Hopes & Dreams - CC - Oneshot
Title::..Hopes & Dreams
Reality::..Lost - season 1, Exodus: Part 1
Spoilers::..Exodus
Rating::..G
Genre::..Drama
Characters::..Charlie & Claire
Pairing::..CC
Summary::..Charlie goes to Claire with what he thinks is a brilliant idea but her reaction to the messages in a bottle is not at all what he expected.
Charlie had to admit that he was pretty proud of himself. This messages in a bottle idea had to be by far one of the smartest ideas he’d ever had. It was long over-due according to him, which was probably why he was so excited over it.
Even though he thought it was a great idea he wasn’t sure that everyone else would agree. Just to be safe he thought that he should run the idea past Claire first. Claire was smart, she was knew what the people would like.
He was safe once she gave him the all clear. If she didn’t approve then he’d abandon the idea, Claire was the only one he could stand to be shot-down by.
He proudly carried the empty wine bottle over to where Claire sat in her tent. She was sitting beside the cradle, rocking her son lightly. She didn’t appear to be doing much, so hopefully she was in the mood to listen.
“Hey Claire.” He greeted brightly.
She looked up giving him a tired looking smile - he wasn’t sure if she’d slept since the baby’s birth. “Hi Charlie, what’s up?”
He furrowed his brow at her. “Is anything the matter?”
She shrugged. “Nah, I’m just tired & a little over everything, but please, come, sit & take my mind off of it.”
He crossed the tent floor & sat down beside her on the bed. “Well I just had a great idea, you wanna hear it?”
“Why not?” She replied in a carefree sort of way.
He turned around crossing his legs between them as he faced her. “So I found this bottle, right & I figure we could put little messages in it, you know, stuff like ‘hi Mum, I’m alright, still on the bloody island’ & stuff like that.”
“Yeah.” She nodded showing him that she could follow what he was saying.
“Then when everyone’s written their lovely messages I give this to one of the guys on the raft & then they give it to whoever when they get rescued & our loved ones can be reassured.” He explained before he grinned. “Great idea, huh?” She hesitated & at once he knew something was wrong, she didn’t think it was a good idea - he could tell. He raised his eyebrows. “You don’t approve.”
She hesitated still, biting into her bottom lip. “No…not really.”
“Why not?” He asked.
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea. I mean, I’m sorry but I don’t think that it would work. How would whoever gets the bottle know which message goes to who?” She replied before she shrugged. “I don’t get it, how is it gonna help anyone?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t really think about the technical side, I just figured that it would be good to give everyone a little bit of hope.”
“Yeah but Charlie if you have no idea what’s gonna happen to the bottle then it’s pretty much false hope.” She stated.
Charlie furrowed his brow carefully at her. “Jeez Claire, what’s up your nose?”
“You asked my opinion & I gave it to you.” She stated getting testy. “You could’ve told me to lie if you didn’t want to hear what I really thought.”
“I think I’m just gonna go, clearly you’re not in the mood for company.” He told her as he got up.
“Goodbye then.” She shrugged.
He shook his head silently to himself as he left down the beach.
He didn’t really have anywhere to go. Almost as soon as he’d started storming off he slowed down again. Claire’s tent was also his tent. So he didn’t have a spot where he could tromp off to & brood away in that was just his.
But anything was better than being around Claire when she was being snippy. He sped up again; it didn’t really matter where he went. As long as it was away from Claire he was satisfied.
xXx
Claire was annoyed with Charlie. He didn’t get it, so she figured that she had every right to be pissed at him. He just didn’t get it & she couldn’t ignore that.
Well of course he didn’t get it, she’d never told him anything about her past life - the life that was still playing itself out in the real world. Outside of this snow globe.
So how could he get it if she’d never offered any of it to him?
She felt guilty but only a little. She couldn’t help that her emotions were all over the place at the moment & he had touched on a soft spot.
She was just losing sleep. Maybe if she had a nap she’d feel a little better. She might even be able to go over to Charlie & apologize for her snippiness.
But not right now. She was much too tired & grumpy right now.
Her son was sleeping, so she should be sleeping as well. There was no telling when he would wake up. She at least wanted to get some sleep before he woke up screaming.
With a sigh she lowered herself down onto the bed. She was all set, ready to drift off into a pleasant sleep.
But five minutes after she’d lain down she found herself not in the slightest bit relaxed.
Her mind was racing; she couldn’t just stop & relax. It was running a marathon through every thought that it could get its hands on.
It didn’t take her very long to realize that she wasn’t sleepy at all.
Even though Charlie hadn’t asked her to put in a message & he’d probably abandoned the idea by now. But that was all she could think about.
All she could think about was what she’d put in her message. Who would she write to in the first place? Would anyone actually care?
She lifted herself up off the bed. Why would she write a message? No one would care, read it or take any notice of it. So was there a point? Did she need to waste paper over something so pointless?
