Miles replied, giving her a wry smirk before walking off. Everything clicked together in Charlotte's mind; she couldn't leave until she found out if this was the place. Now she knows that she would have to say goodbye to Daniel. She wondered why they were always separated; this was not going to be an easy goodbye for either of them.
It was supposed to be exciting going to the Island, but not like this Charlotte thought. It was chaos; the controls frantically beeping, the wind and rain whipping the chopper, the crack of lightning frighteningly close and the booms of thunder overhead. Frank keeps hollering at them to get out of the chopper. Charlotte frantically searched for her bullet-proof vest yelling at Miles if he has seen it. How could I forget something so important!
"Check under your seat!"
"I already did!" They were running out of time now. Miles tossed her his vest and she quickly put it on. Looking over, she saw Miles push Daniel out the door. She paused for a moment and was relieved when she saw his parachute had opened. A minute after that, Miles bailed out into the storm, Charlotte was still doing up her chute when Frank hollered at her.
"Charlotte you need to get out now! We're going down-" Charlotte took a deep breath before diving into the darkness, her parachute opened perfectly. Darkness surrounded her and she couldn't see anything, so it caught her off guard when she made contact with a tree. For hours she hung upside-down, her chute tangled in the branches of a tree. What the bloody hell am I supposed to do? Looking down to the water, she saw there was only one way out. She pulled the release cord and did a half-back, landing feet first into the cool water. When she emerged and pulled off her helmet, she was overcome by joy. It took her so long to get here, she thought as she turned around to take in the beauty....until there was a rustling in the bushes. There was no time to take out her gun, and then a group of about 12 emerged.
"H-hi." Charlotte said quietly, shuddering from the chilly waters.
"Hi yourself." Said a bald guy Charlotte presumed was their leader. They brought her to shore and she sat on a rock in the jungle to take a little rest.
There's definitely something up with these survivors, they were awfully quiet for people waiting ninety days for rescue...
"I can't believe you're alive. How many of you are there?" Charlotte asked the group. They were awfully quiet for people waiting ninety days for rescue.
"Why do you want to know?" Asked this bigger bloke in a red shirt.
"Why wouldn't I wanna know?" Their silence was starting to bother her now and she began to wonder what was going on with them.
"Forty-eight of us survived the crash. That's not counting the tail section, they're pretty much all dead now..."
"Hugo." Interrupted their bald leader; giving Hugo a stern look.
"So you've been living here this entire time?" Charlotte asked and again it went unanswered. She smiled slightly at a young blond woman holding a baby in her arms. "Is that your baby?"
"Yeah, this is Aaron." The girl replied in an Australian accent.
"Did you have him here on the Island?"
"Mm-hmm." The girl nodded and Charlotte looked to see wary looks from the survivors. "That's amazing. Well I've got a million more questions I want to ask you, but they can wait until we get you back to the freighter. We've all got these transponders, so if you sit tight they're gonna be here soon ok?" Charlotte smoothly lied; they weren't here to rescue them and she felt a little bad for giving them false hope. The team was there to remove Linus, but Charlotte had a different agenda.
"This team of yours; how many of you are there?" The leader inquired. Charlotte looked at her feet for a moment then answered, "Four, including me."
"What happened to your helicopter?"
"I don't know. The pilot was trying to put it down."
"Where?" He persisted; this slap head was getting on her nerves.
"I don't know." Charlotte repeated, "I had to jump, it was chaos." Everyone looked distrustful. "I'm lucky to be alive." The bald leader stood up, and instructed her to get up and go with them.
"Wha...Why? We need to stay here so they can find us."
"See there's your problem; we don't want to be found." Charlotte's smile faded and he took her transponder and tied it to the dog that ran into the jungle. As Charlotte walked she wondered where Daniel was on this Island and hoped nothing terrible has happened to him, like finding a worse group then this. Her thoughts were interrupted by a flare and she felt a wave of relief thinking her team was okay. "That's them, that's someone from my team." She turned to see worried expressions.
"What's wrong with you people? We're here because of you. I just almost died jumping out of a helicopter because you called for us for help. She said annoyed by these strange people.
"Maybe we should go see who launched that flare." The big bloke Hugo said.
"Yeah, I mean they could be hurt John." the blonde mother said.
"She's lying." John stated. "Whatever they came for, isn't us. We keep moving forward as planned."
"Sure. Who are we to argue with Taller Ghost Walt." a man with a southern drawl said sarcastically.
"You know what; you people do whatever you want." Charlotte said turning around.
"I want you to come with us." John said forcefully.
"I'm not asking for permission. And if you think you're going to bloody well stop me from getting to my..." Charlotte was cut off as a gun fired and next thing she knows, she hits the ground and her vision fades to black. A minute later she opens her eyes and gasps for air. "The vest."
"What?" John looked at her, confused.
