Chapter 2

Claire walked up the stairs towards Boone's apartment. Her back was aching and she was exhausted. Probably looked like hell too. Being pregnant wasn't a walk in the park. That was even an understatement... The first couple of months she had to deal with morning sickness and being tired constantly and then when that was over she was stranded on an Island! The last couple of months in Claire's life had been a roller coaster, and not one of those funny ones.

Over and over again she cursed the elevator for having gone all cactus, or in American - not working. At the same time she was awestruck, only by walking up the stairs she could tell that this was a nice apartment building. The stairs was top modern and there were doors of pinewood on every floor! On top of that Claire was pretty sure that she had seen Tom Cruise on her way too Boone.

Boone. She was chocked by the effect the name had on her. She had to remind herself that this was the right decision to make; she had no one else to turn to. Claire regretted that she had sold her and her ex-boyfriend – Thomas's – apartment when he had left her. But she didn't have any other option really; the place had been full of memories. Bad ones. She didn't want to live with her friends in Sydney either, she felt like they all blamed her for wanting to give away her baby. She didn't want to do that anymore though. Claire put her hand over her stomach, like she was trying to protect her baby from all the bad things in the world. She knew that she couldn't. But she would for the love of God, do her best.

Claire thought through all her other options. Her parents were out of question so she had no other option than to ask a stranger for help. Boone had seemed like the right option then…

Kate was in prison with Sawyer by her side and she couldn't stand Jack watching over her like a hawk all the time, constantly asking her if she was okay.

Charlie.

She could always go to Charlie. Her only real friend on the Island. There was one reason why she didn't do that though, a possibility. The possibility that he could begin with drugs again. She couldn't risk that, not when she was expecting her baby to come in a couple of weeks. She loved the baby to much than to put it in any kind of danger.

No, Boone was the right decision. She knew nothing specific about him but she knew that he had done all in his power to provide help on the Island. He had hunted for food with Locke and he had even tried to rescue that woman that drowned, she didn't think that he was useless like most of the others seemed to. Claire could still remember waking up and seeing those blue eyes for the first time. She had nearly drowned in them that time, felt a strange attraction to the man they belonged to, she hadn't felt that way in a long time. She wondered if she had ever felt that way before. All Boone had done was to give her some water when she was weak, but somehow she had felt like he was protecting her. Suddenly Claire felt a nervous feeling sweeping through her.

"Come on Claire. It's not like you are going out with the bloke. You're just spending the night there" she said quietly to herself.

Was she being watched? Claire could feels goose bumps bursting out on her arms. Then she shocked her head, trying to get rid of the feeling. She began to walk faster; suddenly she was in a hurry to get to Boone.

When Boone let Claire in she had a haunted expression over her face. He couldn't avoid the sense of dread washing over him and once again he felt useless. There was nothing he wanted more then to wrap his arms around her, stroke her head gently and to whisper to her that everything would be okay. That she was safe here – with him. There were so many reasons why he shouldn't and he knew that, the main reason was that he didn't know her. Besides, he didn't even know if she was married. After all she was pregnant, he couldn't avoid to see that when she now stood in front of him. Boone resisted the urge to do all the things he wanted to and instead he took to initiative to begin a conversation.

"Claire," he said gently, watching her closely. "Is something wrong?" Claire looked at the floor, not wanting to look into his eyes just yet.

"Not really," she paused, searching for words to explain with. "I just…felt like I was being watched when I was on my way over here", she took her eyes off the floor and looked at him, shyly. "That must sound silly," she smiled slightly.

How beautiful she is, Boone thought.

"I told you that there are creeps out there" Boone replied, not knowing what else to say to her. Claire was surprised. When had he said that? But she decided to let him think that he had. Not knowing that he had made a mistake Boone continued.

"Besides, in here you can feel safe" he added, a bit awkwardly. Both stood quietly for a couple of seconds, watching each other carefully.

Boone knew deep inside that there was no way that he would let her walk out of his door, into the darkness of the night, at least not when it made her that afraid. She had been through a lot more than he had been on the Island. The last thing she needed was to feel afraid again. Even though he didn't want to ask why she was standing in his apartment in the middle of the night (he was just happy that she was,) he knew that he had too. But how could he ask that, without sounding rude?

"So…how come that you rang on my door?" he said gently. Claire tried to look into his eyes without blushing.

"I had no one else to turn to," she said, truthfully. Boone noticed that her eyes was filling up with tears, he also saw that she was trying to fight them away. He knew that this was too painful for her. He had to do something.

"Claire," he said with a voice full of care. "Do you need a place to stay?" She looked thankfully at him; he had taken the step that she couldn't take. She hated to ask people for favours. Claire nodded.

"If that's okay with you," she asked shyly. "I know that you don't know much about me"

"That's true." Boone smiled "Guess we will get to know each other then"

Claire looked at him, waiting for confirmation.

"Stay as long as you want to" he said, trying not to sound to excited about her living with him.

"Thanks," Claire blushed a little when she added

"I look forward to get to know you Boone." He looked at her, again thinking how beautiful she was. He had never seen her blush before and he wondered if he was somehow causing it.

"Me too," Boone reached out his hand and she took it, then they shacked hands.

The following hours they both did their best to make up for lost time and opportunities. They told each other about their lives before the crash and other trivial things that they thought that they should know if they were going to live together. Boone told Claire about his time as a lifeguard and she teased him by saying that he couldn't have been a good one, considering that he nearly drowned the last time he was swimming. He shot her a betrayed look and she laughed at his pathetic try to look offended.

Claire told him about her fascination for horoscopes, but she avoided getting into the deep subjects. They still didn't know each other that well and despite their good looks they were both shy, being alone with a next to complete stranger didn't exactly make them feel more relaxed.

Even though it was late at night, more than 2:00 AM, neither of them wanted to sleep. Boone was still afraid that his nightmare would return, the fact that Claire was there with him now didn't calm him, the last thing he wanted was to be reminded of all things that had happened to her on the Island. Claire shared his fear. Ever since she had been kidnapped by Ethan she had trouble sleeping so both of them somehow had a silent agreement to stay awake.

"What do you wanna do?" Boone asked, giving her a smile that told her that he was up for almost anything.

"I don't know" Boone loved her Australian accent.

"But I'm starving!" A side effect of being pregnant, Claire thought.

"I feel like eating something really fatty," she laughed.

"Let's go then." Boone got her coat and put it over her shoulders. This was the first time they had body contact since their hand shake earlier. They were both taken a back of the effect such a little touch had on them.

"After you," Boone said, giving her back a friendly push.

"Not those stairs again," Claire sighed.

Then they walked out into the night, together. Hopeful to find a "Milk bar" - like and Australian like Claire would call it – that was opened that late at night. Neither of them knowing what to expect or what to come.