Disclaimer: I own nothing. This goes for the whole story as I almost always forget to post a disclaimer. :p

Author's Note: I can't believe I'm writing for Flight 29 Down again after all this time but for some reason my obsession has popped back up full force. So this is a Melissa/Jackson story of sorts but it's really a collection of one shots. I know it was a kid show but I was always disappointed that they never got a really obvious romantic moment. So my idea for this series is to take a bunch of moments from the series that could have turned romantic and rewrite them so that they do. In this case it's pretty much the entire episode "Survival of the Fittest" but it could be a simple conversation or missing moment. If you have any idea for episodes or moments you'd like me to redo or insert something in to, please let me know in the reviews! The title is inspired by the song "Out of the Shade" by the Perishers and I highly encourage you to give it a listen!

Promises to Keep

"Hey, come with me," Jackson demanded anxiously giving the napping Eric's foot a kick for good measure.

"What? Where?" Eric moaned, rolling over lethargically.

Jackson had no patience for Eric's questions and he had to force himself to answer calmly when his first instinct was to simply drag the other boy to his feet.

"Look, Melissa's been gone for hours and I'm a little worried about her," He could hear his voice betraying just how inaccurate the whole "little" part of his statement was but he didn't much care in that moment.

One minute he and Melissa had been working peacefully on the beach and the next thanks to Taylor and Eric's little stunt she'd been tearing off in to the jungle. If it were any of the others he wouldn't have been all that concerned but dramatic displays weren't Melissa's style, not if they came at the expense of safety. She was obviously a sensitive girl and he had no trouble believing that she'd need to take off and get a little space after what amounted to having her innermost thoughts blasted for everyone to hear. He just didn't think she'd wander off by herself for hours when so much of the surrounding jungle was still a total mystery to them and the alternative…

Jackson tried to keep his mind from considering all of the thousands of horrible possible reasons that Melissa hadn't returned yet. It may have been Taylor and Eric's actions that had sent her running headfirst into danger but he was under no illusions about who she'd been trying to avoid when she took off. It had been her supposed feelings for him after all that had been mercilessly played on a loop over the sound system. He would let himself examine how the awkward announcement made him feel when things settled down but for the time being Jackson felt a weight of guilt for her distress, deserved or not.

"I'd love to, Chief, but I'm still burnt after almost dying yesterday," Eric retorted, stressing the word "dying" as though it should be instantly impressive.

Jackson forced himself to take a quick gulp of air in an attempt to calm himself before making his reply. He knew these rich kids were delusional but had this guy honestly already forgotten why he was still around at all?

"I'll go," Lex's bright voice interrupted Jackson's mental tirade as the kid ran up to join the conversation and the forming search party.

Jackson knew Lex was probably feeling guilty as well over his unwitting role in the tape broadcast. Jackson shook his head and glared at Eric again, undeterred. It seemed as though everyone on this beach was feeling guilty over the incident except the two people who were actually responsible for it.

"If it weren't for Melissa you would have died," Jackson snapped at Eric waiting for any sign of the gratitude he knew Eric had briefly shown Melissa the night before.

"Don't lay guilt on me," Eric argued, though something resembling remorse was starting to creep into his expression. "The camera was Taylor's idea."

Before Jackson could say anything else Taylor wandered in right on cue, a big grin on her face and one hand poised on her hip as though she were posing for a photo shoot rather than talking to her fellow castaways on a deserted beach.

"What was my idea?" She asked, giving Jackson an almost flirty smile.

Jackson gritted his teeth knowing that laying into these clueless brats wouldn't do anything to help find Melissa. Usually he was able to appreciate the humor afforded by their antics and attempts to avoid anything resembling work but this went way behind harmless laziness. It was true that sometimes he found Melissa's attempts to get him to open up annoying but her only real crime was caring too much what people thought about her, a weakness these two had wasted no time in exploiting. As frustrating as he had found her inability to leave well enough alone at times, Jackson had to admit he'd found her innocence and flat out kindness to be incredibly refreshing after the people he was usually surrounded with back home. And now a perfectly nice girl was having all her trusting, kind nature driven out of her because of some stupid crush on him and that wasn't right.

"Ok," Jackson jabbed his finger in Taylor's direction before directing his best 'and you'll be sorry expression' at Eric. "If anything happens to Melissa it's on both of your heads."

Jackson spun on his heels and led Lex towards the jungle in the general direction that he thought Melissa had gone.

The two of them spent about an hour methodically checking different patches of jungle being careful to cover as much ground as deemed reasonably possible in each direction before returning to their starting point. Every few seconds they called out to Melissa pausing to listen for an answer that so far hadn't come.

