Spoilers: Up to Maternity Leave
A/N: Shipper bunnies come in many shapes and sizes. Claire's PoV, hints of Charlie/Claire and if you squint Claire/Ethan, set during her abduction. Read, enjoy, let me know what you think.
She didn't stop asking about Charlie for three days.
"We're just vaccinating him, to make sure he doesn't contaminate you or the baby." Ethan said, always with a smile, wrinkles around his eyes that reminded Claire of the crinkles around Charlie's eyes after he felt the baby kick.
"But he'll come, won't he?" She'd ask, her tongue loose against her teeth. All around was white, white, white, and her hair smelled like soap instead of seawater and there was no sand in her shoes when she woke. No Charlie either.
Her stomach was taunt and aching beneath her hands and she stared at her hands against her swollen flesh with confused eyes.
Then Ethan came, with his shiny needle and wrinkled smile that wasn't nearly as nice as Charlie's.
And after the needle, she'd feel slippery, like silk or soap or the letter 's' itself that never sat right on her slack lips after check ups, but instead made her tummy ache all the more. Then Ethan would talk for a time, all wrinkled smile and gentle touches.
"Will Charlie visit me today?" she'd ask and then Ethan would stop, his mouth set in a little line. He would walk her back to her room, where she sat on her bed and wondered why there were never any mattresses on the beach, and whether Charlie would finally visit today. She had so much to tell him.
But time passed and more needles appeared and Claire found it harder to remember what had been before Ethan and needles and the long white hall she was only ever allowed to walk straight up and down. The day came when she no longer asked after Charlie and Ethan's crinkled smile made her own lips twitch.
Her stomach still hurt, despite Ethan's assurances that she would get use to it over time. The baby danced less and she couldn't remember what Charlie sounded like, though the sound taunted her like the half remembered lyrics to a song.
One day Ethan showed her the room where her son would grow and she touched the rocking chair with careful fingers.
It's the last time she asked about Charlie.
EndFeedback is Love