I do not own any of the Lost characters that are featured in this story, nor do I have any connection to the show. I only watch and LOVE it.

Hope you enjoy!

HEARTS GROW FONDER

CHAPTER 1------ Wounds To Heal

The other survivors noticed the change in Charlie everyday. He hadn't been himself ever since the day he was hung on that tree. He would talk, but the love and passion in his voice was gone. That was because she was gone, the one person he kept his voice strong for. Claire was still missing. Sure they still looked for her and it had only been two weeks, but everyday the search party came back without her, the pain grew stronger in his eyes. Charlie sat there staring into the jungle everyday, hoping that Claire would just walk out. It was a false hope.

"Dude, how about you help me fish, it will help you get your mind off… of things." Hurley said trying to break Charlie's cold stare at the jungle. Charlie didn't move,he didn't even flinch.

"Charlie, dude, you got to do something. Claire wouldn't want you to do this to yourself."

"Please Hurley, just leave me be."

Hurley walked away feeling a sense of defeat, showing so by shaking his head at the ground. As he walked, he glanced back at Charlie and then at the jungle. He reached the sandy beach where Sun and Jin sat in silence. He then turned back to look where Charlie sat, again. In that moment he decided he wanted to help Charlie in a different way. Hurley went to see Kate.

"Charlie." Jack called out to him as he approached. This time Charlie turned his head to meet the eyes of the caring doctor.

"We are headed out again. I thought you might want to come with us. Charlie closed his eyes then opened them and said, "Yeah, um… alright. I'll be there in a minute." He managed to murmur.

Jack turned towards the small group of people that he had gathered to look for Claire. Charlie heard Jack tell the others the usual safety precautions, and say that Charlie was going to come over in a minute or so. Charlie took that as his cue to walk over. He once again had to tear himself from the same place he had sat for a week now. The place he stayed to be alone, but he knew his time would be better spent looking for Claire. As Charlie met the group, he saw a bunch of nervous faces, but the same kind eyes. The group consisted of Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer, and of course Charlie. Locke and Boone headed out together towards the west end of the island. Jack's group headed to the north.

"So, where to first Dr. Do Good?" Sawyer asked with a flashy grin.

"We are going back to where we found Charlie. I think we should be able to find it." Hurley stopped as the others walked on, then stopped and came back to him. "You think?" Hurley asked with a slight smile and the raise of his eyebrows.

"Okay, I know." Jack said to him. "You aren't just saying that are you Hero?" Sawyer said with a questioning look. Jack started walking again, and then turned and gave them a "lets get going look". "I didn't think so," Sawyer said with a triumphant grin. "Kate knows," Jack said turning to meet her eyes. Kate walked past Jack and yelled out to them, "lets get moving, we should be close." They went on avoiding branches and roots and making to much noise.

" Its up this hill." Kate announced to the group. They climbed up the hill being careful of the unsteady ground. As they reached the top of the hill, Jack and Kate exchanged a subtle look. They were standing beneath the same vine they had saved Charlie from. When Charlie realized where they were, he focused his attention on the ground.

"Who rained on your parade Freckles?" Sawyer asked looking at her curiously. Kate gave him a nervous look.

Jack looked at Charlie and said, "This is where we found Charlie. They hung him."

"Jack is a good doctor," Kate said to get the point across.

"You rock dude." Hurley said with a laugh.

"Can we keep going? It is going to get dark and we need to find Claire." Charlie said.

"Charlie's right, we need to remember why we are out here. Let's keep going." Jack said.

They continued through the jungle seeing little signs of life.

"Too bad you took that gun Freckles." Sawyer said with a smirk.

"Why?" Kate asked nervously.

"We could meet another god damn polar bear." Sawyer said with his grin widening.

"Great, not only do we have to worry about a huge monster and Ethan, but now we have to worry about killer polar bears?" Hurley said starting to freak out.

