"I'm gonna go check on Charlie," Jack says to me, inside the hatch. We've just finished out shift.
"No, let me," I say.
Jack gives one of his "ha, ha"s. "Why?"
"Because I can give stitches and he likes me more than you."
"Excuse me?"
"Tia's right," Locke says from inside the armory. "Charlie will be more willing to listen to her. She spends more time with Claire and the baby than you do, Jack."
"Fine. Just make sure he doesn't do anything like that again," Jack says.
"Will do." I walk over to Locke in the armory. "What are you doing?"
"I took these from Charlie. Seems he had a whole stash." He's pulling out those Virgin Mary statues from the Beechcraft.
Aw, crap. "I guess I owe Claire an apology. I thought for sure he wasn't using again."
"I don't think he is," Locke says, placing another on the shelf. "I just think that Charlie felt he needed to have it close."
"Alright. I'm gonna head to the beach. You got the button?"
"Yes I do."
There's a deep gash on Charlie's face. I bend down to get a better look at it. "You need stitches," I say, sitting down and grabbing thread and a needle from my pack.
"I started the fire, Tia," Charlie says, guilt-ridden.
"Yeah, I figured."
"I was desperate. You and Locke wouldn't let me near her. She—,"
"Charlie, I couldn't let you near her. You weren't yourself. She didn't want you around her. Aaron is her baby and she needs to do what she thinks is best for it. I need to know you're never going to do anything like this again. Ever."
"I know what this looks like, what people think. It doesn't matter now, but I didn't use. I wanted to. I really wanted to. But I didn't."
"That's not what I asked, Charlie."
"It's not going to happen again," he says. I dab his wound with peroxide then slide the needle through his cheek as he grunts with pain.