Where The Wild Things Are

Bianca Montgomery sighed as she heaved her heavy bag through the door and into the airport. As if it wasn’t bad enough that she had to fly to Europe on such short notice, but now she also had to carry her own bags. If she hadn’t been so pressed for time, Bianca surely would’ve called her mother to complain and make sure the woman knew just what kind of sacrifice this was.  

Earlier that morning Erica Kane had called her daughter into her office to ask Bianca to attend a very important cosmetics summit in Europe in lieu of her mother. According to Erica, something had suddenly come up, but she still needed Enchantment to be represented at the summit. And who better to trust than her lovely daughter? And those had been her exact words too, allowing Bianca to let herself be suckered into this whole affair.  

Not that going to Europe was a bad thing. Bianca was looking forward to not having to listen to a constant nagging from everyone about her ‘misguided’ love life. It’s not like it was really her fault that all her relationships so far had been doomed, Bianca told herself.  

“People make mistakes,” she mumbled to herself, trying to rectify the many failures she’d experienced in the love department. “And it’s not like mom has any right to talk, most of her relationships have failed miserably, too. And anyway, can’t I just…” the rest of her sentence was cut off abruptly by a body slamming unceremoniously into hers and knocking her onto the ground.  

“Ugh, can’t you watch where you’re going? Buy some glasses or something!” a familiar voice yelled from next to her and Bianca shook the cobwebs from her mind before being able to form a reply.

“Excuse me? You’re the one who ran into me, I was just standing here!” 

“Yeah well, then don’t stand in my way!” the angry voice replied and the perpetrator stood up, not even bothering to lend her a hand.  

Bianca stood, angry now. Didn’t this idiot know who she was? She turned, ready to give a sniping comment back, when she came face to face with one of her least favorite people. All she could do was groan. 

“Oh great, it’s you!” Greenlee threw her hands up in the air and then pointed at the mess that was both their spilled luggage on the floor, “Look what you did! All my stuff is spilled and my flight’s leaving in ten minutes!” 

“What I did? You…you’re such an ignorant…” Bianca groaned, not even being able to finish her sentence she was so agitated. She looked down at the ground and found that not just Greenlee’s suitcase had opened and spilled its contents on the ground, but also her own.  

Instead of bothering with the other woman, who was currently ranting about people not getting out of her way, Bianca bent down and started throwing stuff back into her suitcase. It wasn’t exactly classy, but if she were to miss her flight, and consequently the summit, her mother would surely read her the riot act. She reached for a shirt on the ground and turned, surprised, as she felt resistance, only to see Greenlee holding onto the other end of the shirt.  

“Umm, excuse me, that’s my shirt,” Greenlee snapped, giving Bianca the evil eye. 

“I don’t think so. It’s with all my other clothes, so obviously it’s mine.” 

“I don’t see this fitting your bony ass, don’t you think?” 

Bianca scoffed, letting go off the shirt. What was one shirt if she could just have her peace from the devil incarnate? She quickly finished re-packing her suitcase and got up, not bothering to look back at Greenlee as she hurried to her gate. 



* * * 


“Last call for Flight 28 to London-Heathrow at Gate 3,” came the voice over the speaker and Bianca groaned.  

If she missed her flight she’d be in a lot of trouble. She was practically running to her gate, hoping to make it in time, but as she rounded the corner all her hope faded. The intensive security check that passengers were nowadays being subjected to had created a line at least twenty feet long. Bianca stood at the end of the line, telepathically willing the security personnel to hurry it up. Finally it was her turn, but when she went to retrieve her bags from the scanner, one of the security officers stopped her. 

“Ma’am, please open that bag and then take off your shoes.” 

“What? No, come on…I’m gonna miss my flight,” she begged the heavy-set man that didn’t seem to want to listen.  

“Sorry ma’am, it’s procedure,” he answered, not sounding at all apologetic. Bianca sighed and complied.  

By the time she reached the gate there were no other passengers around, except for one standing at the counter, yelling at the airline employees. Bianca rolled her eyes as she realized who it was, but nevertheless pulled up at the counter next to them. 

“I want you to get me on that damn plane, you hear me?!” Bianca heard Greenlee yell and sighed. It would be just her luck to be on the same plane as her enemy.  

“Hi, I’m Bianca Montgomery. I’m on Flight 28?” she said as the woman behind the counter turned towards her to escape Greenlee’s wrath.  

“I’m sorry, Miss Montgomery, but the Gate has been closed. The plane is already in queue for take-off. There is nothing I can do, as I have been telling this young lady here,” the employee responded and smiled at Bianca, apparently choosing to ignore Greenlee who was fuming. 

“Alright…well, isn’t there another plane I could take? I really have to be in London by tonight,” Bianca reasoned and looked over at Greenlee, who was chuckling. 

“Don’t tell me you’re going to the summit as well. It figures, that’s just my luck!” Greenlee exclaimed and turned back towards the airline employee with a disparaging glance. “Well, you heard her! Find us some other flight. We’re kind of pressed for time here and if you go any slower I’m gonna have to seek business elsewhere.” 

The employee smiled uncomfortably, but began typing on her computer right away. Bianca, meanwhile, watched Greenlee, wondering if she really wanted to spend 7 hours in close confinement with the other girl. As long as they’d have seats far away from each other she’d be fine, she told herself. 

“The next flight to London leaves at 5 PM, would you like to book two seats on that one?” the employee asked, looking at Bianca instead of Greenlee. 

“Listen lady,” Greenlee leaned across the counter to get in the woman’s face, “we need to be in London by no later than 8 PM. Now I’d really appreciate it if you could find a flight, any flight, to take us there before then. Money really is no issue.” 

After a few more seconds of typing, the woman cleared her throat and looked at the two of them, “Well, there is a flight leaving in half an hour, on a smaller plane. But the price will be higher at such a short notice.” 

“Well, I don’t care as long as I get to London by tonight,” Bianca said and handed the woman a credit card to buy her new ticket. She wasn’t going to risk missing another plane. She watched as Greenlee did the same and sighed. Now with just a little bit of luck she could get rid off the other girl soon. 

“Here you go, seats 21A and 21B. Enjoy your flight,” the employee handed them the tickets and smiled, obviously glad to have resolved the issue without any injuries. 

“Uh, you don’t have any seats that aren’t…so close together?” Bianca asked, ignoring the disparaging glance Greenlee threw at her. 

The employee shook her head and apologized, “No, sorry. Do you still want the tickets?” 

“Yeah, we’ll take them. She’ll just have to suffer,” Greenlee said, taking her ticket and handing Bianca the other. “Come on, Binks, let’s go find our plane.” 

The younger girl couldn’t help but groan at that statement. 



* * * 


“…and I still cannot believe that they don’t even have First Class seats. I mean, what kind of plane is this supposed to be?”  

Bianca rolled her eyes as Greenlee’s tirade went on into its fourth hour. She never would’ve thought before that one person could find so many things wrong with a simple airplane and its flight crew, but Greenlee had managed the impossible. For the past three hours she had been complaining of anything she seemed to think of, from the crappy airplane, to the food, to the bad wine and the horrid makeup of the flight attendant. Needless to say, after the first hour Bianca had given up trying to get Greenlee to stop and decided to go over the documents her mother had given her for the summit.  

“Excuse me!” Greenlee called to the flight attendant and Bianca sighed, wishing she hadn’t gotten stuck with the aisle seat that continuously left her between Greenlee and whoever she was arguing with. 

She looked out the window, watching the wing shake dangerously in the air and hoped that they’d be there soon. Although she wasn’t quite as verbal as Greenlee, Bianca did have to agree that the plane wasn’t exactly ‘luxurious’. Hell, it wasn’t even ‘acceptable,’ in her mind a plane should at least look sturdy and this one surely didn’t. It was a small plane that seated only about 30 people, with a small flight crew and jet engines that didn’t look strong enough to keep them in the air. As long as it got her to London in time for the summit, though, Bianca didn’t care.  

She was catapulted from her deep thoughts by the jolt that went through the plane, dropping it several feet, making half the passengers scream in fright. Having spent countless hours on planes, Bianca wasn’t afraid of a little turbulence, at least it meant they were still in the air. But when she looked over to her right, she saw that Greenlee wasn’t fairing as well, in fact the other woman looked quite pale.  

“Don’t tell me you of all people are afraid of flying?” Bianca chuckled, noticing how Greenlee only glared at her instead of comment. That was all the answer she needed.  

“Maybe you should’ve thought about this before you alienated not only the whole flight crew, but probably also most of the passengers. If we crashed, I doubt they’d even leave a life vest for you,” Bianca teased, almost regretting it when she saw Greenlee turn a greener shade of white, if that was even possible. But before she could apologize, another jolt went through the plane, this time dropping it even farther and screams once again rang through the cabin.  

Bianca sighed as various drinks spilled and some luggage went sliding down the rows. Something always kept her from having a peaceful flight, it just wasn’t fair. Looking over to Greenlee she saw the older girl hold onto the armrest with a death-grip, still white as a ghost. 

“Greenlee, I think you can let go now. It’s just some turbulences, we’re not going to die or anything.” 

Greenlee turned to look at her, but instead of the comment Bianca was expecting, she let go off the armrest and looked straight ahead. Another few minor turbulences rocked the airplane and it wasn’t long before the captain turned on the seatbelt-sign. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems we have hit some bad weather. While we fly around this storm front, please leave your seatbelts on and do not wander in the aisles. I will turn the seatbelt sign off as soon as we have left the bad weather. Thank You,” came the captain’s voice and most of the passengers hurried to put on their seatbelt.  

As she looked outside, Bianca could see that the blue skies from earlier had turned gray and dark clouds were near the airplane. She checked to see if her seatbelt was secure and returned to her work. Then, without any warning, a loud crash rang through the plane and she got that sinking feeling in her stomach as the plane dropped several hundred feet at once, the lights turning off to leave the cabin dipped in darkness. The compartment over her head sprang open and the yellow oxygen masks dangled in front of her face. Now starting to panic, Bianca reached for it and pulled it over her mouth and nose as indicated in the emergency pamphlet she had read over a hundred times.  

After a few seconds the plane seemed to stabilize, the lights flickered some, but did not stay on. Bianca’s heart was hammering in her throat and she willed her breathing to slow. The flight attendants, also wearing the yellow oxygen masks, were trying to indicate something to the passengers with hasty hand signals. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. It seems the plane has been hit by lightning and caused a temporary blackout in our systems. There’s no need to panic, but as a safety precaution we would like you to put on your life preservers, in case of an emergency landing.” 

“If you reach under your seat you will find a life vest. Pull it over your head and tie the strings in the back, but do not inflate it until out of the plane. In case of an emergency landing over water, we want everyone to be prepared,” one of the attendants spoke through the speaker, her voice muffled with the oxygen mask on. 

Like in trance Bianca reached under her seat and, to her relief, found the promised life preserver. She quickly did as told, checking to make sure hers did not seem to sport any holes and looked over to her right. Greenlee, it seemed, wasn’t responding as well to the flight attendant’s commands; actually, it seemed as if she hadn’t even heard the woman.  

“Greenlee?” Bianca tried, shaking her neighbor’s shoulder, but got no response. Knowing she couldn’t just leave her to herself, Bianca reached under Greenlee’s seat, pulled out her life vest and tied it around the older girl. “Hey, are you okay?” she asked softly, not knowing whether her question had even been heard. 

Slowly Greenlee turned her head towards Bianca. “Am I okay? Hello, we’re gonna crash and die!” 

“Greenlee, we’re not gonna crash and we’re surely not gonna die. This is just a safety measure,” Bianca answered, but got only a scoff in return. 

Turning back to watch the flight attendants, Bianca breathed a sigh of relief as the lights came back on completely and she could also see that relief on the faces of the flight crew. The crew took off their oxygen masks and the passengers followed suit, cheering, some of them taking off their life vests.  

Smiling triumphantly Bianca turned to Greenlee. “See, didn’t I tell you there was nothing to worry…” The rest of the sentence was cut off by a loud scream, her own scream she later realized, as she watched the right wing tear off the plane as if it were paper. Greenlee turned to her, white-faced again, and mouthed ‘I told you so’, a split second before the plane plummeted towards the ocean depths. 

And the last thing Bianca felt before blackness engulfed her was Greenlee’s hand tightly holding onto hers. 

 



Chapter 2 

Greenlee, however, was not as lucky. Her mind held onto consciousness with an iron grip and she watched, unable to move, as the blue ocean came shooting towards her. She had been in this dream before, she knew, and any second now would she wake up.  

The actual fall of the plane took less than ten seconds, but to Greenlee it might as well have been ten hours. She was faintly aware of the screams around her, some people had even gotten up to try and jump out of the plane. The pilot desperately tried to right the plane and slow it down before the now inevitable impact; Greenlee could hear the gears grinding, the ruthless wind ripping at the cabin.  

The impact wasn’t at all like what she had expected. First of all, Greenlee had expected to wake up, but the roaring thunder in her ears, the sudden force that seemed to shatter every bone in her body told her that this was no dream. Secondly, Greenlee had expected, in the case of it being a real crash, to pass out or die on impact, not to feel the agonizing pressure on her body, hear the roar of the water as it tore apart the plane.  

Almost upon contact with the water, the front part of the plane broke off as if it were nothing but a match. The back end of the plane, from where Greenlee was still witnessing this, was catapulted over the front, sending those unfortunate passengers who hadn’t buckled up flying into the sea with tremendous force. Water came rushing in almost instantaneously and Greenlee reached up to pull the chord on her life vest, inflating it. 

