TITLE: Starting Over
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: What started out as a trip to the hatch to check up on those who wanted to blow it up, becomes much more of an adventure for Shannon and Sayid, which brings them closer together.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters from Lost and am not making a profit. If they were mine, then there would be more Shayid moments.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story started out as a random throw away idea that only got developed because of mrstater's encouragement and constant support. Thanks so much!
Shannon stood motionless as she took in the scene before her. All she could see from where she stood was a gigantic rectangular hole. She couldn't imagine how much time had been spent digging it, and thought that even though they were on the island, there had to be better ways to pass the time. She wondered how deep the hole was and hoped never to find out.
Jack, Locke, Kate, and Hurley were standing around outside of the hatch. They all seemed to be in one piece. It seemed like a wasted trip to check on them. She tried to remember if someone else went with them, and could vaguely remember the science teacher. She wondered what they had been doing all night. It didn't seem like they had gotten much done.
She took a few steps closer with Sayid, and finally got to see the hatch. She looked down and could a ladder, but all it led to was darkness. She guessed that it was possible for the castaways to hide inside, but did she really want to? She thought she would rather take her chances with the Others than go inside that thing. She glanced over at a piece of warped metal, and guessed that it had been blown off by the explosion that Sayid had told her the rest of them had planned. She wanted to step a little closer to see what else she could see, but she didn't move any further since Sayid didn't move.
Suddenly, Hurley rushed over to them and hugged Sayid tightly. She would have laughed at Sayid's shocked expression, but the creepiness of the hatch prevented her from doing so.
"Dude, I am so glad to see you." Hurley took a shaky breath. "The numbers are bad. I told them that, but they didn't listen. They opened it anyway. I told them about the numbers. I know you'll listen to me."
What numbers? She glanced to Sayid and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say he didn't understand either.
"Arzt blew up, right in front of us," Hurley continued. "It's the curse, it got to him too."
Jack walked over to where they stood. He ignored Hurley's rambling, and Shannon guessed that he had heard them all before. Then she realized what Hurley had just said. Arzt, the nerdy science guy, had blown up. She shivered as a mental image of a shower of Arzt entered her mind. That was not something she ever needed to think about again.
"What are you doing here?" Jack asked Sayid.
"We wanted to check to see if everyone was still in one piece. We were concerned."
"Why didn't you come alone?"
Shannon crossed her arms over her chest. How dare he question why she was there? She had every right to be there. Her brother had helped Locke with uncovering it. Did Jack think she was useless just like everyone else?
"I felt that someone else needed to know about this location." Sayid answered, his voice measured. "I trusted Shannon to be that person."
Shannon's hearts soared at his words. She knew that it had been her idea to come with him, but it wasn't necessary for him to say that to Jack. No one had really ever trusted her before. She knew she wasn't going to let him down.
Her happiness at Sayid's statement went away as Locke came over.
"We're trying to find away inside," he told them. "We blew the top off, now we just need to climb down."
Jack moved to stand next to Locke, and Shannon could see that they were on the same side.
Sayid shook his head. "Nothing good will come from going down the hatch."
Shannon had to admit that she was curious to find out what was hiding inside, but she wasn't willing to voice that thought. She knew that Sayid had his reasons for not wanting to go inside. Anyway, if she were going to side with anyone it would be him. She trusted Sayid much more than she did Locke, even before he killed her brother.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she realized that Locke was staring at her. She was used to men staring at her; she rarely got to go anywhere without it happening. Even Sayid had stared at her while they were translating the maps. However, there was a big difference in the way Sayid looked at her compared to the way Locke was looking at her now. When Sayid watched her, she felt safe, and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Now she felt like she wanted to crawl out of her skin and never return.
"We need someone tall and thin to go down," Locke said. "The opening isn't that big."
Realizing Locke meant her, she ignored the rest of his words and looked away. Kate stood off to the side. Why couldn't she do it? Kate was like superwoman or something, at least that's how everyone else seemed to think of her. Shannon just thought she was a pain. She couldn't describe it, but she just didn't get a good vibe off her, especially after hearing that she was the fugitive. As Locke went on, Shannon stepped closer to Sayid. She knew that he would protect her. He slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her even closer. Any thoughts of something bad happening disappeared as he gently rubbed her side with his thumb.
"No one is going down there," Sayid stated. "The danger is too great. We have had enough excitement to last. We do not need anymore."
With dark bags under his blood shot eyes, Jack wearily asked what happened. Shannon realized that he always looked tired, and wondered if he ever slept. How good of a doctor was he if he never took care of himself?
Sayid relayed the events of the previous day. He told them of Danielle and what had happened with Aaron.
"Sayid handled everything," Shannon said proudly. "He made sure that everyone was safe. No one died on his watch."
She noticed that Jack's eyes fell to the ground. She felt a small sense of victory. Deep down she knew that there had been nothing else for Jack to do to save Boone, but that didn't mean a part of her still didn't blame him.
Locke continued to try and get them to examine the hatch further. Shannon stopped listening. Instead, she focused on the fact that Sayid's arm was still around her waist. It wasn't necessary anymore; she knew that Locke realized that she wasn't going to go down the hatch. She felt better knowing that Sayid was beside her. She couldn't remember a time when she had ever paid so much attention to the simple things, before, like earlier when they had held hands. She had always skipped that part of the relationship, and it felt really good to be moving slowly.
Shannon was bored. They were going around in circles. Since the hatch didn't seem that interesting anymore, and she knew that they couldn't see what was inside, she really didn't care. Instead, she was thinking about what she wanted to do when she returned to the caves. She decided that she needed to work on her tan. She'd been productive enough for the day. The sun was beginning to rise higher, and she was starting to feel sticky with sweat. She wanted to change into her bathing suit, take a dip in the ocean and then relax on her towel. Of course, she also wanted Sayid to be there with her.
After telling them that he wouldn't help them, Sayid took her hand and led her back through the opening. Hurley had protested them leaving, but she wasn't really paying attention anymore. Her mind was already at the beach picturing Sayid in a bathing suit, and if he didn't own one, then that wouldn't be a problem.
TBC…