But, God, he really wished he hadn't slept with her. That was pretty much the stupidest thing he'd ever done in his life ever. And Boone had done some pretty stupid things. Coming all the way to Sydney to save her from an 'abusive' relationship was pretty far up there too. Along with every other time she'd conned him. And there was really no need, if she'd have just asked for the money he would have gladly handed it over, no questions asked. But Shannon was too proud to admit that she needed anything so Boone guessed she had to do it in this backhanded, sneaky way.
But the sex, that was just so wrong. And so ultimately unfulfilling. He thought he was getting what he wanted, what he was longing for all those years, but turns out Shannon won again. He just felt more broken and empty than when he started this whole stupid thing. Shannon held all the power and Shannon always would. He was climbing this stupid hill because of her wasn't he?
But Boone was wrong, Shannon was needed. She spoke French. Even though she was claiming that she couldn't. Why the hell did she do that? Why did she have to be so difficult? She supposedly came up here to help others and be useful and now she was gonna play dumb like she did her whole life and hope that she'd just be let off the hook. So not happening, Boone was calling her card. He, for one, would actually quite like to help them all get off this island.
Shannon relented and Boone realised he could actually have lived quite happily without knowing what that French woman was saying over and over for sixteen years. 'It killed them all.' Great, Boone thought, we're as good as dead. But Sayid made them all promise that the other survivors never found that out. Which Boone so wasn't on board with, he didn't lie to people. But when it was laid out, he wished he didn't know either so he really shouldn't inflict it on others. Some secrets are necessary, Boone learnt that lesson fairly early on in life.
They didn't make it back to the beach that night. Boone didn't find it any easier to sleep though. He wasn't usually one to miss out on slumber, he usually found he could fall asleep anywhere, but right now he was having a serious problem. Of course they were stuck on an island somewhere after a plane wreck and the rescue crews were looking in the wrong place and they couldn't correct them due to the small matter of a French woman's own SOS informing whoever cared to listen, and Boone guessed it was no one until they picked up the signal themselves earlier, that 'it' had killed them all. 'It' more than likely being whatever killed the pilot and was wreaking havoc in the jungle every now and then. In short, there were circumstances.
So he didn't get any sleep and he got shown up by Shannon, big surprise there, when he tried to do something constructive with his awake time i.e. stand guard. Everything in Boone's life seemed to be a lose/lose situation at the moment. Right, like this should come as news to him.
The next evening, back at the beach, he sat by a fire with Shannon and stared into the flames, hoping to feel sleepy. But he really, really didn't. Boone didn't remember ever having insomnia, not even during midterms, not even when he felt like he was gonna miss a deadline at work and Sabrina was undoubtedly gonna cause him bodily harm. Of course Boone never had missed a deadline in his life but he'd gotten close a couple of times. And Sabrina was probably pissed off that he didn't show up to work yesterday. She was probably cursing his name right now.
"I have to pee," Shannon announced, standing up.
"Careful you don't get eaten," Boone replied sarcastically. Which so wasn't funny but this was how they communicated.
Shannon threw him a sarcastic look and headed for the tree line. Boone found himself relaxing a little once she'd gone. Which was strange because he didn't remember being uptight. But he was only alone for a second before Jack, the hero doctor, came and sat down, a little away from him.
"Hey," Jack offered with a small nod.
"Hey," Boone replied, unsure why Jack had picked this fire to sit by. He so had no objection to the fact but he could see Kate down the beach and he was sure Jack must have seen her too.
"I'm Jack, by the way," he said. "I never got a chance to introduce myself to you."
"Yeah, I know who you are," Boone replied. "I think everyone knows your name."
Jack nodded a little. "Right." He looked at Boone. "So what's your name?"
"Oh, sorry," Boone said, shaking his head a little. "Boone. Boone Carlyle." He put out his hand and gave Jack a business like handshake.
"Thanks for helping out earlier," Jack said. "With the marshal. Before."
"Marshal?" Boone asked.
"The shrapnel guy," Jack clarified.
"Oh, well, I didn't even do anything, I just kind of kept an eye on him, he didn't even wake up," Boone rambled. "He was a marshal?" Jack nodded. "Was he on duty?"
Jack seemed to consider the question for a fraction longer than was necessary. "I don't know," he finally replied. Boone nodded and looked back to the fire. "Kate told me about what happened," Jack said. Boone looked back to him. "The French distress call."
Hmm, Boone thought they'd agreed not to tell anyone. But this was Jack and he was their leader so he guessed it was only fair that he be in the loop. "Right," he said vaguely.
"That girl you're with," Jack began, somewhat out of nowhere. "She your girlfriend?"
"God no," Boone replied, giving Jack an amused look. "She's my sister. Shannon."
"Oh, right, sister," Jack nodded. "Yeah, I figured you guys were closer than friends."
"Closer than friends?" Boone asked, trying not to sound like a panicked idiot. Was their true relationship that obvious? "We're not closer than friends. We're not even friends. We don't even like each other really."
"I just mean that you seem to know each other really well," Jack explained. "Like you have a past together."
"Right, cos we're siblings," Boone stated, hoping they really didn't look like anything else. Which they so weren't. Sydney was a one time only deal and they were so never going there again. The emotional place they ended up that night, that was, not Sydney itself. Boone was open to going back to Sydney. Not that he had a great deal of love for that place right now. Not that they were ever getting off this island the way things were going.
Jack looked behind Boone and started to stand up. "Well, I'll leave you to it," he said.
Boone looked behind himself and saw Shannon returning. Jack was a smart man for not wanting to stick around. If Boone thought he could leave without her following he so would. No, that was probably a lie.
"Right, later," Boone said.
Jack gave him a nod and headed in the direction where Kate was sitting. So he had seen her. Boone wondered why he stopped off at Boone's fire along the way. Maybe he only saw Kate after he sat down, he reasoned.
Shannon sat down next to him and gave him a look. "What did the doctor want?" she asked.
"Nothing," Boone replied.
"He want you to be his boy toy?"
"You know what, Shannon, I really doubt it," Boone replied, getting irritated.
"Aw, has Booney got a crush?" she asked in hideous baby talk, tickling him under the chin.
He jerked away. "Can you not touch me please?" he requested.
"That's not what you were saying the other night," she pointed out, giving him a wicked grin.
"Actually, I did say that the other night, you just didn't listen to me," Boone stated.
Shannon laugh obnoxiously and rolled her eyes. "Right, okay, Boone, put it all on me, whatever makes you feel better."
He turned to look her in the eyes. "You were the one that said things should go back to normal that we shouldn't mention this again," he pointed out. He then turned back to look at the fire. "Can't have it both ways, Shan."
She didn't reply so Boone guessed she got the message. His eyes wondered to where Jack was sitting with Kate and he considered exactly why he did come over here. To thank him? He didn't even do anything. To ask if he was dating Shannon? Maybe it was Shannon he was after, that would make sense. Or maybe he really did like Boone. No, he was straight, he was so totally straight.