Boone pulled into the driveway of the Coopers' hotel and found a spot for the SUV. Things had been pretty quiet in the vehicle since Andrew made his announcement. He killed the engine and they all got out, Shannon looked a little wild about the eyes, he noticed.
"Honey, you sure you want to do this?" He asked her, wrapping his arm around her waist.
She pushed him away irritably. "I don't see that I have much choice. And stop being so clingy, I'm not a porcelain doll."
"Right, sorry," He'd only been trying to be supportive, but he should have expected her independent nature to assert itself, given the stressful situation. She always hid behind her most familiar facades.
They rode silently up in the elevator, Boone and Andrew exchanging glances with raised eyebrows.
When they knocked on the door, Tim answered it immediately. They apologized for the intrusion, given the late hour.
"When Amy's like this, time's not a factor, don't worry about it." He dismissed their concern. "And we're used to it, believe me."
They walked hesitantly into the suite. Amy and Anne were watching TV, Amy smiled when she saw them, though it was mostly at Andrew. Aren't they way too young for this, Boone wondered?
They made their apologies again, then Shannon turned to Amy. "So my father wants to talk to me?"
"Yeah," she confirmed.
"After twelve years? That seems a little weird." She observed, "And why now? If he wanted to talk to me why didn't he just get Jack to tell me?"
Amy appeared to listen for a minute, "Jack won't see him."
"What? There's like an appointment thing, and Jack won't pencil him in?" Shannon asked sarcastically.
"No, Jack won't see him." She repeated. "He won't let himself see him. Jack was there when he died, and he feels responsible, so he won't see him."
"Wait," Boone interjected, "Jack was there when he died? You want to back that up just a second?"
She appeared to listen again, "They brought in two people, and Jack chose to save the lady, he figured Adam was too far gone. Your dad doesn't blame him for that though, 'cause he was probably right."
"Jack? Our Jack? He was there?" Shannon couldn't wrap her head around the coincidence.
"He was working emergency that day." Amy said.
They both had to concede that it was possible, though that they'd be two of the few survivors of a plane crash with the guy two years after the incident was stretching things a bit. But so was polar bears on a South Pacific island and suddenly developing ESP.
"So he's got something he wants to say to me?" Shannon asked sceptically.
She nodded, and glanced at Andrew, smiling at him again. Boone just rolled his eyes.
"He says he's sorry that Sabrina never gave you the money, he meant for you to have it, but he never thought that she wouldn't give it to you." They both got really still as they looked at her, their blood running cold, there's no way Amy could know that.
"Can I see him? Andrew," Shannon turned to the boy, "can you see him." She inexplicably felt like it would be more real if she got confirmation from her son, not that she didn't believe the girl, especially after what she'd just said.
"I've got ESP, I'm not a medium," he frowned at her. Jeeze how many special talents did she expect him to have?
"But Amy can see him, and you can read Amy, I want to know if you can see him." She demanded; her focus intent.
He appeared to relax and concentrate, frowning a bit at the girl. "Okay, I got it."
"So tell me what he looks like." His mother requested.
He described his maternal grandfather as best he could. Boone reached out and steadied her as she seemed to sway at the confirmation of her remembered appearance of him.
"Fuck Boone, fuck." She turned and slid her arms around him.
"That's all he wanted to say," Amy shrugged. "He was just really sorry. He's been waiting all this time to tell you that. Oh, and he's happy for you and Boone. He always thought you should be together."
"He's happy for us?" She raised her head and turned to look at the girl, glancing from her to Andrew.
The boy smiled and nodded, as did Amy.
Shannon was close to tears, but held them back, "That's good. I mean, thanks daddy."
"He's going now." Amy informed her.
"Okay." She sniffed.
"But, Boone, he says to take care of his little girl." She repeated the message.
"I will." He answered, simply. "I always have." He tipped his head to look at Shannon, cupping the back of her head and pulling her against him.
They stood for a few seconds, frozen to the spots they'd ended up in, after the emotionally charged exchange. They all waited for Shannon to break the spell.
She took a deep breath and pulled away from Boone, smiling up at him warmly, then kissing him, not caring that they were surrounded by people.
"Daddy approves of you, Boone. Maybe I'll keep you after all." Her hand slid up to the side of his face.
"Hope so." He grinned.
"We're really sorry about all this," Shannon apologized again, though still caught up in the experience.
"No problem." Anne smiled. "We're leaving tomorrow, though, so it's kind of nice to be able to say goodbye to you."
They made their farewells, then headed out They were all still quiet on the ride home.
Up in their bedroom after tucking Andrew in for the night, Boone looked across the room at her. Shannon was seated in one of the chairs in front of the fireplace, staring distractedly into the flames, her feet pulled up onto the seat cushion. She looked particularly young and vulnerable, he thought.
"Shan?" He was hesitant about breaking her quiet reverie.
She blinked a few times, slowly, then sighed and looked up at him. She smiled, a bit reluctantly, "Yeah?"
