Author's note: Thanks for the comments! They make me so happy! I hope I can keep up this rate of updating, which is rather rare for me!
Disclaimer: Same as before!
Hurley was wandering. What else was there to do? That's why he knew so many people on the island. He didn't have a wife or sister or love interest or best friend. He was everyone's friend, loosely speaking. Hurley, the Big Guy.
He decided to wander toward Charlie and Claire's spot. It had been the most fun, lately. It felt almost like being back home with friends… that is, after the asylum… and before the lottery.
When he reached his destination, however, there was no Charlie to be found. Instead, he saw Claire, kneeling next to a bucket of water and washing her long hair with Dharma-issued shampoo. Her hair and hands were both filled with lather. Suddenly, Aaron began screaming from his crib.
"Aaron!" Claire said in a sing-song voice. "Don't cry, it's OK. Mummy's busy…"
Her soothing tone just seemed to annoy the baby more. He upped the volume, a task that Hurley hadn't thought possible.
"Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away!" Claire sang loudly and slightly off-key, dipping her hair in the bucket and trying to rock the cradle by stretching her foot out to reach it. Hurley grinned.
When this song failed to comfort Aaron, she burst out in a more raucous chorus. "You all, everybody! You all, everybody!" Hurley wondered if Charlie had made Aaron into the world's youngest Driveshaft fan.
Aaron howled.
Apparently not.
"L! Is for the way you look at me! O! Is for the only one I see! V! Is very very… ow!" Claire had finally flipped her wet hair over her shoulder (flinging water so far that Hurley could have sworn that he'd felt a few drops) and was standing over the baby, swaying back and forth in an entertaining manner. She'd apparently missed a few suds near her face, however, because she was now rubbing her eye and muttering angrily.
She ran over to the bucket and splashed water onto her face, but it didn't seem to help much. She scrubbed at the eye even more fiercely, as Aaron continued to scream.
Hurley figured he should say something before she realized how long he had been standing there uselessly. "Hey, do you need… help?"
She jumped, knocking over the bucket of water, which spilled forth and drenched the floor of her makeshift tent.
"Damn!" she cried, then covered her mouth as though guilty for cursing near the baby. "Yeah, I could… but I don't know where to start." She suddenly burst out laughing, and Hurley smiled with relief.
"Is there still soap in your eye?"
"A little, but I think it's mostly out. Could you maybe get Aaron for a minute?"
"Uh, sure, OK…" Hurley carefully picked up the baby, trying to keep a hand behind his head like Claire had shown him. Aaron quieted down a little, but continued to make nervous fussing sounds.
"Trying singing to him," Claire instructed, rinsing her face a final time.
"Stones taught me to fly," Hurley sang experimentally. Aaron let out a shuddering sigh. "Love, taught me to lie. Life taught me to…" The next lyric was "die," but that sounded a little grim to sing to a baby, so he skipped to the end. "And it's not hard to fall, when you float like a cannonball." Aaron was quiet.
"Hey, not bad. Maybe you should come by more often." Claire wrung water out of her hair, and Hurley found his eyes following the way the sun found golden strands in it. She smiled at him, and he got nervous all over again.
"So… where's Charlie?"
"Getting water from the caves, since I used up this bucket on my hair." She smiled ruefully. "It was starting to feel really disgusting."
"Yeah, tell me about it. I think small animals may be living in mine."
"Ew, gross, keep it away from the baby," Claire teased.
Hurley grinned, then found himself distracted by the largest item on the island—the ocean. Talking about his hair had reminded him of how sweaty and dirty he currently was. The ocean looked cool and refreshing… and inviting.
"You know what?" he said suddenly.
"What?"
"I'm going swimming."
"In the stream?"
"No. The ocean."
"Should you do that? I mean, someone drowned here before."
"Well, I won't swim out far, I'll just wade or something. I just think it looks fun."
"Hmm…" Claire studied the water. "It does."
"And I'm basically guaranteed to float. Especially in salt water."
Claire giggled. "That's lucky."
Hurley nodded his head toward the baby in his arms. "You want him back?"
"Yes please, he's a little young for swimming." Hurley smiled. Everything Claire said made him smile today. What was with that?
"Well… I'm going now," he said awkwardly.
