Broken Road

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or anything, just the plot. The song belongs to Rascal Flatts… and they ROCK!!!

Summary: Charlie/Claire fluff. How does being separated affect Charlie and Claire? Two-parter for now. Claire-centric

A/n: Another Rascal Flatts song. Jay DeMarcus (song writer and bassist of RF) described it as Broken Road part II… and I really like this song. I hope you like it :D

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"The Day Before You"

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Black. It was everywhere. The color of the walls, the color of the floor, the color of the area inches from my face. I knew I wouldn't be able to see my hand in front of my face… that was if I could have. At the moment, my hands were tied quite tightly behind my back.

I sighed. It was no use. It was no use trying to do anything. Even if I could have gotten free, by now my wrists were so raw I wouldn't have been able to do much of anything. Then there was the simple fact that I was bound to go into labor any second.

The odds definitely were not in my favor.

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"I had all but given up
On finding the one that I could fall into
On the day before you"

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I heard a door open and a cool draft came in, blowing my face. It felt good. My face was covered in sweat. Footsteps. I heard them, getting louder, when a sudden wrench of pain shot through me. Not now. Now was a bad time. Bad bad time.

I let a slight scream out and I heard someone laugh. Someone else was here with me. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my head. I seethed. I heard more laughing. Then I felt the tight tenseness of the blindfold fall off and I was still surrounded by darkness. The only light was that of a single candle that was being raised up.

There was a man standing there. And it wasn't who I wanted it to be. It wasn't Charlie. Then it hit me.

Charlie was dead.

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"I was ready to settle for
Less than love and not much more
There was no such thing as a dream come true
Oh, but that was on the day before you"

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I felt the pain shoot through me again as my eyes met with the man. He looked a bit familiar, but I couldn't place him. Then it hit me. Ethan. That was bad.

"You're ready Claire…" he said eerily, creeping me out just a bit. Okay, I lied. It was really creepy.

"R-r-ready for what?" I asked.

"You know what…" he said, the light of the candle making him seem more menacing than he actually was. I played at my bonds, trying to get them loose with no such luck, it only burned more. My hair was plastered onto my face.

I felt a pair of rough hands pick me up quite brutally. They were scratchy, and seemed to be cutting me worse than the ropes.

"Take her…" Ethan said quickly, and before I could comprehend what was happening, I was being lifted harshly off the ground and being carried away. If it weren't for the fact that I was in going into labor, I would have been kicking and screaming, but it wasn't a good idea. So I didn't.

I didn't know anything. I didn't do anything. All I could do was try to stay as still as possible as this big brute carried me through this labyrinth like thing… that I must have been in. I was all alone. He had killed Charlie. I had nothing.

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"Now you're here and everything's changing
Suddenly life means so much
I can't wait to wake up tomorrow
And find out this promise is true
I will never have to go back to
The day before you"

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The man (or thing, I wasn't sure what it was), dropped me on a stone hard bed, not caring that the baby could have been seriously injured. I looked around. This place was better lit, but not by much, and the darkness of night didn't help at all either.

A sob racked my body as a woman walked in and chuckled. "Feisty, isn't she?" she said coolly. I glared at her, then my attention went back over towards Ethan and the gargantuan man standing next to him.

He nodded. "Nearly killed me when I hung her little boyfriend up in the tree." I snapped.

"YOU BLOODY ARSE!!!" I screamed as loud as I could, hoping to attract the attention of someone nearby. "What did he ever do to you… why the hell did you have to kill him? He never did anything wrong!" Tears were streaming down my face mixing with the sweat.

The three other occupants of the room shrieked with laughter. "This will not do. Stanley…" the woman said.

I felt a sharp pain on the top of my head before everything plunged into darkness.

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"In your eyes I see forever
And it makes me wish that my life never knew
The day before you"

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The blackness faded into a light bluish color if that was possible. I was spinning in some kind of portal or something and it was making me dizzy, so I shut my eyes. I wish I knew what was going on. Nothing was making any sense anymore.

Once the feeling of the spinning stopped, I left my eyes closed. That was until I heard a voice.

"Claire? Claire… where are you?" I opened my eyes. And looked around. I wasn't spinning around, but now I was in a crowded mall. People were everywhere. I looked down… the ever present and familiar bulge was no long there. I was getting scared now.

"Claire?"

"CHARLIE!?" I shouted, the first name that came to mind. I felt someone come up behind me and put his hands over my eyes.

"Guess who…" they said. I chuckled. The only person to ever do that was… Thomas.

I pried the hands off of me and spun around to be taken up in a kiss. It was definitely Thomas. What was he doing here? Then again, what was I doing in a mall?

"I love you Claire…" he said as he broke away. I smiled slightly, remembering how he had left me as soon as he found out that I was pregnant.

Before I could keep myself from doing anything I felt myself say, "I love you too… now we need something for mum for Christmas…"

Christmas? I felt like I was in an episode of the Twilight Zone. I felt so out of it.

"How about… a coffin…"

I slapped him. "That wasn't funny!"

"I was kidding," he said, smiling. His smile always seemed to make me melt. "How about… pots and pans, she always needs new things to be beating me around the head with."