Jackson was just beginning to feel a real sense of clawing panic in his chest when a rustling in the foliage ahead stopped him in his tracks. His hand shot out to grip Lex's shoulder and he put his finger up to his lips in a gesture indicating the boy should be quiet.

"Melissa?" Jackson called out hopefully, only to be disappointed when Eric and Taylor instead appeared before them.

"Taylor, Eric, what are you guys doing out here?" Lex asked, which was just as well as Jackson wasn't sure he would have been able to speak without betraying his extreme disappointment and growing anxiety.

"Taylor and I came looking for Melissa," Eric supplied, looking more than a little worse for the wear. "Look, I'm not a total jerk, man, but I'm still weak. I've got to get back."

Jackson gave him a slight nod and Eric started past him on the path back to camp. Jackson was about to take off again when he noticed that Taylor was following Eric in the opposite direction.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jackson demanded. "I thought you wanted to find Melissa!"

"Of course I do, but this is ridiculous!" Taylor exclaimed, waving her arms at the growth around her. "We're running around with no direction and she could be anywhere! Besides, she'll come back on her own. I bet she's already back at camp, someone should probably go and check. Don't worry, Jackson, I'm on it."

With that Taylor turned and sauntered off towards the beach leaving Jackson and Lex staring after her in equal parts shock and anger.

"I can't believe she just…" Lex started but Jackson cut him off quickly.

"Let's just get going," He sighed. "Melissa's still out there and we're burning daylight."

They hadn't been searching much longer when the jungle around them began to thin out and the ground began to slope upwards. Jackson and Lex were both breathing heavily a few minutes later when they broke free of the jungle and began climbing what appeared to be a steep hill. About halfway up it became apparent that they were actually surrounded by mountains and the view would have been spectacular under more pleasant circumstances. As things were Jackson had no eyes for the view and crested the hill with single-minded determination to find Melissa and bring her back to camp.

He wasn't sure exactly what he was going to say once he saw her. He wished that simply telling her not to be embarrassed would make her feel better but he doubted it would. Besides who was he to tell her not to be embarrassed when her most private thoughts had been broadcast for all to hear? He was embarrassed and the tape was only related to him not ripped from his own diary.

Part of him wanted to tell Melissa how flattered he was that she cared about him but he wasn't sure if that would be encouraging her crush or not. Did he want to encourage it? He had no idea, honestly. He didn't have any experience with girls like Melissa, girls who were sensitive and innocent and everything he had a habit of screwing up. He knew he appreciated and relied on her kindness and unsolicited friendship but did that mean that he liked her?

If he weren't on this island he probably would have been able to figure it out. Then again if he weren't on this island Melissa probably wouldn't have liked him at all. Either way being on the island meant that even if he decided he wanted to he could never act on liking someone, not when they would all be trapped here for God knows how long. The term "bad breakup" would take on a whole new meaning if someone tried and failed to have a relationship with one of the only six other people they were likely to see until rescue.

"Why am I worrying about this?" Jackson thought angrily. "Just focus on finding her and worry about the rest later."

"Wow," Jackson was startled out of his thoughts by Lex's exclamation and looked around for the source of the boy's surprise.

He spotted it quickly and his heart leapt into his throat leaving him feeling choked and sick.

A shirt he was pretty sure belonged to Melissa was sitting in the dirt near the edge of what appeared to be a sheer drop off from a cliff down into a gaping ravine. If she had gone over the edge…

"Look, wait a minute, footprints," Jackson pointed out the prints he had just spotted leading towards the edge exactly where he didn't want them to go.

Without pausing to think of a better strategy Jackson simply charged forward both eager to get a look over the edge and dreading what he might see.

"Melissa!" He shouted, his voice sounding desperate to his own ears.

"I'm down here!" The reply came almost immediately but it was so faint that at first Jackson thought he was imagining it, then it came again. "Be careful! The edge isn't safe!"

Jackson took what felt like his first deep breath in hours. The voice was faint and sounded raspy from overuse but it was Melissa and she was alive. It took him a second but her advice sunk in as well and Jackson took a careful step backwards before sliding forward on his stomach to keep as much weight as possible away from the edge.

"Are you alright? Are you safe?" He called down to her, willing the answer to be yes.

He needed to get back to camp and get something to help get her up, but if the answer was no he wasn't sure what he'd do. He had a sneaking suspicion it would be something incredibly stupid like try to climb down and get her himself, rope or not.

"I'm ok," She called back, pausing for a moment before repeating her earlier warning to him. "Be careful!"

