He'd gotten up in the middle of the night, something worrying at the back of his mind, though he didn't know what. He'd slid Shannon's head gently off his shoulder, careful not to wake her as he'd slipped out of the bed. He'd gone to check on Andrew, in case he was the source of his unease. The boy was lying sprawled in bed, dressed in a pair of plaid boxers, sound asleep, the blankets kicked off. Boone had pulled them back up, careful not to disturb him. He'd then padded down the back stairs, checking around the house, but finding nothing amiss. He'd returned to the bedroom, shrugging off the feeling as nothing.
The moonlight coming in through the window fell across the bed. Shannon had rolled over on to her back; one arm was thrown up over her head, the blankets pushed down to her waist. He stood by the bed and regarded her for a minute, before grabbing his pillow and propping it up against the footboard. He felt wide awake, and thought he'd watch her sleep for a while.
She woke in the morning, her hand sliding out to touch him, a frown on her face as her hand encountered emptiness. Her eyes slowly opened to look for him. He was lying on his side at the foot of the bed, bent at the waist. It looked like he'd been sitting up, but had fallen over in his sleep. 'What the hell?' she wondered, before reaching down and tickling the soles of his feet.
He twitched a few time before jerking himself awake, bashing his head hard against the footboard. "Ouch, fuck."
Christ, she thought, he's an accident waiting for a place to happen. She'd often wondered how he hadn't severed all the fingers on his left hand. Given how much he cooked, she'd always figured an unfortunate knife incident was pretty much a given. God, he was clumsy. She laughed as she saw that he already had a band-aid on one of his fingers.
"What the hell are you doing down there?" she shook her head, as he levered himself up to a sitting position, rubbing at the knot forming on the back of his head.
"I got up in the night, and couldn't get back to sleep, so I thought I'd watch you for a bit." He had his eyes squeezed shut as he massaged the site of the impact.
"Yeah, like that's not a bit stalkerish. Christ, I'd really appreciate not waking up with your stinking feet in my face." She reached down to tickle them again. He pulled them reflexively up against himself.
She looked at him sitting like that, naked, vulnerable, with his knees drawn up, his eyes still closed as he rubbed the back of his head. She twisted to move down the bed and pushed his knees apart.
His eyes snapped open, "Shan, what….oh god." He reached down to lace his fingers in her hair.
He was on his cell phone when she got back from the shower. "Of course, I'll come. Tell Uncle Will, I'll be there as soon as I can. Thanks, for letting me know."
"Pittsburgh?" she asked.
"Huh?" he turned to her.
"That's what I'm getting from you right now, Pittsburgh, you're almost screaming it. What's up, who was one the phone?"
"Shit, my Uncle's wife dies and all I'm thinking about is having to fly. Man, am I messed." He shook his head at how skewed his priorities were. He suddenly wondered if his Aunt's death was what had been tugging in his head last night, though he had a hard time believing he'd pick up something like that from such a distance, especially about someone he'd only met once.
"Will's married?" She shook her head, "I mean, was married?"
Boone explained the circumstances. Will had met and married a woman he'd only known for a short time about three years ago, though apparently he'd originally met her briefly in summer school when he was a teen. The rest of the family had been somewhat hesitant about his decision, but had all gone to the wedding at his invitation. Caroline had seemed somewhat careworn and jaded, but Will had appeared to be in love with her. They'd all spent a slightly stilted evening at the wedding reception, when Will had announced in the middle of it that he was relocating to Pittsburgh, Caroline's home town. Will Carlyle hadn't actually been without his own share of the family money, so many of them automatically assumed the worst, that she was simply a gold digger. Boone had chosen instead to give him the benefit of the doubt, and in fact Will seemed happier than he had in years, kicking his drinking habit, investing in Caroline's family's business and settling in. Boone had spoken with him on the telephone several times over the intervening years, and had been saddened when Will had told him about Caroline's cancer diagnosis.
"Of course we'll go." She reached out and slid her hand down his arm.
"Uh, Shan, uhm, I don't think that's a really good idea." He said hesitantly.
"But I just heard you say you'd be there." She was confused.
"Yeah, I said I'd be there. They don't even we're together again. This is a pretty emotional time, I don't think showing up with my estranged wife, who's suddenly come back after six years would be really smart." He explained, cringing, waiting for her to snap.
"So, I'm supposed to stay here by myself? That's bullshit, I'm coming!" She rounded on him.
