Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Lost.

Note: Things might seem a little slow at first but I am going somewhere with this… I think.

Thanks for the reviews!

CrAzYhOrSeGiRl88: I was kind of thinking about Live and Let Die and then I decided to do a variation of it.

October Sky: Actually, I'm more of a J/K shipper so there will definitely be some of that.

Chapter One: Hold On

" You were in a band?"

" Yes. Well, I am in a band. Or was… who knows."

Claire raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "You don't seem like the type."

" And what type is that?" Charlie looked at her questioningly.

She shrugged, her hand unconsciously drifting down to rub her stomach, " Sex, drugs and rock and roll. It doesn't seem like you."

Charlie looked at her for a moment with his head cocked to the side, "And why it that?"

"You're sweet Charlie."

"Ah yes, the words every man wants to hear."

She laughed and hit him playfully in the shoulder, "I'm serious. You spend your whole day walking up and down the beach with some pregnant girl with no memory. Not a lot of guys would do that."

Charlie nodded and stared out into the setting sun, " Yeah well, not a lot of pregnant girls would spend their days walking with some washed up musician trying to kick a h---.

He was cut off by a sharp gasp of pain. Claire grasped his arm with one hand, the other cradling her swollen stomach. She doubled over in pain, trying to gasp her breath. Charlie crouched down in front of her as she sank slowly to the sand.

"What is it Claire? It is the baby?"

She nodded and bit her lip as another contraction tore through her body.

"I'll go get Jack." He shot to his feet but Claire stopped him as her hand grasped his ankle."

"Don't leave me Charlie."

He glanced frantically up towards the row of shelters in the distance and was about to call out when a scream echoed down the beach. He saw Shannon streaking toward the forest with Jack and Sayid at her heels."

Charlie looked back down at Claire who still grasped his ankle. Crouching back down he took her hand and brought it to his lips.

" I won't leave you Claire. Just breath. Keep breathing."

"Hey dad? Dad?"

Charlie looked up and squinted into the sun at the lanky blond boy standing above him.

" Did you need something Josh?"

"Hunter and Jake and I are going to the waterfall. Just didn't want you to worry."

Charlie nodded, "Go ahead."

Josh started to walk away but stopped suddenly and looked back at his father, "You okay dad?"

Charlie smiled, "I'm fine. Go have fun."

Josh nodded and began to head towards the trees.

"Oh and Joshua?"

He stopped and looked back.

"Stay out of trouble."

Josh grinned and saluted, then took off at a run towards his friends.

Charlie shook his head and leaned back against the tree. He looked toward the beach at the scattered groups busy at different activities. His gaze landed on the pair walking slowly along the shoreline laughing and talking animatedly to each other. A smile spread across his lips and he closed his eyes, trying to bring back the memory of her. Any memory at all would do.

Further down the beach

" Adam. Have you seen James around here?"

The other man looked up, his eyes full of fire. He thrust his thumb towards the beach. "He's with Nadia."

Jack nodded, "He didn't show up for his lesson."

"He's got better things to do." Adam swung the ax high in the air bringing it down with a loud crack on the log. He pushed the two pieces aside and put another log in their place. Jack looked towards the growing pile of firewood.

"You saving up for the winter?"

Adam looked up, letting a small smile cross his face, "I've got a lot of aggression."

"Obviously." Jack started toward the beach but looked back over his shoulder at the troubled young man, "You're not going to accomplish a lot with firewood."

As he turned and walked away he muttered quietly under his breath, "Trust me."

Adam's position was all too familiar to him. He knew what it was like to feel that much for someone, to feel in your soul that you needed that other person, only to realize that they needed someone else in the same way.

It wasn't much of a secret that Adam had begun turning his attention toward the dark skinned girl he had grown up with. Jack could see it in his eyes, the longing, the desperation, the fear.

He wished he could warn the boy, tell him that it wasn't too late…

For Jack it had always been too late. He was always a step behind, never willing to push it forward…

The canopy of trees made a welcoming relief from the heat of the sun. Jack bent his head forward and ran his hand along the back of his neck. He needed a break. He needed quiet. He needed to go somewhere where he wasn't expected to help everyone, fix every ailment.

Over the past week he had barely had time to shut his eyes. Just as he was about to go to bed the night before Sayid had come running into the caves. Shannon was having another asthma attack. This time it was worse.

Jack had run with Sayid back to the beach to calm the frantic woman. It had been the third time in two days that Shannon had had an attack. He warned her that if she didn't lower her stress level she was going to end up killing herself. She didn't seem to care.

Sayid held her hand and whispered soothing words into her ear while Jack rubed the eucalyptus over her chest. Slowly her breath came back and she trembled in Sayid's arms until she finally fell asleep. With a word of warning to keep her calm Jack started back for the caves. Jeffrey had stopped him on the way there with a complaint about a stomachache. It never ended.

Now Jack walked through the woods. Away from it all. Away from the death and the asthma and the stomach pains. All of which he blamed on himself. Boone's lifeless face flashed through his mind. Shannon's look of utter loss when they told her. There had to have been something he could have done.

And then there was Claire who had gone through labor without a doctor, only Charlie and Rose to hold her hand and coax her through the pain. Jack had checked out the baby, told her that he was healthy. Claire had smiled brightly, her fingers stoking the baby boy's face.

"What are you going to name him?"

"I was thinking about Adam."

Jack had laughed, "That sounds about right."

He was worried though. There wasn't a lot he could do for the small child. He couldn't bear to tell Claire that the danger was still ahead of her.

Jack walked further into the woods trying to clear his head, trying not to think about the others. Trying to find a way out of the leader position he had forced his way into.

He stopped suddenly when he heard murmured voices up ahead. For a moment he thought it was the voices Sayid had told him about. And then he recognized Kate's quick laugh. He smiled. She was the only one that he could talk to.

He walked a few more steps and then stopped suddenly. Through a clearing in the trees he could see Kate. But she wasn't alone.

Jack felt a sharp pain in his chest when he saw that she was with Sawyer, learning against him, her arms around his neck, fingers running though his hair. He was looking down at her his hands grasping her hips. She said something and he grinned, his dimples widening. And then she tilted her head towards him…

Jack turned on his heels quickly back towards the camp. He couldn't watch it. He couldn't think about it. There were others that needed his help…

He strode down the beach towards the young pair strolling side by side.

"James, I though you were meeting me for your lesson."

The young man looked away from the girl next to him with a surprised look on his face. "Oh, yeah. I forgot. Nadia and I were just taking a walk."

Jack rubbed his hand over his face and nodded, "Look I understand, but if you're serious about learning about medicine then you've actually got to show up for your lessons.

James looked down in embarrassment and then back at Nadia, "I got to go. I'll talk to you later.

Nadia smiled softly and turned away, her dark curls bouncing around her shoulders. James watched her retreat and then turned back to Jack with a smile on his face. Jack tried not to notice how much his smile made him look like his father.

"You ready?"

"Yeah."

The two walked in silence back up the beach.

"Hey Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Nadia looks really pretty today, doesn't she?"

Jack rolled his eyes.

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