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So yesterday I bummed around, twas fun. Came on here, did my thing and then I had dancing at Shine for We Will Rock You, which started at 5. Lisa came and picked me up from there at 6:30 and we tonked off into Northbridge to watch the Offbeat Antics boys play. Because we got there hella early we walked back to the train station to buy soft drinks to keep us going and then when we came back they were starting to let people in - the only problem was that Kristie, Rachel, Linzy and I didn’t have ID and because the gig was at a licensed pub, they wouldn’t let us in. We however were under the misconception that if we had an 18+ with us we'd be okay but you know, apparently not. So we missed out on seeing the boys play which was shit because it'd have been nice for them to have some support yeah? Sigh.

So we parted ways. Lisa and I went back to Carousel to see a movie and decided on Underworld Evolution. I hadn't even seen the original but whatever, so we sodded off to McD's for a while because it started at 9:30 and ate Sundaes and other bad stuff and she said something or other and somehow I ended up on the incestuousness of my group of friends in high school. She pretty much sat there going "OMG! WHY HAVE I NOT HEARD ABOUT THIS BEFORE?!" and I was like "Well, you never asked me did you?" and then she got onto some of her own stories which weren't as twisted in some ways but she skimped on a lot of the details which I was glad for - really wasn't in the mood to hear about her sexual exploits.

Underworld was cool, nice and gory - something I don't do very often but it didn't squick me so much this time around. It probably would have made more sense if I'd seen the first movie but nontheless it wasn't bad. We only saw it because Geisha wasn't on - I'd much rather have seen that but the poxy cinema wasn't showing it. I found it rather amusing that there ended up only being six of us in the movie theatre. Edit: Oh oh! Lost!related moment as well! As we were watching the previews before the movie I was like "La la la la previews la la l-...OMGEMILIEDERAVIN!" they had the preview for "The Hills Have Eyes" - I don't really remember it that much, I was just squeeing loudly and grabbing Lisa's arm going "OMGITSEMILIEDERAVIN!" she was like *pats on head* "There, there." Quite funny.

And...that's really about it. It's bloody hot today, I'm sitting at home with all the air conditioners and fans on, blowing cold air around inside. I wonder what the temperature is...? *runs off to check* the thing outside says its about 35 celsius. Well there you go.

And what post on here of mine would be complete without a fanfiction? This ones safe for the whole family because its set in the first season so read it! *pokes RL friends on flist* and tell me what you think.

 photo ConfidenceMan-TheTimeBetween_zps775bdad1.png

Title: Confidence Man – The Time Between (Part One)
Genre: fluff
Rating: G
Spoilers: 1x08 Confidence Man
Summary: So I was re-watching Confidence Man a while ago now when I suddenly realised that between the first Charlie/Claire scene (where he brings her water) and the next (where they’re hanging out her washing) there’s a scene at the caves, (the one where Jack punches Sawyer to try and get Shannon’s inhalers back) which is at night time. Therefore, shouldn’t that mean that Charlie spends not only a day but also a night on the beach with Claire? And then they hang out washing the following day? The only excuse I can come up with to discredit this is that they jumped around with the time so that all the C/C scenes weren’t all clustered together which is just stupid and screws up the whole time distribution for the episode anyway. So I’m ignoring that completely =P. So this is my spin on the time between those two C/C scenes in 1x08 and I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah I know, it’s not mine.

~*~

‘When we get rescued,’ Charlie echoed, looking dubious. ‘Right.’

Claire looked down at her hands, resting lightly on her swollen belly as the full implication of his words made their impact on her and a rather awkward silence stretched between the two of them. Why did all their conversations seem to come to a standstill like this?

‘So what have you been doing with yourself the past few days anyway?’ Charlie said suddenly, fidgeting. ‘It’s been a while since I saw you.’

Claire rested her hands more comfortably on her belly; glad Charlie had broken the silence. He was right, it had been a while since they’d seen each other. She’d missed his company since he’d moved up to the caves; he was the only one who had really talked to her. Hurley had disappeared up to the caves with Jack – not that he’d said much to her after the first few days anyway – and Kate always seemed to be off doing something else.

