Return of the Ring
(This takes place, um, well, a long time ago. Think of it as a missing moment from first season, before all the drama between Claire and Charlie.)
The sun was far too hot for a pregnant woman.
Seriously, didn't it give any consideration to the fact that there were people who were extremely uncomfortable already without the temperature matching that of Death Valley in the midst of August? Claire was starting to have doubts in the authority of the sun. Why did all these ancient civilizations worship it, anyway? All it did was make her only clean, well-fitting maternity shirt stick to her oversized belly.
She started to turn over before she realized that the sun must be frying her brains as well, for it was clearly impossible to lie on her stomach in her current condition. Irritated, the Aussie looked up as a sudden, sniggering shadow crossed her face.
"Having a little trouble there?" a heavily accented British voice asked, snickering.
She grunted, not in the mood to play games with Charlie at the moment, who, of course, did not get the message.
"So, what're we up to today, hmm?" he inquired, plopping down beside her. How he managed to spend the hot days in jeans and a black hoodie without getting heatstroke was beyond her. She just glared at him, and for once he realized he better change the subject before he put his physical and/or mental health on the line. "Um…." he mumbled, casting about for a new topic. "Oh! Hey, Claire, did you ever happen to read the Lord of the Rings books?"
She looked at him strangely. "Yeah...why, have you?"
"No. Just wondering."
"Okay…" Claire shot him another odd look. Maybe he really did get heatstroke.
"Well, you know, one of my mates in the band told me about it, and I have a copy of them in my suitcase. He gave them to me because he told me I was missing out. I just wanted another opinion before I read them." Charlie stared out at the ocean absentmindedly, having run out of things to say on the subject.
"You know Charlie, you remind me of one of the characters from it. His name's Meriadoc Brandybuck, and he's a hobbit," Claire said, warming to the topic. The Lord of the Rings were her favorite books, after all.
"Really?" Charlie asked, eager to hear more about this character. "But wait, what's a hobbit?"
"You never heard of a hobbit?" A drawling voice said from behind them.
Charlie glared at the smirking Sawyer. "Should I have?"
"C'mon now, Fuzzy," Sawyer said, coining a new nickname in reference to the state of Charlie's hair from the combination of the sun and his recently removed hood. "I thought all them little British kids read Tolkien at least sometime in their school career,"
He glanced around carelessly at the exasperated faces of Charlie and Claire, thoroughly enjoying every minute of this. "Apparently not."
"A hobbit is this creature created by the author, J.R.R. Tolkien. It is short, small, has hairy feet, a great personality and lives in a hole," Claire explained to the best of her abilities.
"Sounds a lot like you, Fuzzy! Except for the personality part, of course," Sawyer put in, taking a seat behind them without bothering to ask permission. Not that he needed it, of course. It was a free beach. But it would've been polite, though no one could expect anything less from the obnoxious redneck.
The other two ignored him. "What do the hobbits do, exactly?" Charlie asked.
"Well, in the story, they have to…" Claire started in on a long, detailed explanation of the books, aided and abetted by Sawyer. Actually, he really abetted much more than he aided. But eventually Claire got through the synopsis, leaving the description of the One Ring for last.
"What did you say the ring looked like?" Charlie asked sharply.
"Its gold with writing on it that says 'One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them' in the black tongue of Mordor on it." Claire answered quickly before Sawyer could put his two cents in.
"You mean like this?" Charlie pulled out a ring from his pocket. It matched the description perfectly.
"Where did you find that?" Claire asked with a fearful look on her face.
"Up there, on the mountain…" Charlie gestured to the tall mountain in the background.
Slowly, Claire and Sawyer looked at each other, and then at the mountain, which had suspicious black clouds hovering over it…
The End