Disclaimer: sorry for the long wait, but I've been extremely busy, computers gone postal and I'm suffering from writers block. Not to mention that I haven't heard from any of my usual readers in a while. So just remember, the more you reply, the more I update. As for this chapter, it's a teaser. Its pretty short, and its another cliff hanger. I would have written more but I'm going away for the weekend and wanted to get something in. I'm going to use a bit of the last episode, but not to much simply because I don't know what's gonna happen and I don't want to dedicate myself to that plot to much and end up not being able to right over the season break. But with that said, this chapter is a little bit graphic, as a warning. I hope to write as much as possible over the break so that's something to look forward to. P.S. more flash backs.
Alatariel10: Thank you so much for your update. Its always great to hear from new readers and I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
A A Battery: Man is that a scarey thought. shivers. I better update soon, I defonetly don't want that. Not-at-all.
Ashlyn Alexis: I'm sorry about the spelling issues. When I first started wrighting I didn't have much of a spell checker so I had to read them over myself and I missed a lot. But as you read on in the more recent chapters, it gets better. I'm not sure how far you read in, but if the spelling is still bad no one's informed me and it would be great to have some help. Thanks for offering.
FATE
Nostalgia
Claire's eyes slowly blinked open to the clear, pale blue sky. Her head pounded as she sat up and
looked around. She was back on the beach, lying in the shade beside the plane wreckage, a look
of confusion on her face. "Claire" a voice said softly from behind her. She squinted up at the
speaker, shading her eyes so she could see him. "How you feeling?" Jack asked, giving a faint
smile back down at her. "Dizzy" she replied, stumbling as she tried to rise to her feet. "Careful"
he warned, holding her arm to help her balance. After a moment, the island stopped spinning and
she could stand on her one. She smiled faintly, but slowly turned to a frown as she noticed the
firmly wrapped bandage around her wrist. The look of bewilderment returned. "What happened?"
she asked, eyes widened. "Well, its kind of hard to explain. Sit down" he sighed, indicating to the
broken side of the plain wing. She pulled herself on to the dusty grey surface and waited for him
to continue. Jack sat down beside her, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably. "What do
you remember?" he questioned, not wanting to explain any more then he had to. Claire thought
for a moment."Not much. I remember some one, one of the survivors , helped me out. He was
acting really strange. Then Charlie came." she explained thoughtful, replying the memory in her
head. "Claire!" a voice called, coming from the direction behind him. She looked over past his
shoulder and spotted Charlie, a few yards away, running towards them full speed. Her eyes lit
up. Suddenly, the man pulled something out of his pocket, swung his arm around her waist and
swung her around so her back faced him. The object he had pulled was a knife, witch he held to
her throat, using the other arm to hold her still. Charlie stopped in his tracks, but maintained a
look of determination. The two stared of intensely, neither showing any sign of backing down.
"That's all I remember" she shrugged conclusively. Jack shifted awkwardly. "Well, the man who
helped you, Earthen, wasn't actually a survivor" Jack began to explain. "What?" she questioned,
raising an eye brow. "He wasn't on the plain. We don't really know where he came from. We
assumed he was on the ship with Danielle" he elaborated. Claire nodded, distantly. "Alright, then
what happened?" Jack sighed again. "Well, Charlie found out about the same time we did, and we
all came out looking for you. Apparently Charlie found you, and..." he trailed off. "And what?"
she asked demandingly. "Well, we don't know exactly what happened but apparently the two of
them got into fight of some sort, and you got knocked unconscious" he began to explain quickly.
"Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean your not sure? Didn't Charlie tell you what happened?" she
questioned. He started at the ground, looking for the right words. She waited patently. "No.
Charlie didn't tell us" he replied after a moment. "Why not?" she asked, as if she already knew the
answer. "Because...we don't know where he is" Jack answered slowly, sympathetically. Claire's
eyes widened with shock. Her lower lip trembled. She was unable to speak. "We've been looking
all over form him. Locke's been out there for three days" he tried to assure, but stopped when he
noticed the tears roll down her cheek. "How long have I ben unconscious?" she asked softly,
staring at her trembling hand. Jack glanced away, said nothing. "How long?" she demanded with a
mild rumble in her voice. "Two weeks" he answered regretfully. Her head lowered, and she tried
to muffle a sob. "Come on, you must be hungry" he suggested, slowly rising. Claire didn't move.
