Rating: PG-13 for now, may increase if continued
Pairing: Eventually Shannon/Sayid
Summary: They were lost even before they got on that fateful flight. Will they have better luck getting found if they never actually get on?
Warnings: Some language
Status of fic: WIP if it's contiuned
Author's Notes: I've been toying with this idea for an AU for a while now. Though I'm unsure whether or not it's worth continuing it. Comments and criticism especially would be very helpful.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I'm just playing with it for my own amusement. I'll put them all back where I found them when I've finished!
Begin Again.
The queue was a slow one. Agonizingly slow. Winding out before him as he stood near it's rear. Creeping his way closer to the departures gate, inch by insufferable inch.
He sighed, hefting his bag a little higher onto his shoulders, irritation at both the delay and the dubious glances being shot his way by the airport security staff, lancing through him. Their gazes made him uncomfortable, made him sweat though he knew that he had nothing to worry about. Made him act suspiciously beneath their stares and that in turn only made them watch him with more intensity. A vicious circle. A circle of viciousness and he was trapped within it, all because of a stupid miscalculation on his part. His trust carelessly placed in a single young woman who had then betrayed that trust and put him in a black mood to say the least. He had been naïve to think that he could trust anyone besides himself, to think that perhaps racial prejudice had not reached as far as Sydney when it obviously had.
Silently he vowed that he would be less ready to place his faith blindly in another person. He would not be making the same mistake again.
A cacophony of clatters, tinkles and hissed curses drew him out of his furious thoughts and Sayid was barely able to stop in time to keep himself from colliding with the man in front of him as the queue once again ground to a halt. He shifted slightly, trying to see over the line of heads and get a better view of what was holding them up.
All he wanted was to get onto the plane. Just to get on and for the flight to be over and done with so that he would not have to set foot in another airport again for a very long time.
"St!" the woman hissed again, several places ahead of him in the queue. The contents of her handbag spilled carelessly across the floor, evoking mumbles of frustrated complaint from those waiting behind her and she stooped out of Sayid's view, cursing again and more profanely. "Boone, wait up!"
He was not much older than she was, the young man that she had called to and was presumably travelling with. He paused mid-stride and turned, glancing over his shoulder, his startlingly blue eyes turning cold and disinterested as an impatient frown quirked his eyebrows down.
"Come on, Shannon, you're holding up the whole goddamn line!" he replied impatiently, though he made no move, no attempt to help her.
Sayid was left with the distinct impression that the young man was less than pleased with the delay and he had to smother a smirk behind his hand, almost expecting the youth to begin tapping his foot in his irritation.
The woman's reply was lost, swallowed by the noise as people began stepping past her, trampling over her scattered belongings, intent merely on themselves and getting to their seats on the plane. It seemed to Sayid that not only where there people prejudiced against those different than themselves, but also to each other and he shook his head, dropping to one knee when he reached her side instead of simply stepping over her.
"Here," he murmured, hands deftly retrieving the make-up and now shattered compact mirror. "Let me help you."
"Thanks." she muttered in response but she didn't look up, too busy trying to stuff some more personal effects out of his sight and making Sayid's cheeks flush with embarrassment.
It took barely a scattering of minutes for the pair of them to return her belongings to their rightful place in her bag and she scowled up at the backs of the passengers who continued to stride past them, ignoring them entirely.
"Yeah, yeah. Keep on walking…assholes!" she growled beneath her breath, shooting her young male companion a dark look as well as she zipped her bag closed finally. "Hey, thanks for that." she turned to Sayid as the exact moment that he looked up.
Their eyes locked, dark, deep brown to shining amber, shock registering on both of their faces as the stood up in tandem.
"You?" Sayid managed to choke out from his constricting throat as he attempted to keep his temper from spiralling out of control.
"What?" she demanded in response, a coolness replacing the sincerity that had been in her gaze split-seconds previously. She clutched her arms across her chest, effectively creating a protective barrier between him and her.
Sayid's anger flared again as she tossed her blonde hair away from her face and inspected the dirt, or lack thereof, beneath her finger nails, feigning nonchalance.
