Tis the Season
Summary: Secret Santa Fic for Squabble. Ignores season 3. It's Christmas on the island and Charlie decides to round up everyone to the caves for the season. Features Shannon and Boone, so AU.
From writing in her journal, a journal which cleverly concealed a calendar in the back pages, Claire was the one to work out it was Christmas Day, a fact which seemed to flummox people more than the mystery of what lay inside the jungle. There were simply more important things to think about than Christmas. They had to prioritise right, or at least that was what Jack thought.
He was around the caves, gathering some water to take back to the beach when he heard someone shouting his name, which wasn't an uncommon sound given the fact he was the doctor slash leader of the group.
"Jack! There you are," panted a clearly breathless Charlie, who seemingly emerged out of nowhere. "I wanted to ask you something."
"Is Claire alright?" Jack asked, assuming that was the reason behind the Briton's sudden appearance.
"Claire?" Charlie seemed surprised by the question. "She's fine, mate. Listen, I wanted to know what you were doing about today. You know, what with it being Christmas and all."
"What am I doing?" Jack repeated, his brow furrowing with confusion. "You've lost me there, Charlie…"
"It's Christmas," Charlie reiterated, dragging out the word as if that was the part Jack had somehow missed. "We should, I dunno, all be together or something. Just thought you might want to get everyone together so we can all celebrate it together. Do you even know that it's Christmas today?"
Jack smiled wryly. "I believe I have heard that somewhere…" he agreed. "But Christmas doesn't change the fact that we're still stuck here. I doubt people are going to be in the mood for celebrating."
Charlie's face fell, as though he'd expected Jack to rise to the challenge and lead the charge back to the beach to rally the troops. He shuffled awkwardly on the spot, unsure how to proceed, all the while trying to find an angle to argue from which would be a bit more intelligent than 'It's Christmas!'
"Jack, we haven't all been together in a long time," he argued.
"What are you talking about?" Jack laughed, bending down to fill the last of the water bottles in his possession. "We're all together now at the beach."
"I mean together together," Charlie rectified. "Sure, we're all at the beach but it's like we just drift past each other nowadays." He shrugged, unable to explain it. "I don't think we've actually been united as a group since…I dunno…the first few weeks after the crash."
Jack frowned, trying to bring up the memories of those first few weeks so he could follow Charlie's logic. He was in no mood to celebrate Christmas himself because wasn't the whole point of Christmas to be with your family and friends? He liked these people, sure, but he wouldn't say they were family.
"Doesn't matter, Jack," Charlie suddenly said, realizing Jack was not the man to ask when it came to anything you could put under the category of 'fun'. "I'll organize it myself."
He promptly walked off, wondering how he was going to convince forty odd people to come to the caves when they'd all been avoiding the place like it was Hell reincarnated. It was a kind of daft mission, now he thought about it properly. But he hadn't had a decent Christmas since he was a child and he wanted to make this one really special, not just for himself but for Claire and the baby.
He mentally listed everyone he could remember and tried to think tactically of how best to win them over to his idea. Sawyer he would leave until last, for obvious reasons, although he had a suspicion bringing Kate into his argument would do it. He figured Claire was the best person to start with.
"I don't know, Charlie…" Claire sounded apprehensive. "Wanting us all to be together is a sweet thought but at the caves…It just holds bad memories for me."
Charlie rubbed her shoulder comfortingly, gazing into her eyes as if hoping to evaporate her uncertainty with one look.
"I know," he assured her, "but it's a change of scenery, right? If we pretended hard enough, we could imagine they were houses, right?"
"So, it's imaginary houses now, eh?" Claire teased, pressing delicate hand against her mouth to repress her giggles. "That's certainly a step up from imaginary peanut butter."
"You know it, love." He grinned. "Come on, Claire… It's Aaron's first Christmas. How many of those is he going to have? On the beach we all sort of do our own thing; we're all divided up by tents and stuff…"
"What does Jack say about all of this?" Claire suddenly asked, pursing her lips as she glanced at Charlie's expression.
"He was the most unhelpful person in the entire world," Charlie muttered darkly. "Besides, since when did we have to run everything by him?"
She laughed at his sulky expression and pressed a finger against his lips to silence him before he went off on what she affectionately called 'a Charlie rant'. He usually reserved his rants for people like Locke, or Sawyer, so it was a rarity indeed to hear him rant about Jack.
