Author's note: Well just two more chapters after this. I will tell you I've already written the next chapter, but I don't want you to have to wait too long between chapters 15 and 16 so it might be a little while until I post chapter 15. But I am sure you will find this chapter satisfying. Not a whole lot to say about this. The mood and tone changes with every scene. I hope you enjoy. Thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing.

Chapter 14: Choices

"I don't see why we have to do this." Hurley whined.

"Because it would not a good idea for this task to be completed by Charlie." Sayid answered.

"We're his friends, and he needs our help. Start digging." Jack ordered.

"I never said I was his friend, I'm just the guy he shares sex stories with. Damn, did that boy know how to party?" Sawyer whistled as his shovel sank into the dirt. It had been three days since the attack. Jack had given Charlie a not-so-clean-bill of health, but good enough to walk to the community. It was about time, one more day of Charlie sitting around being useless would have driven the rest of the survivors nuts. While he was gone, it seemed as good of time as any to deliver Ethan's body to the Dark Ones. There was a whole process that had to occur, The Plane Crash Clan had to dig up the body and deliver it to members of the BlackRock, since they were a neutral party in the matter, and they would take the body to its final resting place.

Under the cover of the jungle trees, the men dug into the soft ground. "Masks on." Locke ordered as the dirt started to change as the shovels hit something hard.

The smell of the seven-month-old rotting corpse overwhelmed the senses, waves of nausea hit the men at once, and the sight of insects decomposing the body did nothing for their stomachs either.

"Oh God!" Hurley turned away.

Ethan was wrapped in a tarp, which didn't fully cover his face. White bone started to expose itself by his skull, his hair was darker, fuller, sort of a ying and yang effect. His mouth still arched in a smile, his final words never left his lips.

"Ugly son of a bitch." Sawyer gave his commentary.

The men stared at the body of the first person to tear a hole in their community. The first person who gave them an inkling they weren't alone. There were worse things then surviving a plane crash. Worse then death, sometimes it was life. Each man was lost in his own thought.

Three gunshots. They shattered the silence and splattered the dead man's organs.

"Holy Shit." Sawyer jumped four feet back from the corpse.

Five heads turned towards the shots, words were trapped in throats, their brains took longer to comprehend the image before them.

Locke was the first to regain his ability to speak, "Claire."

Her eyes were as wild and untamed as her hair. The smoking gun was still hot in her hands. Her voiced quivered slightly, but it did not take away from the strength of her words. "I wanted to see him one last time. The man who tried to kill me, take my baby and kill Charlie. The man who haunts Charlie's dreams at night." She addressed the body now, "I remember everything you did to me, drugging me, confusing me, lying to me and tried to ruin our lives. But you were too weak, and only the strong survive on this island."

"Thanks Darwin." Jack muttered under his breath. This seemed to shake Claire out of her trance. She blinked a few times and glanced around at the wide-eyed men.

Hurley found himself staring at Jack's shoulder, "Dude, you've got some Ethan on you."

Jack brushed the bits of skin off, while making a sound which was a blend of annoyance and disgust.

Locke stepped forward, "Claire, let me walk you back to camp." She nodded and handed the gun over to him. In a matter of minutes they were swallowed by the jungle.

"Oh sure, so you don't have to clean up the mess." Sawyer grumbled.

Sayid had already started to pick up the remains of the corpse when he asked, "How did she get a gun?"

"It's mine." A familiar voice answered from the tree line.

Jack sighed, "Damn it Kate, you had one job, 'keep Claire busy' you couldn't even do that."

Her eyes were glassy and reflected more light than usual. "She had a right to see him, she had a right to face him, deal with the situation. She needed to deal with the past so she could move on with her future."

Kate's words stung all the men who remained, each of them were running from something, hiding on this island and not facing the truth. Kate continued, "That monster destroyed the foundations of her relationships. She lost everything that mattered to her. She had every right to do what she did." Her voice became more emotional, blending her anger and pain together, "HE KILLED CHARLIE. I cut him down from a Goddamn tree. We almost had to dig another grave that day, Jack. Hell, I want to shoot the bastard too. Are you so detached, you don't remember? You don't care? Why don't you want to shoot him?"

