Chapter Text
Whispers in the rain. That’s how it started. The pair’s eyes dart back and forth through their surroundings, until she spots him. Walt.
Shannon flicks back to Sayid, then to the soaking wet image of Walt. He stands there, eyes burning holes through the both of them. She looks back at Sayid, whose face is one of complete disbelief. Disbelief and realization.
"Do you see him?"
There’s no verbal response from him, only a small nod. He believes her now.
"Walt!" she yells, hoping that maybe this time he’s real, that this time he’ll give a response. She doesn’t get one.
"Walt!" Shannon screams through the pouring rain again, only now she’s on her feet, running directly towards the apparition of the young boy. The figure of Walt moves, disappearing into the brush behind him as the young woman continues to give chase. "Walt, wait!"
The whole time, Sayid remains frozen, eyes transfixed on where Walt had just been standing. It doesn’t make sense. Walt was on the raft. The conflicting, contradicting thoughts cloud his mind, rendering him motionless, until he finally changes his gaze to the love of his life chasing a hallucination deeper into the forest.
"Shannon!"
He’s up in a flash, several feet behind her. Sayid narrowly avoids tripping over a small log on the ground, instead leaping over it to catch up with Shannon. Not far ahead of him, Shannon herself pushes through tall plants and low hanging leaves. She can’t see Walt anymore.
Pushing more aside, her vision locks on something else. People, more than one. She hears more hushed whispering, only this time there’s no echo, and they’re not swirling all around her. These are real.
One last bit of brush stands between her and these mysterious people, and she’s about to charge through it, when a pair of strong arms grab her and pull her back.
"Shannon, you shouldn’t—"
Sayid’s voice is interrupted by a thunderous gunshot, and Shannon’s body jolts. He looks down, and his heart drops, seeing a pool of red stain the abdomen of Shannon’s white shirt.
"Sa— Sayid—" her voice is filled with confusion, panic, and most of all, pain . Her legs go weak, and she collapses into Sayid’s arms.
In one swift motion, she’s scooped into Sayid’s arms. He allows himself a few seconds to let the fear through, for his limbs to feel like jelly, for his breathing to become shaky and ragged at the sight of his love bleeding in his arms.
"Shannon! Oh, god, Shannon, no—"
And then he stumbles forward, coming out of the brush. He falls down to his knees in the muddy soaked ground, Shannon crying out in pain as he does. She slides out of his hold, now lying flat on the ground. Sayid changes his position, one with both hands pressing down firmly on her stomach, applying deep pressure to her wound.
Shannon’s head rolls back and forth, rain falling in her face while she takes rapid breaths. "What– What happened? Sayid, what’s going on, wh..."
Her voice grows weaker, eventually trailing off in favor of groaning from the pain. Sayid keeps the pressure on her wound, and lifts his eyes to meet the culprit. A young latina woman, still holding the gun aimed in their direction. As soon as the two make eye contact, she lowers it, though. Behind her stands a tall, strong looking man, an older, shorter man, and another skinny blonde woman.
Two more figures walk up in the rain. Jin and Michael, who are both holding a makeshift stretcher, in which an unconscious Sawyer currently lies. The two conscious familiar faces stare at their friends in shock, eyes glued to Shannon’s writhing body on the ground.
"What the hell happened? What did you do? " Michael asks the latina woman, tone harsh and accusing.
"I thought—," the woman pauses mid-sentence, her body nearly frozen, and her mouth stumbling over her words, desperately trying to cling to a response, "I was worried that it was more of them. They already took Cindy, there could’ve been more out here."
"Well it wasn’t."
Before any of them can register her words, the other blonde and the older man rush past her and kneel beside Shannon, in front of Sayid.
"Bernard, Libby, what the hell are you doing?"
"Enough, Ana Lucia," comes the stern interjection of the taller man.
Sayid looks down at Shannon again, whose lips quiver as she breathes.
"Did the bullet go through her?" the blonde, Libby, asks.
An instant head shake from Sayid. "No, no it’s still inside her."
"Shit. She needs to get it out, now ."
"Jack," Shannon gasps from the ground, "Jack, we need Jack, we need him—" her words are followed quickly by a round of coughs.
