Title: Dancing with the Devil

Author: Typhoid-love

Rating: T because of some foul language and spanking.

Summary: Shannon is upset and confused over Sayid. She finds some comfort in Sawyer... for a moment.

Disclaimer: If I owned Lost I would not be writing fanfiction about it... I would be making Shannon still alive! (Pfft, damn writers)

Authors Note: I wrote this fic to cheer me up because I've been upset over Shannon's death ever since I watched Abandoned. If I have to watch anymore of the characters I love die there's going to be hell to pay. I'm already worried about Charlotte. Oh and sorry if there are any misspells. I didn't feel like doing spell check.

EDIT, 5/22/11: I fixed up some spelling errors. While I was reading over this the other day, I saw that I had quite a few, haha!


Shannon felt her feet pick up sand as she walked on the beach. She sighed in dejection and crossed her arms over her chest. She had never felt this useless in her entire life.

This was worse then when Boone called her useless. Now a guy who she actually liked called her useless. Okay, so maybe Sayid hadn't called her useless exactly, but he said that asking for her help was a mistake. That hurt just as much, maybe even worse than being called useless by her step-brother.

She didn't understand it at all. She didn't understand how Sayid's judgment of her meant more than anyone else's. She didn't usually like guys like him. He was actually nice and she had always been into jerks.

None of this made any sense. This whole island didn't make any sense!

It isn't fair, she thought with a huff.

Shannon didn't like feeling these sorts of things over a man, especially a man that she barely knew. She felt vulnerable. It made her feel like that at any moment her heart would shatter into a million pieces and there would be no way for her to fix it without getting cut.

It was stupid really. How can you be heartbroken by a man who wasn't even yours to begin with and with someone you barely knew? It just didn't make any sense…

"What brings you to my neck of the woods, Sticks?" Shannon was shocked out of her thoughts when she heard someone speak to her.

She looked around to see that she was in fact standing in front of Sawyer's shelter. She looked down to see Sawyer staring up from his book and at her. She blushed lightly in embarrassment. She had been so into her thoughts that she hadn't even realized she came all the way over here by the southerner.

"Oh… um… no reason." Was what Shannon managed to say. She felt like an idiot, especially with the look he was giving her.

"No reason, huh?" He asked crossing his arms over his chest, still holding his book. "There had to be some sort of reason why you came all the way over here by dangerous ol' me."

Shannon felt like a deer caught in headlights. There really wasn't a reason why she came over here. "No, I just got lost in my thoughts." She replied honestly.

"Just got lost in your thoughts, huh?" He asked closing his book and setting it down on the sand beside him. "You sure that's it?"

Shannon raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, I don't see what else—" As she was speaking Sawyer waggled his eyebrows at her. A look of horror crossed her features. "Eww, what ever you're thinking stop it!"

Sawyer leered at her and grinned. "Can't stop the inevitable, darlin." He replied and she rolled her eyes.

"You are such a pig." Shannon scoffed crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh right, I'm sorry. I forgot only your terrorist boyfriend is allowed to think about you like that." Sawyer retorted sarcastically.

Shannon's jaw dropped and her arms dropped back down to her sides. Although anything should be expected from Sawyer, she couldn't believe he just said that.

"He's not my boyfriend and he's not a terrorist." She was quick to deny both claims.

"Oh please, I saw you two with each other before; sittin' in his 'office' givin' each other googly eyes." Sawyer threw back at her and she glared at him.

"You don't know what you're talking about. I was just helping him translate the French in the maps." She defended placing her hands on her hips.

"Sure, sure." He said waving his hand in dismissal. "So… are we gonna be expectin' any half-breed baby's runnin' around any time soon?" He asked with a smirk. He was purposely trying to annoy her and it was working.

"Shut-up!" She exclaimed kicking some sand at him. Unfortunately, she got him in the face and he wasn't too happy about that.

"Hey!" He yelled, roughly brushing sand out of his hair. "That's it, Sticks." He muttered before tackling the tall blonde woman to the sandy ground.

Shannon yelped when she hit the ground with a heavy Sawyer on top of her. Once again, this man did something she didn't expect.

"Sawyer, what the hell are you—Oh my God, stop tickling me!" She screeched once she felt his fingers on her ribs.

Sawyer grinned down at her, a clear sign that he wasn't going to stop. His fingers moved from her ribs to her stomach slyly. Shannon squirmed underneath him as she tried to control her hysterical laughter. She was laughing so hard it was beginning to hurt.

"Sawyer… stop… please." She managed to breathe out between laughs.

"Not until you apologize." He told her, his grin never fading.

Shannon kept her mouth clamped shut. She was too proud to actually apologize to him. His tickling then became more intense. She needed to think quickly.

