Fight for You VII
Title: Fight for You 7/7
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.
Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six
~*~
Her limbs were long and slim and pale, the muscles strong and toned underneath her sallow, sun-starved skin as Claire tucked Bonnie’s arms in next to her body and then hesitantly wiped the thin line of watery blood from the corner of her mouth. Charlie was silent as he began to cover her body up with a blanket but Claire refused to let him cover Bonnie’s face, an unexplainable sadness taking hold of her as she stared down at the woman who had held them captive, tortured them and threatened to kill both of them.
“Hey,” Charlie reached down to touch Claire’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Claire continued to stare at the pale, waxen face of Bonnie. She might have been the more violent of their captors, but her face looked deceivingly placid in death. “It’s just…it’s a bit sad is all.”
Charlie paused and then knelt beside her, obviously confused. “What’s sad?”
“These two women,” Claire gestured at Bonnie and then nodded over at Desmond who had just retrieved Greta’s body from the water and was now laying her out neatly so that he could cover her with a blanket too. “They offered up their own lives to a cause they thought was noble. And then in the end…they died for nothing.”
Charlie was silent as Claire pulled the blanket carefully up to cover Bonnie’s pale face but when she’d done it, he crossed himself and recited a quick Hail Mary. Claire smiled at him thankfully as she pushed herself to her feet, taking the second blanket from Charlie’s arms. “Do you want me to check and see if Cyclops there is really dead?” Charlie offered worriedly, nodding distastefully down at the prone Russian. “Knowing his track record he’ll probably turn into a rampaging zombie or something.”
“No I’ll be okay,” Claire said, smiling bravely. “You should probably go see if you can find the keypad for the jammer. I’ll be there with you in a second okay?”
Charlie nodded, touching a gentle hand to her cheek for one brief moment before he turned to Desmond.
“Des?” he called out as Claire made her way slowly over to where Mikhail was lying on the floor, the damage from the spear gun clear. “There’s diving gear in those racks, yeah?”
“Aye. There’s plenty.”
Claire knelt down beside Mikhail and carefully touched the side of his neck to feel for a pulse, the same way she had with Bonnie.
“Why don’t you take care of that and I’ll tap out ‘Good Vibrations’?”
Claire frowned and repositioned her fingers. No…it couldn’t be…
“Guys?”
Charlie and Desmond were still chatting away, supremely unconcerned as Claire grew more and more panicked.
“Guys?”
“You get any flashes?”
“No, nothing.”
“GUYS!”
Desmond and Charlie turned around to her, bewildered, and at that exact moment, Mikhail’s eyes snapped open and he reared up and put his hands around Claire’s neck.
She began to choke instantly, clawing wildly at the vice like grip around her throat. For a split second she worried that this trip might be her end and not Charlie’s after all. But in all his scheming, Mikhail clearly hadn’t banked on Charlie being able to run as fast as he could - especially when someone was threatening Claire.
“Get the hell off of her!” Charlie roared, effecting a flying rugby tackle that didn’t quite knock the Russian over but at least effectively loosened his grip enough that Claire could pull back against the wall, gasping for air. “Get the spear gun!” Charlie bellowed at her he tussled violently with the larger man. Desmond joined the fray a moment later and Claire was left dithering, trying to locate the spear gun again whilst the three men effectively tried to kill each other.
Just as her hand closed around the weapon however, there was an echoing splash and then a string of bellowed curses from Desmond and Charlie both. Claire turned around, spear gun in hand and saw them both standing on the edge of the moon pool waving their arms about and jumping up and down in fury. Under any other circumstances it would have been funny but right now, Claire was sick of being scared, she was sick of being here and she wanted more than anything to get home to Aaron.
“Coward!” Desmond was bawling. “Coward!”
“You GUYS!” Claire screamed, her voice cracking. “Shut the hell up!”
Both of them gaped at her as though they’d just been slapped.
“Christ,” Charlie said, face pale. “You scared me! I thought you were Bonnie for a second there!”
“Well why don’t both of you stop jumping up and down like you’re chucking a bloody tantrum and come here!” Claire snapped. “We’ve got a job to do! Just leave Mikhail for now, we can deal with him later!”
“What if he steals the outrigger?” Desmond offered tentatively.
“Then we’ll swim back to shore!” Claire roared. “Now stop arguing andcome here.”