"Shannon, look at me," Sayid whispers, not allowing himself to sound afraid even one bit. She complies, looking into his eyes, "you’re going to be okay."
The older man, Bernard, digs through a small pack until he pulls out what he’s looking for; gauze pads. "Who’s Jack?"
"Our doctor. A spinal surgeon, but he’s all we’ve got," Sayid says, "and I’d like to get Shannon to him before she bleeds out, instead of just sitting here doing nothing."
"Here, I’ll help you lift," Libby says, and prepares to lift one half of Shannon, only for Sayid to scoop her up again all on his own.
"I’ve got her."
Bernard walks up with the gauze pads. "God, she’s bleeding through her shirt. Put these on the wound, hopefully they’ll contain her bleeding till we get back to your people."
Screams from Shannon are almost drowned out by the rain, as Sayid lifts the bottom of her shirt and allows Bernard to press gauze on her wound, acting as a temporary covering.
"Are you a doctor, too?"
"A dentist, actually. Guess you could say I’m all they’ve got," Bernard replies with a dry chuckle. He turns to the others and waves them all on, "let’s go, if we want these two to live then we need to hurry."
Michael and Jin start walking with the stretcher carrying Sawyer. They stop beside Sayid, who looks at Sawyer, then over at Ana Lucia, vitriol in his eyes. "Did she shoot him, too?"
"Others," Jin says.
"They kidnapped Walt," Michael adds, "took him right off our damn raft, and then blew it to hell."
"And our friend Cindy, just a few minutes ago," the quiet, tall man interjects, "that is why Ana Lucia got a little too impulsive with her weapon."
"Seriously, Eko, you think now is the time to be passive aggressive?" Ana Lucia snidely remarks.
Sayid looks between Michael and Eko. "I’m sorry."
"I’m trying not to think about it. Let's just focus on getting Shannon and Sawyer to Jack, then—"
"Whoa, whoa," Ana Lucia suddenly cuts in, "who’s the one calling the shots around here?"
Sayid just glares. "Not you anymore."
She tries to block their path, however Jin roughly shoulders her, saying something in Korean. Passing her, Michael pauses next to her.
"He said ' stay out of our goddamn way' ."
Ana Lucia glares daggers at everyone as they walk by her, even Eko, who just gives her a look mixed with betrayal and disappointment. Sayid leads them, still carrying Shannon all on his own. His paces start to increase speed, pulling ahead of everyone else.
"Hey, man, wait for the rest of us," Michael grunts, hoisting Sawyer’s stretcher into a more firm grip once more.
There’s no reply from Sayid. Instead, the man breaks out into a sprint. Surprised, Jin calls out in Korean.
"Sayid, hey!" Michael’s voice carries after him, but again, Sayid doesn’t even acknowledge him or any of the others.
From the bridal style hold Sayid has on her, Shannon winces and moans from the searing pain. Sayid is running at full speed now, dodging through the drenched forest back towards the camp. His entire lower half is covered in mud, and his hair is soaking wet, but he doesn’t care.
A faint murmur catches his attention in the middle of his determined stride. A whisper coming from Shannon.
"Let me..."
He misses the last part, leaning his head down to listen closer.
"Let me die. Let me die," she repeats, like a broken record, "worthless..."
Even through the rain, he can make out the mark of a few tears rolling down Shannon’s cheek. Sayid’s hands clench tighter around her, and his pace quickens. The faster he runs, the more the rain seems to let up, the downpour beginning to dissipate.
"You were never worthless," he tells her, cradling her nearly limp head gently, "just hold on a little longer, you’re going to be okay."
~
The skies are clear now. The survivors on the beach are busy tending to the campsite. In her canopy tent, Claire rocks Aaron in her arms. The little baby coos and wiggles his limbs while Claire smiles and murmurs unintelligibly back at him.
"How has he been sleeping?"
Claire looks up to see Sun approaching her. She shrugs and tilts her head back and forth. "It’s a bit of a slippery slope, you could say. Aaron’s got his good days, and most definitely his bad ones, isn’t that right, yeah?" she says the last part in a softer, baby talk voice.
