Chapter 2

Daylight was almost gone as Desmond made a pile of the broken twigs he had gathered from the edge of the jungle. He hadn't built himself a shelter yet, although if they weren't rescued soon, he supposed he would have to. He suspected that people were unsure of him and his sanity so he kept his distance from the others and slept under the stars several hundred yards down the beach from camp. Although he was used to being alone and became uncomfortable around the group, sometimes his longing for human companionship became unbearable. For some reason this evening he was feeling especially lonely and was surprised to see Charlie and Hurley walking in his direction. He began breaking the wood into smaller pieces as they approached him.

"Beautiful evening" said Charlie in an awkward tone.

"Aye." He continued what he was doing when he noticed Hurley nudge Charlie's arm.

"Say it dude."

"This morning," Charlie began with an earnest look on his face, "I'm sorry I wasn't more grateful. Thank you for helping Claire not drown."

"No harm done." Desmond paused for a moment then continued the task at hand.

"Excellent. I brought a peace offering…to make the truce official." Charlie knelt on the ground to retrieve a bottle of liquor from his backpack.

"Thanks, but no. I've spent a wee bit too much time drunk, as of late." He wondered why a "truce" was even necessary and found Charlie's behavior that morning to be very juvenile. If someone had saved Penny from drowning he would have expressed his gratitude immediately.

Charlie nodded with a disappointed look on his face. "Too good for us brother? Well that's fine. We'll take our drink and go somewhere else," he said in true Charlie fashion as he stood and tucked the bottle of whiskey under his arm, holding the backpack and three tin mugs in his hand.

Desmond's attention was suddenly drawn to the liquor bottle. "What kind of whiskey is that?"

Charlie looked briefly at the bottle. "It's, uh, it just says MacCutcheon," he said as he held the label so that Desmond could see.

Desmond wasn't sure why he began chuckling uncontrollably since the bottle reminded him of one of the most humiliating moments of his life. Maybe it was the irony of the whole damn situation. The day he had asked Penny's father for her hand in marriage, Widmore had pulled out two glasses, leading him to believe that he was going to offer a toast to their engagement, only to inform him that he wasn't worthy of drinking his whiskey much less marrying his daughter. It turned out that Penny's father had been right. Look at where he'd ended up and what he'd become. He was certain Widmore loved to tell the story of the fool who'd perished in his sailboat race trying to prove himself worthy of marrying his daughter. He imagined a group of high-powered men laughing about it over expensive brandy and cigars.

"Alright then. Let's have it." He nodded as a gesture for Charlie and Hurley to sit down.

Charlie offered a cup to Desmond. "No, I mean the bottle brother, if you've come to drink, let's drink."

A brief look of confusion crossed Charlie's face but then he smiled and handed Desmond the bottle. "Alright, let's drink."

Desmond took the bottle, eyeing the label for another moment then uncorked it with his teeth. "Cheers!" he said as he held the bottle up toward Charlie and Hurley.

"Cheers." Charlie grinned.

Here's to you Charles Widmore, you miserable bastard, he thought to himself as he turned the bottle straight up, taking several long gulps of the whiskey, letting it burn him down to the very core.

It had been hours since night had fallen on the camp. Claire hadn't seen Charlie or Hurley since well before dark and was beginning to worry. She bundled Aaron up tight in a blanket and made her way to the tent shared by Rose and Bernard. Their campfire was still blazing and she could see them relaxing on a blanket, talking to Sayid who was standing close by. When Rose caught sight of Claire, she waved.

Rose and Bernard were such wonderful people and many of the survivors liked to gather by their tent in the evenings. For Claire it brought a certain sense of nostalgia because Rose reminded her so much of her Aunt Millie. When she had gotten pregnant with Aaron, she went to Millie for guidance, not wanting to tell her friends or burden her mother with the news. They had sat on the front porch for hours, drinking hot tea and discussing the situation. Even though Claire didn't always agree with her aunt's perspective, she knew she was getting an impartial opinion and wouldn't be criticized if she didn't take her advice. Since being on the island, she had gone to Rose for advice several times because she knew Rose would offer insight and wisdom without being judgmental.