"Calm down Stay Puft, we don't need you slowing us down with your worrying." Sawyer said in a reasoning tone. "Let's just find Claire and get out of this Fantasy island Jungle."

"Dude, do you see what I see?" Hurley asked.

"It's a cave Stay Puft." Sawyer said in an impatient tone.

"Yeah dude, and caves have bats." Hurley said not daring to move an inch.

"There couldn't be bats in there, they wouldn't survive." Jack said shaking his head.

"Yeah dude, and since when do polar bears become the most likely to live on a tropical island." Hurley said raising his eye brows. Then they all heard a sound that made them hope, it sounded like crying.

"Claire must be in there." Charlie said running towards the cave. All of them chased after him, until he came to a sudden stop. They walked up to him, wondering what made him stop so suddenly. Kate walked slowly to Charlie and put her hand on his shoulder. She turned her back to the cave, so she was facing Charlie.

"Charlie, what's wrong?" Kate asked caringly tracing his face with her eyes.

"It's him." Charlie said staring at someone or something.

"Who?" Kate asked in a worried tone.

"Ethan." Hurley said seeing the object of Charlie's stare. Ethan saw them and walked up slowly.

"Where is Claire?" Jack asked him.

"I thought you would have learned from my first threat. I told you I would kill one of them, and I did or at least I thought I did.

"Well, you thought wrong dude." Hurley said in a cold tone.

"You just had to keep following me. How about I keep my word." Ethan said pulling out a knife. "By the way, thank Mr. Locke for me. This knife will become very handy in a moment." Ethan lunged at Charlie. Sawyer through Ethan down and stepped on his hand. Ethan screamed out in pain and dropped the knife. Sawyer took his foot off of Ethan's hand, and he watched as Ethan tried to stop the pain in his hand. Ethan stood up holding his newly injured hand.

"You shouldn't have done that." Ethan spat out.

"And why is that Tarzan? Freckles has the knife you don't." Sawyer said shaking his head tiredly. Ethan laughed and looked at Charlie. He pulled out another blade, with a cover over it. Ethan removed the case and never broke eye contact with Charlie.

Kate returned to see the new blade and cold stare of Ethan's. Jack and Hurley stood twenty feet from Ethan, and Charlie and Sawyer were only ten away. Ethan looked at all of then one by one, until his eyes landed on Charlie again.

"You want to know where Claire is, but that would ruin the fun." He said trying to make Charlie angry.

"If you hurt her, I will kill you." Charlie said, trying to make Ethan back down.

"What's the matter Charlie? Are you still upset that you weren't man enough to protect Claire? You can't stand the fact that I have her all to myself all the time? Tell me Charlie, do you think you will ever see your precious Claire again?" Charlie walked straight up to Ethan and looked him dead in his eyes. They were face to face with each other. Charlie forgot all about the knife, so it was easy for Ethan to take his knife up and pierce his left lower abdomen. Charlie walked backwards in shock and looked at his bloody shirt. Kate ran up behind Ethan and put the knife to his back. Ethan dropped the knife when he was surprised to feel the cold blade on the back of his neck.

"Freckles give me the knife." Sawyer said trying to keep her calm. Ethan lunged at Sawyer and Kate stabbed him in his left lower back. Sawyer picked up the two bloody knives and set them next to Jack, who was working on Charlie.

"Is he going to be alright?' Kate asked Jack referring to Charlie.

"Yeah." Jack said nodding his head.

"Jack, you need to help Ethan. You just said Charlie would be fine, so you have to work on Ethan" Kate said trying to talk reason into him. Jack took off his shirt and rolled it into a ball to stop Charlie's bleeding wound.

"Jack." Kate said in almost a shout.

"No, I am not putting him before Charlie." Jack said with no hint of changing his mind.

"Jack, you know that's not how things work in the hospitals." Kate said hoping to make him change his mind.

"Kate, don't tell me how things work. If you want to save Ethan, then take off your shirt and apply pressure to his wound." Jack said in a tired tone.