He had forgotten, not that Charlie nearly died, not the fear of losing someone he cared about, but he had forgotten that it was Kate's first time dealing with a body. Her first experience with life and death so close. Jack had no doubt she had been exposed to death, but maybe not this way. Or at least that's what he wished and hoped. He sighed, "Come here."

He extended his arm as he met her half way. He wrapped one arm around her waist and slid behind her pulling his gun from the back of his pants. Together they held the gun; together they put their fingers on the trigger.

Jack raised his eyebrows and the other men stepped away. He whispered in her ear, "one shot, ok? He didn't hurt us as much as he hurt them." She nodded and started to count. On three, thunder echoed in the trees and the body had one more hole. The two lovers embraced and headed into the jungle without speaking to the other men.

"Um, isn't the camp the other way?" Hurley questioned.

Sawyer complained, "Oh sure, he gets laid while we have to move the holey, gooey, body. And you know this stink isn't going to come off for a while."

The men started to pick up the new bits of Ethan and threw it on to the tarp. They worked quickly and silently, only stopping when a voiced called out from the jungle. "Move, James, you're in my way." Jo pointed a gun in his direction.

"You know, Sawyer, most people would have just shot you." Hurley stated flatly.

"Where did she," Sayid hissed with anger, "get a gun from?"

Sawyer sighed, "It mine, I wanted her to be safe."

Neither of the men pointed out the fact that Jo had been living on the island for nearly 30 years and he had only been here for eight months, and she had been protecting herself just fine.

Sawyer had talked down a woman pointing a gun at him before, but this was different, she wasn't looking at him but at the mess of a body beside him. "I guess you want to shoot him too?" He scoffed and instantly regretted it. Her eyes were filled with a pain and loss he had never seen before. He approached her slowly, never forgetting she held a weapon in her hand.

He touched her arm, lightly, standing away from the metallic object in her hand. A trail of tears washed down her face. "It isn't right Charlie was the one who killed that monster, it should have been me." Sawyer glanced at Sayid and Hurley, taking their cues they walked away.

Sawyer's voice was low concern for another person, who was still new to him, "What did he do to you?"

Her red hair blew in the wind and she shivered, her eyes never leaving the rotten body, "He was once one of us, hey all were. Dad and Bruce had a fight over the way the community should be run. After that, Bruce took a small band of people and left; that's when the attacks came, only at night. They became the Dark Ones. Meg, my older sister, was dating this guy for a while. I didn't like him, he looked like a weasel to me, but he was good with Beth and Amy, so it didn't matter. Meg was four years older then me, and when she wanted to get married at the ripe age of 19 no one really questioned it. A few months before the wedding, Meg was pregnant. Then everything changed.

"Ethan started to take long walks and would be gone for days at a time. When Meg asked him where he was going, he just said, 'I was seeking council.' Freak. She went with him once, she didn't come home. I was fifteen, walking through the jungle, trying to find mangoes or something and I saw her, hanging from a tree, her womb cut open." She paused recalling the image, her head shook violently as if shaking it was erase the image in her mind like an Etch a Sketch.

Sawyer rubbed her arms, kissed her lightly on her cheek and told her to take as much time as she needed.

She only needed three shots.

Hurley grumbled, "I'm sure glad this wasn't a waste of bullets. Does anyone else want to take a shot at the dead guy?"

A thunderclap echoed through the jungle one last time. Sayid stood over the body, his gun smoking and shrugged, "Well, I'm not allowed to shoot Anna Lucia."

"What are we going to do when the ask why is body is so deformed?" Hurley

"Worms. The worms did it." Jo smirked, "What, we don't have big worms here?" She looked down at the body one last time, "It's funny how things come full circle. There was no way any of you could have known this, but Ethan was the one who killed Daniel's parents, his mom first and his father three years later. Charlie killed Ethan for what he did to Claire but now has taken Daniel in as his own. It's like we're all connected and the Island likes to remind us of that fact." She rested her head on Sawyer's shoulder, for a second he was taken back at how natural she felt there.

