Caught in a Net
Summary: Set after Fire + Water and before 3 Minutes. Explores the idea of Charlie and Claire, who aren't on speaking terms, setting off Rousseau's net trap rather than Jack and Kate. Very fluffy, cute PB &J one-shot.
A/N: The ending was the first thing I thought of in this fic and once you read it you'll understand why it's my favourite bit of the story and definitely something this character would say :) x
------------------
"Oh God," Claire moaned, as she wrestled with a restless Aaron who'd decided to choose that moment to play up. "Please can you let mummy rest for just one minute? You're giving her a bit of a headache, you know!"
No response, except more wailing and a few high pitched shrieks thrown in for good measure. She held him close to her chest and tried to soothe him without any luck. It can't be the fever, she thought to herself, somewhat desperately. Jack said it had broken and he was getting better…or was he? What if he has another illness?
Of course there was another plausible reason towards Aaron's unusual behaviour. A reason which Claire wished she could just dispel from her mind and from her heart. The reason had a name and his name was Charlie Pace. That name angered her and softened her in equal doses, making it impossible to decide whether she disliked him or not.
He'd walked by earlier that day, throwing a tentative smile her way. Whilst she'd admired his courage for smiling her, even though she still allowed the fury at his behaviour to fester quietly inside her, it hadn't propelled a good start to the day. Aaron had spotted Charlie's shy, insecure smile and had sprawled out his arms and legs, plainly hinting that he wanted to be picked up. Claire had willingly obliged but he'd not wanted her arms for once and she'd been hurt by that. He'd turned his head away, whilst his eyes watched Charlie disappear into the jungle. Once he realised Charlie wasn't going to pick him up and spend time with him, the crying and premature terrible-twos tantrums had begun.
Claire tried everything to soothe him, including singing "Catch a Falling Star" but to no avail. She was tired, agitated and just wanted to have an hour of peace that was all. One hour. Couldn't fate grant her that one little request, or was it too much to ask? Was this her punishment for casting Charlie out without a second thought? She was just trying to protect her son, was that a crime?
"I'm here, sweetheart," she assured him, tears filling her eyes. She hated to see him so distressed but what else could she do? "Please stop crying. Mummy's here, remember? We're supposed to take care of each other."
Words were all well and good but they didn't have any effect on her agitated infant. She tried rocking him gently but that just increased his agitation. Exasperated and on the brink of bursting into tears, Claire decided maybe all he needed was to see a new face. She didn't want to impose on just anyone, so she decided Sun was probably her best option.
As luck would have it, Sun was nestled on the sand outside her and Jin's tent. Claire walked over to her, still holding a restless Aaron. The wailing had subsided to quiet sobs and she was grateful for that, especially considering she'd received a few dirty looks from people as if it was her fault he was crying so loudly. You try handling it, she'd wanted to scream at them. Luckily she knew how to handle her anger.
"Hey, Claire," Sun greeted her, looking tearfully happy. "How's Aaron?"
Claire sighed, sorely tempted to scream as a means of an answer.
"He's been crying all morning," she complained. "I usually take a nap around this time of day, well back when Charlie and I were…you know... He used to look after him for me while I slept." She blushed, silently chastising herself for bringing Charlie into the conversation. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could look after him for a bit. It wouldn't be long, an hour tops."
Sun smiled at her understandingly. "Of course," she replied. "Why wouldn't I help? You look like you've had a bad morning and I would be more than happy to help look after your child. Besides," she laughed softly, "it'll be good practice for me."
Claire glanced at her questioningly and then lowered her gaze to Sun's hands, which were caressing her stomach in a tender, nurturing way. She gasped as she realised what Sun was on about.
"You're pregnant?" she gasped. "When did you find out?"
Sun giggled, the years rolling off her face as an almost child-like expression settled there. It was endearing to see after watching her worry and grieve over Jin after the recovery of the bottle of messages.
"I only found out yesterday," she assured her. "Jin's very happy. Ecstatic I should say. We tried to have a baby before but we couldn't," she explained.
Claire beamed at her. "Congratulations, Sun," she replied, leaning in to pull her friend into a one armed hug. "I hope you can handle Aaron. He's a little on the cranky side."