Despite all of this she found herself pulling a spare notebook she had found in the wreckage toward her. She didn’t even realize what she was doing until she had un-clipped her pen from her diary. She paused, looked at the pen in her hand & then down to the notepad in her lap.
What the hell was she doing? This was so dumb. No one was going to read it.
She thought of putting the notepad & pen away. She thought of not even bothering, it was a dumb idea.
But she flipped the pad open & took the cap off of her pen.
‘Dear Mum’ she wrote before she paused & drew a line through it. Her mum wouldn’t be able to read this. Her mum was probably still hooked up to the life-support machines. Even if she were off the life-support machines would she care? Claire & her mum had never seen eye-to-eye over anything so Claire had no idea what was going through her mum’s head. She might even be pissed at Claire - her mum might think that Claire had abandoned her or some crap like that.
After tapping the pen on the pages for a few moments Claire turned the pen on its head & began to write again.
‘To whomever it may concern’ she wrote before she paused & smiled proudly. Yeah, that was a much nicer beginning.
It was simple & it wasn’t specific. It said ‘I don’t really care who gets this’ & ‘just in case you wanted to know: Claire Littleton is still alive’.
She nodded, it worked - she liked it.
Smiling proudly to herself she continued to write.
xXx
Charlie was standing out on the beach collecting messages for the bottle. He had just finished stuffing Shannon’s message in when Claire approached him. She had Turnip Head in her arms as she smiled shyly to him when she saw that she had caught his eye.
“Hey.” He said a little nervous at being around her - he didn’t want to really know if she still wasn’t gone on the messages in a bottle.
“Hi.” She replied stopping in front of him. “I’ve got something for you.”
His eyebrows rose. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” She replied pulling a small rolled up piece of paper from out of Turnip Head’s blankets. “It’s my message for the bottle.”
“Really?” He asked taking it carefully from her, a little worried that she’d suddenly turn & snap at him.
“I was wrong.” She stated as he stuffed the paper into the bottle. “& I’m sorry that I was such a jerk about it.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “That’s alright Claire, no harm done.”
“Really?” She asked hopefully.
“Yeah.” He nodded.
“Good.” She said as she breathed a sigh of relief. “Look around at all these people Charlie, they’re all smiling & laughing. They’re happy. You did that, you & your bottle gave them hope.”
He paused looking at her carefully. “I thought you said it was false hope.”
“Look at their faces.” She told him. “It doesn’t matter if it’s false hope or not, this is the best idea that you’ve ever had.”
The End.
Reality::..Lost - season 1, Exodus: Part 1
Spoilers::..Exodus
Rating::..G
Genre::..Drama
Characters::..Charlie & Claire
Pairing::..CC
Summary::..Charlie goes to Claire with what he thinks is a brilliant idea but her reaction to the messages in a bottle is not at all what he expected.
Charlie had to admit that he was pretty proud of himself. This messages in a bottle idea had to be by far one of the smartest ideas he’d ever had. It was long over-due according to him, which was probably why he was so excited over it.
Even though he thought it was a great idea he wasn’t sure that everyone else would agree. Just to be safe he thought that he should run the idea past Claire first. Claire was smart, she was knew what the people would like.
He was safe once she gave him the all clear. If she didn’t approve then he’d abandon the idea, Claire was the only one he could stand to be shot-down by.
He proudly carried the empty wine bottle over to where Claire sat in her tent. She was sitting beside the cradle, rocking her son lightly. She didn’t appear to be doing much, so hopefully she was in the mood to listen.
“Hey Claire.” He greeted brightly.
She looked up giving him a tired looking smile - he wasn’t sure if she’d slept since the baby’s birth. “Hi Charlie, what’s up?”
He furrowed his brow at her. “Is anything the matter?”
She shrugged. “Nah, I’m just tired & a little over everything, but please, come, sit & take my mind off of it.”
He crossed the tent floor & sat down beside her on the bed. “Well I just had a great idea, you wanna hear it?”
“Why not?” She replied in a carefree sort of way.
He turned around crossing his legs between them as he faced her. “So I found this bottle, right & I figure we could put little messages in it, you know, stuff like ‘hi Mum, I’m alright, still on the bloody island’ & stuff like that.”
“Yeah.” She nodded showing him that she could follow what he was saying.
“Then when everyone’s written their lovely messages I give this to one of the guys on the raft & then they give it to whoever when they get rescued & our loved ones can be reassured.” He explained before he grinned. “Great idea, huh?” She hesitated & at once he knew something was wrong, she didn’t think it was a good idea - he could tell. He raised his eyebrows. “You don’t approve.”
She hesitated still, biting into her bottom lip. “No…not really.”
“Why not?” He asked.
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea. I mean, I’m sorry but I don’t think that it would work. How would whoever gets the bottle know which message goes to who?” She replied before she shrugged. “I don’t get it, how is it gonna help anyone?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t really think about the technical side, I just figured that it would be good to give everyone a little bit of hope.”