Desmond and Charlie meekly made their way back over to Claire who pointed Desmond in the direction of the diving equipment.
“Desmond, you get the diving stuff ready,” she instructed. “Charlie, you and I are going to unblock this bloody jammer because I am sick of this place and I’m tired and cold and I want to go home.”
“Yes ma’am,” Desmond said humbly, eyeing the spear gun in her hand apprehensively as she marched Charlie into the command room.
One wall was almost completely covered in computer consoles - screens and buttons and levers and all sorts of fun gadgets. Claire peered interestedly at them all and then turned to Charlie.
“So…what exactly are we looking for?” she wanted to know.
“We’re looking for a keypad,” Charlie told her as he raked his eyes over all of the various consoles and paraphernalia. “One with numbers on it at least going up to…thirteen I would think? That’d give you a full scale from C to C with all the sharps and flats between the notes.”
“It’ll probably be near the flashing yellow light won’t it?” Claire glanced up at it and then examined the consoles in front of her. “Hey, is this a microphone?”
“Looks like it might be,” Charlie came around her, touching her lightly on the waist as he did so, and peered down at the consoles. “It’s what Bonnie was talking into before. Aha! I think we have a winner!”
Claire watched in silence as he stared down at the keypad - numbered from one through to fourteen. Charlie began to hum to himself, eyes shut as his fingers twitched. Still humming, he punched in the numbers to the code, absolutely no troubles whatsoever. The yellow light clicked off and there was a low whirring noise.
“How’d you do that?” Claire asked him, amazed.
“Do what?” Charlie asked, confused.
“Just…figure out all the notes like that!” Claire nudged him, smiling. “I’m impressed!”
“I can pretty much play anything I want by ear,” Charlie shrugged, but he looked quite pleased all the same. “I’ve been doing it for so long now. And the Beach Boys were always favourites of mine so…”
“Well, I guess Desmond was right then huh?” Claire said, putting her free arm around Charlie and making as if to lead him out the door. “You did have to be the one to unblock the signal!”
She grinned at Charlie but he’d already been distracted by a flashing red button and the familiar beeping sound that they’d heard before - tinny and echoing in the small space. Claire walked around Charlie to read the label on the button, even as Charlie pointed wildly at it, apparently too amazed to even talk.
“Incoming transmission!” He finally choked out.
Charlie looked up at Claire, dumbfounded. The stupid thing hadn’t been beeping at all! It had been ringing - like a phone! She nodded eagerly and set down the spear gun, excitement flooding her like an extra shot of adrenalin. The two of them huddled close together as Charlie pressed the button with fumbling fingers and then a shaky image began to appear on the small monitor in the controls along with a feminine voice, crackling through the static.
“Hello? Can you hear me?”
Charlie snatched up the microphone that sat on the desk as Claire threw her arms around him and bounced excitedly on her toes. After months of waiting, were they finally going to be rescued?
“Yes!” Charlie said frantically. “Yes I can hear you!”
“Who is this? Who am I speaking to?
“Charlie,” he said, somewhat breathlessly, clutching the microphone with both hands as though it were a lifeline. “Charlie Pace. I’m here with Claire Littleton. We’re both survivors of flight eight-one-five, Oceanic flight eight-one-five.”
From what they could see of her, the woman onscreen looked confused. “Uh...where are you?”
“We’re on an island!” Charlie exclaimed. “We’re alive!”
“An island?” the woman sounded excited at this. “Well where? What’s your location?”
“I dunno,” Charlie said, deflating somewhat.
“Who are you?” Claire took over the microphone.
“This is Penelope. Penelope Widmore. How did you get this frequency?”
Charlie froze and shared a dumbfounded look with Claire before they turned and simultaneously yelled out for Desmond.
“Did you just say Desmond?” the woman asked, her image was fully clear now and they could both see beyond any doubt exactly who it was.
“Yeah, he’s here,” Charlie gabbled, stealing the microphone back from Claire again. “He’s with us!”
Penny’s incredulous disbelief turned into a wide smile. “Is he okay?”
“He’s brilliant!” Charlie exclaimed then added, “Hey, are you on the boat?”
“Wh-what boat?”
“Your boat, eighty miles off shore,” Charlie provided, then added, “Uh, Naomi…the parachutist…”
“Bu-I’m not on a boat,” Penny said, confused. “Who-who’s Naomi?”