Greenlee, if someone had asked, would not have been able to answer why she did this life-saving action. She wasn’t even completely aware of her surroundings; the sounds of metal twisting and tearing were too loud for her to even think. However, later she would realize that this simple action had undoubtedly saved her life and she couldn’t have been gladder that her brain for once functioned with precision under duress.  

The water rushed against her body, taking her breath and Greenlee knew for sure she was going to die. At last, her body allowed her the comforts of unconsciousness. 

And for the first time, right before she passed out, she became aware of the cold hand she was still holding onto. 



* * * 


The silence was eerie. The water was calm as if nothing had ever disturbed its surface. He stood, as well as he could with the pain in his body, on the inflatable slide the plane had come equipped with, looking for other survivors. He doubted they’d find many - the wreckage lay torn to pieces for hundreds of feet. Looking over his shoulder he watched, hopeful, as the dark-haired man on the other end pulled someone onto the raft.  

Blake Farrington sighed and turned his eyes back to the mangled cabin in front of him as he ran a shaky hand through his blonde hair. It was by some miracle that he, and Peter Marks as the other man had introduced himself, had not only survived the crash, but had also stayed conscious throughout everything. Blake had worn his life vest and, crouching down low in his seat, had managed to avoid any serious injury. When the plane, or what had been left of it, had stopped, the blonde man had found Peter already detaching the inflatable slide. Soon after they’d began to look for possible survivors. 

His heart hammered in his chest, he was sure he wasn’t yet over the shock of it all. Blake spotted a yellow life preserver through a partially torn side panel and went to take a closer look. The vest was inflated, meaning the person must have been alive at some point after impact, but he couldn’t really get any closer without getting into the water himself. 

“Peter,” he called, the older man coming over to see what was going on, “I think I found someone.” 

Blake eased himself into water that was surprisingly warm and sparkling, and then pulled himself into part of the wreck, careful not to slice himself open on some piece of metal. He reached the life vest and took a hold of it, but the body wearing it was still restrained by the seatbelt, so he fumbled to undo it. He pulled the body towards him and if he hadn’t been up to his neck in water he surely would’ve jumped backward.  

The girl before him, albeit unconscious, was the spitting image of someone he had spent the past seven years trying to forget. Blake’s hands started shaking, harder than before, and he seriously considered just leaving the girl floating here. She looked dead anyway. But then Peter interrupted and Blake winced at the unexpected voice. 

“Blake, you got anything? Bring her over.” 

Suppressing a sigh and the horrible nauseous feeling in his stomach, he tried to pull the girl towards the raft, but felt resistance again. It was then that he realized she was holding onto the hand of the girl next to her, someone that, to Blake, was obviously dead. Blake shuddered at the thought of touching a dead body, but found no way to loosen the dead girl’s grip, so he quickly inflated her life vest as well, watching as her lifeless body rose to the top of the water. 

He dragged them both, by the life vests, towards and into the raft and climbed back on himself with Peter’s help. 

“Are they dead?” he asked, not sure whether he wanted the answer to be positive or negative. 

He leaned over the first girl and brushed wet strands of hair from her face to get a better look. “Greenlee Smythe,” he mumbled to himself, but then shook his head. No, that couldn’t be. He hadn’t seen her in almost seven years, ever since…he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. No need to get all worked up before he even knew whether it was really her.   “No, very close to it, but I believe you saved them,” Peter answered and smiled at him. Blake gave a wavering smile back, still staring at the face of the one person he probably hated most on this planet.  

“They’ve both got several gashes and bruises, but nothing I can really do about that now. It’s getting dark and colder, we have to find cover somewhere before we all get serious hypothermia,” Peter said, removing the life vests from the two girls Blake had saved and then turned to him. 

“See that shape on the horizon?” Blake nodded. “It’s some kind of island, I saw it earlier from the window. Maybe if we can make it there, we can find cover and hopefully a way to radio for help.” 

Blake stared off into the distance, the island seeming too far to reach. But they had no choice. He looked at the few people they’d managed to save, about ten including him and Peter. A girl with very short blonde hair was helping Peter paddle the raft, using pieces of wreckage and two people came towards him, offering their help.  

Throwing one last glance at the still unconscious girl that looked so much like Greenlee, he sighed and started paddling himself. 



* * * 


Bianca awoke, not in a warm, comfy bed, but cold, shivering, and in pain. She groaned as she shifted, feeling as if her whole body had been through a meat grinder and opened her eyes. It was completely dark and all Bianca could really see were several blinking lights near her. She tried to sit up, but decided against it as her body exploded in pain. 

“H-hello?” she managed to croak out, her throat feeling dry and salty. 

Then suddenly a face appeared above hers and she shrank back. It was male, but beyond that it was too dark to tell. “Hey, you’re alive after all. We were beginning to worry. I’m Blake,” came the voice and this time Bianca sat, slowly, but she managed. 

“Uh, hey Blake. I’m Bianca. Can you tell me where we are and what the heck happened?” She rubbed a hand across her forehead, wincing when she felt a stinging sensation. She looked at the man in front of her. Through the darkness she could tell that he was young, probably in his mid-twenties and had blonde, short hair. 

“Well, we’re out in the middle of the ocean after the plane crashed. You don’t remember anything?” he asked and Bianca’s mind tried fervently to remember anything. 

“No, I…last thing I remember is sitting in the plane and there were turbulences and…oh my god,” she gasped, suddenly remembering something important. “Where’s Greenlee?” 

Blake felt his stomach tighten at the name, now having confirmation that his suspicions had been true. He smiled uncomfortably at the girl in front of him, trying not to let his dislike show. After all, it couldn’t be her fault that she was friends with someone like Greenlee.  

“Ah, who’s Greenlee?” he asked, trying to sound innocent. 

“My uh…friend,” Bianca responded, realizing that in this place Greenlee was as close to a friend as she had, “she was sitting next to me. Oh god, she didn’t die, did she?” 

Blake wanted to lie, but he couldn’t bring himself to. He forced another smile and nodded towards the still lifeless form next to Bianca. “No, she’s alive. We figure she must’ve taken a pretty hard hit in the head, ‘cause she hasn’t woken up yet.” 

The dark-haired girl turned to look at her friend, frowning slightly and winced as she ran her fingers lightly along the large gash across Greenlee’s face. Blake smiled inwardly. “Yeah,” he thought, “she’s gonna hate having her pretty little face marred like that. Serves her right.” He could’ve sworn he felt the jagged scar on his back burn just a little.  

Maybe there was a reason for all this, he surmised. Maybe God had finally deemed him worthy of revenging what had happened so many years ago. Maybe this plane crash was finally going to be the demise of Greenlee Smythe. 

Blake smiled at the revelation. 



* * * 


The sand felt cool and, most importantly, sturdy under her feet. On shaky legs she walked up the beach a little ways, towards a big rock near the edge of the forest that seemed to cover most of the small island. Bianca sank into the sand next to the rock and breathed a sigh of relief. She watched as the men and the shorthaired woman worked to cut the raft into something like a canopy. The tall, muscular guy known as Peter came walking towards her, carrying the still unconscious body of Greenlee and laid her on the sand next to Bianca. 

“Do you really think she’ll be okay?” Bianca asked, worried that the older girl hadn’t shown any signs of life beyond breathing and a pulse. 

“There’s no way to tell, really. With a possible head injury she should’ve never been moved, but it’s not like we had a choice,” Peter answered and stared at the unconscious body.  

“I think that gash needs stitches, too,” Bianca mumbled, sighing as Peter told her they had no first-aid supplies whatsoever. “Is there anything I can do to help?” 

“No, not really. I think we have the canopy thing under control for now. How about you and the rest of the women can clean up some and maybe find some firewood around here. Some fruits or even fish if you can,” Peter answered, nodded towards her and went to join the group of men. 

Bianca scowled at the way he had made it sound as if women weren’t useful for anything but food and looked to her sides at the other women that had survived the crash. Directly on her right was a girl about her age, with long dark hair and very dark eyes. The girl’s name was Turtle, Bianca remembered because she had thought it was very weird. Next to Turtle was a woman in her early forties probably, with dirty blonde hair, who had introduced herself as Rachel. Lastly was a thirty-something redhead with horn-rimmed glasses that she seemed to have to adjust every ten seconds. Bianca looked at the woman, who was tall and skinny, wondering why she looked so familiar. 

“Amelia Herzog. Reporter for The Intruder,” the woman smiled cheerfully at everyone, shaking hands and Bianca groaned. The woman looked at her, her eyes lingering on the brunette girl as if to tell her that she knew who Bianca was. “Who’s your friend?” Amelia asked, trying to get a better look at Greenlee’s body that Bianca was shielding. 

“Nobody,” the brunette said behind clenched teeth and moved over just a little to prohibit the woman from seeing her friend. Reporters were bad enough when one was conscious, but she couldn’t even imagine what the reporter might do if she found an unconscious Greenlee Smythe.  

Amelia was about to protest, but grudgingly followed Rachel as she suggested going to find that wood. They left Bianca and Turtle behind, to “stand watch” and the brunette shook her head in disbelief. Just ten hours ago her life had seemed so simple and now…now she was stuck on what seemed to be a deserted island with a bunch of strangers and Greenlee, of all people.  

“You and her, you’re an item,” Turtle’s voice catapulted her out of her thoughts and Bianca scoffed as the girl pointed to her and Greenlee. 

“I don’t think so. Where’d you come up with that idea?” She didn’t want to be hostile, but it wasn’t often that someone blatantly told her such crap.  

“I’m psychic,” the girl told her and Bianca laughed. 

“Yeah? Don’t quit your day job. Stay here, I’m gonna go find some water,” the brunette said as she got up, shaking her head at the absurdity of what Turtle had told her all the way down to the beach. 
 




Chapter 3 

“I don’t believe this!” Erica Kane exclaimed as she stormed through the living room for the umpteenth time.  

Jackson Montgomery, her fiancé, sighed and tried to peer around her to watch the news. She had been like this ever since returning home from work, letting him know that her daughter, his niece, Bianca Montgomery, had not called her mother from London upon her arrival as promised. 

“Honey, why don’t you sit and calm down some? I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of this. Maybe she was just tired when she got in, it is a long flight after all,” Jackson tried to reason, but Erica would have none of it. 

“Jack, I’ve already called the hotel and they told me she never checked in. Now why would she do that?” Erica asked, though finally sitting down next to him on the sofa. 

“Maybe the plane was delayed,” he shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention to the anchorwoman on TV, who explained they had just gotten in a special news bulletin. 

“At 4:30 PM US Airways Flight 2133 crashed, just three hours into its seven hour trip. The plane, on its way from Pennsylvania to London-Heathrow Airport was carrying 30 passengers and six crewmembers. At this point in time rescue crews are working to recover the wreckage, but they’re not optimistic about finding any survivors. US Airways will make a statement later tonight, after notifying the families of the victims.” 

Jackson felt a tight knot in his throat, but as he looked at his fiancée and saw her looking rather unconcerned he relaxed slightly. “That wasn’t Bianca’s flight?” 

“What? Oh no, she was on Flight 28, I booked it myself. Horrible though, about that crash. Those poor people,” she responded and got up as the phone started ringing. 

“Hello?…Yes, this is she…what?…no…no, you must be mistaken…I don’t have to listen to this!…I can assure you that if you don’t…what?…she did?…oh god…no…no…yes, thank you.” 

Jack turned around as Erica’s voice faltered and got up just in time to catch her before she fell to the floor. His fiancee’s face was ashen and her whole body was shaking, leaving him perplexed as to who was on the other line. 

“Sweetie, what is it? Who was that on the phone?” he asked, trying to lead her over to the sofa. 

“Oh Jack,” she whispered, gripping onto his arms tightly, “Bianca…she…she was on that plane in the news. She missed her flight a-and switched planes…oh god, Jack.” 

And as Jackson Montgomery wrapped his arms around his shaking fiancée, the realization of her words finally sunk in. 



* * * 


The rain was beating heavily against the makeshift tent’s wall. A storm was raging outside, leaving the occupants of the tent glad they had managed to create cover. Darkness hung over the island like a heavy blanket, making it nearly impossible to see anything in the night. 

Greenlee awoke with the worst hangover in the history of hangovers, her head felt as if it had been split open with a sledgehammer. She took deep, calming breaths to try and get the blinding pain under control and calm her queasy stomach. After a few seconds the pain lessened enough for her to at least assess her situation. It was then that Greenlee realized she was dressed in only her underwear, covered with a rough blanket and, most importantly, lying next to a warm, also undressed, body.  

She opened her eyes, but was only greeted with more blackness. It was so dark she could barely see her hand before her eyes and Greenlee started to worry. Slowly and anxiously she reached a hand over to the body next to hers, wincing as she touched warm skin and ran her fingers across what she assumed to be the person’s stomach. The skin was soft, too soft she realized and when her fingers brushed against a part of anatomy men definitely didn’t possess, Greenlee pulled her hand back as if it’d been burned. 

“Oh my god,” she thought, “did I get completely wasted and have sex with a chick?”  

But before she could really start to panic, a voice ripped her from her thoughts. “Greenlee? Are you awake?” 

“Bianca?!” Greenlee managed to choke out and narrowed her eyes, cursing at the blinding pain that ran along her face at the action. 

“Hey, don’t move, okay?” Bianca said softly and the older girl felt a soft hand on her shoulder. She could feel the other girl move around for a few seconds and then a soft light came on, shining into her face, blinding her. As she opened her eyes again the flashlight was illuminating Bianca’s bruised face and Greenlee almost narrowed her eyes at what she saw, but remembering the pain it had caused earlier she decided against it. 