He frowned and walked over to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. "We'll find him" he
promised, optimistically. She choked out a small sob. "Claire, liston to me. I know your upset.
And I can't imagine what your feeling right now. But what I need you to do is try to calm down.
Maybe if you can relax, eat something, your memory will come back" he insisted as
sympathetically as he could. Claire nodded and tried to wipe her eyes. He helped her down from
the edge of the plain wing and walked her over to the fire. As they walked to the fire, Claire tried
her hardest to calm down by taking slow breaths. Pulling the air in silently, taking wide steps.
Suddenly it hit her. She stumbled with a gasp and Jack grabbed her arm. He held her in a tight
grip, hands digging into the skin of her arms, leaving bruises on her shoulder. "Let her go"
Charlie demanded firmly, with a look of wild determination in his eyes. "Are you ok?" he asked,
startled. Claire's eye remained shut for a few seconds before she took in another deep breath.
"Yeah" She replied breathlessly,"I think its starting to come back." Jacks eyes widened. "What
did you remember?" he asked, still supporting her. "The man, Ethan, he was holding me like a
hostage. Charlie told him to let me go...that's all"she explained uncertainly. "Alright" he nodded
softly, and continued towards the fire. Kate , Shannon, Boone and Hurly all glanced up as Jack
set Claire down. Shannon sat by a small mettle box stuffed with blankets, witch soon became
apparent that this was Ben's new bed. "Here" Hurly said, offering her a plate. Claire took it
slowly, and sat it on her lap. He gave a short, uncomfortable smile. She poked at the little sliver of
meat with her spoork, un enthused. The last thing she wanted to do at the moment was eat. Her
stomach was turfing like a dryer on high cycle, not to mention the light handedness. They group
watched her inspectible as she raised the small morsel of meat to her mouth and chewed
uncomfortably. After a moment, they must have sensed her discomfort and looked away. All
except Jack, who's eye were steady examining the side of her arm. She looked down at her
shoulder, where a large, dark brown bruise swelled across her entire biceps. "What?" she asked
softly, not comprehending why he was so interested in a bruise, after all they were every where.
"This wasn't there earlier" he mumbled almost inaudibly, without removing his eye from her arm.
"Are you sure?" Kate asked, leaning over his shoulder. "Positive. I would have noticed it" he
replied, lifting her arm by the wrist to get a closer look. "Dose it hurt?" he questioned, glancing
up at her for a quick second. "No. I hadn't even notice it until-" she explained, but was cut short
as she observed him fully examining her arm. He lifted up and brushed his fingers across the skin.
"It goes all the way around" he concluded. "Almost like a hand print" Shannon chimed in from
across the fire. "Are there any more?" Kate questioned, turning to him. "I only cheeked what's
visible" he replied, uncertainly. "Maybe you should try." he suggested, meeting Claire eyes once
again. "Try-?" she asked, not quite understanding. "Just go in to one of the tents. See if you can
find any bruises, scares, scratched. Anything" Jack explained. Claire nodded, and continued
eating. The circle remained relatively silent the entire time and the only way Claire could keep
herself from crying was to remove any train of thought. She finished eating and walked back to
the tent with a zombie like mind, holding the small mirror witch Shannon had given her in hand.
