Boone was in the kitchen by himself, the next morning when Andrew came down. He immediately went over to collect his morning mug of tea. As his dad handed it to him, he caught a whiff of something and leaned in to sniff Boone's arm.
"Why do you smell like a girl?" He asked, frowning.
Boone's eyes widened in surprise, "What? No, no I don't." He said in alarm and raised his arm to his nose.
"Yeah, dude, you totally do." Andrew contradicted him, affecting Hurley's voice.
"Smell my hair," Boone demanded, leaning down.
Andrew obligingly stuck his nose in the mess of brown strands that approximated a hairstyle, at least in Boone's opinion.
"Ew," he pulled quickly away, "It's even worse."
"Fuck, I washed it twice last night, and once this morning," he mused, almost to himself.
"So, you smell like a girl, why exactly," Andrew repeated his question, thinking that rephrasing it slightly might actually get him an answer.
"We had a bath together, your mom and me," he explained and sighed, "I guess I put in too much of Shan's bath oil."
"Okay, dude, TMI," Andrew made a face and held up one of his hands, the one not holding the mug, palm outwards to stop Boone from adding to the disturbing mental image his words had formed in Andrew's head.
"You asked," Boone pointed out, shrugging.
Shannon came down, dressed as usual in long underwear, a pink set this morning, and crossed to give Boone a kiss and get her coffee.
"He smells like a girl." Andrew informed her, as he sat at the kitchen table.
She quirked an eyebrow and leaned in and sniffed at Boone, "You do smell a bit like a Mary Sue."
"It's your bath oil." He pointed out. "I guess that makes you a Mary Sue."
As Andrew started to giggle at the completely off base description, Shannon corrected him. "Oh no, brother dear, I'm anything but a Mary Sue, you on the other hand..."
They met up with Brian again at the resort and continued their lessons through the morning, Boone choosing to wait until lunch to tell the man of the decision the three of them had come to at breakfast. They'd realized that they just wanted some family time during their last two days, so wouldn't be in need of his services any more that week. When the guy looked kind of let down, Boone thought incorrectly, that it was because he assumed Boone was going to stiff him for two days of lesson fees. He quickly assured him that a contract was a contract, in his books, and he'd definitely not renege on their deal. But Brian corrected him saying he was actually just disappointed at not spending the next few days with them, he'd really come to like them during the time they'd spent together.
"And of course, there's the free lunch," he added with a grin.
They finished out the day, and bid him a bit of a bittersweet farewell at the end. He assured them that, seeing he was still contracted to them for the next two days, all they had to do was call him, and he'd be there in a flash. He listed some things for them to practice in his absence to improve their new skill, and shook hands with Boone and Andrew, startling Shannon when he pulled her in for a hug, kissing her cheek. She'd gotten the distinct impression that he was more than a little wary of her.
The next two days passed enjoyably, the weather bright and sunny, serving as the perfect backdrop for the end of their vacation. They spent the days on the slopes, and the nights cocooning in the warmth, not only of the rustic chalet, but in the secure family unit they'd become.
On the last day, they clambered again into the rented SUV and Boone headed the vehicle back to their temporary home.
Shannon and Andrew settled in the living room, Boone building them a fire before leaving, they presumed, to start dinner.
He was back in about fifteen minutes, surprising them both by coming into the living room with a glossy flyer in his hands and asking "You guys want to order pizza?"
They looked at him, then at each other then back at him again, "What?" they both asked, certain that some mutant had replaced him in an 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' kind of bizarre incident.
He looked up from the flyer, "Pizza? You know, flat, bread-like crust with toppings? They have whole-wheat crust and vegetarian. I'd go pick it up if you wanted some." He offered, as if trying to convince them.
"You want to order pizza?" Andrew asked him, still trying to wrap his head around the idea.
It was their last night and Boone just wanted to relax and not cook, besides pizza could be good healthy food, he sometimes made it for them himself. Once they realized that he was serious they came to an agreement about toppings and he went to make the call. Andrew had tried to get chicken wings as well, but Boone just told him not to try and press his luck. When Shannon had asked if they couldn't deliver, he'd surprised her further by saying that he wanted a beer with his, and seeing as they didn't have any, he needed to swing by the market as well.
When he got back to the living room, Andrew persuaded him to sit beside him on the floor so they could play a video game together, it really didn't take much; it was what Boone had planned anyway. Shannon told him that she'd go and get the pizza and beer, so he could spend time with Andrew, he agreed with an appreciative smile. When she got back, he started to get up to serve the pizza, but in an annoyed voice, with a roll of her eyes, she made it clear that she was more than capable of opening the box and putting the slices on plates without his supervision.