"DAD!" Half bellow, half squeal echoed across the valley. When a three year old runs, it one of nature's most ungraceful moments. Daniel's legs flew in every direction; his arms launched him forward, only stopping when he reached his goal. Charlie.

Every fear, "What if I scare Daniel with my mangled face?" "What if he's mad at me? What if everything changes?" All those fears melted away when Daniel launched himself into Charlie's arms.

"I missed you, Little Man." Charlie finally said after a few minutes bathing in the glow of holding his son after being separated for what seemed to be a lifetime.

The child buried his face in Charlie's chest, "I know, you told me in your letters. And Miss Claire told me in hers."

Charlie had no idea that Claire had been writing Daniel, and squeezed him tighter thinking of the prospect that Claire was reaching out and creating a connection with Daniel.

"Guess what, Dad?" Daniel asked excitedly. Normally, he would follow this up with a story about a cool bug he saw or something gross that Jason ate.

"What? Charlie eagerly waited.

"There's a ghost in Miss Beth's room!"

"Huh?" This was not what he was expecting.

Daniel nodded, "Yep, first it tries to escape, so it jumps on the bed making it creak. Then, when it can't get free it moans and cries like, "oh, oh, oh." Then, finally it screams "YES!" Because it got free and then everything is quiet. Sometimes it's a girl ghost and other times it's a boy ghost."

Despite all of his efforts, Charlie's smile peaked through. "Really? You think there's a ghost?"

A small finger tapped his chin, "It only shows up when Mr. Mark comes over."

Charlie coughed out a laugh, "Have you asked Miss Beth about it?"

The child shook his head, "No, I didn't want to scare her. She's not brave like I am."

"Oh, ok Little Man. Wanna go play the piano?"

"Sure, Miss Alex has been teaching me, I'm up to "Like a Diamond in the Sky." But she's not as good of a teacher as you are."

Charlie kissed the top of Daniel's head, "Thanks, lets get to work."

True to his promise made day's earlier Charlie spent the whole time with Daniel, until sleepiness started to take a hold of the child. Charlie got the child ready for bed, "You wanna read, Green Eggs and Ham?"

Daniel shook his head and pulled a piece of paper out of The Cat in the Hat book, "Can you tell me about this instead?"

Charlie wrapped his arms around the child and held the paper in front of them. In big block letters it said, "We Are All Looking Forwards To Meeting You!" Underneath there were little comments and pictures from the people who survived the plane crash. Charlie swallowed, he had seen people pass a paper around two days ago, but he didn't know what it was. He pointed to each picture and told Daniel a little bit about each person. "That's Jack, he's like a big brother to me." Claire had drawn some pictures of dinosaurs. Kate drew a dog, Locke drew a big turtle, but it was Hurley's picture that caused the giggles. It was a picture of a snowman and it was saying, "Stay cool, dude." But Sawyer had drawn a picture of a man rolling his eyes saying, "You idiot. The kid's been on a island for his whole life, he's never seen snow."

Charlie told Daniel stories about Sawyer and Hurley, which made the child laugh until he was exhausted. He kissed his child, shut off the light, closed the door and ran into the one person he had been avoiding all day.

Beth bit her lower lip, "Hey Charlie."

"Hey." His voice was flat, even and didn't show any emotion in particular.

"You look good," She tried to flatter him, "A lot better than last time, most of the bruising is gone and there's only some puffiness around your eyes."

"Yeah, I heal fast on this island." He muttered.

"Everyone missed you, the kids were going nuts without you."

"I missed them too."

She looked down at her shoes, "Are we going to be cool? I've apologized and I feel awful about the Daniel overhearing when I was talking about you."

Charlie cleared his throat, "We will be cool, in about thirty seconds," A smile crossed his lips, "right after I tell you about a ghost story." Charlie recounted the tale Daniel had told him. Beth's face was filled with horror and embarrassment, her eyes nearly watered. Charlie leaned in, "You want to be the one who explains that there are no ghosts, just some adults doing very naughty things to each other."

Beth swallowed, her words shaken, "So we're cool now?"

Charlie smiled and kissed her on the cheek, "NOW we're cool."

