The next morning, Shannon awoke to find Ana-Lucia laying on the floor nearby. She glanced oddly at her, puzzled, before yawning and sitting up. She scratched her head, running a hand through her hair. Then she remembered what had happened the previous night. She and Sayid had had yet another huge arguement, inwhich Shannon had walked out.

Now, she wondered what Sayid was up to, whether he was trying to call her cell, which she had turned off the other night. She could barely remember anything, she could only remember turning up at Ana's but couldn't exactly recall what they had spoken about. She had had a couple of drinks on the way there, of course.

At that precise moment Ana began to stir, her eyes cracking open. She looked up at Shannon and gave her a sheepish grin. "Sorry.." She mumbled, sitting up, and Shannon noticed that she was still fully dressed. "I just.. Jack came in drunk again.."

"Ana.." Shannon began, ignoring her excuses, "Are you okay?"

"What?" Ana said at once, pushing the duvet that had been covering her away. "Yeah, sure! Like I said, Jack tends to get uh.. carried away, when he's drunk." She stood up, dusting herself down, "You want some breakfast?"

"Uh, yeah," Shannon said, desperatedly hungry, "Thanks."

"No problem," Ana said, "Jack already left hours ago."

"Ah," Shannon said, nodding. She knew something was wrong but didn't want to press her friend about it. She knew Ana, and knew how insecure she could get, sometimes over little things that didn't even matter. But she could tell now that something was wrong. Whenever she'd come through to see them before, Ana and Jack had seemingly been the perfect couple, always together, happy as could be. Now, however..

"Coffee?" Ana said suddenly, breaking Shannon out of her reverie.

"Sure," Shannon said quietly, rubbing her eyes. "So.. how are things?"

Ana didn't look at her. "What d'you mean?"

"Things with you and Jack."

For a moment Ana didn't reply, and when she did Shannon knew at once that something was wrong. "You know, the usual. He works 48 hour shifts sometimes, comes home, we have a laugh.. you know, the usual. Why are you asking me about this?"

Shannon tilted her head slightly but didn't say anything. A long, awkward silence filled the room as Ana set to work making them breakfast. It was only when Ana set two plates of scrambled eggs down on the kitchen table that the two friends started talking again. "So.. that aside, what have you been up to? What's the hot gossip?" Shannon asked as she sat down with Ana.

Ana laughed at this, "Hot gossip? Around here?" She said incredulously and Shannon giggled. "Yeah, well.. oh, I forgot to tell you! I was thinking about arranging a reunion." She told Shannon before taking a sip of coffee.

"Seriously? That's a great idea!" Shannon exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together, "I don't exactly know where everyone is, though. I know where Boone is, if you want me to call him." She suggested, and Ana nodded enthusiastically.

"Good idea, I already got in touch with Charlie and Claire--"

"Wow! How are they doing?" Shannon asked through a mouthful of scrambled egg.

"They sound okay to me," Ana replied, "They're living in Long Beach for some reason.. last I heard they were livin' it up in Sydney."

"I guess they wanted a change of scenery." Shannon commented.

Ana nodded in agreement. The two of them ate the rest of their breakfast in total silence, Shannon mulling over what Boone would say if she asked him to come back to LA. She knew he had been on vacation for several weeks with his new girlfriend, Holly. Shannon rolled her eyes, Holly was the sort of girl she'd have expected Boone to fall for.

---------------------

When Ana had cleared away the breakfast things and when both she and Shannon had showered and dressed, Ana fell back onto the couch. Shannon glanced down at her in disdain. "Come on," She said plainly, grabbing her hand and pulling her up to her feet. "We're going out."

Ana blinked at her. "What?"

"You haven't got a job at the moment, right? And it's my day off." Shannon said coolly, grabbing her jacket and handbag.

Ana sighed. No, she didn't have a job. She wished she did. She wanted to beable to patrol again with Big Mike like she had always done. When they had first returned home from the island Ana had come back to the force but had quit just nine months later due to her mother. They were still looking for Jason's killer, so far Teresa had managed to cover Ana's tracks, giving her a good aliby so she wouldn't be caught. However, months of Teresa jumping down her daughter's throat had caused Ana to quit yet again.

So there she was, unemployed. Jack was currently at the height of his medical career, though she had no idea how long for, judging from the way he had been acting towards her as of late. However, she finally gave in and agreed to accompany Shannon to wherever they were going.

"Okay," She said after a moment, smiling sadly, "We can take the car."

And so, a half hour later, Ana found herself shopping for new shoes with Shannon, wondering what the hell she was doing there. "Oh my god, this would totally suit me!" Shannon squealed, picking up a long red dress and eyeing it affectionately. Ana merely shrugged, this just wasn't the sort of thing she enjoyed doing. Shannon was twenty three years old, whereas Ana was just turning thirty two. If she had kept her job she wouldn't have time to shop.

She didn't find the shoes. She knew she needed some new ones, wanted some new ones, but she was almost flat broke and couldn't find any she liked anyway. A couple of hours later she and Shannon were sitting in Starbucks. Three bags were sitting at Shannon's feet, containing a tress, a bra, three pairs of jeans, a sweater and a tank top, not to mention a brand new pair of boots that Ana had to admit were very nice.

When Ana didn't speak for a while, Shannon looked up. "What's wrong?" She asked, looking puzzled. Before she could answer, however, her cell began to ring so she picked it up. "Hello?" She said casually. Her face fell automatically inwhich Ana immidiately sussed that it was Sayid on the other end of the line. "Well, after what you said to me last night why shouldn't I?... What? Oh, just leave me alone for a while."

She hung up and looked at Ana, who's lip curled. "You need to talk to him." She said simply, indicating Shannon's cell which she set down on the table. "Go on. Call him."

"No way! Seriously, he's acting like such a jerk. He thinks I'm to blame! So it's my fault he's turning into a goddamn alcoholic?" She exclaimed, attracting the attention from a few people sitting nearby. She sank lower in her chair, rubbing her forehead. "This is seriously messed up. Help me, Ana. Tell me what to do."

"You need to call him." Ana persisted, grabbing Shannon's cell and pressing it into her hands. "Just tell him how you feel. About everything, not just about what went on last night. Tell him you think he has a problem."

Shannon bit her lip. "I don't think he has a problem.." She squeaked, looking away.

"Come on, Shannon! The guy goes out getting wasted every night of the week! He has a problem," Ana exclaimed, then her face softened. "I'm.. sorry. But you know I'm right."

Shannon took a moment to think about this.

"Okay. But.. can we go back to your place? These guys are staring at us."