"Alright," she said suddenly. "I'll do it."
Charlie's entire face lit up. "Really?"
"Yes," she said firmly, before she found some sort of hole in his plan and managed to talk herself out of it.
Ever since she discovered the date, a part of her had hoped someone would swoop in and tell them they would be doing something other than surviving, that they would be acknowledging the day in some other way than just telling people in passing. She hadn't expected Charlie to be the one to do it, however, and she was all the more glad that he had surprised her like this.
"Yes!" Charlie punched the area in triumph. "One down, forty six to go!"
Claire laughed aloud, turning her attention to her little boy who'd just at this moment woken up from his rather abrupt nap. She lifted him up and kissed the top of his head, before handing him over to a very smiley Charlie.
"Happy Christmas little guy," he whispered, swaying him back and forth. "Uncle Charlie's going to make this the best first Christmas ever for you."
"I don't doubt it," Claire whispered, kissing Charlie's cheek, pulling away only when she noticed, with some amusement, that it had gone red.
"Right," Charlie said, clearing his throat, evidently trying to regain some of his masculinity. "I'm off to see if I can round up the others. See you later…"
He ducked off, though she could hear his quiet little giggle of joy from just outside the tent and couldn't repress a smirk.
It was living proof that she drove him crazy just as much as he drove her crazy.
"What have you got against me and Sayid?" Shannon yelled, her face red with unrepressed rage.
She was standing only inches apart from Boone, both of them close to spitting at each other after enduring yet another row. It was the same fight they seemed to have over and over: Boone couldn't stand the sight of Shannon with Sayid, and she couldn't stand Boone's obsessive infatuation. In short, the fact it was Christmas didn't change anything for them whatsoever.
"I just don't trust that guy!" Boone yelled, his face bright crimson to match hers. "Is that a problem?"
"Yeah, it's a problem!" Shannon spat. "Look, you've got Johnny boy to play with. Leave me alone, Boone. We are never going to happen!"
He snarled underneath his breath, looking and feeling as though he was going to lunge at her, despite the fact she was a girl. He struggled to come up with a counter-argument, and the silly smug smile he hated emerged on her face. She might've been as thick as a plank but she knew exactly how to disarm him in every verbal battle they endured.
"Oh, look," she sneered, noticing someone walking towards them. "Someone's coming to save your ass…Again!"
Boone turned to the side and saw Charlie walking towards them,silly little grin plastered onto his face, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"Happy Christmas, guys," the Briton announced as he strode forward. "Listen…We're celebrating Christmas up at the caves…together…and I was hoping you could join us. Live together, die alone, right?"
Shannon snorted. "As if I'm going to spend Christmas with that stalker," she declared, looking at Boone with clear disdain. "Sorry, but count me out. Also, the rape caves? Are you serious? I wouldn't go near them if you paid me too."
"Sorry, man," Boone apologized, taking a more polite tone. "It's a nice idea but unfortunately some people don't have the good spirit to join in."
Shannon let out an incoherent shrieking noise in disbelief, causing Charlie to suddenly look nervous. He'd interrupted a fight, which was never good, and it seemed to show no sign of stopping. He had no idea how he was going to persuade them to drop their hostilities and petty arguments to join in with the season.
"So, you're going to spend Christmas on the beach being miserable sods?" he questioned, inserting a touch of irritation into his voice for effect. "Right… Listen, I don't know anything about your lives but here's a fact from mine: I haven't had a Christmas since I was 12. My dad banished the whole concept after my mother died because he couldn't afford it and my brother lost faith in the entire idea when he died. This is my chance to actually have one and I will bloody well have one even if I have to drag your asses to the caves myself!"
Shannon and Boone were staring at him, agog, and he enjoyed the surge of power he'd momentarily possessed. He had this image of what their Christmas would look like and he was working towards making that image come true. He wasn't going to let a spoilt brat and her stalker of a brother ruin that.
"When you're ready, make your way to the caves," he commanded, his chest swelling up with importance, before walking off.
"That's a sweet idea, Charlie," Locke said with mild appreciation, his hands busy sharpening his knife.
"You're coming?" Charlie asked, shocked.
He'd expected Locke to be the hardest after Sawyer to persuade to join in with the festivities, what with the fact he was the most solitary member of camp who frequently shied away from group activities or meetings, unless it concerned the Others of course.
