They headed home in the late afternoon, Sawyer had left right after breakfast, making some excuse about having to be somewhere for work. Right like the guy had some kind of gainful employment, not fucking likely, Boone thought. He was probably just using it as an excuse to get out of helping with the dishes, which nicely enough, Shannon and Claire had taken care of; telling Boone that, as he'd prepared everything he got to sit this one out.
There had been a gift exchange at the party, the gifts not actually opened, but just exchanged, intended for reveal on Christmas morning. So they piled a bunch of brightly wrapped packages in their now empty trunk. Shannon had distributed the baked goods that Boone had made for everybody, before the party broke up the night before, standing in for him after Jack had sent him to bed.
Boone turned into their driveway, only to find not just Sawyer's car parked there, but a strange car as well. What the fuck, he wondered?
"Did you invite him to stay?" he asked Shannon.
"Not me," she denied.
"Fuuuck," he groaned.
The back door was unlocked; there were dishes out on Boone's formerly pristine counter, and a bottle of red wine, the cork lying beside it, still stuck on the cork screw, a small puddle of the deep red liquid staining the counter top, he rushed forward to wipe it up. Shannon realized that she could hear music coming from down the hall.
"Jackass," Shannon muttered, removing her coat and heading for the den.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" they could hear her yell.
"You didn't tell me you were married," came a female voice.
"She ain't my wife." Sawyer protested.
"You wish," Shannon retorted. "You're fucking cheating on me in my own house?"
Boone started smiling.
"You ain't my wife, she ain't, Sheila." They could hear Sawyer verbally scrambling.
"It's Shirley." The other woman replied.
"Our son and my brother are in the kitchen right now, I'm sure they can hear every word. How fucking humiliating is this?" Shannon yelled.
Boone smiled even wider, oh yeah; she was on a roll now. Go get 'em Shan.
"But…no…this is….aw fuck." Sawyer sputtered.
"Sawyer, it's over, we're through." They flinched at the sound of her slap.
"Sawyer? You told me your name was James!" There was the sound of another slap, not as hard as the first one; it must have been the other woman, because Shannon usually put her whole shoulder into it.
"Sticks?" he sounded desperate.
"Don't you fucking "Sticks" me, asshole." She hit him again.
Boone grinned at Andrew and leaned back against the table crossing his arms across his chest, enjoying the night's unexpected entertainment.
"Fuckin' stop hittin' me, for Christ sake," Sawyer pleaded. "I'll fuckin' hit you back Sticks, I'm warnin' you!"
Boone knew the threat was an empty one, not only would Sawyer never hit a woman, but only a madman would ever hit Shannon, her bark was pretty intense, but her bite was even worse, and Sawyer was many things, but a madman wasn't one of them.
"I am so fucking out of here. You're disgusting." They heard footsteps drumming up the hall.
A woman passed in front of them, busily doing up her shirt. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," she rushed out the door in embarrassment.
Boone and Andrew started laughing.
"You bitch!" Sawyer followed Shannon into the kitchen.
"I'm a bitch? You were making out on my couch!" She turned to him. "What are you, like seventeen?"
"I got needs," he seemed to suddenly realize that Boone and Andrew were standing there, and then, even though he'd been talking to her, he suddenly wondered what Shannon was doing there as well. "I, uh, I thought all 'a you guys were stayin' at Mamacita's till tomorrow."
"Then you weren't paying attention, we said at breakfast this morning that we were coming home today." Shannon shot back.
They looked at each other for a second, then a slow smile spread across both their faces.
"Damn, girl, but you were good in there." He flipped a nod in the direction of the den. "I could 'a used you back in the day." He stopped being pissed off and regarded her with admiration.
"I was pretty swift on the uptake, wasn't I?" She smiled back. Boone was a bit jealous at how easily they connected.
"We could 'a fleeced…" he started.
"Okay, then," Boone cut him off, not wanting them to go down that particular road in front of Andrew. "We're good here, right?"
They both nodded.
"So how'd you get into the house?" he was curious.
"Damn, boy, you gotta stop bein' so predictable. A key under a flowerpot?" Sawyer regarded him with contempt.
