Asset out of Containment (A collection of One-shots)

Route 381

Twitter Prompt suggested: Claire and Owen's first 'I Love You' after JWFK.

Summary: One afternoon, Claire takes the car just so she can get away for a minute, but ends up with a flat tire. She doesn't need Owen to save her, but she is his damsel and so he can't help himself take care of her when in distress.

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"—What the hell was that!?" The sound of a loud boom interrupted the fight Claire and Owen were having over the phone.

"Shit...!" The redhead called out, only to make Owen grow more concerned than he already was.

Claire had him on speaker with her iPhone clipped to the vent on the dashboard while she drove, which meant he was able to hear that horrible whooshing sound coming from the side of the car.

"Nothing." She spat out drily while she pulled over.

"What's your location?" Owen was someone who knew very boom, crash and pow that vehicles made. He was freaking Batman when it came to those sounds, and he knew Claire had just got a flat tire.

"Hell. So go straight to hell!" She sounded like she really meant that: he was being a dickhead over the phone and she didn't need him to be on top of her about this tire thing. However, Claire grabbed her cellphone and texted him her location anyways. She was somewhere on Route 381.

"Ugh. You are impossible." Owen groaned before getting the notification.

"Bye now..." Claire hung up on him and, turning the car off, she slowly stepped out.

Once both her high heels hit the heated asphalt, Claire took her jacket off and tossed it over onto the passenger's seat. She fixed her top and walked around the car to go see the damage.

The front right tire was completely destroyed. She had blown it out in a stupid hole she hadn't seen... which was just great! The timing couldn't have been worse, really, seeing how she and Owen had been fighting over the phone about how she had taken the car without telling him.

But a) she was bored and they needed some groceries — this whole living on the run with a nine-year-old required more than just finding vacancy rooms in motels along the road, and b) Claire didn't know she needed permission for such thing.

Claire sighed and, after leaving her iPhone on the top of the car, she walked back around to open the trunk.

Anyone could change a stupid tire, she didn't need Owen. The first thing she did was placing the reflective triangle a few feet behind the car to warn others.

Then, she hugged the spare tire with both her hands and carried it out. She let it bounce on the ground a couple of times and rested it against the bumper. She also grabbed the jack and lug wrench with one hand while she rolled the spare tire around the car with the other.

Once back at the right front side, she let the spare tire drop onto the ground and kneel down so she could loosen the lug nuts. She gave all she got to turn that lug wrench, but she couldn't do it for her life. She sighed, already out of breath.

Claire stood up and, leaning against the car, she rested her heel over it and stepped on the wrench. She was on the third lug nut when her phone started ringing.

"What?" She answered drily and completely out of breath. It was Owen calling.

"Just to let you know I'm on my way."

"No need. I have this under control." She rolled her eyes. "It's not like you need to have a dingdong to be able to change a flat tire, you know?" She groaned, while working on loosening the fourth lug nut.

Owen was quiet. He hated it when she tried to insult him with a NOT accurate penis size, and he hated it even more that he let it get to him.

"Don't forget to fix the jack properly beside the flat tire." He suggested.

"Oh is that what the little swing that goes up and down is for? I thought that was just a cute toy you guys kept in the trunk." She offered condescendingly while kneeling down in those six-inch heels. Claire was making sure to find the perfect spot for the jack while she kept the iPhone pinned between her ear and her shoulder.

"Are you alone? Maybe someone can stop by and assist you?" He decided to shake off her snarky comment.

"By someone you mean a guy?" She rolled her eyes, her hands working on expanding the jack up to the appropriate height.

"No."

"Okay then... I have to go now." She brought the cellphone back to the front so she could hang up.

"Don't—" He called out. "I'll shut up and let you do it, but please let me stay on the line."

Claire frowned, realizing this was more about her safety than the stupid tire. The redhead sighed. "I'm putting you on speaker now." She murmured. The road was deserted so there was not a noise that could interfere.

The only sounds that made it through the other end of the call were her groans while she worked on changing that tire.

Claire looked up the moment she heard a car honking as it passed by. "Yeah, move along, nothing to see here." She motioned with her hand.

That was the Uber driver who had dropped Owen about 10 meters back. He had asked for them to pull over the moment their car and the reflective triangle came to sight.

He had called for an Uber the moment Claire had first hung up on him. He knew she was more than capable of changing a tire, but that was a very lonely road and his instinct to protect her was unsettling at the thought of Claire out there all by herself when it was about to get dark.

Owen started walking and stayed at a moderate distance, with his phone against his ear.

He watched the woman in skinny jeans work around the flat tire and being completely familiar with the tools. He smirked and rubbed the back of his neck. He had no idea that the sight of Claire working with a jack and a lug wrench would be so sexy. He had always found her determination and ruthless nature a turn on, but this? Claire Dearing was a badass goddess in his eyes.

He kept walking closer while her back was to him, Claire brought the jack down and pulled it out from under the car. She smiled, proud of herself.

She now stepped on the wrench and tightened those lug nuts as much as she she could, now that the spare tire was in place. Once done, she reached out for her iPhone. She turned the speaker off and pinned it against her ear, "Okay. I'm done. I'm ju—"

"God, I love you." He blurted out.

Claire was quiet for a second, letting those words sink in. She had heard them many times before, but this was the first time after a long hiatus, and even if very sporadic, they still made her heart skip a beat. "Are you really going to do this over the phone, you coward?" She smiled against her iPhone.

"I would say it to your face if you would stop giving me your back, babe." He smirked, watching the redhead slowly turn around to realize he had been standing there this whole time.

She hung up the phone and, with a light blush on her cheeks, she started to walk slowly towards him. After a couple of steps, she dropped the lug wrench onto the floor and started trotting.

Owen met her halfway and held her tight against him, feeling her jump on him and wrap her legs around his waist.

"You were saying?" Claire giggled happily, her arms hugging his neck, feeling his fingers brush her hair back.

"God, I love you!" He offered before kissing her lovingly.