It was dark and Claire was sitting by Aaron's cradle, watching him sleep. She was so grateful that Charlie had taken care of him earlier, she actually trusted him but Claire knew that he didn't really know that. She stared down at his son and then she heard footsteps behind her and she turned her head and saw Charlie and her heart skipped a beat, she didn't know why.
"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to scare you there…" Charlie said and sat down next to her, looking at Aaron.
"No it's okay; I wasn't ready to see you, that's all." Claire said and nodded, smiling a little.
"He fell asleep, huh? That's good. Then you can get some sleep too." Charlie said and smiled back. She shrugged and heaved a small sigh, noticing that he was holding the statuette in his hands and she raised her brow.
"Why do you keep that around, Charlie? Does it really mean anything to you?" Claire asked and motioned for the statuette. Charlie held it up and looked at it, shrugging a little. What it meant to him? Not much, it was the stuff inside of it, the drugs. He would need them someday, he was sure, at least if Claire would disappear, would she disappear? "Charlie?"
Charlie awoke from his thoughts and he looked at Claire. "Oh uhm, no it doesn't really matter anything to me… it's just that it's the Virgin Mary." Charlie said and looked at it again.
"I didn't know you were so religious… it's just the way you look at it. I've never seen you looking so intensely-" Claire said but Charlie cut her off.
"Look, Claire, I just think it's nice, alright?" Charlie said, a little harder than he meant. "I'm sorry, I-I just-"
"You don't have to explain anything to me, its okay. I understand." Claire stated and lifted up Aaron out of the cradle and walked away from Charlie.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three days, three days had passed and Charlie had not talked to Claire at all, or she had not talked to him. He had seen her once or twice up by the caves; he knew that she was at the beach. Two nights ago, he had been really close to taken the drugs while he was sitting in the sand at the beach, but Claire had looked at him and he had put the statuette away again.
This was his fault; he had shut Claire out when he knew that she needed him right now. But he didn't know if she remembered the time when he told her about him being a drug addict. And that was hard – he really didn't want to get back on them. Charlie wanted to be with them; Claire and Aaron because he really cared about them. Charlie looked up from his thoughts when he heard Claire's voice – she was in the caves without Aaron and she was talking to Shannon.
Charlie gathered his courage and walked up to the two women. Shannon excused herself and walked off, leaving Claire there alone with Charlie. At first, Claire wanted to walk away, telling him she had nothing to say to him but yet, something inside stopped her and she turned to him.
"Hey, where's Aaron?" Charlie asked and looked at her. She swallowed and looked him straight in the eyes.
"Locke is babysitting him." Claire said and looked down. Locke? Charlie frowned and looked down too and then he looked up.
"Yeah? Why is Locke babysitting him?" Charlie asked carefully not to upset her. She heaved a sigh and looked at him.
"Charlie… no one else had time to do it so I asked Locke and he said yes," Claire said softly and saw the hurt look at his face. "I'm sorry about what happened a few days ago, but you clearly won't open up to me." She said and bit her lip, looking down.
She was right, but he just couldn't tell her, 'Oh, well look I found a statue with some bloody drugs in it, but every time I try to take them you show up and stops me from taking them because you mean everything to me' he thought. And once again, Charlie was lost in thoughts of what Claire had said. He looked down for a long time.
"I would have had time to take care of him…" he whispered and kept looking down.
"I'm sorry, Charlie, I meant no harm." Claire said and turned around, heading back to the beach. He had lost her again, and now he felt emptier than ever.
Claire wandered through the jungle. Why couldn't he just tell her? He had probably told her sometime, but she didn't remember. As she arrived at the beach, she saw Locke in her tent with Aaron. He was really like a father to her and a grandfather for Aaron. And Charlie was like a father for him, at least he had been.
She walked against her tent, having her arms crossed as she arrived there. Claire stood there for a while, listening to Locke telling stories for her son. She smiled a little, her usual smile. Locke looked up and saw her. He put down Aaron in his cradle and smiled at Claire.
"You're welcome, Claire." Locke said and left. He was weird that Locke, Claire thought. At least he was honest with her.
Claire lifted up Aaron and smiled at him. "Hi there, sweetie. Was Mr Locke nice to you?" she heard her son's soft baby sound and smiled even more. "You know, I really miss Charlie and his attempts to make us happy… I don't even know why I'm telling you and not Charlie." Claire said and chuckled to herself. That moment Locke walked in again, sitting down next to her and she looked puzzled at him.
"Sorry, I overheard. Just curious, why don't you tell him, Claire?" Locke asked and looked at her. Claire looked down and shook her head.
"I just can't, you know. I don't know if I can trust him-" Claire started but Locke quickly cut her off.
"And yet you leave your baby with him. Now, Claire, I think you need to make up your mind before he disappears from you and never comes back." Locke rose and left with those words. Claire pulled Aaron closer to her. Locke was right – she needed to find Charlie and tell him.