Never Alone

An hour passed as Charlie and Claire laid under the stars talking about anything and everything. Claire's head lay on his chest listening to the raspy sounds of his breathing. Charlie held one hand behind his head as he gazed up at the stars as the other one gently rubbed circle's on Claire's back.

"Do you ever think we'll get rescued?" She asked looking up from the angle she was laying.

"Yes love, I think you'll be rescued very soon"

"You'll? You act as though you aren't included."

"You don't have to worry about that, love. I'll never leave you…promise."

She smiled softly as she looked back up at the stars. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah…like you"

"Charlie, stop that!"

He laughed at her humbleness. "Hey, Claire?"

"Yeah"

"What do you think heaven's like?"

Claire inhaled slightly as she thought about the question. "Like here"

"This island?"

"No" She said with a small smile. "This moment"

Charlie smiled at the thought of lying under the stars with the most beautiful girl he had ever seen…forever. Without the others, without the fears, without the dawn coming to wisp it all away.

"One can only wish"

"Charlie?" She asked after a moment. "Why are you so worried about heaven?"

"What?"

"I mean you don't appear to be religious, but you act like you are. Asking about heaven, going on about baptism, building a church, and I'm pretty sure you didn't want to break that Virgin Mary statue. Even if you truly hadn't known what was inside"

Charlie's smile changed quickly. He truly hated that he had lied to Claire about the statue in the first place.

"I use to be…I use to be an alter boy if that even sounds believable"

Claire knew something was crushing Charlie inside. "What happened to you?"

Charlie was still in a bit of confusion himself about what had happened.

"It was suppose to be about the music. He said…He said we would walk away if it got out of hand"

"Who said?"

"My brother…Liam"

Charlie had completely forgot that Claire didn't know anything about him before the crash. He felt like he had known her forever. Like she already knew everything about him.

"So…things got out of hand?"

"Yeah…things were getting out of hand before we even had a contract…I was going to tell him I was through the same day he told me we had been signed…He told me I was the band and that I would only be thinking of myself if I left…Liam always did have a way with words. So, I agreed…But only under one condition…If things got out of hand, we'd walk away"

"Is that what happened? Did you walk away?"

Charlie laughed slightly. "I wish that was what had happened…We we're doing pretty good on our tour…I wrote the songs, and Liam sung them. Of course the only person people recognize is the lead singer…So, he misses rehearsal, again. I go to find him and he's in the back room with some groupies, getting high. That was the last straw for me. I tell everyone to get out and then I told Liam the band was through."

He then looked at Claire.

"Believe or not…I use to be a good person"

"You're still a good person" She had moved closer while he was talking. She could tell he had been hurt a lot in his past and needed someone to believe him. That's all he ever needed was someone to believe in him. He had moved his hand from the back of his head and grabbed her hand that was laying on his chest.

"He laughed in my face…Said 'No one even knows who the sodding bass player is.' That if I wasn't in the band. I was no use as a person"

Claire looked at Charlie with sympathy. She had no idea what all he had been through. "He doesn't sound like a very good brother"

"Yeah, well…I trusted him more than anyone in the world, and even though I knew he was high and he didn't mean it…I believed him. And I don't know what I was thinking when I walked over to his chair or when I took out his heroin. But I cried, and it took the pain away"