A/N: Hopefully this chapter is long and exciting. Enjoy! Please review! Italics are dreams and flashbacks.

Time to Let Go:

He was hers. He was hers, and she had lost him. Aaron was a creation of her flesh and blood. He was hers, and she loved him, and now he was gone. Claire felt like a failure as a mother. And she genuinely missed her son.

They had spent nine months completely inseparable. He had resided inside of her, learning the pattern of her heartbeat, adoring every aspect of her that whole time. His mother, his favourite person in the world.

It was lonely here, beneath the cool sand. Aaron missed his mother. And that funny, stubbly man who was always around. Charlie. The guy that might as well be his dad.

Claire awoke with a start. Sweat was beaded at her forehead and she was breathing heavily. She was feeling a bit drowsy, her body craving more sleep. "Must have drifted off," She mused to herself, her jaw stretching with a wide yawn. It was better to forget about that bad dream she'd been having, the one where she felt like she was actually seeing from Aaron's point of view.

Which was impossible. Because her son was dead.

Charlie smiled at her slowly, his arm snaking around her slim waist and kept his eyes on her mouth. He pressed his thumb to her plump, rose bottom lip. Feeling it's shape. Submitting every fascinating detail about her to his mind.

"I didn't want to wake you. It's rare that you get a decent rest. At night I can hear you mumbling and tossing and turning."

Claire pursed her lips absentmindedly, and then smiled to Charlie. "I'm surprised you stay up late enough to notice these little things about me."

Charlie crinkled his brow, something Claire found adorable, and responded thoughtfully, "I've been having a hard time sleeping nowadays too. Don't know why."

Claire sent him a concerned glance. She rubbed his back in slow circles, soothingly. "What have you been feeling like?"

The corner of Charlie's mouth quirked into a half smile. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'm fine."

Claire frowned, and slid off the makeshift bed. "Let's go see Jack anyway. Please, for me," She urged sweetly.

"Oh, alright," Charlie rummaged through the suitcases in the tent (which was still a mess) and pulled out his old grey hoodie. He hadn't worn it since the first few weeks on the island. And now, with his want for comfort and something familiar and safe, he put the hoodie on. Claire couldn't help noticing that the hoodie appeared much baggier on the Englishman than the last time he had worn it. This worried her. She had half a mind to force feed Charlie until he was back to his regular size.

Grabbing Claire's hand, Charlie walked out of the tent they shared and headed in the direction of Jack's medical tent.

Once the two of them arrived, they called out for Jack, who emerged from his tent looking simply exhausted. All of the islanders, besides Charlie and Claire, who were in their own little world, had noticed. They were sure that the guilt for something he couldn't control, namely Aaron's death, was eating away at him, and for that he had lost sleep.

"Claire, Charlie," The doctor greeted. His eyes were bloodshot.

"Jack, do you think you could look Charlie over? After what happened the other night..." She needn't say more.

"Sure," He checked Charlie's pulse, to see if it was nice and strong. It wasn't really, but not bad enough to be a prime worry. Yet, anyway. He felt the back of Charlie's forehead, and overall checked him over.

"You're not as healthy as you could be, Charlie, if I'm honest. But you can get better with with rest, maybe some anti-depressants, and therapy. Seeing as you threw my anti-depressants in the ocean and no one really has time to psycho-analyze you, go for the rest, drink lots of liquids, and get your Tylenol from me every six hours." He smiled reassuringly.

Claire nodded, her mouth set in a grim line to what Jack was saying. She needed to be able to take care of Charlie, and to do that she needed to get as much information as possible of what was wrong with him.

Jack gave Charlie two Tylenol capsules which he swallowed, then, after Charlie's insistence (because Claire honestly didn't think she was unhealthy in the least), checked over Claire. The results of his inspection were worrying.

"I don't quite know what to tell you. Claire, your stress and depression is affecting your emotionally and physically; on two different planes. I'd advise you to come see me later so I can give you more medication as well."

Claire scoffed beneath her breath. After thanking Jack for his time, the two of them left his tent and walked along the ocean by the beach. People were crowding about, but Charlie and Claire felt as if no one could interrupt their alone time.

"Do you feel close to me?" Charlie asked Claire, giving her a quick peck on the lips.

"Yes. Of course I do. But I wish we wouldn't have so many misunderstandings."

Charlie didn't respond. He had spotted something floating in the water. He frowned, concentrating, wondering if what he thought he was seeing was what was really there.

"Charlie? Are you okay?"

"One second," Charlie replied, advancing toward the water and kneeling in the sand before it. He reached out and turned over something in his hand.

Upon closer inspection, Claire saw that what Charlie was holding was a Virgin Mary statue. More Smack, an escape, was what Claire had been wishing for ever since she found out that Charlie had gotten rid of the rest of it. But life shouldn't be so fair as to grant her wish. Something didn't feel right.

And all of a sudden she was yelling, and cursing, and flailing her arms crazily. Charlie was looking up at her with wide, shocked blue eyes, and Claire passed out.

When she regained consciousness five minutes later, she was being held down. Frightened, and by reflex, she did all possible to get away, just run away. She scratched at the hands around her mid section wildly, scared out of her mind and not knowing what was what.

Something wasn't right.

A/N: Not as good as I thought it would be. It kind of dragged on. Hopefully you guys feel differently. Please review!

xox Sacha