Disclaimer: I don't own Lost or its Characters or anything yet that will get me money.

AN: Okay so I know that it's been a while since my last update. I'm really sorry for the delay. I came down with a case of, how do I say this?, crippling depression. But I seem to have gotten past that and am back to fanficing. Hopefully I haven't lost all my readers. I really appreciate all of you who have been reviewing and asking me to come back. For all of you I present this nice long chapter and the promise of more frequent updates.

14

"Claire I don't know if I can do this, it's hopeless." Charlie said from the bathroom. Claire went in to find him strangling himself as he struggled to put on a tie. Claire went over and helped him fix it.

"I thought famous people were used to dressing up all the time?" Claire laughed as she straightened his now perfect tie.

"Famous people also have assistants to tie their ties for them." Charlie muttered embarrassed.

"Why are you wearing a tie anyway? I thought you said that this was just casual." Claire said looking at the simple dress she had gotten while shopping with Shannon.

"I just want to make a good impression. I haven't seen Karen for a long time. I want her to see that I've got things together now." Charlie said looking into the mirror and trying to flatten down hair that never laid flat. Claire smiled at him, wrapped an arm around him and kissed him on the cheek.

"I think you look perfectly serious and grown up."

"Now you're just making fun of me."

"Only a little." Charlie smiled at how Claire could always seem to make him relax. "I don't know why you're so nervous. I'm the one walking into enemy territory." Claire said straining to look amused.

"You know that what happened last time, that wasn't about you. Liam was just so ready to see me as a bum that he just spread that onto you. He and Karen just need to get to know you. They're going to love you… I know things didn't go so well last time, but once they know who you are they are going to love you." Claire couldn't help but lose her smile as she thought about her last meeting with Liam.

"It'll be great." She told Charlie as he went into the other room to finish getting ready. "But I'd settle for not being called a whore." She said quietly to herself.

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When Shannon had agreed to let Grace set her up on a date she had insisted that Boone and his new girlfriend come too. She had been hoping that with Boone around she would at least have someone to talk to, someone who knew her as more than just a pretty face with a shopping addiction. The reality was that Boone had hardly looked away from Rebecca all night leaving Shannon stuck listening to her date talk about himself while Grace and her date drooled all over each other. She tried to smile and seem interested as her date talked about how his father had made him his executive assistant, a job that sounded great and didn't actually require him to do anything.

It had been like this since she had reunited with her old friends. Every night was a different club or date. She was constantly surrounded by gorgeous and rich guys who wanted nothing more than to tell her how beautiful she was. She had enough money to go shopping every day and buy anything that she wanted. She was living the life that she had always wanted to live. She was bored out of her mind!

She didn't know what was wrong with her. She was always doing all the things she loved and it wasn't like her friends had changed while she was away. Her date was talking about some actor singer he'd had lunch with the year before and she tried to look interested. This guy was everything that Shannon used to look for in a guy; he was cute, rich and totally into her but she couldn't even remember if he'd said his name was Todd or Ted. When the dessert menus were handed out she turned to Boone for something to talk about.

"Remember the time that Libby thought she could make pudding out of the plants in Sun's garden and some coconuts?" Shannon laughed.

"What? Oh yeah, that was great, you know Rebecca was just telling me that she graduated from Harvard medical school." Boone said never taking his eyes off his date.

"Harvard, really, you know Natalie Portman went to Harvard. My fathers' firm actually holds a few of her accounts." Todd/Ted bragged.

"Fascinating." Shannon said sarcastically. "I think I need to go to the bathroom." She muttered as she bolted to the nearest restroom. Once inside she went to the sink and splashed water on her face. "What is wrong with me?" She asked her reflection. "You have everything you ever wanted so stop acting like such a nut." She grabbed some towels to try and dry off her face and began to think about all the things she had wanted. She thought about how she used to dream about being a professional dancer and how she had actually worked harder at learning French than she ever admitted. Finally she thought about the one person who knew about all of the dreams that she had had and how he'd never once seemed to doubt that she was capable of achieving them. She wondered what he was doing and then had to stop herself. He was part of her Island life and that was over now. Shannon took one last look at herself in the mirror before turning around and throwing up everything she had eaten that night.

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Sayid had taken Ana Lucia up on her offer and was becoming a California police officer. While he was mildly disgusted with how easy it had been to get the job he was nevertheless grateful. "So how'd the uniform fit?" Ana Lucia asked as he came out of a locker room.

"Perfectly." He replied. "Although I doubt I'll be wearing it anytime soon."

"Everyone starts out working the desk; you'll be on the streets in no time." She smiled. "So how about I take you out and we celebrate your new job?"

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"So should we knock or just stand here?" Claire asked.

"I'll knock." Charlie said staring at his brother's front door and continuing to stand completely still.

"It's been almost ten minutes; do you want me to do it?"

"No, I've got it, just give me a second." Charlie muttered. Before he had a chance to think of a good excuse for why they should head back to the hotel, Aaron had reached out and rung the doorbell. "Aaron!" Charlie yelped in surprise.

"I wanted to know what it did." Aaron said innocently just as the door opened.

"Charlie, I can't believe this. It is so good to see you." Karen said as she grabbed Charlie in an enormous bear hug.

