Save Yourself for Me 3/3
Title: Save Yourself for Me 3/3
Authors: pacejunkie and sapphire_child
Rating: PG
Characters: Claire, Charlie, Desmond, Juliet
Spoilers: up to the end of season three with some speculation for season four
Summary: When Claire’s rescue helicopter turns out to be a ploy by a rogue medical team to do experiments on Aaron, it’s up to Desmond and Juliet to find out where she’s being kept and to save them both for the real rescue. But Claire and Aaron are not the only flight 815 survivors who are being held hostage there…
Disclaimer: Lost doesn’t belong to us - but Charlie may as well do so near enough is good enough eh? We’re not making any money, please don’t sue us, thank you and enjoy.
A/N: This started off as a bunny from sapphire_child but all too soon she lost her inspiration for it and came to her friend and fellow writer pacejunkie seeking help to get her groove back into the fic. Then, before we both knew it, it was a co-authored fic with a Desmond+Juliet side story! We hope that you enjoy it as much as we both enjoyed writing it :)
~*~
Part Three
Claire came to with a tremble of fingertips against her cheekbone. A quick glance at her surroundings showed her that she had fallen asleep - or had she passed out? - on Charlie’s shoulder.
He smiled at her, split lip and all when she met his eyes and then he moved his hand from her cheek to her shoulder.
He looked terrible. His face was covered in dried blood and one of his eyes was so swollen that he could hardly see out of it.
“Oh Charlie,” she breathed. “I’m so sorry.”
“Its fine,” he said dismissively but Claire could see the pain in his eyes. “Don’t suppose you could take your lovely head off my shoulder though could you?” Claire moved immediately, feeling horribly guilty when Charlie hissed in pain. “Not that I don’t like being cuddled into by a gorgeous woman,” he said, “but my ribs are bloody sore.”
Claire rolled her eyes. “Even when you’re in pain you still have the energy to be an idiot,” she said.
“You think I’m an idiot?” Charlie asked, his voice surprisingly harsh. Claire frowned at him, rebuked.
“No,” she amended. “I didn’t mean that. I don’t know why I said it.”
Charlie sighed, appeased.
“You’re right. Only because I’ve been in worse scrapes than this. Hell,” he chuckled. “I’ve died - what, twice now? I’ve beaten fate, gone through heroin withdrawal with only a handful of aspirin to help, nearly been eaten alive by a monster…”
“You must be about to run out of lives,” Claire observed and Charlie chuckled again before wincing and rolling over to spit out more blood. “Oh Charlie…”
“I’ll live,” he insisted. “I promise.”
~*~
The station was far, and they had had to camp for the night. The next day it was just a short journey and they were there. It was an aboveground structure with a central entrance and two wings. Desmond watched from the bushes and drew his gun.
“I think you should put that away for now,” Juliet suggested. “If I’m right about these people then they’re short staffed and they won’t be expecting us. I’ll probably be able to talk us inside.”
Desmond agreed and slipped the gun in the waistband of his jeans. “So do we just knock on the front door then?”
“Maybe they’d like to buy a magazine subscription?” Juliet joked and together they rose and went to the door. She opened it and they stepped inside. A man stood there, with a bandaged hand and a surprised expression.
“Juliet?” he said. “What are you doing there?”
“Ben sent me,” she said.
“Who’s he?” the man asked, jerking his head at Desmond.
“This is Desmond,” she said. “He has a gift Sam - one that might interest you.”
Desmond held his breath and tried not to look taken aback, but for an instant he was afraid. He wondered if this Juliet could be trusted after all or had she just handed him over to her people. In silence he stood, trying to determine his next move and decide whether to reveal he was armed.
“Does he now?” Sam said, suddenly interested.
He came closer and Desmond’s hand crept to his back, but just before his fingers found his gun, Juliet put her hand up to stop Sam. “Not yet. Ben brought us here to deal. There’s something you have that he wants.”
“And what’s that?” Sam asked. Desmond dropped his hands again to his sides.
“You’re keeping Claire Littleton here and her son Aaron. You had no right to take them. They’re part of Ben’s research and he wants them back.”
“Now why would we do that,” asked Sam, “when we need her too?”
“Because Desmond here can see the future,” Juliet said. “And if you give us Claire and Aaron, he’ll submit to be tested.”
~*~
They were sitting together on the floor but Charlie was having a hard time getting comfortable. He kept shifting and wrapping an arm around his ribs where they were sore. Claire watched him fidget and then spat on the sleeve of her jacket and scrubbed at some of the blood on his face. Charlie groaned and ducked his head.
