Author's Notes: Written for my friend Jenna, because she wanted to see it so badly. This is what I think should have happened in the episode 'Fire + Water'. Written June 2006.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, and I am not making any money from these stories.
Warning: Non consensual disciplinary spanking of an adult by an authority figure.


Dreams and Nightmares


Charlie was terrified that baby Aaron was in trouble. He had been seeing things over the past two days. He would call them dreams, but he was awake when some of them happened, so maybe he should call them hallucinations. Either way they scared him. They seemed to be telling him that Aaron was in danger, and that the only way to save him was to get him baptised. He didn't know why his dreams were telling him this, but they were, and he believed them. A week ago this wouldn't have been a problem, because Aaron's mother, Claire, had trusted him, and he could have talked her into it. But Claire didn't trust him anymore.

Claire didn't trust him right now, because she had seen what was inside his Virgin Mary statue. It didn't matter that he hadn't taken any of the heroin. What mattered was that he used to take it, and it hadn't been all that long ago. Now that she knew he had been a junkie, she had said she needed her space. He thought it was entirely unfair to be blamed for having heroin in his possession when he hadn't taken any, but he also knew this wasn't uncommon and had run into it before. Of course back then the people who had blamed him had actually been correct.

When he had arrived on the island he had still been using, but Locke had helped him kick the habit for good, and Jack had monitored his withdrawal symptoms and helped him get through it too. They had been good friends and not told anyone else about it, which Charlie appreciated because he knew that it had enabled him to make friends with people who otherwise might have been wary of him.

So this afternoon he had gone to Claire and told her that Aaron needed to be baptised, but she had blown him off, and Locke had backed her up. Charlie didn't understand why Locke was being this way. Charlie had always been perfectly honest with Locke, but today Locke had found Charlie next to his stash of Virgin Mary statues, and now Locke didn't trust him. Locke thought for sure Charlie was using again, even though he wasn't, and had even gone so far as to take all of his statues telling him he wasn't going to give Charlie the option of taking drugs anymore.

Charlie couldn't explain why he had all those statues full of heroin. Not even to himself. He just knew that it made him feel more secure to know they were there. But now they weren't there, and his panic was rising. He felt as though his friends were turning their backs on him for no reason. Claire, and Locke both didn't trust him anymore, and Jack had been spending so much time in the hatch that Charlie didn't even know if he could call him a friend anymore.

As the sun was going down, Charlie watched from a distance while Locke 'played house' with Claire and was livid. It was bad enough that they both didn't trust him now, but it was adding insult to injury that they were all friendly with each other now. And Charlie really had grown to love baby Aaron. He had changed his nappies, he had held him when he cried, and he had been there for the birth. He kind of felt that after all that, he should have some say in what would happen to the baby, and getting baptised was something that would be good for Aaron either way.

Charlie knew that Locke was going to stay there with Claire all night, so he decided he needed a distraction. He wasn't a priest, but he had spent enough time in church to know the basics. He would baptize the baby himself if no one else was willing. An hour later, Charlie walked off a little distance into the foliage, and set a small bush on fire. He made sure it was burning and spreading to some of the other bushes before turning and walking away. With the distraction in place he walked close to where Claire, Locke, and Aaron were sitting, and waited.

A few seconds later he heard Sayid yell "Fire!"

Locke told Claire to stay with the baby, and ran off to help along with most everyone else on the beach. Charlie saw Claire put Aaron in his crib, and she walked a few feet away to get a better look at the fire and what everyone was doing to put it out.

Charlie knew this was his opportunity, but he hesitated. He knew on some level that it was wrong and would scare Claire, but on the other hand he wanted to protect Aaron. He stood there trying to decide what to do for a good ten minutes, almost until the fire was out. Then Claire turned and saw him standing there.

Charlie knew it was now or never, and snatched Aaron out of his crib. As soon as Charlie picked him up, Aaron woke up and started crying loudly. Claire saw Charlie taking her baby and screamed, "No!"

Charlie held Aaron close to his chest and started running towards the ocean. He heard Claire behind him shouting to everyone, "The baby! He has the baby, someone stop him!"

