1For Claire/Charlie fans only :)

Disclaimer: I love this new show. Its obviously not mine. If it was.. Well I wouldn't be here writing fanfics about it that's for sure.

A/N: please read and review :)

Summary: Claire and Charlie have a confusing and unpleasant run-in with Ethan and some other unfriendly islanders.

Chapter 4

"Oh God.." Charlie muttered as he inched closer to Claire. She was lying unconscious on the dirt floor, her hands roughly bound in front of her. The room was semi-dark, one kerosene lamp in the far corner was all that was lighting the small confines of their prison. Her stomach wasn't swollen. She had her baby. But where was it? Was it even alive?

Charlie reached her and took her face in his hands. How many hours had he been unconscious? It felt like forever. His clothes were mostly dry, so he knew it had been a while. Her face was cold, as was the rest of her, no doubt the result of a chill from her wet clothes. In that moment more than any other he wished he could scoop her up and carry her to the beach where a helicopter would be waiting to take them away. But now here he was, the captive of someone by the name of Ethan. There were others, he guessed, because there was no way he and Claire could have been dragged off by one person. There had to have been more. Looking around him, Charlie saw that they were in a crudely built fort, with large frames of felled tree trunks and walls and a ceiling of bamboo. On one of the walls hung a large piece of paper with innumerable little tally scratches, like a calendar. He was guessing the black scratches were made from fire charcoal. Someone had been here a long, long time.

Claire's eyes fluttered open and she gasped, not focusing properly. He noticed with a flash of anger that her arms and one side of her face were black and blue with bruising. Surely these men, whoever they were, could have carried off a frail, pregnant girl without exerting any brute force? He heard slight pounding of rain on the roof as he waited for Claire to fully regain consciousness. She tried to sit up but was weak, and fell back. He tired to help her from behind and she tried to scream, but could only whimper feeble protests.

"Shh, no it's me, Charlie! Claire it's ok darling, shh, calm down..." He murmured in her ear. She seemed to relax a little upon hearing this, and when he wrapped her in his embrace and she went limp as a rag doll. He avoided the nasty bruises on her upper arms as he rocked her back and forth on the floor. Her face was buried in his chest, muffling her sobs.

"Charlie?"

"Im here love." Came his British accent floating back to her ears.

"My wrists hurt so.... Why did they tie me and not you?" She asked.

"Maybe because I was unconscious..."

"Oh, I remember them tying me up, there were four of them. All men. They tried to make me walk myself but I collapsed... I got too dizzy . But they knew you would wake up soon surely, and they still didn't tie you?"

"So you fainted?"

"No, I couldn't get up and they hit me...Then the larger of them dragged me back to my feet... Then I fainted and Im assuming I was carried the rest of the way..." She sniffed and Charlie wiped the tears from her cheeks for her as her hands were still bound.

She sat up and immediately noticed her stomach.

"Oh my god Charlie where's my baby?"

"I don't know.....I don't know Claire..."

She looked frantically around the tiny rectangular room and then, in a fresh burst of tears explained to Charlie what happened.

" I remember... Oh, how could I have forgotten? It must have been just three hours or so ago...I woke up and started to feel pains...." Here Charlie pulled her close for comfort and she put her hands on her now flat stomach. " They were coming really close together.. Someone was in the room with me.. You were still out cold...I had my baby... He was alright, he cried, I was so happy.. Alive...my little boy...he took him....away..." She tried to tell him between sobs and Charlie nodded his understanding.

"He's still here Claire he's around here somewhere... I don't even know if this is a one-room shelter or if there's more rooms beyond that door." He tilted his head in the direction of the bamboo door strapped together with strips of bark and vines.

"How could you listen for anything above the racket the rain's making..."

"Charlie we have to do something." Claire said after a silence.

"Here... Let me untie you..." She pushed her wrists up to him and he struggled with the knots before freeing her. He rubbed the marks on her wrist to bring circulation back into her cold hands. The cloth he had tied around the fingernail wounds on her palms were gone, leaving the open gashes sore-looking and naked.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

"Charlie we have to get out of here."

"We have to find your baby."

The two of them got up and Charlie held Claire's shoulders steady as she passed through a wave of dizziness and nausea that comes naturally after childbirth. Once steadied, they approached the door with caution. Charlie pressed his ear to it, but could hear nothing. With one look at Claire, he counted to three under his breath and pushed the door open. On the other side was not new rooms, but the jungle. They were situated on a hill, an awkward hut erected on a hill, in the middle of the jungle by the feel of it. Claire started running along the only visible path, and Charlie started off behind her at a sprint. Instead of letting up, the rain seemed to double, and they could see just enough through it to follow the beaten path. Suddenly they came upon a clearing, and what they saw caused Claire to give a cry and run forward. On the sopping ground, lie three dead men, blood spilt everywhere. It looked as if some struggle had taken place, but not between them or from another man. It looked like something huge, an animal maybe, had killed these men and left them here. That it didn't eat them, was the confusing part. Claire stared in horror at the bloody scene.

"These were the men." She announced. They were dark-skinned and their facial hair was long and uncombed. They were dressed like Indians, in skins and armed with guns...One of them even had a sharp-headed spear. Claire almost dropped to her knees when the faint sound of a crying infant came from the pack of one of the men. Charlie ran to it and opened the leather backpack, pulling out a crying infant wrapped in a single blanket. He handed it to Claire who cradled the boy to her chest and cried tears of relief and joy onto the blanket. Charlie couldn't believe their luck. Another half hour and the child would have died. Though none of it made sense, he didn't try to work it out. Ethan wasn't one of the bodies, but he had been with these men previously. He had his doubts that Ethan killed the large men. He turned from the gruesome scene to the one of pure happiness, the scene of Claire and her baby.

A crash in the bushes twenty or thirty yards off startled them both, and Charlie pushed Claire through the clearing and onto the continued path. They ran, though it appeared that nothing was following them. Once they were sure they were alone as one could be on the island, they slowed to a walk, Claire still spilling tears of joy. She wrapped the blanket around the infant tighter, and kept him warm by pressing him close to her chest. Charlie thanked god for the rain letting up, and the skies parted, late afternoon sunshine spilling through the leaves, making the events of that day seem like a horrible nightmare, and this was like waking to the arms of a loved one. Claire, Charlie, and the baby were soon back on the beach, and were met by a rush of people who had been organizing a search for them. Jack marveled at the healthy condition of the mother and child. Hurley pulled Charlie into a rather crushing hug, and even Sawyer came to spectate from a distance to see what the fuss was all about.

"So, no more blood loss, Claire?" Jack was asking her.

"Not since I came to, no." She answered.

"Came to? Like, regained consciousness?" Jack asked, confused.

"Umm.." Claire's face darkened.

"Has anyone seen Ethan?" Charlie asked.

Several people shook their heads.

"Not today." Boone said from behind Shannnon.

"Jack...." Charlie continued quietly, his words for the doctor only.

" We need to tell you some things.."

TBC