Chapter 27 - Shannon's Asthma Attack

The moment Jack arrived; he poured out the contents of his medicine bag onto the ground, and frantically began searching through it. She covered her mouth, and her face dripped in sweat, responding to the lack of air by draining all the color out of Shannon's face. "Just try to breathe." Boone told her, kneeled in front of her. "Breathe!" He said passionately. "Come on, Shan, work with me!" She shook her head. How could she breathe if she didn't have her inhalers? And why would Sawyer want to steal them? Boone persuaded her to breathe more, murmuring encouraging words to her, but she responded with another tumultuous gasp, unable to follow his instructions. She noticed the Korean woman standing nearby, watching her, and then Jack knelt in front of her. He was about to say something when he saw Sawyer walking by. On top of her inability to breathe, anger welled up inside of her, and apparently, the same thing happened to Jack, because he dodged over to Sawyer, but she didn't hear what they said next.

She held onto Boone's hand, squeezing it harder with every gasp and cough that escaped her lungs. In addition to the lack of oxygen, tears were also streaming down her face. There was no air supply on this island besides her inhalers, and she felt nearer and nearer to death with every breath she couldn't take. She closed her eyes, discouraged. Her throat seemed to be closing up, until everything around her was spinning and her throat was scratchy, begging for air. "Can't," she attempted to whisper, but Boone shushed her. "Die…" she managed to force out.

"No, you're not going to die!" He told her earnestly. "You won't die, Shan. You're going to breathe. Jack is going to get the inhalers from Sawyer and then you'll be fine."

She was able to inhale one tinier pocket of air, but then, no air would enter her lungs. You could die within minutes without air, and she was well aware that she was this close to death now. She opened her eyes wider, too scared for tears now. She tried to breathe in, but nothing reached her lungs. The air seemed to stop right before it reached where it needed to go. She gasped deeper, but nothing was working.

"Help! She's not breathing!" Boone yelled towards Jack. He ran to them, and Boone explained, "Her attacks are getting worse." Jack knelt down in front of her.

"Shannon, listen to me." She tried to grasp onto the concept of his words. "Look at me, look at me." He put his hand on her chin and forced her to look at him. "You need to listen now. This isn't just the asthma, this is anxiety. It's in your head."

"No," she tried to say.

"Yes." She shook her head. It wasn't, she was sick, and she needed the fucking inhalers!

"You know that the medicine's run out, and you're panicking." She looked at Boone, trying to breathe again. "Listen to me. We can fight this. Together, okay?" He told her, but she knew it was a load of shit and that she was going to die. "Nod your head." She jerked her head up and down, even though she didn't believe him. "Good. Breathe in through your –"

"She needs her inhalers!" Boone yelled.

"Boone." Jack shut him up. "Breathe in through your nose, slowly." She made an attempt to breathe again, showing him that she really couldn't breathe and she wasn't fucking making it up! "No, no, no. In through the nose, like this." He slowly breathed in and out through his nose, and Shannon tried to copy the rhythm of his breath. "You can do this Shannon. You can do it. In through your nose." She closed her mouth, not allowing anything through her mouth, and a bit of air, a tiny bit, but still some, entered her nose. And down her throat. And into her lungs. It wasn't much, but he was right, it did help somewhat. "You got your breath. Yeah. Your color's coming back." He smiled as she inhaled through her nose again. "See, I knew you could do this. Do you feel it?"

"Yeah." She whispered.

"It's passing. Okay. Again, in through nose." She breathed again. "Alright, just keep doing that. Keep breathing like that." She summoned a little more air through her nose. "That's perfect, good job." Jack pulled Boone aside, and Shannon continued to try to breathe. It was harder without the comfort of a doctor or her brother, and she was extremely grateful when he came back to her, holding her hand again. Jack, however, was gone.

"You're doing really well, Shan." He told her. She looked at him skeptically. "I'm serious. I wouldn't lie to you, you're doing so good." She inhaled through her nose again… 1, 2, and 3… and did not exhale through her mouth this time. 1, 2, 3… as she dug her fingers into his arm. He winced, but didn't say anything.

A few minutes later, she closed her eyes, resting, as Boone took her hand again. He smiled down at her, and besides feeling calm and peaceful, she also felt sort of… smitten. That was, until Sayid ran by, his white tank top covered in blood. Boone looked up quickly, dropping Shannon's hand and walked up to him. "Whose blood is that?" She heard him say, twice.

"Sawyer." Sayid answered shortly. Shannon had forgotten about Sawyer. Her mind clouded with rage thinking of the man who had allowed her to almost die.

"You went after Sawyer and you didn't even tell me?" Boone seemed to be tagging along with Sayid, and muttered something like, "She's my sister."

"Boone?" Her voice still sounded a bit awkward and loud after such a long time of not being able to use it. "Don't leave me here alone, okay?" She softened her voice. He looked from her to Sayid, but the moment his gaze met hers, they both knew that there really was no competition whatsoever.

He sat down next to her, boring his gray-blue eyes into hers. "I'm not going anywhere." She stared up at him. "Okay?" He asked as he clasped his hand over hers.