"Sure," Locke said with a smile. "I heard down the grapevine you were asking people to go the caves. I think it's about time someone other than Jack gave some orders around here."
"Hear, hear," Charlie replied heartily. "So…do you like Christmas?"
"I like the idea of Christmas," Locke replied mildly, continuing to sharp his knife. "I like the idea that it's supposed to be about people coming together, and that it's the only day on the calendar where the entire world unites for this one celebration." He saw Charlie's sceptical look and added, "I know you think I'm not a people person, Charlie, and you'd be right. I prefer solitude and don't believe in Jack's philosophy that we either live together or die alone. I can, however, make an exception for this day."
He grinned broadly.
"I'm glad you're on board," Charlie said gratefully.
"I'm a sucker for sob stories, too," Locke added, with a wink. "Boone talks, in case you didn't know."
Charlie clearly struggled to hold back a scowl but managed it with some effort. He watched Claire and Aaron from across the beach and, instantly, his face relaxed. He could hear her melodious laugh and he released the breath he'd been holding, suddenly excited to be spending the day with her.
"You really care about her, don't you?" Locke asked, noticing where his gaze had suddenly wandered off too. "Claire?"
"Yeah…" Charlie blushed. "Is it that obvious?"
"No… Well, yes."
The two men laughed cordially and shook hands, before they parted ways. Charlie almost skipped with joy as he realized his plan was coming together quite nicely. He knew if Shannon would get on board, so would Sayid, so that was one of the big four on board. Now, he just had to get the other three's attention and he knew exactly how to do that…
Sawyer and Kate were lightly flirting when Jack suddenly came into view, chucking them both a bottle of water, before pausing where he stood so he could understand what they were both laughing about.
"You won't believe what Charlie's doing," Kate told Jack.
"You really won't, doc," Sawyer added. "I'm almos' impressed with the midget. He's definitely not done this thing halfway."
"Apparently, he's even persuaded Locke to join in," Kate asked, raising her eyebrows, barely concealing her impressed look. "That had to be no easy feat, surely?"
"What's he done?" Jack asked, wondering if this was to do with the conversation he'd had with Charlie earlier.
Well, it had been more of an interrogation than anything else but still, it had been quite strange, even by Charlie's standards.
"Well everyone I've talked to this morning have told me he's ordered them up to the caves so we can all celebrate Christmas together," Kate explained, a smile emerging on her face. "It's a sweet idea. I love it."
"Say wha'?" Sawyer demanded. "Freckles, it's an incredibly corny an' cheesy idea. Playin' happy families at Christmas…" He shook his head. "Whatever next?"
Kate frowned at him. "Come on, Sawyer, when was the last time you had a proper Christmas? I know I've only ever had one good Christmas and that was with my dad when I was 9."
"It's a stupid idea," Sawyer protested.
"It's not," Jack suddenly chipped in, an affectionate smile emerging on his face. "It's a brilliant idea. It's so…Charlie."
Kate laughed with glee. "It is!" she declared. "It's so Charlie."
"An' that's a good thing, how?" Sawyer demanded.
Kate hit him lightly.
"Behave," she scolded. "If I'm honest, things have been a little bit dull around here lately. Personally, I think we've got a lot to be thankful for."
"Like what?" Sawyer asked sourly. "For all the midgets we've been blessed with? For the fact that outta all the islands we had ta crash on this crazy rock? What?"
"We're alive, for one," Kate retorted. "I dunno about you but I'm pretty thankful for that. And, believe it or not, Sawyer, we have good friends here." She smiled shyly in Jack's direction. "Some very good friends. And after all we've been through, don't we deserve something good for once?"
"Well, when ya put it like tha'…" Sawyer smiled slyly. "I'm in."
Kate smiled at him and turned to Jack.
"You in?" she asked, smiling at the serious expression on his face. "It's not a riddle, Jack. It's not a problem you have to solve or fix. Are you in?"
He smiled at her assertive manner.
"Oh, I'm definitely in," he said. "How did he manage to persuade all of those people to go to the caves though? I couldn't even do that when I told them their survival was at stake!"
"Cause people actually like…" Sawyer began, before Kate pushed him away.
"Go get your overnight stuff, Sawyer, and quit yapping!" she teased.
"Yes, ma'am."
Sawyer gave her a leering smile, and Jack a parting grimace, before vacating the area.
