Disclaimer- See Chapter 1
A/N- Ah, I'm finally back with an update! This took waaay longer than I expected. I had about a thousand versions of this chapter but this finally won out.And then I went on my vacation andsomehow when I got back I developed a life. It was sooo strange! But I finally got this typed up and the next update shouldn't be too long, because I already have it written out, just have to get it typed up and all that jazz, so within a week I should have it up, and I really hope I don't eat those words next week! So...um, I'll let you get to the next chapter...
Chapter Four
The banging of a car door, closely followed by a tremendous crash and a steady stream of swear words jarred Claire from her thoughts that never seemed to sort out, no matter how long she went over them.
"That'll be Liam," Karen said rolling her eyes. "He can't go two steps without making some loud crash or bang. He's literally a human hurricane." Claire laughed along with Karen and began helping her get everything out and ready to be set on the table.
The door banged open and Liam shouted (quite unnecessarily, seeing as Claire and Karen were about 10 feet away) "We're home!"
"So we see," Karen said taking the milk from her husband and giving him a kiss in thanks. "Now, you two go set the table, breakfast will be ready in a minute," Karen ordered them.
Liam took the plates off of the kitchen table and walked through the kitchen to the dining room. "C'mon Meg, time to eat," he said as he passed her, tugging at her mum's pants, still trying to get her attention. She happily abandoned her attempt and followed her dad. Charlie grabbed the silverware. As he passed Claire he gave her a smile and wink, nearly knocking Claire off of her feet because her knees suddenly gave way.
C'mon, Claire, it's only Charlie. You were around him everyday for 10 months straight. It's just the same old Charlie.
But it wasn't just the same old Charlie. Whether or not she liked to admit it, her perception of him had changed with that one kiss. He was no longer Charlie, her best friend from the island that she could always depend on to cheer her up when was down or help her out when she became completely overwhelmed with Aaron. Sure, he would still do that for her, but now she wanted more than just that, she wanted a relationship with him. In all the countless hours she had spent straightening her thoughts out that was the only thing that she was entirely sure of. She wanted Charlie, only him, to be there as Aaron went through his milestones of life and while her life changed and matured, presumably because of him. They just had to get over that hurdle between friendship to a relationship.
Claire finally regained control of her legs and she brought Aaron out to the table and helped Karen serve the food. Finally everything was set up for the meal and they dug in.
"How about we take the kids to the park and have a picnic today? Aaron still hasn't seen much more of the real world besides our backyard." Karen spoke out halfway through the meal.
"Yeah, I wanna go to the park!" Megan said looking pleadingly at her parents.
"I think it's a great idea," Claire said.
"It's settled then. We'll all go to the park this afternoon. All of us," Karen said shooting a pointed look at her husband who sat opposite her, a look on his face that plainly said he'd rather stay home and watch TV.
"Of course, it'll be a charming afternoon," Liam said with a cheesy cartoonish smile.
Liam and Charlie were on the front lawn, attempting to get the strollers in working order and, being them, making it much more difficult than it should have been.
"How do you get this bloody thing open?" Liam asked, attempting to pry it apart with his hands.
"You expect me to know? You're the one who's used strollers for four years now, you should bloody well know by now," Charlie replied a little agitated himself seeing as his attempt to open the stroller for Aaron wasn't going any better than Liam's was.
"Oh, bugger it, it's no use. Karen will figure it out," Liam said, abandoning the stroller to go and sit on the front stoop. Charlie followed his lead and sat down beside his brother.
"This afternoon will be the perfect time to tell her. I mean, think about it, you'll be surrounded by wives and husbands and their kids and since that's what you're proposing for the two of you it's the perfect atmosphere in which to bring it up."
"You're right…but what do I say?" Charlie asked, sounding a little desperate.
"That you're hopelessly in love with her and want to have lots of sex and babies."
"Liam, I can't say that!" Charlie exclaimed.
"Well, just tell her how you feel. It doesn't have to be rehearsed. In fact, the more spontaneous the better. But you still want to get the hopelessly in love/sex and babies point across."
"But when I'm nervous nothing comes out right! I stutter and my voice get high and I do the weird laugh and look completely idiotic and if she sees me like that she'll never say yes to me! And there's no way that I won't be nervous, I'm nervous just thinking about it. I mean, it's a pretty big thing, telling someone that you love them. And it's not just someone, it's Claire. She's more important then any other girl has ever been."
"Well, just talk to her like you normally would. My god, Charlie, how'd you survive on the island for 10 months if talking to Claire was such a problem? You were hopelessly in love with her then too, weren't you?"
"Yes, but on the island I had all the time in the world. I could take my time letting feelings get stronger, to make a good friendship, really get to know her, just take things really slowly because there was no where she could go, no matter what I'd wake up and know that she'd still be there. But now it's different. Claire could get up and leave and I'd never see her again and she would never know the truth and I would never know what potentially could have happened between us. Seeing Thomas there really threw that into perspective for me. She might've left with him if I hadn't stepped in!"