So Claire had wiled away the hours writing in her journal or wandering the shore, loneliness causing her to talk more and more to her baby – something that wasn’t unusual in pregnant women but probably not to the extent she had been doing it lately. Charlie’s appearance of only a few minutes ago had been a most welcome surprise indeed.

‘Not a lot,’ she admitted, wriggling her toes in her shoes and wincing at the scrape of sand. Her shoes were absolutely full of holes, and had steadily filled with sand as the days passed. ‘I’ve just been walking around and writing in my diary a lot. Nobody really talks to me so...’ she trailed off feeling a little embarrassed. It sounded like she was trying to make Charlie feel guilty for not being around to talk to her...

‘Rotten sods!’ Charlie shook his head indignantly and Claire laughed out loud, any prior awkwardness swept away. Charlie grinned, but then he sobered slightly and looked earnestly at her. ‘Sorry I haven’t been around recently. I’ve been up at the caves a lot and it’s a fair hike there and back again.’

‘And yet you’re here now,’ Claire said teasingly, as she leant over awkwardly to untie her shoelaces. ‘Why is that?’

‘Probably because I missed having somebody around I could have an actual conversation with,’ Charlie grinned at her as she struggled to lean over her pregnant bulk to untie her shoes. ‘And I still haven’t forgotten what happened the last time you ran out of water. Do you want a hand with those?’ he indicated her feet.

‘Sure,’ Claire sighed and allowed Charlie to loosen the laces enough for her to slip her feet out, exposing her sand encrusted socks. Claire felt herself flush a little as she realised, mortified, that they were a pair of Powerpuff Girls socks she had borrowed from a younger cousin a long time ago and never had a chance to give back.

Charlie smirked. ‘Cute socks.’

‘Oh be quiet you,’ Claire pulled one off and hit him on the shoulder with it. ‘They were the only ones I could find that I hadn’t packed.’ They both regarded her pale feet for a quiet moment but Charlie continued to shift restlessly beside her and Claire glanced back up at him, bemused.

‘Do you want to go for a walk or something?’ she asked, trying not to laugh. ‘You seem very fidgety today...’

‘Oh it’s just the sand fleas,’ Charlie said a little too quickly. ‘But I’ll go for a walk all the same. Maybe we could hang out today…’ he paused to gauge Claire’s reaction. ‘…Or something…’

Claire nodded, feeling a little shy but pleased. She didn’t really know Charlie that well but he’d been so nice to her when she’d fainted the other day and, she reasoned, having some company wouldn’t be bad. It wouldn’t be bad at all.

‘I’d like that,’ she smiled genially at him and then tried to stand up.

‘Whoa, wait a second, here…’ Charlie leapt to his feet and offered her his hands, which she gratefully took. Charlie helped her haul herself to her feet. ‘There you go.’

‘It seems to get harder to get up every time I sit down,’ Claire laughed a little and put a hand to the small of her back as Charlie hid the water bottles from anybody who might filch them while they were gone. Claire directed their walk down towards the water and Charlie trudged through the sand by her side.

‘Mmmn. Your stomach seems to be bigger every time I see it,’ he offered in answer, eyes twinkling.

‘Oh I know!’ Claire clasped her hands around her enlarged stomach with some difficulty, hugging her baby. ‘And I’ve still got another month to go yet so I’m probably going to get bigger yet…’ at this, Charlie’s smile faltered a little and Claire peered at him. ‘What’s wrong Charlie?’

‘Oh,’ he glanced away, scratching his ear. ‘It’s nothing. I just…’

‘Do you think…’ Claire paused delicately. ‘That they’re not going to rescue us?’

Charlie hesitated before answering. ‘Well it’s just that it might take them a while to find us is all. I mean, we are in the middle of nowhere and all…’

Claire didn’t answer him. They continued to tread softly through the increasingly damp sand, Charlie continuing to mutter, almost to himself.

‘I mean what if they don’t come for say, another week? Or another two weeks?’

‘Well so what if they do?’ Claire asked. ‘As long as I get to a hospital in time to give birth I’ll be happy!’ she laughed a little, hoping to ease the tension and was pleased when Charlie smiled, if a little weakly.

