Claire was hiding. She was behind a huge tree trunk some ways into the forest, and she was sobbing her heart out. She tried to muffle her cries with her hand, but she knew that if anyone came within a hundred feet of her, they would hear and come to see what was wrong.
Claire knew there was nothing she could do about it, but she felt like a failure to everyone on the island, especially Charlie. It had been five days since she had returned, and she'd only had faint glimmers of what she wondered might be memories from before she was kidnapped. And the baby should have been born already, and Claire was getting worried. Between the awkwardness of all the other islanders towards her, her baby taking its time, and her feeling of obligation to remember everything towards Charlie, Claire was devastated. She slumped down on the forest floor, exhausted and out of tears to cry. Her eyelids felt heavy, her arms too weighted down to lift up. She didn't even realize it when she fell asleep.
Jack knew something had happened when Sayid came back from the depths of the forest that afternoon. He looked tired, aggravated, but under his frown of concentration, Sayid looked triumphant. Jack hurried over to him, with a searching glance.
"Well?" he said softly, aware of those that hadn't been told about Sayid's mission and their curious looks in their direction.
Sayid continued to walk towards the cave. "She wouldn't tell me anything." He said in a hushed tone. "I found her easily, still early in the morning. She took me into her home and I told her what had happened. She began to cry after I insisted that she help us. She's clearly mentally unstable and I don't think she knows about Ethan."
"You seemed so sure of it before." Jack said, trying to keep suspicion out of his voice. Sayid wasn't one to lie, was he?
"Yes, but –"
"What made you change your mind?"
Sayid began to look annoyed. "Her attitude. It was afraid, confused. It seemed to me that she looked overwhelmed, like this was just one more to add to the list of things to fear."
Jack stared him down, but Sayid didn't blink.
"Am I interrupting something?" Someone drawled loudly. Sawyer entered the shadowed cave, grinning.
"Yes. " Jack and Sayid both said together.
"I apologize." He said in a mock-shamed voice, and stubbornly sat down on the wooden bench Michael had made. It was positioned right in front of Jack and Sayid. He sat there smiling like a naughty child until Jack stormed out of the cave without a word.
Charlie had to pee. He went far into the forest, and was passing by a huge tree when he thought he saw something move. He panicked. He had no weapons with him, nothing to defend himself with. He looked around for a big stick. Then he realized the thing he saw moving was Claire. Sheepishly, he approached her, and was glad to see that she was asleep. He watched her sleeping figure. It alarmed him to see that she'd been crying. There were still tears on her cheeks and her face was blotchy and red. He gently prodded her shoulder.
She blearily opened her eyes. Startled, she jumped, sitting up straight. "Oh. Charlie." She said quietly, an almost apologetic look on her face.
"What are you doing, sleeping all the way out here? Sacrificing yourself to the polar bear gods?" Charlie asked not unkindly, helping her up.
"I fell asleep… I didn't mean to." Claire said distractedly.
Charlie paused, looking as if he wondered if he should say the next thing. "Why have you been crying?"
"I wasn't…" Claire brushed her hands over her face. It was wet from her tears. Shit. They stopped walking, Charlie looking concernedly at her, Claire looking down on the ground.
"Charlie…" Claire said softly, with a small tremble in her voice. "I've been so lost these past few days. I feel like I'll never be able to catch up to my own emotions. I've been worried, frustrated… and… really happy. What I'm trying to say is…" she finally looked up at him, her eyes now clear and bright, a faint smile on her face.
And she kissed him.