"We'll be just fine, won't we?" Sun crooned, taking Aaron gently from Claire. "Ssh, don't cry." She rocked Aaron gently and then smiled softly at Claire. "Go. Take a walk and relax. You've had a stressful couple of days."
Smiling gratefully, Claire wasted no time in slipping off into the jungle. She half ran, half stumbled her way into the thick brambles. The silence that met her ears was blissful. Aaron was definitely a handful, though when he slept, he slept like an angel. She loved watching him sleep – his whole body twitched whenever he was dreaming and his little eyelashes would flicker rapidly against his skin. It often made a good daydream, wondering what Aaron dreamed about exactly.
The day was a lovely one, which marginally improved her mood. Though the sun didn't pierce the canopy above her, she could still sense the sun's omnipresence and could feel the waves of heat latch onto her back like a backpack.
Claire had walked for about half an hour or so in an aimless direction when she spotted it. A doll's head stood out amongst the fan of grass it was located in. Curiosity above everything else compelled her to wander over to examine it. She stopped halfway there, aware that she wasn't alone. She could feel eyes pierce the back of her head, right into the depths of her soul.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." His voice, cool and sincere, almost made her pass out. The owner of that voice was the reason she hovered protectively around Aaron night and day, sacrificing her sleep to make sure no one stole him again.
She turned around and saw Charlie staring at her, his eyes wide with an unusual kind of emotion touching the fringes of his face. It wasn't quite affection but it was something close, perhaps warmth. She did not need this right now. The last thing she wanted – or needed – was to fall for him again.
"What did you say?" she found herself saying.
"I said I wouldn't do that if I were you," Charlie repeated. He glanced around him, trying to feign nonchalance.
"What are you doing here, Charlie?" Claire asked, wishing she could banish these sudden butterflies which flooded her stomach. I'm not friends with him yet how can he provoke this kind of reaction in me? she wondered, feeling tortured by the clash between her desire to walk away from him and the desire to stay and talk to him. Despite her outer, hostile façade towards him, she missed him. A lot.
"I came for a walk, same as you." He shrugged. "It's pretty lonely on my side of the beach when all you've got for company is Sawyer."
"Well who's fault is it if you're feeling lonely?" she couldn't help but retort. "I trusted you and you lied to me. You abducted Aaron twice and started a fire, endangering the entire camp. Forgive me if I don't weep at your sob story."
"Ouch," Charlie replied quietly, looking downcast.
Guilt swept through Claire like a current at sea but she couldn't take back the words she'd released, not when she'd meant them. She'd take Aaron's crying any day over watching Charlie's sea blue eyes stare into hers in that dejected manner he'd adopted. She was about three steps away from taking him into her arms just to make him smile again. Then she remembered the doll and her curiosity overruled her guilt.
She stepped towards the doll, ignoring Charlie's subdued warning, and outstretched a trembling hand to pick it up.
"Claire, don't! It's a trap!" Charlie started to run and launched himself at her, in an attempt to knock her hand out of the way.
His efforts were wasted as her fingers clasped around the doll's head and tugged at it so that she was holding it. A loud whirring sound, resembling the noise of a pull string doll, surrounded them and all of a sudden, because of the proximity of their bodies, Charlie and Claire found themselves being launched off the ground. What stopped them from falling was the net which was what the doll's head had set off.
"Terrific," Charlie muttered, his voice muffled due to the fact his face was pressed up against the net.
-----------------
What do you do when you're stuck in mid-air with the one person you don't want to be stuck with? Claire thought in despair. This was a problematic situation. They had nothing sharp with which to cut themselves loose and therein lay the problem. With no discernible way of getting themselves down, they were stuck in mid-air both of them feeling incredibly foolish. What was worse was that they were face to face, their faces (and therefore, their lips) only inches apart.
It annoyed her to no end when Charlie started to laugh. His body shook with laughter which, in turn, moved the net.
"What is so damn funny?" she demanded. "Would you like to share with me what the joke is?"
"The fact that we're stuck in mid-air, our bodies so close that it just looks wrong and the fact that we're pretty much stuck here until one of the A-Team comes to rescue us." Charlie laughed again, his eyes twinkling with merriment.