"And that's why I've been telling you to tell her quickly! Like this afternoon for instance, don't worry so much about what to say, just get it out there. Take your own advice."
Charlie nodded and at that moment the door behind them opened and Karen and Claire came out, Claire holding Aaron and Megan in tow.
"You still haven't got the strollers ready?" Karen asked, disbelievingly.
"Well, we tried but the bloody things wouldn't work!" Liam said in self-defense.
"You two are hopeless!" Karen said, laughing along with Claire. The two walked down the stoop between the brothers and got the strollers open in less than two seconds, each with only one hand while Liam gaped and then exclaimed, "How d'you do that!"
Their afternoon at the park was soon coming to a close. Aaron hadn't been much interested in the slides and swings, he was more content to sit in either Charlie's of Claire's laps while watching the world go on around him with wide eyes, babbling excitedly when he saw such strange things as bikes or cars or the ducks sitting on the small pond.
After his full day of discovery he was fast asleep on the blanket they had spread out. Megan, however, still had lots of energy and was running her parents ragged as they followed her all over the park. Charlie and Claire watched them, amused.
"Claire," Charlie said, knowing that if he wanted to bring it up tonight there was no better time than now. The symptoms of nervousness he had described to Liam were starting, ten times worse than he could have possibly explained.
"Hmm?" she replied, turning her head to face him, a hint of a smile on her lips. She looked amazing, the soft evening breeze tousling her butter-colored hair which was fringed with gold sunlight from the setting sun, giving her skin a gorgeous glow. All of this just made Charlie all the more nervous and worsened his current state.
"I-I've been meaning to t-talk with you--"
All of a sudden he was cut off by the obnoxious ring tone of the cell phone of someone nearby. Charlie broke his eye contact with Claire and silence ensued as the person answered their phone.
"You were saying, Charlie?" Claire prompted him.
But his courage had faltered, "It was nothing."
A/N- How lame was that thing with Charlie and Liam not being able to get open the strollers? Hahaha.Oh well, I sort of liked it there for some reason. Anyway, I guess that's all I have to say...drop me a review!
To my lovely reviewers-
CCnJexie4Ever- You're still CCLuva to me!(yeah, I know it was really CCLovER, but Ialways just said Luva for some reason, you know, cuz I'm soo ghetto, lol) I whole heartedly agree that we need a kiss, and fast! And it sure as hell better be before Kate gets her action, I hate Kate! I really like Evie but Kate...grr. And I'm soo sorry I made you wait for over a month for this chapter, but you'll have another update really soon, I promise!
Butterfly Butter- Hey, I e-mailed you a reeeally long time ago and I added you to my Messenger but I haven't heard from you! Oh, and you're gonna have to e-mail me whatever you made me cuz fanfiction dot net doesn't let you give out places on the Internet or something like that, I dunno, it's weird, so if you e-mail it to me it should work out fine and dandy! Well, I hope you liked this chapter and I hope to hear from you soon!
Mome-wrath- I still owe you a review for your last chapter of Deja Vu, I didn't forget! I'm just being really negligent but I promise that you'll be hearing from me sooner than later. Oh, I'm glad you loved the nickname, ff dot net best friend...hmm, that's to long to type out...oh, I got it! FFBF! That rules! Liam's all serious in this chapter, so he's not so much fun as usual, but whatever! Talk to you soon!
Charlie & his Claire- Oh my gosh, you're review really shows me how behind I am in updating this story! Harry Potter had just come out, oh, that's really depressing! Summer's almost over...but that does mean the start of Lost...so I guess there's some good to that. I'm glad that the characters are believeable, although Liam seems a little weird to me in this. Oh well, no worries...haha, that's becoming my motto! Well, I promise a sooner update next time!
CrazyWomanLovesYou- Glad you're loving the story, it's good to get reviews such as yours, lets me know that I'm doing something right! And I'm really sorry this took soo long to get up, and I promise that I'll have the next update really soon. I've been promising that a lot, I better stick to it otherwise I'll have lots of people after me, haha!
BrittyWeasley- Thanks for reviewing and sorry this chapter was so delayed, next one will be up soon, as soon as I get enough reviews.
Zoaster The Toaster- Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it so far, hope this hasn't changed that. And I'll keep going, the next chapter will be up soon.
jou65- Thanks for the review. There's lots of awesome CC stories out there, I'm not sure if I would calibrate myself as number one...but you can! Thanks a lot, hope you like the update!
Laura- Yeah, I get the vibe that he likes her better on the show too, but I don't care, I like it this way for some reason. Thanks for the review, hope you keep reading.
Lostaway- Aw, you're so sweet and you're going to make ME cry over here, lol! Thanks for the review, hope you like the update, give me another review and I'll love you (haha, that rhymed)
FluffLover- Thanks a lot for your review, I glad you like it so much! I hope in my overlong absense you didn't completely lose interest in the story!