Sun chuckles at the answer. "I understand. Would you say it’s, err, manageable?"
"Hm? Oh, of course. I know there are people out there who say they can’t stand the sound of a baby crying."
"Like Sawyer?"
Claire stifles a bigger laugh. "Exactly like Sawyer. But there’s just, I dunno, something different when it’s your own baby. I didn’t even plan to get pregnant, or keep him after I gave birth. Obviously my plans changed."
She uses one arm to make circular motions in the air, gesturing to the island as a whole. Sun nods in understanding.
"But I’m glad they did. Giving up Aaron would’ve probably been the biggest mistake of my life. So even if we’re stranded here, I’m okay, because I’ve got the most important thing in the world to me right here in my arms."
"That’s beautiful," Sun says, brushing a strand of hair from her face. She watches Aaron grab Claire’s pinkie with his entire hand, which only makes her smile more.
"Are you nervous?"
She shakes her head. "Not at all, actually. In fact, I’m ready. Before we crashed here, I was told that Jin was, well, that it would be impossible for us to have a child. But then we landed here, and now I’m pregnant with my husband’s baby."
"I’m sure you wish he was here to see them be born."
"A little. But if he’s somewhere safe off this island, getting us help, then it’s alright."
The sound of crashing ocean waves takes over the other sounds. Past that, though, Claire zeroes in on a much fainter sound. "You hear that?"
"Huh?"
"Listen."
Sun goes quiet again. Even Aaron remains silent, listening for it again.
"Jack!"
Both women look at each other, then across the beach, across the campsite.
"Is that someone calling for Jack?"
Before Claire could form a response, Kate comes jogging out from the treeline behind the camp. "Hey, guys, did you hear someone yelling just now?"
"Yeah," Claire confirms with a head nod, "sounded like Sayid to me."
Kate raises an eyebrow at this. "Didn’t he go off with Shannon earlier?"
Her question doesn’t remain unanswered for very long. From across the camp, the three women watch as Sayid comes around a set of thick bushes, carrying something in his arms.
No, some one . All three of their hearts drop to their feet.
"Holy shit," Kate breathes out, right before she breaks out into a run in his direction. Sun is right behind her, while Claire gently lowers Aaron into his little crib, then bolts after them as well.
Sayid storms into the beach camp, Shannon writhing in his arms. "Jack! Where’s Jack? Jack! "
"Shannon, oh my God, what happened?" Kate asks, running up to him.
"We need Jack, where is he?"
"He’s at the hatch with Locke, I can take you."
"No, she doesn’t have enough time to make it there, we need Jack to come back to the beach now ."
"Shit, okay, I’ll— I’ll get him, just hang on!"
And just like that, Kate turns on her heel and sprints full force back into the trees, headed for the Swan hatch. He stumbles farther into camp, which gathers the attention of the other survivors, with Sun, Claire, and Charlie racing up.
"What happened to her?" Sun asks, in shock.
"She was shot."
"By who?"
A brief pause. "It doesn’t matter."
"Bloody hell," Charlie groans at the sight, "here, come lie her down here." He guides Sayid’s wobbling form over to the kitchen area, where there’s a flat table large enough. With the help of Charlie and Sun, Shannon is laid gently down flat onto the table.
"What can we do?" Claire chimes in, hands wringing together.
"Get water, clean bandages, anything to stop bleeding, and something to pull out a bullet. It’s still inside her."
"Son of a bitch," Charlie mumbles, but tears off in a flash to find anything he can, as do many of the others gathered around.
Sun walks around to Shannon’s other side. "Let me help, I’ve got some experience from— from Boone."
There’s no reply for a few seconds. Sayid instead nods and steps back to allow Sun to assess Shannon. She rips open the bottom of her shirt, and takes note of the gauze pressed over the wound temporarily. She looks back at Sayid, confused.
"We had to stop the bleeding."
Sun simply shakes off the cryptic answer. "Is the bullet still inside her?"
"Yes. Yes," he answers, voice trembling harder than a winter breeze, "is she going to die?"
"Not if we can get it out quick and stitch the wound."