“Bianca, what the hell is going on? Why am I naked and in bed with you? And what happened to your face?” the dark-haired girl shot out a string of questions, watching as Bianca rolled her eyes. 

“You don’t remember? The plane crashed and we’re stranded on a deserted island.” 

“The plane crashed?” Bianca nodded softly and Greenlee scoffed at her. “I told you so!” 

“Ugh, well either way, we’re stranded here. And no, I didn’t take advantage of you, don’t worry. Peter was worried we’d all get hypothermia so he suggested we’d take the wet clothes off and let them dry outside. Of course now it’s raining so…what?” Bianca asked as she saw the older girl giving her a weird look. 

“Who’s Peter?” 

“That’d be me,” a deep voice answered from her left and Greenlee looked into a set of sky blue eyes that belonged to a very handsome face. Greenlee frowned as he reached out his hand and tilted her head, inspecting something on her face. 

“What?” she growled, miserable enough not to care that a very handsome guy was touching her. 

“You’ve got a pretty nasty cut on your face a-and Peter thinks you might have a concussion or something, since you were out for so long,” Bianca answered, knowing that if anything about this ordeal were to upset Greenlee, it would be having her face messed up. 

“A cut? Where is it? Wait, is it gonna scar?” she asked, fear showing through her voice for the first time since she’d woken up and Bianca grimaced. Leave it to Greenlee to care more about her looks than the seriousness of this situation, she thought. But looking into the older girl’s eyes Bianca understood perfectly well, it wasn’t easy living with a mother that accepted nothing but absolute perfection from her daughter. Not to mention the people in Pine Valley liked to talk, everyone intruded into their lives just because they were rich and every little thing one did might be seen as a weakness. 

Sighing, Bianca reached over and trailed her finger lightly along the side of the cut to let the other girl know the extent of the injury. The cut was fairly deep, but not deep enough to be dangerous; Peter had guessed that some piece of flying metal had probably hit her while she was unconscious. Bianca’s fingers touched Greenlee’s forehead where the cut started, about an inch above her left eyebrow. It curved downward in a crescent shape through her eyebrow and across her eye, ending an inch under her eye on her cheekbone.  

Bianca’s eyes never left Greenlee’s the whole time and she smiled softly as she pulled her hand away, hoping to ease the tension some. “We don’t really have any First-Aid supplies so there isn’t anything we can do about it. I tried to clean it some, though I think the saltwater probably starved of any infection.” 

She watched as Peter leaned closer again to look at the cut. He’d told them all that he had been a firefighter and therefore knew First-Aid, a skill that had definitely come in handy. Bianca was pulled from her thoughts as she heard Greenlee scoff and looked back down at the older girl. 

“This is just so great! First I miss my flight, then we crash and now I’m stranded here all cut up. You know this is all your fault Bianca, right? If you hadn’t ran into me at the airport and spilled our luggage,” Greenlee ranted in an exasperated voice and Bianca recoiled at the words, shaking her head. Maybe she’d been wrong and Greenlee was the last person on this island she should consider a friend. 

She was just about to respond to Greenlee’s comment, when the older girl looked her in the eyes, her hand touching Bianca’s arm softly. “Hey, I’m just kidding. Thanks for taking care of me and you know, not leaving me to die. I know I can be an unappreciative bitch, so thanks.” 

Bianca, taken aback at the words, smiled and covered Greenlee’s hand with her own, squeezing it gently. She lied back down onto the sand and pulled the blanket tightly across both their bodies. The wind and rain whipped across the tent and Bianca was glad that Blake and Peter had managed to salvage some of the airline blankets they’d found in the water.  

It was cold and Bianca unconsciously slid closer to the warm body next to hers. The soft, steady breathing of the other girl finally lulled her into a restless sleep. 



* * * 


The heat engulfed her body in a tight grip, actually making her glad that her clothes were still slightly wet. Bianca heaved a sigh and picked up another branch from the ground for their pile of firewood. The sun was up high in the sky and the brunette girl decided it had been a stupid idea of Peter to send them for firewood in this heat. Wiping a hand across her forehead, Bianca turned to look at the girl behind her.  

Greenlee was carrying the wood they’d so far collected, looking no better than Bianca felt herself. She stopped, stretched her aching muscles and sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree.  

“I thought we could use a break,” she shrugged as Greenlee sat down next to her, breathing deeply. 

“Speak for yourself, I could keep going for hours,” the older girl exclaimed and smirked at Bianca. 

Shaking her head, the younger girl turned her head to look at their surroundings. Tall palm trees were covered with vines, there were thick bushes all around them and plenty of colorful flowers – almost like paradise. Bianca sighed and turned back towards the other girl, who was busy flicking ants off of her legs. 

“Can I ask you something?” she asked softly, looking into Greenlee’s eyes as she looked up. 

“Hmm?” 

“Why’re you always so mean to me? Do you hate me?” Bianca almost instantly regretted asking the question, fearing she’d ruined the civility that had existed between them recently. 

“Bianca,” Greenlee sighed, wiping more ants off her legs unconsciously. “I really don’t know what to tell you, besides that I’m an insecure bitch and I was jealous of what you and Leo had. I know I can be pretty insensitive at times, just…don’t take it too hard, okay? And I don’t hate you, you can actually be pretty…cool at times.” 

Bianca, seeming to ponder this, looked down at the ground. “But what about what you said at Leo’s funeral, that you meant all the mean things you said to me?” 

“Well, I probably did, but…can’t we just kind of forget everything and start over? If I have to trust anyone in this godforsaken place I’d rather it be you, at least we know each other and what we’re capable of,” the older girl responded, smiling softly at Bianca and got a bright smile in return. 

Yeah, I know what you mean. Friends, then?” Bianca asked, shaking hands with the other girl to ‘seal the deal’. 

“Alright, now let’s go back to headquarters and see if anyone’s found food, I’m absolutely starved,” Greenlee exclaimed as they stood, but then faltered and she probably would’ve fallen if Bianca hadn’t caught her. 

“Whoa, you okay?” 

Greenlee shook it off, steadying herself by holding onto the taller girl for a few seconds, then bent down to pick up their firewood. “Yeah, just got a little dizzy, you know.” 

“Maybe you should’ve stayed back at the tent, like Peter told you,” Bianca told her as they started heading back to their ‘camp’, taking most of the wood from Greenlee so the other girl wouldn’t have to carry as much. 

“Nah, I would’ve gone insane from boredom. Plus, I couldn’t just let you go traipsing about this forest all alone. Who knows, you might’ve been kidnapped by an ape or something,” Greenlee stated in all seriousness, causing Bianca to burst out laughing. 

“Oh yeah, very likely, Greenlee,” she grinned, looking at the shorter brunette before they both started laughing and giggling like little girls all the way back to the camp. 
 




Chapter 4 

Erica Kane’s presence was always a very powerful one, a presence that was felt by nearly everyone in the room she stepped into. The reporters and camera people that had been trailing her stayed behind the door she had walked through with her fiancé, Jackson Montgomery, and the two of them walked towards the front of the room determinedly.  

The room wasn’t very big, maybe the size of a college classroom, with several chairs set up in rows and a podium in the front. A table to the side held large containers of coffee and water, but Erica walked right past it towards the front. There were several other people in the room, most sitting in small groups on the chairs in the room. The people were all as different as day and night; many of them recognized Erica, some looking at her in awe, others in suspicion and even dislike. But all the people had one thing in common – no one looked happy to be there, or just happy to be anywhere at all. There were several people crying, some being consoled by a loved one.  

Erica carefully sat down in a chair towards the front, followed by Jack and glanced at her watch. They had told her on the phone that the airline was going to make a statement to the families of the plane crash victims and update them about the rescue situation. She knew that was why she was here, but somehow it all still felt very unreal. The thought of her Bianca being on the plane that she had seen only as the mangled, torn wreck it now was on the news caused Erica to shudder. Jack had done his best to get her to calm down enough for them to get here, he knew that the reporters would want a statement from her about what was going on as well. 

A door to the side of the room opened, stopping all conversation in the room abruptly. A tall man in a dark suit walked in, followed by a few well-dressed people carrying documents. The man stepped up to the podium, looking around the room, before he turned on the microphone and began to speak.  

“My name is William Carter and I am the president of US Airways. I am here to inform you all about the tragic accident of Flight 2133 that occurred yesterday afternoon. I deeply regret that we all had to come together like this and I am very sorry for all of your losses. So far the cause of the crash is still unknown, but we do have crews working around the clock on this. As far as we know, the plane veered off course because of a bad storm front and crashed soon after in the South Atlantic Ocean. The plane was occupied by thirty passengers and six crewmembers. Rescue crews are working very hard at the accident site to recover the victims, however due to the severity of the crash we aren’t optimistic about there being any survivors,” the man explained, several gasps and sobs could be heard at his last statement. 

William Carter waved one of the well-dressed men over, taking a sheet from him, cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the people in the room. “Rescue workers have been able to recover twenty-six bodies and all have been positively identified. So far ten passengers appear to be missing, their bodies have not yet been recovered. Apparently all ten of the missing passengers were sitting in the back part of the plane that tore off during the crash and scattered wreckage for several hundred feet. If they are not found within the immediate accident site, we will increase the search radius to cover more area. I have here a list with the names of the passengers still missing. If your family member or loved one is on this list, please know we will do everything in our power to find them and we will keep you updated on our progress. To everyone else, I am truly sorry for your loss and if you could please remain after I read the names so we can make sure everyone is able to give their loved one a proper burial as soon as possible. Thank You.” 

He pulled out another sheet, smoothed it out and started to read. “These are the names of the ten missing passengers in alphabetical order: Joseph Anslinger, Rebecca Davis, Blake Farrington, Amelia Herzog, Rachel Jenkins, Peter Marks, Father Abraham Michaels, Bianca Montgomery, Jan Sleator and Greenlee Smythe. You will be notified with any news concerning your loved ones.” 

Erica’s heart twisted at the mention of her daughter’s name, she wasn’t sure whether to be happy that Bianca’s body hadn’t been found and hope she was alive or to be upset that she didn’t know what Bianca’s fate was. After all, Mr. Carter had made it clear that they did not expect to find any survivors. Erica had seen the pictures on TV, she doubted anyone could really survive a crash that left wreckage like that. She felt Jack’s arm around her waist and was truly glad for his presence. Looking up at him she realized for the first time she was crying. 

“Honey, did I hear wrong or did he say Greenlee Smythe was on that plane?” Jack asked quietly and Erica, thinking back to Mr. Carter reading the names, scowled. 

“Yes, I believe he did. But Jack, I can’t worry about that now. After all, Bianca is…,” she didn’t even finish her sentence as more tears spilled from her eyes and he pulled her closer to him. 

“I’m sorry, dear. They’ll do their best to find her, you know that. There’s still some hope,” he answered roughly, feeling like he wanted to cry himself. He loved Bianca as if she were his own daughter and couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like without her.  

“Oh, I hope so, Jack,” Erica said softly, fighting to compose herself. She knew the reporters outside would want to hear everything that happened and wouldn’t leave her alone until she made a statement.  

They got up and walked, his arm around her waist, towards the exit. It was then that Erica saw Mary Smythe sitting on a chair in the back, alone. Their eyes locked as Erica got closer and she opened her mouth to throw a comment at the other woman, but there wasn’t anything she could think to say. Erica felt the uncertainty of Bianca’s fate weigh her down and she could see the same in the other woman’s eyes. She passed Mary without a word and she almost felt sympathy for her when she saw the other woman teary-eyed as well.  

Erica shook off the feeling and she and Jack walked through the door into the barrage of reporters. 



* * * 


Blake looked in disgust at the two girls sitting across from him and repressed any depreciative noise he thought of making. Ever since Greenlee had woken up his hatred for her had come back tenfold and seven years of therapy had gone down the drain. After all, his therapist had never prepared him for an actual meeting with the girl that had ruined his life and his family. 

At first he had worried she would recognize him, if not by his physical features then by the look of hatred in his eyes. But many years ago, to try and leave his past behind, he’d had his name changed and gotten contacts to change his eye color. Not to mention the half dozen plastic surgeries he’d had to undergo after the accident to restore his face; he’d been left with several ugly scars that a skilled doctor had luckily managed to reduce to practically nothing. On top of that, the last time Greenlee had seen him his hair had been longer and darker, and his body had been less built. Overall Blake felt confident she did not know who he was, although she had looked at him questioningly earlier that day and he knew he’d have to be more careful, especially with letting his feelings for her show. Which was easier said than done, he still relived that tragic night in his dreams and the anger over what she’d done still burned as strong as it had back then. 

He miserably thought back to that night seven years ago. They’d been in High School then and deeply in love, or so they thought. That night at the party, she’d had way too much to drink and although he admitted to having contributed to that, it didn’t excuse what she did. Driving completely, insanely drunk with him and his little brother in the car, in the dark. If only she… 

“Blake, are you okay?” The voice broke his thoughts and he looked up into Bianca’s face. Blake smiled at her, sincerely, and wiped the sweat off his brow. 

“Yeah, just thinking about everything, y’know,” he answered, watching as she nodded with a smile of her own. Bianca was the most beautiful girl he’d ever laid eyes on and when he looked at her, for a moment, he could even forget all the bad stuff that had happened to him. Blake figured his chances weren’t all that bad, the way she looked and smiled at him made him think he definitely had a chance with her. If only he could get her away from Greenlee, there was no way he could date someone that was friend’s with that evil incarnate.  

