Forget Me Not
Chapter Six
Author's Note: In my series, Sayid and Shannon have yet to come close to the 'love yous'. Hm..guess Jack and Kate have been moving fast after all. Well, I guess not fast for them.
Author's Note2: Speaking of Jack and Kate, I'm sticking with my island story of them in my version of "Whatever the Case May Be" and Jack finding the file. Just note that he never did take the file with him. It was just kind of..forgotten(unless I forgot one of my own plots again).
Author's Note2: In Boone's incredibly cheesy but fun to write journal entries, he mentions seeing someone by the shore. For those who don't know the story of Boone and his hallucination..well..you'll have to let me know because it might take a while to explain. If you haven't noticed, Boone's story is a little AU here from the show.
Shannon groaned for the hundredth time as Sayid felt his way around the edge of the ship.
"How big could this thing be?" She complained. "They're not like this in the movies."
"Nothing's like it is in the movies," Sayid muttered with distaste, and then brightened his tone, "and I thought you worked around boats."
"I live around them," Shannon corrected, "and I've partied on them, but I've never actually had to walk around them."
"I think we're in luck," Sayid said, ignoring her statement.
Stepping aside, Sayid revealed a hole that had blown into the side of the ship, just like the one that Jack had entered.
"Ladies first?" He said in a teasing voice.
"No way," Shannon said, laughing as she practically pushed Sayid inside.
Sighing, Shannon rushed down the stairs to answer the door for a second time that day. She calmed herself before opening the door, straightening out a skirt she had bought the previous day, and tugged on the handle. When she saw who was on the front step, Shannon had to bite down from gasping.
The man standing in front of her had to be better looking than any movie star she had seen walk the streets of L.A. He looked to be Boone's age, with light blonde hair that had a dirty texture of it, cut short just above his ears. He stood wearing a blue polo and kaki shorts with black sandals, his hands stuffed in his pockets. Totally harmless.
"Can I help you?" Shannon said, realizing that she had been staring once second to long.
The guy was smiling at her. God how embarrassing!
"Yeah, I'm looking for a Boone Carlisle?" The guy said. "I'm uh..David. Old friend. Remember me?"
"David.." Shannon searched her memory.
The only David she remembered was this geeky kid who, in high school, was head of the math club. Surely, surely, this was not that David.
"I used to go to school with him," David went on, trying to trigger her memory, "remember, I used to run that stupid math club thing?"
Shannon almost choked. That's it. She wanted magazine coverage, documentaries, and talk show interviews. Years did things to people, but not these kind of things. Maybe she should start believing in miracles and stop letting her mom's old Elton John albums get into her head.
"Right, that David," Shannon said, hiding her disbelief with overenthusiam, "yeah, he's here. He doesn't live here any more, in fact, you just caught him. Just flew in this morning. Hold on, I'll get him."
David smiled and nodded.
"Boone!" Shannon called as she ran up the stairs. "Boone!"
No answer. Reaching his old bedroom, Shannon banged on the door.
"Hey, bonehead," Shannon shouted, using her favorite nickname for her brother, "you'll never guess who's here. David and you would not believe-"
The door flew open and Shannon was cut off by Boone's hand cupping her mouth. She was shoved into the room, and Boone threw her onto the bed before locking the door.
"What did you say?" Boone said, never giving Shannon a chance to catch her breath.
"David," Shannon repeated, "that geek you used to hang out with?"
"He's here?" Boone said in horror.
"Yeah," Shannon said, standing up, "what the hell is the problem?"
Boone stepped closer to her. Too close for comfort. Shannon took a step back and Boone had to grab her hand before she fell back on to the age old black and red plaid quilt on Boone's bed, which was actually half the size as hers. Once again, by choice. Boone had never taken much pride in being rich. He used the money when needed, but other than that, most of his life Boone had worn normal clothes and never spent more then ten bucks on dinner. Running his hands through his hair, Boone tried to think of the best lie that was far away from the complete truth. Easier said than done.
"Listen," he whispered, "stay in here, lock the door, and if I don't come back in fifteen minutes, call the police."
"Boone, what's going on?" Shannon said, her enthusiasm gone and replaced with worry.
"I'll be fine," Boone promised, "it's just a..debt."
"Then why would I need to call the police?" Shannon wished that she didn't have the habit of shedding tears whenever she let the slightest bit of emotion into her voice.
"Just stay here," Boone said in a pleading tone.
He walked out the door with that but stopped before leaving completely. Resting his hands on the edges of the door, Shannon watched as Boone stared down at the ground, as if trying to regain control of himself. Finally he turned around, and Shannon waited for him to stop.
"Shannon," he began, certainty much calmer than before, "if anything does happen down there just remember that I love you."
"Ew!" Shannon cried. "Come on, you better have a better last goodbye than that. I mean.." her nose crinkled in disgust, "gross!"