Boone suddenly didn't know what it was that he had been planning to say. He crossed the room and knelt in front of her chair, leaning forward to rest his head in her lap and wrapping his arms around her waist.
She tangled her fingers in his hair, and focused again on the fire.
"I'm sorry, Shan, I'm so, very, very sorry." Boone mumbled.
She frowned and shook her head, "What? Why?"
"If I wasn't so selfish you'd be a dancer right now. Instead of stuck with me. How you don't hate me, I don't know." He shook his head.
"Boone, what the fuck are you talking about?" She looked down at him.
"I shouldn't have taken that job. I knew my mother only offered it because it would have kept you from the Martha Graham opportunity. It wasn't even about me, it was all about her, god I'm such a loser." He sighed.
"You were completely right, it was a really great job, and you were good at it. Christ Boone, if you hadn't taken it, then you would really have been a loser. We're not going back there. It's past history, and I'm not going to play 'What if' with you. Just shut the fuck up about it." He wasn't going to play the martyr on her account.
"You should have taken my money when I offered it, Shan." He raised his face and kept pressing the issue. "Why did you think you needed to steal from me? I loved you, you knew I loved you, I would have given you anything."
"I thought it was my money, that I was due it, but it wasn't, it wasn't the money that she didn't give me. It was your money; you worked hard and long for it. It wasn't mine to have. I'm the one who's sorry here, Boone." She pulled him up, "Don't be sorry, please?"
He breathed a deep sigh, "We've got so much baggage. We'd fill a 747."
"With lots of blue tarps though, right? And a suitcase full of knives?" she teased.
He laughed. "And a copy of A Wrinkle In Time."
"I love you, so much." Shannon admitted, laughing back at him.
"Well now that daddy approves…" he joked.
She got quiet. "Yeah."
"Let's have a bath together." Boone changed the subject, cursing himself for reminding her of what had transpired earlier.
"You just had a bath the other night." She pointed out. Obviously they showered every day, but a bath was a once in a blue moon event.
"But not with you." He reminded her. "And we don't have a whirlpool at home, so let's take advantage."
She shrugged. "But no sex, I'm really not in the mood."
"No sex." He agreed.
He went into the ensuite and turned the taps on, then rummaged in her stuff to try and find some kind of bath product, successfully withdrawing a bottle of bath oil. Returning to the unit, he checked the back of the bottle and poured some in, then a little more, when it didn't seem like quite enough.
"I'm going to get us some wine, keep an eye on the tub, okay?" Boone asked her as he headed out the bedroom door.
She agreed, as he went to the kitchen to get the wine, an ice bucket, some glasses and an opener.
She was still sitting staring into the fire when he returned, he was pretty sure that she hadn't checked on the tub, even once. Thankfully it wasn't overflowing.
"Hon, tubs ready." He got her attention.
They stripped naked, Boone pinned her hair up for her, then poured them each a glass of the wine, putting the two filled glasses on the edge of the tub.
They climbed in, carefully immersing themselves in the hot water. Boone leaned against the edge and spread his legs, pulling her back against his chest. She slid down him almost immediately.
"Fuck, Boone, how much oil did you put in? Didn't you read the directions?" Shannon asked, glancing over her shoulder at him.
He just looked at her, eyebrow quirked. "Of course, you read the directions, you're Boone Carlyle." She muttered, leaning back against him again, but bracing her feet on the opposite side of the tub.
"It's a good thing you're not in the mood for sex, because I think I'd probably slide right off you." He raised his hand out of the water and rubbed his fingers together, testing the lubrication on them.
"I can just imagine having to take you to the hospital as a result of a fall during sex. That'd be fun to try and explain. 'Well you see, doctor, he was on the upstroke and the next thing I knew he'd slid off onto the floor and was sprawled out on the carpet, wailing about having broken…well, you get the idea.'" She played out the imaginary scene.
"Cute, Shan," he winced at the thought. "What do you think they'd use as a splint?" He mused in fun.
They continued to soak, sipping at their wine occasionally, sliding their hands over each other, becoming increasingly drowsy. When Shannon's head rolled to the side on his chest, her eyes closed, Boone figured it was time to get out, before they both fell asleep. He nudged her awake, and she stepped over the rim carefully, he stood to follow her and braced his hand on the edge of the tub to help himself out. His arm shot out from under him, as the effect of the oil came into play. He fell back into the water, submerging himself completely, water sloshed out and on to the floor. He came up sputtering after a second.
Shannon was standing there, laughing at him. "You're such a doofus."
"Thanks for the concern," he wiped his hands over his face trying to get the water and oil mixture off. "Ugh, it's all in my hair, this is gross." He was more careful with his second attempt to exit the tub. "Shit, there's water all over the floor." He looked at her, she was still laughing. "You going to give me a hand here, or are you just going to keep laughing at me?"
"I'm sticking with the laughing," she managed to choke out.
Boone finally saw the humour in the situation, and smirked at little at himself, as he went to grab some towels to clean up the mess.