"Aaron being fussy?"

"No, he's actually about ready to call it a night. Would you mind to watch him while I go look for Charlie? He's been gone for hours and I'm beginning to worry."

"I'll be glad to watch him but you're not going anywhere alone, little lady," said Rose in her stern but caring voice.

"I'll go with you," offered Sayid in his ever-serious manner.

"Thanks, Sayid," Claire said before kissing Aaron's head and handing him to Rose. "I'll be back soon."

"When did you last see him?" asked Sayid.

"Just before sunset, he and Hurly went walking in that direction," she said pointing down the beach. "Charlie had his backpack so I assumed he was going to look for fruit."

As Claire and Sayid made their way across the sand making occasional small talk, they began to hear what sounded like singing. As they grew closer to the voices, the singing stopped but they could now see the faint, glowing embers of a campfire and three silhouettes, one of which Claire distinguished as Hurley. One of the figures, which appeared to be Desmond, slowly rose to his feet before staggering in the opposite direction. As Claire and Sayid closed the distance between themselves and the group, she realized that the third form who had suddenly stood up and began to yell in Desmond's direction was Charlie.

"Hey, I don't know what it is you're doing! You best tell us! Oy! You think because you turn some key that makes you a hero?! You're no hero brother. I don't know how you're doing what it is you're doing but I know a coward when I see one."

"Charlie…!" cried Claire, quickening her pace as she saw Desmond abruptly turn around and tackle Charlie. She and Sayid ran toward them as Desmond latched his hands around Charlie's neck.

"You don't want to know what happened to me when I turned that key!" cried Desmond hysterically, holding Charlie down and strangling him.

"Stop!" Claire screamed as Sayid attempted to pull Desmond off of Charlie.

"You don't want to know! You don't want to know!" Desmond repeated, sobbing.

"Hurley!" Charlie begged frantically. "Get him off!"

"Dude!" shouted Hurley in a slurred voice as he slowly and unsteadily got to his feet.

Sayid who had finally managed pry Desmond from Charlie, wrestled him the ground.

Claire ran to Charlie's side as she helped him to his feet. "Are you okay?"

"No thanks to the bearded wonder. That guy's lost it," Charlie said rubbing his neck.

"You reek of alcohol. Have you been drinking?"

"Not as much as Eddie Vedder over there," Charlie snorted. "Hey pal! Nineteen ninety two called…they want their look back!" he yelled toward Desmond who was lying on his side, with his face in the sand.

"What?!" asked Claire confused for a moment until she realized that Charlie was referring to Desmond's grungy appearance. "Charlie, you're such an idiot!"

"Oh, I forgot, he's your bloody hero." Charlie laughed cynically. "Well, he won't be saving anyone tonight. Look at him…he can't even stand up." Charlie looked at Desmond with a smug expression on his face. "Can't hold your liquor, huh?"

"Shut up Charlie!" Claire said turning away from him. "Hurley, take him back to his tent…and don't even think about letting him go near Aaron," she added, although she knew Rose would whack him if he tried to take Aaron in his current state.

She slowly approached Desmond who was visibly inebriated and now propped up against a tree trunk thanks to Sayid.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Charlie asked insistently as he followed on Claire's heels.

"I'm making sure he's okay."

"No, you're not…he's dangerous. You saw what he tried to do to me."

"Yeah, after you refused to stop antagonizing him," Claire turned to face Charlie in disgust.

"Dude, if you don't shut up, I'm going to strangle you," said Hurley who was trying to persuade Charlie to go back to his tent.

"Just sleep it off Charlie…we'll talk tomorrow," Claire insisted.

"I'm not going to just leave you here with him."

When Charlie still refused to cooperate, Sayid stepped in front of him, placing his hands on Charlie's shoulders reassuringly. "I'll walk her back to camp Charlie. Hurley, can you handle him?"

