I'll Be There

I’ll be There
End of Season 3
Sawyer, Juliet, Hurley, Desmond, Sayid, Jin, and Bernard, the beach party, had just been reunited with the group at the radio tower. The beach party shared Charlie’s message, “Not Penny’s Boat” and the fact he died, with the radio tower group. Claire took the news of Charlie’s death the hardest. No one really knew how to process any of the information; but Sawyer, Desmond and Sayid were skeptical over who the “rescuers” really were. The rescuer’s helicopters were overhead readying to land when BOOM! The radio tower blew up, crashing one of the helicopters. The other one landed roughly, seemingly damaged at that time. Mass confusion broke out.
As the radio tower blew up, the percussion from the blast knocked several people to the ground. Pieces of debris from the tower were falling; one piece hit Aaron and Claire. Within seconds, Claire’s world went from black, with the news of Charlie’s death, to a shattered red, as blood covered her baby’s head and her arm. She heard Sayid calling Jack. Someone was screaming, “My baby”. Was that Juliet and Hurley running toward her?
Hurley had been knocked to his knees by the blast. Nearby Juliet fell flat. Hurley was helping Juliet up when Sayid started calling for Jack. Hurley and Juliet looked at each other and without saying a word, both headed over to Claire and Aaron. Sayid gladly handed over Claire and Aaron’s care to Juliet and proceeded over to help out at the downed helicopters.
“Let me check out Aaron. I think you are injured too.” Was Juliet speaking to Claire? The screaming and crying was so loud, Claire was having difficulty focusing on what Juliet was saying.
Juliet found a large cut on the baby’s head and Claire’s left arm also had a large bleeding gash. Juliet looked at Hurley who was standing by helplessly muttering, “I’m not going to faint. I’m not going to faint.” “Claire, let me have Aaron for just a minute so I can bandage him up and check him out.” Juliet spoke calmly while looking at Hurley, saying “Help me” with her eyes. Hurley took the cue and moved in to assist. “Come on Claire, let Juliet have the baby.” Hurley said out loud; all the while thinking to himself, “I’m not going to faint. I’m not going to faint.”
Juliet placed a cloth on the gash on Claire’s arm and put Claire’s hand on it to help hold the cloth in position. Claire turned and Hurley was right there. Leaning into him, bloody arm and all, Claire rested her cheek against Hurley’s chest and watched Juliet care for Aaron while whimpering, “My baby, my baby….”
Hurley just stood there at first, more worried about fainting, than the fact that Claire was leaning against him needing support and comfort. Hesitating at first, Hurley put his arm around Claire and gently patted her back. He turned his head away from all the blood, knowing Aaron would be fine in Juliet’s care.

Taking a few deep breaths made him feel better and he responded, “Aaron will be fine. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Claire felt Hurley’s chest move under her cheek, his voice was soothing, Aaron was quiet now. The pieces of Claire’s shattered world came back together. Juliet had bandaged Aaron’s head and was checking out his little arms, legs, eyes and ears. Juliet smiled at Claire and said, “I think he’s going to be just fine.” She brought him over to Claire. Giving Juliet a questioning look, Claire leaned over and kissed Aaron’s bandaged head. The baby was still fretting a bit. “Hurley, would you mind watching Aaron?” Juliet asked as she handed the baby to Hurley. “Come on Claire, you need that arm bandaged up. I need some supplies from Jack’s bag. Come with me, it will be quicker that way.” Juliet took Claire’s good arm and led her away. Obediently, Claire followed but looked back to see Hurley holding a fussy Aaron like Juliet had just handed him a fish Jin had caught.
“Hey little dude, you want your Mommy. Believe me, I get it. But you’re stuck with me till she gets her arm taken care of, so…….Let’s make the best of it.” He put Aaron in the crook of his arm. “Let’s go for a walk around here and try to stay out of trouble.” Aaron was still fussing. “And if you don’t stop that fussing, I’ll have to sing some James Brown to you dude……….”
Claire came back with her arm bandaged. “Thanks for watching Aaron.” She took the fussy baby from Hurley. Biting her lower lip and looking down, Claire apologized, “and……sorry I was so much trouble earlier………I sorta just lost it.”
“Forget it. I’m glad I didn’t faint.” Hurley smiled, put his hand on her shoulder, and gave it a squeeze. “We’ll make it through this.” Picking up his backpack, he went to see how he could help out over at the helicopters.
“Are you a hungry boy?” Claire cooed to Aaron, as she settled down to feed him. She had told Rose she was going to a secluded spot behind a couple of trees to nurse Aaron. It was good to be away from everyone and spend this time bonding with her precious son; although, with the quiet came thoughts of Charlie and how different and lonely it would be on the island without his quick smile and easy going laugh. Claire took this brief, still interlude to begin grieving for him.