It was a natural animalistic reaction really. Her mouth found one of his arms and she bit down on it. Sawyer's eyes widened and he yelped in surprise. He immediately stopped tickling her and he pushed himself off of her. He inspected the arm that she attacked with her own mouth. He rubbed it gently and then looked at her with big eyes.

"You bit me." He breathed out in surprise.

"You shouldn't have tickled me." She muttered sitting in the sand and crossing her arms over her chest once again.

"Well, shit, I didn't think you were going to bite me." He said moving over to sit next to her. He kept his hand over the spot that she bit. "Damn, I think I'm bleedin'. What are you a vampire or somethin'?" He asked lifting his hand to inspect his wound.

Shannon shot him another glare. "You deserved it, you jerk." She huffed turning her head away from him.

"If I'm such a jerk then why are you still here?" Sawyer asked slyly.

Shannon actually needed to think on that one. Why was she still here? After just a few seconds into the conversation with Sawyer she could have turned back and bitched to someone else. She didn't need to be wasting her time with this southerner. She finally looked at him and Sawyer was shocked to see sadness in her eyes.

"I think it's because you might be just as useless as me." She whispered.

Sawyer didn't know how to respond to that. Usually he would have been insulted but from the look on her face he knew that she was insulting herself rather than him. That didn't really set well with him. He wasn't good with sad women.

"Well, thanks a lot, Sticks. You certainly know how to make a guy feel good about himself." He said in mock hurt. He stood up and he held out his hand to her. Shannon shot him a confused look. "Let's dance."

"What?" She asked with a mixture of shock and confusion.

Sawyer flashed her a grin. "You know, dancin'? When two people's bodies get really close to each other and they move slowly to the music." He said as if speaking to a child.

After a moment of silence, Shannon wearily took his hand and he helped her up off the sand. Sawyer brought her close to him. He held one of her hands in his own while the other hand rested on the small of her back. She looked up at him with uncertain eyes.

"We don't have any music." She stated the obvious.

"Listen again, Sticks." He told her.

Shannon did as she was told. She listened carefully to their surroundings. Then she heard it; she heard the music. There were waves crashing down on the sandy beach, the leaves on trees rustling together with the light beach breeze, birds chirping high in the trees, and their soft breathing. That was their music and it seemed romantic. She wasn't too sure if she was comfortable having a romantic dance with Sawyer.

But it was too late because she and Sawyer were already swaying gently to the music nature gave them. After much reluctance, Shannon gave in and she rested her head on his firm shoulder to which he rested his head atop hers.

Sawyer only did this to make her feel better. He didn't like it when women got upset because of some jackass. He knew it was Boone who called her useless; he saw how the brother had been treating his sister. He also saw that it was Boone's words that drove Shannon to do drastic things, such as joining Sayid and Kate on their little hike. Then of course he, Boone, and Charlie joined because of her influence. However, he mainly went to keep an eye on the terrorist…

"You shouldn't let your brother get to you." He suddenly whispered to her.

"Hhmm?" She asked feeling very relaxed at the moment. It was the first time she felt true peace ever since they crashed on this godforsaken island. It felt nice.

"I said you shouldn't let Boone bother you. Just because he says some mean things to you, it doesn't mean you have to go and prove yourself to him. One day you'll end up doin' somethin' really dangerous." He told her honestly.

Shannon let out a soft sigh. "Oh, what do you care?" She asked more out of curiosity rather than bitterness.

"Despite popular belief, darlin', I tend to care sometimes." He replied with light humor.

She chuckled softly. "Well, that's sweet of you."

"Don't go tellin' anyone either. I have an image to maintain." Sawyer said grinning into her hair.

"Your secrets safe with me, you big softy." She whispered back to him.

"Shut-up, woman." He told her pulling back slightly but the humor was still heard in his voice.

"Uhg! Sawyer, you ruined the moment!" She yelled slapping his shoulder.

"Hey, don't hit me!" He complained childishly.

In one swift movement, Sawyer lifted his hand up and it landed hard on Shannon's ass. Her eyes went as wide as saucers. Sawyer burst out laughing pulling away from her completely. She stood there for a few more seconds still in shock, then her eyes suddenly narrowed and her fists clenched.

"You son of a bitch!" She screamed then chased after him once he made the wise decision to run for it.


Sayid let out a sigh of annoyance as he tried figuring out the maps on his own. His eyes darted to the spot where Shannon had previously been sitting. His frown deepened on his face.