"Don't go out deep! I mean it, really, don't. Be careful!"
"OK, sure, Mom."
"Ha ha, very funny. Have fun!"
"I will."
And he did. He hadn't splashed around on the beach in a long time. Instead of going to exotic Hawaii like most lottery winners, he had gone to Sydney and spent the whole time searching for a mysterious hermit. He was in up to his knees, kicking water into the air and watching it fall down in a shimmering spray. It was relaxing. Kind of Zen. Why hadn't he done this before?
"Hurley!"
He looked up and saw Claire running toward him, wearing a bathing suit with a tank top over it.
"I decided that I wanted to swim too. Or wade. Whatever. Sun has the baby for a few minutes."
"I didn't know…" Hurley cut himself off before he could say anything embarrassing. "I didn't know you brought a bathing suit."
"I didn't. I pulled the 'I have a poor island baby, be nice to me' routine on Shannon and borrowed one of hers. I had to put a shirt over it, though. I don't want anyone to see my baby belly."
Hurley chuckled. "Your what?"
"Ever since I had the baby, I have this weird little section of fat."
"Yeah, well, I can't see it."
Claire pulled the hem of her shirt up a few inches, revealing a tiny bulge on her smooth midsection, as well as a little extra fat around her hips. "See?"
For some reason, that little imperfection was the cutest thing Hurley had ever seen. He suddenly lost all sense of what he should do… or say. So he kept his mouth shut and started splashing in the water again.
Claire made a skeptical grimace. "You call that a splash?"
Hurley raised his eyebrows. "Is that a challenge?"
Instead of answering him, she kicked a miniature tidal wave of water at him.
"Hey!" He kicked back, and the awkward tension was ended by a water war. It was a close fight. Hurley had bigger feet to kick with, but Claire splashed more energetically. Soon, they were screaming and laughing like a couple of kids. Hurley was beginning to think that he might lose the fight when he got a new idea. He stepped closer to Claire, grabbed her waist, and held her up at arm's length so that her feet dangled above the water.
"Yeah, try splashing me now!" he taunted.
"Not fair! Stop it!" she laughed, flailing her legs ineffectually.
"Hey!" a voice suddenly yelled. They both looked over and saw Charlie running toward them. "What's going on?" he yelled.
Hurley froze, then realized that he was still holding Claire in midair. He set her down carefully just as Charlie ran into the water to stand by them.
"Where's Aaron? What are you doing?"
"We were just swimming. Well, I mean, splashing. What's wrong?" Claire answered.
Charlie let out a relieved sigh. "Nothing. I was just scared when I got back and you and the baby were gone."
Claire smoothed back her wet hair. "I'm sorry. He's with Sun. I was only going to be gone a few minutes. I guess I just… forgot."
"Forgot about him?"
"No. I forgot… to be scared." She shrugged and picked at an invisible loose thread on her tank top.
Charlie's anxious face softened, and he put his arm around her shoulders. "You don't have to be scared. I'll take care of you. And Aaron. You just made me worry, that's all."
She gave him an adoring look and let him lead her back toward their tent as he babbled happily about some gossip he had heard while he was getting water. Hurley stood in the surf feeling wet, ridiculous, and alone. Even more alone than usual. Claire and Charlie were turning into a real family, and he wasn't part of it. Or if he was, he was something like a weird, old uncle. He had thought that maybe Charlie would get jealous or protective or something, like Hurley was hitting on his girl (even though he wasn't). But instead, Charlie hadn't even looked at him. It was like he was invisible.
Then Claire turned and looked over her shoulder.
"I'll beat you next time! You just wait!" She smiled deviously, and Hurley's heart rearranged itself again.
There's still a little bit of your song in my ear
There's still a little bit of your words I long to hear
You step a little closer to me
So close that I can't see what's going on
Author's Note: The songs used are "Catch a Falling Star", written by Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance, "You All Everybody", written by someone involved in Lost (I forget who, haha), "L-O-V-E", written by Milt Gabler and Bert Kaempfert, and "Cannonball", written by Damien Rice.
Next chapter will feature much more Charlie. This was just a Hurley perspective chapter. So fear not, Charlie fans! I hope to make this story about equally balanced between Claire, Charlie, and Hurley. Please review!