Hurley quickly nodded and nudged Charlie forward. Even though Charlie rarely knew when to stop, he knew better than to question Sayid's authoritative tone and allowed Hurley to lead him toward camp.

Claire who was now kneeling before Desmond heard Charlie snickering and belting out familiar lyrics as he and Hurley grew further away. "Jer-e-my spoke in claaaaaassssss todaaaaayyyyyy!" Claire felt the blood rush to her face in anger at Charlie's immature behavior and poor attempt at singing a great song. She would never be able to listen to that song again without thinking of Charlie butchering it. He had already ruined several other songs she liked.

Desmond still appeared to be emotionally distraught as Claire reached out and smoothed the disheveled hair from his forehead. He looked at her and grunted. "Why are you being nice to me?"

"You helped me, now I'm going to help you," she answered simply.

Desmond shook his head in disbelief at her words. She began to wipe the mixture of sand and half-dried tears from his face with her too-long shirt sleeve that had been stretched even longer by the nervous habit she had of pulling them over her hands. He looked at her then turned his head to the side, clearly upset. "I don't want you to see me like this."

"No worries," she said giving him a reassuring grin. His words tore at her heart because he usually seemed so cool and collected. She remembered from her wild days of partying how embarrassing it was to become emotional and hit rock bottom after a drinking binge. She wondered if his despair rooted from being away from the woman in the photo, Penny, for so long.

Sayid who had been silently watching the exchange finally spoke. "Let's take him to his tent," he said approaching Desmond's side.

Claire rose from the ground and walked around to the opposite side of Desmond. She and Sayid each grabbed an arm and pulled Desmond to his feet, trying to help him stay balanced.

"Where's your tent?" Claire wondered why she didn't already know.

"Don't have one," said Desmond, his speech slurred. "I'll sleep right here," he said pointing toward the sand next to his backpack.

"No, you won't," said Claire, feeling even worse. "Come on, Sayid. We'll take him back to camp and at least get him some blankets."

"What's the fuss?" Desmond laughed. "I'm fine here."

"Trust me you don't want to stay out here alone." Claire said, shuddering as she thought of Ethan. "You know what happened to Jack, Kate and Sawyer."

"He can sleep in Shannon's tent," offered Sayid.

"Are you sure?" Claire was concerned that Sayid viewed the tent he had worked so hard to build for Shannon as a sanctuary.

"I can't sleep there so it's been empty since…" Sayid trailed off as Claire just nodded.

"Who's Shannon?" asked Desmond.

"A friend," Claire quickly interjected. "Come on, let's get him to the tent."

"I've got him," Sayid said as he threw Desmond's arm over his shoulder, supporting his weight. "Get his things."

Claire grabbed Desmond's backpack then followed Sayid and an unsteady Desmond as they made their way toward camp.

Once they reached the tent, Claire walked ahead and pulled the flap back so that Sayid could lead Desmond inside. She helped Sayid ease Desmond onto the low mattress. Desmond almost toppled forward when he leaned forward to unlace of his boots.

"Here, let me," said Claire as she steadied him and proceeded to remove his boots, as Desmond lay back on the bed.

"Here Sayid…help me get him on his side." She and Sayid rolled Desmond, who was already in a catatonic state, forward and repositioned him on his side.

"Thank you, Sayid. I know it must be hard for you to come here," Claire said.

"Time will heal all wounds," said Sayid with pain in his eyes but a hint of hope in his voice.

Claire didn't know Sayid very well, but when he spoke, he usually had something significant to say. She knew he missed Shannon. She would have never pictured the two of them together initially but he had brought out the best in Shannon. Claire smiled at the memory. "Hey, if you ever feel like talking about it, you know where to find me."

"That is very kind of you." As Sayid pulled the tent flap back and allowed Claire to exit before him, Claire turned her head slightly, for a brief second, and looked at Desmond's sleeping form.

"Sweet dreams," she whispered under her breath then turned to leave.