Title: Thankyou
Spoilers: up to and including 3x08
Original Post Date: 30/04/2007
Summary: He may not have been the one to drag her out of the water or do CPR on her – but when Claire woke up, Charlie was the one who was there for her, not Desmond. The missing C/C scene before Claire goes and thanks Desmond for saving her.
Disclaimer: I'm playing in somebody else's sandbox here. Metaphorically speaking of course.
A/N: dedicated to my fellow writing buddy pacejunkie

If this isn't love it's very close...

The Whitlams - Thankyou (for loving me at my worst)

Claire's hair had dried into a tangled mess of salted curls, sleep softening her face as she dozed away the consequences of the morning's events. Charlie had been kneeling beside her bed since she had crawled onto it nearly two hours ago under strict orders from everyone from Sayid through to Charlie himself that she needed to rest. Aaron was dozing too. Sun had offered to continue watching him but Charlie wouldn't hear of it. He wasn't letting either of them out of his sight for the rest of the day. The two of them made up the delicate fabric of a family he had come to truly love and depend on – and he wasn't about to lose either of them.

Not again.

His eyes fixed firmly on her face, Charlie began to work on smoothing the tangles out of her hair. He combed his fingertips through her fringe, his hand lingering against her cheek and after a long moment, her eyes flickered open and she gazed at him solemnly. Her face had lost most of the grey now that the pink had returned to her cheeks a little, but the dark circles underneath her eyes betrayed all too clearly her earlier brush with death.

"Hey," Charlie started tentatively, his hand still against her cheek.

"Hi," Claire returned, very quietly. The two of them were still for a long moment and then Claire leant into his palm, just slightly.

And Charlie nearly lost it.

Choking back a dry sob, he made his face split into what he hoped was a smile and not a grimace. "How are you feeling?"

Claire blinked leisurely at him. "A lot better now that I've slept a bit. Have you been kneeling beside my bed since I fell asleep?"Charlie dropped his eyes guiltily and Claire shook her head at him, smiling softly.

"You daft, sweet man. I'm okay, really, you don't have to stand guard." She chuckled uncertainly. "The ocean's not going to come and steal me away from you."

Charlie's eyes snapped back up to hers. "It almost did."

Claire looked rather taken aback at his vehemence. "Charlie…"

"I was scared this morning," Charlie blurted out, his words stumbling over each other in their haste. "I was so scared Claire – you have no idea. I thought for a second that you… that you wouldn't…"

"Hey," Claire sat up a little, Charlie protesting the whole way that she should lie down again, that she should rest. "It's okay Charlie, I'm okay. Really, you don't have to…"

"But what if you had drowned this morning?" Charlie pressed her, getting more and more worked up. "What would we have done? What would Aaron have done? I should have…"

Claire placed her hands on either side of his face and pressed the pad of her right thumb against his lips to quiet his upcoming diatribe on why he should have been the one to save her.

"'What if'?" she shook her head at him. "You shouldn't live your life based on 'what if's' Charlie."

He was silent as Claire repositioned her hands slightly, leant forward and planted a delicate kiss on his lips. Charlie sighed into her, the tension falling out of his body like some great, invisible weight had been loosened but all too soon, Claire was pulling back, offering him a weary smile and stroking his cheeks gently.

"See? I'm still here. I'm still with you. I'm still…" A sleepy moan from Aaron's cradle interrupted her and Claire sighed good naturedly. "I'm still here for Aaron."

"He's probably about to wake up," Charlie peered over at her son then glanced back at Claire meaningfully. "And he'll probably be hungry. It's been a while since his last feed."

Claire sighed again. "Yeah," she pushed herself to her feet slowly and Charlie automatically moved to help stabilise her. "Well before he wakes up and begins to demand my undivided attention I have a five minute detour I need to make quickly."

"A five minute detour to do what?" Charlie's hand went automatically to her lower back to support her if she should happen to lose her balance – a habit he had developed when she was pregnant and had yet to break.

Claire gently eased his hand off her back and gave it a quick squeeze. "Well now that I'm able to stand upright without falling over or vomiting up salty water, there's somebody that I need to thank."

Charlie thought for a moment and then nodded. "Desmond."

"Yeah," Claire toed the ground uneasily as she watched Charlie's face. He was certain that there was something close to jealousy simmering on it – he resented the fact that he hadn't been the one to save her, that she wasn't thanking him instead of Desmond. But even as he tried to get his emotions under control, Claire stepped forward and put her arms around his waist, leaning against his chest. Charlie put his arms around her and stroked her salted hair languidly with one hand.

"Thank you for being there – for looking after me," she murmured against his shoulder. "I don't know anyone else here who would have sat with me until I woke up like you did."

Charlie smiled against her hair. She was trying to make him feel better about not being the one who saved her – girls always seemed to be trying to make people feel better about their shortcomings. Not that he was complaining of course. He might not have dragged her out of the water or gotten her breathing again, but long after Desmond had gone back to his tent, he had still been there to look after Aaron while she got dressed in dry clothes, had been there for her when she woke up…

And he knew that she appreciated it.

"Anytime luv," he murmured.Claire gave him a squeeze and then pulled back just enough to look him in the eye. "I won't be long," she promised. "Can you watch Aaron for me?"

"Course," Charlie said, his voice a little gruffer than usual. "Just don't be too long okay? You'll make me worry again and I don't think I have the emotional capacity to do any more worrying today."

Claire smiled up at him and touched his cheek for a fond moment before stepping out of his embrace and tottering away.

Charlie didn't turn his attention back to Aaron until she was well and truly out of sight.