Summary: Shannon celebrates her first birthday with Boone
Pairing: Shannon/Boone
Rating:G
Disclaimer:I don't own any of the characters, or anything having to do with for that matter, LOST. J.J. and Damon have that honor.
Midnight Journey
The large room is full with the laughter of children. The blond girl sitting before a large cake decorated in pink and yellow blows out the nine lighted candles as the other children cheer and start another chorus of "Happy Birthday". They are not in unison and some finish the song earlier than others. Shannon doesn't really care. It is her birthday and she only wishes to finish the cake so she can start opening the mountain of presents that lie waiting for her.
A dark haired boy sits at the table near to her. Occasionally his blue eyes move nervously to the gifts also. The boy's name is Boone and this is the first birthday he celebrates with Shannon as her stepbrother. He watches as she eats her slice of cake, half wishing that she will eat it quickly the other half hoping she will take until Doomsday. Boone pays little attention to his own cake. He divides his attention instead between the gift he has chosen to give her and the birthday girl herself. Shannon looks very beautiful in her new dress, her blond hair falling to her shoulders. Once she looks up and meets his gaze only to frown and return to eating her cake.
When her meal is finished Shannon rushes directly to the presents. Boone has hardly touched his cake but he leaves it without any regret to follow his stepsister. He feels that it is on purpose that she avoids opening his present until it is last and looks quite pathetic next to the other gifts she has received.
Shannon opens the box languidly as if she doesn't truly care what it is or for the person who has given it to her. Boone fears that in truth she doesn't. The wrapping all undone and the box now open, sitting on a thin small cloud of gauze a small blue and violet butterfly pin is revealed. She looks at the pin and Boone hopes for one instant that she will thank him for it or offer some other sign that she is pleased with the gift. Shannon looks up and sees the boy's hope. She puts the pin among the other gifts and ignores both it and Boone.
Later when the day is close to ending, the games having all been played, Shannon motions Boone to follow her. He does but Shannon never had any fear that he wouldn't. She leads him outside, away from the eyes of the other children who have come to her party but don't care about her one way or another. She leads Boone away from the eyes of his mother and her father. Shannon doesn't want them to see what she is planning on doing. Her plan is for an audience of one and he is walking steadily behind her. When she has reached the garbage cans by the garage she suddenly stops. She turns and offers Boone one large blinding smile as she holds up the butterfly pin he has given to her and then lets it fall into the garbage can.
Though he tries, Boone can't quite hide the pain he feels. His eyes betray him. Trying to act as if what she has done does not affect him, he shrugs it aside, switching the hurt look to one of brotherly disgust. It can't erase how he truly feels or the fact that Shannon knows that she has succeeded in wounding him. She watches him walk away. She would fear that he has gone to tell on her but she knows better. He will not want to get her into trouble.
Shannon looks at the pin lying on top of the garbage before running back inside to where her party goes on without her.
It is night. Shannon cannot sleep though it is not from the excitement of the day. She closes her eyes and stares at the blackness but sleep stays far away. She opens her eyes and turns and turns. Nothing helps. Sighing heavily, half in irritation, half in sadness, she places her feet on the carpeted floor and walks softly to the door.
Shannon sneaks silently into the hallway. She doesn't worry about disturbing her father or his wife. Their room is at a far distance and besides they are probably too busy doing whatever it is adults do when they are alone. She shudders and continues on her midnight journey.
Boone poses more of a problem. His room is close to hers and she will have to pass it. As she goes carefully by it she stops halfway. The door is open. She walks towards Boone's room, diverted and tempted away from her purpose. He lies asleep, his dark hair messy. His eyes are closed and Shannon can't help but stare at her stepbrother. She wonders if she were to touch the pillow his head lies on if it would be wet.
"Boys don't cry," she thinks to herself. Remembering the look on Boone's face when she put his gift to her in the garbage, she knows that it's a lie and she feels for certain that the pillow would be wet and she would be to blame.
Shannon wants to go to his bed and wake him to tell him that she is sorry. She wants to make some kind of penance for hurting him. She wonders if she touched his hair if his haunting eyes would open and she could whisper that she's sorry for what she did and he would smile and know that she meant it.
Shannon leaves the room, closing the door quietly behind her.
The floor is cold and she swears as it starts to make her feet itch uncomfortable. When she reaches the front door she unlocks it with only a minor amount of difficulty and slips out into the dark night. The moon sits in the night sky while the stars around it shine in adoration.
When Shannon reaches the garbage can she finds the butterfly pin where she had left it. She picks up the pin and stares at it before holding it close to where the heart she feels beating so fiercely lies. Shannon rushes back inside the house, making it safely back to her own bedroom where she soon after throws herself onto her bed and falls into a deep, peaceful sleep.
In the morning Shannon sits at the kitchen table with Boone. He shows no signs of the suffering she had caused him only yesterday. He treats her as he always does and Shannon knows that she could commit any number of sins against him and he will always forgive her. The reason for this is simple and something she has always known: He loves her.
Before they leave for school she draws his attention to her in some trivial way, by some insult carelessly said. As he looks at her, a smirk on his face and a snide comment to match hers, his eyes are drawn to something new she has added to her attire when he was not looking. On the right side of her shirt the butterfly pin rests. The sight of this seems to strike him more deeply then when he had watched her put it in with the garbage. Shannon watches him and then hurries the moment forward by running out the door, yelling back at Boone that they are going to be late. He follows her only after the shock has slightly disappeared, rushing after her as he will do for most of the life that awaits him.