Title: Five Years Gone

Author: Settiai

Disclaimer: "Lost" and other related characters are all properties of ABC, Bad Robot Productions, and other related corporations. No infringement is intended. This story, such as it is, was written as a sign of respect and love for the characters, the show, and their creator. I claim no ownership of the aforementioned show and characters.

Rating: PG

Summary: Claire makes sure to take the time everyday to talk to the others.

Feedback: Comments and helpful criticisms are always appreciated.

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Claire makes sure to take the time everyday to talk to the others. When the sun first begins to rise in the morning, she makes her way toward the beach. Sayid always waits for her beside the ocean, and he sits steadfast and tall in the warm breeze. She smiles and laughs softly as she relates the night's events to him, and the she turns her attention the woman sitting beside him. She and Shannon giggle as they share secrets, and then she leaves them alone while she moves further down the beach.

Sawyer sits under the palm trees at the edge of the sand, slouching in the early-morning sun. She always tells him that he isn't the jerk that so many of the others believe him to be, but he never agrees with her. Claire gives him a wistful smile before reluctantly making her way toward the camp in the jungle.

Locke and Boone always wait for her in the clearing near the camp, but she never spends more than a few minutes with them. Even after five years, the older man spooks her, and the younger is still a mystery in so many ways. She has never gotten to know either of the two men as well as she wants, but the passing years have erased any chance of rectifying that mistake

Claire always visits Jin and Sun next, and she can't help but smile a bit as she sits down in front of them and waves at their young daughter. Then she quietly talks with Sun, pausing every now and then as she hears Jin break in with his broken English. The minutes fly by, and she's always reluctant to leave. She always does though, because she knows that Michael and Walt are waiting for her near the caves.

She talks with Michael for a little while before turning her attention toward Walt. He's no longer a child, but he always appears as one in her eyes. She talks with him for a only a few minutes before moving on to where Hurley waits. He always sits under the fringe of trees that ring the camp, his back leaning against one of the tree's trunks. Claire laughs as she tells him stories about Charlie, and there is always a smile on her face when she finally leaves.

Jack and Kate wait for her on the opposite side of the camp, where they sit side by side under the shade of the palms. She gives them thoughtful looks before settling down near them. "I've visited with everyone else," she says everyday. "Everything seems to be going fine."

They sit in silence for a moment before Claire pulls herself to her feet and bids them goodnight. Then she makes her way to the last step in her daily journeys.

Charlie always waits for her beside the fire, little Aaron resting beside him after the long day. As the sun goes down, she sits beside them and smiles as the campfire crackles to life in front of them. "My day was nice," she always says. "Did my two boys have fun by themselves?"

Even though they never answer, Claire nods as if they do. Then she settles back and stares at the flames for hours, moving only to put more wood onto the dying fire. Once the stars are high in the night sky, she reluctantly wishes the two of them goodnight. She knows that she must go to bed so that she can visit the others again once the sun rises again.

The graves get lonely when she doesn't.