Author's note: Charlie chapter! Yayeah! I hope I can do our dear friend justice. For some reason, I have a little bit of a harder time writing him than I do with Claire or Hurley. He's definitely cool, though! So this will be fun.

This part of the story is at the beginning of the second season, before the arrival of the tail section or Claire finding out about Charlie's drug past and the statues and stuff! I'm not sure if the rest of the story will exactly match the timeline of the show or change it in a few ways. This simple story is spiraling out of control and becoming something big, haha.

Disclaimer: Same as before, yeah, yeah.

Charlie told Claire that he wanted to sit alone to work on his music that day, but that was only partly true. He wanted to work on his songs, yes, but he wanted a chance to think… about her.

He had never done anything like this before. He knew how to win over girls. He'd certainly had his share of attention from the ladies once Driveshaft got big. Those girls, however, were groupies. Or else the kind of girls who go out to bars and look around for cute, available men the way barracudas look for schools of little innocent minnows. They were easy… in all senses of the word.

Claire, however, was not. She hadn't been the first girl he'd noticed on the island. She was pretty, really pretty, but not flashy. Really, he'd only noticed her because she looked so… innocent. Well, not that innocent, considering she was massively pregnant. Maybe the word was vulnerable. And sweet. And so alone. He just wanted to help her out. No one knew him there. No one knew that he screwed everything up, that was a has-been and a druggie. He was just a guy. And he became her friend. No, more than her friend. Her best friend. Her protector. It felt so good to be that guy for once.

Lately, he felt like his whole world was her. Well, her and the baby, his own little island family. He talked to her all day, and when he talked to other people, they always asked about her, knowing that he was the one who would know how she was doing. He could comfort Aaron when he cried and change a diaper in absolutely record time. It wasn't a number one single or a national tour, but it made him happy. It was so comfortable.

It also made him confused. Why did he think of her so much? Now, watching her from afar, he realized something. Everything she did was sweet. Everything about her made him happy. Claire wasn't just someone who needed him. He needed her, too. He needed someone who trusted him, who smiled at him, who laughed at his jokes. She wasn't just a mission. She was a girl, and she was amazing.

But how did she feel about him? Did she just appreciate the attention? Did she like him as a friend? Or did she think he was wonderful, too?

Charlie had never been modest. His usual approach was cocky and confident, and it worked. This time, he couldn't joke. He couldn't strut and swagger. He was too scared. He never wanted to lose Claire. He was too scared to risk ruining their relationship (whatever it was).

He decided that writing an emotional ballad might serve as catharsis. So far, the only words he had come up with were "I don't know where I stand." A good line… but it couldn't carry a whole song. He kept getting distracted from the writing process by, of course, Claire.

He was sitting far away from her, but she was still in view, and somehow everything she did seemed interesting. Well, except for when she was nursing Aaron under a blanket slung over her shoulder, which was rather an awkward thing to watch.

Just as he was about to make up a second line to the song, he was distracted by the appearance of Hurley, who arrived at Claire's tent with his CD player in hand. Since Charlie was beyond hearing distance, he saw the scene play out like a pantomime. Hurley held out the player like an offering, and Claire beamed her lovely smile and motioned for him to sit down. A moment later, she put on his headphones and listened to a song, nodding enthusiastically when it was done.

Charlie forced himself to pay attention to his own song and composed a few more lines. He had a melody already, that began quiet and built up to a climactic chorus. He was just solidifying the chord progression when he heard a loud laugh from Claire's direction and looked up again.

She and Hurley had flipped the headphones so that they faced outward, and each had one ear pressed against them. Their heads were close together, and Aaron was nestled in Claire's lap. They looked like a little closed circle, and for a moment, Charlie felt annoyed. That was his spot.

Then he realized that he was being ridiculous. He didn't own Claire. Hurley was just a good guy. She was only smiling at him the way she smiled at anyone else who came to talk to her. There was no way that this meant anything. Anyway, Charlie was the one who had decided to hang out alone this afternoon. She was probably just entertaining herself while he was gone.

He tried to go back to his guitar, but he kept looking over at the scene unfolding before him. Then he realized what was wrong. It wasn't the way they were sitting. It wasn't anything Claire was doing. She was acting quite natural. It wasn't even anything Hurley was doing—it was his face.

He looked at Claire all the time, always smiling. That wasn't so weird, but when she looked away, his whole expression changed. His gaze went from normal smile to absolute worship. He was worshipping at a bloody Temple of Claire. Charlie knew a lovesick look when he saw one. Hurley's look could have inspired countless love songs. And Claire was clearly oblivious.