Fuck I'm an idiot, he thought. "But there's the alarm system," he protested.
"Yeah, well, when I tried 4, 8, 15, it just magically disarmed itself. Course I would 'a tried 16, 23, 42 after that, but I just didn't need to." Sawyer smiled, smugly.
Asshole, Boone thought.
"Sawyer, what are you doing here?" Shannon asked him.
"Thought you could you a little down home charm over Christmas, I got nowhere special to be, so's I just thought I'd spend it with my favourite family." He smiled at the three of them.
In bed that night, Boone pictured the coming week, Sawyer sprawled on his couch, Sawyer sitting at the table waiting for his food, Sawyer asking when his laundry was going to be ready. God, he hadn't wanted much for Christmas, but he was pretty sure Sawyer hadn't been on his list.
Shannon started laughing quietly against his shoulder, 'It won't be that bad, I'll find something for him to do, and Andrew will help to keep him busy I'm sure. We'll try and keep him from being too big a nuisance to you.'
'It was going to be our first Christmas back together. I just wanted you to myself.' He tightened his arms around her.
'Boone, he's got nowhere to go, I read him, you know I can do that because of all the time we spent together, he kind of imprinted on me, like with you and Hurley. I don't want him to be alone at Christmas. Come on, we can't ask him to leave.' She appealed to him.
'You know very well that I won't turn him out, I was just feeling a little sorry for myself, I don't want him alone at Christmas either.' He shrugged, 'We're going to be pretty busy in the new year, ramping up the new business. I just wanted some alone time with you.'
'We're alone now,' Shannon pointed out, raising her head off his shoulder and smiling suggestively at him.
'Good call,' he kissed her, then trailed more kisses down her neck, he was just moving to her breast, when the door rattled in response to the fist that had pounded against it. Boone flopped on to his back, fake crying in exasperation.
"Hey, guys? There's no clean towels in the linen closet, that's where you kept 'em last time I was here, you move 'em on me Metro?" Sawyer called from the other side of the closed door.
They started whispering to each other like characters in a bad sitcom.
"He's stayed here before?" she asked.
"Yeah, duh? I told you I called him to explain things to Andrew." Boone reminded her. "And he's been here a few other times too."
"Okay, asswipe, fuck, shoot me for forgetting."
"Fuck off."
"Shut up."
"Make me," Boone was starting to laugh at how ridiculous they sounded.
"Idiot," Shannon sniggered.
"Look, he followed you home, you deal with him." Boone said, referring to Sawyer like he was some stray kitten she'd brought home with her.
"Technically we followed him home." She pointed out, then sighed. "I'll do it tonight, tomorrow, if he needs anything, it's your turn." She grabbed his jaw and kissed him, thrusting her tongue down deep into his mouth, teasing.
He clutched at her as she got out of bed. "Hold that thought," he smiled.
Sawyer pounded on the door again, "Sticks?"
She pulled on a robe, "Hold your water Sawyer, I'm coming." Oh, shit she thought as soon as the words were out. That was probably not the right thing to say, he'd immediately put that last word in a sexual context, and sure enough his next words proved that.
"Well then, if you're comin', I'll just wait till you're done." He remarked, snidely.
She pulled the door open fast, startling him. "You are such a pig."
Their conversation was cut off as she closed the door.
Boone waited in the dark, lying impatiently in the bed waiting for her to get back, annoyed that they'd been interrupted. What was taking her so long, he wondered after about five minutes? He was just about to get up and find her, when the door opened and Shannon let herself back in. She dropped the robe on the floor as she crossed the room, and slid naked, back into bed with him.
'What took you so long?' he inquired.
'You're not going to believe it,' she started. 'He wanted a drink of water.' They both started snorting with laughter over how juvenile it made Sawyer sound, not that the way the two of them were laughing elevated them much above that moniker either.
When the laughter petered out, they finished what they'd started earlier. Boone pushed the blankets back, kissing and nipping down her body, his mouth finally reaching its' intended destination.
