Dated: May 10, 2005 Notes: Set after In Translation, before Deux Ex Machina. Please don't heed the date this was published on LJ. This fic is pretty old.
No One Wants to End Up Like Claire By Ada Farrow The longer they're stranded in a desperate situation, the more people want to have sex with each other. It's a fact of life that Charlie's proven through careful quantitative and qualitative research. Everyone wants to have sex, but no one wants to end up like Claire. The girls look like they're walking on pins around her. They give her looks that have "I'm so sorry you have to give birth in this place (thank God it's not me)" written all over them. Well, you can't have your cake and eat it too, sweethearts. Charlie's seen plenty of sitcoms where a preggie boards a lift that happens to break in transit. It seemed like a funny and ironic concept on TV with the panicky mother breathing comically "in, out, in, out." Much scarier concept in real life. Charlie envies the Korean couple. They can have all the safe sex they want. Jin and Sun are fortunately married, so they don't have to worry about any awkward social situations if Sun pops one out. But that still doesn't mean Sun wants a baby, so they're probably doing that "natural family planning" thing he'd been drilled so much on in CCD as a kid. Besides, he doubts either of them is getting any since Jin walked out on his wife. Although Charlie sometimes thinks he sees Michael making eyes at Sun and wonders if maybe one of them is seeing some action. Kate's a smart one. She shacked up with the guy who has all the condoms. So they'll be having themselves a jolly good time…while supplies last, that is. With Kate taken, he figures Jack's run out of options. Same for Boone. Which of those two does more wanking is a toss-up as far as he's concerned. Then there's Sayid and Shannon. Sayid, always the tactical mastermind, had played his cards right and picked up the last eligible lady. Seeing them together always makes him quirk an eyebrow. Passing them on the beach once, he'd heard Shannon remark suggestively about "tying knots." He's heard plenty of euphemisms for "sex," but what the hell does "tying knots" mean? He doesn't know what the two of them get up to, but they seem to be a little too content for two castaways. If he were Sayid, he'd be careful when he sowed his seeds. Shannon looks like she's well-traveled with older, even more well-traveled men. So that leaves himself. Him and Claire. Claire Littleton. Charlie Pace. Claire Pace? He laughs at himself internally for thinking like a lovesick teenage girl who drafts her future signature by appending her boyfriend's surname to her given one. What is it? Claire's gorgeous. Maybe he's under the intoxicating influence of some pregnant woman's glow, but she's bloody gorgeous. And the way she struggles to stand up and needs him to give her a hand. The way she wobbles as she makes her way through the sand and wraps her arm around his neck for support. Maybe he just likes to be macho and support a woman. Maybe he can't wait for the baby to be born and to hold it in his arms. To act like he's the father, like they're a happy little family in the middle of paradise. He hadn't believed his luck when he'd gotten Claire into bed. Oddly, it was the best sex he'd ever had. Her body was the canvas to his brush. Oversensitive, hormonal Claire trembled at his every movement. She convulsed and clenched herself at the lightest touch or swipe of the tongue over her swollen breasts. Lips parted to gasp in time with his thrusts, emitting sounds both amazed and pleased. It made Charlie feel more worshiped than he ever had. It was almost symbolic. He felt like the child was his even more after they'd made love. It was egotistical, but he loved her like a husband. Claire sits and he fusses over her, asks her what she's been eating, tells her to practice breathing. Some of the guys envy him. After all, you can't get a pregnant girl pregnant. That was his original motive. Not to turn some girl into a Claire. Now Claire is every girl that matters.