Title: To Dance.
Author: Scouse
Rating: M (to be on the safe side)
Summary: The Lambada is the dance of love, the dance of passion, but there are two variations of the Tango and Shannon is willing to teach Sayid.
Characters: Shannon, Sayid, Charlie, Sawyer, brief mention of Claire and Boone.
Pairings: Shannon/Sayid.
Author's Note: Don't know where this one shot came from, but I like it. It was fun to write and came out by itself which is always a bonus when you don't have to force it. I love the Lambada, the song and the dance, which is probably why I used it for this fic. It was a hit when I was about 5 and I grew up with it. I had a music box that played it so the song has special meanings for me. I tried to put that across in Shannon and had a stab at explaining her time in France, even though I know that's going to be revealed in season 2 of the show sometime.
Disclaimer: If I owned anything to do with Lost I wouldn't be working as a slave in a Tanning Salon for not even minimum wage. Oh and neither do I own the song the Lambada or the dance. I'm simply borrowing them for Sayid's and Shannon's sakes ;)
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To Dance.
She was singing again. To herself mostly as she stood staring into the flickering flames of the fire. He couldn't comprehend the words though, from where he sat on the opposite side of their chosen fire, one of the many that scattered the beach like little pools of amber light.
He could see her lips moving to form the words, foreign words. He could hear the sounds and syllables as she sang them softly above the crackling of the fire as it consumed the logs and driftwood with ferocity, but understanding did not come to him.
"What are you singing?"
His own question was voiced when Charlie glanced up at her where she stood, arms carefully wrapped around her frame for warmth or protection or both.
"Hmmm?" she raised her perfectly shaped eyebrows at him enquiringly, turning slightly towards the blonde Brit and partially blocking her face from Sayid's view as he continued to watch her.
Shannon had been a lot softer towards Charlie following his abduction. Possibly because of the fact that no one knew what Claire had been through whilst out there in the hands of a madman. Possibly because Charlie had been found hanged and not breathing. Whichever it was, she was suddenly a lot more tolerant of him, of his questions and queries.
"What are you singing?" he repeated, guitar clutched to his chest as if it was keeping him alive. His life support machine, and perhaps it was the thing that kept him going when he had so many reasons to give up entirely. That and his faith.
Shannon's eyes flashed with embarrassment and her hand flew up to her face, brushing her hair behind her ears in an attempt at drawing attention away from her blush. She hadn't realised that she had been singing out loud. A habit that she had had since her youth.
"Oh, nothing." she murmured, turning back to the flames but Charlie persisted where other men would likely have given up.
"It sounded like something to me. Familiar." he smiled up at her sadly. Perhaps it was the emotion behind his tone and gaze that made her sit down beside him and answer his question. Sayid was certain that if anyone else had been as forthright as Charlie had, they would have earned themselves a scathing from the young girl.
"My mom, she used to sing me to sleep when I was a little girl…before she died." she pulled her arms about herself tighter, attempting to keep the warmth in as the sun began to dip below the horizon, taking with it the light and warmth of the day. "She had a beautiful voice and my favourite…" she paused shooting a wary glance about her as if to make sure than no one would hear what she said and Sayid carefully and quickly sent his stare to the flames so that she would not suspect him of listening in to their conversation. "Don't laugh at this, but, my favourite for her to sing was the Lambada."
"That hit from '89 by Kid-Creole?" Charlie queried, quirking a disbelieving eyebrow and snorting lightly.
"I said don't laugh!" she huffed, scowling and turning away from him.
"I wasn't laughing!" he replied quickly, smoothing over his pervious words. "No, I like the lambada too."
"I thought that the lambada was a dance." Sayid spoke up, his curiosity getting the better of him and raising his chin slightly so that he could glance over the fire and into Shannon's eyes as they locked onto him. Her cheeks flushed a second time and she mumbled something unintelligible, glancing at the ground.