She sat it down on the table and pulled back her hair. The movement of her hand made the wound
hurt. She brought it back down, letting her hair fall back over her shoulders and examined it. A
jagged purple haze ran around and beneath the rhyme of the bandage at her wrist and around each
of the fingers, witch seemed paler then the rest of her skin. "Don't come any closer" Ethan
instructed, gripping the small knife in his hand. "Let her go!" Charlie repeated forcefully,
ignoring his command and nearly cutting him off. He pushed past a tree but stopped in his tracks
as soon as Ethan moved the knife up to her neck. His expression changed from determined to
worried. Before either even breathed, Claire tried to pull herself away. She managed to escape
his grip but not for long. Her grabbed her hand by the wrist, jerked her back into his range and
through the other arm, with knife in hand around her waist. Holding her hand in his own and her
chest. Charlie to a step forward. "Don't!" Ethan ordered, and began squeezing her hand in his
as hard as he could. Charlie stopped, but he did not. He griped it tighter and tighter until he
herd the bone snap. Claire screamed with pain. Her eye flew back open. She shook her head,
trying to lose the memory. A pain, witch had shot through her hand at the memory fadded, and
she continued to pull her hair back into a pony tail again. She lifted the tank over her head,
carefully so she didn't disturb the wound. She looked down at her bare stomach. A few large
bruises ran from her hip to her ribs on the right side. She held the mirror at her side to get a better
look. In the reflection, she noticed a few small red marks that looked almost like cat scratches. she
ran her finger tips across her skin. She jumped when suddenly she herd the rustle of plastic near
the door and turned to see who was intruding. "Woo, sorry." Sowyer apologized, closing his eyes
so she could put her shirt back on but made not attempt to leave. She was in the middle of pulling
the tank back on when he opened his eyes again just in time to catch the bruises. "Jesus. Where did
that come from?" he questioned, tilting his head to the side. "I don't know" she replied honestly,
linking the tips of her fingers at her waist. "Well damn, sweat heart. First you give birth, then your
boy friend goes and gets all doped up, then you get the island plague and now this. You just can't get a break, can you?" He said with a grin. She looked down at the floor, clearly in no mood for
company. His smile fadded as he walked over to her. "Do they hurt?" he asked, tilting his head to
the side as he noticed the one on her arm. She shook her head no. "Huh. That's strange" he noted
thoughtfully, "What did the good doctor have to say?" Claire crossed her arms and continued
stareing at the ground. "He didn't know they were there" she answered casually. "Some doctor"
He mumbled sarcastically. His attempt to lighten the situation was failing. "Of chorse, I doubt your
worrying about yourself in a situation like this" he assumed, changing the subject. Claire nodded,
in agreement. "How long did it take them to find me?" She asked suddenly, completely ignoring
his statement. "About three days. Said you were unconscious when they got there, probably from
that gash on your forehead" he explained, indicating to the red wound that ran just along her
hairline to the left. "No, this wasn't from then. I got that earlier" she explained more to herself then
to him. "Huh. Well what ever it was, you were out cold and Charlie was no where to be found" he
confirmed, leaning one elbo on the table. "What else?" she questioned curiously. "Well, they said
that they found a knife, with blood, stuck in the ground. But besides you that's about it" he
answered casually. She frowned, hoping to get a little more detail. "And of chorse, you can't
remember anything." he stated almost like a question. She nodded. "What do you think
happened?" he asked. The question caught her off guard, and she looked up. He blinked
impatiently. "I-I don't know." she replied, not knowing what to say. "But you don't think Charlie
did it?" he said, once again a statement in the form of a question. "No. Of chorse not" she
answered, shocked at the idea. "Why?" she added, giving a confused look. "That's what Jack s
seems to think." Sawyer shrugged. "Finding you out cold, only suspects diapered. Seems like a
reasonable accusations." he continued. "Charlie would never. I told Jack, it was Ethan" She
confirmed angrily. "Hey, don't look at me. I'm on your side. The kid might think he's a bad ass when its man to man but hes not the abusing type. Exspeicaly with you. But Jack seems to think
other wise." he explained in his defense. "If Jack thinks Charlie's the one who did it, why did he
send Locke out to rescue for him?" She questioned in disbelief. " Oh, he's not out to rescue Charlie.
He's hunting him." Sawyer contradicted with a devious grin. Her eyes widened with shock. She
gripped the edge of the table and for a moment she looked like she was about to faint. "Oh hell no.
You faint they're gonna blame it on me" he warned, trying to support her. She took a deep breath.
"This is insane" she muttered breathlessly, as if she were about to cry. "No kidding" he agreed,
"The question is, what are you gonna do about it?" Claire looked back up at him with
bewilderment. "Well you can't just leave him out there to get killed" her confirmed. She glanced
away for a moment. He was right. She wasn't about to sit back and let Charlie get killed. " How? I
can't go out there alone-" she began to ramble nervously. "That's why I'm hear" he interrupted
confidently. "Are you sure?" she asked, looking up at him hopefully. "Sure as hell" he confirmed.