"You!" he spat again and that time it was not a question. His eyes flashed dangerously and she seemed to sense it, glancing up at him once more. "I asked you to watch my bag for little more than a few minutes and I find myself being taken in for questioning!"
Her golden eyes flickered with what might have been remorse for the briefest of seconds before she raised her chin, her expression daring him to argue with her, goading him on.
"So, you shouldn't leave your bag with strangers." she responded, sneer curling her lips at the corners ever so slightly as if she were trying to stop it from spreading across her beautiful features.
"True." he returned, like lightening, eyes warily glancing over at her young male companion who was making his way back towards them reluctantly. "Yet that does not give you the right to report me to security." he shook his head, giving a humourless, incredulous laugh.
"Is everything all right?" the young man demanded rather than asked as he stopped beside her. His piercing blue eyes remained directed at Sayid, however. No concern for the young woman entered his tone, only a warning. A warning that laced through his voice and was intended for Sayid. His arm curled about her shoulders, more possessive than protective.
"I'm fine, Boone. Just go get our seats on the plane." she snapped, shirking his embrace away and surprisingly stepping closer to Sayid.
He knew how to read people, having spent most of his working life as an interrogator, and something in the back of his mind told him that this girl felt more comfortable in the presence of him, the man accusing her of reporting him to the airport security, than the man she was travelling with, be he boyfriend or husband or family member.
She turned her gaze back to Sayid and the hard, emotionless mask reappeared suddenly, hiding her discomfort from both men entirely.
"They give out warnings and stuff." she stated and for a moment he had not a clue what she was talking about. "They put up posters telling you what to do if someone tries to leave their bag with you, or you see someone leaving one unattended. They tell you to alert someone! I was being a good citizen!" she finished with another flick of her silky hair, her face triumphant even if she did sound like she was trying to justify her actions to herself.
"Leave it, Shannon." the man tried again to get her attention, tried again to wrap and arm about her shoulders and steer her away from Sayid, and again she shrugged his hands off her as if they scalded her skin.
"I said I can deal, Boone!" she spat, narrowing her eyes at him. "Wait for me on the stupid plane!"
Boone shook his head in frustration but she did not see for she had already turned her attention back onto Sayid, her anger heightened by the fact that she was being attack from both sides. She was fenced in.
"Those posters are concerning terrorism." Sayid took the chance to respond, his tone even and his eyes chary as he watched her studying him, her perfectly shaped eyebrows drawn down into a frown.
"Yeah," her smile was false and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "You ever thought that maybe leaving your bag with someone you don't know is acting a little bit like a terrorist?"
Fury boiled within him anew, turning the blood in his veins to liquid fire as he grit his teeth together so hard that he thought they might shatter. Is she had been a man, he would have knocked her out.
"Jesus Christ, Shan!" Boone exclaimed, hand pressed to his forehead in panic, noting the stoic expression upon her face before quickly turning back to Sayid. "Look, Man. She didn't mean that!"
"Oh, she meant it!" Sayid growled, his stare not wavering from the woman's amber glare, only serving to fluster Boone more.
"Listen, I'm sorry. Okay? What's it going to take, y'know, to end this?" he fumbled in his jeans pocket for a few moments, retrieving his wallet and pulling out a wad of paper-money, counting out the fifty dollar bills. "A hundred? Two?" he raised his eyebrows enquiringly at Sayid, seemingly perfectly at ease despite the fact that he was attempting to buy the Iraqi man's silence.
Fury rushed beneath his skin once more but before he could bite out his livid refusal, they woman's voice rang out clear and harsh in the same moment, drawing both Sayid's and Boone's stares back to her.
"I don't need your money to get out of this, Boone, and I don't need your help either!"
Something passed between them as they stood glaring at each other. Something bitter and unresolved but she simply brushed her blonde hair from her face and turned her back to him.
"Get on the plane."
Perhaps it was because it was the third time that she had demanded he leave. Perhaps it was the withering glare that had accompanied her fierce words prior to her turned back. Whichever it was, it caused Boone's face to tighten, his jaw to clench.