The morning was filled with the normal events. Charlie worked on the house for a little while, but his physical state hindered a lot of movement. But Michael and some other men had been working on the house while he was gone, so the progress was steady.

He met with Jacob before leaving to return to the beach. The meeting was longer than he expected, darker and far more serious. Jacob had laid out the fate of the entire island in front of Charlie and it wasn't pretty. The cards held death for the people on the island, death and little hope. Several plans were placed in front of Charlie and he was charged with the task of delivering the news to everyone. When the meeting was over, Charlie felt hollow inside.

Jacob slid an envelope towards Charlie, "Your debt was paid off nearly three months ago. I believe this is what you've been working for since then." He took it and put it in his pocket, as always he thanked Jacob for his time.

Charlie sighed as he trekked back to the beach; his mind was heavy with the thoughts of the fate of his fellow survivors. Maybe it was because he only looked out for Claire and Aaron that he has never really thought about the larger scope of the island. But in the matter of an instant, he held all the power on the island. He didn't like it. He preferred smaller responsibilities. His family, (not by any means is that small) he could get his head around.

Charlie did not handled confusion well, and there was very little about this situation he understood. When he couldn't understand the big picture, he focused on the smaller more intimate picture. A Norman Rockwell family portrait, but the images were blurry because the roles were never clearly defined. He sighed as if it was the air in his lungs caused this uncertainty and expelling it would shed new light on the subject.

It didn't.

He heard the crash of the water on the shore and broke through the tree line to find his home. Hurley was playing catch with Vincent; Anna Lucia was arguing with Kate, Sawyer was reading with Jo next to him. Jack and Locke were helping Eko with his church; Jin stroked his wife's swollen belly. There was peace in the chaos and confusion. Figures he would be the harbinger of destruction.

"Chahile?" Claire called to him, her smile bright and unknowing of the choice that lay in front of her. He turned to the voice and smiled weakly, "You know you didn't need to have big men with guns standing guard around my tent all night." In fact it was true, Jack and Locke stood guard around her tent the night before. She teased him as she leaned in and kissed him, "I missed you."

"I missed you, too." He admitted with her taste still on his lips.

"How's Daniel?" Her voice was as clear and bright as a bell.

"Fine, he missed me too." Charlie answers were devoid of any true emotion. She reached out and touched his arm, his eyes followed her hand. She didn't need to ask or speak, he understood.

It was time.

He led her back to her tent, he had not officially moved back in. In a calm and even voice he told her everything Jacob had told him earlier. He stroked her hand every time her eyes grew wide with terror. He handed her the envelope, "You have a decision to make, and it has to be yours alone. I don't know what this is," he gestured with his finger in the space between them, "and if we're just playing house, I should be no part of your decision making process." Her eyes started to water as she looked away, "You need to think about what's best for Aaron and yourself."

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Claire sniffed and her eyes teared. "You should tell Jack." She finally said.

"Are you going to be ok?" He asked softly.

She didn't answer.

It didn't take long for Charlie to wrangle together the people he felt needed to hear this bombshell, Mr. Eko, Jack, Locke, Sayid, Sawyer and Kate all meet in the Hatch, behind closed and locked doors.

All eyes focused on him as he bit at his fingernails and paced around the floor. Somehow he thought it would be easier because he had already told Claire. But with Claire he was able to her hope, this was different.

"The beach will not be able to support us much longer." Charlie announced. Questions were raised but he motioned with his hand to be quiet. "Come on, you've noticed it, we have to retreat farther into the jungle to get food, Sun's garden can feed two people. We won't be able to survive here. IF we stay here, we could die. We would have, maybe, if the members of the community hadn't traded the crates."

"Crates?" Locke questioned.

"Every eight to ten months five massive crates get air dropped down to the island. They are supposed to go to the Darhma staff, but since Darhma has split into two groups, The Dark Ones and the Community crates are also split. There's enough food and supplies in the crates to support 100 people for ten months. For twenty five years now, the breakdown has gone like this. The Community gets three creates (They have nearly 275 people living there and making them the largest group on the island) The Dark Ones get one create and as a gesture of good will, BlackRock gets a crate as well. Any questions?"

