7: THE BOTTOM OF THE PEANUT BUTTER JAR
Peanut butter can be very annoying. It can taste so good, yet it sticks to the roof of your mouth. Charlie and Claire realised this as they headed back towards the exit of the terminal.
"The bottom of the jar." Charlie raised the empty jar for Claire to see, and she nodded. She took the empty peanut butter jar from Charlie's grip and stuffed it into her bag.
"Hey!" He pretended to act annoyed, and got his revenge by tickling her. She laughed and begged him to stop, and both took huge breaths. Aaron giggled from the pram which the airport staff had kindly donated. Charlie bent down and tickled Aaron gently.
As Charlie rose up again, he saw a familiar man straining his neck to see over the top of the crowds. Charlie gasped; he couldn't believe that he had actually come. Charlie grinned, and grabbed Claire's hand.
"Come on! Follow me!" Charlie seized his and Claire's bags, and ran across the airport. Claire hurried with Aaron's pram to keep up. Charlie finally reached the man he had been waiting to see again for years. He dropped the bags and jumped into the man's waiting open arms. They hugged tightly, and both were very emotional. Charlie backed away a little, and motioned in the man's direction.
"Claire, this is my brother Liam. Liam, this is Claire." They shook hands.
"Hi." Claire returned the welcome. Liam bent down to Aaron. "Who's this little guy?"
"Aaron. My son." Claire introduced.
"Claire was pregnant on the island." Charlie carried on.
"Must have been tough." Liam pulled himself upright and gazed at the pair. They nodded.
"Uncle Charlie!" The three adults spun around to see a small blonde girl charging full speed towards them. She threw herself onto Charlie's leg. "Uncle Charlie!" Charlie picked up his young niece, Megan, and embraced her tightly. She remembered who he was. She knew him. He couldn't be happier as tears welled up in his eyes. All of them were here. They all cared. Charlie placed Megan gently back onto the ground. She giggled and scurried over to Aaron and stared at him in delight.
"Charlie." Liam's wife looked at him.
"Karen." She walked over and hugged him as well. He couldn't believe that they all really did care. He loved them, and they loved him. He hadn't visited often at all since the end of Driveshaft. It goes to show that you can touch someone's life and not even realise it.
Claire shifted awkwardly on the spot, and felt out of place, as if she was intruding. She quietly began to move Aaron's pram away from the family, and lifted her bags tenderly off the ground. Sadly, the actions were noticed by little Megan, who squealed,
"Bye bye lady!" Charlie spun round and asked,
"Where are you going?"
"Um… to say goodbye to Hurley." Charlie's face showed that he had forgotten about Hurley.
He searched the airport and spotted Hurley leaving with his mother. Charlie once again seized Claire's hand and chased him.
"HURLEY!" Charlie shouted. Hurley stopped at the sound of his name and turned around to see a very ecstatic Charlie Pace charging at him. He was almost scared, and would have been if it were anyone else running at him. Hurley threw his arms around both Charlie and Claire, and heaved them onto his shoulders. Claire uttered a quick shriek of surprise but relaxed immediately. She enjoyed the gesture, but was still pleased to have her feet back on the ground when he released them.
"Keep in touch!" Hurley almost shouted as the started to leave again with his mother.
"Will do!" Charlie shouted after him.
"I'm in the phone book!" His voice faded as he and his mother bustled into a waiting cab. Charlie and Claire turned to each other and smiled.
"Do you have somewhere to go?" Charlie asked. Claire was about to reply when a very girlish scream erupted nearby.
"CLAIRE!" They spun around to see a tall woman about Claire's age rushing towards them, and squeezing Claire so tightly that she was afraid she'd choke. "It's you, it's you, it's you!" The girl began to hop from side to side in excitement. Claire seemed equally excited. She had forgotten about Laura, which seems like a terrible thing to say. After everything that had happened on the island, it was difficult to remember anything however. "Oh my word! Look at you! You look great! What happened? I missed you so much! You're skinny! Where's the baby? Is that it? Is it a boy or a girl? What's its name? Oh my word it's so cute!" She was talking so fast and in such a high pitched tone that Charlie couldn't translate what she was saying. Claire stopped.
"Could you give me a minute?" Laura nodded and walked to the coffee bar that John Locke had been at just a few minutes ago. Claire turned to Charlie.
"Now I have a ride." Charlie laughed slightly. They gazed at each other in silence. Charlie remembered when he presented Claire with 'peanut butter' shortly after they first met. He remembered how he managed to take care of her when she went into false labour. Of course, Claire couldn't remember this as she obtained amnesia after everything that had happened with Ethan. However, she did remember the walk on the beach, and how he always protected her and put her first. These were the memories she would cherish for the rest of her life. Charlie had been so good with Aaron. They had such a good bond. Just as Charlie and Claire did themselves. It couldn't come to an end could it? As this thought struck Claire, it felt as if a knife were stabbing at her soul and ripping her heart to shreds. Worse than when Thomas, Aaron's father, had left her.
"Claire." Charlie whispered. Without her noticing, silent tears had been streaming down her cheeks, and showed no signs of ceasing. "Claire." He whispered again, before pulling her into a warm embrace. "It's ok." Claire wanted to believe him. She really did. She couldn't. As hard as she tried, her heart still ached, the tears kept falling. Charlie needed to be strong, for Claire. He wanted to do the same as Claire, but his main priority was her, as always. He needed to be strong. He took a deep breath, and released her, but kept hold of one hand. "This isn't goodbye." Claire nodded. She didn't believe him.
"Then why does it hurt?" She whimpered. Charlie didn't reply, but just kissed her wet cheek.
"We will see each other again. I promise." Claire reached up and took another embrace. Charlie had always hated goodbyes. He stifled his tears and straightened his face. They parted, and gazed at each other. They both strained smiles. Charlie bent down to Aaron.
"See you soon, buddy." Aaron just squealed and tugged at Charlie's shirt. Charlie kissed the top of his head too. Charlie pulled himself up and stroked Claire's hair behind her ear. "Remember my promise. Remember me."
"How could I forget?" Claire mumbled.
"Well, you apparently have a knack of getting amnesia." Claire and Charlie laughed.
"Not even amnesia could make me forget you. Not again." They smiled at each other.
Charlie grabbed two napkins from the nearby coffee bar and handed one to Claire. She wiped away her tears with it. Charlie tore the second in half and removed a biro from his luggage. He wrote something down and handed it to Claire as well as the blank half.
"It's my phone number. Your turn." Claire took the pen from Charlie and wrote her number down. "Call me."
"I will. Now you have no excuse not to get in touch with me." Charlie smiled and took the second half of the napkin and stuffed it into his pocket.
Liam nervously approached the pair.
"Ready to go?" He asked uneasily.
"Yeah." Charlie replied. Claire and Charlie shared one last embrace, before going their separate ways without another word. To Charlie, Claire was like peanut butter. Even though they were parting, Claire would remain with him for a long time to come.