Disclaimer: I still don't own lost. Maybe someday, not today. But as for this chapter, it contains some real french, and I don't mean cussing, so bare with me. If you know French, great. If you don't, it doesn't matter because it all gets translated eventually. I'm just giving you a little warning.
Alterarial10: I'm glad you liked it. I've got a couple British men for friends, so I say that line constantly and I felt obligated to toss it in there. Also, I plan to throw in some more Shannon-related stuff just for you.
A A Battery: Glad you liked it so much, but don't expect it to stay all happy forever.
Evil spiked black star: I'd have to agree with you 100, great to have a new reader.
ophelianpain19: Thanks for the offer, I know my spelling is pretty bad even with spell check. I haven't looked over any of the recent chapters myself, but I was told that my spelling had improved so I sort of just ignored it. I really do appreciate you offering to take your time out to do this, but personally, I like to get my updates in as soon as I finish them because so many people ask me to 'update soon', other wise I'd probably read them over myself. But thanks again, and I change my mind I'll let you know.
FATE
The Box
"Wow, this is a little weird" Claire said, still smiling brightly. "Yeah...weird, good, right?" Charlie
confirmed, looking back up at her. "Yeah" she assured, and continued playing with his hair. He
was laying on his back, resting his head in her lap as she sat up, with the blanket wrapped around
her torso. "I love you" he said once again, grinning up at her. "You've said that already" She
reminded him. "well, I'm saying it again" he replied, sitting up on his knees. "And again, and
again, and again" he continued, kissing her each time he said "again". Claire giggled, and began to
blush. "Well, I love you two" She assured, kissing once again. Charlie laid back agenst the
pillows with his hands behind his head. "We should get some sleep. We've got another long day
of congratulations ahead of us." he suggested. "Oh, goodie" Claire muttered sarchasticly as she
laid down next to him.
"Hey, guys" Claire greeted as she dropped her bag of cloths on the sand. The three girls were
sitting around the laundry bucket as they did every Wednesday, washing cloths. "What are you so
happy about?" Kate asked suggestively as Claire took her usual spot between Shannon and Sun.
Claire looked away innocently, as if she didn't have a secret in the world. "Oh my god! What
happened?" Shannon begged excitedly. Claire looked down at her knees as she held up her left
hand, indicating to the index finger where one of Charlie's wrings was placed. For a moment, none
of them seemed to get it. They exchanged a few glances, then looked back to the ring. Then finally,
a light bulb went off. "He didn't!" Shannon had a look of shock on her face. "He did" Claire
confirmed shyly. She prepared her self for one of Shannon's high pitch squalls, but didn't receive
one. Instead, Shannon leaned over and hugged her happily. "Congratulations ...again" Kate said,
keeping her distance on the other side of the bucket, but maintained an kind smile. "Thanks" Claire
beamed over Shannon's shoulder, unable to free herself from her death-lock hug. Finally, Shannon
let go and sat back in her spot, smiling sweetly. Poor Sun still looked confused. "She's getting
married, isn't that great?" Shannon said, giving her a clue without being obvious. "Oh, wonderful"
Sun exclaimed. "When's the date?" Shannon asked, excitedly. "We don't know yet, we didn't
really talk about it much" Claire explained, looking down at her finger the entire time. "Yeah, I'm
sure you were busy with other things" Kate noted with a suggestive little grin. "Shut up" Claire
muttered, trying to hide her embarrassment.
Charlie made his way over to the fuselodge where the guys were working. "Hey, Charlie. Heard
the good news" Boone called from behind him as he walked up. "Oh, uh. Thanks" Charlie said a
little uncomfortably. "What is that?" Sayid questioned, moving some stuff around from the pile of
metal. "Oh, uh. I'm engaged" Charlie explained, trying to keep it casual. Sayid, and the other four
around him stopped what they were doing. "Really, when did this happen?" Jack asked, suddenly l
looking interested. "Last night" Charlie answered uncomfortably. He didn't really want all the
attention focused on him. "Wow, that's great, man" Michael chimed in, giving him a pat on the
shoulder. "Yeah, dude. Congradlations" Hurly added. "Thanks, guys. Now, can we get to work?"
