she gives it to me plainly [lost]
Title: she gives it to me plainly
Fandom: LOST
Summary: Claire leaves Kate and Aaron and runs into three people she never thought she'd see.
Characters/Pairing: Claire, Claire/Miles, Ben, Cassidy
Rating: R
Notes: For Queen toestastegood for lostsquee 2010 Luau. She wanted "the future".
One.
Claire opens her eyes and glances around disoriented. She doesn't know where she is for a moment and clings to the dark coat in her lap while she gathers herself. At the first stop in hours, she gets off.
St. Louis, the driver says when she asks him where they are. Have good one. She rolls the city name over and over again in her mouth. There's a river here and she finds it, shocked at the mud and the grime. But it's a working river, she reminds herself. Barges and boats crawl along the murky water, playing a slow river song. Claire keeps it in her head and it lulls her to sleep in the dark motel room.
She's not surprised to see Miles at the diner where she gets breakfast. Judging by the look on his face as she slides into the seat across from him, he's not surprised either. Hey. He goes back to his paper, like this is normal.
For them, this sort of thing is normal.
Normal like him packing all her things and moving her out of the motel. This place is crawling with herpes viruses. I'm getting you the hell out of here.
Normal like him putting her up in his room while he crashes on the couch.
Normal like her making him sleep next to her.
Stop, he warns, but it's been too late since she walked into the diner. He's hard and inside her before he can really stop himself. And she cries, which he's never understood. He doesn't know what to say, what to do - so he comes and rolls over while she cries herself to sleep.
The next morning he puts her on a bus and kisses her hard. Go home to your son, Claire.
Her smile tells him she could never do that.
But it's sweet of him to try.
Two.
Claire makes a long, winding trip to Albuerquerque, and it's too close to California for her to feel good about it. Sitting at a truck stop, wolfing down the first meal she's had in days, the heats gets into her skull and makes her see Aaron scattered across the parking lot. Playing with toys and pushing her away.
It's all she needs to remind herself why she left in the first place.
There's a woman here she doesn't know, but Kate does.
Cassidy opens the door and shakes her head.
Kate said you might be 'round this way. She motions for her to come in, handing her a tea cup and beginning to boil water.
Claire wanders around the house while Cassidy makes tea and lunch, touching photograhs and dark wood, wondering if this is what it's like to be a normal mother. God knows she and Kate never managed it.
You're too thin, Cassidy says, setting down a sandwich. She pours tea. Claire is struck by the surrealness of it all. Why Kate would know she'd come here.
If she knows her so well, she knows Claire won't stay put very long.
She leaves a note in the night and starts hitchiking down the road. A woman at the truckstop offers to drive her to New York.
Claire digs in for another long haul.
Three.
She tries to give the woman all the money she has.
Listen, girlie, go find someone to take care of you for a while.
Claire knows that that's the last thing she needs.
Claire. A voice on her second day startles her. She's walking away from the women's shelter, feeling tired and achey. She's sure she's got a bug. The voice behind her is thin and warn down. Ben Linus is a thin and warn down man, though, but he's smiling with crooked lips and carrying a duffle bag over his shoulder.
Bug off, she snaps.
You need sleep. He points toward an apartment building. I'm here, for a while. She follows him because the nausea welling deep inside is threatening to choke her. In his apartment, she vomits in the sink, shivery. You're sick.
Claire sweats through the next few days, aware of Ben looking at her with narrowed eyes, aware of a doctor in the room, aware of cold water forced down her throat by thin hands that belong only to Ben. She wakes up cold, but well.
You had the flu. Bad. He hands her a broth. When he turns around it's gone. He fills the bowl again.
Why are you doing this?
Hugo said you weren't well. That you'd be here when I arrived. That I should take care of you. For some reason, Claire doesn't question this new order of things. It seems only natural. She notes to quieter tone of Ben's voice, the gentler step. The sarcasm is still there, and he's not so different. She imagines he was never really all that bad in the first place.
She remembers she's the one who put an axe in a man's gut.
Ben is often gone. But Claire feels no desire to leave. The apartment is comfortable and has few decorations. There's a painting of a woman, a small picture of his daughter, and a small cd player. The collection is thin, so Claire buys some more while she's out one evening. She buys food, too, and cooks something. Ben comes home, quiet as usual, watching her fumble around the kitchen.
I think you should stay here, he says at dinner, watching her inhale the food. Starving, still.
In the city? I like it.
No. Here.
With you? Ben laughs.
I have to go back, but when I'm not here, this place sits empty. You should stay. Claire looks at her plate, hunched over and feeling crooked all inside. You need to stay in a place for a while. Why not here? She nods and continues eating.
Ben leaves two days later, pulling on a coat and zipping his duffle bag. Claire places a careful kiss on his cheek.
Thank you.
The rent is taken care of. The-
I know. Ben smiles and nods, but he doesn't say goodbye. Claire stands in the stoop and watches him go.
