Claire woke up before the sun and automatically searched her arm for a watch. She had been here for a month and a half, but she still routinely checked for a watch that she wasn't wearing. She heard a mumble from behind her, "4:30." She rolled over to see Charlie sitting against the cave wall and wondered if he ever slept. He held up an illuminated watch, "I stole it from Sawyer's stash. He had over twenty."
Claire laughed and slid next to him, "Morning Charlie." He stared at her and she cocked her head, "What is it?" Charlie just smiled and kissed her. She blushed at the tingle his lips left on hers. Looking at him, she thought about their relationship. Charlie was the most romantic man she had ever met, and she knew that she loved him. It seemed impossible that he had once been a druggie, but that was the past. They could think about the future.
Charlie stared at Claire, his eyes taking in every detail of her face in the dim light. Even at 4:30 in the morning, she looked beautiful. Her blond hair was falling over her shoulder and her eyes were like a light shining in the darkness. He tried to read her expression, to see what she was thinking. Though he hated it, he felt like he was a high-school kid again, wondering how she felt about him.
She gave him a scrutinizing look back. Though she didn't show it, she was in love with him. She had been since the first day she met him on the island. Now, she finally knew that it was reciprocated, and she felt so amazing. She had thought that he just felt sorry for her because she was pregnant, but she knew it wasn't true now. Tears almost filled her eyes again to know that someone cared about her.
Claire tilted her head at Charlie, "So, I know this is the typical relationship question, but, what are you thinking about?"
Charlie was temporarily elated by the fact that she had said that they were in a relationship. Then, he remembered her question, "You."
Claire blushed and was glad that it was dark so that Charlie couldn't see her. "Thank you. I haven't had anybody really care for me since…well, Aaron's father."
Charlie flinched at the mention of Aaron's father, but continued, "What happened with him?"
Claire was amazed that she could talk about it so easily with Charlie. She told him her whole story and when she was finished, she sighed. It felt like a great weight had been lifted from her chest. Everything that had happened before the crash had been the past. She didn't feel anything when she talked about him anymore, the only one she loved now was Charlie.
She looked away from his sympathetic, but piercing, gaze and saw that the sun was rising on the horizon. Charlie saw it too and put his arm around her. Leaning into him, she felt so safe. The atmosphere was so romantic: They were completely isolated from everyone else, and they were so close together. The sky was painted all different colors, and the forest was surprisingly quiet. Charlie stroked her hair and stared off into the distance, watching the rising sun.
As it finally came up over the horizon, they stood up. Charlie brushed himself off, and said, "We should get back to camp."
Claire didn't want to leave the perfect moment, but she answered, "Yeah, we should. I need to feed Aaron."
They walked back, hand in hand, and when they reached the camp Sun walked up to them, "I took care of Aaron over the night. Where were you?"
Claire smiled at Charlie, "We needed to be alone." She took Aaron from Sun who just grinned knowingly. Charlie walked over to his guitar case while Claire fed Aaron. When she was finished, she walked over to him and sat down.
She leaned against the wall of the cave and asked, "Well, you've heard my story…what about yours?"
Charlie checked to see that Aaron was asleep and began to talk. He finished his story after about an hour, and as he did, it began to rain. Claire raced into the caves and placed Aaron into his crib. When she did, she turned to see Charlie beaming at her. "What is that absolutely mad look that you have in your eyes Mr. Pace?"
Charlie looked out at the rain, and smiled, "Let's go run in it."
Claire scrunched her face up at him quizzically, "What?"
Charlie grabbed her hand, "C'mon." He pulled her out of the caves and into the forest. Together they half-ran half-skipped, gleefully through the jungle. The came into a clearing and the rain fell around them, accentuating the bright greens of the grass, and they stopped. Charlie held Claire close to him and smiled broadly, "You see isn't this great?"
She grinned and said, "Yes Charlie, it is." She pushed a piece of his hair out of his eye and kissed him. Rain poured down on them and they held each other as it subsided and a beautiful calm came over the forest.