Bianca watched the expression on Blake’s face change from thoughtful, to delighted to angry and wondered what was up with him. Ever since she’d woken up on the raft that night he’d kept looking at her weird and she’d caught him stealing glances at her several times, not to mention he constantly felt the need to smile at her. Bianca, not being the type of person to be rude to someone, always smiled back, but she couldn’t help but feel slightly uneasy around him.  

“Maybe I should just tell him I’m gay,” she thought to herself and looked over at Greenlee next to her, considering enlisting the other girl to help her. Guys always got the point much quicker when they saw you actually did have a girlfriend and weren’t just lying to get away from them. She sighed, deciding that if Blake actually made a move on her she’d tell him. 

She looked back at Greenlee, who was intently staring at the piece of fish on her stick that she was holding into the fire, as if willing it to be done. The eight of them sat around the fire Peter had started and were roasting pieces of the fish Joe and Father Abe had caught like s’mores in the fire. It was an idyllic scene, Bianca almost felt like she was camping with her family. It was now dark out and the sky above them sparkled with thousands of stars that were much brighter here than back at home. The wood in the fire crackled and occasionally sent sparks up in the air. The fire was throwing an orangey glow onto Greenlee’s face, the shadows flickering across her skin and for the first time Bianca realized how truly beautiful the other girl was.  

Alarmed at her thoughts, she turned her head, trying to think of anything but Greenlee’s dark eyes and soft skin.  

“Hey, what happened to Amelia and Rachel?” she finally asked and the other people around the fire looked around, apparently no wiser than her. 

“I have no idea. They were supposed to look for a possible water source and any edible fruits in the forest. Maybe they had problems finding their way back,” Peter answered and as soon as the words were out of his mouth they heard a rustling of leaves to their side and watched as Amelia Herzog stepped through the thick brush towards them. 

“Amelia, we were just talking about you guys. What took you so long?” the very overweight Joe asked as he took a bite from his fish. 

Amelia, her hair looking slightly disheveled, adjusted her glasses and looked around the fire. “Rachel’s not here either?” 

“What do you mean? She was supposed to be with you,” Peter remarked, now studying the woman closely. 

Amelia scoffed, smoothing out her blouse as she felt all eyes on her before answering. “Yeah, she was. We were somewhere in the woods and I heard a weird sound so I turned around, Rachel was right behind me. When I turned back she was gone! I thought she’d come back here or something.” 

“Gone?” Peter asked, now starting to look worried. “What do you mean ‘gone’?” 

Amelia shrugged, eyeing their fish hungrily. “Just like it sounds. It was as if she disappeared, I never heard a sound or saw anything.” 

The red-haired reporter sat down and gladly took some fish from someone, while everyone else around the fire looked at each other worriedly. 



* * * 


The cool water pooled around her feet as she walked across the sand. Although it was the middle of the night she had no problems seeing her surroundings, the moon was full and bright, softly illuminating the beach. Bianca’s gaze swept around her, along the sandy beach that surrounded the forest all around the island and she wondered how far they’d have to go before they could go back. 

“Hey, are you training for the Olympics or something? Slow down,” came the voice from behind her and Bianca glanced over her shoulder at Greenlee and stopped until the girl caught up with her. 

They walked side by side in silence for a short while, until Greenlee spoke up. “They don’t actually expect us to find her out here or anything, right? I mean, Amelia even said that Rachel vanished in the forest, why’re we out here?” 

Bianca looked at her friend and for once actually had to agree with the older girl. Shortly after Amelia had returned Peter had decided they all should split into groups and look for Rachel, in case she’d gotten lost or was injured somewhere. The other two groups had gone into the forest, taking their only two flashlights, while Greenlee and her were supposed to look around the beach, staying in the near vicinity of the camp in case Rachel returned. But they’d been walking for nearly half an hour now and Bianca really doubted they’d find anything here anyway. 

Sighing, she walked up the beach a little way to where the sand was dry and sat with her knees drawn up to her chest. Greenlee plopped down next to her and leaned back on her hands, her eyes watched the stars in the sky. And without realizing it, Bianca turned to watch her friend. The older girl laid back on the sand, pulling Bianca with her gently and pointed at the sky. “Hey, look at the stars, aren’t they great? I wish they were this bright back in Pine Valley, it’d sure make for some romantic evenings, don’t you think?” 

“Huh? Uh….yeah,” Bianca answered, not having been paying attention at all. Her eyes were still on her friend, watching the soft smile on Greenlee’s face as the girl watched the stars, the way her eyes twinkled every time she was about to say something that’d surely cause Bianca to laugh. She felt Greenlee’s skin where their arms were touching and she had to suppress the urge to move her fingers just an inch so their hands would be entwined.  

Bianca growled internally, this wasn’t the time to have a schoolgirl crush. Getting up, she brushed the sand off her and offered a hand to the older girl, “Come on Copernicus, let’s go back and wait for the others. They should be getting back soon.” 

Greenlee sighed and reached for Bianca’s hand, pulling herself up. But the force of Bianca pulling her up caused both of them to nearly lose their footing and each girl grabbed a hold of the other. They both stood, hands on the other’s arms, their faces mere inches apart. Bianca felt her heart beat quicker, her eyes locked with Greenlee’s and she felt the other girl’s soft breath on her skin. She had never felt such an urge to kiss anyone and the feeling scared her. She pulled away before anything else could happen and started walking back into the direction they came from.  

Greenlee followed, confused about what had just happened, still shaken at the fact that she’d almost kissed Bianca. 



* * * 


“I’m telling you, he was just gone!” Jan exclaimed and ran a hand across her very short blonde hair in exasperation. Everyone threw her an incredulous look and she groaned, throwing her hands up in defeat and walked away, into the tent. 

Peter shook his head and tried to think of something, anything, to explain their situation. They’d just returned to their camp having had no luck in finding Rachel, only to find out that Joe, who’d been paired with Jan, had vanished as well. Peter was at a complete loss as to what was going on. The others were looking at him as if he should have an answer, but he definitely didn’t. 

“Jan didn’t see anything?” Blake asked while throwing another few branches into the fire. 

“No,” Peter shook his head, “she said that they’d split up to search a clearing and within the few seconds she’d had her back turned he vanished.” 

“And I don’t imagine it’s very easy to kidnap a guy of Joe’s size,” Amelia snorted and received a few dirty looks from around the fire.  

“I don’t know what to think about this. There’s no reason for either Rachel or Joe to have left, unless they’re lost somewhere. Let’s go to bed now and we’ll go on searching tomorrow, in the light,” Peter decided and everyone got up, following each other into the tent. 



* * * 


The figure waited until the last person had vanished into the tent and slowly stood up from its crouching position. Its yellow eyes were darting back and forth from behind the bushes, watching the tent for any more movement. With a low growl the figure threw one last glance at the tent and then turned around, sprinting into the forest. It vanished quickly in the thick brush, not leaving a clue to its existence once it was gone. 
 




Chapter 5 

1 month later 


“Hey, hold up you guys,” a voice called from behind them and both girls turned around, spotting Turtle running towards them. Once she reached them the girl stopped, breathing in deeply and looked at her two friends. “You don’t mind if I come along, right? Unless you two have…other plans,” the girl grinned and winked at Bianca. 

“Plans? What plans?” Greenlee asked, missing the panicked look that crossed Bianca’s face.  

Upon seeing the look she received from Bianca, Turtle laughed. None of the others might've believed her that she was psychic, but even without her 'powers' she could've easily seen that there was something going on between Greenlee and Bianca. The two girls were close, always touchy-feely and Turtle knew for a fact Bianca had some sort of feelings for the other girl, after a late night heart-to-heart. But despite her knowledge and her desire for the two to just admit to what was going on, Turtle decided to be nice. “Oh nothing, I just meant that maybe you’re not going to our spot and somewhere else.” 

“Oh,” Greenlee shook her head and started walking again, next to the two other girls. It had been a month since the crash now, they knew because the backpack Peter had thankfully held onto during the crash had contained a personal planner and they’d been crossing off days ever since. For the most part everyone got along just fine, Peter had pretty much been declared leader of their little group and the only people that she could do without were Father Abe and Blake. She’d never been very religious and Father Abe’s constant preaching and blessing of what little food they had or the fire was really starting to get on her nerves. And Blake, well he just kind of creeped her out. Greenlee had seen the lustful way he looked at Bianca and the way he’d look at Bianca all lovey-dovey one second and then turn to look at Greenlee in disgust.  

Sighing softly, she looked over at her friend. At first it had felt weird calling Bianca that, after all their history hadn’t quite been peachy, but after the past month Greenlee felt closer to Bianca than she’d probably ever felt to anyone else. Of course, they didn't speak about it, their closeness had arisen out of the need for someone to be there during this whole tragedy, it wasn't something one could label with words. Intense situations tend to bring people together and that was how Greenlee tried to explain away the strange attraction she felt towards Bianca. Out here their lives weren't normal and they didn't know if they'd ever be found and return home. Nobody in their group really liked to talk about it, but Greenlee wondered what would happen to them. At first Peter had assured them rescue crews would surely find them, but nothing had happened. Then Joe and Rachel had vanished and never been found and although so far nothing like it had happened again, everyone was still worried.  

One might think that life without civilization was very uncomplicated, but to Greenlee it was nearly pure torture. She’d never worn the same clothes twice in a row, let alone a whole month and not to mention the lack of makeup. Both her and Bianca’s jeans had been turned into shorts very soon after the crash, because the heat was just too much for two girls from Pennsylvania to bear. The only positive thing to Greenlee was the fact that right now she sported the best tan she’d ever had in her life, her skin had tanned to a very deep bronze and even Bianca, after weeks of constant sunburn, finally had a dark tan.  

The three girls stopped after a few minutes’ walk at what the group liked to call ‘their spot’. It was an idyllic part of the beach, where a sort of lagoon had formed, with palm trees close to the water’s edge and large, flat rocks reaching out into the water, providing perfect tanning spots. The water here was warm and a clear turquoise that, along with the pure white sand, had had them believing many times they were in paradise. The spot was a little ways from their camp and secluded, so the girls felt they could swim and sunbathe in peace.  

Greenlee stripped down to her underwear and followed the other girls into the warm water. 



* * * 


“I thank you all so much for coming here, to remember those lives tragically cut short by a horrible accident, to mourn for the victims of Flight 2133 and keep our love for them alive in our hearts. I’d like to start this service with a short prayer for the souls of those lost and those not yet found.” 

The minister up front bowed his head and mumbled some prayer, followed by many people sitting in the rows of chairs in front of him. But Erica wasn’t paying much attention to the man; here eyes were glued to the marble plaque with the gold lettering engraved on it that stood tall next to the podium. It was a memorial for the victims of Flight 2133 that had just been unveiled in this park, right before the memorial service. Erica was sitting close enough to be able to read the large lettering on the stone and her eyes refused to leave the spot where Bianca’s name was.  

For a month now they’d clung to the sliver of hope they’d had, but to no avail. Rescue crews had yet to find any of the missing passengers and according to William Carter they doubted they still would. Somewhere deep inside she knew her daughter was gone, but Erica just couldn’t let go, she didn’t want to face the truth. Jackson and even Kendall had tried to help over the past few weeks, but Bianca’s loss seemed to be more than Erica could handle. If it hadn’t been for her very capable employees, she was sure Enchantment would have suffered great losses by now. But somehow she just couldn’t bring herself to care. 

Another set of eyes was staring at the memorial intently, as if a mere look could erase the name up there. Mary Smythe had dealt with the tragedy much differently than Erica had - she’d accepted that her only daughter was gone. Mary knew she’d never been a good mother to Greenlee, she’d never been there for the girl and now she’d missed her chance to make it up to her daughter. Greenlee was gone and now would never know that her mother did love her, that Mary would do anything in her power to get her daughter back and make things right. And for once, the tears she shed weren’t for herself, but for the daughter that never knew her love. 



* * * 


Father Abraham dunked his cupped hands into the clear water and splashed his face. They’d just recently discovered this pond, the only body of water around that wasn’t salty and finally had a way to fill up their fresh water reserves without having to wait for rain. He turned to Jan, who’d been partnered with him to go fill their water reserves. Jan mostly ignored him and they rarely exchanged more than a few words. He figured it might’ve had something to do with the way he’d tried to get her to accept God’s word, he had to do anything he could to get the children out of the devil’s grasp. 

Jan threw the old man a look that told him not to say a word and bent down to the water, cupping her hands to get a drink. She leaned back up, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and looked around. Narrowing her eyes she glanced to both her sides and stood up. Abraham was gone. He’d been sitting at the edge of the pond just a few feet to her right and now he was nowhere to be seen. 

Worried, the blonde girl turned 180 degrees, looking intently at the trees and bushes around her. She could see nothing and surely no sign of Abraham. Thinking that maybe he’d just gone to relieve himself, she walked to pick up their stuff. Within a split-second she felt herself hoisted upward by strong hands around her arms and as she looked up the tree branches were coming closer to her. About to scream bloody-murder a dark hand clamped over her mouth and Jan watched, frightened, as another figure crept closer to her up in the tree branches. Yellow eyes glowed at her as the dark figure raised its hand. Jan tried to get away from the tight grip, but failed and then the figure’s hand came rushing towards her head.  

The last thing she felt before everything went dark was the piercing pain in the side of her skull. 



* * * 


“This is starting to get ridiculous,” Amelia shook her head and watched as Peter paced along the side of the fire. Neither Father Abe nor Jan had returned from their water run and when Peter, Blake and she had gone to the pond to see what had happened, they’d only found their water containers left behind.  

