Title: Save Me

Summary: Charlie's death was not in vain. Jack had managed to contact the outside world. But when they reach the Los Angeles, Claire can't help but feel sorrowful. Charlie had saved her, and she needed him again, only to come across one shocking discovery. Oneshot. PostThroughTheLookingGlass.

Spoilers: Through the Looking Glass

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost.

They were rescued! She couldn't believe it. In fact, no one could. Charlie had saved them all. Of course, they all got creeped out when Locke killed Naomi, but it didn't matter; they were all going home. But for some odd reason, while she held her son in her arms, Claire had a feeling that she was never going to see Charlie again. But, that couldn't be possible…right? He was going to be waiting for her back at camp and they were going to board the helicopter together. They were going to go back to a better life together. As Claire smiled at her little son, Kate walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Charlie did it, Claire. He got us rescued. Remind me to thank him when we get back."

"I will," smiled Claire as Kate went to go celebrate with the others. As soon as Jack was done talking on the phone with the man that was going to get them rescued, they all headed back to the camp to pack and get ready to go home. Things were beginning to go just right.

They had walked through the bushes to see a terrible sight laid before them. The tents were destroyed and there were dead bodies lined along the sand on the beach. At least Sayid, Sawyer, Hurley, Jin and Bernard were alright. As they greeted each other, Claire walked up to Hurley and asked, "Has Charlie come back yet?"

"No, but I'm sure he's fine."

Claire smiled and walked to her tent, which fortunately for her was still in tact. She went to go lay Aaron down when she saw something silver laying in the crib. Claire picked up the item and saw that it was a ring; Charlie's ring. Charlie never took the thing off, so why did he leave it in Aaron's crib? That train of the thought was distracted when she heard Hurley yell, "Look! It's Desmond and Charlie!"

Claire looked out at the ocean and saw that the boat that had taken Charlie and Desmond out to the hatch was sailing towards them. Claire smiled with happiness as she saw the boat reach land. Everyone ran down to the shoreline to congratulate Charlie. But as soon as everyone reached the shore, they grew very quiet. Claire walked up to Kate and asked, "What's going on?"

But Kate didn't answer. Claire turned and watched as Desmond carried somebody towards her…someone unconscious. When they got closer, Claire saw Charlie's face. It was so pale and empty of life. "Claire, I'm sorry," said Desmond sorrowfully as he laid Charlie's dead form on the sand.

Tears began to form in her eyes and Desmond took out something from his pocket. "He wanted me to give you this."

Claire slowly took the piece of paper and read the list. It was the five greatest things that happened in Charlie's life. When she read the top thing, the tears began to fall into the sand. It read: "The night I met you." "He knew he was going to die," she whispered.

Angrily, she looked up at yelled at Desmond, "WHY DID YOU LET HIM GO?"

"I'm sorry, Claire," he said when suddenly, he felt a large stinging sensation across his face.

Claire had punched him hard. "YOU LET HIM DIE!"

Suddenly, Claire collapsed in the sand and buried her head in her hands. Kate knelt down next to her and hugged her as Claire cried. The man that was always there for her, who saved her was now gone. How could this have happened? Charlie died to save her, how could she live with herself now? As she cried before he dead lover's body, the helicopters began to land on the sand and rush everyone inside. When the rescuer came up to her, he saw the dead body lying before her. "Oh my God, that's Charlie Pace from DriveSHAFT!" he said.

Claire let a smile creep across her face. She remembered when Charlie would light up when someone recognized who he was. "Come on," the rescuer said as he took Charlie's dead body aboard the helicopter.

Before Claire went with the rescuers, she ran to her tent and grabbed Charlie's guitar. She then quickly took Aaron, who was now in Hurley's arms, and followed the man carrying Charlie onto the helicopter. She was going home, alone. As the helicopter flew away, Claire continued to clutch Charlie's letter and ring in her hand. She would never let them go.

When they had arrived back onto the mainland, the first thing Claire did was hold a funeral service for Charlie. She missed him so much and was so sad that he was gone. Everyone kept walking up to her and telling her how sorry they were. The funeral service went by fast and after that happened; Claire went with Kate to stay with her for a while until she got a place of her own. Kate agreed to take care of Aaron as long as Claire went to go have time to herself and recover. Claire thanked Kate and left to go the mall. She had always gone to the mall to cheer herself up, but this time, it wasn't working. As she got her vanilla latte from a local Starbucks, she heard a familiar voice saying to someone, "Bloody hell, how much do you want for this guitar?"

Claire quickly turned around and watched as a short blonde man stood at a counter inside a music store, trying to purchase a guitar. His blonde moppy hair fell into the man's deep blue eyes and his accent screamed British. But it wasn't just any man with blonde hair and blue eyes from Britain…it was Charlie…her Charlie. She smiled as she watched the Charlie-look-alike walk out of the store. Before she could stop herself, she cried out, "CHARLIE!"

The man turned and looked at the Aussie with confusion. "Excuse me, but…do I know you?" he asked.

"It's me, Claire. Remember? Oceanic Flight 815? We crashed on an island?"

Charlie stood in disbelief. "I'm sorry; you've must have confused me with somebody else."

As he walked away, Claire dug into her pockets and drew out his ring. "Wait!"

Charlie turned around and saw Claire holding his ring in her hand. "How did you get that? I lost that a week ago?"

As he went to grab it from her, Claire placed her other hand on top of his. As soon as her flesh met his, memories began to swim past his eyes. The plane crash, finding the cockpit, meeting everyone, meeting Claire, the cave-in, getting clean, being kidnapped by Ethan, being brought back to life by Jack after he was hung, finding Claire, killing Ethan, fishing with Hurley, watching Michael's raft burn, a bridge collapsing beneath his feet, the birth of Claire's son, telling Sawyer, Jin, Michael and Walt good-bye, watching Boone die, going after the crazy French lady after she stole Claire's baby, getting a bag of rocks dropped on his head, finding the plane full of heroin, watching Kate hit golf balls with Hurley, meeting the Tailies, burying Shannon, losing Claire, being punched by Locke, finding Henry Gale's balloon with Sayid and Ana-Lucia, the hatch explosion, Claire kissing him, Desmond telling him he was going to die, riding in a van with Hurley, Sawyer and Jin, trekking with Desmond, Hurley and Jin, almost getting killed by an arrow, finding Naomi in the tree, writing down his top five greatest hits, diving to the underwater hatch, being tortured by the two women, typing in the code and the eye-patched man using a grenade causing him to drown and then, waking up in a bed in Los Angeles. All those thoughts flooded his mind. And as soon as they were gone, he looked at her; Claire. He had loved her so much. "Claire," he smiled.

Claire smiled back and they embraced in a huge hug. He swung her around and finally, they shared a kiss. "I thought you were dead," she cried.

He pulled her away and looked into her eyes. "Come on, let's go home."

Together, they walked out of the mall hand in hand. Claire was going home, and this time, she wasn't alone.

THE END