1Disclaimer: Oh, how I wish I owned Lost… But I don't, sadly.
Summary: Boone and Locke have found Claire in the forest. She can't remember anything that happened, but with a little help from Charlie, she might be able to clear up the blurryness. One-shot. Kinda ClaireCharlie, and kind of my idea of what might happen in Homecoming.
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Claire sat huddled in front of the fire in the caves, a blanket wrapped around her. The firelight reflected in her pale eyes as she stared solemnly at it. She couldn't remember. She wanted to remember, she wanted to remember so badly, but she couldn't. It was all a jumbled, blurry mess that she couldn't make sense of. Blurry is bad? Blurry is bad. Where was that from? Claire didn't know. They told her that she had been on a plane to L.A. that had crashed on this island. They told her she had been kidnapped, and no one had even been sure that she had been alive.
Claire didn't remember anything before Boone and John had found her in the woods.
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Claire heard something… voices. Whose voices were they? She pushed her hair out of her face and kept walking.
"Vincent?"
Who was Vincent? Claire moved toward the voices. She hadn't seen another person since… she didn't know. She couldn't remember anyone. Maybe if she found someone, it would bring something… anything back to her memory. All she knew was that she was in a forest. Where and why, she didn't know. Claire made her way through the forest, pushing branches out of her way.
"Claire?" a balding man asked, stepping toward her.
Claire backed up, looking nervously from the man to a younger, dark haired man next to him. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
"She doesn't…" Boone looked at Locke nervously. "It's me, Boone," he said, turning back to Claire. "You remember, don't you? And this is John Locke."
Claire shook her head. "No. I- I don't know you."
"Amnesia," Locke commented. "What do you remember, then?"
"Nothing." Claire shook her head again. "I was in the forest… and then I found you."
"That's all? You don't remember anything else?"
"N- no. I don't know what's going on, or where I am or why or anything. I don't know!" Claire was on the verge of tears.
"It's okay," Boone said reassuringly. "We're here to help you. We'll take you back to the caves. We can get you some water, and something to eat, and you can sit in front of the nice, warm fire."
"How do I know I can trust you?" Claire asked, stepping back with a suspicious look at them.
"You don't," Locke admitted. "But it's either coming with us or walking aimlessly through the forest… and there could be anything out here."
Claire thought for a moment, but she really had no choice. "Okay. I'll come with you."
Locke smiled. "Good. Boone will take you back to the caves. I'm going to keep looking for Vincent."
Boone nodded. "Okay. Come on, Claire." He took a few steps and waited for her to follow. He didn't want to scare her off… She had already been kidnapped and probably almost killed. Boone didn't want to be responsible for chasing her off into the forest for her to get lost again.
Claire stepped forward tentatively.
"Come on, Claire. You don't know how happy they're going to be to see that you're still alive. And that you haven't had the baby yet. Especially Charlie."
"Charlie." Claire said it softly, slowly, as if trying it out. She knew that name. Claire wasn't sure where she knew the name from, but she decided that this was a good sign. She followed Boone to the caves in silence.
Once they got close, Boone was tempted to yell out, but he was worried that he would scare Claire, who already seemed frightened enough by her situation. Instead, he hurried ahead of Claire. "Jack. Charlie," he said, waving Claire over to him.
"What is it? What's going on?" they asked, rushing over.
One simple word said it all. "Claire."
"Oh my God," Charlie said softly, seeing Claire step forward. He had missed her, wanted her to come back so much, of course… but he hadn't realized quite how much until he saw her again. Her face, her eyes, her golden curls, her bulging stomach… The baby was still alive. "Claire…" Charlie ran up to her, embraced her. "You're okay. My God, you're okay."
"She doesn't remember anything," Boone said. "She said all she remembered was being in the forest, and then Locke and I found her."
"But she's okay?" asked Charlie, turning to Boone and Jack, a worried look on his face.
"She looks alright to me," said Jack. "Just a little scratched up. I should probably put something on those scratches though, just to make sure. Charlie, why don't you get her some water?"
"Y- yeah, okay," Charlie ran off to get a water bottle as fast as he could go as Boone and Jack led Claire to the cave where Jack kept all of his medical supplies.
"How did you find her?" Jack asked. "And where's Locke?"
"We were out looking for Vincent," Boone told the doctor. "And she came out of the forest. Locke's still out looking for Vincent."
Over at the waterfall, Hurley looked curiously over at Charlie. "Whoah, dude, what're you in such a hurry for?"
Charlie tightened the cap on the water bottle he had just filled. "Claire's back," he told Hurley before running off again.
"No way, man…"
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Jack had put something on her scratches; Charlie had brought her water and a blanket. They, along with a few others Claire wasn't sure of, had told her the story of the plane crash, that she had been kidnapped by someone named Ethan.
And now Claire sat in front of the fire, scared and shaken and not sure what to think. She didn't even know if she could trust these people, though she had a feeling she should. There was something familiar about them, especially Charlie. If only she could figure out why.
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"She has the same look on her face that Charlie did after we found him," Jack said to Kate, who had come over to the caves when someone had run over to the beach to give them to news that Claire was back.
"But at least Charlie remembered who we were, the plane crash… Claire can't remember anything."
"We've got to do something. I highly doubt Ethan would just let her go. She must have escaped. And if that's the case, he's going to come after her again," Jack shook his head. "Not to mention the fact that she's due to have the baby soon." He sighed. "This is not good."
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Charlie looked over at Claire, wondering if he had looked like that after Jack and Kate had found him. He wanted to hold her, comfort her… But she didn't even remember who he was. Charlie remembered the diary. She had said that she liked him, he remembered with a smile. Maybe the diary would help jog her memory. Not just about him, of course, but about everything. Charlie got the diary out of his bag where he had been keeping it.
Locke had returned with Vincent, much to Walt's delight. "What've you got there?" Locke asked Charlie.
"Claire's diary. I think… maybe if she reads it, it'll help her remember what happened."
"Good idea. Help her remember things from her own point of view, not just the way we tell it to her," Locke said, nodding. "Where's Jack? I want to talk to him."
"Over there," Charlie pointed to one of the caves, then walked over to Claire and sat down beside her. "Here," he said, holding out a small book.
She looked curiously over at him. "What's this?" she asked, taking the book.
"It's your diary," he told her. "I thought it would help jog your memory."
"Thanks," Claire said, managing a smile, which Charlie returned. She opened the diary and began to read. Maybe things wouldn't be so blurry after all.
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A/N: Well, that's the end. Reviews would be great!