Part Three

Claire and Kate were working in the laundry area together, doing their best to get their family's clothes clean. The survivors didn't have much by way of cleaning products, but the supply drops that happened every few months usually included some form of detergent, which they improvised with to handwash their clothes. No-one minded, though, as the time it took to wash clothes kept them occupied, and gave something to think about. Also, scrubbing stains out of clothes by hand was a good punishment for errant children, as they'd learnt from experience. But for the adults it was an opportunity to catch up, and talk, and share gossip.

Right now, the only occupants of the laundry were Claire, Kate and Alex, though she was working alone and off to one side. This left the two friends time to talk.

"I had the nightmare again last night."

"Oh no… are you all right?"

"Yeah, I am now. It just felt so real, like I was really back there…"

"You will be okay, you know. Eventually, you'll be okay, and the nightmares will stop."

"You think so? Because I'm having difficulty believing that right now."

Kate put down the top she had been cleaning, and gently lifted the skirt her friend held out of her hands, making Claire face her. "Hey, you'll be okay. We all care about you, Claire, we're all here to take care of you. You've got Des, and me, and Sawyer and Jack and Rose and everyone else, and you've got your kids. You'll get through this."

"I guess I will… I'm glad I have everyone here though, I don't think I'd make it by myself."

"Well, luckily for you, you don't need to think about that, because that will never be the case. We'll always be there for you."

Claire smiled weakly. "I know." Then she picked up the next piece of clothing she had to wash. "I'm grateful."

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Jack was working in his little medical centre - a far cry from the well-stocked hospital he had once worked in, but more than he could have hoped for. Since the Truce, the Others had agreed to let them have some of the medical equipment, and they shared the drugs and first-aid gear that arrived with each supply drop.

At the moment he was inventorying the supplies, to see how much they had left and whether it would last until the next drop, which was due in a couple of weeks. He was so absorbed in his work that he didn't register Desmond's arrival.

"Hello, brother."

"Oh, Desmond, I didn't see you come in."

"You seemed pretty intent on what you were doing."

"I was just doing an inventory, that's all. Was there something you wanted?"

"I don't know how much you can do… I'm worried about Claire."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She still has the nightmares… about Charlie, you know? I always reassure her afterwards, and make sure she knows I'm here for her, but recently it just seems like the nightmares are happening more and more often. It's almost every night now."

"I really don't know how much I can do… I have a few sleeping pills she could take.."

"No offence, but I don't really want to fill her up with pills. That won't help her get over it."

"Um… when she had amnesia, she recovered from that after Libby hypnotised her… maybe ask Libby to help? She was a psychologist once, she might be able to do something."

"Yea, that sounds like it might actually help.. thanks, brother, I'll do that."

"No problem."

As Desmond walked away down the beach looking for Libby, Jack smiled to himself. When he had first found out about Claire and Desmond being together, he had been worried for his younger (half-)sister, because she was quite a bit younger than Desmond, but the last few years had shown him that he really was taking very good care of Claire.