Charlie made it to the water and got in the waves up to his knees. He turned to see Claire was running towards him, along with many of the other castaways. Claire was crying and saying, "Charlie please! Please don't hurt the baby."

Charlie wanted her to understand. "I'm not going to hurt him, I'm trying to save him. He needs to be baptised, but no one will listen to me."

Charlie's eyes darted around when he saw everyone standing around him. He saw Eko and said, "You're a priest, tell them Eko."

Eko shook his head. "You misunderstood our conversation. This isn't right Charlie."

Charlie turned and saw that Locke was really close to him, and edging closer. He turned back to Claire and said, "I'm just scared for him Claire. I want to protect him."

Locke said, "Give me the baby Charlie."

Charlie ignored him and kept his eyes on Claire. Claire said, "You're scaring me Charlie."

Charlie suddenly knew he was doing the wrong thing, and looked down at the baby. Aaron looked at him with a worried expression. Charlie took the two steps to Claire and handed Aaron over to her. Claire hugged Aaron close to her, and then slapped Charlie's face as hard as she could.

Charlie was shocked, and put a hand up to his face where she had hit him. She yelled at the top of her lungs, "Stay away from my baby!!"

Aaron was crying again now, and Claire started to comfort him as she walked away with many of the other women surrounding her and comforting her as she walked back to her encampment.

Charlie looked at all the people surrounding him, and looking at him. None of them looked all that happy, and most of them looked disappointed or angry. Charlie saw Locke, and knew he was both pissed and disappointed. Locke pulled back his arm to punch Charlie in the face when suddenly someone caught his elbow in mid swing.


Jack was sitting in the hatch reading a book. He had just pushed the buttons a few minutes ago, and still had an hour to waste before he had to do it again. Suddenly Ana-Lucia was there in front of him out of breath. He put the book down and said, "What is it?"

She got out, "I think the others are attacking. They set a fire."

Jack sprang to action, got out a couple of guns and handed one to her. They set off at a dead run back to the beach. By the time they got there, the fire had been put out, and there was a commotion over at the beach. Jack was running up to see what was wrong as he saw Claire slap Charlie and yell at him. He reached Locke just in time to grab his arm before he punched Charlie.

Locke looked back at Jack wondering who was stopping him. Jack said, "What happened?"

Locke noticed the gun and realized Jack must have been alerted to the fire and thought it was something worse then what it was. Locke turned back to Charlie and said, "Someone started a fire a few feet from the beach, and while all of us were distracted, Charlie here decided to steal Claire's baby."

Charlie shook his head, "I wasn't stealing him, I was just gonna baptize him, and give him right back."

Locke said, "And now I'm going to make sure he doesn't do it again."

Locke pulled back to punch Charlie again, but Jack not only grabbed his arm, but also went to stand in between them. Locke said, "Get out of the way Jack, this has to happen."

Jack shook his head no and said, "Punching someone in the head can cause serious internal damages, and I don't have the facilities here to do a major surgery to reduce swelling in the brain. I don't plan to have another death on my hands just because you can't control yourself."

Locke backed a few steps away as if he had been struck while thinking about Boone. Jack could tell Locke was cooled down. He looked around to everyone who was still standing there watching the drama unfold. He looked over at Sayid and said, "We need to make sure the fire is completely out."

Sayid nodded and gathered up some people to go do that. Jack turned to see Ana-Lucia standing there, and put his hand out for the gun. She handed it over and he said, "Thank you for coming to get me, even if it wasn't the others."

She nodded and went to help Sayid. Jack turned to Charlie and gave him an appraising look. He said, "You come with me."

Charlie thought about saying no, but as he looked at the people all around him he changed his mind about that. Jack turned to Locke and said, "You come with me too."

Jack turned and started walking back to the hatch expecting both Locke and Charlie to follow him. Locke and Charlie looked at each other once, and then Charlie went to follow Jack. Locke waited a few seconds, and then slowly started to follow as well.


When they got to the hatch, Jack immediately put the guns away and locked them back up. Charlie had a brief glance at his Virgin Mary statues before they were locked up away from him again. Jack turned around, crossed his arms, pinned Charlie with a look, and said, "Explain."

