Jack stormed down the beach, slamming into the back of Locke before he even noticed that he was there. He flipped Locke over onto his back and started to throw punches. Jack could barely even see, only half of his punches connecting, but for each that was his stomach unclenched a little bit more and his mood lightened.

Locke tried to get up and Jack shifted more of his weight down to his legs, pinning his victim down further. His vision was clearing and out of the corner of his eye he saw a figure running before he felt arms link around his waist, pulling him away.

Jack tried to fight against his captor as Locke stumbled up, rubbing his eye as his lip bled. The struggling only succeeded in causing the arms around him to tighten even further.

"Calm down Jack. Calm down now!"

Jack's mind registered Sayid's voice and the rest of the world came into focus around him. People were standing around them, some looking dumbfounded, some excited and others repulsed. He struggled again.

"Calm down!"

He took a couple of deep breaths and felt his body relax, his limbs stop fighting, but despite this, Sayid kept his grip around him.

"If I let you go will you attack him again?"

Jack wanted to say yes; that he had wanted to ever since Locke had put him in charge, convinced him to become the island leader. "No."

Slowly he felt Sayid's arms unclasp, freeing him. He stumbled a couple of steps away and his gaze once again fell upon Locke, who was standing perfectly still, watching him, obviously afraid that Jack would lose control again.

"Do not do it Jack."

He snapped his head around seeing Sayid and sighed, guilt and regret washing over him about Charlie's condition. He felt that he should have been there to stop it, should have somehow realised what was going to happen and stopped it. "Whatever," he almost growled the word and began to walk away from the crowd; he needed to get away from them, from everyone. He needed to find a way to relax now, otherwise he would not be able to for days.

"Are you okay?"

For a moment he thought that Sayid was talking to him and he felt his mood lift slightly. Nobody ever asked if he was okay, they just assumed that, because he was the one who fixed everybody, that he never needed fixing. He was the one who cheered people up, so he never needed cheered up.

"John? I asked if you were okay."

He heard Locke sigh heavily, "I'm fine, no damage done."

Jack cursed under his breath and made his way to the tree-line. Sayid had managed to worsen his mood, and he probably hadn't even realised that he had done so. He disappeared into the jungle, thankful that the trees were hiding him from the crowd that he knew were questioning what he had done.

"Kate?" Claire watched as Kate came out of her daze, starting, "you okay?"

"Yeah, fine. Just a bit worried about Jack."

Claire couldn't understand why Kate was worried, as far as she knew there was nothing wrong with Jack, he would be upset about Charlie but she couldn't think of anything else.

"Yeah."

"How are you coping? You know… with…."

"Fine," she knew that she said it too abruptly, answered to mechanically. "Hey Kate, are you able to go down to the beach, check on Aaron for me?"

"Of course," Kate reached out a hand that hovered near to Claire's shoulder and Claire looked at her questioningly, not sure how to react. Kate withdrew her arm to her side, looking slightly embarrassed. "Are you sure," she lowered her voice, "you can be here alone?"

"I can cope, I'm just worried about Aaron; I'm not used to being apart from him this much."

Kate left and Claire got herself a drink before she went to sit down next to Charlie again.

"Hey, what were you talking to Kate about?"

"Just getting her to check up on Aaron. Sun's watching him at the minute."

Charlie's face furrowed in confusion for a moment, "why don't you just bring him down here?"

Claire didn't want to admit it to him but that was the last thing that she wanted to do; she wouldn't trust Charlie within ten feet of her child, the last time they had been united was when Charlie had abducted him and remembering the fear she had felt made her skin come out in goose-bumps.

"No, you know what? He needs the fresh air."

Charlie nodded, obviously satisfied by the answer and Claire had to struggle not to breathe out a sigh of relief.

"You could go and be with him; I don't mind if you leave Claire. I'm not going to do anything!"

"I want to stay," she accidentally rushed her lie and hoped the Charlie wouldn't notice. She tried to talk again, making a conscious effort to make the words come out slowly and tenderly. "I want to look after you Charlie, I want to be here."

His lips twitched into a small smile and she felt proud of herself, she had managed to improve his condition, and that meant that she was edging ever closer to being able to leave him.

A/N: Thank you for all the lovely reviews and constructive criticism.