Sorry this one is so short...I had a bit of writers block with it. There will be one more chapter...possibly two if I decide to write an Epilogue.

Chapter Twelve

Charlie sat at the bow of the large boat. A small smile on his face. Hoping, praying that he'd have Claire in his arms soon. That they could leave the horrible island, and every piece of pain that comes with it behind. That they could be a family, with Aaron.

"What'ca thinkin bout brotha?" Desmond asked, as he sat down beside him.

"Claire," he sighed lightly.

"We'll get her safe and sound before ya know it," Desmond said, and Charlie noticed for the first time that Desmond's personally had changed. He sounded more upbeat, and he knew it had to do with him finding Penny again.

"I'm glad you and Penny decided to come with. I'm sure Claire would love to see you, and meet Penny," Charlie said, his arms resting against his knees.

"It's the least we can do. What with you taking care of our Ben problem. That bastard has been after Penny for the longest time. I was afraid that we wouldn't be able to outrun him for long," Desmond sighed heavily. "You did us a great favor Charlie. I'll be forever thankful for that."

"You owe me nothing Des..."

"The hell I don't! I kinda of got you killed brotha. I promised you things, and those things didn't happen. I owe you everything Charlie. I'll never be able to forgive myself for what I did. It's killed me, knowing that I was the one to blame for your death," Desmond said, interrupting Charlie as quickly as he could.

"It's not your fault man. I don't blame you, and hey, look I'm not dead after all," Charlie grinned at him.

Desmond shook his head in acknowledgment, he could certainly agree that Charlie wasn't dead. He was very much alive, sitting right there beside him. That much he could see, but he knew he'd never understand why Charlie was alive.

"What happened brotha?" Desmond asked him.

"It's a long, horrible story Des. The short end of it is. The island needed me and Claire to do it's bidding for it, so it...I don't know, brought us back to life, somehow. At first neither of us had any memory of anything after the fact that we were supposed to have flown to LA. It wasn't until we met with this creepy dead dude, that it all came back to us. I found out a little while after, that the creepy dead dude, was actually Claire's dad.....and apparently Jack's dad too. That's gonna be one weird reunion, since I don't think Claire knows that Jack's her brother...." Charlie trailed off, lost in thought.

"Wow, yeah, so that's the short version, and I'm already this confused. No offense brotha, but I'd rather not hear the full version," Desmond chuckled lightly to himself.

Two Days Later

Charlie peered out into the water, hoping to see an island appear. He was about to give up, when just in the distance was the silhouette of a large mass of land.

"Land, guys!" Charlie yelled, and everyone filed in behind him.

"I never thought, I'd ever come back," Kate said softly beside Charlie.

"I don't think this was number one on anyone's list of things that they wanted. Look, we're grabbing Claire, Sawyer, Juliet. Any other of our camp mates that we can find, then we are leaving this god-forsaken place for good!" Jack said, his tone was anxious, like he was afraid of what they might find once they actually got onto the island.

It seemed like a matter of minutes, when the boat hit land, and everyone on board ran off of it quickly. They stood in a semi-circle, gazing at a place that they hated, and didn't want to see again. Looking around, Jack realized quickly that this had been their campsite, but there was no trace of anyone, anywhere near there.

"Okay, here's how it's going to go. Desmond, Sayid, Sun, Penny. You go that way, into the jungle, look for any of our friends. If you find any, bring them back here, and get them on the boat. Charlie, Kate, me and Hurley will go this way, and try to locate Claire, and anyone else that we can find. We're going to meet back here in two hours. No matter what we find, in two hours time we are leaving this god-forsaken place for good. Everyone got that?" Jack asked.

Everyone nodded their head, as they sat off in their separate directions.