Jackson shook his head, a small smile making its way on to his still panic stricken face. Leave it to Melissa to be worried about everyone else when her life was clearly in danger.

"Hey, we're going to get you up," He called down to her his tone confident and not betraying just how hard he thought that might prove to be, especially when the we in question was him and Lex.

Jackson turned to his young companion who had by this time crawled up beside him on his stomach.

"You stay here, I'm going to go get the rope," Jackson informed him already springing to his feet, turning back only long enough to caution Lex. "Do not go near the edge."

As soon as Lex had nodded Jackson was sprinting off towards camp, careening down the hill and back in to the jungle. He had to force himself to slow down slightly several times as he navigated uneven ground and dense trees. Every second wasted on caution was driving him crazy but he knew that if he tripped and broke an ankle he would be no good to Melissa.

Finally after what seemed like forever he crashed in to camp, glancing around quickly he didn't see anyone he could bring back to help him. He thought he might have passed Daley and Nathan at one point in the jungle but he hadn't heard them shouting until he was already past them and had no intention of going back to find out. As for Taylor she was in the ocean splashing around lazily and by the time he waited for her to come out and dry off he would have wasted more time than her lackluster help was likely to be worth. He assumed Eric was sleeping in one of the tents but he didn't pause to find out that either.

Instead Jackson raced to the plane, dug the rope out of one of the supply bags Melissa had been organizing just yesterday and took off back in the direction he had just come from.

This time he had to admit his progress was even slower and it wasn't just because of the hazardous terrain. He had been traipsing around the jungle for the better part of the day and this was his second full out sprint in less than an hour. Ignoring the burning in his side, Jackson pushed forward at the same pace as he reached the bottom of the hill.

As tired as he was he knew Melissa was likely to be in worse shape and he wanted her back up here beside him where he could reassure himself that she wasn't seriously hurt.

Finally cresting the hill, Jackson came to a clumsy stop beside Lex, allowing himself a couple of panting breathes before he called out to Melissa.

"Ok, tie this under your arms and we'll pull you up," He shouted, tossing an already looped rope down over the cliff face, hoping silently that it would be long enough to actually reach the girl stranded below. He also hoped that the cliff wasn't so sheer that she wouldn't be able to do a bit of climbing to help them out. He was decently convinced of his own strength and Lex was a determined kid, but if they had to pull her up as a dead weight they might have a problem.

Hoping it didn't come to that, Jackson put his end of the looped rope over his head and under his arms tightening it as much as he could. He knew well enough that making himself the counter weight wasn't his brightest idea and that if Melissa fell suddenly he might go over after her. There wasn't anything else available though and he had to give her the best chance that he could.

"You climb and we'll pull," He called down to her, feeling a slight tug as he assumed she hooked the rope around herself.

"Grab on," He told Lex, and the kid did as he was told. "Ok, we're good to go up here, are you ready?"

He waited for an answer to his question and when none came all of his former panic came rushing back in. He'd taken too long to get the rope, she'd fallen or she'd been more injured than she let on and passed out.

"Hey, you alright down there?" He called, waiting only about a second before he called out again. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," Her voice drifted up and Jackson felt his whole body relax. "I am now."

Jackson grinned back at Lex who returned his smile with enthusiasm.

"Ok, let's do this," Jackson shouted, running back a few paces so he and Lex could have more leverage. "Pull!"

Luckily it appeared that Melissa was able to climb because though it wasn't exactly easy they were able to pull her up fairly quickly. As she began to be visible over the edge, Jackson rushed forward to help pull her the rest of the way over on to safe ground.

It seemed like their strength gave out at the same moment because they both toppled to the ground immediately, a pile of exhausted limbs all that was visible to Lex.

Jackson allowed them both a moment to simply breathe before helped Melissa to a sitting position in front of him, examining her quickly for any obvious injuries. She appeared to be in one piece but there was a nasty scratch on her arm and another cut he didn't like the look on the side of her face. Without thinking about he reached out and brushed her hair out of her face in order to get a better look at the cut there that had left a trail of dried blood down her cheek.

"Are you ok? Did you hit your head?" He asked softly, only belatedly realizing how close his face was to hers.

Her eyes looked huge from this distance and the expression in them wasn't one that Jackson could easily read. It was changing too quickly from simple exhaustion to embarrassment to something else for him to get a grip on what she was truly feeling.

She nodded and he had no idea which question she was answering but it didn't much matter to him at the moment. If she was ok enough to answer him that was enough for him for now.

"I knew you'd find me," She murmured, looking down to avoid his gaze. "Thank you."

