There was a storm coming in when Shannon reached the beach. The others were bustling about, hurrying to tie down things that needed to be tied down and making sure what little shelter they hadn't didn't get blown away.

Shannon didn't need to hurry to her shelter; she figured Sayid had already taken care of that. Less than a month ago, she and Sayid had decided to "live" together. They'd combined their shelters and had ended up with a tent-like structure. Their things were now completely intermingled, with no one the wiser where her part of the tent began and his ended. In reality it wasn't even thought of that way. It was their shelter.

"Hey sticks? You seen Kate?"

Shannon turned to regard Sawyer, the self-proclaimed rake of the group. Unbeknownst to Sayid, right after she and he had got "together" Sawyer had made several comments. Extremely rude, and lewd comments. Shannon blacked his eye over them. Best moment of her life.

"Yeah, she's at the caves with Jack." Shannon stressed the word Jack, just to bother Sawyer.

"How about you keep me company tonight? I'm sure Mohammad won't mind. You can trust me."

Shannon controlled herself. It would do nobody any good to fight with Sawyer. That man had a stockpile of goodies and there was no telling when she or Sayid would need something. So she plastered a fake smile on her face and started to walk away.

"My daddy always told me never to trust a man who said to 'trust him'. So I don't. Ole Jack Frost never met a man he could trust." Shannon smiled at him genuinely over her shoulder but wasn't prepared for the rage on Sawyer's face when she did. Her steps faltered and she was about to ask what was wrong when he stormed over and grabbed her by the arm…hard.

Wrenching her arm around he pinned her to a tree. "Your daddy? Your daddy is 'Jack Frost'? The conman? I thought I recognized that face. Your daddy wouldn't happen to also be known as Higgs would he?"

Shannon paled and tried to remove her arm from Sawyer's grasp. He shook her. "Answer me!"

"I…I…"

(Flashback)

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, pumpkin?"

"When are we going home?" Shannon twisted in her seat to look at her father. It was late at night and the only illumination was a streetlight that was dim and flickered. Her father's face looked somehow harsher in the weak light. The shadows his high cheekbones cast gave him a sinister feel, while the lines at his eyes made him softer.

"After I talk to this boy we'll go home. I swear." Shannon's six-year-old mind knew it was a lie, but felt compelled to believe it anyways. They would never be going home. They had no home. Last week, Shannon and her father had left Mommy at home to go to the movies. Mommy hadn't been feeling well so they left her home. When they got back Shannon had ran upstairs to show her mommy the popcorn Shannon had saved her. Instead of the smiling woman she'd left, Shannon found the oh-so-still thing that was her mommy. After that men had come and taken her mommy, and Shannon had cried. She didn't understand why mommy had left, but Shannon knew she wasn't coming back. The next day, she and her father left their home and went for a drive. They hadn't stopped driving until just a few hours ago, and they had been sitting her since.

"I'm hungry."

"I know baby. We'll go eat in a few minutes." Shannon's father passed the back of his hand gently down the side of her face. Shannon had seen him use it many times with mommy, and knew it was his way of showing affection. "Daddy has to wait for this boy and then we'll go." Even as he said this a knock sounded at the window.

Shannon's father rolled it down so that whoever was outside could see in. "Are you Higgs?" A young voice asked.

"Are you Bobby?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'm Higgs. The job is next week, and you're a novice. I didn't like letting you in on this but I had no choice. Get in."

The boy started for the other side of the car but Shannon's father called him back. "Get in the back. My girl is in the front."

The boy grumbled. "You brought your girlfriend with you on a job."

Her father smiled and shook his head as the boy climbed in. "No, my daughter."

Shannon turned to look at the sixteen-year-old boy in the back seat. "Hi."

"Well, aren't you a cute little thing. What's your name?"

"Shannon. What about you?"

"Well, little darlin' you can call me Sawyer."

Dun-dun-DUN! The first chapter already! Are you seeing the connections…are you? For those of you who don't know me, this is the second in a series of stories. The first is "The Silence" and I suggest that you read it, but it's not entirely necessary. I love you my fans…and I hope you enjoy.

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the first story I wrote, "The Silence". And this includes Jen, Solitaryfan, October Sky, Taylor 47, Oenone, A Bleeding Rose, artistgirl1727, and MariAmber. Thank you for reading and liking my story!