Claire rolled her eyes, not impressed by his immaturity. However, something he had mentioned had her temporarily distracted.
"A-Team?" she questioned him. "What do you mean by that?"
"I'm referring to Jack, Sayid, Locke and Kate," Charlie explained, in between gulps for air. "The A-Team is just an affection nickname, referring to the fact that they're always off on adventures like us."
"Leave the nicknames to Sawyer," Claire muttered. "You just sound dumb. Though," she added, attempting to tease him. "I think it's endearing you're trying to act like him."
He knew she was subtly implying that he'd rapidly become a hated figure, just like Sawyer. He frowned and leaned his head against the rope, wondering whether she had a point or not.
Claire, meanwhile, bit her lip, afraid she'd pushed him too far. She knew she had every right to be angry with him but she feared she'd gone too far.
"I didn't mean…" she began quietly, hoping to rectify the situation.
"I know what you're implying," Charlie cut across her, sounding unusually angry. "Don't you think I've been punished enough, Claire? Don't add salt to my wounds, please. You hate me, I get it."
"Don't snap at me," she retorted. "It's not my fault you're taking our time apart so badly. I never said I hated you, I never said we couldn't fix what we've broken. You made those assumptions."
An awkward silence fell between them, both fearing they'd said too much (or too little). Claire gripped the net tightly and tentatively lowered her teeth against the rope, hoping to bite them free. It sounded stupid out loud but inwardly it was at least a plan.
"Are you seriously trying to bite us out of here?" Charlie enquired, cynicism biting the fringes of his voice as well as faint amusement.
"No," she replied sullenly, yanking her head upright.
Charlie sounded gleeful. "Well that answers that question," he remarked, starting to whistle a tune that sounded suspiciously like We are the Champions by Queen.
"What question?" Claire was trying to ignore him but he was making it damn difficult.
"Me and Hurley were talking about the women we've dated and he just happened to wonder if you were a biter," Charlie answered. "I said you were too gentle to be a biter and he said…"
"Oh shut up," Claire cut across him, a look of disgust emerging on her face. "I wish I hadn't asked."
"Well, you did." Charlie sounded sullen and she had a strange urge to give him a hug, the kind mothers give their sons to cheer them up.
She shook her head and tried to snap out of it. There were times he made it so easy for her to be mad at him, like his pushy, bossy attitude in regards to her parenting skills. But, she had to balance the argument, there were also moments when he made her smile and giggle like a schoolgirl. Sometimes it was so easy to be around him and he made their relationship – for lack of a better word - as easy and as natural as breathing.
"Isn't this fun?" Charlie suddenly spoke, his voice thick with sarcasm. "I was just wishing the other day that I could be trapped in a net with you."
Despite herself, Claire laughed.
"Likewise," she replied, rolling her eyes. "God, it's just typical this kind of stuff happens to us, eh? This is the kind of adventure we're stuck with."
Charlie smiled down at her. "True," he agreed. "Jack, Kate and Sayid have all the fun, what with the hunt-the-other contests they rapidly take part in and we're stuck with the good ol' net gag." He shook his head in mock disappointment. "Fate really has it in for us, doesn't it?"
Claire giggled and suddenly she couldn't stop. Hysteria took over and every good memory of Charlie came rushing back. She inhaled deeply and erupted into more laughter, causing Charlie to raise his eyebrows in concern.
"You ok?" he asked, attempting to raise an arm to steady her shaking body but finding he couldn't because it was pinned against the net.
"Yes," Claire choked out. "It's just moments ago I wanted to stay mad at you and now…well, I can't remember why I would want to be mad."
"Hate's such a passionate emotion," Charlie observed randomly, loving the way her eyes lit up whenever she found something hilarious. "Why do people say spread the love? Spread the hate, it's much more passionate."
Claire giggled even harder, knowing this was definitely her Charlie resurfacing. He was the kind of guy who spouted utter nonsense just because he liked seeing you laugh. She always delivered on that front.
"We need an imaginary knife," Charlie continued, sounding absolutely serious but obviously playing pretend. "Maybe we can get down that way." He stretched his fingers out, pretending to reach into his pocket. "A-ha!" he crowed. "Found one."
"What are you doing?" Claire wondered, suddenly realising she couldn't stop smiling.
