Since she died, I've been looking for some way to get out myself. I know I deserve Hell for what I've done, for what happened. I guess the only thing I could hope for is to somehow make up for all that I caused. What's worse, I don't regret what I shared with her. I'd sacrifice anything to save her from what happened. What a waste I've become, giving up everything over love, who the hell would have predicted this of me, fcked-up James Ford.
-- (Oct. 24, Sawyer's Journal Entry, written one week after the crash) --
Shannon opened her eyes slowly, only to be brought back to another day on this island. The first image she caught was those blue eyes, which must have just opened themselves, as they gazed sleepily back at her.
Yawning, until she remembered morning breath, Shannon clamped her mouth shut quickly as a small smile crept across her lips, keeping her eyes on Boone. Without a word, his hand slowly made its way towards hers, grasping her small fingers in his palm, as he mimicked her smile.
Things had been different for weeks, ever since Locke, Boone and Sawyer had went out into the jungle together, when they found that plane and had tried to send out a distress signal. She knew how easily it could have been Boone in the plane, instead of Sawyer, how it could have been Boone that had suffered all those injuries when the plane fell, how it could have been Boone that Jack couldn't save… Even though she hardly knew Sawyer, she felt this odd sort of grieving feeling, in the pit of her stomach. She felt her brother was spared in a way, by Sawyer's death, probably because she knew Boone was the type to volunteer first. It was a miracle he hadn't been in that plane, in Sawyer's place.
But Boone was safe. He was alive. He was here, with her.
FLASHBACK
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The plane jerked, for the second time. This time it felt different, there was more force behind it. Shannon gripped hard at the armrest, leaning her head back against the seat, as the plane made an awful sound. She soon felt Boone's hand over hers, gripping to it tightly. When she turned her head to look at him, he was doing the same thing as she was, his head back against the seat, taking in deep breaths.
She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "Shannon, put on your seatbelt," he said, opening his eyes as he looked over at her, the plane now feeling like it was driving down a rocky, uneven road. She hesitated, about to argue. "Now!" he ordered her, his hand gripping tighter to hers, just as the plan bounced up again. She took her hand out from under his, as she did up her seatbelt. After that, everything happened so fast. The plan jerked more forcefully. Some guy in the back of them screamed, and she could hear something, like a person, being thrown against the ceiling of the plane. Boone grabbed for her arm this time, holding onto her tightly, as if that could actually protect her. The air masks fell down. She didn't even have a chance to grab for hers when Boone made a grab for it, and put it on over her head, securing it over her mouth and nose, and then going for his own. She could have never predicted they would actually make it.
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The others were all up by now, but Shannon and Boone remained laying beside each other, still staring into each other's eyes, hand in hand. Things had been left unsaid for the most part, since Sawyer's death, but Boone had gone back to his protective stage, reclaiming his position in Shannon's life as her white knight. And, to his surprise, Shannon had been keeping Sayid at a distance. Sawyer's death just… just made her realize how much she needed Boone in her life.
"I love you, Shan," Boone whispered to her, his expression falling serene, as his thumb gently rubbed over her knuckles.
It felt like a lifetime had passed while she was sleeping. She could faintly remember a nightmare in the back of her mind, probably one in which Boone had died… She just knew that when she had woke up, she had this overwhelming feeling to hold Boone, to watch over him, to keep him by her side.
"I love you, too," she said back, her smile growing. For the first time, she felt she had meant it, in the same way Boone had.
The End.
(Just in case anyone's confused, here's what happened: Sawyer had taken Boone's place that day in the jungle, and by doing so, the "others" had changed everyone's memories, making it so that it had been Sawyer that had died in that accident in "Do No Harm", instead of Boone, and that Boone had been alive all along.)