TITLE: Finding Hope
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: Shannon reveals a secret to Sayid hoping for comfort.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters from Lost and am not making a profit. If they were mine, then there would be more Shayid moments.
Shannon could hear the waves crashing in the background. The whispers of the other castaways drifted over, carried by the wind. The fire in front of her gave off light, but not warmth. All the warmth she felt came from Sayid. He knelt behind her, his one arm resting across her shoulders. Even though it looked like the image from the perfect date, everything was far from perfect.
Shannon bit her lip. She felt so confused. She needed to tell him, needed for Sayid to know the fate of the raft, needed for him to tighten his arms around her, needed for him to comfort her.
But he had brought her cookies. Had said they were going to pretend that everything else had disappeared. How could she tell him about the message bottle now? They were alone together for the first time in days. Only Vincent kept them company. It was almost like they were a family.
However, Sayid's gentle caresses and feather light kisses couldn't cure her broken heart. She needed to tell him, but she was afraid what Claire and Sun would think. Did it even matter? She was hurting and Sayid could fix it.
"I need to tell you something."
"All right."
She heard the uncertainty in his voice, felt his body stiffen behind her. The last time she had spoken such words she had revealed Boone's twisted love for her.
She took a shaky breath. "Claire found the bottle. The one we put our messages in. It washed up on shore."
"Where is it now?" he asked, his body tensing, his hands slipping off her shoulders.
She wished she could see him, wished she could see the expression in his eyes, wished he'd wrap his arms around her again.
"Sun buried it," Shannon said, pointing off to the corner of camp where Sun sat alone.
"That was the right choice," Sayid said, his voice choked with emotion. "The others must not know that hope is lost."
It was not what she expected him to say. She had hoped he'd tell her a nice lie that the guys on the raft were okay, but she knew in her heart they weren't.
"But we know," she said softly.
Finally, his strong arms tightened around her. "We will find a way to mourn without the others knowing. We will have our own kind of hope."
For now, the only hope Shannon saw was in each other and their cookies.
The end