‘I’m sure you’ll be at a hospital by then love,’ he said reassuringly. Claire was silent as they continued to plod along but then she saw his eyebrows knit together as he stole a coveted sideways glance at her belly. Is he worried about the baby? She peered pointedly at him and after a moment he returned her gaze.

‘What?’

‘You were staring at my tummy,’

Charlie tried hard not to colour but all too soon his cheeks were flaming. He was glad for his scrubby beard covering the worst of the embarrassment. ‘Sorry. I’ve never really been around anyone so…well pregnant before.’ he scratched his ear again, still looking slightly embarrassed. ‘And I’d hate for anything to happen to either of you.’

Claire laughed. ‘You don’t have to be sorry for being worried Charlie. I think its sweet.’

‘You do?’ Charlie perked up.

‘Yes,’ Claire grinned at him. ‘It is. It’s nice to know that there’s somebody here who actually cares whether or not we’re okay.’

Charlie seemed to cheer up quite a bit after that and the two of them walked for a long time, back and forth along the beach, just out of reach of the waves. They were just on their way back up the beach for some water when a wave suddenly chased up the sand and hooked the two of them around the ankles. Claire lost her balance and for one horrible moment she nearly fell but then Charlie’s hand flashed out and grabbed her elbow, steadying her.

Glancing up at him, a little surprised at the quickness of his reflexes, Claire couldn’t help but smile her thanks. A moment later she began to laugh as the water began to tickle at her ankles. Charlie joined in with her laughter as a second wave rushed all the way up around their knees. They staggered together as it washed back out again, holding each other around the elbows so they didn’t fall.

Once the wave had receded Charlie stared down at his soaked-to-the-knees jeans and waterlogged Vans then back up at Claire and quickly took his hand from her arm, obviously afraid that he may have overstepped some sort of boundary. Claire only laughed again and tugged his sleeve to get him moving back up the beach again.

‘Come on. Let’s go get a drink and put your shoes somewhere to dry.’

~*~

Once Charlie’s Vans had been placed in the sun to dry and they had re-hydrated themselves, Claire felt the need to wander down the beach and collect shells. Of course, her limited mobility meant that Charlie was the one who did most of the work, chasing after shells like a mad thing as the tide pulled them back out to sea whilst Claire collected them in her hat.

Just before midday they retired to her shelter, a few pieces of wreckage linked by a flimsy tarpaulin, a washing line and boasting two of the airplanes seats.

‘I love what you’ve done with the place,’ Charlie glanced around and patted the curving wall of one of the engines. ‘How’d you manage all of this?’

‘Oh,’ Claire pushed a strand of unruly blonde hair behind her ear and then began to explain, a little falteringly. ‘Well…there were some other people here before…they did most of this…and I asked if I could share with them and they said I could…but then they kind of left one day and…well they’ve made themselves better shelters I guess because they never came back.’

Charlie glanced at his hand, twitching against the engine and shoved it into his pocket, flexing his fingers nervously. ‘Oh.’

Claire frowned to herself for a moment as if puzzling over why the other people would have vacated right after she’d shown up asking to share with them but then she smiled blankly at him and sat down and Charlie joined her, glad to be moving on from the previous conversation.

Together they huddled in the shade, drawing patterns in the sand as they chatted idly and sipped at their precious supply of water. Charlie dotted his pictures with the shells they’d found and then tried to throw them back into the waves from where they were sitting.

‘Don’t do that,’ Claire protested, laughing. ‘After we spent so long collecting them all…’

‘Shells are meant to be in the ocean,’ Charlie shrugged. ‘It’s where they came from and where they belong.’ He idly picked up a palm full of them, picking out a white one and handing it to her. ‘Here, look – it’s a Claire shell. What do you think?’

Claire turned it over in her fingers, smiling. ‘It’s lovely.’

‘There might be a Charlie shell in here somewhere too if we’re lucky…’ he began to paw through their somewhat diminished collection and after a moment, pulled one out triumphantly. ‘Aha! Here we go…’

Claire took the shell he offered her and felt her brow furrow in amusement. The shell was, as shells go, quite ugly. It was the kind that swirled into a perfectly flawless spiral, flecked in browns and whites. She ran a curious fingertip across the bumps and nobbles on its surface and then lay it on her palm.