All the hands raised, Charlie ignored them. "As of a week ago, BlackRock and the Community were going to share their supplies with us so we can remain on the beach. However, with Alex leaving the Dark Ones and the new treaty being created, the Community will only be receiving two crates and the Dark Ones will get an extra crate. The Community cannot afford to share with us. BlackRock tends to have extra supplies and will be able help out the Community.

"Which brings me back to the topic of us; if the beach can not support us, we will have to either move on or," he sighed, "split up. Even with the strain on their supplies they should be able to help. BlackRock and the Community will be willing to take us in, but neither group could support all forty of us. If we divide our group in half, we could assimilate into the other two groups and live. It's a matter of surviving and thriving." Charlie stated gravely.

"It seems like the choice has already been made for us." Locke finally side.

Charlie shook his head, "No, it's a lot more complicated than that. For us to leave the beach it would mean we are giving up all hope of getting off this island. Of rescue. And as a friend of mine once said, "Hope is a very dangerous thing to lose here." But if we stay on the beach we risk starving to death."

"When do we need to make the choice?" Kate asked, uneasily.

"It doesn't need to be made right away, a week maybe. The kid's recital has been opened to the other groups on the island, sort of a meet and greet thing. For some reason the Dark Ones have declined their invitation." Charlie's voice was infused with sarcasm.

"You said, 'support all forty of us' there's more than forty." Eko questioned.

Charlie sighed, he hadn't told Claire the whole truth about her envelope but he felt these guys needed to know, "Claire was personally invited to live in the Community, she and Aaron will not count in the division of the group, if that's what she decides to do."

Jack sighed and asked, "When did you get the invitation?"

"Three months ago, the night of the sinus infection." Charlie couldn't make eye contact for a second. "This needs to a choice people make as individuals, each person will need to be able to live with their decision." He headed towards the door, "I've already made mine."

Claire was standing in front of the tent, her arms crossed, focused on the ocean, lost in her own thought. The setting sun turned the sky shades of red and pink. She heard his footsteps on the sand and glanced at Charlie.

"Where's Aaron?" He asked shifting his weight back and forth.

"He's going to stay with Rose and Bernard tonight. I want to speak to you and I didn't want him to hear."

Charlie sighed, the last time she did that they had a fight. He quickly surveyed his belonging in her tent, wondering if she would give him a chance to collect his belongings before she kicked him out again.

"Um ok." Charlie nodded, he wasn't sure where this was going but he knew it couldn't be good.

Her voice was harsh and sharp, "Charles Pace, I don't think I have ever been more insulted in my life. You don't know what this is?" She gestured in a similar way, "We're just playing house! Are you serious?"

"I'm sorry." He stated weakly.

Her voice increased in volume, "I can't believe you would even question our relationship, I love you, and I've spent the last month trying to figure out why you haven't told me you love me. The only logical answer I can come up with is that you didn't want to be like every other man in my life. You didn't want to tell me you love me and just leave. You're different and special, one of the many reasons why I love you. So what makes this even more insulting is thinking that I should make this decision on my own, like if you write yourself out of the equation, you don't matter in my life. Well that's just ridiculous! Listen I've had my life with you and without and against all better judgment I prefer it with you." She shoved the envelope in his hand, "You asked me to choose, between living on the beach or living in the Community. I don't care. I choose you."

Charlie blinked for a second. "You love me?"

Claire sighed, exasperated, "Did you miss out on everything else I just said? Because it was really quite nice, I spent all afternoon thinking about the correct wording and everything."

Charlie stomped his foot, "NO!"

"What?"

"No, this isn't how it supposed to happen. I was going to tell you on a starry night. I was going to get more peanut butter, bread, a nice dinner. It was going to be perfect. THIS was not how I imagined it! No, it's all wrong and nothing about it is perfect." He threw his hands in the air and flailed them around like it made some sort of difference in the situation.

Claire's smile was brighter than the nightly fires starting to form on the beach. "You wanted perfect? That's not gonna happen. This" she placed her hand on his chest, "is us."

Charlie's hand covered hers, "You really don't want perfect?"

She shook her head, "I would rather have you."

He blinked a few more times, "Wait, you love me." He repeated.