A sudden tapping caused Claire and Charlie to turn. Mikhail was floating outside the porthole grinning madly at them, and in his hand…
“Where the hell did he get a grenade from?”Charlie yelped.
“Charlie!” Claire screamed, grabbing desperately the front of his shirt. “We’ve got to get out of here!”
“You can’t lock this door properly from the outside - it won’t be secure enough to hold back the water!” Charlie said, rushing over to double check, Claire still hanging onto his shirt tightly. He turned to face her and in the moment when their eyes met she realised what he was going to say before he even said it. “Somebody’s going to have to stay inside.”
Penny was beginning to panic now, along with the two of them. Claire could hear the other woman still calling out for Desmond, asking them what was going on. Claire forced herself to focus on Charlie even as a movement out of the corner of her eye betrayed the fact that Mikhail had just pulled the pin on his grenade and Desmond was rushing towards them from the main room.
“You get out of here,” Charlie babbled. “And I’ll push the door shut behind us both!”
“No you won’t!” Claire said stubbornly, struggling desperately with Charlie as he tried to push her outside. “It can’t have been designed to be locked from the inside only!” she bawled at him, clutching desperately at his shirt, at his arms, at anything she could reach. A split second later, Desmond joined her, pulling at Charlie, pulling at the door. There was a moment of desperate fumbling and then somehow Charlie got onto the other side of the door to them both. Claire gasped out loud as he began to pull it closed, using the weight of his body and the natural pull of the door against them. She could see the determination on his face in the gap between door and frame and she knew beyond all doubt that if she didn’t get him on the same side of this door as her then he was going to lock himself in the control room and he was going to drown.
So without even thinking about what she was doing, she put her hand in the door to stop it from closing.
The pain was unbelievable as the heavy metal door crushed her hand against the frame. Claire let out an ear shattering scream of pain as she felt the fragile bones snap and splinter. The door swung open again and Charlie gawped at what he had done to her, absolutely horrified. Disregarding the pain in her crushed hand, Claire reached out and grasped his shirt, pulling him towards her through the door. Desmond began to push the door shut behind them, swearing his head off - but it was too late.
There was an almighty crash as Mikhail’s grenade went off and then the porthole blew in. Water rushed into the control room and blew the door open again. Charlie banged into Claire, who in turn flew into Desmond’s arms. Her hand exploded with pain as she held Charlie to her. He in turn wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders, even as the torrent of water knocked their feet out from underneath them. Desmond was pushed all the way into the moon pool and was promptly lost under the water.
“Desmond!” Charlie yelled even as he and Claire were swept in after him as well.
There was an icy shock when they both fell into the water followed by several seconds of panicked flailing. Claire lost hold of Charlie in the chaos and she automatically reached out to find him again, losing a screams worth or air as she moved her broken wrist. Her hands came up empty and she screamed again, losing all of her remaining air and then, amazingly, her head broke the surface. Desmond was there too, treading water and catching his breath. Claire twisted in the roiling water even as it rose in an alarming manner, searching for some sign of Charlie.
“Charlie?” she called his name and it echoed off the ceiling like there were ten other Claire’s in the Looking Glass station, mocking her from every corner. “Charlie!”
Desmond swam towards her, panting and gasping.
“I think he swam up!” he had to shout to be heard over the rushing water. “We’ve got to get out of here before the whole place floods!”
Claire nodded, trusting that Desmond was right, and offered her good hand to him. “You’re gonna have to help me,” she told him. “I can’t use my right hand at all.”
Desmond nodded back and grasped her good hand firmly with his. Claire shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and together they dropped down underneath the surface of the water.
The swim back up to the surface was much easier than the swim down had been. Buoyed up by the air in their lungs, Claire and Desmond merely had to kick their legs and make sure that they were still heading towards the light. When they broke the surface, Desmond tugged her over to the outrigger and after he’d clambered in, he turned and hauled Claire in with him. They sat there for a moment together, trying to catch their breath and then Claire stood abruptly, looking around for Charlie in the surrounding waters.
There was nothing.
Claire felt the crushing weight of grief hit her even as she turned to Desmond accusingly.
“You said that he swam up!” she yelled, her voice cracking not only from emotion but also from the salt water she had swallowed. She gave him a shove with her good hand and Desmond nearly fell out of the boat. “You told me that he got out!”
