Chapter 3

Hey guys. Okay first off I wanna thank Sassy Lostie, Ella Jullian, lostlvr, A Jedi's angel, beatkechicksteph, anythingfornow, supersolanea and to all my readers. All of you guys are truly awesome to believe in this fic as much as I still do and without further interruption here it is and I hope you'll like it.

Enjoy

For a change the rest of the day had gone considerably well for him, except for the usual glares he had gotten from Charlie for constantly hanging out with "turnip head" as Charlie so nicknamed the little guy. Apart from that though things seemed to be looking up for the better. The boat they had been working on now, was nearly done and ready to set sail as soon as possible so with that in mind he just sat back and basked in the peace and quiet of the calming sea spread out in front of him. However that very sense of contentment and peace was short lived when he was suddenly interrupted by a commotion that was occuring not so far off along the beach. At first he just thought of sitting back and letting their good old leader handle it just like he always did, but upon looking at the scene once again and hearing his name being mentioned in an accusing manner, he immediately shot down there in lightening speed with a sleeping baby tucked carefully in his arms.

When he got to the crowd of people who were now circled around a very ill and pained Michael, he couldn't make head no tails of what exactly happened, but the fact that all eyes were now on him in an accusing manner, made him suddenly think that this wasn't gonna lead anywhere good. So with that he braced himself by firstly handing over the baby to a now very weary Claire, he now noted surprisingly and when that was done, he assumed his right spot to prepare himself for the blame he knew he about to receive.

"What so you aren't going to say anything" Charlie threw at the southerner in an accusing manner while standing next to Claire who just hung her head in shame, not even willing herself to look at the person she had befriended and trusted over these past few weeks. She knew that this was to be expected from him, but she just couldn't help it. She desperately wanted to find out why he was like this, so carefree and emotionless in some ways, even to her.

"Great so you people think that I had somethin to do with this" he growled out while pointing to the half conscious figure now laying on the floor in nothing but pain.

"Well we have narrowed our bloody suspect list down to one mate" Charlie threw back while making the daring move of walking up towards the direction of the now fuming man who was literally digging his fingernails into his palms to stop himself from making things any worse than they already were.

"I didn't do this" sawyer uttered, his voice dangerously low but still clear enough for everyone to hear around him.

"Yeah well it doesn't matter because your off the raft" michael managed to get out while wincing in pain of the poison's effect.

"Come again" sawyer asked while pushing his way past charlie to inch himself closer to the man lying on the floor.

"YOUR OFF THE RAFT" michael replied, this time his voice more loud and clear, showing the southerner that he was completely serious about this, but he sure as hell wasn't gonna back down, not this time.

Claire on the other hand gradually willed herself to finally meet his form and she too could see the inner rage that he was so desperately trying to hold back, but behind that she could also see the obvious betrayal he was feeling over being continuously accused of every little thing that happened around here and with that sense of knowing she suddenly took it upon herself to step forward before things would get out of hand.

"Okay that's enough. There's no use of pointing fingers when there still isn't proper evidence to prove that he could have done this in the first place." Claire explained to Charlie and the group, not only surprising them, but also the man standing behind her, looking at her form with nothing but confusion but within that he also felt gratitude for possibly the one person who thought otherwise of him.

"How do you know that Claire?" Charlie stressed while attempting to reach out to her but in response she just gave him a look and then went on with what she wanted to say, what she knew she had to say to exonerate him once and for all from the constant accusations.

"Who are we to judge around here. We are all just as guilty as the next person. So why should he be treated or be perceived in a different way." she announced loudly to the group with nothing but determination and meaning in her heart and in return the crowd just started muttering to themselves and during that time Claire managed to briefly glance at the now shocked southerner who literally had nothing to say in response because he was just too amazed and taken aback by what was happening here. So with that she just offered him a comforting and friendly smile to help ease some of that uncertainty and with that she turned her gaze back to the group to see if anyone around here disagreed with her, well apart from Charlie who was literally digging a hole into sawyer now with his piercing eyes, and much to his dismay it didn't go unnoticed by Claire in the slightest who in response was a little annoyed with the kind of childish way he was now behaving in, but in the end she decided to let it go and just focus on the matter at hand and to her good luck the survivors backed off gradually and wordlessly walked off to their tents, leaving only Jack and Kate who were tending to Michael, and Walt, Charlie, Sawyer and her left standing in the same spot looking over the man still lying on the floor.

"Is he going to be okay?" Claire asked out of instinct while giving sawyer the time to slip away so he could have some time to himself because having someone showing him this kind of gratitude and consideration was very new and unheard of for him, and a part of him was a tad bit freaked out as well. Freaked out at thinking just how much Claire cared for him and where it possibly transcended friendship. Did she possibly think of me in that way? He asked himself as he quickly made his way to his shelter. He knew that over the past two weeks they had been hanging out with each other a lot and during that time he had also grown secretly attached to the baby as well, a little too attached, he now thought with a hint of regret now present in his heart. Man I need a cigarette, he said to himself and with that he retreated into the darkness of his tent to go through his secret stash which he kept buried directly underneath his makeshift bed.

Although as he attempted to begin his search, he was now stopped in his tracks by a voice now calling out for him from outside his tent and much to his dismay it was none other than the one person he was now planning to avoid from now on for the most obvious reason.

"Can I come in?" the feminine voice softly asked again and for a few more minutes he contemplated on whether he should, but in the end he decided to face her because he didn't want to seem ungrateful for what she had done for him today, after all they were just friends he kept on reminding himself with all the determination he could muster within him. So with that he slowly walked forward to lift the tarp of his tent and once he did, he was met with a very shy and slightly confused Claire who was still wondering why he had disappeared so suddenly after what had happened.

"Is everything okay?" Claire asked while attempting to reach out for him, but much to her surprise he pulled away slowly and politely and opted to just cross his arms over his chest and give her a nod in return to help ease some of the worry which was still lingering along with her confused expression which didn't seem to subside in the slightest, instead it grew into that of worry and concern when he just offered her a simple goodnight and then wordlessly retreated into his tent for the night, leaving her standing out there alone and cold, but it wasn't from the breeze coming off the waves of the horizon, it was something a lot more deeper.

Hey guys there it is and don't worry because this is just the start of the angst that will ensue as a result of this awkwardness. So what do you think guys?