Charlie asked, despretly wanting to change the subject. "Yeah, sure" Jack agreed, and within
moments the guys were back on the job. But that didn't stop them from asking questions. "So,
dose this mean we get some kind of...bachelors party?" Boone asked after a while. "No, I don't
think so" Charlie assured, still trying to change the subject. "Yeah, what's the point without a
stripper?" Jack inquired sarcastically. "Well, we could always barrow Kate" Sowyer teased. Jack
shot him an angry look, witch he ignored. Charlie blocked them out, gazing across the beach at
Claire, who was looking equally annoyed with the new wave of excitement. "Hey, guys. I'm gonna
take a break, get some water" Charlie explained, dropping his last piece of metal into a pile. "Yeah,
sure" Jack gave to ok, and he was off. He made his way over to the table, witch was almost chiefly
covered in water bottles and grabbed one. Across the table, at the other end where a huge pile of
papers lay, he spotted Shannon, sitting in a chair looking over some rather large papers. Sayid was
standing over here, pointing at the sheet in her hand. Charlie turned away, trying to meddle in other
peoples affairs. He knew full well how annoying that could be. He took a sip from the bottle and
started to walk away when he was stopped by Shannon. "Hey, Charlie, could you come hear real
quick" She called in a friendly manner. What the hell has gotten into this girl? "Uh, yeah sure" He
replied, not able to think up an excuse to get him out of it. "In your band, you guys traveled a lot
right?" She asked, looking up at him from the papers. "Yeah, why?" he questioned, caught off gard.
He was expecting to hear something about the wedding, not about travel. "Did you ever go to
France?" she continued, ignoring his question. "Yeah" he answered, looking a little confused. "Oh
good! Then you can help me translate!" she exclaimed as she grabbed his arm with a surprisingly
strong grip and pulled him into the chair next to her. "Ok" he agreed, seeing as he didn't really have
a choice. "What are we translating?" he asked, looking at the paper with a bunch of strange labeled
drawings. "They're maps, I think of the island. I took them from Danielle's cave" Sayid explained,
leaning between the two. "Oh, you mean the crazy lady who tried to kill my fiancee?" He asked a
little resentfully, looking up at Sayid. "That's the one" he confirmed. "So wait, if you can speak
French, why didn't you translate the transmison?" Shannon asked suddenly, shifting in her chairs to
face him. "I never said I was good at it" Charlie explained. "Ho, well...neither am I. But hey, two
heads are better then one, right?" she noted optamisticly, then went back to reading. "Uh...sure"
Charlie agreed, eyeing her strangely. What has gotten into her? He glance up at Sayid, who was
looking over her shoulder. Oh, right. Charlie thought, then went back to his section of the map. He
sat, tapping his pin agenst the table as he read. The whole thing didn't make much since to him,
seeing that he was only in Paris for a couple of weeks and didn't really have to speak the language
much. But he managed to make out bits and pieces, and for a while he felt like he was actuary
contributing. "How long did you live in Paris?" Sayid asked, talking directly to Shannon as he
leaned over her shoulder. "Only for a summer. I was just there on vacation." She explained in a
friendly tone. "Shopping, of course" she added a little self consciously. Sayid smiled. "I miss
shopping" she sighed, resting her cheek agenst her first as her elbo rested on the table. Charlie
shifted uncomfortably. He couldn't stand being around people who were flirting, and the fact that it
was Shannon made it all the harder to bare. He'd held a secret grudge agenst her ever since she lead
him on and tricked him into catching her dinner, and didn't even thank him after wards. And now
she wanted to be all timid and sweet with her new best friend. He didn't buy it for a second, and the
thought of her using another guy made him sick. So he blocked them out, and tried to think of a
reason to leave. He reached across the table to grab his water bottle, when he noticed it was gone.
