Back on the island he'd had a lot of down time during his convalescence from what Shannon and he had come to call "the Beechcraft incident," to say he was recovering from dying was such an extreme oxymoron that they couldn't even think about it, let alone actually refer to it as such. So, because he hated not feeling useful, he'd tried to find ways to help that didn't involve physical exertion. He'd taught Jin some rudimentary English, and had learned a bit of first aid from Jack. He'd seen Claire braiding her hair one day, and had asked her to show him how it was done. It had also given him a chance to get to know her better, and she a chance to share her fears about raising Aaron on the island. He didn't know it at the time, but they were fears he was soon going to have to face himself, after Shannon revealed her pregnancy to him. When he was more mobile, Jack had assigned Hurley to him, to help him back and forth from the beach. Jack wanted him to start exercising his leg a little, and it was best to do it in the ocean, with the support and cushion of the water. Hurley was the perfect choice, as he didn't mind the snail's pace that was all that Boone could manage at first.
Once it was obvious that he was going to make it, Shannon had distanced herself from him again, but she'd also broken it off with Sayid. Her reaction when she thought she was going to lose him showed her that she'd just been lying to herself and Sayid when she'd said that Boone loved her, but she didn't feel the same way about him. She needed time to think, but when she realized she was pregnant, she knew that time had run out, and so had gone to him to tell him she was pregnant with his child.
Once it had sunken in, he'd looked at her with a goofy grin and had given her a kiss on the cheek, not certain where this left their relationship. Her next words made that perfectly clear.
"There's more, Boone," she'd said dropping her head, looking at the ground. Taking a deep breath, she'd raised her eyes to him, "I love you. It's taken me a while to accept it, you know how good I am at denial, but I do love you, I want us to be together, and it's not just because of the baby, it's how I'd feel even without that complication."
"Shannon?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. She'd waited quietly for him to finish. "You know you've owned my heart since I was ten; you know how much I love you." He'd stepped towards her and pressed his mouth to hers.
He'd made love to her then. He'd been good in Sydney, but his need and the frustrated passion he'd been holding back for years had made it go by too fast. There, on the island, taking his time, he'd been amazing. He was gentle, passionate, kind, patient….he was Boone. He'd examined every inch of her body, his hand passing back and forth over her slightly swollen abdomen a few times. When she came, she'd twined her fingers in his hair, pulling his face up so she could stare into his grey eyes as her orgasm coursed through her and she breathed his name. He came seconds after her, and followed her lead staring into her eyes as he gasped, "God, Shannon, Shan." He'd dropped his head to her shoulder, waiting for his breathing to return to normal.
"Jesus, Boone, how'd you get so good at sex? I would never have expected that the best sex I'd ever have in my life would be with my own brother." She'd added that last part just to needle him.
He'd raised his head to look at her, an understandably disturbed look on his face, "Christ, Shannon, that's just so many kinds of wrong."
She'd laughed and had asked him again.
He'd slid off her and propped himself up on his elbow by her side, he shrugged. "I watched, I questioned, I listened, I learned. You know how my mother has always driven me to be a perfectionist. I approached it like learning any new skill. It's just that practicing being good at sex, is much more fun than golf and perfecting your stroke." He'd paused for a second "Oooh, unintentional double entendre," he'd laughed, "Sorry about that."
They'd been practically inseparable after that, though when he was able, Boone had gone back into the jungle to participate in the hunts. He still couldn't believe that she was letting him love her the way he'd always wanted to, openly and without shame, that he could go up to her and kiss her any time he wanted, which was often.
Jack approached them about getting married four months after that, seven months after the crash, as they were sitting together on the beach. He squatted down on his heels beside them, and, squinting a little because of the afternoon sun, asked, "Uh, look guys, I know this is going to sound a little weird, but…uh, would you two consider getting married?"
Shannon started laughing, holding her swollen belly with one hand, and, as her laughter continued, wiping tears from her eyes with the other.
Boone looked at her more than a little hurt. "Is the idea of marrying me so outlandish to you that your only reaction is hysterical laughter?"
"No, no," she managed to gasp out, trying to regain control. "It was the way Jack asked. It sounded like he was asking the two of us to marry him."
Jack sat down, and hung his head for a second, a smile on his face. "Okay, I guess I deserved that. I certainly could have phrased it better. Obviously what I meant was, would the two of you consider getting married to each other."
"Why?" Boone asked.
Jack's face took on that earnest look that he always seemed to wear as leader, "Well, everyone's pretty freaked out about how things are playing out with the supposed "sickness" that Danielle warned us about. I guess, because her team was so small, they didn't really understand what was going on. And if, as Sayid, has said, the effect it had on her was to allow her to hear the voices in the jungle, I guess she could easily have misunderstood and thought everyone was going mad."
"Did you find any others who are affected the same as the two of us?" Boone questioned.
"So far, Sawyer and Sayid have admitted to hearing the voices in the jungle, Michael tells me that Walt has definitely shown signs of some kind of telekinesis, Claire feels that she might have a bit of prescience, I've seen dead people," he stopped at that and laughed realizing what he'd said. "Jeeze, I sound like that crazy kid in that stupid movie, but being able to pick up on each others thoughts, not so far, though I haven't worked my way through everybody. And of course, there's Locke. He's so cryptic, who knows how it's affecting him, but, from his behaviour, I only know that it is. It seems as if any latent psychic ability we have is being magnified, I don't know how, but I can't deny the signs."
"So what's that got to do with us getting married?" Shannon couldn't be blamed for not making the connection; Jack hadn't exactly explained himself very well.
"If there was something else to think about, some reason to celebrate, it would certainly raise everyone's spirits, so I though of you two." He didn't mention that morale was also down because they were all beginning to lose hope of rescue ever coming.
"We'll do whatever we can to help." Shannon offered.
Boone looked at her, "Even if it means marrying your doofus brother?"
"You're not really my brother," she replied mischievously.
"You didn't mention anything about the doofus part."
"You were the one who brought it up," she laughed at him.
Everyone got involved in preparing for the festivities. After asking around they chose Charlie to officiate, both because he loved being the centre of attention and because he'd actually been an altar boy. He couldn't remember all the words to the service, but Boone, who, because of his job, had been present at too many weddings to count, filled in the ones he'd forgotten.