She settled on the couch to watch the game they were playing, as they consumed the food, Boone made them laugh as he managed to almost knock his beer over only twice as he blindly groped for the mug, not taking his eyes off the screen.
He amused them even further, when he suddenly started talking over the game as if he was dubbing a Japanese foreign language film, dropping his voice and talking in clipped short sentences, with overblown polysyllabic words. Andrew had a hard time focusing on successfully manoeuvring his character, as he giggled at the absurdity of the dialogue Boone was attributing to the action on screen. On the couch, Shannon was wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes, and thinking; wasn't it just typical, finally the guy was starting to relax, and it was their last day.
Andrew finally slipped up and his character was killed, Boone marking the event with, "Curse my sudden, but inevitable demise," then breaking into laughter himself.
They wrapped up the evening, all of them a little quiet and melancholy, they'd all had a good time, and, like most people on vacation they just didn't want it to end.
Sometime during the night a thunder storm started, lying in bed, deeply asleep, Boone frowned as each rolling boom sounded, the noise somehow triggering a part of his subconscious where his old, and long outgrown, childhood fear of thunder resided. He stirred restlessly, whimpering quietly, eventually waking Shannon. She started a bit as the lightening flashed, brightening the room to almost mid-day proportions, he moaned again.
"Boone?" she pulled away from the circle of his arm, and shook him lightly. Mindful of the scene of a few nights before, not wanting a repeat of his startled sudden awakening, she brushed her mind against his, tugging at him gently, 'Boone?'
His eye lids fluttered and opened slowly, his body jerking as the windows rattled at a new wave of sound from the angry weather.
"Shit," he commented, flinching, then furrowed his brow, wondering why Shannon was awake and looking all concerned at him.
"You were having a nightmare, or maybe it was the storm I guess." She answered his unspoken question.
He breathed a laugh in acknowledgement then pulled her back against him. They held each other for a while as the wrath of Mother Nature continued to rage outside.
Knowing he wasn't going back to sleep any time soon, Boone found his thoughts drifting, something occurring to him. 'Can I ask you a question?'
'Think you just did,' he could feel her smile against his chest.
He sighed, and shook his head slightly, 'Okay then, another one?'
'You got that covered too.' Shannon continued to tease.
'Can you stop being a smart ass for a second?'
'That's your third.'
Boone gave up.
After a minute or so, Shannon responded, 'That's not fair! Now I have to know what you were going to ask. You can't just up and quit!' She lifted her head and gave him a glare.
'Okay. It's just, do you think we should do this more often?' He asked.
'What; have a conversation in bed at three in the morning?' Shannon frowned at him in mock puzzlement.
'Were you here when I asked you to stop being a smart ass?' Boone asked in frustration. 'No, I mean go on vacation,' he clarified, rolling his eyes.
'Are you insane?' She questioned, as comfortable with the question as someone who lived with a blind person might ask them if they could see what they were saying.
'Only marginally,' he didn't feel like expending the energy becoming affronted.
She pushed herself up and sat cross legged on the bed beside him. "I'm the one who likes to travel, remember? And anything that gets you to slow down for a bit is a good thing. And with the crazy schedule that the new business is forcing us into, we need as much family time as possible. So yes, yes and yes, dumb ass." She finished her little mini-rant by looking at him like he was an idiot.
"Jeeze, sorry to actually try to talk to you about something, I was only asking because the notion of vacation isn't something I usually consider. As you just pointed out, I'm a bit of a workaholic." He finished sarcastically.
"That's the understatement of the year," she commented lying down against him again.
They discussed the subject of taking regular family vacations for a while, deciding that they should get away at least twice a year, more if they could fit it in.
They lay quiet again, the ferocity of the storm making it virtually impossible to go back to sleep. Boone wondered if he should go check on Andrew, but figured if the kid was bothered, or even awakened by the storm, he would have been at their door by now.
"We're not going back to sleep, are we?" Shannon mumbled into his chest.
'Doubt it,' he replied, silently.
'Then let's not pass the time pointlessly,' She raised her head, pulling herself up to kiss him, her hand sliding down from it's usual resting place on his shoulder.
He kissed her back, his eye lids losing their battle to stay open as she caressed him.
They made love slowly, both of them confident that it was a fitting way to end their week.