“I said that I thought that he got out!” Desmond corrected her, furious. “I couldn’t see him Claire! I assumed that he’d…”
“That means that he’s still down there!” Claire turned in panicked circles, nearly tripping over her own feet in her haste to scan the surrounding water. “What if he’s still in the Looking Glass thinking that we’re trapped down there somewhere? What if he went back for us?”
“Would you stop panicking?” Desmond grasped her shoulders and held her still. “Charlie’s not an idiot Claire. He knows we wouldn’t have stayed in there when it was flooding. He’s probably about to pop up out of the water any second now…”
“You’re just saying that!” Claire said accusingly, angry tears trickling down her face to mingle with the sea water. “You don’t really think that it’s true!”
“I saw Charlie drowning in the command room Claire,” Desmond told her, very clearly. “I never saw him drowning in the open ocean! Just give it another two minutes alright?”
“He might be gone by then!” Claire howled out a sob and struggled against Desmond’s grip. “I can’t let him drown Desmond - I won’t!”
“Claire!” Desmond yelled. “Calm down you daft woman!”
Claire collapsed into the bottom of the boat again and burst into tears. She didn’t even bother to wipe them away. She couldn’t see how Charlie could still be down there now and not have drowned - there was too much ocean between the Looking Glass and the surface. And Charlie had been so adamant about locking that room to stop the rest of the station from flooding - the idiot!
There was a wheel on the door on the other side for a reason she thought angrily - surely the Others weren’t dumb enough to build an underwater station with a room like that which could only be locked from the inside? How could Charlie have thought that it was the only way? She began to push her tears away but she was still sobbing.
“Claire?” Desmond’s hand was gentle on her shoulder and Claire cried even harder. He hesitated for a moment and then Desmond crouched down beside her, his voice soft. “Come on sister, let me have a look at your hand while we wait for Charlie yeah?”
Claire offered her injured hand blindly to Desmond and he hissed in appreciative pain as he examined it.
“You certainly did a good job,” he told her. “I don’t know if we’re going to be able to fix this little mess without an x-ray machine and a bloody good surgeon…”
Claire didn’t answer. Her sobs had quieted a little now but her uninjured hand was resting over her heart in a tight fist and she could feel the steady thump-thump of her pulse through her ribs - fragile as spun glass underneath her cold skin. She wondered when it would stop, unable to function after breaking into irreparable pieces. She shut her eyes, a cold tear rolling down her cheek and suddenly there was a weak spluttering of breath from behind them. Desmond let her hand go, already crying out a greeting as Claire spun around. And in the moment when she saw him, her fractured heart seemed to instantaneously shatter and then reform in the same moment.
It was Charlie.
“Charlie!” she screamed and, not even thinking, she leapt back into the water and began to paddle towards him lopsidedly, holding her crushed hand to her chest so as not to injure it any further.
“Claire?” he croaked weakly, blinking the water out of his eyes and taking several tentative strokes in her general direction. “Are you okay?”
Claire didn’t answer, merely threw her uninjured arm around his neck and kissed him as hard as she possibly could. The two of them began to sink almost instantly and they were forced to pull away from each other so they wouldn’t get lost beneath the waves.
“Couldn’t you have saved the kissing for after I got out of the bloody water?” Charlie grumbled, coughing up seawater but Claire could have sworn he was smiling as they swam back over to the outrigger and Desmond hauled them both back in.
They all sat there for a long moment, catching their breath and dripping ceaselessly.
“So,” Charlie said eventually, his voice still breathless. “I’ve noticed that I’m not dead.”
“No,” Claire’s face stretched into a wide smile, her eyes blurring with sudden tears. “You are most definitely still alive.”
Charlie nodded and then his face split into the biggest grin that Claire had ever seen.
“Well why the hell aren’t you hugging me?” he demanded of her and Claire grinned back and threw her good arm around his neck, taking care not to squash her other hand between them.
Over Charlie’s shoulder, Claire watched Desmond collapse onto his back and put a shaking hand over his eyes. She rather thought that he might have been having a delayed heart attack.
After a long moment, Claire pulled back and pushed Charlie’s sodden fringe out of his eyes with her good hand tenderly. He smiled at her and was just about to lean in for a kiss when he saw the way she was holding her right hand. Realisation dawned on his face and he cried out as though he too were in pain.