"Okay." Sayid was still standing there, and she really wanted him to leave. He looked strangely touched, which was just a little weird.

Suddenly, she noticed the Korean woman heading towards them holding a few branches of some sort of plant. She approached Boone and gestured towards Shannon, motioning the plants in her hand. Then she mimed breathing, and shook the plants again.

"What? You want to give her the plants?" Boone asked. She nodded, smiling and gestured an asthma attack. Then she held up the plant to her collarbone, and breathed. "You think it will help her… breathe? What do you do with it?" She knelt down in front of Shannon, adding some other things to the plants after tearing them into small pieces, creating a strange concoction. Then she placed a glob of the cool plant on Shannon's throat, and smelled a leaf of it, gesturing towards Shannon as she hovered it over Shannon's nose. She tried to inhale it, and sensed a sweet, natural aroma from the plant. She realized that it was that stuff that Koala's ate, because in Australia, there had actually been koalas in Bridget, Brian's "friend's" yard. She smelled it, and was relieved to know that she could. "I think it's working," Boone told the Korean woman. "It's working, Shannon, you're going to be okay now." She slowly let go of his hand, trying to capture the smell of the plant again. The woman rubbed more of the stuff onto Shannon's chest. She inhaled through her nose, and then smelled the Eucalyptus… once, twice, three times, until she had lost count. She opened her mouth, inhaling. The Korean woman smiled brightly, as did Boone. "Shannon, you're breathing!" He stated the obvious.

She inhaled a few more times. "Oh my god," she smiled, the words sounding foreign in her voice. "I'm breathing normally." The Korean woman said something in Korean. She wasn't going to die! Shannon had never loved air so much in her life. She had never been so close to death before, she didn't think, because before there had always been an inhaler, or a hospital, or something nearby. She continued to rub the stuff on her chest, and as Boone saw Jack nearby, he went up to him and started explaining something.

"I don't know. It's a miracle. She just showed up with that mixture. She rubbed it Shannon's chest and 10 minutes later she was breathing." He told Jack.

"Eucalyptus. Smart, Jack." Jack said to himself after realizing what the stuff was. "Thank you very, very much." He told the woman, and Shannon nodded, agreeing. She closed her eyes as she brought it towards her face again. After Jack saw that everything was okay, he left, and as her breathing became practically impeccable again, the woman slowly cleaned the Eucalyptus from Shannon's throat and started to stand up.

"Wait!" Boone said. "What's your name?" She looked quizzical. Boone pointed to himself. "Boone." Then he pointed to Shannon. "Shannon."

The woman nodded, smiling. "Sun."

Boone said, "Thank you so much. I know you can't understand me, but we are so grateful." Shannon squeezed his hand. When he smiled back at this motion, she looked away, pretending that she hadn't done it.

Shannon inhaled another fresh breath of air. She was grateful for each bit of it, from the tiny waft of it blowing against her cheek to the large amount now filtering through her lungs. She had finally summoned enough energy to stand up, wash her face, and put on her navy blue bathrobe. As she sat on the tin container she had been sitting on before the attack, Boone sat down next to her, smiling wasn't she the most precious thing in the world, breezily handing her a large water bottle. During the exchange, their hands touched across the plastic of the bottle, and she climbed her fingers over his, lingering for a moment before she took it with both hands and drank appreciatively. "Thanks," she said quietly, looking over at Jack's table of medical supplies for a few silent moments. She wondered when he would come and check on her again. She breathed a breathy sigh, playing with her fingers, which encompassed the water bottle tightly. "You know I really thought I was going to die," She examined her fingernails, cringing at the amount of dirt under them.

"You were really brave," he said sincerely. She laughed slightly. He was still, despite everything, desperately in love with her.

"Thanks," she answered. "Well, I think I can definitely add today to the ever growing volume of the Adventures of Shannon and Boone." He laughed, smiling at her contentedly.

"You know, you're really funny." He said. "God, I –" He started, but then he swallowed and looked down ashamedly.

She pretended not to notice, and continued, "Boone gets beat up by dimpled Southern pervert, defenseless towards seasoned pro four inches taller than him." She giggled, like a stupid little girl with an unrequited crush. She was confused by her affectionate behavior, but was surprised to find herself admitting that being nice wasn't actually so bad.

"Later, Shannon, unable to breathe, practically dies, but if then resurrected by the island's very own Jesus and saintly Korean woman who rubs strange leaves on x- rated places on Shannon's body." She laughed, pressing the water bottle into his chest.

"It wasn't x-rated, it was like, here!" She gestured towards her collarbone. "You're such an ass!" She said exaggeratedly. He laughed, practically giddy because she was being so fucking nice, but then he suddenly stopped, groaning.

"Shit, my ribs…" he said. " And my shoulder."

"God, Sawyer's an asshole." She related to his problem. "Let me see." She took his arm, turning it over in her hand, and pressed her fingers into his shoulder. "That hurt?" She murmured, moving forward on the makeshift seat.