"Sawyer, give me your shirt." Kate said to him.

"Getting a little frisky Freckles?" Sawyer said with a wide smirk.

"Just shut up and give me your shirt." Kate said with a short temper.

"Freckles, I am not going to let you ruin this shirt, it's one of my favorites." He said with his head shaking to get his point across.

"Dude, just get the points and give her the shirt." Hurley said in an impatient tone.

"Alright, but the blood better come out." He removed his shirt and paused for a moment.

"What?" Kate asked noticing his pause.

"You want to make a trade? My shirt for yours?" He grinned. She snatched the shirt from him and put it on Ethan's wound. Hurley got a vine that Kate had cut earlier and tied Ethan to the nearest tree.

"We need to find Claire." Charlie said trying to stand up. Jack stopped him and said, "You aren't going anywhere. Hurley and Sawyer will go in the cave and find Claire, if she's in there."

"She is." Charlie said in a sure tone. Hurley and Sawyer walked towards the cave.

"There better not be any bats." He said reminding Sawyer of the earlier topic.

"Whatever." Sawyer said impatiently. They walked through the entrance to see a split.

"You go to that corner and I will go to this one." Sawyer told Hurley.

"Alright, I'll meet you back here." Hurley told him. They walked their separate ways. Sawyer kept walking until he saw someone on the ground.

"Claire? Is that you?" He asked not expecting an answer. The figure rolled on its side to look at Sawyer. Sawyer saw Claire right in front of him with tear- stained cheeks. She looked different some how, then he saw the reason. He took the ropes of her hands and feet, then ungagged her mouth.

"You had the baby?" Sawyer asked gently. She nodded her head and the tears started coming to her eyes again.

"Where is it?" Sawyer asked her caringly.

"He. My baby was a he… Someone is coming." Claire said with her eyes widening.

"Don't worry, it's just Hurley." Sawyer said to comfort her. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She said, then she saw what Hurley was holding, her son.

"Claire, I think this little guy belongs to you." He said handing her the baby.

"Thank you, so much." She said trying to hold back the tears.

"Well, don't thank us until we get you out of this cave." Sawyer said helping her up. They walked out of the cave and Claire stopped.

"What is it? Are you alright?" Sawyer asked her.

"It's good to see the sun." She said with a smile. "I wish Charlie was here to see it with me… Ethan hung him. He didn't survive." She said with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Here, let me take him." Hurley said looking at the infant. "You take care of yourself."

"Thank you, I just have the image of Charlie hanging in my head and it won't come out."

Hurley took the baby in his arms, and they started walking over to the others.

"There are others with you?" Claire asked confused. "Why didn't they come in the cave?"

"Well, Kate has to watch over Ethan. She stabbed him when he went after Sawyer." Hurley said kind of amused.

"Who are the other two?" Claire asked curiously. Sawyer and Hurley looked at each other and decided to let Claire see Charlie for herself.

She got just close enough to see Charlie's face. She walked over slowly to him.

"Charlie? You're alive? But how?" Claire said with a look that showed all the emotions she was feeling.

"Jack and Kate found me just in time. Plus luv, I had to keep my promise. I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you." She touched his face and wiped away the tears from her face. She looked down at his shirt with blood on it.

"What happened? Who did this?" She asked with much concern.

"Don't worry Claire, Charlie will be fine. I repaired the damage and sewed him up." Jack told her looking her in the eyes.

"I failed again Claire, but no worries. I will get free and get your baby." Ethan told her.

"Leave her alone, or I will finish you off." Sawyer said standing in Ethan's way. "Freckles, you want to come here and help me block Tarzan's view." Kate walked over and did as he told her.

Claire looked back at Charlie and kissed his forehead. "I'm glad you are alright." She said to him. Charlie winced in pain and Claire took his hand. She put it against her cheek and stood up. She walked over to Hurley and took the baby from his arms, then walked back to Charlie. She crouched down in front of him.