Claire stood infront of him, with the water bottle in her hands.
"Whatcha doing?" she asked, tilting her head to the side in an attempt to read the paper as she
twisted the top back on. "Uh, translating. Or atleast, trying to" He explained. Claire set the bottle
down and rested her hand on the table as she looked over the map. The other hand rested on his
shoulder. For a little while he forgot about Shannon, that is, until she started talking again. "Aw.
You guys are so cute together" she teased, wrinkling up her nose. "I wish I could say the same"
Charlie mumbled under his breath, just low enough so that she couldn't hear him. But Claire heard
him well enough and gave him a little slap on the chest. "I can't wait until the wedding" Shannon
was going on without taking notice to either of them. "When is it again?" She asked, looking up at
Claire. "We still don't know" Claire reminded sweetly. Charlie rolled his eyes. "Well you too better
figure it out. Can't keep us in suspense forever" she told, chewing on the tip of her pin. "Yes, well.
Perhaps we'll go talk about it now" Charlie said bitterly as he hoped out of his chair. He began
walking off alone, but Claire quickly caught up to him. "Charlie, are you ok?" She asked, pulling on
his arm so he'd face her. "Yeah, I'm fine" he assured, not wanting to worry her."are you sure? You
were acting kind of..strange, back there" She told. "Well, im fine" he insisted, coming off definitive.
He didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but the whole situation had him on edge. He couldn't
explain why he had been so rude. It was simply impulse. But the look on Claire's face made him
reconsider his actions. Being rude to Shannon was one thing, but being rude to Claire was a whole
nother world of regret. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound mad. I am fine, though. Really" He
apologized. "Then why were you acting like that?" She questioned, eyeing him strangely. "I
just...don't like her" he explained as simply as he could. He didn't know how else to explain it.
"Why? What did she do?" Claire asked, not at all understanding. "She didn't do anything" he tried
to explain. Claire wasn't the type to understand resentment. She'd probably never thought of
revenge in her life, nor jealousy for that mater. She was always so trusting, how could he explain
why he just couldn't stand to be around that spoiled brat. "Well, then why don't you like her?" she
repeated persistently, determined to pull it out of him. "I don't know, Claire" he answered, hoping
that if he kept this up she'd let it go. "Well there has to be a reason! You can't just not like
someone!" She demanded. "I can" he confirmed simply. "Charlie, why can't you just tell me?" that
did it. There was no getting out of it now. "Alright, fine. A long time ago, before you and I were
together...I was getting a little depressed, and Shannon showed up...and she was really nice to me.
And she needed some one to help her out, with fishing. So me and Hurly wasted a whole day and I
managed to catch one measly fish, because I though maybe if I did her a favor we could be friends
or something...but no, she was just..using me!" Charlie explained vividly. Claire nodded as he
talked, trying to keep up. "So, yeah. That's why" he finished plainly with a little shrug. Claire
covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. "What?" Charlie looked up a bit defensively. Claire just s
snickered a little, and tried her best not to laugh. "What? This amuses you? I spill my guts out and
now your laughing at me?" He pretended to be offended, witch only made her laugh more. "Aw,
your jealous" she teased, after gaining control over herself. "I'm not jealous" he confirmed sternly.
"Yes you are. You had a crush, and now your jealous" she contradicted him. "No" was the best
argument he could think up at the moment. "Its ok, Charlie. I'm not going to get angry." She
assured him. "That's not why I'm denying it" he lied, but it seemed like a good idea. "Oh come on.
You think I've never looked at any one on this island but you?" She asked sarcastically, crossing
her arms. "You have?" he asked accusingly, acting as if he were hurt. "There's that jealously again"
she noted triumphantly. "I'm not-" he tried to protest, but only finished with a sigh of frustration.
