(Flashback)

The phone was ringing when Shannon got home. In the abandoned home it sounded shrill and menacing. For a few seconds Shannon debated answering it. Shrugging she picked up the receiver.

"Mon chère?"

"Isabella? What are you doing calling here?" Shannon asked. Her mother-in-law/partner in crime was not supposed to call Shannon's home. She had been instructed to call Shannon's cell phone. Of course, that bastard she called boyfriend had run off with her cell phone and all the money in Shannon's bank account so it was acceptable that Isabella would call here.

"I need your help, Shannon." Shannon loved the way the sixty-year-old Frenchwoman said her name. Shan-none. It sounded glorious.

"Why? What's wrong?"

Isabella sighed. "I am sick. I need money."

Shannon sank down into the cushioned chair by the phone. "What kind of sick?"

"Cancer sick. It's still treatable. But all the money has already been given away. It is why I called." Shannon wanted to slap her hand to her forehead for being so stupid. Years ago, when she and Isabella had formed their revenge plan they'd decided to not risk bad karma. So, three-fourths of what money they'd gotten through Boone, Elizabeth, or Shannon's father Jack had been given to charity. The remaining one-fourth was used in the scheme, to buy press to their side, or to bribe officials to sabotage the company. In the six years since the plan went into action, the company's stock had steadily fallen. At the moment it was at five dollars a share, a dismal price compared to the two hundred a share it had been before Shannon's plan.

"I don't have the money, Isabella!"

"Shannon…I…I don't know what to do."

Shannon thought back to all the things that Isabella had done for her. "No, I'll get it. How do I wire it to you?"

"Just wire it to the French National Bank. The account is under my maiden name…Rousseau. I love you Shannon. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Shannon hangs up the phone. Raising she slowly floats her way out the door, just barely remembering to grab her keys. The plan is already forming in her head. She knows what to do.

(End Flashback)


"I told you I've done things. Bad things."

Sayid sat all the way up so that he could look Shannon in the face. "Yes."

"Well, one of those is that I've basically caused half of Boone's family fortune to disappear. See, I blamed his family and their money for what happened. It was always about money for them. They used their money to intimidate and cause Jean to…do what he did. Then they used the same money to cover it up. And it made me mad. So me and Isabella decided to take it from them."

"Isabella?"

"Isabella was Jean's mother. After the incident she took me in and cared for me. She was my partner. She helped me deal with the family and with the plan."

"So, you're a thief then?"

Shannon drew her knees up to her chest. "I guess so."

"If that is the worst you have done…then you are still better than I."

"It's not the worst though. You see, right before Boone and I left Australia something happened."

"Something?" Sayid asked.

Shannon looked him in the face, fearing that after this it would be the last time she would get the chance. "I did something really bad."


(Flashback)

Shannon raised her hand and knocked on the hotel room door. It was Boone's room. And this was her time of truth.

"What do you want?"

Shannon steps into his room tentatively. "Brian took the money. He's gone."

"So the player got played. It's poetic, don't you think?" Boone says snidely. He continues to pack.

Shannon slightly sways as she walks over to Boone. The drug is affecting her. "I knew you'd bring the money. I knew you would."

"You're drunk."

"You want to know why?" Shannon steps close; close enough that she's sure he'll smell the scent on her breath. He'll of course believe its alcohol.

"I guess it doesn't matter? You're going to tell me anyway."

Shannon doesn't wait till he's done speaking to tell him, she interrupts. "Because you're in love with me."

"What?" Boone sputters. He steps away but she follows.

"You brought the money because you're in love with me." Shannon ignores his stammering about her being "plastered" and continues. "You've always been in love with me."

"You've always been a self-centered little bitch, but now you're delusional." Boone practically growls through his grinding teeth.

"I've always known it." Shannon starts to lean in; Boone just stands there rambling about how something's wrong with her and to stop.

Shannon kisses Boone, pushing him back onto the bed at the same time. She holds back her disgust long enough to allow the rohypnol on her lips to take effect. Within seconds Boone was unconscious. When he wakes he'll remember only her coming to the hotel room. Shannon knows him well enough to know that his imagination will fill in the rest.

Shannon grabs Boone's wallet and takes the cash inside. Hurrying she calls the front desk and has them wire what little cash Boone carried and his credit card numbers to Isabella. She would be taken care of, but what was Shannon going to do?

First though, she had to get one thing out of the way. Shannon ran to the bathroom and was violently sick. Afterwards she sits there and cries. How had her life become this fucked up? Where had she gone wrong?

Shannon washes her face and prepares herself to wait for Boone to wake up. She sits in the same chair, in the same position all night. When Boone awakes in the morning she tells him to forget what happened. He'll take her back to L.A., and she'll do what she could to repair her life. She was thinking that maybe it was time to disappear from these people. They were beginning to annoy her.

(End Flashback)


Shannon finished her story. Sayid simply stared at her for a few seconds then rose and began to pace. Every couple of seconds he would turn to stare at her, then start pacing again. Finally he turned to her.

"Shannon. What happened…it was…you are…I need to walk."

Shannon jumped up and hurried toward him. "Sayid!"

Sayid whirled around. "NO! Do not speak to me. I need…some time…to think."

Shannon looked at him with hurt shining in her eyes. "Sayid…"

"I need time to understand and to be less angry. Just…leave me alone Shannon." Sayid walked off down the beach, with the sun rising in front of him. Shannon stands there, her heart breaking. Then she smiles. Everything is always too good for her. She has to fuck it up.

Shannon turned to gather her stuff, but instead comes face to face with the barrel of a gun. "You! Walk."

"Are you…Danielle?"

The scuffed up older woman smiled. "Pleased to meet you acquaintance. Now walk."

Shannon did the only thing she thought to do; she walked. Within seconds they were deep in the forest and getting deeper. Heading as far away from the camp as possible, and Danielle was telling Shannon to walk faster.


Next Chapter: Tears of the Mother