"It is." Sawyer drawled, drawing their eyes away from each other and over to him where he swaggered out from between the palm trees lining the beach and settled himself on the other side of Shannon without invitation, his back pressing up against the nearest tree trunk. "Helped me get more than a few notches on my bedpost. I was actually pretty good at it. Could've gone pro if I'd wanted." his grin was leering and Sayid cleared his throat, sitting up and preparing himself to rise and rescue Shannon from the southerner if she showed any signs of discomfort.
Shannon, however, had the opposite reaction. A bright smile spread across her face, eyes dancing golden brown in the firelight and setting sun.
"Really? You dance the lambada?" she breathed and Sawyer's grin widened as he sent a brief, triumphant sneer over to Sayid.
"I do a lot more than dance the lambada, Sweetheart." he purred, moving a little closer to her and Sayid absently acknowledged that his hands were fisting themselves in the sand at his sides. His teeth grit together until his jaw began to ache.
Shannon had come to him the previous night, had kissed him and told him that she wanted to start her new life. She had hinted that she had wanted it to be with him…or had he simply misinterpreted it all? Had that kiss all been her way of telling him that she was sorry but she had changed her mind? Had she been taunting him? Letting him have a taste of something that he would now never have and that she was apparently intent on giving to Sawyer of all people? All because he had listened to the spiteful, jealous words of her interfering step-brother?
"You want me to teach you sometime?" Sawyer's voice became more flirtatious and seductive, dropping in tone to a deep thrum in the air but Shannon tossed her golden tresses back and laughed, a beautiful, tinkling laugh that suddenly made Sayid's heart leap with hope.
"Stupid!" she grinned at Sawyer who in turn looked back at her with confusion. "I know how to dance the lambada, silly! I studied dance for a year and a half in Paris." she turned abruptly, facing Sayid fully for the first time that evening, her shining eyes holding something akin to the alluring look that Sawyer had been giving her mere seconds before. "That was why I was in France." she offered to Sayid and he nodded, smiling back at her as relief coursed through his chest. "I dropped out after a year and a semester, though. Moved to Saint Tropez with that guy I told you about…I sometimes wish that I hadn't quit."
Sawyer grumbled something under his breath and leaned back against his tree having decided that 'Sticks' wasn't worth him attempting to seduce.
"Do you want to dance, Sawyer?" she asked him, grinning like a child at Christmas and leaping up from her spot on the sand. That made his blonde head snap upright and Sayid sit up straighter, jaw clenching once more. Even Charlie's eyebrows shot up his forehead in disbelief, his blue eyes darting between Shannon, Sawyer and then finally landing upon Sayid's staunch frown.
"Hate to break it to you, Sticks, but we don't got no music." he chuckled resting his head back against the tree but it did little to quell the young woman's excitement.
"Charlie knows the song. He can play it on his guitar."
Charlie nodded and grinned, strumming his guitar to show that he was indeed capable of providing the music.
"Won't take me two shakes of a lamb's tail to figure out the chords." he announced, his fingers already deftly fathoming them out as he spoke and Sawyer cracked an eye open at their words and Shannon shot him her best smile, hands clasped beneath her chin in a prayer-like posture.
"Why don't you teach Aladdin over there. I'm sure he'd love for you to dance with him." he flicked his wrist in Sayid's direction and he felt his cheeks flame as Shannon cast a considering glance over him, her eyes lingering on his face for several seconds as if waiting for him to say something.
"I cannot dance." he murmured finally, coughing a little to clear his throat and casting his eyes away from the disappointment that he knew would be in Shannon's face.
Minutes trickled by slowly as they sat in silence until Shannon huffed and shuffled in the sand slightly.
"Please, Sawyer? It's been such a long time since I've danced with a partner who knows what he's doing. My last dance was with this guy in Sydney and he stepped on my favourite pair of Prada shoes and snapped the heel off and I so can't buy a new pair now, not only because we're stuck here on this stupid island, but because they stopped manufacturing them like months ago!"
"Alright! Jesus!" he snapped sitting up and clamping his hands over his ears in order to block out her whining. "I don't need the running commentary of your entire life, goddamn it!"
Shannon's fist pounded up into the air as she released a small yip of excitement that made Sayid smile despite the fact that she was about to engage in the 'dance of love' with easily the most promiscuous man on the island.
