Spice of Life –
Me – Yes, darn the French woman. She's not gone either.
Cirn - He he, French woman is not bad.. just crazy..

Elfmaiden4legs –
Me – We are writing as fast as we can and will update as soon as each chap is done. You shall!
Cirn - Here ya go! Next chappie

Babybrothalova –
Me – Thanks. Cirn and I plan on it. :-)
Cirn - Thanks. We'll keep going.

Ernil i Pheriannath –
Me – Thank-you. We are. Here's the new chapter.
Cirn - grins

It was only a few days ago, but it seems like I have known him my whole life. We're strangers, I know. But, I worry about him. I am worried about Jack, Kate, and Locke as well. They've been gone for so long. Something happened. No one else seems worried though.

Claire Littleton walked up and down the beach with her baby in her arms. She stared at the waves rolling in and out and felt the sand between her toes. It felt nice. The Australian looked down the beach and saw Locke and Jack with a stretcher between them and Kate following behind. She let out a scream, but didn't move. Her eyes were wide and fear filled her soft featured. Something bad had happened three days ago. She did not want to see how bad it was though.

Kate heard a scream when she came out of the forest with Jack and Locke. She turned her head in the direction of the sound and found a stunned Claire staring at them, or rather, at the young man between Jack and Locke. Throwing a, "I'll be right back" at the men walking in front of her, she walked over to the young mother. Claire did not look up as Kate came to a halt next to her, her eyes were fixed on Charlie. "Claire?" Kate said and she placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder and shook her out of her stupor.

Claire jumped slightly when Kate placed a hand on her shoulder. Realizing it was nothing to harm her, she did not run, but instead she looked up at Kate. "What happened," the mother demanded, "It's bad, I know. Just tell me. Don't lie to protect me." Her light gray eyes blazed as if to dare Kate to lie.

Kate sighed and stole a glance at the direction of the three men she just left. They had reached the tent by now and Jack was probably giving Charlie a check up. Turning back to Claire, she just decided to tell her the truth. It would be for the best. "I don't know the whole story, but it seemed that Charlie had attempted suicide by...stabbing himself in his stomach. The wound was pretty bad. The blade had punctured his lung. Jack had done his best to fix him up, but we don't know if he'll make through it yet." The hard truth without softening the facts up. Great going, Kate.

Claire stood there, listening to Kate talk. Her eyes were wide and frightened. "You're lying," the new mother said. Her breathing was sharp and heavy. "H-he wouldn't do something like that," she sobbed. Claire closed her eyes and sobbed. Suddenly, the woman handed Kate the baby and trudged hastily up the beach and to the tent. She fell to her knees and looked from Jack to Locke. "What happened," she asked, looking at the bald man.

Kate wanted to run after the young mother, but she didn't want the baby to be exposed to the sight of a wounded Charlie. So instead, she opted to sit down on a rock and wait for one of them to take over the baby-sitting duty.

Locke glanced at Jack from the place where he was sitting on a box and turned back to Claire. "Where's Kate?" he asked.

"Don't change the subject, Locke! Tell me!" the Australian cried.

"He attempted suicide," he said with difficulty. Locke did not want to deliver the blow so hard, but he figured that Kate must have already told Claire, for the young woman to run in here like that.

"I know what he did," Claire said. Her voice was low and dangerous. "I want to know why he did it!" She crossed her arms over her chest and stared up at Locke. "Just tell, all right? Tell me."

"Claire.. I.." Locke began but was cut off. Surprisingly Jack cut him off this tome.

"Actually Locke, I want to know that too. Tell us the whole story. What happened in the woods?" Jack asked.

Lock sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Shouldn't we get Kate for this too?" he asked.

"Locke!" Claire yelled.

"No. Locke is right. Kate should know this too. Let's go find her. Charlie needs some rest." Jack reasoned.

Together they walked out of the tent and walked over to Kate and the baby. Claire took her son back from Kate and put him in his cradle. Jack and Kate sat down on the sand and they all looked at the bald man, waiting for an explanation.

Locke sighed and sat down too. He started from the beginning, where he stumbled onto Charlie in the forest and how he didn't want to come back. He also told them how he followed the young man, the revelation of Charlie as a heroin addict and how he managed to shake off Locke again. "I didn't notice that he stole my knife until after I returned to the beach. As soon as I noticed, I ran back to the forest to look for him, but he had a huge head start on me. I probably wouldn't even have found him, was it not for the scream. The sight of how I found him was awful. He was lying in a pool of his own blood. He didn't want me to save him. In the end, I knocked him out and carried him away. Night was falling and I knew we wouldn't make it back to the beach in time. When I saw the cave, I brought him there and waited for the morning. The next day, I found Jack and Kate. The rest you know."

Claire blinked and felt bile come into her mouth. She wanted to be sick. The woman also did not want to believe that Charlie was a heroin addict. "T-this can't be true," she stammered. However, even as she said it, she knew it was true. Slowly, she stood. "I want to be alone, with Charlie," she said, going away from the group and back to the tent where Charlie lay. Slowly, she sat down beside him. "Why did you do it Charlie," she asked quietly. Claire closed her eyes and fell asleep.