He didn't understand why he felt sheer disappointment when she left. He tried blaming it on her not being able to fully understand the maps but in the end he knew that wasn't the reason. He knew it was because of the pure sadness in her eyes when he said that it was a mistake. At the time he had meant that bothering her with these pointless maps had been a mistake, but she apparently saw it in a different way. Seeing the pain in her eyes tore at his heart.

It was one big confusing mess. Sayid didn't know why he had such strong feelings for a girl that he barely knew. It just didn't make sense. To top it all off, Shannon is so young… okay she wasn't that young but compared to him she was. Either way, age didn't truly matter on this island. What mattered was that he was confused and he had hurt Shannon.

"Hey there, Muhammad!"

Sayid immediately felt his mood darken even more when he heard the voice of his arch nemesis. He looked up from his papers to see Sawyer standing in front of the table, grinning down at him.

"What is it you want, Sawyer?" Sayid asked allowing his annoyance to be heard.

That seemed to amuse the southerner. "What? Not happy to see me?"

"Who in their right mind would be happy to see you?" Sayid asked bitterly.

Sawyer put a hand to his heart as if hurt. "Now that's just plain hurtful. Then again you've been hurtin' lots of people today." He stated with a smirk.

Sayid glared at the other man. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I had to comfort Shannon earlier after she was translatin' maps with you." Sawyer said, his smirk never fading.

Sayid's eyes seemed to widen. "She went to you?" He asked shocked and confused.

"Of course she did. I happen to be quite the charmer with the ladies." Sawyer replied smugly. "Unlike you." He added. Sayid felt his blood boil with anger. Sawyer noticed and he became even smugger. "So what did you do to her?"

"What did she say to you?" Sayid asked instead of answering.

Sawyer shrugged. "Something about feeling useless."

Sayid felt his heart shatter. He had hurt Shannon so badly that she resorted into finding comfort from Sawyer. That was a slap in the Iraqi's face. Sawyer noticed the crushed look on the other man's face and decided to bother him even more.

"Oh, but don't worry I made her feel better." He said slyly. Sayid's glare turned fierce, as if he would kill Sawyer if he continued to speak. Of course that didn't seem to bother the blonde man. "Yeah, that girl's a wild one."

Sayid's fists clenched so tightly that his nails scraped his palms. "Sawyer…" He spoke warningly.

"And then she bit me." Sawyer said causing Sayid's eyes to widen.

"What?" He asked flabbergasted.

"Yeah, she's a biter. Look," Sawyer said showing Sayid his arm where there was indeed a bite mark. "She's kinda crazy."

Despite being shocked about this situation, Sawyer's last statement pissed Sayid off. "Shannon is not crazy." He practically growled out.

Sawyer raised his hands in mock defense. He got the reaction that he wanted. "Wow, take it easy, Muhammad." He told him. "I actually kind of liked the bitin', it was kinky." He stated, loving each annoyed reaction coming from the other man.

Sayid was reaching his boiling point. If Sawyer didn't stop now then he was going to be the next dead person on this island. "Sawyer, whatever it is you are going to say next; don't." He gave him a clear warning now.

"We danced too." Sawyer ignored his warning. "It was slow and sensual."

Sayid sprang from his seat swiftly. There was death in his eyes. He was about ready to murder Sawyer right here and right now. However, someone else seemed to have the same idea in mind.

"Sawyer, you son of a bitch, come over here and face me like a man!"

Shannon's voice seemed to echo all over the island. Both men turned to see her marching over to them with her hands clenched at her sides and a look of fury on her face. Sawyer flashed a grin at her then turned to the Iraqi.

"See ya later, Muhammad." He said then scurried off.

Shannon stopped in front of Sayid to catch her breath. Her breathing was so heavy she croaked a bit. It worried Sayid; he thought she was going to have another asthma attack.

"Shannon, are you all right?" He asked, gently putting his hand on her shoulder.

Shannon looked over to him as if she hadn't noticed he was standing there before. Despite everything, Sayid had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing at her appearance. All of her blonde hair was practically falling out of her bun, there were some dirt smudges on her white tank top, and her face was flustered from anger and all that chasing after Sawyer.

"Oh, I'll be just fine right after I kill him." She said referring to Sawyer. Sayid was pleased to hear that; now he knew Sawyer was just making it seem he and Shannon did unspeakables just to agitate him.

"As much as I enjoy the thought have you killing Sawyer, I must wonder why." He said trying to shove back his smile but failing miserably.

Shannon shook her head letting out an annoyed sound. "He spanked me. That son of a bitch spanked me." She said almost in a growl. "I'll see you later, Sayid." She said then ran after the retreating Sawyer now that she caught her breath. "Come back here, you bastard!"

Sayid stood there for a long moment as shock once again washed over him. This was certainly a day he was never going to forget.