“Something must be out there, I mean, maybe both Joe and Rachel could’ve gotten lost, but Jan and Abe at the same time?” Peter was ranting and the other five watched him, hoping he’d come up with a solution. 

“Maybe there’s wild animals or something? I mean, we’ve even seen some monkeys, what if there’s something out there that…likes people?” Bianca grimaced at the thought, but she could see that she wasn’t the only one who’d given the idea a thought.  

“Well, I think for now we should just be aware that something might be out there and be careful. I suggest everyone stay together as much as possible. Hopefully we can come up with a solution and explanation for this,” Peter finally answered and although it hadn’t exactly been a satisfying answer, everyone took it for granted and dropped the topic. 

However, the mysterious disappearance of two more of their group hung heavy over everyone’s head and an uneasiness had settled in among them. 



* * * 


“Jack, I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me,” Erica Kane shook her head and walked away from her fiancé and daughter to stand over by the sofa, her arms crossed.  

Jack and Kendall looked at each other, silently figuring out who should try to delicately broach the subject. After a few seconds Jack walked over to Erica, his hands on her upper arms. 

“Erica, we just think that this…this clinging to every last hope…isn’t doing you any good. I mean, look at you…half the time that you’re at work you do nothing but sit at your desk and stare, and the other half you overwork yourself to extremes. I never see you happy anymore, Erica,” he stated, his voice soft. 

Erica looked at him, bewildered and pulled away from his hands. “Jack, how can you suggest I be happy? Bianca is gone; my baby is gone. How can I even think about being happy?” 

“No one thinks you should be happy, Erica. It’s just…we’re worried about you. You haven’t been yourself. You need to let go, move on. It’s been over a month now,” Kendall explained, hoping not to unleash the wrath of Erica Kane with her words. But she and Jackson had decided it was time for her mother to move on, Bianca wasn’t going to come back and Erica only suffered by not accepting that fact.  

“Let go? Are you suggesting I forget about Bianca?!” Erica’s voice rose and the other two people in her company cringed, having feared an outburst like that. 

“Nobody wants you to forget her, honey. We all loved Bianca very dearly; this isn’t an easy time for any of us. But our lives have to go on, Bianca wouldn’t want us to dwell in our misery like this.” 

Erica brought a hand to her forehead and sighed. Somewhere deep inside her brain Jack and Kendall’s words were making sense, but she didn’t know if she wanted them to. The pain of losing Bianca had hung over her like a constant rain cloud for the past six weeks; she knew it wasn’t healthy to keep holding onto false hope. 

“So, what’re you suggesting?” she finally asked, her voice small. 

“We think that…maybe we should have a funeral. A funeral is final and it would allow us to have some closure over this, as well as let us deal with our grief and feelings. A lot of people loved Bianca, we should celebrate that and let her move on,” Jack answered, hoping Erica wouldn’t blow up at them. Kendall and he had spent some time discussing this and they both felt that it seemed to be the only way Erica could possibly move on. If only she'd accept the suggestion, of course. 

But to both their surprise, the older woman turned around and then nodded at them, smiling teary-eyed. “Yes, maybe you’re right and it’s for the best. Bianca would want all the people that loved her to be able to move on. We’ll honor her the way she deserves and she’ll know she was loved.” 

Jack smiled and took his fiancée’s hands in his own, before turning to look at Kendall, who only nodded sadly. 



* * * 


Bianca dove into the water from a rock to the side of their lagoon. With quick strokes she swam through the warm water to the large, flat rock that her friend was sunbathing on. Grinning wickedly, the brunette girl slowly lifted herself out of the water, trying to be as quiet as possible as she hoisted herself onto the rock. Greenlee was asleep and Bianca shook her head, thinking that the older girl definitely did not need to be any tanner than she was now. She stood over her friend and then, slowly, shook herself so tiny water droplets rained down on the other girl. 

Greenlee shot up with a gasp, feeling the cold water land on her overheated skin. She shot a look at Bianca, who was laughing unashamed at what she had done. Grumbling, Greenlee stood as well and got in the other girl’s face; she even stood on her tiptoes to be closer to Bianca’s height, but still fell short. 

“You are so going to regret that, little girl!” Greenlee poked her finger into Bianca’s chest, making the younger girl laugh even harder. 

“Oh yeah? What’re you gonna do to me? Huh, shorty?” Bianca responded, but instantly regretted it when she saw the look that crossed Greenlee’s face. 

“Oh that’s it!” the older girl growled and before Bianca could react, Greenlee’s arms were around her waist, shoving her into the water. But Bianca, not wanting to be outdone, refused to let the other girl let go of her and so in the end they both ended up falling into the refreshing water, squealing. 

Bianca’s head popped up above the water’s surface and she stood; the water here was shallow and only reached to about her elbow. She looked around, but couldn’t see her friend anywhere. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Greenlee burst through the surface in front of her and Bianca jumped. 

“Gotcha!” Greenlee grinned and ducked as Bianca reached for her to dunk her. But Bianca’s longer arms gave her the advantage and she wrapped them around her friend’s waist, trying to pull the shorter girl under. They both held onto each other as they toppled over, their heads sinking under the water surface and quickly came back up. 

Greenlee opened her eyes, blinking the water droplets away and looked at Bianca’s face. The younger girl’s arms were still around her waist and Greenlee’s own were holding onto Bianca. Water drops cascaded down Bianca’s tanned, smooth skin and some clung to her lashes, making her eyes seem to sparkle. Greenlee held her breath, trying to get the tingling feeling in her body under control. Bianca was looking at her, her mouth slightly open and the older girl breathed out slowly.  

Greenlee leaned closer, slowly, watching Bianca’s eyes intently. Their lips touched a split-second later and her eyes closed automatically. Bianca’s lips were softer than anyone else’s had ever been and Greenlee involuntarily groaned into the other girl’s mouth. Her spine was tingling, her whole body felt as if it were on fire and she only reluctantly pulled back from the lack of air. Their eyes opened and met again, gazing into each other intently for the next couple of seconds. 

This time it was Bianca who leaned closer, bringing their lips together. 
 




Chapter 6 

Her head resting on the other girl’s shoulder she stared off into the orange-red sky, watching in silence as the sun ended another long day. Bianca’s hand rested lightly in the older girl’s and she squeezed it softly in response to Greenlee’s sigh. The serenity of this place was all that had kept them sane these past few weeks, that and the newfound closeness they shared. Since they’d first kissed over a week ago they’d been sneaking quick kisses when they thought no one was looking, holding hands while wandering the beach and sleeping cuddled up more so than before. But neither girl had talked about it, they were just letting it happen in fear of ruining what they had so delicately built.  

Peter had been driving everyone crazy, insisting nobody wander off alone or in just groups of two and the remaining six survivors were getting quite annoyed with one another. Bianca and Greenlee had snuck off, not too far from camp to placate Peter, but far enough to be left alone by everyone else. Blake, over the past weeks, had become more insistent on his pursuit for Bianca and she knew she’d have to clue him in soon.  

A sound in the bushes a few feet behind them caused both their heads to turn and the girls stared at a monkey, sitting on a tree branch staring back at them. Bianca laughed, while Greenlee gave the animal a suspicious look. The monkey sat, bouncing the branch slightly and then suddenly started screeching. 

“Wow, he looks really familiar,” Bianca mused, watching the monkey with a grin on her face. 

“Who knows, maybe we’ve seen him around before,” Greenlee shrugged, not caring as much about the monkey as long as he didn’t fling shit at them.  

“No, look at him. His face just seems so familiar,” the younger girl tugged on the other’s hand, pointing in the monkey’s direction. 

Greenlee cocked her head to the side and squinted her eyes, observing the monkey, who was now beating on his own chest. “You know, from this angle he kind of looks like Carlos.” 

“Oh my god, that’s who he reminded me of!” Bianca grinned and looked at her friend, who scowled. “Why did you date that overgrown ape anyway?” 

The older girl shrugged and turned to her friend with a smile. “Who knows. I guess I just didn’t know what I was missing out on.” 

“Oh really? And what was that?” Bianca laughed, quirking an eyebrow as the other girl let go of her hand and leaned closer. 

“This,” Greenlee breathed and brought her hands up to Bianca’s face, pulling her closer. Their lips met and Bianca leaned back, pulling Greenlee on top of her, never once breaking contact. 

The Carlos-monkey covered his eyes with a screech and vanished in the trees. 



* * * 


“Yes, thank you. I want to be clued in as soon as you find anything, no matter how unimportant it might seem to you, understood? Okay then,” William Carter hung up the phone and ran a hand through his perfect hair. 

His assistant handed him a folder, throwing him a questioning look that Mr. Carter waved off quickly. “It’s nothing, Mike. The rescue crews have finally found all the pieces to the plane and they are attempting to reassemble it in the lab starting tonight. Maybe we’ll be able to figure out what happened to those missing passengers.” 

Mike nodded uncomfortably and was about to turn, when his boss’s voice stopped him. “Oh Mike, were there any more calls from Miss Kane? I swear that woman is worse than a bloodhound, like her daughter is the only missing passenger. Ugh, I hate rich people.” 

“Actually, sir, she hasn’t called to complain in a couple of days. Maybe she’s finally accepted the fact that this is out of our hands,” Mike answered curtly and Mr. Carter nodded, dismissing him with a heavy sigh. 

Plane crashes were bad enough without having to deal with passenger’s bodies going missing and distraught parents threatening him with lawsuits, especially when these parents were as influential and rich as Erica Kane. William Carter opened the folder Mike had given him and flipped through the pages quickly, finally stopping when he looked at the picture of the pretty brunette with the sparkling brown eyes smiling up at him. It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand Erica Kane’s pain about losing her daughter, but he was just sick of dealing with this mess. 

Closing the folder he leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He hoped that at least now with the wreck in the lab his scientists could figure out what went wrong and what happened to those passengers. He closed his eyes, hoping to erase the picture of Bianca Montgomery from his mind, but to no avail. 



* * * 


The warm wind rustled the leaves of the palm trees and bushes behind them, sweeping away the torturous heat that engulfed the island during the day. The night was clear and the stars sparkled brightly in the sky like the most expensive diamonds money could buy. Greenlee lay with her head on Bianca’s shoulder, her arms around the taller girl’s waist, while Bianca had hers wrapped around Greenlee’s shoulders.  

The two of them lay on the warm sand, wrapped up in each other, watching the bright stars they’d never get to see in Pine Valley. The rustling of the trees and occasional animal noise was all that disturbed the silence between them. It wasn’t that they were at a loss of words with each other, but that they enjoyed the peace both of them had missed all of their lives. Of course, if they had their choice both would choose to be in Pine Valley right now, with clean clothes, a roof over their heads and, most importantly, food.  

While they’d found a way to catch fish and even some land animals, they only got lucky every so often and therefore mostly lived off of coconuts. Coconuts were really the only thing they knew wasn’t poisonous on the island and according to Peter they were very nutritious. And for lack of anything else, even when they did have fish or meat they usually had coconut on the side, much to everyone’s disdain. 

“I swear, if we ever get out of here, I’ll never eat coconut again,” Greenlee mumbled into Bianca’s shoulder and the other girl laughed. 

“What brought that on?” 

Greenlee shrugged and shifted so she could look into her friend’s eyes, “Just thinking about dinner, or the lack thereof.” 

“What, you didn’t like our coconut s’mores?” Bianca asked in a mock tone, causing the other girl to scowl. 

“S’mores? You mean the burnt coconut on a stick? Ugh,” the older girl scoffed and shook her head at the thought of eating more coconut.  

Bianca laughed and rolled over onto her side, propping her head up on her arm. “Well, there’s always dessert you know.” 

Greenlee looked up, a mischievous look in her eyes and she grinned. “Oh yeah?” 

“Uh huh, you just have to come get it,” the younger girl replied, her voice soft as a whisper now. 

“Oh I do? Well then, wouldn’t want to disappoint.” 

Greenlee gently pushed Bianca onto her back and lowered her head to kiss the other girl. They were lost in each other, lips touching lightly, tongues in each other’s mouths, hands running across smooth skin. 

They broke apart, both gasping for air and locked eyes. Bianca grinned, running her hands under the other girl’s shirt and along her back, eliciting a soft moan from Greenlee. Seconds later, she pulled Greenlee closer again. And this time their kiss didn’t break for a long time. 



* * * 


“Bianca, wait up!” Blake yelled and ran to catch up with the brunette. Over the past few weeks he’d really fallen for her and now he hoped he could convince her he was worthy of being with her. Someone like Bianca shouldn’t have to be without a boyfriend and Blake thought himself the perfect guy for the job.  

Bianca watched as Blake came closer and sighed. It seemed the guy just wouldn’t take a hint. She’d been trying to ignore him and spent most her time with Greenlee, who she knew Blake couldn’t stand to be around. But yet, here he was, chasing after her to walk back to their camp from their lagoon. Bianca realized this was as good a time as any to clue him in and hopefully he’d get it this time. 

“Hey Bianca, what’s up?” Blake smiled at her as he finally caught up and the girl smiled back uncomfortably.  

“Not much, I’m sure you’ve noticed this island isn’t exactly bursting with fun activities.” 

Blake laughed a little too eagerly and Bianca rolled her eyes. He stopped laughing and stopped her with a hand on her arm, looking into her eyes deeply. “Well maybe you and I could go somewhere, you know, by ourselves. There’s a great spot to watch the stars from, we could talk and get to know each other better.” 

Bianca closed her eyes and shook her head with a sigh, “Listen Blake, you seem like a great guy, but…I’m just not interested, okay? I’m sorry.” 

