"Peanut Butter"
By Phoenix39
Summary: Charlie will go to any heights--literally--get Claire her peanut butter. This started as a one-shot, but became this one, long thing.
Author's Note: Thoughts in italics, means Charlie is thinking it. Thoughts that are bold and italics is something else telling him.
Spoilers: "Confidence Man"
Rated: G
Charlie is searching the jungle for peanuts. What do they grow on? Fines? Bushes? Or are they like potatoes where they grow underground and you have to dig them up? Where should he start digging?
He starts digging in the bushes, but sees no peanuts. Maybe he should find Locke and ask him. After all, Locke knows everything. He's like the Dumbledore of the island.
He heard the squealing of a boar. Maybe Locke was nearby getting this week's dinner. He follows the sounds of the boar until he sees Locke. Sure enough, a boar was dangling from a rope and squealing as Locke sliced it.
"Locke, I'm so glad I found you," Charlie says.
"Why? What do you need?"
"Where do peanuts grow? I need peanuts!"
"They grow in mountains, Charlie. Why do you need them?"
"Claire wants peanut butter. I don't know how much longer the invisible peanut butter is going to work. Pregnant woman need what they crave, or the baby gets a birth mark of the food. I don't think the baby wants a peanut butter shaped birthmark on its thigh, and--"
"Charlie! Slow down! Calm down. You really like Claire, don't you?"
"Yeah."
"Mountains. Be careful. Watch out for the monster."
"Okay."
"Wait Charlie. Take this."
Locke tosses Charlie a knife, and he catches by the handle. The blade comes to little curve. The handle is yellowish-tan. He carefully places it in his belt loop.
"Thanks, Locke."
Charlie heads out. He remembers the second day here when he, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, Shannon, and Boone all went to the top of the highest mountain to get a signal for the transceiver. He knew the safest route to take and how to climb up the mountain and get back down. He wasn't scared. Then… the polar flashed into his mind. What if there were more? He doesn't care. If he dies up there, he knows it was for Claire. He just doesn't want to die without Claire knowing how much he loves her. He shook the polar bear out of his head and continued on.
He continues through the jungle. He is starting to work up a sweat. He pulls his water bottle out of his pocket and takes a guzzle. After pushing the bottle back into his pocket, he rubs his forehead with the back of his wrist. He looks strait up at the sky. He never became an expert on telling what time it is according to the sun's position in the sky, but he could tell it isn't very late. Probably about four or five. He continues to walk. Guessing about thirty minutes later, he made it to base of the mountain.
Almost there, he encouraged himself. Just one step at a time.
he encouraged himself.He grabs onto the roots projecting from the cracks between the rocks and hoists himself onto them. With a grunt, he climbed further. He doesn't remember it being this hard. Then he realizes that he was high the last time he climbed. His senses weren't working right. He didn't feel much of anything. He didn't feel how hard it was to climb. He grunts and climbs for what seemed like hours and hours, but the sun seems to glued to one spot in the sky.
Curse you, Father Time! Charlie shouts in his head.
He finally hoists himself onto the top of the mountain.
"What the heck do peanuts grow on? I forgot to ask Locke!"
He walks around aimlessly for a few minutes, looking around. For vines, bushes, any kinds of plants. Anything. Anything! It's not here! He groans in aggravation and kicks the ground. Dust and dirt fly up, surrounding his eyes. He walked all this way, climbed all this way for nothing! Maybe Locke made a mistake. No, he tells himself. Locke knows everything.
He hears a crunch under his foot. He looks down to see what it was.
"A peanut!" he screams in excitement.
He drops to his knees and digs his nails into the ground, removing the dirt. There's more! He's digging and finding more. He should have brought a bag to put the peanuts in. He just stuffs them into the pocket that is not taken by the water bottle. After his pocket is full to the max, he decides he does not have enough. He pulls his water bottle out of his other pocket and places it down next to him. Grinning with glee, he starts stuffing the now empty pocket. The scene where he shows Claire the peanut butter enters his mind.
"Hey, Claire."
She is writing in her diary by the fire of the night. She looks up at him and smiles.
"Hi, Charlie."
She licks her lips. He kneels down next to her, his knees getting wet from the damp dirt. He pulls a jar from behind his back, filled to the brim with stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth-oh-God-it-makes-you-want-a-glass-of-milk-extra-smooth-peanut-butter and hands it Claire. Her face lights up. Her beautiful face. Her natural beauty. No make-up necessary. Her blue eyes, freckles, and that gorgeous smile she smiles when she is really happy. Like when he brought her the invisible peanut butter, but this is bigger because this peanut butter is REAL. He imagines that she is happy beyond belief. Probably the happiest she's been in months. The features of her face are reflected from the fire, exaggerating them, making her even more beautiful, if it's possible.
"Oh my God!"
"That's right," Charlie replies. "It may be late, but it is what you ordered."
Charlie grin grows bigger. With one arm, she wraps Charlie in a half-hug. With the other, she unscrews the lid of the peanut butter and they both dig their fingers into the tan goop. Claire brings her finger to her mouth and sucks the peanut butter off provocatively. Charlie leans down and pulls Claire into a kiss. She does not pull back. In fact, she joins in. For the rest of the night, they share a wonderful, marvelous kiss and they live happily ever after.
Charlie opens his eyes from his fantasy.
"Hey, it could happen," he argued to the air.