He was already gone when she woke up the next morning. She just hoped that he'd heeded Jack's warning and had gotten more than just a couple of hours sleep.
After showering and dressing, she knocked on Sawyer's door. He'd made mention last night at dinner that he wanted to do some Christmas shopping. Boone had tried to convince him that it wasn't necessary for him to get them anything, but hadn't been the slightest bit successful in changing the mans' mind. Besides which, Sawyer pointed out, what made Boone think he'd get anything for him anyway?
After knocking for a third time, she finally heard groaning from behind the door, and went in at his invitation. He was still lying in bed, on his side facing the door, the covers pulled up right over his head, only his face showing. He opened his eyes slowly, "What the fuck you wakin' me at the crack 'a dawn for?"
Shannon reminded him about the Christmas shopping, pointed out that it was almost nine, and informed him that she was leaving at ten, with or without him. As she turned to leave the room, to repeat the whole procedure with Andrew, hopefully without the swearing, she heard him throw the covers off.
Downstairs she headed to the commercial kitchen, knowing she'd find Boone in there. "Hey baby," She greeted him.
"Yeah," he replied vaguely, completely immersed in whatever it was that he was concocting at the moment.
She was instantly pissed; no one ignored her, or only paid her half a mind. "Boone," she snapped.
He jerked his head up at her tone, and met her eyes, looking startled. "You want to try that again?" She suggested.
"Morning, Shan." He smiled a bit nervously and came over to kiss her, wiping his hands on a towel.
"What time did you get up?" she asked him after they'd kissed.
He reassured her that it hadn't been the middle of the night, and that he'd actually only been at it for a couple of hours. He was expecting Terry in about an hour, then he'd take some time to ask Joan if she wanted the promotion he had planned for her. He was sure hoping that she'd not only say yes, but also consider it a pretty special Christmas present. He asked Shannon if she thought he'd be out of line if he also cut the woman a small slice of the business, or at least offered her some kind of profit sharing bonus.
"Boone, why are you asking me about a business decision?" Shannon asked a little mystified as to why he was after her opinion. "You always make those yourself, you know more about it than I do."
"Shan, you're going to have to get used to it. I can't do all the cooking and make all the decisions once we start the new venture. I'm just trying to get you used to it. You're going to have to step up to the plate here. I'm really going to need you to adapt to the new role you're going to have to assume." He explained.
It suddenly hit her just how much he was going to be relying on her. She sat down and looked up at him a little dazed. "I'm really going to be making a lot of big, important decisions for both of us, aren't I?" He smiled, she finally got it. He'd been waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Boone, what if I fuck up? I've never even had a job before. I'm not going to know what I'm doing. You're the one with the degree in business administration, all I know how to do is….nothing, not a damn thing, no one's ever asked me to do anything!" She could feel her heart racing, her breath catching in her chest.
"Don't trot out that old chestnut, I've asked you to do plenty of things. You took care of Andrew when I went away this summer." He reminded her.
"Yeah and look how well that turned out. I almost blew up the barbecue, we destroyed the back lawn, the cops brought him home, I ran over his bike and tore the mirror off the van," she held up her hand and ticked the items off on her fingers as she listed them.
"And you guys bonded, and he told you he loved you," Boone finished.
Shannon ignored what he said. "We're going to have employees, people who rely on getting a paycheque every week. I'm going to be responsible for their livelihood, oh, God!" The more she thought about it, the more overwhelmed she became.
"Hon, don't freak yourself out. I am going to be here, we're going to work on this together. I just need you to know that you're going to be playing a major part in this. It's not going to be easy for me to relinquish control and have someone else making decisions, but I figure if it's got to happen, the only person I'm likely to let make those decisions is you." He smiled at her, reassuringly.
Sawyer suddenly appeared at the door. "Fuck Sticks, me 'n Einstein been waitin' in the kitchen for you for the last five minutes," he tapped his watch impatiently. "We goin' shoppin' or not? Mornin' Metro," he added.
"Hey, Sawyer," Boone acknowledged.
"Yeah, coming," she breathed deeply, took one last look at Boone, kissed him, and followed Sawyer out of the room.