He looked at her, puzzled. “Why not? Are you with someone?” 

Running a hand across her forehead Bianca tried to find the right words, “Well, yeah I’m involved with someone from back home and that person means a lot to me. My heart belongs to someone else and it just wouldn’t be fair to you.” She hoped he’d take her answer for granted and leave her alone, but she never heard his reaction because of the voice that came from next to them. 

“You bitch,” Greenlee spat and turned, walking back into the brush next to their camp where she had come from. 

Bianca, too shocked to understand what had just happened, stood rooted to her spot. Then, suddenly, she realized Greenlee must’ve overheard her telling Blake about her ‘true love’ back home and she felt her heart drop. Shaking out of her reverie she ran after the other girl. 



* * * 


The church was filled with people, every last one of them here for Bianca. Erica closed her eyes and willed the tears away; she wasn’t willing to show her weakness in front of a room full of people. She stood and swallowed the lump in her throat before she spoke. “Thank you all so much for coming, Bianca would be happy to know that so many people loved her.” 

Erica’s speech washed over the mourners and although her voice hadn’t yet wavered, many could tell she was just barely holding back the tears. Flowers surrounded the casket that, since the airline had never found her body, was actually empty. A large picture of Bianca stood next to podium, it’d been taken only shortly before the plane crash. She was smiling softly, a smile that was infectious and her eyes were almost twinkling. For many people, this was exactly how they’d remember Bianca. 

The silence that had fallen over the church when Erica walked back over to Jack was broken again soon after. Maggie stood in front of the podium and, unlike Erica, she either wasn’t trying to hold her tears back or wasn’t doing a very good job of it. She cleared her throat and started speaking with a shaky voice. “Anyone who’s ever met Bianca will know that she was the greatest friend anyone could have. She was always there for her friends, no matter what the problem was. Her smile would brighten anyone’s day, no matter how bad it’d been, and everyone around her felt lucky just to have known her. Bianca, we all loved you so much and the void you left can never be filled. We will never forget you.” 

Maggie wiped the tears from her eyes and descended the stairs in front of the podium slowly. She placed the white rose she’d been holding in her hand on top of the casket and then walked back to her seat, still crying. 



* * * 


“Don’t touch me!” Greenlee yelled, yanking her arm back from Bianca’s hand as if she’d been burned. 

Bianca, feeling hopeless, reached out again and turned the other girl around to face her. “Greenlee stop! Just let me explain!” 

The older girl scoffed and stepped back, out of Bianca’s reach. “There’s nothing to explain. I understand perfectly well. Oh my god, I can’t believe I fell for it again! Am I just that easy to screw over? What is it about me that makes people think they can use me however it suits them? God, you’re just like Carlos.” 

Bianca winced at the comparison and tried not to let show how much that statement had hurt. They’d spent some time talking about Carlos and Greenlee had admitted how much his actions had actually hurt her, even if she hadn’t let anyone in on it at the time. Bianca was just about to reply, when Peter stepped in between them with a stern look. 

“What’s going on here?” he asked and Bianca almost growled at him in annoyance. If she didn’t talk this through with Greenlee now it’d probably be too late, and she didn’t want that to happen. 

“Nothing, Peter. Can’t you just leave us to talk?” she answered, hoping he’d take the hint, but no such luck.  

He turned to look at Greenlee and put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. Bianca was surprised at how quickly the jealousy rose up in her at his action and how badly it made her want to hurt him. 

“Greenlee, are you okay? Do you want Bianca to leave?” he questioned the older girl, now both his hands on Greenlee’s upper arms and Bianca couldn’t believe her ears. 

“Excuse me, don’t I have a say in this?” She was angry now; this whole situation had just gotten totally out of hand. Meanwhile even Blake, Amelia and Turtle had shown up, standing off to the side, watching in confusion. 

“I think you’ve done enough here, Bianca. Whatever you said to Greenlee, you had no right to and I think it’d be best if you went to cool off some,” Peter practically ordered her and Bianca’s mouth opened in disbelief. Who did he think he was?  

“Greenlee…” she tried, ignoring Peter completely, but the other girl only threw her an angry look, before Peter more pulled than lead her away, deeper into the forest. 

“Oh my god, I can’t believe he just did that!” Bianca yelled at no one in particular and turned to look at the other three people standing there, still looking dumbfounded. She watched Greenlee and Peter disappear into the thick brush and rubbed a hand across her forehead. This whole situation was nothing but a big mess and she wished she knew a way out. 

Bianca decided that she’d wait for Greenlee to return and then try to talk to her again, in private this time. Suddenly a piercing scream rang through the forest, followed by a few shouts and Bianca froze in shock. 

“Greenlee,” she whispered and before she knew it she was sprinting in the direction the screams had come from, followed closely by Blake.  
 




Chapter 7 

“Mr. Carter!” Mike shouted and for the first time since William Carter had met him the other man wasn’t perfectly composed. Which was why he turned around and left the elevator he’d just gotten in, wondering what could have his assistant in such a state. 

“Mike, what is it? Is everything alright?” he asked, walking towards his assistant and glanced at the clock on the wall. He had a press conference to attend, another one where he’d have to tell everyone they had no news. 

“Mr. Carter,” Mike panted and braced himself against the wall. He’d sprinted all the way over here from his office, where he’d just gotten off the phone. “Mark Black, the lead investigator on Flight 2133, just called. Sir, they’ve found something strange.” 

This caught Mr. Carter’s attention and he urged Mike to continue, leading the other man back towards his office. “What exactly did they find Mike?” 

“Sir, they say that the inflatable slide the plane comes equipped with is missing. First they thought it didn’t deploy, but it is no longer in the plane, so they assumed it’d gotten damaged and sank…” 

“And?” Mr. Carter could feel himself starting to get nervous. Maybe they’d finally get an answer what’d happened to those passengers and give everyone some peace about this. 

“Well, according to the crews on scene everything in the area was recovered and the investigators say they never even received even a tiny piece of the slide. Mr. Black informed me that they’re almost certain that it was detached from the plane by human hands.” 

William Carter blinked in astonishment and then let out the breath he was holding. “Mike, that’s amazing news. If the missing passengers were on that slide they could’ve drifted off somewhere. What did Mr. Black suggest our next course of action should be?” 

“According to Mr. Black they believe that the slide would retain enough buoyancy to still be visible by air even now. I also talked to McKenzie, who was heading the rescue effort at the crash site and he mentioned a medium sized island nearly a mile from the site. We believe the slide might’ve washed ashore there. It wasn’t included in the search area up to now, because we thought it too far, but maybe…” Mike trailed off, leaving his boss to make his own conclusions. 

Trying to take all the information, William Carter nodded slowly and turned to his assistant with a stern look. “Mike, call McKenzie and tell him I want him on the next Coast Guard ship on their way to the crash site and tell him to immediately dispatch two helicopters to search the area by air, and make sure they know to fly over that island!” 

Mike nodded and scurried off quickly. William Carter sank into his chair and sighed heavily, the press conference all but forgotten. 



* * * 


Her lungs burned with every breath she took. Branches and thorns on the brush she ran through left tiny cuts on her skin. More than once had she nearly tripped over a tree root or barely avoided some obstacle. But Bianca didn’t care. All she could think about was Greenlee, the scream she’d heard and the fight they’d had.  

Bianca generally wasn’t a very bold person, but the fear that had tightened around her heart at hearing her friend scream, edged her on. She knew Blake was behind her, she’d heard him take off after her shortly after she’d started running. Hoping that Turtle and Amelia were staying behind at camp, like Blake had shouted at them too when taking off, Bianca closed her eyes for a split-second, willing Greenlee to be okay. 

She was certain that whatever had taken Rachel, Joe, Father Abe and Jan now had Peter and Greenlee, and Bianca surely wasn’t going to let them get away with that. After all, she was her mother’s daughter and Erica Kane surely wouldn’t let some invisible monster mess with her.  

Totally engrossed in her thoughts, she jumped as a hand closed around her shoulder. Turning around she sighed in relief when she found Blake standing behind her. 

“Blake, what’re you doing?” 

“Uh following you, I thought. But Bianca, you’ve got to slow down. What do you think you’re going to do if you find them, huh? Something, or someone, obviously took them and we can’t fight anyone,” he explained and Bianca grimaced at the fact that he was actually right. 

“So, what do you suggest we do?” she asked, now feeling pretty stupid for just taking off. 

“I say we follow them slowly for now. They’re not covering their tracks; I doubt they expected anyone to follow them. Meanwhile we can catch our breaths and figure out what to do,” he grinned at her, obviously proud of his accomplishment and she smiled back warily. 

“Why are you helping me?” 

He shrugged and began walking at a brisk pace next to her. “Well, you might have a boyfriend, but that doesn’t mean I can’t prove myself worthy and make you fall for me.” 

Bianca suppressed a groan as he winked at her and almost told him she was gay. However, she decided against it, figuring that if he was helping her it was only in her best interest for him to think she was straight. They walked in silence, following the tracks left in the dirt by the kidnappers. 



* * * 


“Coast Guard One, this is Alpha Two, please come in,” the voice came over the speaker cracking and static-y, but still audible and Al McKenzie snapped up the microphone quickly. 

“Alpha Two this is Coast Guard One, what do you have?” He felt nervous, staring out at the vast ocean and hoping for some good news. For over two months now he had headed up the rescue effort for Flight 2133 and although they had done everything possible, ten passengers were still missing. It wasn’t that he thought them in danger, McKenzie knew there would be no survivors, but he prided himself in doing his job well and recovering all the bodies of crash victims for their families to have closure.  

He’d received the call just a few hours ago and had immediately called up the Coast Guard with the news. Although the crash site was far from any national borders and was located out in no-man’s land, since the plane, passengers and crew had been American the Coast Guard was directly involved in the recovery. The closest ship that was equipped to deal with the recover of crash victims, however, had been over a day away from the site and McKenzie had grudgingly taken a chopper to board the ship. At least the choppers he’d dispatched to look over the larger crash area were having more success than him, or so he hoped. 

“We’ve been flying rounds in the crash area, but found nothing. However, we just did a sweep over that island and saw something. We went to take a closer look, but the trees keep us from getting too low. From up here it looks like a big, yellow tent and there’s some smoke from a fire,” the man’s voice said over the speakers and McKenzie narrowed his eyes in confusion. 

“Alpha Two, you said a tent?” 

“Yes. Sir, on the side of it are the numbers 0693478.” 

McKenzie nearly dropped the microphone in his hand at hearing the pilot’s words. Those were the numbers of the crashed plane and he knew that for safety precautions the plane’s numbers were stenciled on all removable material. He knew, without a doubt, that this ‘yellow tent’ had to be the slide missing from Flight 2133.  

“Alpha Two, can you land on the island?” he asked, his voice shaky. The fact that the pilots had reported there being a fire made him wonder if somehow there had been survivors after all. 

“Negative sir, the brush is too thick. Rescue crews will have to come by boat.” 

“Alright, thank you Alpha Two, you can return to base. Over and out,” he said and immediately reached for the satellite phone. He had to call William Carter immediately. 



* * * 


She only barely managed to open her eyes, but when she did she wished she hadn’t. The stinging pain in her wrists told her they were tied up, behind her back. She tried to crane her neck to look around her, but the pain that shot up in her head at the action made her groan instead. 

“Greenlee,” came the soft voice from her side and she turned slowly, looking into Peter’s face. He sported a black eye and several small cuts on his face and was tied with his arms behind him around a large pole.  

“Peter, what happened?” she questioned and turned quickly as she saw movement out of the corner of her eyes. She couldn’t do anything but stare open-mouthed at the two men in front of her, one wearing a loincloth and a large headdress, the other nothing but a loincloth and a feather necklace. 

“They ambushed us and then brought us here. I think they’re preparing for some kind of ritual or something,” Peter mumbled as the headdress man advanced on them, yelling in a weird language. 

“Well, at least now we know what happened to the others,” Greenlee remarked, grimacing at the pain in her wrists and head. The restraints were tight around her wrists, leaving her no room to move and the grim look on the headdress man’s face made her afraid. 

As Greenlee looked around she realized they must be in a village, because of the dozens of huts that were built around the parameter of the circle they were in now. Within a few minutes plenty more people assembled around them, all dark-skinned and wearing weird feather costumes; it seemed the whole village was there.  

“Oh, this can’t be good,” she mumbled as the headdress man, who she figured was the chief, raised his hands and everyone fell quiet to listen to him speak. He repeatedly pointed in their direction and every time he did, the people all cheered. After a short while the people directed their attention towards the two poles Greenlee and Peter were tied to and they watched as several women walked towards them, bowls in their hands. 

Greenlee at first expected them to cut her open and take her heart or something equally disturbing, but the women just dipped their hands in the bowls and began drawing weird symbols on Greenlee’s and Peter’s bodies with a dark-red paste. When they finally stopped and walked back to the other villagers, they all fell to their knees and seemingly prayed to their two captives. Grimacing, Greenlee tried fervently to undo her restraints; she was getting extremely creeped out by the tribal people. 

Suddenly, three large men who looked like warriors were next to Peter, untying him. Greenlee watched, horrified, as they led him to a large stone slab in the middle of the circle and tied him to it. Somehow she had a feeling they weren’t planning a tea party and the thought of them doing something to Peter made her sick to her stomach. She struggled with the restraints, but they wouldn’t budge even an inch, only further cutting into her wrists.  

The tribal chief stood next to Peter, who was also trying to break his restraints to no avail. A warrior walked over and knelt in front of his chief, a large dagger in his hands that he was presenting. The chief nodded and took the dagger, speaking a few words in his language before raising the weapon high over his head. 

