Title: Once Upon a Tree

Author: Jayma

Disclaimer: Lost does not belong to me (although ABC if you are reading this, I would like to have Naveen Andrews for my birthday )

Author’s Note: Wow, I am very proud of this story. This is the first in the year of 2005 and I hope you guys enjoy it!

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After the sun disappeared into the waves of blue beyond the horizon, a blanket of stars was stretched out above the island. People gathered in groups and lit fires to keep warm and share stories about their past lives.

The waves crashed against the shore causing a thunderous sound against the twilight of night. The wind howled and rattled the spines of the inhabitants on the beach and danced with the large leaves of the trees.

Shannon packed away the book she’s been concentrating on the whole day. “Concentrating” here means “staring at the same page all day long while thinking about a certain someone.” In her case, that one person matches that old saying: tall, dark and handsome.

Ever since he asked her for help in translating the information of the French woman, Danielle, Shannon sees him in a whole new light. Everyone interprets her to be some snotty rich girl who only looks after herself and does things to benefit her needs. Well, in actuality, she is all that I described, but in the time that she has spent on the godforsaken spit of land she has begun to realize that she has to change.

She had some light from the fires near her to locate a poncho from her suitcase. As it slipped over her head, she glanced over at the several burning fires and caught the object of her affection staring back at her. She tore her eyes away thanking the darkness for covering her burning cheeks. Placing a blonde strand hair behind her ear, she stood up and walked away from the eyes of others and into the shades of night.

As she walked on the cool sand, for the first time she didn’t complain to herself about the roughness of it. The cushioning of the sand beneath her feet made her laugh; she bent down and grabbed a handful of it, letting it slip through her fingers like the sands of time. She looked up at the full moon and was thankful that it lit the trail in front of her.

She kept on walking, not caring about what lay beyond the border of trees or what would happen in the distant future. She though about now and how calm everything was around her. She stopped suddenly and looked at a tree caught in between dirt and sand. She approached it and was amazed at the fact that it looked so much similar to a tree located in her large backyard back home.

When she was younger, her parents would get into a number of disputes about money and business. Their voices would travel up the staircase and resound down the hall, penetrating the vastness of her room. She would slip out and escape when her parents were rambling on, too busy to notice their missing daughter. Her quiet and pristine sanctuary rested within that single tree, where she would climb and imagine her life away on its branches.

Walking closer to it, she finally reached its trunk and rested her delicate hand upon its bark. She looked up and realized that when she was younger, the tree seemed much bigger. Now that she is older, the tree didn’t seem as big, but it was still tall for her stature.

Her hand traveled to one of its lowest branches and feeling a sense of escaping, she pulled herself up, ignoring the fact that her clothes were getting dirty. She felt better, escaping her usual self; the part of her that was a nuisance and spoiled. She dropped her sandals at the base of the tree and continued to climb to reach one of its largest and strongest branches. Once there, she settled her back against the trunk and gazed up into the sky, looking at the shinning moon and twinkling stars.

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours. The last thing that she wanted was to deal with was her brother, Boone, in a serene moment like this. She looked out into the ocean and suddenly she heard a gentle voice beneath her.

“May I join you?” She looked down and the figure was unmistakable. Sayid waited for her answer at the base of the tree, his hair picked up in order to avoid it from covering his face.

“Yeah, sure, come on up,” she replied finally, “Use this branch though, the other one is kind of weak and it can break,” she added as she pointed to the branch that she used. Slowly he climbed up and she offered her hand to help him up on the last one. He smiled and gladly accepted her hand.

She pulled him up and he sat in front of her, “Be care-,” she started to say, but her interrupted words of caution did nothing as Sayid bumped his head against a nearby branch above them.

She attempted to suppress her laugh, but failed, “I tried to warn you,” she said with a hint of humor in her tone. Sayid looked at her as he touched the bruised area on his head and laughed with her.

“I hope it doesn’t hurt that much,” she said and touched his bruise. She didn’t realize her actions until their eyes locked with one another. She pulled her hand away slowly and looked down at her lap. Gosh, I haven’t felt like this since I was in high school, she thought to herself.

“No it’s nothing I can’t handle,” he responded with the brilliance of his smile, “What are you doing here all by yourself?”

Shannon looked at him and began to shake her head, “Not you too,” she replied in a harsh whisper. She thought that he was different from everyone else, specifically from Boone; an overprotective brother whose mission and hobby is to ward off any potential ounce of serenity that is presented in front of her.

“Not me what Shannon?” asked Sayid with a confused expression on his face.

“I didn’t expect you to be the overprotective type as well. Following me as if I can’t protect myself, like a child,” she said and attempted to hold back her tears, but couldn’t manage to. One by one the tears formed a trail against her cheeks.

“Shannon, you should know that the reason I follow you around is not because I don’t think you can handle yourself, but because Boone is not the only one who cares for you,” he said as he raised his hand to wipe off the tears that exposed her fragility.

She looked up at him, shocked at the words and the actions that he was performing, “Shannon, I don’t know if you’ve realized, but I have these feelings for you that I have yet to understand. Feelings that have been with me since we were stranded here,” he said caressing her cheek, “I want to embrace what I feel for you, only if you feel the same.”

Shannon’s mouth grew dry; she couldn’t form any words to respond and the silence between them was uncomfortable, “Shannon, I understand if-,” but was suddenly disrupted when Shannon’s lips came crashing towards his. Their lips moved in a rhythmic motion, interlocking in a burning sensation that neither had experienced before.

Her hands glided around his neck and then traveled to the up to release his hair. She liked the sight of his hair down and just the pleasure of brushing through it was something she only imagined until now. While her arms were around him, her poncho gave leeway for his hands to slip under her shirt and rub her back.

All good things eventually come to an end, including the passionate kiss they shared. She rested her forehead against his and bit her bottom lip, “I hope this satisfies for what I couldn’t say in words,” she said smiling.

“You have no idea,” he laughed and grabbed her lips once more.

All those hours she spent under the branches and leaves of her favorite tree, she thought about one thing: being able to sit under the moonlight with the one thing she most desired. The word “desired” here means “kissing the man she loves who loves her in return.”

The End