I chuckled before I felt myself being pulled back. It was like one of those out of body experiences. I saw myself down there, but how could I… I was right here. Everything faded into blackness.

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"Oh, but heaven knows those years without you
Were shaping my heart for the day that I found you
And if you're the reason for all that I've been through
Then I'm thankful for the day before you"

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When it was light again, I was on the plane. I wasn't too far from Charlie, but I didn't know who Charlie was at that moment. I saw him get up from his seat and head towards the bathroom, passing right past me. I wanted to call out to him but I couldn't.

I seemed to be stuck in memories. I looked down to see the bulge there. It was a bit of a comfort. Who knows what happened to my baby. Who knows what is happening to my baby. I needed to get out of here.

I looked around. This was right before the plane crashed. I remember it because it was so quiet. So eerily silent. I had a row to myself, no one wanted to go near the pregnant girl, ya know? I sighed. What had I done the entire plane ride, other than just sit there and look around? The answer was nothing. I had done nothing.

Then the turbulence hit. And the force of being pulled back into my seat as the plane went into a nose dive and the back end of the plane went flying off. Charlie was no where to be found. Where was he?

My breathing quickened as everything went black once more.

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"Now you're here and everything's changing
Suddenly life means so much
I can't wait to wake up tomorrow
And find out this promise is true
I will never have to go back to
The day before you"

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I was on the island. My hands were tied tightly behind my back, and Charlie was right there next to me. I breathed a sigh of relief. When suddenly were we stopped. Ethan smiled evilly and looked between the two of us.

"Time to get rid of some unneeded baggage," he said, his gaze resting on Charlie.

If I could have I would have hit him. But that meant that he was going to be let go. He was going to be safe.

"There was never any need for you Charlie, and I really don't want to do this… what am I saying… of course I do…"

Keeping an eye on Charlie, he quickly attached my bonds to a nearby tree so I couldn't run away. Damn it. Charlie tried to run, but it didn't help. The smile never disappeared off of Ethan's face as Charlie fought to get away from him. This wasn't happening again. I had to live through it once, and now I had to go through it again.

I sobbed. "Ethan, just let him go!" I pleaded.

He laughed. "And what? Let everyone know where we were, where we are going… can't afford to let that happen." He stated simply.

I hated him.

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"The day before you
Was the last day that I ever lived alone
And I'm never going back
I'm never going back"

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Charlie stopped struggling when Ethan hit him quite hardly. "Charlie…" I sobbed, but he didn't hear me. I looked into his eyes one last time before Ethan pulled a blindfold over them, and more tears sprang to my eyes.

I tried so hard to get free, but I couldn't. Why was he doing this? Why did he have to kill him? More sobs coursed through me.

He found a thick vine hanging from the tree that I was attached to, and smiled (if possible) even more menacingly. Ethan detached some of it and began wrapping it around Charlie's neck. And I was right there.

"CHARLIE!!" I shouted, trying to get him to move, but he wouldn't. He seemed to have given up. He didn't seem like a person who would give up. But he had. I sniffled. Quickly, tugging on the other side of the vine, Charlie choked as he was lifted off the ground.

I gave up too. "Charlie… don't die… please… please don't die…" I sobbed quickly before my world turned to darkness when Ethan put a blindfold over my eyes. It still couldn't stop the tears. If I could, I would kill him. He did that purposely. I hated him more than ever.

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"Now you're here and everything's changing
Suddenly life means so much
I can't wait to wake up tomorrow
And find out this promise is true
I will never have to go back to
The day before you"

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My head hurt so much and I seethed loudly in pain as my eyes opened.

"Claire. Oh your alive Claire," I heard someone say. It sounded a lot like Charlie. Had I died? I had to have if Charlie was there.

He gripped my hand. "I thought you had died." It took a few seconds before my eyes refocused and I found myself looking right at Charlie.

"I thought the same about you." I said weakly.

A sharp pain went through my stomach area. I looked down and saw that the bulge was gone, as were the other three and I was bleeding quite profusely.

"Charlie, am I dying?" I asked.

"I don't know love… I don't know…"

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A/n: I hope you liked it. It was so sweet. I am such a Charlie/Claire freak. And I hated my portrayal of what happened. It made me sad. I will write a third part to this… but y'all may not like it, and if you don't… shrugs Thanks to my reviewers:

Harper's Pixie – Thanks for being the first reviewer. :D :D I really like Rascal Flatts, they're my favorite band… and they're the sweetest three guys I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. If I can find songs… the entire story will be Rascal Flatts… and there are over 33 RF songs out there, so it shouldn't be too much trouble. :D

Vilandra4 – Thanks :D

suspencer – Muchas gracias!

szhismine – Uh…como se dice… thanks en German? Oh.. Danka!

frodosam4ever – working on it…

orange-tide – I love you Ali… haha… reviewing a Lost story and rambling about the OC. I just find that so hysterical and pathetically enough, very Ali like. HAHA!!!

Tori – Poor Charlie. I love torturing my favoritest characters. Haha!

MetChick01 – Awwww… thanks. :D

The Pirate Illusionist – Rascal Flatts kicks ass!!