"We're here" Charlie said as he stopped the car, the large church looming in front of them in the darkness. Claire was sat in the passenger seat, Aaron wrapped in her arms and her eyes focused on Charlie as if she was afraid he would simply disappear and leave her again.
She had been telling him about her life, she tried to stop herself from lying but she left out some parts, mostly he parts that included her killing several people (though she didn't know why, Charlie himself had once killed a man), she had also left out the many times she took residence in Santa Rosa Mental Institute because off her experiences on the island. She mostly kept to how she watched Aaron grow up and go to college and university before she had died in her early forties. She didn't regret her life at all, she got to see her son grow up and that was all that mattered too her.
"Did you ever get my ring?" Charlie asked suddenly as he messed with his familiar silver ring on his finger "I left it in Aaron's crib the day I….well…the day I went for a very long swim" he smiled lightly as if it was a joke which she didn't find funny at all, but she gave a slight smile and nodded "Sun found it and gave it me when we were on Desmond's boat" she answered and she was secretly glad Sun had given her the ring then as she had tragically died - drowned no less only hours later.
"Did you know you were going to die?" she asked suddenly "ever since I found out you left you're ring behind I've wondered, and then there where Desmond's wired visions" and she knew the answer instantly when he couldn't meet her eyes, he always was a terrible liar.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, feeling slightly betrayed
"Because you would have asked me to stay, and how could I possible say no to that" he smiled "and plus, I did tell you not to worry when I was gone"
"Yeah, only when you said gone, I took it like you were coming back"
"I'm here aren't I?" he smiled brightly as if this had been his master plan all along, she could only narrow her eyes. Charlie smiled and quickly climbed out the car, walking round to open her door so she could climb out with Aaron.
"You ready?" he asked and she smiled, she had never been more ready for anything, and together they walked to the church, his hand around her waist as they walked towards the door, she let her head rest on his shoulder as they stopped at the door "do we knock?" she heard Charlie ask and she was about to answer but the door swung open and they heard a massive yell of "Dude!" and before they knew it Charlie was lifted off his feet and trapped in a massive hug being provided by Hurley "Nice to finally see you sober!" he laughed and Claire couldn't help but feel confused until Hurley told her a funny story involving Charlie, drinking and a tranquilizer dart.
"So who's here?" she asked and Hurley finally let Charlie go to turn to her and Aaron "There's me, Libby, Shannon, Boone, Sayid, Penny and Desmond" he answered
"Desmond's here" Charlie said suddenly "excuse me, I have to go have a chat with him" he smiled before walking into the church after kissing Claire on the forehead, Claire however was confused, and apparently so was Hurley
"He high?" Hurley asked as he desperately tried hard not to laugh at her annoyed reaction to the question.
Claire, Hurley and Aaron entered the church together, her eyes immediately sought Charlie who was talking to Penny and Desmond, the latter off whom looked over to her and smiled as she walked over to join them, immediately taking Charlie's hand as she reached them. Charlie turned to her and smiled but she wasn't fooled
"So what's so important?" she asked and Charlie quickly shot a look to Desmond who looked the other way, Penny shook her head and sighed "He doesn't want you to know he crashed Desmond's car" she laughed and now she was confused, he hadn't remembered until a couple of hours ago and they hadn't been apart since, Charlie and Desmond cleared their throats and began to tell her the story of how they had met, she couldn't help but smile when Desmond recounted the description of a blond woman that Charlie had seen and she leant onto his shoulder once more.
Then they got to the actual crash, and she was not as pleased, she'd also noticed that Shannon, Boone and Sayid had arrived, Sayid and Charlie had given each other a one arm hug which didn't last long but she guessed it was too be considered "manly".
The idea of Charlie dying in a car crash worried her, the idea off Charlie dying again hadn't left her mind since she remembered him, but then she remembered, could he die here?, what would happen if he did die?. Then however, they came to the part how he had almost drowned when the car went into the ocean
"Dude!" Hurley spoke "Armbands man…they keep you afloat…buy some" he laughed, Charlie was looking at Claire with puppy dog eyes
"In my defence, I survived" he mumbled before turning to talk to Boone and Shannon
"Can I speak to you for a second" Claire said and Charlie sighed before allowing himself to be lead off away from them, he thought he heard Boone whisper something to Sayid causing the latter to nod and laugh.
"You almost drowned yourself!" Claire said shocked once they were in a private place, Aaron awoke at that moment as if to save Charlie a long talking too, he had never loved the little guy more than this moment.
"Ohh look who's finally awake" Claire cooed over him and Charlie had half a mind to sneak off and live another day, however he decided to stay and watch over the scene in front off him.
"Look" she heard Charlie speak "I'm sorry for almost drowning….again, but we're here now, and we'll be leaving soon, just got to wait for Sun, Jin, Sawyer, Jack and Kate"
"and Juliet" she replied and noticed the look off confusion on his face "Juliet and Sawyer, they were a couple for three years, he won't leave here without her" she explained having to laugh at the confused expression on his face, it was then she looked over his shoulder to see someone smiling boarding towards him as they walked over, Charlie seemed to notice her gaze and saw Rose walking towards him.
"Come here you!" she smiled as she pulled him into a hug, Charlie smiled brightly and Claire stepped forward taking his hand again, she knew he was right, all that was behind them now, there was only whatever lay ahead and that's all they needed to care about.
"Can I hold him?" he asked, and she knew he had wanted to ask it all night but had stopped himself for whatever reason she couldn't explain, without a word she passed Aaron over to him and his eyes lit up as he looked down at him, it was then that Sun, Jin, Sawyer and Juliet entered, her and Charlie greeting them all warmly, although it was slightly awkward for him and Juliet at first but they got past it, and now they knew there were only three people missing from their group, Kate, Jack and the one she was most nervous in seeing, John Locke, not because she didn't like Locke, but she was scared that she would forever see the man she once considered her friend instead, however she learnt she didn't have worried when he did arrive, they looked exactly the same and yet extremely different, there was a warmth about John Locke, you couldn't help but like him, it's what she had always liked about him.
With the arrival of Locke, there were only two people left, she found Charlie stood with Jin and Sun and went over to join them hoping they weren't having a awkward talk about the experience of dying by drowning, something she wouldn't put past Charlie, thankfully however they were talking about Aaron, she leant into his shoulder and leaned over him to admire her beautiful baby boy when Kate entered and she was immediately welcomed by Hurley and Libby. Claire took Charlie's hand and knew there was nothing left to do now but wait for Jack to arrive and then it would be time to move on to whatever came next and she knew whatever it was, it would be worth all the misery on the island, because it had given her Charlie, and Aaron, and everyone else who was stood in the room with her, and they would all be moving all together, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
A/N - Well there you go, I hope you enjoyed it because I sure enjoyed writing it, let me know what you felt in lovely reviews of which I can't get enough. As for Claire being given the ring on the boat, call it wishful thinking for a deleted scene in "The Last Recruit" . I've also decided that this won't be my last LOST fic, because lets face it, LOST is too awesome not to live on in fan fiction.