Shannon came over and sat next to him, really not looking her best. She clearly hadn't been keeping up with her preening schedule. And she had that dog with her. "Hey," she said, fidgeting with her sleeve.
"Hey."
"Yeah, so, Sayid went off after the crazy French chick to get Claire's baby back," Shannon explained.
"Yeah, I heard," Boone replied. "Jack went to get that temperamental dynamite to blow open the hatch."
Shannon nodded. "I heard." She turned to face him. "I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Yeah," Boone agreed. "I'm sure Sayid'll be fine."
"Yeah, he can look after himself," Shannon said. "So what do you think about these others?"
"I think the French lady's mental state leaves a little to be desired," Boone replied. "Wouldn't surprise me if she made it all up as a distraction so she could take the baby."
"You have to be pretty sick to steal someone's baby," Shannon said.
"I think sixteen years alone probably erodes your morals a little, Shan," Boone replied.
"God, we better not be here that long," Shannon muttered.
"Yeah, your hair's seriously starting to take the toll already," Boone smirked.
"Shut up, loser," she said, giving him a shove.
"Ow!" Boone said. "Please try and remember that a plane fell on me."
"Oh, shit, Boone, I'm sorry," she said, actually looking guilty. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Boone grumbled.
"You're out of the tent at least," she pointed out.
"Yeah, I am," he agreed.
"Must be nice," Shannon stated.
Boone nodded. "It is, yeah," he admitted. "I was starting to go a little stir crazy in there. Now I can go stir crazy out here instead."
"Yeah but you got those nifty crutches," Shannon pointed out.
"That I can barely use," Boone commented. "I think Jack was supporting me more than they were."
Shannon shrugged. "At least he's kind of hot."
"Kind of?" Boone asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Whatever," Shannon said, rolling her eyes.
"Well, anyway, I think it was really nice of John to make them for me," Boone said. "Maybe you and Jack can be a little nicer to him now."
"Are you kidding me?" Shannon asked incredulously. "Don't tell me you've been taken in by him again."
"What are you talking about?" Boone asked.
"You are such a bonehead, Boone," Shannon stated. "He's using you because you're so eager to please you'll do anything for him."
"That's not true," Boone argued. "And what happened wasn't his fault, Shan. If it wasn't for him I'd still be laid out there."
"No, if it wasn't for him you wouldn't even have been out there in the first place, you would have been following Jack around camp like a lost little puppy dog," Shannon countered.
"Yeah, he gave me something to do, he made me useful," Boone replied.
"He almost got you killed," Shannon stated.
"God, Shannon, he didn't drag me out there, he didn't force me to climb up, he didn't make me stay up there playing with the radio," Boone explained.
"Look, whatever, like I care," she dismissed. She looked down and started playing with her sleeve again.
"You okay?" Boone asked.
"I'm fine," Shannon said simply.
"He'll be back," Boone told her.
"Yeah, I know," she replied.
"Did you guys patch things up?" Boone asked.
"Not really," Shannon admitted. She looked up at him. "He wouldn't help me, Boone. He didn't side with me. He sided with him."
"You're gonna realise you're wrong, Shan," Boone told her. "I know you all want someone to blame but why don't you blame me? I'm the idiot that sat in a plane as it fell off a cliff."
Shannon smiled at him. "You are an idiot," she agreed.
"Yeah, thanks, Shan," he said. "You pick now to finally agree with me?"
"I want to make up with Sayid," she stated. "Do you think that's the right thing to do? Because when you date someone you're supposed to be on the same side and I don't think he's on my side."
"Shan, I think he is your side," Boone stated. "I think he was protecting you more than John." Shannon looked at him. "I think you should go for it."
Shannon smiled at him. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I think I should too." She looked down again. "Now I just need him to come back in one piece."
"He'll be back," Boone told her. She nodded but didn't seem overly convinced. "So what's with the dog?" he asked.
Shannon looked at Vincent and then Boone. "Walt asked me to take care of him," she said, leaning down to pet the dog. "Just while he's gone."
"That's a really nice thing to do, Shan," he told her.
"Whatever," she shrugged. "The kid asked me, what was I supposed to say?"
Typical Shannon, Boone thought, she didn't want to be caught helping anyone else out.
"Well, we never did have any pets of our own," Boone said.
"Not with Sabrina around," Shannon snorted. "Pets are messy and useless. I don't know why children weren't classified in the same way in her eyes."
"Oh, they probably were," Boone said. "She was just too proper to say it out loud."
"I wanted a dog when I was a kid," Shannon told him. "But my dad always said that I had to wait until I was old enough to look after it on my own. He said that if I still wanted a dog when I was ten then he'd buy me one. But then he married Sabrina..."
"I didn't know that," Boone said. "Sorry."
Shannon shrugged. "I probably would have got bored of it in a week anyway."
There was a small commotion and Boone looked over to see Sayid and Charlie enter the camp, Charlie carrying Claire's baby. He handed the baby over to Claire who had never looked happier. Sayid moved away from the group and headed over to the pool. Boone turned back to Shannon and saw her staring at Sayid. He rolled his eyes.
"Go talk to him," he told her.
Shannon looked at him. "Do you think he'll talk to me?"
Boone gave him a look. "Just listen to me for once in your life."
She smiled at him. "Okay," she grumbled.
She got up and walked over to Sayid at the pool. He turned around and they looked at each other before falling into a hug. Boone couldn't help but smile. Shannon seemed happy, which didn't really happen all that often. In fact Shannon seemed to enjoy being miserable just so she had something to whine about. She liked playing hard done by. But Boone felt like things were shifting for all of them. He felt like Shannon was starting to grow up a bit. And he felt like he was too. He watched Shannon and Sayid hug and hoped that Jack wasn't going to be too much longer.