Charlie Pace was a floundering has-been rock star in England before the plane crash, but had once been quite a star.  He and his brother Liam formed the rock band Driveshaft and probably would have been more than one-hit-wonders had they not become so involved in the rock star life.  Charlie made Liam promise him that if it got out of hand, they would quit, but that didn't end up happening.  Liam got into the drugs first and Charlie followed suit when he realized the mess that his life had become.  While Liam eventually cleaned up his act after getting married and having a daughter, Charlie continued on his path of self-destruction and wouldn't listen to his big brother's advice.  Charlie wanted to revive Driveshaft, but it could only happen if Liam would return as the lead singer.  He went to visit him in Sydney, but Liam refused and Charlie boarded Oceanic flight 815 to Los Angeles.

Claire Littleton was raised by her mother in Australia - her father having left them when she was little.  She went through a rough patch in her teen years that ended with her mother in a coma after Claire crashed their car.  Prior to the accident, Claire had told her mother that she hated her, that she wished she wasn't her mother, and many other awful things, and she never forgave herself for that.  Her father finally returned after hearing the news and told Claire that she should let go, as her mother was not ever going to wake up.  Claire continued to hold on and hope though, for she didn't want to live with that decision or the last words she spoke to her mother.  She ended up moving in with her boyfriend Thomas after becoming pregnant with his child, but he couldn't handle the responsibility and eventually left her.  Claire then decided to put the baby up for adoption, but a psychic advised against that - telling her that if her baby was raised by anyone other than her that bad things would happen.  Once she listened to his warnings, the psychic told her that there was a family in Los Angeles that could raise her child and he gave Claire a plane ticket.  Apparently, he knew that the plane would crash and sent Claire on it so as to ensure that she would raise the baby.

When the plane crashed, Charlie and Claire clicked immediately.  Being eight months pregnant, Claire needed a lot of help, and Charlie was more than willing to give it to her.  He took a liking to her right away and helped her with her bags.  She appreciated his friendliness and began to trust him.  When it became apparent that no rescue parties were coming for them anytime soon, everyone began to look for shelter and food.  Charlie, on the other hand, was busy looking for private areas to sneak some heroine from his depleting supply.  Locke, another passenger, helped him to get off of the drugs by finding Charlie's guitar, and Jack, the doctor, helped him through the withdrawal.

Charlie and Claire became good friends and bonded over a jar of imaginary peanut butter, but their relationship hit a snag after moving to the caves.  Claire thought that she was being attacked - that someone was trying to hurt her baby - and Charlie believed her, but Jack thought she was just having nightmares.  Claire was correct though, as someone who was not on the plane had infiltrated their camp after the crash and was doing tests on her and injecting her with a serum to help her survive the pregnancy.  His name was Ethan, and once he was found out as a mole he captured both Charlie and Claire.  Charlie was found near-death hanging from a tree in the jungle, but not Claire.  Charlie became withdrawn from the group and was sick with worry over her.  During that time, Charlie found Claire's diary and read it against his better judgment.  He found out that she did like him and trusted him more than anyone on the island.

Claire had been taken to a medical hatch in the middle of the jungle by Ethan where they continued to do tests on her.  She was drugged and so loopy that she didn't know what was going on, but she did wonder about what happened to Charlie.  She began to trust Ethan and was going to willingly give her baby to the Others, but was saved by a girl named Alex.  The Others were going to take Claire's baby by force, killing her in the process, so Alex left her in the jungle and Danielle brought her back to the other Losties.  When Claire came back, she had no recollection of anything that happened after they crashed on the island, but she found herself trusting Charlie for some reason she couldn't explain.  Ethan wanted her back and told Charlie that until he got her, that the Others would kill every last person in their camp.  Charlie became even more protective of her after what happened and kept her in the dark about Ethan.  Once Claire found out, she willingly put herself in harm's way so that they could capture Ethan.  Charlie was told that he couldn't help on the mission, but he went after them and ended up shooting Ethan to death for what he did to Claire.

Killing Ethan put Charlie into a bit of a funk for awhile.  Claire was trying to reach out to him, but he wasn't very responsive at first.  He didn't regret killing Ethan, but he was messed up from it being the first time he killed a man.  Once Claire gave birth to her baby, Charlie was ready and willing to help her out, but she was apprehensive to let her son out of her sight.  She was so afraid that the Others were going to try and take him from her that she didn't name him for fear of getting too attached.  Charlie started calling the baby "Turniphead" until she came up with a name.  When everyone was getting ready to go back to the caves to hide out from the Others, Danielle kidnapped the baby to trade with the Others for her daughter back.  Claire begged Charlie to get "Aaron" back for her, and he raced off with Sayid to do just that.  Charlie brought Aaron back to Claire unharmed, but he also picked up another souvenir from his trek: a Virgin Mary statue filled with heroine.

Charlie and Claire's relationship continued to grow after he brought Aaron back, and he was finally able to make good on his promise to get her some peanut butter.  When the other survivors opened the hatch and found a whole pantry full of food, Charlie's only thoughts were of Claire and her love of peanut butter.  Apparently things were going too well though, as their relationship began to fall apart when Charlie had begun to act too much like Aaron's father for Claire's liking.  They had only known each other for about two months and Claire wasn't comfortable with where their relationship was going.  The last straw for Claire was when she found out about what was in the Virgin Mary statue.  Charlie was acting strange and having visions of Aaron in peril - saying that he had to be baptized - and instead of thinking it had to do with the strange happenings on the island, Locke and Claire both assumed that he was using drugs again.  Charlie had not been using drugs and instead of trying to help him, Locke beat him senseless and Claire sent him packing.  Charlie went into a very dark place after Claire kicked him out of her tent and did some awful things, such as going along with Sawyer's plan to get the guns by attacking Sun.  Even though she was mad at Charlie, Claire did take his worries about Aaron to heart, and both she and her son were baptized by Mr. Eko.