"Are you able to do that?"
"I— I think I can get the bullet out, but I don’t have any experience in stitches."
Sayid rubs a hand down his face. "We can’t wait for Jack. Please, Sun, at least get the bullet out. She can’t go on much longer like this."
From the table, Shannon coughs, squirms, and heaves in several labored breaths. Sayid runs his hands through her hair to soothe her. Sun eyes up the injured young woman, until she finally gives a nod.
"Okay, I’ll do it. Jack left a smaller set of medical supplies here at the beach, but took his main supply to the hatch. Hopefully he brings it when Kate gets him," she says, then quickly sprints off to her and Jin’s tent to grab it.
No sooner does she run off, Claire and Charlie come running back, the former carrying a large bottle of water, and the latter with some towels.
"Here, I’ve got some water for her," Claire says while handing off the bottle to him. Charlie sets down the towels beside him and stares anxiously at Shannon.
Sayid grabs the water hastily. "Thank you," he says with a quick nod, then moves up to Shannon. She turns her head weakly to look at him.
"Sayid," she rasps.
He’s quick to shush her, but does so gently. "It’s alright. Here, drink some of this."
Gently tipping the bottle, Shannon is able to take a few sips of water. This makes him smile a little. "There you go, that’s it."
"Anything else we can do?" Charlie asks, eyes still darting between the two distressed lovers.
Shannon jerks uncomfortably, more of her blood soaking through the gauze pads. Sayid’s hands clench, until he finally relaxes with a determined look in his eyes.
"Claire, please go see what’s taking Kate so long."
"Of course."
The shorter fellow blonde woman takes off, running the fastest anyone has ever seen from her. The two men watch her leave, and Charlie shrugs once she’s gone. "And me?"
Before he can give a proper answer, Sun is back, carrying the smaller box of medical supplies. "Here we go!"
The box is flung open, and Sun wastes no time in pulling off Shannon’s blood soaked gauze and pressing some new ones down on the wound, eliciting a few small screams from her. Sayid locks eyes with Charlie as she then pulls out what she needs; the forceps.
"I need you to help me hold her down."
Taken aback by this, it takes Charlie a few seconds, but he nods all the same. Sun takes away the new gauze pads again, then grabs the water, pouring a little bit across the wound.
"Sayid," Shannon speaks up again, "Sayid, what— is she doing?"
He leans down over her face, stroking her hair once more. "We’re going to get the bullet out now."
The way her body visibly tenses makes his heart shatter. His other hand trails down her arm until it reaches her hand. His fingers interlock with hers, and he gives her soft, smaller hand a gentle, comforting squeeze. A single runs down her cheek.
"I’m— I’m scared. Sayid, I’m—"
"I know. But you’re going to be alright. That’s a promise," he assures her, pausing before he can say something else, although the words don’t stay down for long, "I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you like I’m supposed to."
If not for the bullet in her abdomen, Shannon would’ve laughed. She manages a small, shaky smile, and squeezes his hand back. "You’re—" she gasps for a deep breath, voice coming out just above a whisper, "you’re not the one who ran off chasing some ghost. You— tried to tell me that Walt wasn’t there, but I didn’t want to listen."
"Stop it, Shannon. You told me about the bottle of messages. You were right."
She just stares straight up at the overhanging canopy above her head. "I don’t think this was worth being right."
Their conversation is interrupted by a gentle interjection from Sun. "It’s time. I’m about to go in."
Sayid gives her one final supportive hand squeeze. "Be brave."
"You, too."
He looks over at Charlie, who silently gets the memo, and grabs onto Shannon’s opposite side, nearly mirroring Sayid. "You’ve got this, blondie."
The two of them look at Sun, who remains steady over Shannon’s gunshot wound, forceps in hand. "I’ll begin on three. Is that alright, Shannon?"
" Yes. Yes ."
"Okay."
Charlie tenses his grip on her side. " One."
Sayid holds his gaze on Shannon. " Two."
Sun sucks in a slow, deep breath. Both Charlie and Sayid give her a nod.
" Three."
The forceps enter the bullet hole. Shannon screams at the top of her lungs.