For the first time since she left the island, she feels like she belongs somewhere.
Fandom: LOST
Summary: Claire leaves Kate and Aaron and runs into three people she never thought she'd see.
Characters/Pairing: Claire, Claire/Miles, Ben, Cassidy
Rating: R
Notes: For Queen toestastegood for lostsquee 2010 Luau. She wanted "the future".
One.
Claire opens her eyes and glances around disoriented. She doesn't know where she is for a moment and clings to the dark coat in her lap while she gathers herself. At the first stop in hours, she gets off.
St. Louis, the driver says when she asks him where they are. Have good one. She rolls the city name over and over again in her mouth. There's a river here and she finds it, shocked at the mud and the grime. But it's a working river, she reminds herself. Barges and boats crawl along the murky water, playing a slow river song. Claire keeps it in her head and it lulls her to sleep in the dark motel room.
She's not surprised to see Miles at the diner where she gets breakfast. Judging by the look on his face as she slides into the seat across from him, he's not surprised either. Hey. He goes back to his paper, like this is normal.
For them, this sort of thing is normal.
Normal like him packing all her things and moving her out of the motel. This place is crawling with herpes viruses. I'm getting you the hell out of here.
Normal like him putting her up in his room while he crashes on the couch.
Normal like her making him sleep next to her.
Stop, he warns, but it's been too late since she walked into the diner. He's hard and inside her before he can really stop himself. And she cries, which he's never understood. He doesn't know what to say, what to do - so he comes and rolls over while she cries herself to sleep.
The next morning he puts her on a bus and kisses her hard. Go home to your son, Claire.
Her smile tells him she could never do that.
But it's sweet of him to try.
Two.
Claire makes a long, winding trip to Albuerquerque, and it's too close to California for her to feel good about it. Sitting at a truck stop, wolfing down the first meal she's had in days, the heats gets into her skull and makes her see Aaron scattered across the parking lot. Playing with toys and pushing her away.
It's all she needs to remind herself why she left in the first place.
There's a woman here she doesn't know, but Kate does.
Cassidy opens the door and shakes her head.
Kate said you might be 'round this way. She motions for her to come in, handing her a tea cup and beginning to boil water.
Claire wanders around the house while Cassidy makes tea and lunch, touching photograhs and dark wood, wondering if this is what it's like to be a normal mother. God knows she and Kate never managed it.
You're too thin, Cassidy says, setting down a sandwich. She pours tea. Claire is struck by the surrealness of it all. Why Kate would know she'd come here.
If she knows her so well, she knows Claire won't stay put very long.
She leaves a note in the night and starts hitchiking down the road. A woman at the truckstop offers to drive her to New York.
Claire digs in for another long haul.
Three.
She tries to give the woman all the money she has.
Listen, girlie, go find someone to take care of you for a while.
Claire knows that that's the last thing she needs.
Claire. A voice on her second day startles her. She's walking away from the women's shelter, feeling tired and achey. She's sure she's got a bug. The voice behind her is thin and warn down. Ben Linus is a thin and warn down man, though, but he's smiling with crooked lips and carrying a duffle bag over his shoulder.
Bug off, she snaps.
You need sleep. He points toward an apartment building. I'm here, for a while. She follows him because the nausea welling deep inside is threatening to choke her. In his apartment, she vomits in the sink, shivery. You're sick.
Claire sweats through the next few days, aware of Ben looking at her with narrowed eyes, aware of a doctor in the room, aware of cold water forced down her throat by thin hands that belong only to Ben. She wakes up cold, but well.
You had the flu. Bad. He hands her a broth. When he turns around it's gone. He fills the bowl again.
Why are you doing this?
Hugo said you weren't well. That you'd be here when I arrived. That I should take care of you. For some reason, Claire doesn't question this new order of things. It seems only natural. She notes to quieter tone of Ben's voice, the gentler step. The sarcasm is still there, and he's not so different. She imagines he was never really all that bad in the first place.
She remembers she's the one who put an axe in a man's gut.
Ben is often gone. But Claire feels no desire to leave. The apartment is comfortable and has few decorations. There's a painting of a woman, a small picture of his daughter, and a small cd player. The collection is thin, so Claire buys some more while she's out one evening. She buys food, too, and cooks something. Ben comes home, quiet as usual, watching her fumble around the kitchen.
I think you should stay here, he says at dinner, watching her inhale the food. Starving, still.
In the city? I like it.
No. Here.
With you? Ben laughs.
I have to go back, but when I'm not here, this place sits empty. You should stay. Claire looks at her plate, hunched over and feeling crooked all inside. You need to stay in a place for a while. Why not here? She nods and continues eating.
Ben leaves two days later, pulling on a coat and zipping his duffle bag. Claire places a careful kiss on his cheek.
Thank you.
The rent is taken care of. The-
I know. Ben smiles and nods, but he doesn't say goodbye. Claire stands in the stoop and watches him go.
For the first time since she left the island, she feels like she belongs somewhere.