"Ugh..." Claire fell to her knees on the sandy beach where she was walking with Charlie. "Claire? Claire? What's wrong, love?" Charlie asked frantically. "My stomach... the baby!" Claire whispered. She clutched her stomach. "Charlie..." she whispered. "Get Jack"
"Don't you want... shouldn't I"
"GET JACK"
Charlie stumbled and ran off to the caves, screaming away.
"Jack! JACK! Where's the doctor? WHERE'S JACK?" Charlie demanded of Hurley, who was innocently walking by with a fishing net.
"Whoa, dude. Calm down. He's in the jungle with Locke. Should be back any minute now"
"Calm down? CALM DOWN? CLAIRE IS IN LABOR AND YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN?" Charlie shrieked.
"Claire's in what? Dude! We have to get... JACK!" Charlie and Hurley ran through the woods, screaming for the doctor.
"What?" Jack said irratably, emerging from the plants. "What's the matter"
"It's Claire.. she's on the beach, and she"
Jack didn't need to hear the rest. He ran to the caves and grabbed his medical bag. A small crowd of people had already formed around Claire. "Blankets!" Jack said. He turned to the first person he saw. "Shannon! Kate! Get some blankets!" They nodded and ran, "AAAH!" CLaire screamed. "Jack! Jack, it hurts!" Jack bit his lip. Should she be in this much pain? He didn't know anything about delivering babies. "Claire, you need to calm down." Jack said as Claire cried out in pain again. He turned to Charlie. "You need to calm her down!" Charlie bent down next to Claire. "Did you hear that, love?" he whispered soothingly. "Calm down. Here, take my hand"
Claire grabbed Charlie's left hand and squeezed it. "AAAH!" Claire cried out again. She bit her lip and closed her eyes tight. "You need to calm down, Claire." Kate said. She had returned with blankets and water and was standing beside Claire at Jack's side, ready to take any order on a minute's notice. Claire nodded, but her pale face was still sweaty. She gripped Charlie's hand with all her life. "JACK!" Claire yelled. She gripped Charlie's hand harder. His knuckles turned white. "It hurts!" Jack looked around at the survivors. They all looked just as scared and puzzled as he did. "Here, Claire. Breathe, now. In, out, in, out"
Claire began to inhale and exhale. Charlie looked like he was in great pain from having his hand nearly broken off, but he smiled anyway.
"Claire, dear..." he said. "Relax..." "IT HURTS!" Claire screamed. Jack looked. So did Charlie.
Then Charlie fainted.
Jack only had three seconds' worth of a glance at Charlie before Claire screamed again and a minute later, a small head was visible.
"AAAH!" Claire screamed. The castaways watched in anxiety as Claire gave birth to a small, red-faced.
"It's a boy!" Jack cried. Claire smiled. Then she, too, fainted. Three hours later, Claire was lying on a makeshift bed, her new baby boy in her arms. The castaways smiled and cooed at the baby.
"What will you name him?" Kate asked.
She looked at Charlie, who had come around since his fall. He was smiling broadly at her side.
"I wanted to name him Alex," she said. Then she smiled. "Alexander Charles, after the person who knew he was coming and was with me the whole way"
Charlie smiled. Claire still felt weak and tired for a week or two after Alex's birth. She needed a lot of help doing things she never needed help with before, and besides feeling weak, she needed help taking care of Alex.
The only person who really knew how to take care of a baby was Michael, who had raised Walt for two years. "Don't ask me what to do when he's eight years old, though," Michael warned. "I missed that part"
Claire laughed. "If we're lucky we'll all be off the island before Alex is eight," she said. One day, Claire was taking a walk to get some water. Kate was rocking Alex to sleep, so Claire was free from her parenting duties for a few minutes. She put her feet in the cool water. Aaah, she though. She hadn't had a bath in two weeks. Claire smiled. It felt so good to not be constantly worrying about the contents of her stomach anymore. Even though she still feared what might happen to Alex- malnutrition, sickness... anything could happen. Especially here on the island.
"Hey." A person approached from behind. It was Charlie. "Hi," Claire said. She motioned for Charlie to sit down next to her. He took off his shoes and joined her in the water. "Where's the baby?" Charlie asked. "With Kate," Claire said. "She's putting him to sleep for me"
"Ah." Charlie said. He stopped beating around the bush. "It was sweet of you to name him after me. I mean, I did faint and all"
"Charlie," Claire said. "If it wasn't for you, I could have lost Alex. Thank you"
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Then the silence was broken by a splash.
"Oops. Sorry!" Walt called. Vincent had jumped into the water, spraying Claire, Charlie, and Walt with water. "VINCENT! Come back here!" Vincent swam over to Charlie and licked his hand. Charlie smiled and gave Vincent a pat on the head.
"I'm sorry, Charlie." Walt said. "I don't know what's gotten into him lately! He ate one of my Dad's socks the other day, and just this morning he knocked Shannon over on her way to the spring." "Hey now, that's okay." Charlie said to Walt. "I like dogs. But I bet Shannon doesn't like him too much"
"She doesn't," Walt said with a laugh. He bent down and picked up Vincent's leash. "Come on, Vincent. See you later, Charlie. Claire"
"Bye, Walt." Claire and Charlie waved. Vincent and Walt disappeared. After Walt and Vincent left, there was a cry from the camp.
"Alex," Charlie and Claire said together. They stood up and dried their feet. Claire went back to camp where Kate sat with the baby. "He was fine a minute ago. I don't know what happened!" Kate said frantically, patting the baby on the back. "That's all right. Here, let me have him." Claire said, holding out her arms. "There, there, love. Mummy's here." Alex stopped crying the instant he met Claire's touch. Then he began to scream again.
"He's hungry." Claire said. "I'd better go feed him"
Claire went into the caves to nurse her baby. But she stopped at the sound of her own name.
"Claire's baby won't live for long without proper nutrition," Jack's voice was saying. "He could die any minute"
"We're running out of food fast," Locke's voice said. "Even the things we found at the campsite won't last long. There's probably more, but I can't say"
"We're just lucky Claire can nurse him for a while. One less mouth to feed. But Claire will need extra nutrition to build up her system again. Birthing is a lot on a person's body." Jack said.
Claire cleared her throat and walked into the clearing. "Hello," she said.
Locke and Jack exchanged a glance.
"Claire, we're worried about the health of your little one here," Locke said. "We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, or the day after that"
"Yes, but like you said. One less mouth to feed until Alex gets too old to live off me- and with any luck, we'll be off this ruddy island by then." Claire said knowledgeably.
"How much did you hear?" Jack asked.
"How long were you talking for?" Claire asked.
"It's rude to eavesdrop," Jack said with a smile.
"I know," Claire said. "What's this about not having enough food"
"It's not that we don't have enough," said Locke. "We're just running out fast. But Boone and I have been hunting lately. We should have a boar any day now"
Claire smiled. "That's good news. Please tell me if you need any help"
"That's all well and dandy, Claire, but you have to build up your system. Birthing is a lot on someone's body, you heard me. You'll need plenty of rest and nutrients before you can do anything again." Claire nodded. Alex began to cry again.
"Oops. Gotta go. This little one's hungry," she said. She walked off to a corner to feed her baby.
"That's all right," Claire said to Alex as he drank. "We'll be just fine. Or at least, you will." Suddenly, there was a noise from the corner. Claire spun around to where the person was.
"Give me the baby." the person said. Claire could not identify the voice.
"GIVE ME THE BABY!" the voice said, this time louder.
Claire gulped. Now what?