“Christ Claire…I know you’re a mum but do you have to do that to me? It’s hardly dignified.”
“Just tidying you up a bit,” Claire said defensively. “You could use it!”
Charlie grumbled under his breath as Claire continued to clean the worst of the blood off his face but soon enough the grumbling gave way to winces of pain whenever she found a tender spot. There seemed to be a lot of them.
“I want to ask you something,” she said presently, “Why did you let me in to see Aaron if you knew that you were going to get in so much trouble for it?”
Charlie looked away. “I didn’t do it for you, I did it for Aaron. I could tell he missed you.”
“No you didn’t,” said Claire, shaking her head, “I don’t buy that at all Charlie.”
“Well, you asked,” he said defensively. “Sorry if you don’t like the answer.” He shifted a little, winced, and then subtly tried to change the subject. “I might lie down flat again.”
“Here…” Claire helped him slowly lower himself back down to the floor.
Charlie sighed in relief. “That feels a little better. I might end up choking on my own blood but at least my ribs don’t hurt.”
“I’ve got another question for you,” Claire piped up after a moment or two of silence, “if you don’t mind me asking that is.”
“Sure,” Charlie said, eyes closed. “It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do. I don’t even know if I can move to be honest.”
“Outside in the hallway,” Claire began slowly. “When you brought me back here again you…”
She paused when Charlie sighed in anticipation of her question.
“You were going to kiss me,” Claire said, all in a rush.
“That’s not really a question Claire,” He murmured.
“Fine,” she said stiffly. “Were you about to kiss me outside before they came?”
Charlie sighed more heavily - defeated. He opened his eyes.
“Fine. Yes,” he admitted. “Yes I was going to kiss you. Are you happy?”
“Why?” Claire pressed. “You told me that you didn’t think about me like that anymore!”
Charlie took a breath, steeling himself for what he was about to say.
“Falling in love with you was easy,” he explained slowly, “almost too easy. But trying to fall out of love with you - on purpose?” he shook his head. “That was next to impossible.”
“What are you saying?” she asked, dumbfounded. “Do you mean...”
“I love you. I could never have stopped loving you Claire. I’m sorry I had to lie to you - I never wanted to hurt you the way I have since we came here. But I couldn’t let on because I knew they’d use it against me. I just wanted to keep you both safe.”
“Charlie,” she said, smiling. “I knew it.”
“No you didn’t,” he grinned lopsidedly at her. “You’ve never been very good at figuring out when I was lying to you.”
“Well you’re a good liar,” she noted.
“It’s something I’m not particularly proud of but it does come in handy,” Charlie joked weakly. “From time to time, you know.”
Pushing himself up with one elbow, he tried to sit up again but the pain in his ribs was too much. Groaning, he lay back down, frustrated.
“This is bollocks!” Charlie complained. “I finally get the chance to tell you that I’m in love with you and I can’t even bloody well kiss you without being in excruciating amounts of pain!”
“Then let me,” Claire whispered and she leant down to touch her lips to Charlie’s. She could taste the blood that had stained his mouth, the faint remnants of his last meal as she deepened it slightly but when she did Charlie tensed and pushed her gently away.
“No,” he said. “You’re probably just feeling sorry for me.”
Claire sighed and sat back up again. “Charlie, when Desmond told me that you had died so that Aaron and I could be rescued…I felt so empty. It was all wrong; we needed you in our lives, a part of our lives. I don’t want you to hurt yourself anymore for us Charlie. I want to be the one to save you and keep you safe.”
This time Charlie didn’t resist when Claire moved closer. He fell apart beneath her as she kissed him, like the meat on an over stewed mutton bone. His muscles relaxed at her touch - It was the most incredible sensation that Claire had ever experienced.
“I love you,” she whispered breathlessly against his lips. “I love you Charlie Pace and nobody is ever going to hurt you again because of me. I promise.”
Charlie sighed, long and low, and then kissed her again, softly.
“God,” he murmured. “It feels like I’ve been waiting just about forever for you to say that. Now I’ll let you look in my pocket.”
“What?”
“Just do it,” he said. “The right pocket in my coat, but be careful, the walls have eyes.”
Claire leaned over and opened the pocket of the lab coat and looked inside to find what Charlie knew the man that had beaten him bloody had forgotten about.
The key card was still in there.