“Your hand!” Charlie reached out to caress Claire’s crushed hand with frantic fingertips. At his touch she began to sob again, more from delayed shock than any actual pain as he enfolded her into his arms again and stroked her hair, taking care to avoid squashing her hand any further. “Oh God…Claire…I’m so so sorry…”
She lifted her tear-blurred eyes to Charlie’s face and saw that he was crying too now, tears streaming down his face and into her hair, beyond all emotion.
“Is it okay?” he was stuttering through his sobs. “I didn’t…I didn’t kill your hand too badly did I?”
“I-I think it’s broken,” Claire sobbed back. “I h-heard it s-snap. I f-felt it.”
Charlie took it gingerly between his hands again and turned it over carefully to examine it closer. An angry purple bruise was already starting to spread across the back of it and the flesh that wasn’t bruised was bloody and torn. He looked positively distraught at the sight.
“Oh my God…Claire…I can’t believe I…I’m so sorry!”
“I’m okay,” she hiccupped. “I’m just so glad that I got you out of that room in time!”
And with that, she promptly burst into a fresh bout of tears.
Charlie embraced her again, as tightly as he dared and they only drew apart when Desmond finally pushed himself back into a sitting position.
“D’you see anything?” Charlie asked grimly. He and Claire waited with bated breath but Desmond shook his head, smiling.
“I haven’t seen anything,” Desmond told them. “I don’t know if they’ve stopped altogether but this is the first time that somebody apart from me has changed a vision,” he shrugged. “Maybe that’ll change them - make them stop.”
“I hope so,” Charlie murmured, then suddenly he cried out. “Oh bollocks! We have to get back to the others again! Naomi - she’s not from Penny’s boat!”
“What?” Desmond demanded, confused. “But Penny was on the computer screen! You spoke to her!”
“I know,” Charlie said grimly. “She told us that she didn’t know Naomi - that it wasn’t her boat offshore.”
Desmond looked unaccountably grim. “We need to stop them from contacting that boat then. God knows who they might be.”
“Well what are we waiting for?” Claire asked. “Let’s head back to shore!”
Charlie and Desmond grumbled a little as they took up their places and began to pull the outrigger along the cable once again, this time back towards shore again. As they headed back, Claire turned to Charlie and watched him as he tilted his battered face towards the sun and took a deep breath of the cool air, closing his eyes. Feeling her gaze on him he opened his eyes again and at her questioning look, he lowered them.
“I never thought I’d see the sun again,” he admitted. “I was so sure that I was going to die down there - whether you and Des tried to change it or not.” He hesitated and then added, “That’s why I was going to lock myself in. I thought that I still had to die in order to make the vision work. To get you rescued.”
Claire’s throat filled with choked sobs.
“And then,” he looked up at her. “I saw you in the doorway, after I crushed your hand. But you just ignored the pain and you reached straight for me. And it was then that I really realised that you wouldn’t have come down there, you wouldn’t have done everything that you did unless you truly wanted me to stay, no matter the consequences. I was about to step out again when you grabbed me.”
“I told you that we’d get through this together,” Claire whispered, trying hard not to let her voice tremble. “I don’t break my promises lightly Charlie.”
“I would have died,” Charlie said shakily, lowering his eyes. “If you hadn’t been there…if you hadn’t come with me…” he shook his head and looked up, his eyes brimming over. “I would have locked myself in there and I would have drowned.”
“Don’t think about it,” Claire said swiftly, covering Charlie’s hand with hers and squeezing it. “You’re alive.”
“Your hand’s not,” he said wryly.
“No,” Claire looked down at it and then looked up at him again and reached her hand to touch his cheek. “But you are. And that’s all I care about for now.”
Charlie smiled tremulously at her and then leant forward to capture her lips with his in a gentle kiss.
“And if Desmond sees anything else,” Claire whispered against his lips. “Then I’ll fight for you again. I’ll fight for you until the day they stop. Nobody is going to take you away from me.”
Charlie smiled and kissed her again.
“Thank you,” he said quietly.
“For what?” Claire pulled back, surprised.
Charlie smiled, then said quite simply. “For loving me.”
Claire thought about it for a moment and then she smiled back.
“You’re most welcome.”