"Ssh," Charlie commanded. "Absolute concentration is required for this. I'm going to pass this knife to you and you're going to cut us down. Ok?"
Claire nodded, biting her lip to prevent an ensuing attack of the giggles.
"Good." Charlie touched her hand and watched as her fingers unfolded slowly, like a flower at dawn, and proceeded to pass her the knife, which was essentially nothing. "You got it?"
"Got it," Claire replied. She then pretended to saw away at the ropes. "I think this blade's blunt," she mused, pretending to drop it through the gaps in the net.
"Damn!" Charlie pretended to sound disappointed. "Well, we'll just have to wait for someone to come and rescue us." He winked at her. "Shouldn't take too long, I mean, someone's bound to wander through on an adventure of some sort."
"Absolutely," Claire agreed.
They hung there in silence, both of them musing over the change in their relationship. It wasn't quite healed; more like a plaster had been stuck over the fissure between them which temporarily placed them back together again. Charlie was just happy to be back on talking terms with her, let alone anything else, and he felt no need to push his luck by bringing up the subject of where they stood. Claire, meanwhile, was confused. She felt so strange being around him again but it was a good strange. The tingles which ran up and down her spine occurred every time they touched and her bad mood slipped into oblivion, ironically because of the man who'd caused her bad mood by walking by in the first place.
"You know what," Charlie spoke up, evidently following his own train of thought. "We may have missed an obvious thing to do here. Something we probably should've done in the first place."
"What's that?"
"Call for help." Charlie grinned at her.
Claire stared at him, her mouth framed in a perfect O-shape. She couldn't believe how stupid they'd been. Speaking for herself, she'd been so wrapped up (no pun intended) in the idea of being caught in a net with the one person who could rouse such passionate emotions in her, whether that be hate or love, that she'd missed shouting for help as an option.
Simultaneously, they both opened their mouths and started yelling for help at the top of their lungs. After five solid minutes of doing this, they resigned themselves to waiting there until someone walked by. It was just a shame that they were hanging there in a place that hardly anyone ever walked through.
"This is nice," Charlie commented, trying to keep the conversation going. "We should make this a weekly thing."
"What?" Claire stared at him as if he'd finally lost it.
"I'm simply suggesting we come out here once a week and set off a trap and have a good gossip session," Charlie replied, his eyes twinkling with amusement. As much as she hated to admit it, Claire missed what she liked to call his "happy eyes".
"Sorry, Charlie," she replied, rolling her eyes. "As fun as that sounds, I can't burden Sun with Aaron too much. Did you know she's pregnant?"
"I heard it from Sawyer," Charlie replied. "He didn't really tell me, I sort of overheard him talking to Bernard about it." A surprisingly endearing blush flooded his cheeks. "Sawyer never really talks to me unless he's berating me about something."
Claire stared at him sadly. "I guess I was so busy being mad at you, I didn't think how isolated you must've felt."
"Ah, it's ok," Charlie replied with a brave attempt at a smile. "It's given me time to think, you know? It's given me time to grow."
This would've been a perfect moment to confess how much she'd missed him and how much Aaron had made her suffer because he'd missed Charlie too but, as luck would've had it, their tender moment was interrupted.
"Oh my God! Are you guys alright?" Jack's voice reached their ears.
Charlie, who was the only one who could see Jack and Kate walking into view, lifted up his one free arm and gave a little wave.
"We're just peachy, Jack," he replied confidently. "We've got this situation totally under control. My imaginary knife didn't work so we're working on retrieving an imaginary gun."
Claire giggled, shoving him lightly as a way of telling him to behave.
"Ok…" Jack sounded unsure of how to proceed. "Well, I don't know about imaginary guns, so how about a real one?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun and waved it in their direction.
"What are you going to do?" Claire asked nervously, hearing the sounds of a gun clicking. "You're not going to shoot us are you?"
"Relax, Claire," Charlie commanded, his lips twitching with faint amusement. "He's just going to shoot the rope down which is holding us up. Right, Jack?"
Jack grinned wickedly. "Sure, let's go with that," he joked, whilst Kate grinned, unsure which was stranger – the fact that Charlie and Claire were on talking terms again, or the fact that Jack was actually joking.
