Summary: Kate feels she is being pressured into going North to Jack, South for Sawyer, and East for Sayid. So…who’s waiting in the West? And maybe…just maybe…all she needs is a friend.

A/N: As a writer, I find it important to explore all possibilities. Soooooo…-drum roll- …in this fan fiction, I’d like to present the idea of Kate and Charlie friendly-ish. Basically, Kate feels that she is being pressured to go for Jack, Sayid or Sawyer. All she needs is a friend.

So, he had survived.

It had certainly been the least thing she had expected but he had. He had been so motionless, so limp; Jack himself had said he had not been breathing. But there he was! Sitting, as if deep in thought like he had just a few days ago when he had told Jack ‘all they wanted was Claire.’

So, people stopped by to check up on him every once in awhile, hand him a glass of water and be on their way. Jack came by every so often, cleaned up the wound, patted him on the back kindly and went to do other things.

Kate hated this. Everyone expected her to ‘be with Jack’, Sawyer, most of all.

“So, what is it about this doctor that makes you so weak in the lower limbs?”

“How was the little break up?”

“Give me a couple band aids and I can be a doctor…”

She wanted to scream. Everyone followed her around, expecting her to do this, expecting her to do that. Well what if she didn’t want to?

She needed a break, and Charlie was the person who could give her that. And, hey, he wasn’t talking much anyway. Her talking to him would be giving Charlie more of a counseling session than her.

She took a place next to him and bent her back slightly to look up at his face. He didn’t seem to even acknowledge her presence.

“Hey,” she said finally, her voice small. “You’ve been holding up well.” She attempted to make light of the situation. “It’s not everyday someone gets hung from a tree, I thought you’d be freaking out here pretty fast.” A small smile cracked upon her lips.

Charlie didn’t respond.

She took a deep breath and reminded herself why she was here. To prevent herself from screaming out to the world that she didn’t want to go for Jack, Sayid or Sawyer. Right now, all she needed was a friend.

“You don’t have to talk,” Kate informed him quickly. “It’s just…you worry me.” Her hand slipped into his, and after an awkward pause he squeezed it gently.

She smiled brightly, amazed by his sudden acknowledgement. He was moving! It was a silly thing to me psyched over, but she was. He had made a movement…and that meant he knew she was there. He wasn’t as absent as he looked.

“Charlie,” she began softly as if she spoke any louder he’d crumble. “You’re the only one who understands what’s happening to me.”

It was true. It was obvious that she was under so much stress, silly stress. They were on an island…romance was the last thing anyone should be worrying about. And yet, while her problem was so obvious to just about everyone, he was the only one who truly understood.

Every guy looked past her, past her feelings and simply didn’t even attempt to care. Jack had his moments; he seemed pretty devoted to her in a way. But it was Charlie who had the time to understand her.

“I know,” he agreed, stroking the top of her hand with his thumb. He did know.

“All I need is someone who looks at me. Not someone who only sees me.”

She struggled for the words she was looking for. “A friend.”

“Then you’ve got one.” He turned to her, taking both of her hands. “You’ve got one, Kate.”

A/N: I kind of lost myself there near the end. Didn’t really know what to right…half of you are probably like “…What?” lol.

Ok, here’s the thing. I like to write stuff for EVERYONE. So, if you like little fluffy things like that between Kate and Charlie, there you go. You’re very much welcome. It was kind of fun to write, as knowing TV shows and movies and such, the girl always goes for the least expected, so its like, when you sit down to watch a movie you pretty much KNOW what’s going to happen. Lol. Now, this was more of a friendly-ish thing, no romance, obviously. Kate just needed a friend!

-wipes away an imaginary tear- So, yeah, thanks for reading.