“Hey! What’re you doing? You bastards, let me go! Peter!” Greenlee screamed, but everyone in the village pointedly ignored her, instead watching their chief with the weapon. 

The chief in his headdress gripped the dagger tightly and with a swift stroke stabbed it downward, directly into his victim’s heart. Peter’s eyes bulged at the shock, but he was dead within a second, his body now hanging limply in the restraints. Greenlee watched the red blood drip from his chest onto the stone, feeling her stomach rebel at the sight.  

And the tribal people cheered. 
 




Chapter 8 

They both stopped in mid-stride upon hearing the scream, but once Bianca realized it was Greenlee, she almost started running again. Blake held her back and indicated for her to be silent. Quietly the two made their way through the brush and suddenly stood on the outer edge of what appeared to be a village. They stepped back some and crouched down low in the bushes, watching the commotion in the center.  

There were dozens of villagers standing in a large circle, cheering over something they couldn’t see. And then Bianca spotted the two poles off to the side of the circle, one empty but the other restraining her friend. This time though she remained on her spot and instead pointed towards it to show Blake. They saw Greenlee, twisting in her restraints, yelling at the people and Blake thought she’d surely gone mad now. One of the tribal warriors walked over to her and backhanded her across the face, effectively silencing the girl by knocking her unconscious.  

Bianca winced as she saw her friend take the hit, but even she knew they couldn’t charge into a village when dozens of people were standing right there. She sighed and sat on the dry soil, wondering how on earth they would be able to free anyone from there.  

“Blake, what’re we gonna do?” she asked, the hopelessness shining through her voice. 

He looked at her, at a loss for a solution and sat next to her. If he really had a say he wouldn’t have even chased after Greenlee in the first place, but he couldn’t let Bianca run to her own death. Blake didn’t care one bit if those tribal people took Greenlee apart and ate her for dinner, but he wasn’t going to let Bianca know that. After all, he wanted her to think highly of him and suggesting leaving her friend as a cannibalistic treat surely wouldn’t do that. 

“We’ll wait. There’s gotta be a time when no one’s running around watching her. They don’t seem very concerned with security, they’re probably the only tribe on the island and they’d never expect any of us to follow them. Maybe we can sneak them out at nighttime,” he suggested, referring to both Greenlee and Peter, although they hadn’t spotted the man yet. 

Bianca nodded slowly and watched her friend tied to the post. She wanted nothing more than to take Greenlee and get them both away from this stupid island, someplace they could be safe and, hopefully, together. 



* * * 


Al McKenzie stood, looking over the railing of the ship at the island that was drawing nearer. They’d nearly reached their destination and search crews were getting ready for deployment. He looked down at himself, wearing the same clothes as the other members of the team – a dark t-shirt that said ‘Search and Rescue’ on the back, black cargo pants and combat boots. He wondered why exactly they had to wear dark clothing in this heat, but he knew the outfit’s efficiency in dealing with thick brush and dangers such as snakes. 

The other team member’s voices drew him from his thoughts and he watched as they began lowering four small motorboats into the water. He followed them down into one of the boats and waited anxiously as they left the ship. The Coast Guard ship had anchored a little ways away from the island, but they crossed the remaining space in only a few minutes and approximately forty men and women in dark clothing landed on the beach. McKenzie, as the leader of the team, was supposed to give the orders to split the teams into smaller search units. 

He immediately spotted what the chopper pilots had referred to as a ‘yellow tent’ and walked towards it, followed by a few of his team members. As he had suspected, it was definitely the inflatable slide from the plane, cut up and hung over a long branch to provide cover. A circle of small stones was set up a few paces from the tent and had obviously been used as a fireplace. He looked around, hoping for some sign of life. 

He was just about to order the team to split up over his headset, when movement in the bushes off to the side caught his attention. With a quick hand-motion he alerted his team and they watched cautiously as the bushes were bent aside and two women stepped through onto the beach. McKenzie’s mouth dropped open upon seeing them, he’d been shown their pictures repeatedly over the past two months, and for a few seconds he was too stunned to say anything. 

Amelia and Turtle couldn’t believe their eyes and at first thought they’d finally gone crazy. But when several of the people clad in dark clothing came advancing towards them, they realized this was for real. Immediately there were people asking them questions and looking them over for injuries, never even leaving them a chance to fully take the situation in. 

McKenzie advanced on them, still completely shocked at the fact that they’d actually found survivors. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d found survivors. “Amelia Herzog and Rebecca Davis, correct?” 

When they nodded he smiled at them and introduced himself. It was truly a miracle and he was glad to have two less passengers missing, maybe these two even knew what had happened to the other eight. “Are you two the only ones here? Was there anyone else with you?” 

“Something took Greenlee and Peter, and Bianca and Blake went after them. You have to find them, whatever took them already took Rachel, Joe, Father Abe and Jan,” the younger girl replied in a shaky voice and McKenzie once again found himself speechless. Not only was she accounting for all other eight missing passengers, but also according to her there were more survivors.  

In somewhat of a daze he ordered someone to take the two women to the ship immediately and then, over his headset, informed the rest of his team that they’d be splitting up. They had to find the other survivors before it was too late. McKenzie had heard of weird tribal villages built on some of these deserted islands and he doubted that if they were kidnapping intruders of the island they had very good intentions. And McKenzie refused to let any more survivors slip from his grasp. 

They set out into the forest immediately, searching with a fervor he hadn’t felt in a long time. 



* * * 


Bianca’s legs were asleep and she felt stiff all over from sitting on the ground for so long. But unfortunately for them the village people had had no intentions of leaving Greenlee unattended long enough for a rescue mission. The sun was going to set soon and already there was a purple glow to the sky. At least it was less hot and humid, the air having cooled off some. She flicked a pesky ant off her leg and looked over at her companion. 

Blake was sitting next to her, his face unreadable. He was twiddling a crooked stick with a very sharp stone he’d taken from camp and Bianca wished he’d stop. She was nervous beyond words, knowing that any minute now they could be running into the middle of a very dangerous situation, but she also knew that she could never live with herself if she didn’t try to rescue her friends. 

“Hey, look,” Blake suddenly whispered and nudged her, pointing at the village circle. In the middle of the village had assembled what appeared to be most of the village’s young men, all dressed in feathers, carrying all kinds of weapons.  

“Looks like they’re going hunting,” Bianca remarked and watched as the young men set off, leaving the village nearly deserted. 

“This is our chance,” the blonde man nodded towards the village and Bianca felt her chest constrict in fear. It did indeed seem that with the departure of the warriors and hunters the village was completely empty. On top of that, the sun had set far enough for them to be able to hide in the shadows. The post Greenlee was tied to was less than a hundred feet from them, but they had no idea were Peter was being held. 

Blake got up onto his knees and then stood, crouching still to avoid being seen. Bianca stretched her legs awkwardly and followed suit. Throwing another glance at the now empty village, they both set foot into the lion’s den. When no alarms sounded as they stepped further into the village, they both relaxed slightly and quickly hurried over to the pole.  

It was then that they saw the stone slab in the middle of the village and if she hadn’t been so deeply afraid Bianca would have thrown up at the sight of the dead body tied to it. First she almost ran over, just to make sure he wasn’t really dead, but Blake stopped her and shook his head. They were in the middle of the village, hiding in the shadows thrown by the trees and huts around them. When they finally reached the pole, Blake wasted no time in cutting Greenlee’s restraints and within a few seconds the older girl fell forward into Bianca.  

“Bianca?” Greenlee croaked, feeling like the whole island was swaying and spinning around her. 

“Greenlee, come on, we’ve got to get out of here,” Bianca whispered urgently, her heart hammering so loudly in her chest she thought the villagers would surely hear, and threw a concerned glance at Blake. He nodded at her and started running back towards the forest, followed closely by Bianca who was pulling on the other girl’s arm.  

Sprinting from where the pole was into the forest really should’ve taken only a few seconds, but for Bianca it not only seemed like forever, she was also afraid it was going to be never. As she was moving along, trying to pull her friend by her arm, she felt resistance and turned to find Greenlee rooted to the spot, looking extremely pale, before she sank to her knees. Bianca tried to pull her back up onto her feet, but the older girl only fell forward onto her hands and threw up what little food they’d eaten in the past months. Bianca watched in horror; she had never been so afraid of her life as at that moment, the edge of the forest almost within reach, but yet so far away.  

“Blake!” she yelled in her desperation and Bianca knelt down next to Greenlee, who was still retching on all fours, now shaking vigorously.  

“Greenlee, please get up, I’m sorry about what happened, but please, you’ve got to get up, now!” Bianca pleaded, her voice shaking in fear and she angrily wiped the tears from her eyes that she hadn’t even known where there. Tilting Greenlee’s head towards her, she looked into the older girl’s eyes and was taken aback at the fact that one of Greenlee’s pupils was completely enlarged and the other no bigger than a pinhead.  

Before she had a chance to further contemplate, Blake was next to her and picked Greenlee up, yelling at her to follow. Bianca jumped up and was about to run into the forest as well, when she heard a commotion behind her. Not hesitating a second, she rushed into the bushes along with Blake, trying to ignore the shouts of the villagers that had noticed them escaping.  



* * * 


They’d been running for several minutes now and Bianca knew Blake was getting tired. The village was far behind them and so far it didn’t seem like anyone was catching up to them, so Bianca slowed to a stop, panting, and stopped Blake as well. 

“We can just…take a breather for a few, okay?” she managed to squeeze out between deep breaths and although he looked doubtful, he dropped to his knees, lowering Greenlee to the ground.  

“What’s wrong with her?” Bianca asked, leaning over the other girl who was now unconscious.  

“Probably a concussion. She’s gotten hit over the head enough times in the past months,” he sighed, knowing that her lack of consciousness meant he’d have to continue carrying her. It was a situation he definitely detested. 

“Alright…we should probably get going. If those villagers are following us, they’re gonna catch up. How about we both try carrying her so you don’t have to do all the work,” she suggested and they stood, each pulling one of Greenlee’s arms over their shoulder, one of their own holding her up around the waist.  

Moving with a lifeless body between them was definitely more difficult and they had no idea how far they still were from their camp. Not to mention the fact that the villagers knew where their camp was and could probably easily beat them there. The utter hopelessness of the situation had settled over both of them and neither knew exactly what to do next. Foremost on Bianca’s mind was getting Greenlee to safety and making sure her friend was alright; she’d never forgive herself if the other girl wasn’t okay. After all it had been her own stupidity that had sent Greenlee into the forest with Peter. And the thought of the dead man tied to the stone slab brought fresh tears to her eyes. Bianca doubted she’d ever be able to erase the image of seeing his dead body.  

Shaking her head to erase the frightening images she unconsciously tightened her hold around Greenlee’s waist. They were advancing on a large bush that was several feet long and, remembering they’d come through it on their way to the village, she indicated to Blake the direction. The branches were thick and the two fought their way through it, coming through on the other side only to stop dead in their tracks.  

In front of them were at least ten people in military type clothing, speaking through headsets to each other. Within seconds the people were upon them, taking Greenlee from their arms and Bianca sank to her knees as the relief washed over her, tears streaming down her face. 
 




Chapter 9 

“We interrupt this broadcast for a special live update. Just a few hours ago an unannounced rescue mission was launched to the crash site of Flight 2133 and according to US Airways a recovery of some of the missing passengers has been made. However, it is yet unclear if the rumors about there being survivors are in fact true and both US Airways and the United States Coast Guard refuse to release the names of those passengers they have recovered. We’ll now go live to Miami, Fl, where our associate Michelle Davenport is waiting at Mercy hospital…Michelle.” 

Jack dropped the files he’d been holding and rushed over to the TV in the corner of his office. Nowadays anything containing the words ‘Flight 2133’ set him off, dredging up his grief anew. But this time it was different, this time someone promised actual news and he quickly turned up the volume. He considered picking up the phone to call Erica, but if this was just another fluke he didn’t want her disappointed. They’d just barely learned to deal with Bianca’s death and Jack didn’t think it wise to get his fiancée all riled up for nothing. He redirected his attention to the reporter on the screen, who stood surrounded by dozens of other news-crews, trying to hold her hair down in the wind. 

“Thank you Cindy. We are here at Mercy hospital in Miami, Fl, because of a tip that told us this was where the Coast Guard would be bringing the recovered passengers. There has been some talk of there being survivors, but no one has been able to confirm or deny this as of yet. US Airways has refused to comment and they have not released the names of any of the supposedly recovered passengers. Cindy, it looks as if the Coast Guard chopper we were tipped off about is finally arriving. We’ll try to get closer and give you a better view of things, as you can see it’s a big chaos up here.” 

Jackson gripped the edge of the desk he was sitting on tightly. Survivors? He feared that this was nothing but a rumor, mainly to keep people interested and Jack felt sick at the exploitation of such a tragedy. However, his thoughts were interrupted at the roar of the chopper that had just landed on screen and he watched, in agony, as the cameraman pushed his way closer to the front of the crowd. Suddenly there were several people in dark clothes pushing the crowd back and others leading two people by the arms into the hospital. The two had jackets thrown over their heads, for privacy he suspected, and were quickly hurried into the building. But it had been enough for everyone to clearly see that the rumors about survivors weren’t made up.  