The sound of footsteps approaching brought Claire out of her thoughts. Figuring it was Rose, she let Aaron continue his meal. “Hey, the group has decided to head……back………..to……..” Hurley stopped in his tracks, his jaw dropped; he quickly turned away. “Dude……….I’m sorry….I saw…..”
Claire couldn’t help smiling as she covered up and put Aaron over her shoulder. “I was just feeding the baby.” She stood up and approached Hurley’s back. “It’s …”
Hurley startled, not realizing she was right behind him; he put his hand up to cover his eyes.
“Aaron’s done eating. It’s okay to turn around.” Claire smiled charmed by his akward politeness.
“Everything’s …….covered?” Hurley questioned.
“Yes, Hurley.” Claire was still grinning and rolled her eyes.
Hurley put his hand down and slowly turned, peeking to see if the coast was clear. Obviously extremely embarrassed, Hurley was having trouble making eye contact. “Uh…..the group decided to head back to the beach with the rescue party. We are leaving in like 15 minutes. I wanted to see how I could help you.”
“Thanks Hurley, I’ll grab my backpack and you could help me carry Aaron some of the time.” Claire started back to the group.
“Yeah……uh……sure. Oh, I have some extra water for you.” Hurley added as they headed to get her backpack. Claire smiled at Hurley. It was bittersweet remembering how Charlie used to bring her water before Aaron was born.
The trip back to the beach was uneventful. Hurley and Claire hiked companionably together, mostly quiet in their own thoughts, switching Aaron back and forth between them.
Dark was quickly approaching as they got back to the beach. Hurley walked Claire to her tent. As Claire settled a sleeping Aaron in his cradle, she felt something hard and pulled Charlie’s Driveshaft ring from the covers. Without thinking, she turned with it in her hand to show Charlie what she had found and then remembered he wasn’t there.
“What’s that?” Hurley moved in to see. Claire just stood there, hand out, her eyes filling with tears. Seeing Charlie’s ring, Hurley understood that there were no words for the raw, deep grief they both felt at that moment. Reaching for each other, Claire put her arm around Hurley’s neck, buried her face in his chest and sobbed. Hurley just held her until her tears ran out, neither of them knew how late into the night that was.
The sun rose the next morning, everyone ate breakfast, chores needed to be done. Island life continued only now there were the “rescuers” in the camp. Hurley came to help Claire with the baby, taking Aaron for walks down the beach with Vincent tagging along. They started having meals together; Hurley could even coax Aaron into eating all his oatmeal or mashed fruit. Changing nappies remained Claire’s job though, Hurley knew his limits. After a few days there was talk around camp of everyone moving to Othersville.
One evening, while Sun and Jin were watching Aaron, Claire walked down the beach to a secluded area, sat down, and watched the sun setting over the ocean.
I can’t believe you aren’t coming back. I wanted you to always be here for me and hoped I could count on you. I told you I wouldn’t give up on you. But I never said thank you for being there for me . I am so sorry. You were here for me, you kept coming back but now, you can’t.
I never told you this, but all I ever wanted from my Mom was for her to be there for me. I never thought she was because we were so different. She wanted things for me that I didn’t care about. When I was 17, there was a car accident and she was hurt real bad and ended up in a coma. After I lost my Mom, I realized too late how she had been there for me. I spent my next birthday alone at her bedside. Couldn’t even light the candle on the cupcake I bought because of all the medical equipment. I made this birthday wish four years ago. If anyone was ever there for me, you know, someone I could count on. I promised that I’d thank them and let them know how much I appreciated them. It was too late to tell my Mom. And now I messed up again; I never told you. Thank you Charlie.
Claire was sitting on the beach, hugging her knees, when she saw Hurley coming. He sat down next to her. For a few minutes they just watched the sun sink into the ocean in a companionable silence. Hurley nudged her shoulder with his shoulder. “You okay?”
Claire tucked her hair behind her ear and turned to look at Hurley, “No, but I will be. Had some things I needed to work out.”
Hurley raised his eyebrows, then smiled. “Sun says the little dude needs his mom.” Hurley leaned forward to get up.
“Wait.” Claire put her hand on his arm. She moved her hand to his cheek, closed her eyes, leaned in, and kissed him, a soft, warm caress on the lips. Hurley responded, giving back what she had sweetly offered. When they broke apart, Claire bit her lower lip, looked down and said, “Thanks, Hurley.”
“Uh, shouldn’t I be thanking you?” Hurley was searching her face.
“No.” Claire looked up, their eyes meeting. “Thank you for being there for me. I’m so glad I can count on you.”
Hurley got up and offered Claire his hand. They walked back to camp, hand in hand, not needing any words; the sound of the surf was enough.