~*~
Sam left to pass Juliet’s proposal on to the others and as soon as he was gone Desmond hissed at her.
“What the bloody hell are you up to?” he said. “I’m not letting them put a hand on me.”
“Trust me,” she said. “I won’t leave without you. Just keep them distracted and answer their questions while I get Claire and Aaron. They’ll be so interested in you we’ll be able to walk right out of here without firing a shot.”
Juliet didn’t know what Desmond had been thinking, but they only had one gun and a one man commando troop wasn’t much of a plan. She knew he would realize that there was no other option but to listen to her.
“Fine,” he said. “But find them quickly and let’s get the hell out of here.”
Sam returned with another man and they were instructed to follow. They led Desmond to an examination room.
“You have thirty minutes,” Juliet said, “he’ll tell you anything you want to know. After that we take Claire and Aaron and we leave.”
The man nodded and Desmond went into the room, giving Juliet one last look. Juliet passed him a look of reassurance and went with Sam towards the holding areas. He opened a door and they entered into a smaller anteroom. Juliet looked around and finally at the smaller room within.
But all that lay before them was an empty cell with the door wide open.
~*~
He was in her arms again, back where he belonged. Claire clung to Aaron as she and Charlie raced down the halls, looking for a way out. She could tell that Charlie was in terrible pain by the way he was lumbering along like Quasimodo but she still had to keep up with him. They listened for sounds and peeked around corners, hoping like mad to avoid being seen.
They came to the end of a corridor when they heard shouts back in the direction of their former cell.
“They’re gone!”
“Find them!”
Claire gasped and Charlie grabbed the handle of the nearest door. Flinging it open he pushed her inside and then followed. He shut the door again and collapsed against it, nursing his ribs, feeling sharp pains with every breath. Charlie hadn’t even turned around yet when he heard a surprised voice in a clear Scottish accent.
“Charlie?”
It was Desmond, but he wasn’t alone. One of the other men was with him. Before the man could react however, Desmond regained his wits enough to pull out his gun and point it at him.
“You’re going to let us go,” Desmond ordered him, and then keeping his eye trained on the man he called over his shoulder. “Charlie is that really you?”
“Yeah, Des,” Charlie wheezed, “It’s really me. But I don’t think now’s a good time to explain how...”
“You’re right, brother,” Desmond said decisively. “Let’s get out of here.”
~*~
“Don’t worry,” Juliet assured Sam. “We’ll find them. You were handing them over to us anyway. They’re Ben’s problem now. They won’t get far.”
“Her friend was with her,” Sam told her. “Pace. He was working for us, but he helped her escape. We caught him earlier taking her in to see her kid. I gave it to him good too.”
Juliet stared, confused. “Charlie Pace?” she asked. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah I’m sure,” said Sam. “We fished him out of the underwater station. He was supposed to put Claire at ease while we worked with Aaron. I tell you though - the guy knows how to take a beating. If he walked out of here he couldn’t have been moving all that fast.”
“Okay, thanks,” said Juliet, “we’ll take it from here.”
Desmond was nowhere to be found so Juliet casually walked from the station and back out into the jungle. When the station could no longer be seen she stopped and listened for a sign.
“Desmond?” she called.
“Over here,” he responded.
A few yards away in the bushes they sat in a huddle - Desmond, Claire, Aaron...and Charlie. Desmond and Claire were smiling from ear to ear. Sam was right; Charlie had taken quite a beating. He was holding his chest, pulling short painful breaths. Juliet was surprised he had made it this far.
She knelt down and as gently as she could she prodded his ribs. She stopped when she thought he couldn’t take anymore. “You have at least one cracked rib, maybe two,” she informed him. “There’s not much I can do for it, and we’ll have to take our time going back. Make sure you don’t bend or lift anything.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Charlie said, wincing. “I don’t feel quite up to chopping wood at the moment.”
“No, it won’t be a problem,” said Claire, “because I’m going to help you.”
“We’ll all help,” said Desmond, giving Charlie a hand up. “We’ve got a rescue boat to catch.”
“Rescue?” Charlie said, amazed. “I can’t believe it! Des, you said I had to die for rescue to come!”
“That was what I thought,” he said, “but thank God I was wrong. You were supposed to do what you did so that you, Claire and Aaron could all be rescued together.”
Juliet offered to hold Aaron as they walked. She led the way back to the beach and they started off. Charlie smiled, and with Claire on one side of him and Desmond on the other, the future was turning out to be a dream come true.