"Fine." he snorted out, returning his money and his wallet back to his pocket. He spun on his heel, not sparing a second glance for either of them before striding away through the departures gate and disappearing as she had insisted harshly.
She seemed relieved that he had gone, her shoulders that had been tense and hunched before, relaxed and she stood to her full height, uncurling from a protective ball almost.
"Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to be searched? To be dragged away in front of the entire airport? To have your bag emptied out for inspection?" he queried and she remained silent, lips pursed together as her eyes watched him, taking in his face, his emotions, his eyes.
"Do you!" he demanded again and her staunch façade wavered a little more.
"Look," she sighed, rubbing at her temple with long, well manicured fingers. "I don't know what you want from me. I did something stupid that I thought was right, so sue me!" her tone was brash but not nearly as cutting as it had been before and Sayid found himself relaxing somewhat.
"If you had a problem you could have simply refused me." he watched her face intently, the cold mask that had been placed there, slipping slightly and she hugged her arms to herself a little more.
"I'm sorry, okay? What more can I do? I can't change what I did. I'd take it back if I could!" her voice wavered in the air, unintentionally and Sayid found himself sighing, taking pity on the young woman before him. It was not really fair of him to shout at her so, like he was, and in public.
"I accept your apology." he murmured, extending his hand towards her and her eyes flickered to it apprehensively before she tentatively placed her own hand in his.
"Okay." she mumbled back, shaking his hand, relief washing over her features.
"And you are welcome." he added with a small smile tingling upon his lips.
"For what?" she queried, seeming shocked with his sudden display of calmness, almost as if she had expected him to continue with another verbal lashing.
"For helping you with your bag." he released her hand, motioning to where her belongings had strewn the floor moments before.
"Oh. Yeah. Right." she responded, tucking more stray strands of hair behind her ear. "Thanks again…what's your name?" she turned her head towards him as he once again shouldered his black hold-all, the cause of their problems to begin with, and they headed together towards the check in gate for their flight.
"Sayid Jarrah." he offered. "And yours?"
"Shannon. Shannon Rutherford and that idiot with the cash was my brother…step-brother, Boone." she paused to flash another glance at his face. "But I guess you already knew that, from the way that I was yelling at him."
Sayid chuckled politely, nodded his head with mild interest.
"You have a very pretty name, Shannon." he replied, turning the conversation away from her step-brother, for he had noted the dark look that had passed through her golden eyes when she had mentioned him. Something obviously had occurred between them to make her so adverse to speaking about her step-sibling fondly, as most would.
"Thanks." she replied, breaking him from his contemplation, and rewarding him with the first true smile that he had seen gracing her lips, though she looked slightly flustered at being complemented by the very man that she had shopped to security barely an hour before hand. But then her smile turned into a teasing smirk. "I would say that 'Sayid' is a pretty name, but I don't think that you'd be very pleased with that."
Sayid found himself still laughing by the time they had approached the desk and he tried to stifle it as he turned to the woman sat behind it, dressed in the uniform of the airport staff.
"I'm sorry, Sir. Madam. The boarding for this flight close five minutes ago." she stated even before Sayid had opened his mouth to speak.
"What!" Shannon demanded at his side. "No! We were right there!" she waved her hand back in the direction that they had come form.
"I'm sorry, Miss, but the call did go out on the over-head speakers numerous times for you to-"
"Bullst!" Shannon hissed, the anger that Sayid had witnessed focused upon himself and her brother moments ago, suddenly and completely aimed at the woman sat behind the desk. She slapped her palm down, drawing stares from nearby customers and travellers. "We would have heard-"
"I assure you that the calls did go out." the woman replied, cutting her off with irritation lacing her words.
"My brother is on that plane! He got on like two minutes ago!" Shannon continued to protest.
"Then your brother is on his way to L.A.X, Madam." the receptionist replied through gritted teeth and false smile alike. "And he passed through here seven and a half minutes ago to be precise!"
oOo
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