Charlie felt a little self conscious and stammered out, "I wanted to protect Aaron. I keep having these hallucinations that he's in trouble and that he needs to be baptised. I was just going to baptize him, and give him back."

Jack said, "Are you using again?"

Charlie glared at Jack and said; "Some friend you turned out to be! Other people have been seeing things, and do they get asked the same question? The heroin was out there for the taking. Anyone could have gotten some, but lets all accuse the ex-junkie of using."

Jack turned his gaze to Locke and said, "Is he using?"

Charlie said with exasperation, "I'm right here you know!"

Locke and Jack ignored him, and Locke said, "I don't think so, but I can't be sure."

Charlie said, "I am not using!!"

Jack looked at Charlie for a few seconds and then said, "Okay I believe you. Did you start the fire?"

Charlie got slightly pink and turned his face away from Jack. He said, "It was just a small fire."

Locke said to Jack, "We need to make sure it doesn't happen again. We can't just let crime go unpunished, or it will be repeated. I know how to be careful with a punch. It will hurt, but it won't damage him."

Charlie backed up a few steps. Jack said, "No."

Locke said, "This isn't the first time Charlie has gone off on his own. What about Ethan? We had him, and could have gotten information out of him if Charlie hadn't killed him without the consent of the group."

Charlie yelled out, "Just shut up John! You're not my parent, and we haven't elected you leader either, so you have no right to keep acting like you have any say in what I do."

Locke thought about that for a few seconds and Charlie thought that maybe he had gotten through to him. But then Locke muttered, "Parent…." Next he looked at Jack and said, "What about a spanking?"

Jack gave Locke a confused look and said, "What about it?"

"Medically speaking, is there any kind of damage that a spanking could do that would worry you?"

Charlie's eyes got big and he said to Lock, "You can sod off!"

Jack shook his head and said, "You can't be serious John, Charlie's an adult."

Locke nodded, "Which is why I wanted to punch him, but you think that's a bad idea, so I'm trying to make a compromise here."

Charlie turned to run, but Locke had been anticipating this and grabbed his upper arm. Charlie struggled wildly, and Jack got a hold on his other arm to keep him from hurting John or himself. Jack said, "Charlie! Calm down! We're just talking here."

Charlie knew both men were physically stronger and better able to fight then him, and after a few more seconds of futile struggling he stopped and said, "Yeah, talking about thrashing and humiliating me as if I'm not even in the room."

Jack looked to Locke and said, "Why do you think it's so important that Charlie be punished in a physical way?"

Locke thought about it. "I'm not sure. It's just a gut feeling."

Charlie broke in, "But MY gut feeling that the baby needs to be baptised is to be ignored? How big is your ego John?"

Locke said to Jack, "Charlie is in need of guidance. Before this he was a junkie in a failing rock band. He had no direction, and spent all his time trying to make enough money for his next fix. I don't know what happened in his childhood, but I do believe he needs us to put him on the right path."

Jack looked over at Charlie who just looked nervous and angry all at the same time. Jack thought about the things Charlie had done, including shooting Ethan, starting the fire, and taking the baby. He eventually turned to John and said, "I agree."

Charlie shouted out, "No!" and started to struggle again

Jack gave him a little shake and said, "Charlie!"

Charlie turned to look at him. Jack said, "I agree you need some kind of punishment, but it's gonna be your choice. Either a spanking right now or five days jail time locked up in the vault of the hatch.

Locke shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea Jack."

Jack gave him a look and said, "Too bad. He gets a choice."

Jack turned to Charlie and said, "Sit down and think about it. You have five minutes."

Jack let him go, and once Locke was convinced that Charlie was calm enough, he let him go too. Charlie went and sat down in a daze.

Locke said, "Thank you for backing me up on this Jack. I'll be sure not to do him any lasting damage if he decides on spanking."

Jack thought about it for a few seconds, and as much as he hated it, he didn't really trust Locke to do it. He wasn't sure why, but he just didn't. And he thought Charlie was too angry with Locke to really get much out of a spanking from him anyway. He sincerely hoped Charlie would pick jail time over spanking. He said, "If it's going to be spanking, I'll be doing it."

Charlie and Locke both said, "What?"

