Once again, soundtrack wise, I am listening to Hed P.E.'s "The Meadow"…great song, really it is. FYI This has nothing to do with the content of the chapter, more to do with my mind frame at this moment.
"What do you mean you won't do it?" Kate near screamed as a semi terrified Jack back away. Since becoming pregnant Kate's penchant for violence had become renowned in the camp. One morning not too long ago, Sawyer had "accidentally" forgot to wake her up when he left to work on the other shelters and she'd thrown a rock at him…a very large rock. Then, of course, he got mad because in her condition she should not be lifting heavy items…well…it was just bad.
"I don't think I'm qualified to do it."
"How hard is it to ask if they want to be married? 'Do you Charlie…?' 'Do you Claire…?' Is that so frickin' hard?"
Jack took a few more steps back. He had that "deer in headlights" look going on and Shannon had to laugh. He looked like he was ready to bolt, which he did seconds later as Kate began to wave her fist in his face.
"Damnit! He ran. Shannon, he ran!"
"Yes, I saw. Maybe you should have been a little nicer?"
Kate turned her psycho look on Shannon. "Nicer?"
"Um…I meant subtle. You're perfectly nice Kate."
"Yes. I am. What are we going to do? Who's going to perform the ceremony?"
"I can," Boone piped up from where he was rooting through his stuff. "I was ordained a few years back."
"And you were ordained, why?" Kate asked.
"He performed the ceremony for my dad and his mom. Their renewal ceremony."
Kate studied Shannon, then Boone. "You know, that might work. I need to talk to Claire." Kate walked off with a curious look on her face, and Shannon had a feeling that whoever she was really going to talk to was going to be in trouble. Shannon knew that Kate wasn't going to talk to Claire, she and Charlie were…ahem, indisposed?
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
Boone looked up at Shannon, with a "puppy-dog-is-confused" look on his face. "What do you mean?"
"I mean are you ready to stand in front of the rest of the castaways and recite a ceremony that you yourself don't believe in?"
"I believe in marriage."
"Yeah, you believe that it's a conspiracy by the government to subvert people into categories that are filed away in a neat box that the government keeps in a secret room in the White House?"
"Shannon! I'm not that paranoid. I just think there's no point. Basically marriage is a device used by one spouse to steal or claim the property of another, be it material, emotional, or else. I don't approve of people using other people that way."
"Is this the same reason you crashed my wedding and took a swing at Matt?"
"I took a swing at Matt because he was an ass."
"Who's Matt?" A voice said quietly.
Shannon looked over her shoulder at Sayid, who'd tread quiet enough that they hadn't heard him. She gave him a big cheeky grin, while she explained. "Matt was my husband. He's dead now."
(Flashback)
"Daddy?"
"…the flowers over there…"
"Daddy?"
"…make sure Sabrina has her…"
"Daddy?" Shannon tugged on her father's pants but he paid her no heed. He was too busy making sure everything was going according to schedule for his wedding. Shannon gave up trying to get his attention and hurried out of the room. Her daddy wouldn't help her but she was damned if she was going to give up that easily.
Shannon searched out and finally found the kitchen. She was starving. With all the arrangements to be made and the fittings for the baby doll dress, a certain someone had forgotten that even little girls had to eat. Though the kitchen was full of bustling people getting ready for the big reception to take place in a few hours, it was easy to get someone's attention. She simply tripped a waiter and sent him careening into a wall. As the kitchen staff froze and looked at the little demon spawn that stood before them, the head cook, a tall French woman, with a face that looked as if she was always sucking a lemon, stepped from around the stove and held out her arms.
"Shannon, my bébé, what's wrong?" Shannon ran to the Frenchwoman, who'd befriended the young girl in the past weeks, seeing as the rest of the family had been busy and it hadn't taken long for Shannon to realize that it was up to her to take care of herself. She did just that by befriending the head chef, who made the best cookies ever.
Shannon was swept into the woman's arms and the kitchen gradually got back to normal. Shannon leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "I'm hungry."
"They haven't fed you? No matter, I'll feed you. You want hamburger? We got some nice meat. No! I know what Shannon want, Shannon want tater tots."
Shannon grinned at the Frenchwoman's pronunciation of the phrase tater tots. She nodded happily as the Frenchwoman sat her on a stool and began to pull out the makings of tater tots (which basically was a bag of Inland Valley tater puffs, and a baking sheet as there would be no deep frying in this kitchen, it was too unhealthy).
"Are you excited?" The Frenchwoman asked.
"About what?"
"Your father's wedding. Are you excited?"
"Not really. I don't like Sabrina."
"You don't like your new mommy? Why?"
"She's mean. She made me stand very still while they made my dress. And then she pinched me when I moved. It hurt."
"You probably would have hurt more if you were stabbed by needles."
"I still don't like her. She wants me to play dolls with her."
"What's the matter with playing with dolls with her?"
"No, not playing with dolls, she wants me to be her doll. She wants me to dress up and dance in front of the snobs, but I don't want to."
"That's okay. She just likes you; she wants to spend time…Oh! Matthew! What are you doing back here you bad child?"
"I'm thirsty mama," a small boy, almost but not quite a teenager said. He studied Shannon in the same intense way she studied him. So this was the Frenchwoman's son? Shannon's eight-year-old mind struggled to wrap itself around the fact that the Frenchwoman was a mother.
"Alright, you want water or juice?"
"Juice. Who are you?"
"I'm Shannon. I know who you are."
The boy stuck out his chin. "Oh, yeah? And who is that?"
"Matthew."
"How'd you know that?"
"Cause your mama just called you that dumbie."
"Shut up."
"No, you shut…"
"Shannon, bébé, you still hungry?" The Frenchwoman called as she got out the tater tots.
"Yep," Shannon called back as she turned back around, forgetting about the verbal spar she'd been having with Matthew. He didn't though. He pulled himself onto a stool next to Shannon.
"I'm hungry too Mama."
"Shannon, you share with my boy?"
Shannon looked at the dark-headed, amber-eyed boy next to her and shrugged. "I don't care."
They plunged into the tater tots and shot glances at each other under their hair. "What you doing later?"
"Nothin'," Shannon replied quickly. "Why?"
"You wanna play with me?"
"Sure, when…"
"Shannon Rutherford! What on Earth are you doing in the kitchens?" Sabrina, the stepmother from hell, called from the doorway.
"I was hungry," Shannon started but ended up squealing as Sabrina grabbed her ear and pulled her off the stool. As she was pulled out of the kitchen, Shannon could not help seeking a last glance at the boy who captivated her, and would continue to do so for many years.
Okay, so who saw the episode, "The Greater Good"? Oh…my…god. The Shannon/Sayid conflict drove me batty. I was screaming at my television. Sayid should not have let her be at the end of the epi though. He should have gone over there and talked to her, made her understand. Damn Kate for giving bad advice.