"Do you think you can remember the words, Charlie?" she asked the seated guitarist who shrugged and replied that he supposed he did and that he would try at least. Then she turned her gaze onto Sayid once more and for the briefest of split-seconds he could have sworn that she had winked at him.
"Okay!" she beamed, taking Sawyer by one of his large, callused hands and dragging him to his unwilling feet. "Do you remember it?"
He merely raised an un-amused eyebrow at her as if she had just asked him the most stupid of questions. His hands slithered down to cup her waist, drawing them closer together than was comfortable for Sayid to witness despite that fact that he could not tear his gaze away, he could not will his legs to stand and carry him away from the impending frivolity. He swallowed at a bitter lump of jealousy that stuck in his throat but only succeeded in getting it lodged in his chest where it wound about his heart like a frigid coil.
Shannon's hips fit perfectly against Sawyer's as his hands pressed them together, his dimpled smile appearing upon his face as Charlie began to strum out the familiar tune, albeit haltingly at first. He had noticed the dark look sweep over the Iraqi's face as he sat opposite them, eyes fixed magnetically upon them as Shannon began to move to the three-beat rhythm, her hips swaying first left and then right locked to Sawyer's own.
Charlie cleared his throat, allowing the first tentative words of the song tumble from his tongue, though he changed them slightly to fit their arrangement.
It was a risqué dance, he had known that even before Shannon and her long legs and her very short skirt had begun to move, but never before had it set his pulse racing as it was a that moment. He swallowed hard, his breathing coming out louder than he intended it to and instead tried to focus his mind onto the words that Charlie was singing.
"Now he's gone away, only man who's ever made you cry. Not so far away, far enough to make you wanna die. Crying over she, is what he's gonna be, when he's hit by the need of her love. Crying he will be, when he's dreamin' of she, and decides he needs what once was."
Sayid watched transfixed as their movements became more fluid and passionate as they immersed themselves in the dance, winding around the swirling music that Charlie was creating for them. Oblivious entirely it seemed to the audience that they were gaining as other survivors wandered over from their separate fires to witness the spectacle.
Shannon moved on the balls of her feet, tiptoeing through the routine that they both suddenly knew by heart, her heels kicking up every so often to emphasis the sway of their joined hips as they became faster and faster, keeping time with the music. She was unaware, didn't seem to care that her skirt was twirling about her allowing Sayid the rare opportunity to glimpse the smooth, tanned skin of her thighs, though it made him blush scarlet red and shift nervously with his guilt at being so voyeuristic.
"All the memories follow me wherever I may go. Haunting melodies playing in the night to let me know. Dance along with me with the sun and the sea. Only love makes what feels so sublime. Do a dance with me to a love fantasy. That for one precious moment was mine." Charlie continued to croon, brightening as he noticed the growing crowd. His voice and playing becoming louder and more flamboyant. He was definitely a performer, Sayid noted, attempting to keep his raging temper at bay as Sawyer's hands moulded themselves to Shannon's back, dipping her backwards and low to the ground, her loose, blonde hair brushing over the sand as she rotated and Sawyer pulled her back up to meet him face to face.
"Doing well, Sticks." he gasped with a quick jerk of his head, hands returning to their place on her hips and Shannon rolled her eyes at him, prodding him lightly in the ribs.
"Just concentrate." she responded as they neared the dance's ending.
Sayid sat mesmerised by her flexibility, her grace. She was a tall girl. Taller than he was by a good two inches, though neither of them had thought it a problem before. Sawyer, however, was taller than her and as Sayid watched them dancing out the remainder of the song, he was suddenly aware of how perfect they looked together. Perhaps Shannon had seen this, had decided that she preferred Sawyer for his charm and looks. She was one to keep up with the fashions and trends, that much Sayid was aware of at least. She was always keen to look her best and try as he might to fight the fact, she and Sawyer looked right together.
He pushed himself to his feet suddenly startling both Charlie and Shannon it seemed out of their routines before they had finished. Sawyer instead folded his arms, considering Sayid with a knowing grin.
