Chapter Eleven

Sometimes it requires a girlfriend to convince a man his clothes are wearing out, and today Sayid had forsaken his favorite singlet—what was left of it—for a less practical but more complete button down shirt. He was glad of it now as he approached Claire where she had just recovered an adventurous Aaron from the surf. In the process, her white t-shirt had been drenched. It was still early in the morning, and the settlement was just beginning to stir with life. Sayid surmised Aaron must have bolted from the hut at the crack of dawn, because it was now quite apparent that Claire had merely thrown on the shirt with nothing underneath. He struggled, but failed, to direct his eyes to Claire's face as he removed his shirt.

"Are you going for a swim?" she asked him as she eyed his naked chest.

"No." He extended the shirt towards her. "You might want to wear it back to your hut, until you can get changed."

She followed his gaze downward and saw the reason for his offer. She let out a quick gasp, grabbed the shirt from his hands, and threw it on. "I didn't realize…" She looked in his gleaming eyes and said with affectionate reproof, "But apparently you did."

As Claire buttoned up, Sayid redirected his attention to Aaron, who was again toddling toward the surf. He corralled the child with one arm.

"Aaron's always running ahead of me. He's way too young to be moving that fast." Claire's voice sounded frazzled. It had obviously been an early and difficult morning.

"Well, he was walking at nine months." Sayid lifted the boy and deposited him on his shoulders. "Allow me to walk you to your hut. You should go back to sleep. I will watch Aaron."

Claire glanced at him with weary gratitude. As they began to return toward the huts, she said, "I wish I could get him to mind me a little better."

"He merely requires a little discipline." As soon as the words were out, and her eyes began to shift lividly in his direction, he realized that it had been precisely the wrong thing to say. Even if it is true.

"So you know all about raising kids now, do you? What, you think I just let him run wild?"

Sayid considered his words carefully. "I know nothing of raising children. But I know something of headstrong and rambunctious boys, having been one myself. Or so I was told."

To his relief, she smiled. Perhaps his caution had placated her. He could hope.

"I can believe it," she said. "The headstrong part anyway. It's hard for me to imagine you being unruly."

He chuckled softly. Securing Aaron's legs with one hand to make sure the boy did not slip from his shoulders, he took Claire's hand with his other. "If you approve, I would like to take Aaron fishing today. Jin is taking the raft out on the lake, and Aaron could help us."

"Help?"

"He could watch." Sayid squeezed her hand. "What do you say?"

She glanced over at Sayid with a strange expression. He would have thought it was conniving, if it had been on the face of anyone but Claire. "I think it's a good idea," she said. "It'll be good for…both of you." Before she turned her gaze away, he noticed her appraising his bare torso with unrestrained appreciation. It wasn't quite fair, he thought, that she could do so with impunity.

Patience, he commanded himself. The waiting makes it better.

Jin did most of his fishing in the ocean, but occasionally, for the sake of variety, he sought out the less plentiful freshwater fish in one of the interior lakes on the island. Jin still used a net for this task, but Sayid had fashioned a fishing pole for Aaron, who delighted in tossing it in the water, leaving it for approximately three seconds, and then ripping it back.

"Noise, movement—too much," Jin said solemnly. "No fish today."

"We will take him back in half an hour," Sayid conceded. "Let him have his fun for now." He believed the boy could benefit from a steady male influence. Sayid never would have said so to Claire, but Aaron was, in fact, a bit rowdy, and she did sometimes seem to let him run wild, so that he often found his way into the surf, or rummaged through some strange berry patch, or stumbled into an open hut. Under his watchful eye, however, Sayid was certain the boy would behave himself better. The Iraqi had stated the rules of conduct for their outing to Aaron clearly and decisively, and he knew that the primary thing required to make Aaron more compliant was a definite sense of authority. With that unwavering presence securely in place, there was no doubt that—

The sound of splashing water rudely interrupted Sayid's reflections. How had the boy managed to leap, undetected, from the raft? His heart beating with sudden fear, Sayid plunged into the lake and recovered Aaron quickly. The child was gasping and sputtering until he was safely returned to the raft, and then he began crying. This, fortunately, only lasted about two minutes.

Sayid, after recovering his breath, shook his head in bewilderment. "I explained to him he must remain near me at all times."

Jin laughed with closed lips, the sound reverberating in his throat and mouth and causing his chest to rumble. Finally, he spoke. "Toddler. No reasoning, Sayid. No reasoning."

Aaron looked from one man to the other. Then he looked back at the water. The boy stood up quickly. "Do again!" he yelled.

"No!" exclaimed Jin and Sayid in unison.

When they returned to the beach an hour later, Aaron's clothes had not yet dried. Sayid had hoped they could play in the sun for awhile, and Claire would be none the wiser. But she intercepted them just as they returned, took one glance at her son, and asked, "What happened?"

Sayid looked sheepishly at the sand and nudged the boy forward. "You are a long-suffering woman, Claire," he said. "Aaron is fortunate to have you for a mother."

Claire hugged Aaron against her legs. "Mhmm," she said with mildly curved lips. "And did you learn a lesson today?"

"Fish!" Aaron said.

"I wasn't asking you. Sayid?"

Sayid humbly met her gloating eyes. "Yes."

She released Aaron and kissed Sayid briefly but solidly. The kiss was chaste, as their kisses always were in the presence of Aaron, but she teased Sayid with a quick thrust of her tongue before pulling away, turning to the boy, and shouting, "Chase you!"

Sayid watched them run off together and slowly followed. Her laughter floated back to him, and the sound buoyed his spirits. Not long ago, Claire had been nothing but a friend. He had thought well enough of her, but why had he failed to notice just how tolerant she was, how kind, how beautiful, how…enticing? He quickened his pace to catch up with the pair.