"Fine, I'm a little jealous" he admitted angrily. "There, doesn't telling the truth feel better?" she
teased in a motherly fashion, wrapping her arms around him. "No" he muttered childishly, but
hugged her back all the same. "Well, if its any consolation, I didn't like Shannon that much either
when I first meet her, but she's changed a lot since we first came hear, and she's actually really nice
once you get used to her" Claire explained optamisticly. "Really? Is that why you avoid her
constantly?" he teased, pressing his forehead agenst hers. "I don't avoid her..."Claire lied
innocently. "Uh,hu. Sure" he muttered septically. "Hey, you're the one with crush issues hear, not
me. So go over there and...be nice" Claire ordered jokenly, pointing her finger, witch was
overwhelmed by the sleeve of her shirt, in the direction where Shannon was continuing to read the
maps alone. "Do I have to?" Charlie whined in a childish voice. "Yes" Claire confirmed. "Alright, I'll
play nice" he sighed in surrender. "Good" she smiled, and gave him a little peck before heading off
to the girls.
Charlie watched her leave for a moment before heading over to the table. He sat back down in his
seat and unfolded the map, uncomfortably. "Did you guy's just have an argument?" Shannon asked,
turning in her seat to face him. "Huh? No" he answered after a moment, looking up from his paper.
"Oh ok. It kind of looked like you were fighting from here" she explained. He gave a short smile, not
seeing how that was possible, but decided to go along with it. "Where's Sayid?" He asked after
another moment, thinking up random things to say. "Oh, he went over to help the guys with the
broken plain stuff" Shannon explained. Charlie nodded. "How's the translation thing going?" he
questioned, quickly finding a new topic. "Eh, not so good. I can only figure out bits and pieces so
none of it really makes much since" she told, folding her legs up into the chair as she tapped the pin
agenst her lower lip. Charlie nodded, taping his hands on the edge of the table. This was going to be
harder than he'd thought. "Le fleuve fonctionne par la caverne" Shannon was reading out loud,
squinting at the tiny wrighting on the map. "The something runs through the caves" she translated
thoughtfully, trying to detect the missing word. "What was the something again?" Charlie asked,
hoping he could help. "Flew-v?" she answered, trying to pronounce the word. "Oh, fleuve. That's
river" he explained casualty. "Oh. Great. So that means 'the river runs through the cave'" she
confirmed, and began wrighting it down. "Alright, what's next?" he asked, mildly enthused. Atleast
they were making progress, he thought, leaning over the arm of his chair to see the map. "Ok, then
we have 'Le fleuve fonctionne dans le medow ouvert, où la bataille a eu lieu', witch would mean 'the
river then runs into a meadow ... something, something, something...took place" she explained. "Any
ideas?" she asked, turning to him. Charlie thought for a moment. "Nope. I have no idea what that
means" he confirmed finally. "Great" Shannon smiled sarcastically, then frowned at the map.
Wonderful, just when we were makeing a break through. Now I'm going to have once again battle
the silence. Charlie thought to himself bitterly, then it hit him. " wait ,'bataille', that's what you said
right?" Charlie asked suddenly. "Yeah." Shannon answered, a little startled by his sudden out burst.
"'bataille', that's 'battle', isn't it?" he asked excitedly. "I dunno" Shannon responded, but kept up the
enthuasum. "It is. It means battle, the battle" Charlie confirmed with a triumphant grin. "The medow
where the battle took place..that's what it says! You're a genus!" Shannon exclaimed, now joining in
on the excitement. "I know!" Charlie agreed happily. They both laughed for a moment, basking in
their accomplishment. Then Shannon's laugh fadded out into a sigh of worry. "Wait. Battle? What
battle?" she asked, looking back to the map. "Must have happened before we got here" Charlie
suggested, looking over as well. Shannon found the spot she had read from and lifted the paper up,
holding it up for a closer look. "Doesn't that kind of look like the caves?" she asked, turning to him.