‘What do you reckon?’ Charlie peered thoughtfully at the two shells, one in each of Claire’s palms. He pointed at the brown one. ‘That ones definitely me. It’s certainly ugly enough.’

‘The outside of it’s not that pretty,’ Claire agreed and then turned it over so that he could see the pearlescent shimmer inside. ‘But take a look at the inside.’

A grin touched at the corners of his mouth. ‘Are you agreeing that I’m ugly?’

Claire flushed furiously. ‘Of course not!’

‘Well at least the insides not so bad,’ Charlie admonished, sweeping a hand across the sand to erase his drawings and pushing the remaining shells away. He smiled as Claire curled her fingers over the two shells and then leant back against a cushion. ‘You look tired love.’

‘Mmmn,’ Claire folded her hands comfortably on her belly. ‘I am a bit. Carrying around an extra person can get pretty exhausting sometimes.’

Charlie nodded thoughtfully then glanced at his watch. Claire felt her stomach drop several notches. Was he leaving already? She sat up a little straighter – she didn’t really want him to leave, not when she was actually smiling and laughing for the first time in days.

‘Well I shouldn’t keep you awake if you want to nap,’ Charlie said sagely. ‘It’s getting a bit late and I dunno ’bout you but I am absolutely famished.’ He glanced up and down the beach then back to Claire. ‘How about I see if I can’t find something for us to chew on? You can stay here and have yourself a bit of a rest – no sense in you exhausting yourself anymore yeah?’

‘Would you?’ Claire said, more than a little dumbfounded. ‘Would you really?’

‘Yeah, course,’ Charlie shrugged like it was the most natural thing in the world to trot off to find some lunch for someone he’d barely known for more than a fortnight. ‘Like I said, we can’t have you tiring yourself out. You just relax a minute yeah? I’ll be back soon…’

He was on his feet in an instant and walking away before Claire had managed to master the power of speech again. ‘Charlie…’ he turned back, a look of questioning puzzlement on his face.

‘Yes love?’

For a moment Claire considered blurting out the bubbling stream of consciousness she was currently having, that she was enjoying his company so much, that she was so pleased to have found someone to talk to…

But why on earth was he being so nice to her when everyone else had done their best to ignore her?

Instead she kept it simple.

‘Thank you,’

Charlie grinned.

‘No problems. You just hang in there okay? Have yourself a bit of a siesta. I’ll see what I can’t find in the way of food.’

As he padded off Claire leant back against her cushions and sighed, closing her eyes. She tried so hard to keep a positive outlook but now, after Thomas, there was always, always that niggling voice at the back of her head saying what does he want? Why is he talking to me? Why is he being nice to me? It wasn’t that she thought he was after her for sex (she felt far too pregnant for that now anyway) and he hadn’t been anything other than friendly and considerate and genuinely concerned for her wellbeing – as well as the wellbeing of her baby.

As Claire mused to herself, one of the other survivors walked past, a woman, not really much older than Claire herself really. Claire smiled brightly at her, hoping to get one in return but the woman only looked uncomfortable for a moment, gave her a timid, half smile that didn’t reach her eyes and then hurried away.

Claire felt like she’d been slapped. A hiccoughing sob worked its way up her throat but she swallowed it back down again swiftly. Crying wouldn’t solve anything she told herself but nevertheless, she felt several tears push over he lower lids. She wiped them away angrily and, trying not to feel too wretched, she turned as far onto her side as her pregnant bulk would allow and curled up in the relative cool, determined to sleep her worries away – at least until Charlie got back.

~*~

‘Oh!’

Charlie glanced up at Claire, surprised out of a rather long and rambling narrative about his intense dislike of seagulls to find Claire, pale-faced and biting her lip, one hand on her stomach, the other holding her half eaten banana.

‘Claire?’ Charlie leant forward a little, frowning as she shut her eyes and took several slow, deep breaths. ‘What’s wrong?’

Her eyes opened again and for a moment she stared through Charlie as though he wasn’t even there but then she smiled again and Charlie calmed down considerably.

‘It’s just a contraction – a small one. They kind of happen sometimes.’