"Ok" she sighed in agreement. He gave a little smile of triumph. "Great. Get your stuff together. I'll
go get mine and then we'll head off unseen, alright?" he planned. She nodded and he headed off.
She began loading up anything useful into her back pack. Flash light, lighters, bandages, food,
watter bottles, her note book. She set the bag down on the table and looked the room over one last
time. Her eyes caught the mirror, witch was laying beside the bag on the table. She picked it up and
with one quick motion, banged it agenst the side of the table. It broke into two large, jagged pieces.
She took one of the bandages and wrapped it around and around and around the squared off half of
the glass until it bade a safe handle. She gripped it in her palm for a moment. Ethan continued to
crush her hand inside his despite Charlie's pleas. bone snapped and blood poured from between
his knuckles. Tears poured down her cheeks as she begged for him to stop. Unable to stand it any
longer, Charlie Charged. Ethan released her hand and blocked him with the same arm. He pushed his arm forward and knocked Charlie back on the ground, pulling Claire to the side and keeping a
sturdy grip around her elbo. Charlie laid flat on his back, coughing, and tried to sit up. "Don't even
try" Ethan warned, stepping on his chest. Charlie ignored his threat and took hold of his foot,
pushing it off of him. Ethan staggered back into the stone, pulling Claire with him. Charlie quickly
stumbled to his feet. "Don't even think about it" Ethan warned, holding the blade just inches away
from her heat before Charlie could even take a step forward. "You wouldn't want me to hurt her,
now, would you?" he questioned mockingly, running his fingers through her hair. "You bastard"
Charlie uttered with all the hatred in the world. Ethan gave an evil grin. "No kidding." Her eyes
opened again. She tucked the home made weapon into the pocket of her shirt and zipped up the
bag. She turned only to find Jack stareing back at her from the door way. "Where are you going?"
he asked sternly, already knowing the answer. "The jungle. To look for Charlie" She answered
firmly, showing no sign of backing down. "No your not." he contradicted with the same
stubbornness. "He didn't do it, Jack" she protested, ignoring his command. "I'm not letting you go
out there" he replied, not backing down. She frowned, and walked towards the door. "Claire" he
said, putting his arm out in her path to stop her, "don't do this." She looked up at blankly,
unconvinced. "Its to dangerous" he explained. "Its not your problem, Jack. Its mine. Now get out
of my way" she ordered. He was so taken off gourd by her forcefulness that he let his arm drop and
allowed her to brush past him without even blinking. She meet up with Sawyer on her way up the
beach. "Jack try to stop you?" questioned, siding up with her. "Yep" she replied shortly, walking
fast. They walked through the woods quickly, fallowing the large track that Locke had made.
Broken trees and leaves scattered all over the ground along with rows of foot prints. They said
nothing for the first half hour of they're search. Finally, Sawyer could no longer stand the silence.
"You seem to know where your going" he muttered breathlessly, trying to keep up. "Just fallowing
the path" she replied distantly, without looking back. "You know, this is a new side of you. I always
thought you were the domestic one" he smiled as he spoke, "Now look at you. Leading the way."
Claire still didn't look back. "Some one has to" she replied. "And I'm glad to fallow" he agreed
cheerfully. "Why is that?" she questioned, a hint of a smile fading onto her face. "Well one, I'm tired
of Jack-ass running the show. Two, I like the kid. Don't want him getting hurt" He answered
casually. "Hes not a kid" she corrected, defensively, waiting for him to argue. "I guess your right" he
agreed, witch caught her by surprise.
Charlie awoke to pure darkness and only the sound of his own heavy breathing and the etching of
rope agenst his skin. His hands were crossed at the wrist and tied over his head so that he dangled
from where ever the rope had been tied. The tip of his shoes just barely reaching the ground. He
soon relived that not only was he not touching the ground, but he was slowly spinning, and had been
for some time. He felt dizzy, nauseous , and above all hot. Sweat dripped from his forehead and the
palms of his hands. As he turned at the speed of a snail uncontrollably, he realized that behind him
was a source of light. The opening to a cave. He was pretty far inside, but could still see clearly out
into the open. By the blueish tent of the leaves and trees, it appeared to be early morning or late
afternoon. He could feel the bruising around his eyes, witch he could barely keep open, along with
the pain in his chest.