Title: Capable 1/5
Original post date: 20th October 2005
Summary: When Claire uncovers Charlie's biggest secret, their relationship takes a sharp turn for the worse. Written before any of season two aired so VERY au now.
Disclaimer: Yes I am the writer, director and producer of Lost however I am writing Charlie/Claire fanfiction to get over my writers block for the actual show and thusly none of this will ever air sniggers psh, yeah. I own nothing to do with Lost except for my posters and my DVD's runs off to snuggle them
Authors Note: Re-reading this now, after watching most of season two, I'm amused at how close my dialogue is to what it was on the show in 2x10 and 2x12.
She came upon him chopping wood just within the tree line, grunting and swearing under his breath as he worked, pausing occasionally to brush a trickle of sweat aside.
'Charlie?'
He turned to her and managed a weary smile.
'Hey, where's Turnip – I mean Aaron?'
'He's with…oh that doesn't matter Charlie, I – ' now that she was here, a shard of ceramic clutched in her hand, she didn't really know how to begin so she mutely held it out to him.
Charlie took it curiously and looked at it for a moment before realisation dawned on his face and he looked up into her eyes.
'She smashed?'
'Yes,'
Charlie's eyes darted away from Claire's to the sliver of Mary in his hand.
'I was trying to find something and then next thing I knew she fell and smashed.'
'Oh,' Charlie worried the broken ceramic piece, turning it over and over in his fingers, still not looking at Claire.
'Charlie,' Claire's voice faltered. 'Why didn't you tell me there were drugs inside?'
Charlie looked up slowly. A tension grew between the two of them as he searched her eyes, wondering if she would accept his imminent lie. Claire shifted uneasily, praying that he wouldn't even try...
'There were drugs in her?'
Claire snapped.
'Oh don't play dumb Charlie! I talked to Sayid and he said he told you that there was heroin in there.'
Charlie's entire demeanour changed immediately at this. 'I didn't take it for the heroin Claire,' he insisted, taking an earnest step forward and reaching out to touch her. 'I told you I used to be...'
'Yeah you used to be a religious guy,' Claire snorted, pushing his hand away. 'And you also used to be a drug addict.'
'Ah,' Charlie tossed the fragment aside with a sour look. 'Yes. I see you've recalled that lovely conversation we had in the jungle before Ethan kidnapped us.' Charlie picked the axe up and turned his back on her to start chopping wood again.
'Don't you turn away from me Charlie,' Claire said dangerously. 'Don't you dare. Not when we're talking about this.'
'Well now you know what a bloody awful person I am, why are you even here?' Charlie called over his shoulder. 'Why aren't you off hating me like I know you want to?'
'I don't hate you,' Charlie actually guffawed at this and Claire pressed on, angry with him for not taking her seriously. 'I just wish that you had told me instead of keeping it a secret like this.'
'And why would I have done that?' Charlie said sardonically. 'Gee Claire, why would I completely arse up the best friendship I've ever had by telling them that I'm an ex-Heroin junkie and that therefore they probably shouldn't trust me because there's no telling what I might be capable of when faced with a decision between them or my drugs.'
'You killed a man right in front of me,' Claire said coldly. 'I'm well aware of what you're capable of Charlie.'
And finally he turns to her. His face is slick with sweat and his eyes are dark, the axe hanging loosely in his hand only adding to his menacing appearance as he takes a slow, deliberate step towards her. When he speaks his voice is barely above a whisper but his words have as much effect as if he had screamed them at the top of his lungs.
'You have no idea what I'm capable of.'
Dead silence.
Claire stares at Charlie's face, it's so contorted that she barely recognises him.
And that scares her far more than when she realised he was an addict.
She turns abruptly and begins to head into the jungle.
'Where are you going?' Charlie calls out exasperatedly.
'I don't care,' she doesn't even bother to raise her voice as she walks away from him, the tears starting to spill down her cheeks. 'Just as far away from you as I can get.'