Jack said, "Sorry John, but you're angry with him, and he doesn't trust you right now, so no matter how much I may hate it, I'll do it."

Locke glared but said nothing. Charlie had been trying to get up the courage to say he would take the jail time, because the thought of Locke hitting him right now made his stomach turn. But the thought of being stuck in one tiny room for five days made him all jittery, and he knew he would be a mess at the end of that time. Now with this new information he found it easier to pick. He said, "I'll take the thrashing."

Locke and Jack both looked at him surprised. Jack then felt the usual weight of leadership on his shoulders, here was yet another unpleasant task that fell to him. He didn't exactly want to be leader, he just naturally was a leader, and couldn't stand by doing nothing when he saw people looking at him to lead them. He sighed and said, "Okay."

Jack turned to Locke and said, "Go back to Claire and make sure she's okay."

Locke looked a little confused and said, "I will when you're done."

"No. It's a private matter between me and Charlie."

Locke glared and said, "Are you planning to really do it, or is this just a way to get me to shut up about it?"

Jack glared right back and said, "If you really distrust me that much John, then you need to go find someone else to share the hatch responsibilities with you."

Locke looked down and shook his head no. "No. I'm sorry, you're right. I trust you to do the right thing."

Jack said, "This stays between us. If someone wants to know what's happening, you just say I'm talking to him."

Locke nodded in agreement. He looked over at Charlie who was sitting on the couch still looking worried and said, "I'll try to talk Claire into baptizing Aaron."

Charlie looked up in shock. Locke said, "You went about it the wrong way, but if you feel that strongly about some visions you had, then I think we should all take it seriously."

Locke turned to leave, and Charlie thought about saying 'thanks', but couldn't bring himself to do it, since Locke was the one who had just talked Jack into spanking him.

Once Locke was gone, Jack stood there looking at Charlie who was fidgeting with the hole in the knee of his jeans. Jack walked over and locked the hatch door so no one else could wander in. He walked back to Charlie and sat down next to him on the couch. Jack rested his elbows on his knees and said, "Charlie….."

When Jack seemed at a loss for words, Charlie nodded and said, "I know. I should have come to you or Hurly or even Kate to try and tell you guys what was going on, instead of doing what I did."

"You started a fire on the island Charlie. That can't ever, and I mean EVER happen again. What if it had gone out of control? People could have been killed. Or if it had really gone out of control, it could have burned up enough of our food sources that we could starve. It was dangerous, and wrong."

Charlie felt his stomach plummeting at those words and felt ashamed of what he had done. He nodded in agreement, not trusting his voice.

Jack said, "I truly don't want to do this Charlie, but John's right that we can't just let the people in our little society get away with things that could endanger the entire group."

Charlie nodded again and said, "I understand."

Jack took a deep breath and said, "Alright, stand up, and drop your jeans."

Charlie looked over with surprise and said, "My jeans?"

Jack gave a short nod. "I need to be able to see what kind of damage I'm doing to your skin."

Charlie sat there thinking about that for a few seconds. Jack sighed and said, "I'm a doctor, I've seen it all before, and I need to make sure I'm not bruising you."

Charlie nodded at the logic, but still didn't move to get up. Jack said, "Do you need help?"

Charlie shook his head no and stood up. He looked down at the floor and avoided looking at Jack while he undid the button and zipper of his jeans. Then before he pushed them down he looked at Jack and said, "Um… where are we doing this?"

Jack seemed confused, "What do you mean where? Right here, right now."

"Yeah, I know, I mean where do you want me to be when you're…..doing it?"

Jack thought this should be obvious, and assumed Charlie was stalling. He grabbed Charlie's arm, and yanked him hard enough to pull him off balance so he fell over Jack's lap. Charlie yelled out a surprised, "Hey!" and then when he realized what Jack had done he yelled, "No! Not like this Jack! Couldn't I be over the back of the couch or something?!"

Charlie was struggling to get back up, but Jack held him in place. Jack hadn't really thought about putting Charlie somewhere else to spank him. He supposed it would have made more sense to put Charlie over the couch, but it just hadn't occurred to him. Jack wouldn't have minded, but now that Charlie was already over his lap, he just wanted to get it done. He yanked at the jeans that were already half way off Charlie's butt and said, "Tell you what, if there's a next time, you can be over the back of the couch."