‘That’s when the muscles all tense up isn’t it?’ Charlie guessed and Claire nodded, still staring at her stomach as she ran her hand over the full swell of it. ‘You’re not going to go into labour on me are you?’

Claire looked up quickly and laughed. ‘No! Not just yet anyway. I’ve still got a month or so to go, and like I said, contractions just kind of happen sometimes…oh it’s woken him up now…’

‘Him?’

Claire looked up from her stomach. ‘What? Oh!’ her eyes and smile grew wider. ‘I never told you did I?’

Charlie smiled at her amusedly. ‘Told me what?’

Claire sat back, smiling contentedly as a cat, her hands still on her belly. ‘I think it’s going to be a boy.’

Charlie blinked. Several times. ‘Okay. And how do you know that?’

‘I don’t,’ Claire shook her head and her eyes went down again. ‘I just kind of…know.’

‘Well you’d know best I suppose,’ Charlie shuffled himself around to get comfortable but couldn’t help but notice her hand, rubbing that same spot on her stomach. ‘Is he still moving about then?’

‘A bit,’ Claire rolled her eyes. ‘He moves around quite a bit actually, it’s very distracting when you’re trying to have a conversation and you’ve got this thing swimming about inside you.’

Charlie laughed out loud and then tentatively extended a hand.

‘Can I…? I mean, I’ve never…what does it feel like?’

Claire barely even hesitated before taking his hand gently and guiding it to her baby’s foot. Charlie seemed very reluctant to touch her too much, preferring to touch just his fingertips to her stomach, but as he did so, the baby inside moved quite suddenly and he nearly leapt out of his skin. ‘Bloody hell!’ Claire giggled as he snatched his hand away. ‘I felt it move!’ he gabbled, amazement etched in every feature of his face. ‘Right under my fingers!’

‘Yeah,’ Claire tried not to sound condescending. ‘Babies will do that Charlie.’

Charlie eyed her stomach warily. ‘I don’t know if I want to touch it again…that’s really…it’s not…I mean, that’s not how I imagined it’d feel.’

‘Well what were you expecting it to feel?’ Claire said, amused.

‘I dunno,’ Charlie frowned but his mouth was curved into the slightest of smiles. ‘Just not like that.’

Claire grinned at him then just as suddenly bit her lip as another contraction hit her. She sucked in a sharp breath and frowned deeply.

God…there’s not usually this many in a row…what if I do end up going into labour here? And with Jack up at the caves…

Claire shut her eyes hurriedly and concentrated on her breathing – she was barely aware of Charlie’s worried voice until she felt his hand barely brushing her own, the one that was clenching and unclenching the towel beneath her.

‘Do you want me to get help?’

Claire shook her head quite firmly and then after a moment, opened her eyes. Charlie was looking more worried than ever and Claire felt a twinge of guilt at having made him so anxious and she smiled encouragingly at him, hoping the anxious look on his face would dissipate.

She’d had contractions in the last week or so of course, but only small ones. Even so, she’d not had anyone there to help her through those and she was grateful for the comforting warmth of Charlie’s hand on hers now – even though under normal circumstances she probably wouldn’t have felt as comfortable with it.

Charlie smiled back at her, if a little nervously, and patted her hand gently. It wasn’t until five minutes had elapsed after her contractions had stopped that he finally deemed the situation safe enough to run off into the jungle for a few minutes to go to the loo.

While he was gone, Claire nestled herself more comfortably away from the late afternoon sun and pulled her diary out of her bag. Having grown bored of its company – and having had Charlie to substitute as a conversation partner today – Claire was surprised at herself as she flipped the small book open to the most recent entries and put pen to paper.

Obviously she had something she wanted to say.

Today I realized I really like Charlie.

There's something about him that's
just so adorable. and sweet

Even in a scary place like this
Charlie makes me feel safe.


Second half up soon!

Date: 2006-02-21 02:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] watchasifall.livejournal.com
Aw, that was great! Can't wait for Part 2 =D

Date: 2006-02-21 03:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sapphire-child.livejournal.com
hee! I felt like such a fangirl realising the whole time-between thing but it really works ay? thanks for r/ring!

Date: 2006-02-21 04:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] watchasifall.livejournal.com
Heh, being a fangirl is good ;)

And yes, it does work.

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