When the pallet of food was found in the jungle, Charlie came across a case full of vaccine.  He didn't know what it was for, but thought that Claire and her baby should be the ones to have it.  He didn't even know that Claire had gone on a mission back to the medical hatch to find vaccine for Aaron when he was sick, but instinctively knew to give it to her.  Charlie even risked his own health by testing the vaccine to make sure that it was safe for her to use.  Claire was moved by his generosity and realized how much he meant to her when they attended Ana Lucia and Libby's funeral.  She realized how short their time on the island could be and didn't want to lose Charlie without giving him another chance.  When he came back from the hatch unharmed (except for some cuts and bruises), she made the first move and kissed him.  He was surprised, but happy that Claire had finally forgiven him.

They became a little family again and grew closer together after the hatch incident, but Desmond kept pulling them apart.  He was acting strangely and seemed to be hanging around Claire a lot, always saving her from danger.  It turned out that he wasn't trying to save Claire, but Charlie.  Ever since the hatch imploded, Desmond had been seeing flashes of the future - a future that always consisted of Charlie dying doing something for Claire.  He was electrocuted when he was protecting Claire during a thunderstorm, he drowned trying to save Claire in the water, and he broke his neck trying to capture a sea bird for her.  Desmond told Charlie that no matter what he did, and no matter how many times he saved him, that Charlie would die.  Charlie tried to keep this from Claire so she wouldn't worry, but she eventually found out from Desmond.  Claire was blown away by Charlie's selflessness and how he always "died" doing things for her.  She told him that they would get through it together, that she wouldn't give up on him.

While I always imagined Charlie and Claire staying together forever (in a sort of fairytale happily ever after), that did not end up happening in the show.  Throughout the third season, Desmond was having flashes of Charlie's demise and saved him from death many times.  However, when one of his flashes showed Claire and Aaron getting rescued, Charlie decided to finally accept his fate.  He cared more about Claire and Aaron than about his own life and was willing to sacrifice himself it if meant that they would get off the island.  He said his final goodbye's to his little family and left his ring (a family heirloom to be passed on to his children) for Aaron, knowing that he wouldn't come back from his mission alive.  Charlie proved himself one of the show's greatest heroes in the end, and I don't think that Claire will ever forget him.

This scene is from the first season episode "White Rabbit".  Claire was feeling a little alienated, but as always, Charlie is there to cheer her up.

Claire: "Thanks Charlie."

Charlie: "For what?"

Claire: "People don't seem to look me in the eye here, I think I scare them.  The baby, it's like I'm this time bomb of responsibility just waiting to go off."

Charlie: "You don't scare me."

~~~

This quote is from the episode "Special".  Kate came to keep Charlie company, and he revealed his feelings about Claire and her disappearance.

Kate: "You okay?"

Charlie: "Yeah... I mean I barely knew her - barely know her - Claire.  She's been missing over a week and every day she's gone it feels like bits of me are crumbling."

~~~

From the same episode, Charlie was reading Claire's diary (even though he knew he shouldn't) and came across an entry about him.

Claire (in her diary): "Today I realized I really like Charlie.  There's something about him that's just so adorable and sweet.  Even in a scary place like this, Charlie makes me feel safe..."

~~~

In the beginning of "Par Avion", Claire woke up to a platter of fruit put together by Charlie.  He also told her of a breakfast picnic that he set up in her honor on the beach.  For a few episodes before this one, Charlie was moping around (because of Desmond's visions of Charlie's death), and Claire wanted to know what was different.

Claire: "What's gotten into you Charlie?"

Charlie: "I'm sorry?"

Claire: "It's just you've been so depressed all week, and now it's breakfast in bed and picnics?"

Charlie: "Well I woke up this morning, and I thought it's time to stop feeling sorry for yourself and seize the day and... I can't think of anyone I would rather do some day seizing with than you."

Claire smiles

Charlie: "So, what do you say?  Let's drop the cherub off with Auntie Sun and Uncle Jin, and you and I (he offers her his arm) go for a little stroll."

Claire (placing her hand on his arm): "I would love to!"

They both smile and laugh

~~~

This quote is from the same episode as the one above.  Claire came up with an idea to attach a message on a sea bird in hope of getting rescued, but Charlie wouldn't go along with it as Desmond had a vision of his death again.  Claire finally found out about the visions and how Charlie was supposed to die at least three times doing things for her.  She forgave him for his strange behavior and let him know that she cares about him.

Claire: "You know, I'm not giving up on you either Charlie.  It's gonna be okay.  You're gonna be okay.  We'll get through this together."

~~~

This quote, like the one in Claire's diary, was not spoken, but written.  In "Greatest Hits" Charlie wrote out a list of the five best moments of his life for Desmond to give to Claire, as he knew that his mission to the underwater hatch was to end with him dying.  I knew that it was coming, but when they showed him writing the #1 moment of his life, I couldn't help but get really emotional.

Charlie (on his list): "#5 The first time I heard myself on the radio.  #4 Dad teaching me to swim at Butlins.  #3 The Christmas Liam gave me the ring.  #2 Woman outside Covent Garden calls me a hero.  #1 The night I met you."