Author's Note: With some help from Shannon, Sayid learns its okay to love again.

Chapter 8: A visit from a ghost

Sayid awoke the next morning to find Lissie curled up next to him, she felt a bit warm but he figured it was from their combined body heat. 'I can't do this. It's wrong to be with her, I feel like I'm betraying Shannon.' Sayid thought as he got up and left the girls house.

'I shouldn't have kissed her last night. What was I thinking?' Sayid wondered. "Hey Sayid. Where you heading this early?" Sawyer asked as they passed each other. "On a walk." He answered the southern man. "I need to think." He added for reasons that even he didn't understand and causing Sawyer to stop.

"About your feelings for Shannon and our resident wildcat?" Sawyer asked sounding nothing like the guy he'd been right after the plane had crashed. "Yes, if you must know." Sayid answered reluctantly.

"Want me to cover if someone or some wildcat asks about where you're at?" Sawyer asked. "Would you please?" Sayid asked in return. "Yeah, now get out of here before someone sees you." Sawyer answered with a grin.

Sayid walked into the jungle away from the small beach community, "I loved Shannon, how can I be having these feelings for Lissie?" Sayid wondered as he walked further into the jungle. An hour of walking later found Sayid's thoughts just as jumbled and confused as when he had begun the walk.

"Sayid." Sayid turned at the sound of a familiar voice calling his name. There standing before him was Shannon, looking as beautiful as she had on the day she died. "Shannon?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yes, it's me. I know your feeling uncomfortable, that you're cheating on me somehow. You're not Sayid. I'm gone, dead and she's here, alive and able to love you. Lissie's a sweet girl Sayid and you have my permission to be with her if it makes you feel better. Sayid, she's feeling reluctant and confused at the possibility of being with you, but she's going to need you. She has a battle coming up that she's going to have to fight. Your presence will reassure her and so will her own ghostly visit." Shannon warned.

"What do you mean?" Sayid asked in slight alarm. "I can't really tell you, but I can say that the rainstorm that hit about a week ago is going to catch up on her and that you need to keep a close eye on her." Shannon said.

"Oh and Sayid, if you really loved me you'll allow yourself to love again without guilt." Shannon added with a smile as she vanished. "I did love you Shannon, so I will, I promise I will." Sayid promised to the air still having problems believing that he had just had that talk with a girl who still had a special place in his heart.

Next Chapter: Lissie has a talk with a ghost of her own, thanks to a high fever