He didn't know what possessed him in that moment but he leaned forward and pressed his lips gently and briefly to the dirty patch of skin near her cut. It was probably leftover adrenaline from the whole situation but he didn't really care for the time being if this would make things weird or if he was leading her on when he couldn't be with her on the island. Because in this moment the important thing was that he knew he wanted to be with her. She was good, kind and hopeful and funny and right now covered in dirt and who knew what else she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"I guess…you're welcome?" He laughed at the pure absurdity of the situation and was relieved to hear her laugh as well.

He was so happy to hear the sound that he tugged her forward into a hug, burying his face in her neck and breathing in the scent of a very dirty, very sweaty, very much alive Melissa Wu. She gripped him back just as forcefully and the slight shaking of her shoulders let Jackson know that she was crying. He rubbed her back gently, knowing that it was probably just relief at this point and not any real distress.

"Is she ok?" Lex's anxious voice broke into his thoughts and Melissa pulled away much to his disappointment.

"I'm fine," Melissa answered, wiping at her face to remove the last traces of her tears. "Thanks to you guys. You're a hero, Lex."

Lex grinned and came forward to give Melissa a hug.

Jackson rose to his feet and then reached down to help Melissa up. He kept one of his hands wrapped around one of hers as they set off under the pretense of her legs being shaky from standing in one position so long. The truth was he wanted to keep touching her so that he could reassure himself that was ok, but so far no one had called him out on his obvious over protectiveness.

When they made it back to camp Nathan and Daley were back and were instantly at their sides fussing over Melissa. After making sure they had everything in the first aid kit they would need, Jackson turned her over to her friends care and returned to his project on the beach. He hated to let her out of his sight but he didn't want to freak her out by hovering. He knew he needed to give them both some space and try to get his thoughts in order. He didn't want to make things anymore confusing for Melissa on what had to go down in the record books as one of her worst days ever.

It was maybe an hour or so later that she appeared before him, surprising him out of his thoughts. She had put a sweatshirt on but the cut on her face at least already looked a lot less serious now that the dirt and blood had been washed away.

"Hi," She said quietly as he stood quickly.

"Oh, hey," He cursed himself for his less than smooth response as she looked away in embarrassment. "I uh, got something for you."

He reached into his shirt pocket and retrieved Melissa's tape, holding it out to her as an offering. He tried to make the whole thing into a joke to lesson her mortification. "You should probably keep that in a safe place."

If it was possible she looked even more horrified. "Oh, I will,"

"You should probably try to keep yourself in a safe place too," He offered, hoping she could hear the sincerity in his voice. "We need you around here, Mel. All of us, even if they don't always show it."

He was talking about Taylor and Eric but he was talking about himself too and he could only hope that she would pick up on that.

She managed to make eye contact with him again for a moment, but she didn't respond.

Jackson sighed. It was now or never.

"Listen, Mel, since we all have to live with each other here it would be kind of weird for any of us to get, you know." He felt like a five year old unable to talk about relationships without resorting to the term "cooties".

He could see how much she wanted to escape this conversation and in fact she was already turning away from him when she replied

"It's ok, please just forget that this happened. I'm so embarrassed. I know we're just friends."

She started down the beach in the opposite direction and Jackson's one prevailing thought was to keep her with him somehow.

"But maybe when we get back home, I could give you a call or something," He trailed off awkwardly but he was glad to see that he'd at least gotten her to stop walking away.

For a moment she simply stood facing the other way and he was sure he'd totally blown it. Then she spun to face him again and took a few steps forward before answering in what he was pretty sure was a falsely casual tone.

"Yeah, I'd like that,"

"And for now…" He trailed off, not fully sure what he was going to say or even if he wanted to say it. He's spent a lot of time pushing people away, secure in the knowledge that getting attached to someone was just giving them an opening to hurt you later. It didn't feel like that with Mel though.

"For now?" She echoed, shifting nervously from foot to foot in front of him, looking up at him searchingly with those eyes that usually saw right through him.

Making his decision Jackson leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead, pulling back quickly but leaving one hand brushing against her cheek.

"For now, be careful," He told her firmly. "I want you in one piece when I make that phone call, alright?"

She nodded, looking shocked but happy.

"Ok," Jackson took a deep breath and glanced around at his unfinished project. "Give me a hand here?"

His only answer from Melissa was a huge grin but it was the best answer he could have hoped for.

"Alright," He handed her a coconut and grabbed one for himself to add to the giant "HELP" pattern they were creating.

He wasn't sure when rescue was coming but he had faith that it would. For the first time in a long time Cody Jackson had a promise to keep and he didn't intend to break this one.