Charlie fumed as she yawned and laid her head on Hurley's shoulder. For her, it was a simple act of friendship and Aaron induced exhaustion. For Hurley, it was probably a major event. Charlie decided that he had to intervene, for everyone's sake.

"Hey guys!" he said loudly as he walked up to the tent. "What's up?"

"We're listening to music," Claire answered, rather unnecessarily since they were holding a set of headphones. At least she took her head off Hurley's shoulder.

"Ooh, what band?"

"Jack Johnson." Hurley held up a CD box with a tree on it.

"Cool, cool." Charlie sat down next to them, as close to Claire as possible. "Aaron sure is being good."

"Yes, so good. He's getting so big!" Claire reverted to her baby voice and nuzzled the baby's belly, causing him to giggle.

"So how's your song going, dude?" Hurley asked.

"Eh, not bad. I decided to take a break and wait for the muse to move, you know."

"Um, yeah," Hurley said in a voice that indicated that he had no idea what Charlie was talking about.

"Isn't it time for Aaron's nap?" Charlie asked Claire.

"Yeah, but he doesn't seem too tired yet."

"We're trying to get him on a schedule, aren't we? You should probably put him down soon."

"I know, I know. I will in a second." She crammed the headphone against her ear again.

"You can listen with both ears if you want. I should probably leave if it's time for his nap. You can just give it back later," Hurley said.

Now Charlie knew that Hurley had a crush. He would never leave his precious CD player with anyone otherwise.

"Yeah, I guess you should be going. Aaron's been quite a light sleeper lately," Charlie said with a grave nod.

"Really? I thought he was doing better!" Claire said unhelpfully.

"It's cool. I'll see you guys later. Enjoy the CD!" Hurley gave a little wave as he lumbered off wistfully.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Charlie turned to Claire, all thoughts of being subtle vanished. "Hurley likes you."

"Uh, yeah, so? He likes everyone."

"No, I mean he has a crush on you. He looks at you like you're… food. I was watching. Guys know stuff like that."

"Are you serious?"

"Totally. You're kind of leading him on."

"We're just hanging out."

"Yeah, I know that, and you know that, but he's falling in looove," Charlie said, knowing that he was being overdramatic as soon as he spoke the words.

"Are you sure you're not reading too much into things?"

"I'm pretty sure. I'm just trying to warn you."

"OK, well, consider me warned."

"OK," Charlie said, hesitantly deciding to drop the subject. "Wanna put Turniphead down now?"

"Aaron!"

"Yeah, yeah. Give him to me, I'll do it."

She complied, and Charlie's mood improved a little as he looked down at his beloved… well, whatever Aaron was to him. The baby was almost as comfortable with him as he was with Claire. He hadn't had much experience with kids, and taking care of this one so much was a nice change.

Soon Aaron was sleeping peacefully in the cradle. Charlie sat down next to Claire, hoping to talk to her, but she was wearing the headphones again and bobbing her head slowly to the music he couldn't hear.

He looked down at her hand and saw that she was writing in the sand, as she often did when bored. Aaron. Claire. Charlie.

Feeling suddenly brave, or perhaps just stupid, he reached over and drew a heart between his name and hers. A silent declaration. He looked at her to see how she reacted.

She stared at the drawing for a moment, then looked at him with a surprised, searching expression. He smiled and nodded, trying to convey his feelings without seeming like a prat. She stared at him for a moment longer, then looked down at the sand again, her brow furrowed anxiously. Then she reached toward the words and… drew a heart between her name and Aaron's. She smiled at Charlie nervously, then suddenly rubbed all of the words off the sand, erasing his brave act as though it were nothing.

"I'm going for a walk, OK?" she said, jumping up abruptly.

"You shouldn't walk around alone," he protested.

"I'll just walk on the beach. I'll be back soon. Aaron will be hungry soon anyway." She stood still for a moment, then suddenly leaned down and kissed Charlie's forehead tenderly. "I'll be back soon." She smiled, but she had a flustered air, and she walked off as though she couldn't get away quickly enough.

"Well, that went well," Charlie groaned.

Author's note: Check out my fast update skills! I hope y'all like this chapter! Please review! Thanks so much to pacejunkie, ICRepresentative, Spice of Life, and jimmy-barnes-13 for reviewing the last one!