Red Bess Rackham : I'm so glad that you liked it! I guess it did kind of seem like a oneshot, lol. Please review again. Your first review was so sweet!

Ron Lover 6789 : It's nice to meet another huge Charlie/Claire fan! I'm glad you liked the last chapter and I hope you like this one too.

Chapter 2

There were times in Charlie's life when he should have done things, but he didn't. Then afterwards he always wished he had just done those things, because for the rest of his life he would always be asking himself "Why?"

Why hadn't he just said "no" to his brother when he had the chance? He could have ended it before it started.

Why hadn't he made things work with Lucy? He'd cared about her, he really had, and then he'd gone and screwed everything up as usual.

Most of all, why did he keep neglecting to tell Claire how he felt about her?

She had just been sitting on the beach with him while he told her funny stories from his DriveSHAFT days (none that included any traces of drugs, whores, or violence) and as she threw back that beautiful head of hers and laughed her heart out, he knew that it was the perfect moment for him to kiss her. These moments came up increasingly often, but he could never quite find the will to close that space between his lips and hers.

Charlie sighed deeply and leaned forward, resting his head in his hands. The roar of the ocean was beginning to make his head pound, though it had felt so soothing and magical while Claire was beside him.

He dug his hands into the sand and scooped up handfuls of it, letting the fine grains fall through his fingers, leaving nothing but a coarse texture on his fingers and palms. He clapped his hands together to shake the lingering specks off and gazed over his shoulder to where Claire had disappeared into the foliage of the jungle. Her pee break was taking an awful long time. Sure, she was pregnant, and Charlie had no watch or clock or any way of telling the time, but he was pretty sure that she had been gone for a sufficient amount of time for him to start worrying.

As if on cue, Kate made an abrupt entrance by means of bursting through the trees and skidding to a halt in the sand.

"Charlie," she gasped out, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Claire needs you. She's going into labor."

By the time Kate had taken another gasping breath, Charlie was already on his feet, charging into the jungle in the direction he had seen Claire go.

"Charlie!" Kate yelled after him, but he didn't listen. Right then, he didn't care if a polar bear jumped out in front of him. If it did, he would just plow right over it. He had to get to Claire. He had to find her. She needed him to be there.

Charlie had never run so fast and so hard in his life, but Kate still managed to catch up to him.

"Follow me," breathed Kate as she ran alongside him.

Charlie wanted to tell her that he didn't have the time to follow her to Claire; he needed to get there as quickly as possible and he couldn't afford to slow down to trail after her.

But in a flash of auburn hair, Kate was ahead of him by at least five paces, and Charlie found himself straining his legs just to keep up.

He followed Kate through the winding trails of the forest, over tree roots and under branches until finally she came to an abrupt stop, causing Charlie to run into her and throw them both slightly off balance.

In the small clearing that lay before them, Claire was sitting on the jungle floor with her back to a fallen tree. Jack knelt before her, cupping her delicate face in his hands and attempting to calm her with words of encouragement.

Claire's entire body was tensed up in a way that made Charlie's heart ache. He had never felt like this before, not even when his dear older brother abandoned him for a world of sex and drugs. Her porcelain face was now deep red and contorted with pain, her fingernails were delving into her palms, and her body was heaving with deep, shaky breaths.

Claire had been alternating between trying to maintain a focus on Jack's face and scrunching her eyes shut with obvious pain, until eventually she turned her head to the side and saw Charlie standing there. Her usually startling blue eyes seemed glassy and clouded over with fear, just like Charlie's had been so many years ago when he had first tried heroin. Seeing that look of foggy pain in Claire's eyes made Charlie feel closer to her than he ever had before, even when the two of them were sharing imaginary peanut butter.

"Charlie," Claire gasped out, her voice as contorted with pain as the rest of her was. "Oh Charlie, it hurts, oh it hurts."

She made a small noise halfway between a gasp and a squeak as her body heaved with another contraction.

As Jack tried to calm her down and keep her focused, Claire extended a shaky arm in Charlie's direction, her fingers clasping and unclasping wildly.

"Charlie," she choked out once more.

In a flash, Charlie had left his position at the opening of the clearing and took a place at Claire's side. At first he just placed one hand gingerly on the small of her back and the other hand in her hair, unsure of exactly what she wanted him to do. But as soon as she felt Charlie's touch, Claire threw her arms around Charlie's waist and buried her face in his chest, crying softly. Charlie held her small frame gently; stroking her hair in a way that he hoped would be soothing.

"I'm so scared," she whimpered against his shirt.

"It's alright Claire," he whispered softly. "I'm here. Shhh… I'm here now. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, I promise."

"Charlie," said Jack, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Charlie nodded in acknowledgement, but didn't take his eyes off of Claire.

"Charlie, look at me," Jack said firmly, the serious tone in his voice bringing Charlie to look at him. "It's time for Claire to start pushing. Try to keep her calm and relaxed. She's already panicking, and if she gets any more nervous…."

He trailed off, and Charlie nodded numbly. Jack gave him one last clasp on the shoulder before turning to Claire.

"Claire, it's time for you to push," said Jack. "Charlie's not going anywhere. He's going to be right here the whole time."

After two more contractions and a countless number of pained, attempted to be steadied gasps of breath, Claire was leaning back against Charlie with her head rested on his shoulder. Charlie had his arms around her and he was holding her very gently, but still protectively.

"Okay Claire," said Jack. "I need you to push. Now don't push too hard, and don't strain yourself. I'm going to need you to push as hard as you can later, so you need to save your energy. Okay?"

Claire nodded shakily.

"Okay, now push!"