It started as just another day. I woke up, fed Aaron, went for a walk on the beach, everything I normally do. Then I asked Sun to look after Aaron, and Charlie and I went to pick more fruit in the jungle.

We decided that Charlie would climb up a tree, and throw the fruit down to me. We'd already done that for two papaya trees and gathered lots of bananas, and the bags we had brought were almost full, so we decided to do just one more tree before heading back to camp. Charlie climbed up quickly – he's got really good at climbing trees since we've been here – and started throwing the papayas down to me.

While he was up there, though, something strange happened. The last big storm had broken some of the branches, and there were still dead branches tangled up in the living ones. While Charlie was reaching for the fruit, he disturbed a tangle of dead branches and they fell out of the tree.

I should have been hit by one of those branches, they fell right on top of me. Or at least, they should have done. When the first branch was six inches from my head, it stopped.

Just like that, it stopped. I had expected it to hit me, and I was about to duck, but when I realised it wasn't going to fall I looked up and saw it… hovering, just hovering in the air over my head. Charlie had climbed down out of the tree, and was standing there with his mouth open, staring at the branch.

"Charlie… what's happening?"

"I really don't know."
"That branch is hovering, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, it's definitely hovering."

"Do you have any idea why?"

"I don't, actually."

"Charlie, I need you to help me."

"Okay."

"Reach up, and get hold of that branch. See if there's anything unusual about it."

Charlie tentatively grasped the branch with both hands, and put it down on the ground. We both knelt next to it, trying to see if there was any sign of it being anything but an ordinary branch, trying to see if it could explain what had just happened.

"It's just a branch, Claire."

"I know… but how could that have happened?" I noticed that Charlie seemed distracted. "Charlie? Charlie, what's wrong?"

"Claire, did you know there's a bubble around you?"

"A what?"

"A bubble."

"How can you tell?"

"You know with soap bubbles, and when the light hits them you can see different colours in them?"
"Yeah…"
"Well, it's like that. If I look at it just right, I can see these colours swirling around like there's a bubble around you."

"Um… that's weird."
"Uh-huh."

"Wait… hang on a tick, maybe the bubble is what made the branch hover…"

"How could it do that?"

"Haven't you ever read comic-books? The bubble's like a… a force field. Protecting you. The branch was going to fall on you, and hurt you, so the bubble appears and stops the branch falling."

"Charlie, that sounds kind of crazy. How could this happen, there's never been a bubble around me before."

"Come on, think of where we are. So much crazy stuff has happened since the crash, this isn't nearly as bad as some of the stuff that's happened."
"I know, but… a bubble?"

"Yeah… it is sort of weird. Cool, though."
"How?"

"You've got an automatic protection system. Anything happens, the bubble will just appear and stop it." He turned his head, looking at me strangely again. "Hey, it's gone again."

"Maybe it knows I'm not in danger any more."

Author's Note: Okay, you're probably wondering why Claire has that particular power… well, I was re-watching some Season One episodes the other day, including Claire's first flashback episode (Raised by Another). In that episode, the psychic she visits tells her that she, and only she, must raise Aaron, because Claire is the only one who can protect him.

Basically, I'm trying to link everyone's 'power' to either their personality, their history, or both – so Claire's power enables her to protect, Sawyer's reflects his "hotheadedness"… and so on. When I've introduced all the powers, I'll do a list to summarize everything for you.

With that in mind, if anyone has a particular Lostie that they would like to see with a particular power, put your idea in a review and I'll do my best.