A/N: So, this is my first fic! I wrote it a while ago and only now I decided to post it. I hope you like it :D

DISCLAIMER: Lost isn't mine, insert legal stuff here.

Take You Away

Charlie sat on his couch watching TV. The late night talk shows were boring him as always. Today some random celebrity talked about their new movie and was occasionally interrupted by the host's lame jokes. Charlie felt like all of these shows had a formula. Well, he knew they did; he'd been on many; but seeing it every day made it look more obvious. Overanalyzing TV shows... that's how most of his nights had gone by since the rescue.

Since he last saw her.

He sighed. The commercial break showed a glimpse of the new special "detailed" story about the Oceanic 815 crash. Yeah, what did these people knew? Nothing at all. Nothing about the monster, nothing about the others, the withdraws... Claire.

God, Claire... he missed her. He missed imaginary peanut butter, walks on the beach, helping her up when she was pregnant, the few moments he spent with Aaron... everything they did together.

But it's been almost a year. It's not like he'll ever see her again. That didn't mean he didn't want to. Ever since he lost her during the airport madness he'd been trying to track her down, with no avail. When he finally found a clue, he moved to Australia to find her. That was three months ago. Still no sign of her.

He sighed once again. Thunder sounds woke him from his daydream. It was pouring outside. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Charlie looked at the clock on the TV: 23:15. Who could be at this hour? Certainly it wasn't the pizza guy, or Liam; the only two people who knew for sure that Charlie lived here. Maybe it was someone looking for the previous resident of the flat? He opened the door and in front of him stood the last person imaginable

"Claire?"

She was soaked, Aaron asleep in her arms – my, he was huge!

"Can I stay here for a couple days?" Charlie then noticed there was a bag on by her feet. She looked at him with pleading eyes. There was something different about them – darker perhaps. "Please?"

"Yeah, sure. Come in." Claire grabbed her bag and practically ran inside. Charlie closed the door behind her.

"Lock it."

"What?"

"The door. Lock it."

"Why? It's a safe neighborhood."

"Just... please, Charlie." He locked the door and she released a breath she didn't know she was holding. A silence followed. All you could hear was Claire's teeth clashing with the cold. Charlie noticed that even after all this time he still wanted to just wrap her in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay. But of course, he couldn't do that.

"Uh... do you want to take a shower? And put on some warm clothes?"

"That would be very nice, thank you." He led her to the bathroom while showing her around his small flat.

"I'll take Turniphead while you shower."

She smiled for the first time since she arrived "He has a name, Charlie."

"I know, but I didn't have enough time to get used to it." He grinned and took Aaron from her "Now you just make yourself comfortable while I make us some tea."

A while later, after Charlie waited for the water to boil, he sat on the couch in front of the TV. Aaron stirred and opened his eyes. The baby looked at Charlie with curiosity. He reached out and grabbed the brit's nose. Aaron smiled and giggled. "Hey, Aaron. You are so big! Last time I saw you, you were this tiny little baby... now look at you, all grown up!" Charlie continued to play with the baby until he saw Claire standing by the couch's end. "Oh, I didn't see you there."

"I just got here," she explained "I think the tea is ready." She sat down on the couch.

He handed Aaron back to her "I'll go get it."

Soon, he returned and gave her her tea. "So, how are you doing?" He asked.

"I've been... well, it's complicated." She sighed "How have you been?"

"It's been boring for me lately. No monsters, no polar bears, nothing to do..." Claire laughed a little "How did you find me?"

"The phone book. You're on it."

"Why did you come here?"

She hesitated "Why don't we leave that story for another time?"

Charlie suddenly remembered when he said similar words to her. Now he knew how she felt. He didn't like it. He wanted to know why she was here, after all this time. But he couldn't push her. He'd been looking for her for so long, now that she was here, he couldn't let her get away.

And whatever happened was scary enough to bring her to me, he thought to himself. "Okay. It's getting late, anyways. Let's go to bed."

Charlie woke up with screams coming from the spare bedroom. It was still dark outside. He ran to it, only to find Claire crying, shaking and breathing heavily. "Claire, are you okay? What happened?" She ignored him, instead choosing to get up and sooth her son, who started bawling soon after the screams started. She had no success, seeing as she was just as nervous as the baby. Charlie came up behind her "Let me."

She handed Aaron to him and soon he stopped crying. Charlie put him down on the makeshift crib they improvised, made out of pillows. "So, you want to tell me what happened?"

"Nothing. Just a nightmare," she said, trying to calm herself down.

"Was it about... there?" He asked, sitting down next to her on the bed.

"No."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

She looked at him, uncertain. She was scared, but there's no reason to involve Charlie in this mess. He was such a sweet guy... Letting her stay without demanding a reason. For that, she was glad. "No."

"You want me to stay up with you?"

"No, no. You don't have to worry about me. It was just a nightmare. It wasn't real." Charlie noticed she was trying more to reassure herself than him. Once again, he decided it was best not to push her.

"Okay. If you need anything, anything, don't hesitate to wake me. I'm right next door."

"'Kay. Thanks, Charlie."

He got up to leave "Yeah, no problem." He looked at her one more time to make sure she was fine. She faked a smile and he left.

"It wasn't real," she whispered once again and stayed up until the sun came up, absolutely terrified to close her eyes.

A/N: Love it? Hate it? Indifference it? Please tell me what you think!