"No," he looked up at her. She maintained the eye contact as she ran her fingers down his entire arm, tracing over his veins slowly. "I think it hurts right there," he whispered as their contact intensified. "There's a bruise…"

"Yeah, there is." She said, not looking down at it, and instead scooting towards him on her makeshift seat, as he appeared to do the same. She moved even closer to him, staring right into his eyes, which were wide open in wonder. They were so close that she could have counted every individual eyelash on his face. Their lips were hovering, close enough to kiss if she had cocked her head slightly.

"I think I'll be okay. I'll just move…" he gestured to his arm, "My arm, and…" His voice was barely a whisper. "I need to just…"

"Yeah," she replied, finally realizing how stupid she was acting. "Yeah," she pulled her arm back.

"I should go get Jack to check on you." He said, his voice oddly public sounding. But he didn't have to, because before he could stand up, Jack had approached them.

"Shannon, how are you doing? Your breathing okay?"

"Yeah," she answered. "I'll be fine."

"Okay," said Jack, smiling. "Make sure she stays calm," he said to Boone, and quickly exited, calling after them, "You two stay here for a while!"

"I am so incredibly fucking tired," Shannon said after he left. She wanted to occupy any silence in order to avoid awkwardness about the weird almost kiss thing that had just occurred. "We shouldn't have stayed up all night."

The corners of his lips turned up into a smirk. "No, I shouldn't have." She gaped at him. She was supposed to be the audacious one!

"You are such a pervert!" She made a noise of indignation. "I hope nobody heard you say that!"

"They didn't," he said, but looked around anyway. There really wasn't anyone in the clearing, everyone was further away in a different cave altogether. She really didn't like the caves, it made her claustrophobic, and she didn't want to stay there any longer than was necessary.

"I don't like the caves. Let's go back to the beach." She grabbed his hand. "Please?" He looked at his hand, where her fingers had entwined with his. She moved her thumb so that she scratched his palm slightly, giggling a little as she repeated this with her pointer finger, pinching the loose skin next to his thumb.

"Jack said to stay here."

"He's not the boss of me." She argued, realizing how juvenile that sounded.

"He's not the boss of you?" He repeated, raising his eyebrows. How could his perfect Shannon every say something so stupid, he was probably thinking. Either that or he thought it was cute. "You know, you used to say that all the time when you first moved in." Okay, latter option. "You'd sneak cookies when you weren't supposed to, and I'd tell you, and you'd be all, 'You're not the boss of me!'" He imitated her in a squeaky little voice she was sure was not accurate. Or, she hoped. "It used to piss me off so much."

"I'm sorry," she sighed breathily, pressing her fingers into his hand like she was giving his hand a massage.

"Shannon, I know what you're doing." He told her, not moving back.

"Then why aren't you stopping me?" She whispered, like she had moments before, bringing her face closer to his.

"Maybe it's because I like you." He answered simply. She stared at him, surprised by his forwardness. She almost said something like, 'you're so cute', but decided that that might be too weird. Instead, she averted her gaze and placed her hand on his left cheek, pressing her lips into his cheek at an angle, opening her lips a little to teeth his skin a little. "Of course you do," she said, pulling back, and squeezed her hand into his again.

"Jack wants us to stay here," he started apologetically. Shannon lifted his arm and kissed the bruise that Sawyer had left there. "But I guess it wouldn't matter that much…" She kissed another bruise on his elbow, staring up at him with pleading, woeful eyes… "Wouldn't matter," she licked a cut on his jawbone, lingering her tongue just long enough. "At all…" She pulled back, triumphant. "You bitch," he said, standing up.

"I win, like always." She said lightly.

"Not always." He challenged.

"What? When did you win?" She asked in surprise as they started to leave.

"I'm not telling. It's part of –"

"Is it part of your roguish charm?" She smirked up at him, bending over to retrieve the water bottle from his hand.

"Actually –"

"I hate you, you know."

"No you don't," he shrugged.

"I know." She responded. "So, which way do we go?"

"Lead the way, milady." He said sarcastically.

"Chivalry's dead, Boone. Just admit the fact you don't know what the hell you're talking about." He sighed. "Ask Michael how to get there. He's somewhere over there."

"I don't – "

"Just ask. I know, it's like, an insult to your manhood, but I want to get to the beach!"

"Why don't you?"

"I just had a near death experience." Two minutes and a destroyed masculinity complex later, Shannon and Boone trudged south to the beach.

I was going to go on, but then I realized I could just stop it there. Um, please tell me your favorite lines, and favorite parts. Did you like the almost kiss thing? Summerith will know that I sort of kind of got that from the OC. There was something else I was going to say…I wrote a plan for the rest of the story, maybe I'll actually stick to it this time. If everythinggoes to plan, it will have 34 chapters total, and end after Do NoHarm. If there is anything that you can suggest for the story, please tell me, because constructive criticism is always great. Oh, if you haven't seen this picture, you should. I tend to fall out of my chair every time I look at it. http/photos1. I want to do so many dirty things with that boy. But I'll try to keep it on the down low. : )

-Marielle