#faithcrashed

hand extended to shannon, her hand slips into his and he helps her find her footing outside of the black car. sayid leans down to thank their driver before their driver leaves, and his attention returns to his beautiful wife next to him. fingertips brushing across the silky smooth fabric of her dress, he briefly glances in the direction of a fountain in the center of the plaza, lit up underneath the nighttime sky before he feels shannon's hands tug at his tie.

five years have passed since the crash. and when they'd received their invitation to the annual oceanic airlines gala, they'd scoffed. all it had taken was one look at each other and the invitation was dropped into their trash. weeks went by... then, they decided that they should do something to mark the occasion. if not for them, for those that were left behind. the oceanic seven themselves had dwindled in number. whether or not oceanic cared to notice, would be a whole different ordeal.

sun hadn't made it back from their second trip to the island, and they'd assumed the worse when they never heard from jack again. they'd managed to bring back a handful of survivors from the initial crash, including sawyer and claire. they grieved, and they all grieved in different ways. but it became easier with time to believe that all of it was truly over, and they could finally move on with their lives.

sayid and shannon were, as always, inseparable-- eloped shortly after their return to america. nearly a year into their marriage, they slowly but surely found their routine in their penthouse apartment in new york city. certainly large enough to hold a small, private gathering where they could be themselves without judgment. without prying eyes. five years following the crash, they invited those who were left-- those who survived, into their home for the anniversary.

'come dance with me.'

shannon whispers into sayid's ear, tearing his eyes away from their chou-chou, their little white dog who yips and skips between legs throughout the apartment-- clearly thrilled by the company, and the doting pets that he receives. a gentle smile appears on sayid's lips, placing his drink down on the kitchen counter before he encourages her with a nod of his head, and she leads them into the living room, where the music plays the loudest.

he attempts a smile, despite how his lower lip trembles at the statement. sayid furiously blinks away the familiar sting of tears gathering in his eyes, praying his blurred vision refocuses on shannon and shannon alone... eyes traveling from the specific point where his thumb meets her cheeks, to her lips, then her eyes-- her eyes are so full of life. so unlike the image of her he remembers, the image that haunted him since he left the island. but she's here; she's real. real enough to hold, and warm beneath his touch.

he hadn't saved her. there's nothing more that he'd wanted than to save her, but what he needed to do to make that happen... it was shannon who kept him from becoming the worst version of himself. it's because of shannon that he's here, wherever they are, rather than suffering through whatever punishment he thought he deserved.

            ❛            profound. tell the story in your own words then , john.            ❜           lottie usually liked stories , but ever since the crash , she'd felt like too many were pressing in on her , swirling about her head in a kaleidoscope of colors so bright it made her teeth ache. the visions were becoming clearer now , weaving together like threads of a tapestry that only she could interoperate. locke , for some reason , had that same attachment. she didn't pretend to be okay with the island's connection with him , it nagged at her , bugged her that she wasn't the only one it spoke to , but she endured. she could feel it , tethered around him in a way that might be constricting to others unless embraced.

doe eyes fixated on the older man with a slight crease between her brows , rocking from foot to foot before tucking her bottled water beneath her arm & clasping her hands neatly in front of her. so many people were still raw from boone's death , his end sudden & violent , so no one had been able to form the right questions , not yet , but they would soon. the girl tipped her head slightly , her eyelids tightening , though no judgment crossed her features beyond a gentle frown.            ❛            what did you two see out there ?            ❜          

sayid's heart breaks at that, and at how shannon doesn't so much as glance back at him when she asks. he's been following her for what feels like hours-- somehow shannon has gotten it into her head that vincent will lead her to walt. she insists that she doesn't need sayid and at a certain point, it appears to him that she will say anything to get him to go away, even if it's personal. even if it hurts. but he refuses to leave her alone, refuses to be the one to let her get herself hurt-- or worse.

he doesn't answer at first. it's now that he recalls a similar question that she asked late last night, as they laid together. he'd responded then with a joke that he knew would make her laugh-- in case the idea of a 'them' was too much, too soon. but he'd made her laugh and it was a beautiful sound. shannon has to know. a little over a month, they've gotten to know each other, and sayid likes her. he'd do anything for her.

he loves her.

eyes drop to the nervous smile on shannon's lips, before they return to her eyes-- shining with an emotion that sayid's not quite certain that he can place. it's that look in her eyes that made him hesitant to do anything, to kiss her back, without clarifying what it was that she wanted. that she wanted him, after all-- last time that they spoke, he'd made her upset. he should've known that talking to her brother would've caused more problems for them than anything, but the last thing that he wanted was to make shannon uncomfortable. to come between her and her brother, no matter how complicated their relationship might be.