"It's good to see you too, Kare." Charlie gasped, struggling to breath. "I'd like you to meet"

"Claire." Karen said moving to greet Claire. "Charlie told me about you on the phone. I'm so glad to meet you and your son." Claire was a little overwhelmed by Karen's energy but was able to manage a greeting and follow her inside. "Would any of you like something to drink?" Charlie and Claire nodded and Karen rushed to the kitchen to get drinks. "Just make yourselves at home." She called behind her. "Liam, they're here, grab Megan and get down here!" She called.

"You ready for this?" Charlie whispered to Claire. She started to answer when a little girl came running into the room. She took one look at Charlie, let out a squeak, and then ran back out of the room.

"Megan, honey, come back!" Karen yelled when she walked back into the room. "She's just so excited to see you." She handed out drinks and motioned toward the couch. "Sit down and relax, I don't know what's taking Liam so long. I'll be right back." She said before disappearing out of the room again. Charlie sat stunned, trying to remember if Karen had been so hyper the last time he'd seen her.

"Hey, baby brother." Liam said as he walked into the room. As angry as Charlie had been at Liam for insulting Claire, he'd still spent three years missing him and couldn't stop himself from hugging his brother.

"It's good to see you too, Liam." Charlie said as he moved away. "You uh look good."

"Yeah, you too." Liam replied turning to face Claire. "It's Claire right? I guess I owe you an apology for the last time we met, huh."

"Found Megan." Karen said coming back into the room with her little girl. "Megan has been so excited to see her uncle Charlie again. She's been talking about it all day." Megan stood meekly by her mother and after a minute was able to muster a small wave at Aaron. "She's really been looking forward to meeting your son."

"Yeah, Megan, why don't you take Alan up to your room and show him your toys?" Liam said.

"My name's Aaron." Aaron said confused.

"Right, Aaron, um why don't you and Megan go and play until dinner?" Liam said wanting to kick himself. Karen had told him at least five times that day about Charlie's son and he'd still managed to mess up the kid's name. Megan took Aaron off to her room and left the parents alone. Without the kids around to distract each other the adults quickly found themselves trapped in an uncomfortable silence.

"So how have you all been adjusting to being back?" Karen asked hesitantly.

"So far things have been going well." Charlie said putting his arm around Claire. "It's been a little weird reconnecting with some people, but after three years that kind of makes sense."

"It must be strange seeing how things have changed while you were gone." Karen added.

"Yeah, that and the fact that people don't expect us to have changed at all. My mom actually tried to set me up with my old boyfriend when I went to see her." Claire revealed.

"Must have been fun for you, huh Charlie?" Liam joked.

"At least no one's going to be able to make that mistake for much longer." Claire said with a smile holding out the hand with her new engagement ring.

"You're getting married?" Liam whispered.

"Congratulations!" Karen gushed.

"Technically we're already married, there was a priest on the Island, but we wanted to make things official."Charlie said. Karen excitedly began questioning Claire about wedding plans while Liam sat on the couch looking dazed.

"When do you think you'll have the wedding?" Karen asked.

"We were thinking of having it in September." Claire offered.

"That's only four months away!" Liam said.

"We want to get married soon and September is when we met. Besides we don't want to wait any longer because the baby's due in October; not to mention Aarons birthday." Charlie finished with a smile at Claire.

"You're pregnant?" Liam yelled staring at Claire.

"I told Karen that when I talked to her." Charlie said confused.

"So, Claire, you said Aarons birthday is in October. It must be exciting to think of his first birthday off of that Island." Karen said trying to change the subject to a safer topic.

"He's growing up so fast. It's hard to believe that he's going to be four in just a few months." Claire muttered awkwardly.

"Four? I thought you two met on the island?" Liam asked, suddenly very focused on Claire. Karen tried to shush him but he ignored her.

"We did and before you ask; I was eight months pregnant when we crashed." Claire said matching Liams glare.

"So Charlie's not really Aarons father then?" Liam asked.

"Biologically no; but Charlie is Aarons father." Claire stated.

"Now it makes sense." Liam sneered.

"What's wrong with you?" Charlie asked his brother.

"Wake up, baby brother, the girl's just using you. She lets you take care of her and some other guys kid on the island and now she's going to do the same thing here. Only you would manage to find a gold digger in the middle of nowhere." Liam finished with a laugh. Charlie jumped up like he was going to punch Liam but then stopped himself.

"Go to hell, Liam." Charlie said coldly. "Aaron, get down here, we're leaving!" Charlie yelled. Immediately Aaron and Megan came out of the next room where they'd been listening in. Claire snatched up her son and made a beeline for the door. "Karen, you know that phone number I gave you?" Karen nodded her understanding. "Throw that out." Charlie said before leading his family out the door.

"Can you believe her?" Liam grumbled as soon as they were gone.

"Are you insane?" Karen asked.

"What, I'm just trying to protect my brother from psychos. He'll thank me when he realizes it."

"He's not going to thank you, Liam, at this point I don't know if he's ever going to speak to you again." Karen said sadly.

"What are you talking about?" Liam said stubbornly.

"Wake up, Liam, things have changed. Charlie has changed." Karen said as she left the room to leave Liam to figure out how badly he'd messed up.

AN: As always reviews are what keep me writing so keep them coming.