Fight for You Part 01

Dec 18, 2007 10:19




Title: Fight for You 1/7
Rating: PG/PG-13
Genre: angst, action/adventure, romance
Characters: Claire, Charlie, Desmond
Summary: AU. Claire is suspicious enough when Desmond comes and asks Charlie to help him with a project but when she discovers that Desmond nearly let Charlie get killed by Rousseau’s arrow trap, she realises that they’re both still keeping secrets from her. When she discovers that Charlie is actually planning to die in the Looking Glass so that she might be rescued, Claire insists that the decision be taken out of his hands and puts the other survivors to a vote. From there, it’s all AU fun and games!
Disclaimer: If Lost was mine, this is what would have happened instead of the season finale. The lyrics in the cut and used in the title are from “The Special Two” by Missy Higgins.
Authors Note: this one is dedicated to falafel_fiction who gave me her original plot bunny for this fic (she wanted to see Claire fighting to keep Charlie alive) and allowed me to splice it with a bunny of my own and create a new, more involved storyline

~*~
Epilogue - Catch-22
Claire was more than a little surprised when the camping trip returned and Charlie didn’t come straight home to the tent that they shared. It was almost like a ritual, for him to recount his treks to her when he got back from them - he’d always done it. Which is why she was so surprised to return to her tent after a long walk only to find his bag and his guitar returned but Charlie nowhere to be seen.

Curious as to where he might’ve gone, Claire glanced quickly over his belongings as she put Aaron in his crib. Nothing seemed out of place with the exception of his guitar - there seemed to be something funny going on with the neck. Closer inspection revealed that something had punctured it, snapping several of the strings. Claire worried it with her fingertips, frowning. Maybe this was why Charlie hadn’t lingered to wait for her to get back? He was bound to be upset that his guitar was broken. He was probably trying to find somebody to help him fix it.

Assuming that he would be back soon, Claire set herself to the task of folding nappies for Aaron and waited impatiently for Charlie to appear. Nearly two hours later he finally came trudging up, his eyes on his feet. He didn’t even realise that Claire was sitting at their shelter until he was almost standing on top of her and even then he didn’t look all that pleased to see her when she jumped up and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Where’ve you been?” she demanded, her hands resting on his shoulders as she smiled up at him. “I found your stuff here when I got back from my walk but I’ve been waiting for you to come back for ages! What happened?”

“Had some stuff to do,” Charlie said shortly. “How’ve you and Aaron been?”

“We’ve been good,” Claire flopped onto the bed and Charlie settled himself down awkwardly next to her. “He missed you terribly of course. How was the camping trip?” She nudged him teasingly. “Did you get the others all toasting imaginary marshmallows?”

Charlie smiled tightly. “Not exactly.”

“Well what did you do out there?” Claire asked conversationally. “I mean, you guys were gone for a couple of…”

“Not a whole lot,” Charlie interrupted her. “Just, you know, guy stuff.”

“Oh,” Claire said, deflating slightly in the wake of an awkward silence. “So…what happened to your guitar?”

“Oh…that was nothing,” Charlie said evasively. When Claire raised her eyebrows at him however, he elaborated slightly. “Well actually that was Desmond’s fault,” he said grudgingly. “He set off one of Rousseau’s death traps and I nearly got skewered by an arrow.”

Claire grabbed his arm. “Oh my God! Charlie!”

“I’m okay though!” Charlie said hastily, trying to calm her down. “The guitar isn’t okay but I am. I was lucky really - Des tackled me out of the way just in time.”

“That is lucky,” Claire frowned, musing. “Hey, you don’t think he had a flash of it beforehand? I mean, he would have told you wouldn’t he?”

Charlie was silent for a moment before he spoke again. He appeared to be struggling to get the words out. “I would…assume so.”

“Well,” Claire said blithely. “I’m sure if Desmond had a vision he would have told you about it so we shouldn’t worry about…”

“Yeah,” Charlie talked right over the top of her. “Hey can we talk about something else?”

“Why?” Claire asked, surprised.

“Uh…”Charlie scratched his head, pretending to concentrate hard. “Because I don’t really want to talk about my imminent demise?”

“Don’t say that,” Claire said instantly. “You’ve just got to keep thinking positive…”

Charlie snorted. “Yeah. Yeah I’ll do that.”

“Why are you so snappy?” Claire demanded. “I’d’ve thought you’d be pleased to get back home!”

“I am pleased to be back!”Charlie snapped.

“Well it sure doesn’t sound like it!” Claire snapped back. There was a long, icy silence between them broken only by Charlie nervously tapping his fingers against his knees. After a moment, Claire reached out and laced her fingers with his and Charlie instantly relaxed.

“I’m sorry,” Claire said apologetically. “I didn’t mean to push the subject. I know that you must be scared and everything - and me talking about it so much can’t be helping.”

“Yeah,” Charlie sighed and turned to give Claire a commiserating look. “I’m sorry too. I don’t mean to snap.”

“That’s okay,” Claire smiled at him and Charlie took this as his cue to lean forward and plant a soft kiss on her lips.

“I missed you and Aaron,” Charlie murmured against her lips. “I kept on thinking about you both all the time. Even when I was off playing cub scouts with the boys.”

“That’s sweet of you to say,” Claire smiled, somewhat appeased. But there was something in his eyes when she pulled back that she couldn’t quite place and it worried her a little. A longing perhaps, to say something more, a tinge of regret - or perhaps it was the taint of a lie that was meant to soothe her, to keep her complacent. “Are you absolutely sure that Desmond didn’t have another vision though?” she asked him once more, her voice quiet. “Because if he did and you haven’t told me…”

“He did not have another vision about me,” Charlie said firmly, looking her right in the eye. “And I promise you luv, if he has any more then you will be the very first person I tell.” Claire gazed into Charlie’s eyes searchingly and he stared back steadily and God how she wanted to believe that he wasn’t lying to her. She really, truly did.

But she couldn’t.

“Okay?” Charlie smiled at her, beguiling and sweet and…and her resolve crumbled.

“Okay,” she mumbled. But even as Charlie pecked her on the cheek, as he swooped down upon Aaron and mumbled nonsense to his surrogate son, she swore silently to herself that the next time she suspected Charlie wasn’t telling her everything about Desmond or his visions, she was going to keep badgering him until he finally gave in.

Because next time, she knew, it wouldn’t be his guitar that got hurt.

It would be him.

NEXT CHAPTER

claire, charlie/claire, desmond, charlie, fanfiction, lost

Previous post Next post
Up