Clapping scattered the night from the little circle of people surrounding them and Shannon blushed, glancing down to the ground while both Charlie and Sawyer lapped up the attention lavished upon them.
"Please, do not let me interrupt you." Sayid mumbled feebly to the out of breath girl as she stared at him, once the crowd had dispersed but she shrugged nonchalantly and smiled brightly.
"We were done really, anyway." she replied, her chest heaving to draw air into her lungs. "I forgot how much I enjoyed dancing."
"Glad to be of service, Princess." Sawyer chuckled offering her a mock-salute, drawing her attention back to him and she laughed, placing a kiss of thanks upon his cheek.
Sayid took that as his cue to leave, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. It was obvious that Shannon had changed her fickle mind about him since last night.
"Wait! Sayid!" she called and he spun, meeting her with a black look that caused her to shrink back from him slightly. "I was just thinking…maybe you would like me to teach you to dance sometime?" her gold flecked eyes searched his face for any hint of his approval to the idea or the reverse and his feature softened slightly.
"Perhaps another night." he answered tenderly and Shannon nodded, forcing a weak smile onto her lips. "Though I do not think I will be able to dance the lambada quite as well as Sawyer did."
"Oh." she said, her eyes flickering with another of her flirtatious glances as she stood before him, glancing at the ground and leaning her weight onto one leg whilst coiling and uncoiling a strand of her silky hair about her forefinger. "I was thinking about teaching you something different. Perhaps a variation of the tango." she looked back up at him, something that Sayid could not quite distinguish smouldering in the depths of her irises.
Sawyer snorted at her words, back in his spot beneath the palm tree and Charlie, who had been taking a long gulp of water sprayed it forwards from his lips, causing the fire to hiss and sizzle where the droplets landed. Shannon shot them both dark looks before yawning and turning her attention back onto the man before her.
"Well, I'm tired now. I'll see you in the morning."
She placed a feather light kiss upon Sayid's stubbled cheek before slipping away to her makeshift shelter and leaving him with Sawyer and Charlie for company.
"What was all that about?" he demanded once she was out of earshot and the two blonde men glanced at each other before bursting out into laughter. "What is wrong with the tango?"
Sawyer shook his head, taking a swallow of the water that Charlie offered to him before making his reply.
"She said a variation of the tango." he illuminated though Sayid looked possibly more confused than before. "If I'da been you, I would go after her with an offer like that!"
"She had bid me goodnight. She stated that she was tired. But, I was not aware that there were any variations to that dance." he stated evenly and Sawyer's dimples returned as he grinned widely and conspiratorially with Charlie.
"There's two types of tango, mate." Charlie added, holding up two fingers as he spoke. "The dancing type-"
"But it ain't the dancin' type of tango she's talkin' about, brother." Sawyer sniggered, handing the water bottle back to the semi-recumbent guitarist.
Sayid arched a weary eyebrow.
"And are you going to tell me what this…other type of tango is?" he demanded again, folding his arms across his chest and huffing in annoyance when the two men shared another secretive glance at his expense.
"Little old Sticks there was talkin' about teaching you the merits of the horizontal tango!" Sawyer clarified with a teasing, lop-sided smirk.
Sayid felt the blood rush to his cheeks faster and more furiously than ever before. He was certain that Charlie and Sawyer would actually feel the heat radiating from him in that moment in time. The horizontal tango.
"Little old Sticks there," Charlie continued, sniggering as he used Sawyer's nickname for Shannon. "Was talking about getting you in the sack, mate!"
"About giving the dog a bone!" Sawyer shot.
"About knocking boots!" Charlie responded.
"About getting in the saddle!"
"About getting your leg over!"
"About getting your wick wet!"
"About riding the bike!"
"About doing the dirty!"
"About having a shag!" Charlie's face was turning redder than Sayid's was with laughter but Sayid himself had turned away at that point, flustered, more than a little embarrassed but definitely, definitely grinning from ear to ear, even as Sawyer and Charlie continued to call phrases to him well after he had disappeared from earshot and sight, in search of some very cold sea water.
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Thoughts, comments, criticism and views would be gratefully appreciated ;)