Hey, everyone! I'm back! And here's another Flight 29 Down story for all those watchers out there. Here you go!

F29D: A Second Chance

Jackson was out on the beach alone cracking open some coconuts with the hunting knife. He had been out there all morning. 'Something must be on his mind,' thought Daley as she washed more clothes in the bucket beside the plane they had pulled up from the shore. 'He's been acting like this all morning; sitting by himself and staring off into space... I wonder what's up.' Eric was coming around the corner with two large water jugs.

"Man, I don't know if I can take another day lugging this water from two freaking miles away," Eric said and dropped the water jugs by the fire next to Melissa. She was filtering the water and didn't seem to hear Eric, or just decided to ignore him for once. Eric stared at her and then rolled his eyes and went inside the plane to talk to Abby.

Abby was putting some more disinfectant on her wounds when Eric came over and said, "So what now?"

"What do you mean?" Abby looked at Eric through the corner of her eye. She knew what he meant, he had been annoying her ever since she had come back from the island's treacherous forest.

"When are we going to tell them that we are leaving to explore the island?" Eric said in a loud tone. Abby put her hand over his mouth to shut him up.

"Well, not yet, big mouth. Tonight... at supper... I have to go take care of some things first." Abby smiled a wicked smile and then stepped out of the plane. Eric curled his bottom lip with a smile and then chuckled to himself. He was about to lie down when Daley called for him to help her with more work. He huffed and then made his way outside.

Taylor was sitting on the beach by herself. She was so confused on what was going on between Jackson and her, and Jackson and Melissa. Was Melissa and Jackson together? Or was it her and Jackson? She didn't know and the thoughts of the past few days filled her mind and gave her a headache. She was so tired of all the drama and decided that the silent barrier between her and Mel had to end. She walked over to Mel, who was now alone at the campfire and stood behind her.

"It's going to seem like an eternity if we don't talk... you know that right?" Taylor said to Mel's back. Melissa didn't say anything at first and then stood up and turned toward Taylor.

"I'm not mad at you for liking Jackson..."

"... oh... then everything is okay?" Taylor said in a confused voice.

"I'm mad because you knew that I liked Jackson and that didn't stop you," and with that Melissa walked away from Taylor, leaving her baffled. Taylor couldn't take this anymore. What was so wrong about liking someone? She was mad at Melissa and then again she was sorry. Her feelings were confused, too.

Jackson was still at the shore cracking open coconuts and decided that the group needed some firewood. He walked into the wooded area and began picking up branches. Then, out of no where popped Abby. Jackson jumped at first then rolled his eyes and continued picking up small branches.

"Did I scare you?" Abby asked while walking behind Jackson. Jackson didn't answer and continued to gather firewood. Abby knew that he was trying to ignore her but she wouldn't stand for that. "You know... you're still the leader here."

"No, I gave that title and all that goes with it to Daley," Jackson said while bending over to pick up a branch.

"Yeah, you may have given her the title, but you're the one that everyone goes to... that everyone looks up to..." Abby said. Jackson knew she was planning something by the way she was talking and acting so he stopped walking and stared at her.

"What do you want?" Jackson asked in a serious tone.

Abby looked at him with cold serious eyes and said, "Maybe the question should be, what do YOU want?" Abby grinned and Jackson looked at her with questioning eyes. He knew she was up to something.

At supper time, Abby stood up infront of the others and announced that she was going to leave to search for Ian, Jory and Captain Russell. She had lost them in the last storm and had been searching for them ever since. Immediately everyone was telling her that it was a stupid idea, and that she'd only get hurt again. She had almost died twice out there on her own before. Eric then stood up infront of the arguing group and announced that he too, would be going off with Abby. Daley took this in a hurting way and thought that it was a stupid idea and that everyone should stay together. It was all working out and then Abby came along and started talking about what else was out there and what not. The group then voted, Daley asked them to, if it was a good idea to split up or stay together.

"Show of hands, who thinks that we should all stay together?" Daley said in a leader way. She looked around her to see that not one hand was up. She was breath taken. She couldn't believe that the group didn't want to stay together. Daley ran over to Mel, who was crying now, and asked, "Mel...? Why? Don't you think we were doing so well?" Mel couldn't say anything, she muffled her tears in her hands. Daley was getting red-eyed, so she ran over to Lex. "Lex, come on. Weren't we doing okay? We shouldn't split up right?" Lex didn't look at his sister's eyes and tried to hide his face under his hat. Daley ran over to Taylor and asked, "Come on! You know we were doing okay! We can do better, right!? We just need to stick together, right? Taylor!" Taylor was crying now. She was sobbing into her lap. Nathan had watery eyes, he wanted to tell Daley that they'd all stay together and it would be fine but he had to say it, "Daley, listen. If they want to go, they should go. We can't keep them here. We can't wait here forever." Daley was crying full force now and ran away from Nathan to Jackson, who was leaning against a tree. "Jackson! You were the leader, they all listen to you better than they have for me. Tell them this is wrong..." Jackson looked at Daley's face with a caring eyes and walked past her to join Eric and Abby.

"... I've decided... to go with Eric and Abby... I can't stay here any longer... it's just too much..." Jackson said and let his head fall so that he couldn't see Daley's crying face or Mel's or Taylor's. Nathan and Lex didn't know that Jackson would be going, and neither did the girls. This was all just a huge shock for them all. The tension in the air was too much for Daley who ran off into the woods to breath. She needed to get away from them all. She couldn't watch them walk away and leave. It was too much.

The three teens packed their backs and were just making sure they had all the necessary equipment when Nathan, Taylor and Lex came to say good-bye. Nathan watched as they packed their bags and when Eric stood up he met eye to eye with him and smile. "I'm gonna miss you man," Nathan said. Eric looked at him with soft eyes and then hugged his friend.

Taylor hugged Eric next and told him, "Come back soon, okay," through tears. Eric almost lost it there. He had seen Taylor complain and whine a lot, but never cry. That really got him. Lex was next and told Eric, "Take care, okay?" Eric gave the little man a hand shake and ruffled his hair. Abby waved to everyone through her tough exterior, and they waved back. Nathan then noticed an extra bag on the ground, "Who has two bags?" Eric started to walk over to Abby and said, "Oh... that isn't ours..." and he pointed behind Nathan. Taylor, Lex and Nathan looked behind themselves to see Mel coming over with teary eyes.

"I've decided to go..." Mel said in a weary voice. Taylor let out a sad and whiny, "Oh..."

"Are you sure, Mel?" Nathan asked holding her hand. They were good friends and now he was starting to get watery eyes again.

"No... but it feels right... I think I'm doing the right thing... ya know?" Mel said, crying now. "Could you tell Daley I said good-bye... I couldn't find her..."

The three sad friends agreed to tell Daley and hugged Mel before she went off to join Eric and Abby. Jackson came over to the three now. "Come on, don't be upset... we'll be back before you know it." Daley had just appeared around the corner crying to see her friends go off. "We'll follow the beach as much as we can, and then we'll start into the island. Don't worry though, we'll be fine and we'll see you soon... and if not... we'll see you later." Jackson smiled a real smile for once and walked off to join the other three waiting on the beach to go. Nathan, Daley, Lex and Taylor were crying as Jackson, Abby, Eric and Melissa started their journey. They would try their best to make it to the other side of the island, maybe find some help, a town. If they were lucky, they would find Ian, Jory and Captain Russell... but only if they were lucky.

I know, just the last episode in a wrap-up. I just wanted to refresh everyone's mind before I started the rest of my story. R&R. Much Love!