"Not like that!" Boone exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "You know what I mean."
"Yeah yeah yeah," Shannon said, chuckling to herself, "same to you."
Boone shook his head and stepped into the hallway, dodging a black pillow that Shannon threw at him as he left. He didn't know what it was, but something about that conversation made Boone forget that he was possibly walking to his death.
Six years later, Shannon was walking behind another man that she loved, but in a different way, clinging onto him as he led her through the dark. But did she love him? Better yet, did he love her? Yes they had had dates, chatted often after most were asleep, and she could trust him in situations like this one, but did that count as love? She shook herself out of it. Who was she kidding? In love? Not her. It was just as unruly..so un..un..like her. Like David coming up to the door that day, causing her desiring eyes to pop out of their sockets. It just didn't fit in with the world.
"This must be the staircase," Sayid said," shining an unneeded light up the staircase, "maybe we should go tell Kate and your brother that-"
"Step," Shannon said suddenly, not even realized that she had done so until she noticed that Sayid was staring at her.
"I think I want to see how sturdy this is before we try to go up it," Sayid said, eyeing her.
"No," Shannon said, breaking herself out of her daze, "step brother-"
She looked at Sayid confidently.
"Boone's my step brother," she finished, "no blood relation."
Even though it wasn't the worst thing she could've said, it seemed to have been a hard confession for Shannon to make, so Sayid went along with it.
"Then that explains why the two of you look nothing alike," Sayid said with a smile."
Shannon smiled back. Of course he loved the guy. She could probably confess to Sayid every secret of her life, including the one night stand with Boone before the flight, and(though it may take a little longer) he would still give her that same smile. The only problem was going to be telling Sayid that she loved him. Naturally Shannon wanted to think of something incredibly romantic, but she knew that there was always a chance that they wouldn't make it to that point.
"Sayid, I have something I need to tell you," Shannon said, but her words were interrupted by a crash somewhere nearby.
Sayid's attention was immediately drawn to it, and the area diagonal to them was soon lit by his flashlight.
"Who's there?" Sayid said, his voice perfectly calm.
He didn't seem nervous or afraid at all. Another reason why Shannon loved him. She was literally shaking in her shoes, and it became noticeable when Sayid let go of her, reaching for a club that lay long forgotten on the ground. Picking it up, Sayid crept towards the darkness, and at the sound of another box moving, he slowly brought it down-
"Relax, relax!" A voice cried desperately. "It's just me!"
Sayid sighed and brought the club back down and then bent down to help Boone up from where he was sprawn amongst the boxes.
"Thanks," he muttered.
"Where's Kate?" Sayid said, noticing that she wasn't there.
"She found another way in, closer to Jack," Boone explained, "I really didn't want to see the reunion of those two, so I volunteered to come find you guys."
"We were just about to do the same," Shannon stated, "what happened to your arm?"
"Huh?" Boone glanced down and noticed that a long, deep cut was running down the skin of his right forearm, bleeding the color of dark silk. "Great."
Boone sat his backpack down and rummaged through it, searching for any type of cloth to stop the bleeding as blood dripped down to the wooden floor of the ship like water dripping from a leaky faucet. He moved too quickly and the bag tipped over, dumping its contents out onto the floor. A spare t-shirt, a bottle of water, a compass, and a piece of paper were all that appeared to take home to the back. Sayid picked up the paper, which landed beside his feet. Without sincerely meaning to, Sayid caught glance of what was written on the sheet of notebook paper: numbers. A series of them, along with directions. They looked like some kind of alien language, and as long as Shannon and Boone were on the ground taking care of his wound, Sayid's curiosity took the opportunity to study the notes that went something like:
4815162342: On
2432615184: Off
4400: Left
0044: Right
The pattern went on with different compass directions and even cordanites. Opposite directions were just opposite numbers, a simple code that ran down the page, filling up two columns and starting again on the back. On the floor, Shannon and Boone had begun arguing again, which brought Sayid back into reality.
"Shannon it's just a cut!" Boone was yelling.
"Fine!" Shannon scoffed. "But don't come looking for me when you get some kind of messed up infection."
"I wouldn't think of it," Boone said through gritted teeth, and stood up,"let's just go find Jack."
It was moments like this that made Boone wonder how it was the two had ever gotten the slightest bit close, like they had six years ago, and every so often now. Throwing his bag over his shoulder, Boone saw that Sayid had been holding something that had fallen out of the bag. It was a piece of paper, he could see, and Boone knew exactly what that torn page was, and he could only hope and pray that Sayid hadn't read it.
"Thanks," he muttered to Sayid, and tried to take the paper out of Sayid's hand.
But Sayid clung to it as if it was some confidential document.
"What's in the hatch?" Sayid inquired flatly.
"What?" Boone asked innocently.