"Like it's all up to you! And why are you going to be by yourself? Andrew'll be here." He frowned.
"You aren't taking him?" she asked in shock.
"He's never even met the woman, and he's only seen Uncle Will maybe twice. Why would I drag him half way across the continent when he can stay home with you?"
"You mean you're leaving me to babysit?" she cried.
"Shan, I hate to break it to you, but it's not babysitting when it's your own son. Let's see…I think they call it…life?" he shot back.
"Boone, I don't know anything about taking care of a child, I was never even able to keep a pet goldfish alive for more than a day!" she protested.
"Well then, I guess it's a good thing Andrew doesn't live in a bowl of water." He shouted in her face and shook his head. "I have to make flight reservations and pack. You're such a self centred bitch Shan. Fuck, grow the hell up," his earlier concern about catching shit from her quickly replaced by exasperation at her reaction. He headed downstairs to the office to book his on-line tickets.
Their yelling had, of course, woken Andrew, who stumbled groggily out of his bedroom. Finding Shannon sitting on the bed he'd asked her what their latest argument had been about. When she explained, he'd only commented that Boone was right about neither of them going before heading back to his room to shower.
She sat there trying not to think about the fact that she was panicking about being left alone for a few days with her own son. God, she thought, I am self-centred.
Boone got back from downstairs and started packing, pulling a suit bag out of the closet and neatly rolling and placing items into a backpack. He informed her that he'd booked a seat on a plane for that afternoon.
She followed him into the bathroom where he opened the medicine cabinet and reached for a bottle of prescription pills.
"What are those?" her eyes narrowed.
"I, uh, I don't fly well, these'll help." He looked a little chagrinned. His earlier anger had evaporated; he could never stay mad at her for long.
She held out her hand, but he curled his fist around the bottle, refusing her obvious request. "Shan, I really, really need these." Christ, he thought, I sound like a child begging for a popsicle at the grocery store.
"Give," she demanded, shoving her open palm at him.
He reluctantly put them in her hand. She glanced at the label, recognizing the name of an anti-anxiety medication, then stuck the bottle in her pocket. "You'll be fine."
"I won't, you don't know…" he started in a wheedling tone.
"Boone, shut up. I said," she reached behind her head to undo her necklace, "you'll be fine." She placed it around his neck, then took his hand and closed it around the cross suspended from the thin gold chain. Neither of them were religious, it was more the symbolism of the necklace itself that made it special. For her, it was not just a gift he'd given her, but the fact that it was a replacement for the one that had been her mothers', the one she'd worn every day from her mothers' funeral until the day she'd lost it on the island. For Boone, it was something he knew she cherished, something that was a little piece of her that she was sending with him.
He looked at her silently, the love he felt for her almost bringing him to tears.
"And if you lose it, I'll castrate you." She said seriously.
He shrugged off his overly melodramatic feelings. "Way to kill the moment, sis," he laughed.
"I'll miss you." She shifted gears on him again, suddenly looking all teary eyed.
"You are without a doubt the most exasperating woman I've ever been married to." He tried to keep up with how mercurial she was being.
"And you're the most annoying brother I've ever had." She slid her arms around his waist and buried her face against his shoulder lacing her arms behind his back and hugging him fiercely.
'Shan, I love you, God how I love you.' He hugged her back.
They all stood in the driveway. He'd already loaded his stuff in the trunk of the car and was ready to go, but the two of them kept finding excuses to delay his departure. She reached out and tucked the collar of his shirt under the collar of his leather jacket, even though she'd only just smoothed it over the jacket collar moments ago. "I'll only be gone a few days, you guys'll be fine." He reassured them for the tenth time.
Andrew kept wondering why they were drawing this out. His face had a quizzical look on it as he kept glancing from one of them to the other. Finally he'd had enough. "Okay you guys, he's only going to Pittsburgh for a few days, not going off to war. Just kiss and then, Boone, get in the car and leave already!"
Boone and Shannon both looked at him realizing how high school they were making it. "Don't let her get into any trouble." He asked his son.
"Got it covered, Dude, no sweat." He answered nonchalantly.
Boone turned one final time to her, "I'm on my cell. Just, please, remember to feed the goldfish."
She smiled, "The way I cook, I'm just hoping the goldfish remember to feed me." She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him.
"Bye guys, try not to kill each other." He slid behind the wheel, backed the car out of the driveway and drove away.
She looked down at the little boy standing beside her and knew she was totally out of her element.