"Kind of. But theres no river running through the caves" Charlie explained. "Are there meadow's?"
She asked, almost ignoring his remark. "There's a meadow" Charlie answered. "Well then maybe
that's it." She suggested brightly. "I guess it could be" Charlie shrugged. "Lets keep going" She
suggested after a thoughtful sigh. "You're the boss" Charlie agreed, and they continued working.
Claire walked up to the pile of ash and metal witch the majority of males on the island were working.
She could no longer sit around listening to Kate, who for some reason felt obligated to brag on and
on about her wonderfully sex life. She stood by the pile awkwardly and waited for someone to notice.
"Hey, Claire. What's wrong?" Jack asked after a moment, once looking up from the pile he'd been
working on. "Nothing. I was just wondering if I could help, maybe" she suggested shyly, brushing a
strand back behind her ear. "Oh, no. I don't think there's much you could do right now" He
explained, pretending to think about it. A while ago, she would have argued with him about it for a
while and eventually made him feel bad enough to give her some pointless job, but in this modern day
and age Claire was to tired to argue. So she decided to trust Jacks advice. "Oh, alright. Well, let me
know if you find something" She said timidly, and began walking away. Jack stopped what he was
doing. He'd prepared himself for a battle, and Claire was not one to so easily decline. "Claire, are you
feeling alright?" he called out, with a slight look of worry. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" she
replied, turning back to face him. "Nothing, you just..never mind" he began to explain, but cut himself
off. No use in arguing. "You sure?" she asked, taking a couple steps forward. "Yeah, its just...you
normally are a little more..persistent" he explained, makeing sure he worded it properly. "Well, I
though that if you didn't want me working it was probably something about my health, or the baby or
something relatively important, and hey, you're the doctor" She rambled on in her explanation. Jack
looked a little surprise. "Well, that's a first" he noted. "What is?" Claire questioned, once again
pushing the lose strand back behind her ear. "You listening to me" he answered shortly. "Oh, that.."
Claire laughed. "yeah. I thought I'd try something new for a change" She joked. Jack smiled as he
plopped down another piece of metal. "How's that working out for you?" he asked jokenly, looking
up from where he now knelt beside the pile. "We'll see" Claire shrugged. At that moment the neighboring pile began to shift. One medium sized sheet of shrapnel tumbled down from the top, and
almost hit Jack. He looked up to see the metal piece being held in mid air between Claire's hands.
"Nice catch" he noted as he stood to his feet. "Thanks. What do you want me to do with it?" She
asked, holding the scrap between her sleeve-covered hands as she waited for his response. "Oh, just
throw it on the pile" he explained, giving a weak gesture towards the one he'd stared. She tossed it
over and dusted off her sleeves. "You know, that thing could have nocked me out pretty bad if you
hadn't caught it. Maybe you can be of some help after all' Jack suggested thoughtfully. "Ok, what do
you want me to do?" Claire asked agreeable. "Just, stay there and make sure nothing kills me" He
explained simply. "Works for me" Claire shrugged, and continued to do as told.
"So let me get this straight. You want to go into the caves and look for an under ground river,
correct?" Charlie asked, looking back at Shannon as if she were insane. "It'll help them find out more
about the crazy chick. I mean come on, she won't tell us anything since they locked her up in the
caves, this may be out next clue" Shannon insisted passionately. He'd never once sceen her act as if
she cared so much about the french transmission ever since they'd came to the island. Charlie
considered the idea for a moment. "Your really fixed on this, aren't you?" he asked after a moment,
turning back to her. She nodded. "Alright. Talk to Jack about it" Charlie agreed. "No, I can't!"
Shannon protested, grabbing the side of his arm. "Why not?" Charlie questioned, definitively pulling
his arm away. "Because then he won't let me go!" Shannon explained. Charlie looked shocked. "Wait.