"Charlie, this is my son. His name is Charles Adam Littleton. Would you like to hold him?" Claire asked with a smile.

"Of course I would luv. Charles? After me?" Charlie asked smiling.

"Of course, who else? You are the one that has been the person to change my life."

"Thank you luv." Charlie and Claire exchanged wide smiles.

"I was never really amazed by the name Adam, but I think it fits perfect."

"So we are going to call him Adam?" Charlie asked smiling.

"Yes." She said smiling and nodding her head.

"Well Adam, you need to be good for your mum. She is a great person who deserves all the respect in the world. Try to listen to her and tell her you love her, when you can talk of course. I promise that no one will hurt you. There are a lot of people on this island who care about you. They will be like aunts and uncles to you. But most important, you got me and your mum. I won't let you out of my sight. I want to take care of you and your mum." Charlie smiled and looked up at Claire. Her tears had formed a river on her cheeks.

" I hate to break up this moment, but we need to get back to the caves, it's getting dark." Jack said to the group.

"What are we supposed to do with jungle boy?" Sawyer asked looking at Jack.

"Take him back to the caves, I guess." Kate said to him.

"Why Freckles? We are supposed to take him back to the caves, so he can stare at his victims more than usual?" Sawyer said raising his voice. " I say we tie him up to a tree somewhere near my spot."

"There are some handcuffs in that briefcase." Kate added.

"Alright, so we use handcuffs. And if he turns up dead, then you will be the next to be handcuffed somewhere." Jack told him honestly.

"No thank you, I don't want another round with Dr. Frankenstein and the genuine Iraqi." Sawyer said honestly with a smile.

"Alright, we will find some metal to handcuff him to. Probably part of the plane." Jack told the group. " Sawyer, you and Hurley go tie him to a tree. Kate you get the handcuffs and take them over to them, so they can get Ethan dealt with. I will go back and check out Claire and Adam."

Sawyer and Hurley untied Ethan and lead him away. Kate and Jack headed to the caves, and Claire and Charlie were just headed out.

Charlie gave Adam to Claire and tried to get up. He fell down and winced in pain. Claire put Adam in his arms and helped him up by pulling up his elbow. Charlie returned Adam to Claire once again. They started walking back to the caves, and Charlie put his arm around Claire's shoulder.

"Thank you again, Charlie." Claire said still walking along.

"Well, I had a lot of help." Charlie said truthfully.

"I know, I just wanted you to know how grateful I am." She said looking down at Adam.

"I do luv." Adam reached out for Charlie.

"I think he likes you, Charlie." She said laughing.

"Well, I like him and… his mum." Charlie said looking at her. Claire smiled.

They reached they caves and were met by Jack.

"Ethan is dealt with, how are you feeling?" Jack asked Claire.

"Good, I am just ready to sleep." She told him truthfully.

"Alright, but any problems then you let me know." Jack walked to where the water was, which happened to be where Kate was standing.

"Hello Claire." Rose said walking up to her.

"Hi." Claire said shyly.

"Who's this little one?" She asked. "May I?" She asked holding out her arms.

"Yeah, of course." Claire gave Adam to Rose.

"You know, Charlie was very quiet when you were gone. I think you have some power over him that makes him want to talk." Rose smiled at Adam.

"Yeah, I'm very lucky to have him." Claire said giving Charlie a hug.

"And me, you luv. And me you."

"Well, I better get going, so you can get some rest." Rose gave Adam back to Claire and headed towards the beach holding her necklace.

Charlie and Claire walked to the nearest rock. Charlie sat down, and Claire put Adam in his left arm. She laid on her side putting her head on Charlie's chest. Charlie put his hand on her hip and they started to fall asleep.

Charlie felt like the luckiest man in the world, as he fell asleep to the sound of Claire's heartbeat.

I will make another chapter soon. I have already started on it. Email me if you have suggestions or comments. Thank you to every one. And this is my first fic, so please tell me how I'm doing.