Charlie struggled even more and said, "Next time??!! No way will there be a next time!!"

Jack was having a hard time holding him, and said sharply, "Charlie!"

Charlie paused in his struggles for a second, and Jack said, "Stop trying to get up. You decided on this, so stop making it harder for me. It's hard enough already."

Charlie slumped over Jack's lap, suddenly feeling bad for putting Jack in this situation. Jack gave a short nod at seeing the compliance, and pulled down Charlie's underwear as well. Charlie groaned and put his head in his hands willing his mind to go somewhere else. Jack raised his hand and said, "Here we go."

Jack brought his hand down hard on the left side, and then on the right. Charlie's body jumped at both swats, and he let out an involuntary noise of pain at both. Jack had never spanked anyone before, but he always tried his best to do a thorough job at whatever he took on, so he ignored the feeling of guilt at what he was doing and started to spank steadily.

Charlie hadn't been spanked since he was really little, and he was shocked to find that it hurt a lot. Jack was spanking fast and each smack seemed to hurt more then the one before. Charlie never was very good with pain, and he found the quick sharp smacks hard to tolerate. He tried to keep still because Jack had asked him to, but he didn't try to keep quiet.

"Ow. Ow. Ow! Come on Jack. Ow! You don't really… Ow! …want to do this! Damn! This was all John's….. Ahh! …Stupid idea! Can't we call it done?!"

Jack could tell Charlie was having a hard time accepting the fact that this was happening, and wasn't focused on why it was happening. But Jack wanted the spanking to be effective, so that he wouldn't have to do it again. Jack paused and shoved Charlie a little further over his lap, so that he could get a good look at his rear end. Charlie had to put his hands on the floor to keep himself balanced, as his legs went up off the ground. Jack saw that Charlie's butt was pink, but it could take a lot more before there was any real damage. Jack started bringing his hand down again and said, "Tell me why I'm spanking you."

Charlie yelled out, "Bloody Hell!" at the pain starting back up.

Jack spanked for a few more seconds and then paused. "Tell me why I'm spanking you Charlie."

Charlie took a couple of deep breaths trying to keep himself together and said, "Because I started a fire."

Jack started spanking again and said, "That's right, and why was that the wrong thing to do?"

"Does this look like the best time to hold a bleedin' conversation?"

"Not the best time, but certainly an appropriate time. Answer the question."

Charlie's legs were kicking of their own accord now, and his hips were shifting to try and get away from Jack's hand. Charlie wanted it over as quickly as possible and said, "Because it was dangerous!"

"Yes it was." Jack let his hand do the talking and for a while the only sounds in the room were loud smacks and Charlie's vocal complaints. Jack kept an eye on the damage Charlie was sustaining, and kept going until Charlie said, "I'm sorry! Jack I'm sorry, and I know it was wrong! Please….please stop!"

Jack stopped and said, "You took Aaron out of his crib, and you were going to baptize him without his mother's consent."

Charlie's relief at having the spanking finally stop was short lived. When he heard these words, he realized Jack wasn't done, and he started to cry. Jack said, "Why was that wrong?"

Charlie couldn't talk for a few seconds but eventually got out, "B..because….she was scared."

Jack started spanking again and said, "That's right, she was. Mothers can be down right dangerous when they think their young have been threatened. That's true of all animals, including humans. I would suggest you not do it again."

Charlie was wiggling all around trying to get away from Jack with no success and yelled out, "I won't!"

A few seconds later Jack stopped again and took a good look at Charlie's butt. It was red now, but still not bruised. He heard Charlie's soft sobs and knew he was crying. Jack said, "I don't blame you for killing Ethan. I know why you did it. But you should have at least waited until we had a chance to question him for a few days. You need to think about everyone in the group when you make big decisions, and not just yourself. Do you understand me?"