You want to go with them?" he asked in disbelief. "Yes!" She insisted once again. "Why?" he asked
sharply. "Because, I'm tired of being treated like I'm useless" She explained. This caught Charlie off
gard. It reminded of him when they first got on the island, that way he felt. Useless. He'd earned a
couple honor badges since then, but was still able to sympathies with what she was feeling. "Alright. Then what do you suggest?" He asked, shifting in his chair. "What if we went. Just me and you" She
suggested a little nervously. "Without the others knowing" She added, trying to keep a hopeful look
despite the way his expression dropped. "Are you mad? I'm not going in there! I can't go around
risking my life any more" he exclaimed defensively. "So what? You finally get your life back and now
your just gonna lock yourself up in your safe little suburban paradise? Your stranded on a god damned
island, Charlie. Remember? And I don't know about you, but some of us are doing our best to get
home!" Shannon protested angrily, hopping out of her chair. "Some of you haven't done shit but
whine and paint your nails! I've done a hell of a lot for the island, alright? How many times did you
almost die since we've been hear besides your little panic attacks?" he shot back, standing up as well.
"You see? This Is exactly what I'm talking about! I know I've done nothing to help, but I'm trying. I
want to make up for that!" Shannon explained persistently, her anger lowering a bit. Charlie's dropped
as well. "Well that doesn't mean you have to drag me along with you. I've done my part, and I'm
finished" he confirmed sternly. For a moment Shannon looked disappointed, and a little hurt. "I
understand. I just thought since you used to get kicked around when we first got here, you might be
the one who'd help me. But I guess I was wrong." With that she walked away, leaving him drowning
in a sea of guilt.
Claire stood, holding a small stack of debree in her arms for Jack, as continued digging through his pile
for anything usefully. Unluckily for them, so far the only thing worth saving was the none warped
pieces of metal. Jack worked silently, and for a while she began to wonder witch was worse, listening
to Kate talk about him, or listening to him not talk at all. She was startled out of her train of thought
when Locke tapped her on her shoulder. She turned around quickly. "Hear, I found this. I had your
name on it" Locke explained, holding out a tank shoe box. Her name was written across the top of it. Claire stared down at the unfamiliar item with a look of confusion.
"Something wrong?" Jack asked, wiping the sweat off his forehead as he walked over. It was the most
he'd said in the past half hour. "No, not at all" she assured him, snapping out of her gaze. "Thanks" She
added, turning to Locke. He smiled and nodded appreciatively before going back to his pile. "So what's
in the box?" Jack asked in a friendly fashion once Locke had left. Claire bit her lip, trying to think.
She'd never sceen the box before in her life, but a part of her wanted to keep it. After all, her name was
on it so it must be meant for her. "Oh, nothing really. Just some little personal things" She explained.
"Oh, alright" he smiled, and walked and went back to work. Claire broke away after a while and headed
back to the tent. She sat down on the bed with the box on her lap, stareing at the top. Something about
it seemed so strangely familiar. Finally, she brought up the courage to open it. Slowly, she lifted of the
top and set it a side. Inside, lay a big white flower, an envelope, a necklace and a folded up note all laid on top of light
blue crate paper. Claire lifted the envelope and opened it, suddenly a memory flew back.
"Hear, hunny look at this." Claire called, from the arm chair. Thomas walked over and knelt down on
at her side. She perked up a bit and cleared her throat. "'Dear Mum and Dad, Its been a while since
we've heard from you. Christmas is coming up and I hope to hear from you and the rest of the family
soon. Can't wait to see you both, and I know your both arcticus to hear about your little grand-kid. So
for now, hears a picture. Miss you both, love Thomas and Claire" She read out loud from the paper in
her hand. "So what do you think?" she asked excitedly, turning to him. "I think its prefect. They'll love
it" Thomas grinned. "hear, sign it" Claire instructed cheerfully, and handed him the card. Thomas
took the paper and leaned it down on the coffee table, quickly scribbling his name. "You didn't sign it"
he pointed out, looking back up at her. "Oh, right. Pregnancy makes you forget things some times"
Claire explained, patting her four-month pregnet belly as a reminder. "Here, I'll sign it for you" he
offered, and continued scribbling with the pin. "You really think they'll like it?" Claire asked, looking
down at the card once he'd handed it back to her. "I'm positive they will" he assured, and gave her a
kiss on the cheek. Claire smiled and slid the paper into the envelop, along with sonogram photo.
