Part 2...
016. evolution
They stop trying to kid themselves about this being just a fling right around the time Kate blows Sawyer off when he asks if she wants company on one of her food finding missions, and then takes Shannon instead of him. She could feel his eyes on their retreating backs; see the confused expression he wore. And she laughed when she heard him mutter “women” under his breath.
“Wouldn’t he have been a little more help?” Shannon asks.
“No, he would’ve sidetracked me.” Shannon gives her a look. “Point taken.” She pauses. ”At least now your brother can’t call you useless.”
She is surprised she both thought of it, and had the guts to bring it up. Apparently so is Shannon. What’s more she realizes that if this were just a fling, a meaningless affair, then she wouldn’t really care what Boone called Shannon, or how much it hurt her.
017. finite
So, of course, as soon as Kate realizes this, they break up.
Shannon decides it, because she’s the one who seems to be running this relationship, and she does it without pretence.
Kate nearly gasps when Shannon says, casually “we’re done” like it’s nothing, as she fixes her skirt.
“Excuse me?”
“How long did you think this was going to last anyway?” Shannon questions, knowing Kate won’t answer, and not bothering to wait around for one.
Later, Shannon says it was a bad judgment call; she didn’t mean it. But the thought is still there.
They have an expiration date.
018. afterlife
“There goes our last chance off this island,” Shannon says as she plops down in the sand. The air is still smoky, the final remnants of the raft.
“It’s not the last chance. Just a chance.” Kate replies, more for Shannon’s benefit than her own. “Michael will just build a new one.”
Shannon looks at her oddly then, “It doesn’t sound like you care either way.”
“There’s not much for me to go back to.” Kate admits, keeping her eyes straight ahead.
“There has to be someone or something.” Shannon says. “There’s nothing you miss?”
Kate can’t make herself answer.
019. outdated
“I’ve got your number, Freckles.”
She turns, hands on hips, “Excuse me?”
“You and Sticks.” Her heart jumps, but she remains expressionless. “Come on, how gullible do you think I am? Just ‘cause you can pull one over on the doc doesn’t mean I can’t see right through your act.”
Kate always knew he’d figure it out first. Jack didn’t look at the little details. He didn’t look to left field. He was used to only seeing men as the competition.
“Never figured you were that kind of girl.”
“Just proves you don’t know me at all.”
She makes no apologies.
020. twilight
“Sayid’s taking me somewhere. I won’t be back until the morning.”
Kate glances up from her laundry. “A date?”
Shannon blushes, but ducks her head to hide it. “I don’t know. He won’t tell me. I just thought I’d let you know.”
“Thanks.” Kate replies, ignoring any jealousy she feels. This is not exclusive.
Shannon starts down the beach, but turns back to ask, “If you see my brother can you tell him where I am?”
She nods, “Sure.”
Kate does see Boone again, except he’s being carried in by John Locke, covered in blood. Jack sends her after the alcohol stash, and Claire chooses then to go into labor and she’s away from the caves for the day.
Charlie comes at twilight, tells her Jack’s still working on Boone, and she knows the news won’t be good in the morning.
All she can see is Shannon’s face that night.
021. mourning
Apparently Shannon’s method of mourning is strictly about getting revenge.
“What were you thinking?” Kate questions, minutes after she’s convinced Sayid to leave Shannon alone. “Do you even know how to use a gun?”
“Fired one, didn’t I?” Shannon reminds her, annoyed. “And I wouldn’t have missed that son of a bitch if Sayid hadn’t -“
“Shan,” Kate starts, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Shannon shrugs it off and Kate flinches. “Don’t call me that.”
“I know-“
“No, you don’t!” Shannon’s loud and Kate can feel people watching. “You don’t understand. He was the only thing I had left.”
Kate shakes her head, “No, he wasn’t.”
She doesn’t elaborate on it, just wraps her arms around her legs, an unspoken message that she wasn’t going anywhere.
It must have meant something to Shannon because it wasn’t long before Kate felt a warm hand take hold of hers.
022. heartbeat
She has this feeling that something’s coming.
Shannon’s lips on her neck, one hand cupping her breasts, and Kate tends to space out. It’s not that Shannon isn’t good at this; it’s just that Kate has trouble enjoying it. She knows sex is just another way Shannon tries to forget.
She over-thinks things, lets scenarios flip through her mind, until Shannon’s hands skim over the sensitive skin of her thighs, and she moves lower. Then Kate has no choice but to focus on what Shannon’s doing.
And as she comes, the sound of her own heartbeat drowns out everything else and she can see this all crashing down.
023. endlessly
She can’t find Shannon all day and it makes her nervous.
Later, when she can’t find Sayid either, she calms down a bit. It’s probably just another one of their rendezvous and so she doesn’t worry about it. Too much.
She’s golfing with Jack, to clear her head, and they’re laughing and smiling, and it’s all ruined when the large man she now knows as Eko shows up carrying Sawyer like he’s a ragdoll.
It all happens so fast after that.
The raft is back but Walt isn’t. Sawyer’s got a new bullet wound. There are other people from the opposite side of the island, tail-section survivors. One of them has Sayid. No one mentions Shannon.
Sayid arrives before dark, and there’s a body cradled in his arms and she can’t breathe because they were supposed to end, but not like this. This can’t be the end.
But it is.