"Ignore him," Kate said, smiling up at him. "He's a sarcastic jerk every day of the year."
They both laughed, and then pondered what else Charlie had up his sleeve. They were impressed he'd managed to persuade forty-odd people to go to the caves and decided not to waste the gift he'd given them: being with the people you cared about at Christmas.
"I'll see you later, Jack," Kate suddenly said, an idea dawning in her mind. "I'm just going to get something. Meet you at the caves?"
"Definitely." Jack gazed at Kate and smiled. "It's a date."
Kate laughed and gave him a parting wave, leaving him staring after her…like the poor, lovesick fool that he was.
It was nearing nightfall when the survivors reached the caves. They were surprised, to say the least, at the sight they saw when they arrived there. Hurley, who'd been there ever since Charlie had filled him in on the plan, was standing around a fire, a small pile below his feet.
"Welcome to the first, and hopefully last, Island de Christmas," he announced. "Or…something to that effect."
Someone in the crowd tittered and a murmur of interest rippled throughout the group. It was clear that whatever they'd been expected, it hadn't been this.
"I'm supposed to be Santa," Hurley explained apologetically. "So, forgive the lack of suit, lack of beard, lack of…well, everything. I guess nobody packed for Christmas." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I have some presents for you which we have not at all located last minute from the spare bags."
"Yeah, right!" Sawyer hollered from the back. "Where's my pony?"
Hurley ignored the interruption.
"For Shannon," he began, retrieving something from the pile. "We have this make up collection from some designer or whatever…"
Shannon squealed with delight, and broke away from Sayid's grip to retrieve her present.
"This is actually kind of cool," she admitted. "Thanks, Hurley."
"It's Santa, but whatever," Hurley muttered. "For Sayid, we have this novelty gift some weird dude had with him on the plane. Immediately, we thought of you." He chuckled loudly. "Here's why."
Sayid stepped forward and received a pair of nunchucks, a weapon specifically designed for those of ninja blood.
"Thank you…I guess," he said cautiously, unable to understand the reason behind everyone bursting into laughter.
Hurley continued to give out gifts with a merry spirit. Claire received a hairbrush and an empty jar (courtesy of Charlie, she suspected). Jack received, as a joke, a My First Doctor kit and a bottle of cologne he suspected he'd never wear. Kate received some clothes she knew she'd worn at some point, which she was grateful for all the same, and her favourite shoes she'd had in her luggage.
"What ya got for me, Santa?" Sawyer asked, when it came to his turn. "I don' see no pony around."
"We got you something I hope you'll appreciate," Hurley told him solemnly. "It took us ages to find something for you. You're not exactly the easiest person to steal for. I – I mean buy for."
"Hand it over then," Sawyer commanded, looking like an eager child.
Hurley bent to the pile and retrieved a bottle of Scotch they'd discovered in the middle of the jungle.
"Alcohol!" Sawyer's face lit up. "Now this is a party!"
He opened the lid with his mouth and proceeded to down the liquid.
"Where's Charlie?" Claire piped up, once the present giving had finished.
At once, the rest of the group echoed her question.
"Yeah? Where is the man of the hour?"
"Come on – tell us already?"
"Where's he hiding?"
Hurley hid a grin.
"Dude," he called to the bushes. "I think they want you now."
Charlie suddenly popped out of the bushes, turning red when everyone started cheering, his eyes finding Jack's, searching for approval. Jack inclined his head and proceeded to grin before giving him the thumbs up.
"Turkey dinner, anyone?" Charlie asked, holding up several microwaveable dinners.
"Du-ude!" Hurley was about drooling. "Where did you find those?"
"In the hatch, of course," Charlie replied, rolling his eyes. "I didn't magic them out of thin air, Hurley. The Dharma folk obviously knew how to have a good time at Christmas."
He grinned at everyone, his eyes searching for Claire's, this time. She beamed, words failing her. He ducked his head to the side and then proceeded to hand out the meals, graciously receiving the praises everyone was giving him.
Once everyone had started to eat and settle down by the fire, Charlie went to sit by Claire, who was bouncing Aaron up and down on her lap.
"Did you get your imaginary peanut butter?" was his first question.
She held the jar up. "Check."
He smiled. "I got you one more present," he confessed. "I felt really bad for taking it, because it had obviously been meant for someone special."