After stuffing his last pocket to the max, he heads down the mountain, which is harder than going up, because he is now fighting gravity. Half way down, he feels around his pockets for his water bottle.
"Crap!" he shouts as he realizes that he left up on the mountain.
He just continues down, he mouth getting drier by the minute, and his throat getting scratchier. He tries to pull up some saliva, but there is none. He jumps the last few feet of the rocks and jogs into the shadows of the jungle. His throat is on fire.
Water! Water! he shouts to himself.
Eventually, he makes his way through the jungle and back to the caves He enters the cool shade of surrounding rocks.
"Charlie, where have you been?" Jack asks, his voice a bit worried.
"H--" Charlie cannot talk. His throat is throbbing. "W--"
Charlie makes a gesture with his hand of him drinking from an invisible glass filled with the scrumptious water. Jack pulls a bottle about half filled from his pocket and hands it to Charlie. Charlie twists the cap off the bottle and chugs the water in a few seconds. His throat is a bit soar, but he manages to talk.
"I was getting something for Claire," he says with a wink.
He hands Jack his water bottle and walks deeper into the cave. He dunks his head into the waterfall and lets the water cool off his hot, throbbing head. His pulls his head out, feeling very refreshed. He shakes the water out of his hair and rubs his eyes.
He searches around for a bowl and finally finds one. He taps his fingernails against the hard plastic as he finds a corner to conceal himself in. He crouches into the dark bend of the cave.
He starts cracking and peeling the peanut shells and releasing the nuts into the plastic bowl. The bowl was almost full when he finished.
How do I smash them? he asks himself.
He looks around the housing and finds a round rock on the cave floor. He puts the bowl to the side, picks up the rocks, and cleans it in the waterfall. When he decides that it is sanitary enough to eat off of, he brings it back to the corner and starts smooshing the peanuts with the rock.
The peanuts are as ground as possible. How does he make it smoother? This doesn't look anything like peanut butter. Claire won't like this crap.
Maybe she will, something deep within his mind--and his heart--tells him. If you can get her with the invisible crap, you can totally get her with this. She will so fall in love with you when you tell her the story of climbing the highest mountain for her and loosing your water.
Okay, okay, he tells Something. You're right. I can tell her that I will climb the highest mountain for her, and not lie. I did. I must really love her.
You do, Something tells him in a sure voice.
He smiles at the thought, the shred of hope that Claire is in love with him. He decides that the so-called "peanut butter" sitting on his lap is good enough.
He gets up to find Claire. She is not in the cave. She is outside, in her own area, away from everyone else. He swallows the lump in his throat and starts walking toward her, hiding the peanut butter behind his back.
"Claire?" he snaps her out of her thoughts.
"Hi, Charlie," Claire says, with a smile.
See? She does love you.
God, this woman is beautiful.
She is wearing a white sweater and the same sky blue cargo pants as yesterday, when he first surprised her with the invisible peanut butter.
"I have something for you," Charlie said in a flirty kind of voice.
"Really, what?"
"Remember that peanut butter from yesterday?"
"That was the best bloody peanut butter I've ever tasted. Why? Do you have more for me?"
"Do you like it crunchy?"
"Oh, so it's crunchy tonight?"
"Yes, it is," he said as he pulled the bowl from behind his back. "And real."
Claire's face lights up, and her jaw almost falls to the ground as she sees the crunched up peanuts in the bowl. Charlie hopes his fantasy would come true. He kneels into the damp dirt. The moister starts seeping through his jeans and make his knees wet. She smiles bigger than he ever pictured. She even lets out a light giggle. She is more beautiful than he imagined.
"Oh my God!"
"That's right," Charlie replies. "It may be late, but it is what you ordered."
Claire's grins grows even bigger. She stinks her fingers into the bowl and pulls out a fingerful of the peanut butter. She looks up into Charlie's eyes and he reads what she's saying.
"This is the sweetest thing a man's ever done for me."
At least, he hoped that's what she said. He never became an expert in telepathy either. He didn't need telepathy. It was clear in her eyes. He could see the love she holds for him. He takes a chance and lets the words out.
"I love you, Claire."
Claire stops eating and looks up at him. She looks hurt. Once again, he can read what she is feeling. The truth is in the eye of the beholder. In Claire's eyes, the truth is that she is confused.
"You're scared of being hurt again, aren't you?" Charlie asked.
"Yes," he reads in her eyes.
"You don't have to be scared of me, Claire. Take a chance on me."
"I know. Thomas never did anything this romantic. I know you're different, Charlie. Sure, I'll give you a chance."
He smiled. Something was right. This girl was in love with him. He leans in a few inches to see what she will do next. Just as had hoped, she leans in and kisses him… on the cheek. He is little disappointed at this.
"Is that all you've got?" he asks in a flirty way, trying not to sound to desperate.
She pulls him into a tight hug and pushed her lips onto his. He carefully places the bowl of peanut butter down and joins in on the hugging and kissing. He never felt so alive, ever in his life. He has never felt a greater love. For his drugs. For music. For DriveSHAFT. Claire Littleton is his greatest love. He will never let her go. He wants to be a part of her life, and her baby's life. He wants to have a family with this girl. He wants to spend forever and eternity wit her.
THE END.
A/N: Sweet, isn't it? Thos two were MADE for each other, don't you think? Please R/R.