Deposits & Withdrawls,
Chapter II, "No Deposit, No Return."
Summary: Shannon tells Boone she is pregnant with his baby.

Deposits & Withdrawls, Chapter Two: No Deposit, No Return

Legal note: I am not associated with ABC, Disney or Lost. Imagine that!
Beta: Oneontalady

Claire was still absentmindedly massaging her stomach when she wandered back into camp an hour later. She couldn't get Shannon out of her mind. Claire, admittedly not the most cosmopolitan of the castaways, had never seen such a cold fury, such a brazen hatred, as she felt coming from Shannon. Even thinking about the most traumatic events in her life—her mother's disapproval, Thomas's abandonment—she couldn't drudge up the ferocity she'd felt coming from Shannon. Claire felt helpless. How could she help Shannon when Claire herself was unable to understand how Shannon felt?

Rounding a corner, Claire stopped short. Charlie and Aaron were stretched out on a blanket near the water, both fast asleep. Her men. Stepping closer, Claire noticed both man and baby had one arm haphazardly stretched above their heads. All four feet were bare, and Claire noticed with a thrill of horror, Aaron's tiny toenails were painted a dastardly black.

Torn between amusement and exasperation, Claire lay down beside Aaron. He instinctively nuzzled closer to her in sleep. Closing her eyes, contentment replacing the despair, Claire curved her body closer to Aaron and Charlie. As she drifted off to sleep, a bizarre thought flittered across her consciousness: thank God Charlie and I aren't related.

Shannon had woken nauseated everyday for a week, and the weakness annoyed her. She was accustomed to vomiting. As Boone had pointed out, she had been willing herself to throw up everyday since junior high. But this was different. With the bulimia, she retained control. She could eat a burger, drag fries through ketchup, slurp a Coke, stick a manicured finger down her throat, and retain her perfect figure. No deposit, no return. Now, food was the last thing on her mind. Even the snippets of conversation she'd overheard from Sun and Kate—something about guava seeds—had made her stomach roll.

There was no doubt the horror growing inside her belonged to Boone. She and Brian had always been careful. The last thing either cared for was a brat to deal with. And, had an accident occurred, Shannon would have simply went to a Sydney doctor for a no-frills abortion. The very idea of a piece of Brian mutating inside her was enough to spark a new round of vomiting. Anyway, Brian's little swimmers would have shriveled up and died on their way to mate with her egg. Even Brian's sperm had commitment issues. Boone, however, Boone had always been anxious to put his brand on her. Now, there was no denying Shannon ate, slept and breathed for a piece of Boone.

Shannon slowed down when she heard voices. There was no denying who else was entangled this deep in the jungle: her brother and his lover boy. Why Boone insisted on spending so much time with that freak Locke was beyond Shannon's imagination. Boone should be hanging out with people like Jack and Kate---emphasis on Kate. Shannon hated to admit how much she was unnerved by the snide comments jerks like Sawyer and Steve made about Locke and Boone's long jungle treks.

"You can come out, Shannon."

Not surprised by Locke's voice, Shannon strolled confidently toward the two men. Boone's eyes, wizard's eyes she remembered an old girlfriend calling them, narrowed when his sister approached. She hoped the baby didn't inherit the scowl Boone was currently wearing; it wasn't at all flattering. "What are you doing here, Shannon?" Boone snapped.

"I was walking through the jungle, Boone, what the hell did it look like I was doing?" Shannon didn't want to play games. "Hope I didn't interrupt anything too," she clicked her tongue, "intimate.."

"Real cute, Shannon," Boone spat. "Why don't you go give yourself a manicure? We're actually working here."

"Yes, I can see how very sweaty you both are," Shannon drawled, making a decision. Wordlessly passing Locke, she walked across the clearing to stand in front of her brother. She didn't touch him, didn't speak, didn't smile. Inwardly, however, she longed to stretch like a cat and purr when she noticed a faint flush staining Boone's neck and cheeks. He was so predictable. Seducing Boone took absolutely no effort on her part. He effortlessly fell into her hands.

Rising on tiptoes, Shannon pressed a chaste kiss on Boone's lips. It was the sort of butterfly kiss a small girl might give her daddy at bedtime, the kiss a mother might give her son on the first day of kindergarten.

The kiss a sister gives her big brother when he's frightened of a thunderstorm.

Pressing herself closer to Boone's body, Shannon propped her chin on his shoulder. "Remember how scared you used to be of thunderstorms?"

"Yes," Boone breathed.

"Just think of how you'd shudder when the thunder rolled, how the lightening would send you scampering into my arms. Remember, Boone?"

"Shannon," Boone moaned, his chest painfully tight. "Please stop."

"Remember the storm we created in Sydney, Boone?"

Boone's eyes, which had been lazily drifting closed, snapped open. Stepping back from her, he shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts. "Drop it, Shannon," he cast a nervous look over at Locke. Locke was pretending to measure a length of rope, but Boone knew he was listening to every word.

"We created quite a storm, Boone," Shannon continued.

"I said shut up, Shannon," Boone snapped, turning away from her. He moved closer to the tree he and Locke had been trying to….trying to….it was so hard to think when Shannon was this close. What had they been trying to do to the damn tree?

"We created a hellion," Shannon said, dead calm. "A baby."

Boone busied himself with the tree. "I'm not listening to you, Shannon. Go give yourself a pedicure or have sex with Jin. I don't care. Just leave me alone."

"Didn't you hear me? I'm pregnant," Shannon repeated. "With your baby. I'm going to have my brother's baby."

Boone froze. Turning, agony seeping into every pore, he faced Shannon. She stood erect, her shoulders back, chin jutted out. She looked like she was going into battle.

The last thing Boone remembered was feeling Locke's arms under him as he fell.