Charlie just nodded. Jack gave him ten more hard swats, and Charlie cried through them. Jack was finally satisfied that he had gotten in all of his points, and stopped. He took one more look at Charlie's butt and thought it would be back to normal in a couple of days, and was pretty sure there would be no bruising. Jack reached down and pulled Charlie's underwear back up. Then he let Charlie slide back a little so that his feet were touching the ground, and then let him slide down to his knees

Charlie stayed there with his head down kneeling on the floor crying, not having the energy to do much else yet. He put both his hands back and tentatively rubbed at his butt over his underwear. He was reminded of confessional and thought some Hail Mary's would have been preferable to what had just happened.

Jack sighed and felt even worse about what he had done when Charlie stayed where he was and kept crying. Jack put a hand on Charlie's shoulder and said gently, "Okay Charlie, as far as I'm concerned, you've paid for your crimes, and you have a clean slate. But I have to tell you that if you ever start another fire, I'm going to have to seriously think about having you locked up here, or perpetually monitored, because I can't risk the safety of the group."

Charlie shook his head no and looked up at Jack through blurry tear filled eyes and said, "I… I won't…..do it again."

Jack squeezed Charlie's shoulder and said, "Good. Why don't you go on into the bathroom and get yourself cleaned up?"

Charlie gave a little nod and when Jack let go of his shoulder, Charlie put a hand on the couch to help push himself up to standing. He reached down and pulled his jeans up, but instead of buttoning them, he just held them with one hand while he walked over to the bathroom.

Charlie shut the door behind him, and looked at himself in the mirror. He was a mess of tears and snot, and his face was red and blotchy. He got some toilet paper and wiped at his face. Then he splashed some cold water on his face and dried it off. It helped him to stop crying. He looked at himself in the mirror again, and thought he looked slightly more normal. He pushed his jeans and underwear back down to his thighs and tried to look behind him at the damage, since the mirror was too high. He couldn't see much besides some redness. He got a washcloth wet with cold water, rang it out, and then held it to his butt with both hands. The cold felt really good to him, and Charlie repeated this three more times before putting his clothes back into place and zipping up his jeans.

Charlie looked in the mirror and thought, 'I can't believe I just got thrashed over someone's lap at my age…. Or thrashed at all for that matter.'

Charlie looked down at the counter, not wanting to face himself and thought, 'But I suppose it worked. I won't be setting any more fires that's for certain.'

His thoughts suddenly turned towards home and his family. 'I wonder what Liam's doing. He would get a good laugh at my expense if he were here.'

Charlie sighed and realized he missed his older brother and wanted to get the chance to see him one more time, so that he could show him he had gotten clean too. He shook his head wondering if that would ever happen now that they were all stranded with not much hope of rescue.

He took a deep breath and headed for the door. He opened it to see Jack standing by the kitchen counter apparently just waiting for him. Charlie didn't maintain eye contact. He walked a little closer and said to the floor, "So am I free to go?"

Jack nodded and said, "Yeah."

Charlie headed for the door and Jack said, "Hey Charlie?"

"Yeah?"

"No hard feelings right? I mean you know that I….." Jack didn't know exactly what to say. He thought 'I didn't want to do it. I still think you're a decent person, and I hope you still think the same of me.'

Charlie could tell from Jack's expression that he was trying to make sure they were still friends. Charlie walked back to him, and put a hand on Jack's shoulder. "It's okay Jack. No hard feelings."

Jack smiled. "Thanks."

Charlie turned and walked somewhat stiffly out of the hatch and walked slowly back to the beach. When he got there he went to the little area he had put his stuff since moving it away from Claire's area. He eased himself down to the sand and immediately lay on his side. It was dark, and he didn't have a fire lit by his area, but he could see a few fires in different areas of the beach. He stared into one and thought about things.

A few seconds later he heard John's voice from a few feet away, "Hey."

Charlie was slightly startled by the voice being so close and sat up quickly. He hissed a little and lay back down. Charlie thought that Locke was either really good at sneaking up on people without making any noise or he had been waiting for him. Charlie glared over towards the area the voice had come from and could barely make out the outline of John. Charlie glared and said, "What do you want?"

John knew all he needed to know from the hiss. He said, "Claire said she'll let Eko baptize Aaron tomorrow. I just thought you'd like to know."

John got up and walked back towards Claire's encampment, and when he was a few feet away he heard a quiet "Thanks" from Charlie.


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