"Vest!" She gasps again and he unzips her jacket to reveal Miles' bullet-proof vest. Charlotte continued to gasp as John pulled her up and she sat on a rock. After a few minutes, she managed to shake off the pain and caught her breath. She thought, well hoped Daniel had found nicer people then these.
"You okay?" John asked.
"I feel like I've got a cinder block on my chest, but I'll survive"
"I'm sorry you got shot. I didn't intend for that to happen."
"Really? It seemed like you were about to shoot me yourself."
"What good would you be to me dead?" The nerve of this bald bloke! She thought.
"I feel much more comfortable now. Thanks." Charlotte muttered sarcastically, and then frowned as he walked over to Benjamin Linus. Linus was the one they were actually looking for, and he was the one that pulled the trigger that tried to put two bullets in her chest.
"Her name is Charlotte Lewis." Ben said and everyone turned and looked. "Charlotte Staples Lewis." And he continued to list; her family, her schooling, her life. She looked down and realized how powerful Linus is. After that situation died down, they continued on to wherever they were going. Eventually they came across a familiar place. With bright yellow houses and swing sets, it all came back to Charlotte as home. A few hours later she sees a familiar face approach the camp, Miles. Before she said could say anything Miles got there first.
"Dan's okay, he's with Frank over where the chopper landed." Charlotte let out a relieved sigh in her head. "Landed? I thought it crashed."
"I don't know how he did it. He also said he would take some of these yahoos off the Island if we brought you back." They both looked over to see the Arab guy who came with Miles engaged in a quiet conversation with John. Then they came over, John tied up Miles' hands.
"What the hell are you doing?" An angry and struggling Miles shouted as he was dragged away.
The Arab guy, who introduced himself as Sayid, whisked her away from the barracks. After an hour's quiet walk she saw the chopper after going over the last little hill.
"What happened to Miles?" Frank asked as they approached.
"I traded him." Sayid replied.
"Traded him?"
"I promised you Charlotte, here she is." Charlotte shrugged his hand off her shoulder.
"You cheated."
"Did I?"
"Yes you did, lucky for you that guy's nothing but a pain in my ass." Charlotte finally walked over toward Daniel who was a few feet away.
"Hey." He said putting an arm around her shoulder. "You alright?"
"Yeah." Charlotte smiled, she was certainly glad he was okay too. Charlotte turned down a seat on the chopper; it's way too soon to leave. And she wasn't surprised when Daniel turned down a seat and offered to stay with her. She was glad they could stick together for whatever mad adventure that lays ahead of them.
Charlotte knew this was going to be difficult, for the both of them. She had unintentionally grown so close to him in this short time. How am I going to explain all of this to him? She thought as she sat by the shore. She took a long deep breath before rising to her feet and heading over to where she saw Daniel packing his bag.
"Hey, Charlotte!" He called out to her, and the butterflies in her stomach rapidly multiplied as her mind numbed for a moment. She regained her composure by the time she got up to him.
"Listen, I wanted to say before you get on the boat, please..." But Charlotte quickly cut him off; she needed to tell him now.
"I'm going to stay Daniel, for now anyways." Charlotte sighed, looking up at his worried face.
"Charlotte." He breathed, "There is no more for now. If you don't come with me, 'for now' could be forever." Daniel continued sadly, the look in his eyes said it all.
"Nothing's forever." Charlotte raised her eyebrows for a second.
"Why?" More sorrow evident in his voice. Charlotte took another deep breath before expanding.
"Would it make any sense if I told you I was still looking for where I was born?" Charlotte explained simply, even though they were close she didn't want to reveal too much. Dan gave her a cute nervous chuckle before answering, "N-no." They both laughed a little awkwardly for a moment and Charlotte pushed her hair back. Before she lost the chance, she leaned forward and kissed him softly on the cheek. She put her hand on his cheek and he stroked her hair for a second, the delicate moment broken when Charlotte stepped back.
"Goodbye Daniel." Charlotte said quietly, giving him one last smile before turning away. Daniel watched her leave, then turned and stumbled down the beach, distraught.
(Right, right....when I get back.)
Her eyes shiny, Charlotte went back to their tent for a minute and blinked back a few tears. She secretly detested goodbyes, which was why she preferred not doing them. But for Daniel, she felt like she had to. After a few more minutes, Charlotte left the tent to get some water. She heard a rumbling boom in the distance and she looked over towards the ocean. She felt her heart ache when she saw a pillar of black smoke from where the Kahana used to be.
A/N 2: Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing. Sorry lots is dialogue, it gets much better soon. I'm writing chapter 8 currently, but unfortunately I might be able to only get one typed out and posted in the next few months due to exams and going to Nova Scotia. Also I would like opinions on whether or not I should post my other three Charladay oneshots, anyone interested? Anyways thanks for reading, Namaste :)
Reviews are love!