Claire felt herself stiffen with surprise. Was he about to do what she thought he was about to do? If so, she really wasn't ready for that, but she didn't want to hurt him, especially on Christmas. But, really, what was he thinking bringing this on her on Christmas?
"It's not what you think," he assured her, noticing the panic in her eyes. "It's not an engagement ring. It's a promise ring."
"A promise ring?" she repeated, savouring the words. "What's that?"
"It can mean different things," Charlie informed her. "Some people give them as a sort of pre-engagement thing; as a sort of promise that they'll get engaged soon, but not yet. This, however, is a special promise ring. If you wear it, you're promising to put up with all my behaviour, to accept my help if I think you need it, to let me take care of you because you're honestly the best thing in my life and, more importantly, to let me treat you like a princess, because you deserve nothing but the best."
Claire's smile widened and her eyes filled with tears. It didn't matter that Charlie was, in his own sort of way, proposing to her – although it had nothing to do with being engaged – because his speech had completely won her over. He could've uttered wedding vows afterwards and she would've been too starry eyed to protest.
He retrieved the ring, which was a humble little band of gold with a few modest crystals on it, and slipped it on Claire's finger, careful to avoid the one which indicated engagement.
"Merry Christmas, Claire," he whispered.
"Merry Christmas, Charlie," she murmured back, leaning in to kiss his lips.
After the modest feast, everyone had become horizontal, with everyone ending up somehow attached to each other. Sayid, who had a sleepy Shannon curled up inside his arms, was leaning against Jack, whose legs were on top Charlie's. Claire, who was next to Charlie, had her head on his lap, and her feet were touching the feet of Boone, who gave her a lazy wave in recognition of that fact.
"What a great – hic – Christmas," a slightly drunk Sawyer was telling a tree. "What did you – hic- get?" When the tree didn't respond, he nodded solemnly and replied, "me – hic –too."
Some people were dozing off, clearly worn out by the day's events. Jack gazed sleepily around at everyone, at his strange sort of family, and wondered why he had ever doubted this ingenious idea. He felt a slight pang that it was down to the efforts of Charlie and Hurley, not himself, who'd made everyone's spirits rise and given them all a sense of contentment no medicine or treatment ever could.
"Jack?" Kate hissed, waving at him from across the caves.
"What?" he hissed back.
"Come over here," she mouthed, "I have something for you."
With a dissatisfied and grumpy sigh, he hoisted himself off the ground and stumbled towards Kate. She took his hand and led him out of earshot.
"What – What are you doing?" he asked curiously.
"I wanted to try something," she replied, shyly. "You know when Hurley said nobody had packed for Christmas. Well, that wasn't strictly true."
She pulled out something from her pocket which he couldn't quite make out at first. It looked like a plant, of some sort, and that's when his eyes widened with incredulity.
"Who packs mistletoe?" he asked in hushed tones.
She shrugged. "I dunno. Who packs nunchucks for ninjas?" she asked.
He chuckled. "I think they may have to be confiscated once Sayid works out how they actually function," he said. "Otherwise I'm going to end up being very busy."
They laughed.
"So….?" Kate looked at him questioningly. "Wanna try it out?"
"I've never been under mistletoe," Jack said nervously. "I know you're supposed to kiss…"
"Oh, relax," Kate snorted. "It's just a kiss, Jack."
She held it above their heads and looked meaningfully at him. She sighed when he remained rigid as a post and rose on her tiptoes so she could plant a soft kiss on his lips. She smiled through the kiss when he sighed with realization.
"Ok," Jack said, breaking apart. "My turn."
He held the mistletoe this time and went in for the kill. His lips dove in a kind of reckless manner and found their target within a manner of seconds. Hers rose to meet his and both sets of lips did a rather dizzy and seductive tango together, swaying in time to an invisible rhythm before they broke apart.
"Merry Christmas," he said, smiling widely.
"Merry Christmas," she replied, inserting the mistletoe inside his shirt's top pocket before going back to camp, glancing back only to give him a soft, affectionate look which seemed to sum it all up really.
He smiled.
Really, he thought, this whole Christmas lark wasn't really that bad.
He was interrupted with his thoughts as Sawyer came stumbling past, pointing to a tree and saying in a completely serious tone, "I've scored."
Jack absorbed that for a few seconds and, in a rare moment, began to break down as the laughter overcame him.
If there had been any good Christmases in his life, this one, by far, had outstripped them.
A/n: Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year!