Chapter Two

Claire laughed. Sayid's beard was ticklish against her bare shoulder as he snuggled against her. It had made her laugh so often that Sayid had shaved it completely once, and she had begged him to grow it back. "The beard is hot," he had said, "and itchy, and it makes you laugh." "It's masculine," she had said, "and sexy, and it makes me hot." He had stopped shaving the next day.

In another room of the hut, behind a wooden partition, Aaron muttered intermittently in his sleep. This made Claire laugh too, as much as she was trying to ignore the sound. Sayid's lips were soft and warm and moist against the small of her neck, and his touch was tender and teasing across her navel and down to the waist of her pants, but still she could not stop laughing. He sighed, an exaggerated, maligned sound, and threw himself onto his back. Still she giggled.

After she had gained control of herself, Claire rested her palm on his naked chest atop his heart. He covered her hand with his own and squeezed it tightly, the way he often did when he needed some reassurance.

"Hey," she said, "what's really bothering you? I mean, besides the kid making it a little difficult to get in the mood."

He stroked her hand lightly from the fingertips to her wrist and back again. "Why is Kate just giving up?" he asked. "Sawyer has not cheated on her. He has not hit her."

"What?" Claire sat up. "That's the sole standard for a successful marriage?"

Sayid sat across from her and took her hand again. "I mean, he has not changed in any way."

"Exactly," Claire replied.

"She knew he was temperamental and sarcastic and not precisely sociable when she married him. She accepted it then. Why can't she accept it now?"

Claire shrugged. "Sometimes it's easy to overlook things in the beginning. Love will do that to you. Trust me, I know. Aaron's dad for one."

"Kate's an intelligent woman. Surely she performed some kind of cost benefit analysis and decided his virtues outweighed his flaws, so why – "

"Are you taking his side?"

"I am not taking anyone's side. I'm just trying to make sense of it. Claire," - he spoke now with his eyes focused somewhere beyond her face, "can a woman just change her mind? Just like that? Could you?"

Claire freed her hand from his with a quick pull. "You think…Sayid, that's what this is about to you? After all we've been through together the last four years, you think I would just suddenly – "

Sayid shrugged, apologetically and yet still half-uncertainly. "Sawyer hasn't changed. Neither have I. I'm still short-tempered sometimes. I still have to fight the same old temptations. I still -- "

"I've never wanted you to change! Look, what you were before I knew you, that was another life. And whatever you think is wrong with you, you've got it pretty well under control, right?" She took his hand back and squeezed it. "This has been a long time coming for Kate and Sawyer. They've always bickered a little, but it's gotten worse, less good natured, and they've tried, but…it's not good for Jimmy to see them fighting like that. These things happen, Sayid. It has nothing to do with us. Haven't you ever seen a divorce before?"

He met her eyes. "Not anyone I have been friends with, no."

"Are you serious?" She looked into his eyes. "You're serious."

"Of course I'm serious."

"Sayid," she insisted, and whatever irritation her voice may have held a moment ago was gone, "this has nothing to do with us." She kissed him gently at first, until he had begun to respond, and then she deepened the kiss, pushing him back down to the ground. His hand roamed upward across her stomach and brushed softly against a breast just as Aaron murmured, "starfish, super starfish to the rescue" in his sleep. Claire burst out laughing, and Sayid joined her with a more controlled chuckle.

"Super starfish," Sayid muttered. "The boy has a peculiar imagination."

"I bet if we can manage to have an afternoon of passion while he's muttering about super starfish, we can get through anything together." She smiled, an innocent grin tinged with mischief. "Dare you!" She tugged at the button of his pants and yanked it loose.

"Dare gladly accepted," he replied, before pressing his lips to hers and reaching to help her with the zipper.