Title: Passing Afternoon
Fandom: Lost
Characters/Pairing: Shannon; Shannon/Sayid
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Up to and including 2.06 – Abandoned
Disclaimer: I don’t own Lost, Shannon or Sayid.
Notes: Sort of AU, sort of post-rescue and some might consider it sort of OOC though to me it makes sense at the end. Some very small parts are in French or Arabic. I provided the translation at the end though this text is not needed for the comprehension of the fic.
This fic was inspired by the song “Passing Afternoon” by Iron & Wine though it is in no way a song-fic and if you look up the exact lyrics you won’t see the story of the fic in it.
Many thanks to crowmelrose for beta-ing the fic. She did and awesome job at it! And also thanks to yndigot for the Arabic translation!!!


It was one of those peaceful afternoons, like so many others. A normal day in her life. The sun was shining in all its glory, enveloping her in a warm embrace. She really did enjoy the summer. Granted, she always lived in lands of eternal summer before, but she never grew tired of it. The soft June breeze coming from the Mediterranean Sea down the road also felt nice on her skin.
Yes, it was indeed a nice afternoon, she thought while she hanged the clothes out to dry. The sun made the grass seem greener and the flowers look brighter. Music was playing in the background, not too loud, so as not to wake up the sleeping toddler inside. It was soft with an old school sound, the kind of music she never would have thought she could actually enjoy. She used to like the loud, heavy music, the kind that played in crowded bars where she used to spend all her time. That seemed to be another lifetime now.
When she stopped to think about it, she couldn’t believe how different everything was now. Not just things around her, but herself as well. If someone had described to the girl she used to be the exact moment she was now in, she probably would have laughed in their face and replied something mean on top of it.
Now, she couldn’t imagine her life any different. She felt good and she wasn’t afraid of being let down anymore. No more reasons to feel abandoned, she had everything she could dream of, and knew it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Probably, she hoped, never. It took her a while to let the fear go but now it was gone for good.

As she was hanging her last piece of clothing, she heard a voice.
“Bonjour, Shannon!”
“Ah, bonjour, Marianne!”1
Marianne was her next-door neighbour. She was a stay-at-home mother, as was Shannon, and slightly older than her. Because her children were in school during the day, she was often coming by to chat with the young mother.
“It is a beautiful day is it not?”
Shannon smiled; she always found Marianne’s French accent adorable.
“Yes, it is. Would you like some iced tea?”
“Avec joie.2 I got some muffins!” Marianne waved a little basket in front of Shannon. Marianne baked a lot, it gave her something to do during the day before the children came back from school and so she was often bringing baked goods to Shannon. This was always appreciated, as the younger woman wasn’t the greatest cook. There had always been someone to cook for her before… before everything. Now she was learning but it took time.
“Great! I’ll be right back.”
She came back from the kitchen with two glasses of iced tea and sat down at the patio table. The two women chatted for a while, just enjoying the caress of the sun.
A sound interrupted their conversation. Happy noises were coming from the baby monitor on the table.
“Somebody is awake.”
“Yes, I better go look. Excuse me.”
She entered the little room and her son got up on his feet, lifting his arms, waiting for his mom to pick him up from his crib.
“Mommy!”
“Hey there little buddy. Come here. You had a good nap? Yes? Let’s get you changed so you can play outside, ok?”
“Play!” Shannon giggled at her son’s enthusiastic reply.
“Yes, play. Come on, we have company.”

Not long after, mother and son were both back outside, where Marianne was still sipping her iced tea.
“Oh, mais si c‘est pas le petit Rami!3 Hello Rami! How are you today? Do you want to come and see tatie4 Marianne?”
Shannon handed the toddler to her friend and cleaned up the table a bit while the older woman was in deep conversation with her son.
When she came back from the kitchen, her son was happily playing in the sandbox and she resumed her conversation with her friend, keeping an eye on the little boy.
The rest of the afternoon passed, as did all afternoons. Marianne’s children joined them; they learned a while ago that if their mother wasn’t there when they came back home, she was next door in the Jarrahs’ yard. They loved playing with Rami, and the little boy was always happy to have playmates. Being in the country, their terrain was vast and they had lots of space to run around, much to their pleasure.

There was the sound of a car pulling into the driveway and Shannon smiled, like she always did when she knew her husband was back from work.

Sayid heard the voices coming from the backyard and headed that way. When Rami saw his father coming, he ran as fast as he could, uneasy on his short little legs, and jumped into his father’s arms.
"Ya waladii, kaifal-hhaal? Hal kunta tal'iab al-yauwm?"
"Na'am!"5
Shannon got up and joined the rest of her little family. Sayid kissed her lightly and asked:
“How was your day?”
The young woman smiled. “Uneventful, as usual. Played with the little terror…”
Rami wiggled his way down to the ground and ran to his toys in the grass.
“Did the laundry, chatted with Marianne.”
“Yes,” the older woman interrupted, “but I did not realized it was this late. I have to go home to make dinner, and the children have to do their homework still. Allez les enfants, on y va!6”
“Goodbye Marianne, it’s always a pleasure to see you.”
“You too, Sayid, you too.”
Marianne started walking toward her home when she turned around. “Oh, I almost forget, David and me are doing a barbecue this week-end and we would like you to come.”
Shannon and Sayid looked at each other before Shannon replied: “Sure, we’ll be there!”
“Parfait!7 Goodbye to you three.”
“Bye!”

Shannon started to take the now dry laundry off the clothesline when Sayid grabbed her by the waist and kissed her again.
“I like that dress.” The man commented.
“Yeah?” She was wearing a light summery dress.
“Yeah.” He kissed her one more time. “Come sit with me.”
“But I have to take down the laundry.”
“Later. You can do it while I make dinner.” He dragged her to the swinging bench and let her fall on his lap. She leaned back as he put his hand on her belly. She sighed. She enjoyed those quiet, tender moments between the two of them. Soon enough though, there was a little running form approaching. Sayid grabbed the little boy and made him sit on the bench next to them, keeping an arm around him so he wouldn’t fall.
The toddler placed a hand near his father’s on his mom’s belly, approached his head near it and said “Hi baby!”
The two parents started to laugh and cuddled the little boy closer. They rested there for a while, enjoying the moment under the fading sun that took the afternoon away with it.

***
The image faded as more and more blood poured from her stomach. She was losing every sensation very fast. She barely acknowledged Sayid screaming her name, not even fully feeling his arms wrapped around her weak body. She couldn’t really feel her body anymore anyway. All she felt and saw was the warmth of her blood pooling around her and that last glimpse of the life she would never have. And then even that went away and she couldn’t feel anything anymore.

-----------------------------
Translations:
1 “Hi Shannon!”
“Oh, hi Marianne!”
2 “With pleasure”
3 “Oh, it’s little Rami!”
4 “Auntie” (Note: understand that she is not really related to him, that’s just something you say.)
5 "Hey, my boy, how are you? You were playing a lot today?"
"Yes!"
6 “Come on kids, let’s go!”
7 “Perfect!”