"What's inside the hatch?" Sayid asked again. "I know you know. You know exactly what's going on here, maybe even more than Locke. What do you two know about this place that we don't?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Boone said with a darker innocence, and was saved by an outburst from Shannon.
"What is this stuff?"
Shannon was on the ground, looking in the boxes that Boone had fallen on. She picked up a rusted brown bottle, full to the rim with a dark liquid.
"Rum?"
Sayid took the bottle and examined it.
"Or something like it," he said, and placed the bottle into the bag, "I'll look at them when we get back to camp. Sawyer will be happy."
"He's not the only one," Shannon mumbled, and accepted Sayid's hand to help her up.
(Space)
"This place is amazing," Kate said in awe as her flashlight ran over the walls of the old ship, "I used to hide in places like this when I was a kid."
"What?" Jack said, amused. "You liked to play hide and seek? Why didn't you tell me, we could've played some time. Lot's of great places out here to hide."
Kate didn't reply. Jack was so clueless, but it wasn't his fault. He didn't have to grow up with a bad child hood. Well, it was bad, but not..she shook herself out of it. She'd sort that out later.
"Yeah, sure," Kate said, going along with him, "I was the queen at mind games."
Jack caught her sarcasm easily and side glanced her. Taking his attention meant not seeing the table that Jack bumped into. He bit down hard on his lower lip to keep from crying out, and rubbed the side of his arm compulsively before he looked down to what he ran into.
"What the hell-"
"What is it?" Kate's quick tone indicated that she was paying attention to ever word and move he made.
For his response, Jack handed her what looked like a small, black, carry on bag. Kate reached inside it, and found a well used passport. Opening it up, Kate was haunted by a face of a pretty blonde woman, whose last flight was taken August 15th, 2004.
"Oh my God," Kate whispered, staring at the stash on the table, "this is stuff..from are flight?"
"That's what it looks like," Jack said, feeling around the items curiously.
His hand then landed on something it probably shouldn't of: a file. A file he recognized. It was the file that he had found the day he and Kate were kidnapped by Ethan. Kate's file. The key to her past.
"Jack?"
Kate voice startled him, and Jack slid the file behind him.
"Find something?" He said, feeling his face grow hot in nerves.
It wasn't like Jack wanted to know what Kate did. He really didn't want to- or at least that's what he kept telling himself. But then again, it was nice to always have that choice..
"You could say that," Kate said, letting out a long breath of air that she had been holding.
Author's Note: Muahaha..evil cliffhangers! I had an extension added to what Sayid found in Boone's bag. Let's just say I edited it up a bit, and Shannon finds it instead. And that'll be part of the next story. Oh yes, I have some congrats to award, um..next chapter. Muahaha..but since only one of you replied to that 'contest', it should be obvious.
Crazyhorsegirll88: Start thinking of names! The last names shall remain confidential though. I just get more and more evil, don't I? And yes, I am that same person at lost-forums. And a while back(I'm finally getting around to review replies!) in the last story you said you were wondering what Jack was thinking during that interrogation(I think you said..)well, the poor guy was a bit confused, but my best guess is "Man I could use a cheeseburger right now!" Ha. Nah, he was thinking "Why didn't I see this coming?" How could I of let this happen?" ect. Typical 'Jack' thoughts. And I love your theory with the hatch, it kind of parallels(my word of the week- a new favorite, shrug, don't know why) to mine.
Chris3137: Thanks for the 'good luck' I usually don't get nervous..usually. The only problem is, in one of my dances I refer to a move we do as my 'Jack and Kate move' because the lyrics and all parallel(oops..there I go again!) so I hope I don't squee or do a cheesy smile!
Orlando-crazy: For once, Jack will be okay! But I can tell you that there's a specific reason that Danielle didn't want Alex to go to the Black Rock, and it has to do with her knowledge of Jack's horrible tracking skills, and a fear that he might find something or that something might happen. Let's just say that results from searching the ship won't kick in for a fic or two.
holly: They could've done so much with Boone's character! I'm in love with the plot I've given the poor guy, and write about it as much as possible.
Freckles-101: First off, I love your screen name! Secondly, thanks for sticking around! (hugs) "Influenza" will be done, I think after the next story I do. I have too much spare time, two months of summer, and too many ideas! And thanks for the congrats on not hurting Jack! I'm taking it out on Boone instead, as you saw in this chapter. I did do that ceiling dive though, of course, it is an old ship, so it could be expected.
Thanks so much for the reviews!
Coming up next, in "Forget Me Not":
What did Kate find? You'll find out..after the break. (I wish I had a dollar for every time Ryan Seacrest has said that!)
In my next fic, "Falling Up":
Shannon and Sayid sneak around to get some answers out of Boone(if that makes sense) and Jack takes care of a patient who has a past connection to Sawyer.
Thanks again for the reviews! You guys rock!
Until next time..
October Sky