“Yeah but Charlie if you have no idea what’s gonna happen to the bottle then it’s pretty much false hope.” She stated.
Charlie furrowed his brow carefully at her. “Jeez Claire, what’s up your nose?”
“You asked my opinion & I gave it to you.” She stated getting testy. “You could’ve told me to lie if you didn’t want to hear what I really thought.”
“I think I’m just gonna go, clearly you’re not in the mood for company.” He told her as he got up.
“Goodbye then.” She shrugged.
He shook his head silently to himself as he left down the beach.
He didn’t really have anywhere to go. Almost as soon as he’d started storming off he slowed down again. Claire’s tent was also his tent. So he didn’t have a spot where he could tromp off to & brood away in that was just his.
But anything was better than being around Claire when she was being snippy. He sped up again; it didn’t really matter where he went. As long as it was away from Claire he was satisfied.
xXx
Claire was annoyed with Charlie. He didn’t get it, so she figured that she had every right to be pissed at him. He just didn’t get it & she couldn’t ignore that.
Well of course he didn’t get it, she’d never told him anything about her past life - the life that was still playing itself out in the real world. Outside of this snow globe.
So how could he get it if she’d never offered any of it to him?
She felt guilty but only a little. She couldn’t help that her emotions were all over the place at the moment & he had touched on a soft spot.
She was just losing sleep. Maybe if she had a nap she’d feel a little better. She might even be able to go over to Charlie & apologize for her snippiness.
But not right now. She was much too tired & grumpy right now.
Her son was sleeping, so she should be sleeping as well. There was no telling when he would wake up. She at least wanted to get some sleep before he woke up screaming.
With a sigh she lowered herself down onto the bed. She was all set, ready to drift off into a pleasant sleep.
But five minutes after she’d lain down she found herself not in the slightest bit relaxed.
Her mind was racing; she couldn’t just stop & relax. It was running a marathon through every thought that it could get its hands on.
It didn’t take her very long to realize that she wasn’t sleepy at all.
Even though Charlie hadn’t asked her to put in a message & he’d probably abandoned the idea by now. But that was all she could think about.
All she could think about was what she’d put in her message. Who would she write to in the first place? Would anyone actually care?
She lifted herself up off the bed. Why would she write a message? No one would care, read it or take any notice of it. So was there a point? Did she need to waste paper over something so pointless?
Despite all of this she found herself pulling a spare notebook she had found in the wreckage toward her. She didn’t even realize what she was doing until she had un-clipped her pen from her diary. She paused, looked at the pen in her hand & then down to the notepad in her lap.
What the hell was she doing? This was so dumb. No one was going to read it.
She thought of putting the notepad & pen away. She thought of not even bothering, it was a dumb idea.
But she flipped the pad open & took the cap off of her pen.
‘Dear Mum’ she wrote before she paused & drew a line through it. Her mum wouldn’t be able to read this. Her mum was probably still hooked up to the life-support machines. Even if she were off the life-support machines would she care? Claire & her mum had never seen eye-to-eye over anything so Claire had no idea what was going through her mum’s head. She might even be pissed at Claire - her mum might think that Claire had abandoned her or some crap like that.
After tapping the pen on the pages for a few moments Claire turned the pen on its head & began to write again.
‘To whomever it may concern’ she wrote before she paused & smiled proudly. Yeah, that was a much nicer beginning.
It was simple & it wasn’t specific. It said ‘I don’t really care who gets this’ & ‘just in case you wanted to know: Claire Littleton is still alive’.
She nodded, it worked - she liked it.
Smiling proudly to herself she continued to write.
xXx
Charlie was standing out on the beach collecting messages for the bottle. He had just finished stuffing Shannon’s message in when Claire approached him. She had Turnip Head in her arms as she smiled shyly to him when she saw that she had caught his eye.
“Hey.” He said a little nervous at being around her - he didn’t want to really know if she still wasn’t gone on the messages in a bottle.
“Hi.” She replied stopping in front of him. “I’ve got something for you.”
His eyebrows rose. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” She replied pulling a small rolled up piece of paper from out of Turnip Head’s blankets. “It’s my message for the bottle.”
“Really?” He asked taking it carefully from her, a little worried that she’d suddenly turn & snap at him.
“I was wrong.” She stated as he stuffed the paper into the bottle. “& I’m sorry that I was such a jerk about it.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “That’s alright Claire, no harm done.”
“Really?” She asked hopefully.
“Yeah.” He nodded.
“Good.” She said as she breathed a sigh of relief. “Look around at all these people Charlie, they’re all smiling & laughing. They’re happy. You did that, you & your bottle gave them hope.”
He paused looking at her carefully. “I thought you said it was false hope.”
“Look at their faces.” She told him. “It doesn’t matter if it’s false hope or not, this is the best idea that you’ve ever had.”
The End.