1Disclaimer: Lost and all associated with it are not mine and do now belong to me.

There was a gap she could never cross. She couldn't in childhood with her relationships, and she was impossibly aloof in her teenage years with her boyfriends, and obviously it hadn't worked out with Thomas. Something was different with Charlie. There was this awesome connection we had, that she never felt with anyone else. Something that told her the gap had been breached, and her walls were down. She wondered if they would ever leave the island, and if they would ever live out normal lives. This was highly doubtful. Look at the french woman. Look at how she was a captive only days ago to a man who belonged to this island. What was Ethan's story? Was he born here? Was he the victim of a crash or a shipwreck just as they were? Were they doomed to live out his very fate?

She glanced sideways at Charlie as she recorded these thoughts in her diary. The not so secret one. But somehow she felt very comfortable with Charlie having read her diary, It was like her secrets were his now, and that was totally alright with her. It was out of her character not to care that her privacy was invaded , but in this case she found it a rather intimate gesture, one she totally understood and did not mind.

Claire wondered is she should return to the beach. After all, that had been what she was doing when she was..interrupted by Ethan. And it was all because she did not feel safe at the caves. She felt she was always being watched, and she was being attacked at night. Lately she hadn't been dreaming about the black rock, and to make sure of this she quietly eluded frightening thoughts before she went to sleep, and instead eluded them by focusing intensely on conjuring images in her mind's eye , like snow falling softly in the dead of night onto majestic, ancient pines. Or she pretended that she could still hear the calming ocean waves she loved so much from where she lay.

This especially made her miss the beach. She thought she should go back, and if there was ever a rescue ship, she would be among the fist to see their savior vessel. She longed to go back to the sand where the island seemed less nightmarish and she could pretend she was on a vacation where there was a volleyball net and hot dog stand just behind her.

'-But maybe,' Claire scribbled onto the page 'I don't need to go back to the beach in order to feel safe. After all, I have Charlie. I know I've said this before, but he makes me feel safe even with such vast and unpredictable terrors that seem to breed in this place.'

Claire shut the little blue book as Charlie approached her.

"Claire?"

"Yea?"

"Your restless, aren't you." Charlie eyes her knowingly. Claire looked up, slightly startled.

"What makes you say that?" She inquired.

"Well, your knee, for one." He said. She looked down and saw that she had been jiggling one leg involuntarily. She stopped it immediately and looked back up into Charlie's eyes.

"And your lip." He grazed his forefinger along her bottom lip, which was sore-looking from where she had bitten it.

She glanced around.

"And the way that you are always doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Looking around like your making sure there's still a way out.-What is it? Tell me..." Charlie coaxed.

"Charlie.. Remember when we were taken by Ethan? Where we were going?"

"Of course." He replied. "We were going to the beach. You were being attacked at night, and you were scared. You felt safer at the beach. Your not thinking about going back are you?" He sat beside her on the ground.

"Well.. " She began. "It's hard to explain. See, when I'm at the beach, everything seems less dark. Less oppressive, and I feel less claustrophobic than in the thick closeness of the jungle. I can see the sun rise and set.. And .. I love the waves." She finished rather lamely.

"Ah." Charlie said. He thought for a moment and then tucked a stray strand of Claire's hair behind her ear.

"Well," He said barely above a whisper.

"Why don't you go to the beach?"

Claire looked at him, and he looked at her.

"I-"

"You what?"

"I don't really want to be alone there."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Who says you'll be alone?"

Claire smiled widely.