Claire now stared at the note she'd written to her parents as a tear rolled down her cheek. She glanced at
her name witch was signed on the card, then at the lid of the box, where her name had been scribbled. The
hand wrighting was identical. She thought for a moment, then turned the picture around. On the back,
another note was written, but it haden' been there when she'd put the note in. It was in Thomas's hand
wrighting as well. Before she could read it, the sound of the door flap rustling made her jump. She looked
up to se Charlie walk inside. "Claire, what's wrong?" he asked, quickly, kneeling beside her. Another tear
rolled down her cheek as she stared up at him. He looked at the square, black and white photo in her hand.
A small smile drew across his face. "This is Ben" he noted, beaming down at the paper. His gaze shifted to
the box and the few things inside it. "Where did you get all this?" he asked, the concern returning in his
voice. "Locke found it in with the wreckage" Claire explained with a sniff, wiping the tears off her check.
Charlie stated at her sympathetically, not knowing what to say. So instead, he shifted over and put his arms
around her, letting her lay her head agenst his shoulder. For a while, they stayed in silence as Claire cried
soundlessly agenst his chest, letting it all out. Charlie looked up and smiled when he saw Ben make his way
in. Claire looked up and quickly wiped away her tears once again, not wanting to for her son to see her cry.
"What's this?" he asked, picking up the sonogram photo. "That's you, before you were born" Claire
explained, the sadness completely disappeared from her voice. "Will we see one of the new baby?" he asked
optimistically. "Not unless Jack keeps X-rays in his back pocket" Charlie joked, keeping his arm around
Claire's shoulder. Ben looked a little disappointed, but it only lasted for a second. "Come on, lets get you
to bed" Charlie suggested as he lifted Ben off the ground and moved him over to his own bed, witch was
actually one of the broken air line seats leaned all the way back with a pillow and a blanket. He snuggled under the covers and closed his eyes, giving on fight at all. Claire closed up the box and set it under the
table before sliding into bed with Charlie. He pulled his arms around her and pressed his forehead agenst
hers. She gently placed a hand on his neck and tilted her head to give him a good night kiss before closing
her eyes.
Charlie lied awake thinking to himself once again. Claire had fallen asleep quickly, as usual, as did Ben. He
tried to clear his mind, but couldn't get Shannon's words out of his head. After a while, he pulled himself
up out of bed and got dressed before heading over to Shannon and Boone's tent. He reached the tent and
carefully pushed the door open so as not to wake any one. To the right, Boone slept on his back with one
hand behind his head in what looked like a sleeping bag. To the left, Shannon lie curled in a ball with the
blankets kicked to the bottom of a make-shift bed much like his own. He slowly made his way inside and
gave her a little nudge on the shoulder. She rolled over half way and looked up at him through confused,
half shut eyes. "Charlie?" she asked, stareing up at him. "What are you doing here?" she added sheepishly
as she sat up. "Come on, get dressed" he instructed in a low whisper. "Why?" she questioned, not yet
awake enough to understand what was going on. "Were going to the caves, come on" he insisted. A smile
drew across her face as the light blob went on. "Alright...just give me a minute to get dressed" she
suggested, trying to hide her excitement. He nodded and began heading back outside to wait. "Oh, and
Charlie" she called softly, stopping him before he reached the door. "Thanks" She said aprecativly. "No
probably" he assured, giving her a shot smile before heading out.