"Um yeah, I thought that was pretty clear."

His lips pressed firmly against hers, tasting her, holding her, one with her, "I love you too."

The morning cool wind brushed against Charlie's hair, he stirred and held Claire closer. His lips dance across her naked shoulder and make its way up her neck. Her cheek tightens as she smiled. His hands caressed her body, flesh on flesh. She moaned lightly and he kissed her lips to catch the rest it.

"Morning."

In the sleepiest voice, "Morning. That's was fun last night, we should do it again sometime."

He smiled, "I think that could be arranged. How are you feeling?" He questioned quietly, his fears hang in the air. His concern was that it had been a long time since she had any kind of activity and he was afraid Aaron's birth might have hurt her.

"Very well satisfied. You? How are your ribs?" She lightly touched his tender skin.

"You're worth it." He smiled, "It will be better when I'm at hundred percent, right now I am kind of chugging along at sixty percent health."

She bushed her hair from her face, "I was a little nervous." Both lovers were slightly concerned about their performance the night before.

He kissed her nose, "You were amazing."

"Yeah, we're pretty good at this, aren't we?" She laughed.

"We're never going to get anything accomplished." His voice matched her. Claire's stomach growled, indicating the time, "How about I go get our son," He became a little flushed saying the word "our", "and find some breakfast. You stay here and continue to be wonderful."

She blushed a little and laughed, "Sounds good."

Before breaking apart from his embrace, "Did I tell you today how much I love you?"

"Many, many times." Her voice matched her emotions.

He pulled on his pants and left the tent. Charlie stretched in the sunlight, feeling whole for the first time in his life. In the distant shore line he saw a figure stand and then run towards him. He felt eyes peering at him, although from where, he couldn't be sure. Then he heard a slow, loud clap.

Sawyer's face appeared out of nowhere, he continued his applauds, "That's was impressive. I always thought I was good, but DAMN!" He shook Charlie's hand.

The figure running towards him was Jack. Ah, Jack, a doctor before a dude, "Charlie how are your ribs?"

He shrugged, "fine."

Jack nodded, "good." Then he became flustered. "I didn't know, I mean, um, wow!"

Sayid walked by with a log, "See, this is the reason why Shannon and I went to a private part of the beach."

"Huh?"

Sayid stopped and pointed to the tent, "We sleep in tarps, they aren't exactly sound proof."

Charlie turned ten shades of red. "Oh god!"

Sawyer slapped Charlie on the shoulder, "You have nothing to be embarrassed about."

"You've raised the bar on the island freakishly high." Jack muttered.

He noticed other people starting to mill around staring at him, smirking. Claire emerged from the tent wearing Charlie's tee shirt, exposing much more of her legs then Charlie really would have preferred.

Kate called out, "Ladies and Gentleman, let's give the happy couple a round of applause." The beach erupted in clapping. Charlie covered his head in his hands.

Claire waved to the group, "Hi, my name is Claire Littleton and I'm kinda of slut!"

Charlie glared at her, and sighed deeply. Locke walked by, blushed and avoided eye contact with the couple, "Um, congratulations, no, this is great. And not at all weird for me to have two people I think about as my own children to be having loud passionate sex. No, it's great. Um, I have to go clean something now."

Claire rested her head on Charlie's shoulder when Jin stepped forward. His English was still a little strained but he attempted to say, "Here, this is for you." He handed Charlie a black square with a red x on it. Charlie's eyes grew wide and he also cried.

"Jin, do you know what this is?"

A devilish grin crossed his face as he nodded, "Red X, rare, expensive and the best."

Charlie flew into Jin's arms, hugging the man and thanking him. Jin pushed him away, "You're sticky."

Rose step forward, "I'm not giving you your child until you're clean. Go take a shower!"

She pointed in the direction of the hatch.

Charlie looked like he had been given ten million dollars and told to buy whatever he wanted in a vintage music shop. He grinned from ear to ear and nearly dragged Claire to the Hatch.

Hurley leaned into to Rose, "I think you should have told them to take separate showers."

Kate scoffed, "Yeah, like they would be the first to have sex in there."

Libby blinked a few times, "Do you think they teach seminars?"