Charlie and Claire wriggled in the net, trying to give Jack some room to shoot whilst avoiding being killed themselves. Jack aimed the gun carefully and then fired the gun, watching with some amusement as the rope snapped with a loud ping, sending the net's prisoners hurtling towards the ground.
Claire shook her hair and blushed as she realised she was literally straddling Charlie. He grinned weakly at her and then they both collapsed in fits of laughter at the surreal situation they'd just experienced.
Jack helped Charlie off the ground, whilst Kate did the same with Claire. They grinned at each other.
"How'd you guys end up in a net?" Kate enquired, her eyes twinkling with amusement.
"We both tripped a wire," Charlie lied smoothly, covering up for the fact that it was Claire's fault. She smiled at him gratefully. "It must've been one of Rousseau's traps."
"Rousseau is one paranoid lady," Jack muttered. "I saw a trap of hers the other day that, had I not seen it in time, would've resulted in me being skewered by an arrow." He shook his head lightly.
"Let's get back to camp," Charlie suggested. "What were you guys doing out here anyway?"
"Looking for the others," Kate responded quietly. "Jack thought we could maybe negotiate with them, trade Henry for Walt. They didn't show though."
Charlie stared at her, then at Jack. He'd given up long ago trying to figure out the motives of the Others but he was dead certain they didn't negotiate and they certainly didn't do trades. But who was he to take away someone's hope? Hadn't he done enough damage to the camp already?
"Let's go back," he replied, fully aware of how dishevelled he and Claire looked. He tried to fix it but to no avail.He just hoped they could pass through the camp unnoticed…
------------------
She felt nervous all of a sudden, as she approached Sun's tent. She was aware that her hair was dishevelled and her clothes were covered in leaves. How bad does this look? Her thoughts were ones of panic and she lived with the constant fear that someone would ask her why she looked so rough. She and Charlie had parted on amicable terms, each in separate directions so as not to give anyone the wrong idea.
"How's my little sweetie?" she asked, grinning as she approached Sun and a now beaming Aaron. "Somebody looks happy."
"He was as good as gold," Sun assured her, handing Aaron over to her carefully. "Jin and I enjoyed having him."
Claire smiled at her. "Thanks for having him, Sun. I'm sorry I'm a bit later than I said I would but I got…delayed."
Sun nodded understandingly. "You've just got a leaf in your hair," she pointed out, reaching a hand to pick out the aforementioned leaf.
Claire laughed nervously. "I don't know how that got there," she replied, trying to fake sincerity. "Well, I'll just be heading off now. Thanks Sun."
Sun nodded again, suspicion and concern touching her expression. She wondered briefly what Claire could possibly be hiding from her and it was a mystery that occupied her mind for a few minutes. Then, respecting her friend's privacy, she shrugged and turned away to find Jin.
Charlie, meanwhile, didn't escape the questions so easily. He snuck into camp with the subtlety of a spy and, for a moment, it seemed like he was going to get away without being asked anything awkward. Unfortunately, he completely forgot to account for his observant neighbour, Sawyer.
"Where you been, champ?" Sawyer called as he watched Charlie walk slowly towards his tent. "And why do you look so, how do I put it, guilty?"
His flush gave him away. He could no longer shrug the question aside and pretend to be wallowing in self-pity. What do I say? he asked himself, panicking just like Claire. Well, he'd done enough lying and so the truth had to come out sooner or later.
"I was taking a walk," he informed Sawyer. "Not that it's any of your business of course."
"Tell me," Sawyer replied, a creepy, all-knowing smirk resting on his face. "When you took this 'walk', did you fall into the bushes? You've brought back half the jungle with you."
He gestured to Charlie's hoodie, which was covered in leaves and bits of twigs from the jungle floor. His smirk grew wider when Charlie failed to speak straight away.
"Me and Claire got caught in a net," he eventually muttered.
Sawyer's smirk, if possible, widened so that it took up half his face. "Really?" he asked, his eyes widening with delight. "Well, it's about time, sport!" He strode over and clapped his neighbour on the back.
"Wait," Charlie stuttered. "It's not what you…"
"I understand completely," Sawyer reassured him, still smirking. "I was always rooting for you two kids to get together."
-The End-