He felt nauseous, the anxiety was twisting within him and Jack wished he had some water nearby, since he refused to get up and possibly miss something. “What we just saw were two survivors of Flight 2133, recovered during a secret rescue mission earlier this morning. We are live from Miami, Fl and you are watching K…” 

The rest of the woman’s sentence was drowned out by another chopper that landed shortly after the first one took off and Jack felt his heart rate speed up. The dark-clothed rescue workers were still holding back the crowd of reporters and Jack watched as one of them led a tall man, who was only barely covering his face with his shirt, into the hospital. They were followed by two men hurriedly carrying a stretcher, the person on it covered from head to toe with a white sheet, and Jack felt queasy again. Then suddenly the wind picked up and lifted the sheet off the person’s face, causing several of the photographers to start taking pictures, but Jack was too shocked to care. Even though the camera angle wasn’t the best, he could clearly see Greenlee Smythe on the stretcher and to his horror she looked very dead. Following the stretcher was another rescue worker, covering another person’s body and practically carrying her into the hospital.  

The barrage of reporters followed to the entrance, where they were held back by police. Jack picked up the phone with shaky hands to call Erica. 



* * * 


The doctor poked and prodded her and Bianca felt like she was someone’s prize turkey on display. She was getting sick of it, sick of everyone treating her like she was going to break, yet ignoring her when she asked questions. After the rescue crews had found them in the forest they’d been taken back to the Coast Guard ship and immediately examined by medical crews. Then they’d spent the next ten hours giving statements about what had happened and trying to catch some sleep, which of course was impossible. But the only time Bianca had gotten to see Greenlee during the past twelve hours had been the ten minutes on the chopper, and even then the flight medics had been all over the other girl, doing God knows what.  

“I want to see my friend, is that so hard to understand?” she asked, her voice taking on an angry tone. Then suddenly a realization hit her, what if Greenlee was dead and that was why they weren’t telling her anything? She must have paled visibly, because the doctor put a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes, trying to reassure her. 

“Miss, right now everything that’s going on is unofficial, so I legally cannot give you any information. But let me tell you, I personally examined her and I’m sure you two will get to talk as soon as everything is cleared up,” he told her and winked at his last statement, before leaving the room.  

Bianca visibly exhaled, at least according to the doctor Greenlee would be all right. Everything was too much to take in; the tribal village, Peter dead, being rescued and brought here, Bianca shook her head in frustration. They hadn’t even been told where they were, besides that this was a hospital somewhere on the mainland. An orderly led Bianca to a conference-type room and told her to stay there, which of course did nothing to ease her mood. 

She stepped inside and, to her relief, was greeted by the smiling faces of Turtle, Amelia and Blake. They all hugged, and although Bianca wasn’t all that fond of Amelia, at least she was a familiar face in all this chaos. Finding some snack food on a table to the side of the room, she helped herself to some water and sat down in one of the chairs. It was then that the door opened and a tall man in a business suit stepped through, followed by a shorter man and a woman, both also dressed business-like. The tall man walked into the room, and then shook each of their hands with fervor. 

“My name is William Carter, I am the president of US Airways. You all have no idea how glad I am to be able to shake each of your hands, this is a very remarkable day,” he announced and sat at one of the chairs. 

“Mr. Carter, what’s going on here?” Bianca questioned and he smiled at her, then nodded. 

“Miss Montgomery, correct? Well, at the moment everything is still unofficial, we haven’t released anyone’s name or medical condition. Right now this whole situation is a bit messy, especially since all of you had already been declared dead. This was of course necessary for insurance issues and whatnot; right now we are working on having all that cleared up, then we will notify your families and you all will be returned to your respective hometowns. Any questions?” 

“Are you saying that right now we’re all like…dead?” Turtle asked and when Mr. Carter nodded the girl laughed. “Cool. Does that mean I don’t have to go to school anymore?”  

Everyone decided to ignore her comment and instead Mr. Carter turned to Bianca. “Miss Montgomery, you and Miss Smythe will be transported by Med Flight to Pine Valley, as soon as she is cleared for transport. Your mother has made the past three months quite uh…intense, for me and I would hate to leave her waiting any longer.” 

“My mother? Uh oh, what’d she do?” Bianca wondered aloud, hoping Erica Kane hadn’t turned into the incredible Hulk or something. 

“Not to worry,” Mr. Carter responded, “she is a very powerful woman, who obviously loves her daughter very much. I’m only happy that I can return you to her. Now, I’ve got to get going, but it was a pleasure meeting you all. I will have flights home arranged for the rest of you in just a short time. Miss Montgomery, your flight will leave in about thirty minutes.” 

With that William Carter left the room, in a better mood than he had been in for three months. Bianca stared after him for a few seconds, but then the realization sunk in. She was going home and everything was going to be okay again. She had no power to stop the tears that came. 



* * * 


Erica Kane practically jumped out off the passenger seat and ran into the hospital as fast as she could in her heels, which of course wasn’t all that fast and allowed plenty of time for Jack to catch up with her.  

“Erica, honey, slow down,” he voiced from behind her and she turned to him with a disapproving look, nevertheless slowing down a bit. 

“Well, excuse me for wanting to know what is going on here, Jack. This is about Bianca, how can you tell me to slow down?” Erica shook her head and swiftly walked through the double doors into the Pine Valley hospital, followed closely by her fiancé. 

“Of course, dear. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up if we’re only here to identify a body,” he explained, but immediately cringed at his choice of words and the look he received from Erica. 

“Jack…” she exclaimed, but was interrupted by a tall man in dark clothing, like the ones that had held the reporters back on TV.  

The man extended his hand to both of them and nodded, “Miss Kane, nice to meet you. My name is Al McKenzie; I’m the head of the Search-and-Rescue team that was heading up this mission. Here, let’s sit down.” 

McKenzie was here on orders of Mr. Carter himself, to make sure Erica Kane did not give them any more hell. He’d accompanied the two girls on the Med Flight and made sure they arrived at Pine Valley hospital without any problems. Bianca Montgomery was still in with doctors, for what was probably her fiftieth check-up in the past fifteen hours and it was on him to appease her mother until everything was settled.  

“Mr. McKenzie, we’d like to know what’s going on here. First the newscast, then we get an ominous phone call from the airline that only told us to come here for further information…” Jack said as he sat in one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs, next to Erica. 

“Of course, Mr. Montgomery, I understand your frustrations. However, at this moment I’m not at liberty to disclose any information, I’m sure you as DA are aware of the legal issues involved in this. All I can tell you right now is that all ten of the missing passengers are accounted for. And yes, it is true that we were able to recover some survivors, but like I said, I cannot discuss that at this moment,” McKenzie explained, slightly afraid of the feral look that crossed Erica Kane’s face. He was sure she was going to attack him any second, but luckily his phone rang and he excused himself. On the other end, William Carter finally gave him the news he’d been waiting for and McKenzie hung up with a smile. 

“Miss Kane, Mr. Montgomery, I think you’ll finally be able to get your answers. If you’d follow me this way please,” he said, standing up and lead the way down a corridor to their sides. He hadn’t wanted any reporters to find out about the girls just yet and therefore had practically closed of a small section of the hospital to anyone who wasn’t hospital personnel or family.  

He led the two along the corridor and through a set of double doors, into an empty waiting room. On a sofa in the corner of the room a brunette girl in scrubs way too big for her was sitting, her head resting on the back as if she were asleep. He let Erica Kane and her fiancé pass him and step into the room, watching as they both stopped dead in their tracks. 

“Bianca?” 



* * * 


“Bianca?” 

Sleep had barely graced her with its presence and she was starting to get annoyed with people not leaving her alone. Bianca blinked her eyes open and sat up, looking around the room for the intruder. But what she saw made her freeze on the spot. 

“Mom?” she whispered, thinking she was starting to hallucinate. But when the older woman let out a sob, Bianca jumped up and was enveloped in her mother’s arms within seconds. They sank to their knees, holding onto each other as tightly as humanly possible, sobbing. 

“Oh my god, Bianca…they said you were dead, but I…I didn’t believe them. Oh my sweet baby, I can’t believe it…I missed you so much…these past months were the darkest in my life…oh Bianca…I love you so much, honey,” Erica managed to squeeze out between sobs, this time not caring who saw her tears and who might think her weak. All that mattered was that she had her daughter back, that Bianca had returned to her.  

“Mom…I didn’t think I’d ever see you again…or Uncle Jack…I was so scared,” Bianca cried, not bothering to wipe away the tears that wouldn’t stop coming. For three months had she dreamed of this, of seeing her family again and telling them how much she loved them. 

They stayed like that for several minutes, neither woman wanting to let go in fear that the other might vanish as soon as they did. But when they both felt a hand on their shoulder, they looked up at Jackson, who smiled weakly, tears in his own eyes. Erica and Bianca stood, reluctantly letting go of each other and Jackson wrapped his arms around his niece, his eyes locked with his fiancée’s.  

“Bianca,” was all he managed to choke out, the tears now cascading down his face as well. He had never felt relief such as this, as he had when they had walked into the room and seen Bianca, alive. The only sounds in the room were the tears and quiet whimpers of the three occupants as they held each other, none of them wanting to destroy the silence that lay so calming over them. But eventually a knock on the door disturbed them and they all hesitantly pulled away from each other, however remaining close in each other’s personal space. 

“I’m sorry to disturb you, but I thought I would let you know that Bianca has been cleared and she is free to go home, as soon as you sign these papers,” McKenzie stated, handing them a clipboard and a pen. Bianca nodded, looking at her mother and uncle, who both still had tears in their eyes and quickly signed the release form. But something still felt missing and she turned to McKenzie, hoping she wasn’t going to alienate her mother with her next question. 

“Uh, I was just wondering…is it okay if I see Greenlee now? I just wanna make sure she’s okay, no one’s been able to tell me,” she asked quietly and turned to glance at her mom, who only smiled and nodded. Of course, Erica wanted nothing more than to take her little girl home, but she also realized that she needed to allow Bianca her freedoms; Erica didn’t want Bianca to be unhappy ever again, and if that included being friendly with Greenlee, well she was going to try and swallow the bitter pill.  

“Go ahead, honey. Your uncle Jack and I will fill out all your papers and wait for you here, okay?” Erica said, hugging her surprised daughter one last time before the girl followed McKenzie out into the corridor. 

“Wow, honey, I didn’t think you’d be too happy about that,” Jack wondered and handed Erica the clipboard. 

“I might not like Greenlee Smythe, but I love my daughter very much. I’m too happy to have her back to alienate her by being upset over her choice of friends. Oh Jack, I still can’t believe she’s back,” the woman exclaimed, a bright smile like he hadn’t seen in months on her face and the two of them went to check out Bianca, wanting to take her home as soon as possible. 



* * * 


“She’s in Room 103, right through that door. Don’t stay too long, she needs her rest,” McKenzie explained and pointed towards a door. Bianca thanked him and the man left, leaving only her and a few nurses in the otherwise empty corridor. She advanced on the door, slightly nervous now. They hadn’t really been able to talk after their fight, because Greenlee had been pretty much unconscious since their rescue, even on their flight back home. Bianca wanted to find the right words to explain what she had told Blake, but she couldn’t come up with anything that didn’t sound like a bad excuse. 

Sighing, she decided she better get this over with, when a familiar voice called her name. Bianca turned around and was immediately enveloped in a tight hug. Closing her eyes she inhaled the familiar scent and looked up into the other person’s face. 

“L-lena, oh my god, what’re you doing here?” she asked, a smile spreading across her face.  

“I came to see you. I heard on the news that they had found you and I had to come as quick as possible to see with my own eyes. Oh Bianca, I do not want this to be a dream; you are real, yes?” Lena asked, her hand cupping Bianca’s cheek, her eyes teary. 

“Of course I’m real. Just a little shocked is all; it’s been very chaotic, the past few hours. I’m still trying to take it all in. But yes, I am real, all flesh and blood,” Bianca laughed, holding onto Lena’s waist. She felt comforted, the normality and familiarity of the situation had a calming effect on her frazzled nerves. But truth be told, in the past three months she’d hardly thought of Lena, there hadn’t exactly been time or occasion to. Now, however, everything was slowly coming back to her and she felt herself respond automatically to the touches and smiles. 

“I will have to see for myself,” Lena responded and leaned down, slowly bringing their lips together in a sweet kiss. Bianca tilted her head upwards, her body responding to the kiss unconsciously. 

Too engrossed in each other, neither woman noticed the brown eyes that were locked on them, watching the kiss intently. Greenlee leaned against the doorframe to her room, resting her head against the cold wood and cursed the tear that slowly made its way down her cheek. Then she cursed herself for letting herself fall for someone again who only intended to use her. She watched Bianca and Lena kiss, like some morbid, masochistic freak and then slowly turned around, walking back into her room. The door clicked shut quietly behind her and she looked around the room.  

“Time to go home,” she quietly decided and pulled her IV out with a grimace. Finding some old scrubs in a drawer she changed and quietly left her room, now cursing the pounding in her head.  

Neither Bianca nor Lena noticed the girl leaving the hospital, but both for different reasons. Lena because she was too engrossed and infatuated with Bianca, and Bianca because even though she was kissing Lena, the woman she supposedly loved, she couldn’t get the thoughts of Greenlee out of her head. 

Bianca pulled back and smiled uncomfortably at Lena. “I’m sorry Lena…I can’t…right now.” 

“Bianca, is something wrong? I was too forward…please, forgive me,” Lena quickly apologized and Bianca shook her head. 

“No, it’s okay, really. I’m just…kinda confused right now and everything’s still weird. I’ll call you okay?” And with that she turned around, walking toward Greenlee’s room with tears in her eyes.  

Everything had just gotten a whole lot more complicated. 
 



The End



Read the sequal The Monsters Under Our Bed!





Return to Author Index
Return to Title Index
Return to Pairing Index