Hehehehe! New chapter already done! Boom roasted!

Anyways, I worked pretty hard on this chapter and I hope you all like it. I know I enjoyed writing it, so without further adieu,

ENJOY! :)

"Thinking"

"Speaking"

Chapter Two

Dani awoke to a strange knocking at her door. Groaning after realizing she had fallen asleep in her clothes she groggily sighed and got up to answer it. Not really caring what she looked like, and a little aggravated that she had been woken, she flung the door open and gave a small glare to the person standing idly behind it checking his watch.

The guy was decent looking, in fact he was rather cute, but had too much of a baby face for Dani's liking. The young man looked up at her with his crystalline eyes and gave a curt smile.

"Hello, my name is Gill, and I am the mayor's one and only son-"

Dani stopped listening after that and cocked her head at him.

"No way in hell is this Hamilton's kid. He looks nothing like him. I mean this kid's pretty good looking, a little too young looking for my taste, but still! Hamilton's son? As in chubby cuckoo Mayor Hamilton's son? Impossible."

Gill was waiting for a reply, but none came seeing as how Dani stood there with a blank stare as she tried to compensate the fact that Gill was, in fact, Mayor Hamilton's son. He cleared his throat, attempting to bring Dani's thoughts back to reality. She blinked a couple of times and gave an indistinct "Huh?" in reply. Gill could feel his anger boiling up slightly at the informality and simple reply from the girl who he actually found to be quite attractive.

"I asked you if you had met everyone on the island yet."

"Oh! No I haven't really had time yet, but I was thinking about doing that today."

Gill sighed and nodded, "Yes well, you should probably get started soon. Anyways, I work at the Town Hall if you need me; stop by and visit today when you find the time." He glanced back up at her, her beautiful hazel eyes stared back at him curiously. Oh how entranced he was by those cat like eyes, but he quickly cast it off and bid her goodbye. He then made his way back to his work, thinking of the newest island resident all the way.

Dani stared after Gill for a few moments before shrugging and closing her door.

She extended her arms high over her head and let out a long and loud yawn, stretching out the still sleepy muscles. She grabbed her suitcase and shuffled through it to find something to wear and grasped the first shirt and pair of leggings she could find, a lovely green tunic and brown leggings that seemingly matched her hazel colored eyes perfectly. Shuffling her feet to the small bathroom that was just big enough to fit a walk in shower, toilet, and small sink she began to undress. Once she reached the bathroom, she stared into the mirror and examined her naked form. She didn't think herself particularly beautiful, but she found herself to be decent at least. Her hips and full breasts were her most feminine features, though her overall appearance was a little boyish, but not in a super displeasing way or anything.

"Well," she began quietly, "I guess this is as good as it's going to get." She shrugged and smiled, not really caring that much. Slipping her shirt and leggings on quickly, she finished her business and stepped out of the bathroom, deciding to take a shower later.

She was hungry, but knew there would be nothing in the fridge, so she only stared at the fridge sadly for a few moments before grabbing her now mostly empty rucksack and heading out her door.

She didn't bother locking her door, figuring no one would steal anything in a place where there's a population of literally under fifty people. Dani reached into her rucksack and pulled out the map that Hamilton had given her.

"Hmmm," Dani muttered as she glanced over the map a few moments. Hamilton had even written her location in with a black marker so she would have a land mark of some sort. The closest area seemed to be the Ganache Mine District. Dani looked up from the map and surveyed her surroundings, noticing a small path just beyond her house with a little sign posted saying something about where it leads. She shoved the map back into her rucksack and made her way over to the small sign. It read in almost illegible faded words "Ganache Mine District." Dani smirked seeing as how she was already finding her way fairly well, and began a short trek through the pathway and to Ganache Mine District.

Coming out on the other side, Dani scanned the area and first noticed a thicket of trees where chopping sound were being made. Dani ultimately decided to investigate and shuffled over there. She hadn't even made it past the first couple of trees when she heard a yelp and a cry for help. Her eyes widened as she searched for the source of the pained cry. When she spotted what looked like a sneaker behind a bush, Dani hastily sprinted over to it. As she came closer and closer, a head full of dirty blonde hair that stuck out in every direction came into view. She rounded the bush and found a boy of about thirteen or fourteen clutching his right leg passionately. Small ripples of blood and a quickly forming bruise were evident under the ripped denim of his jeans and what looked to be a very heavy axe lied next to the boy. Dani leaned next to the boy and quickly examined his leg without touching it.

"What happened? Do you need help?" Dani rapidly spoke, not really giving the boy much time to reply. She was hurriedly trying to help him up so that they could get help, but it was too painful for the boy to stand even on his good leg. Dani was beginning to panic when the boy laid a hand on her shoulder and scrunched his face up into an expression of pain and grunted.

"What's wrong? How did this happen?" Dani began.

The boy groaned out and quietly spoke through shaky breaths, "I-I'm an apprentice at Dale's Carpentry, and I… I came out here to get some timber with my fellow apprentice Luke, but we got separated and I decided I'd be… fine on my own, but…this is a new axe, and I'm not used to it, so when I…lifted it, it was very heavy, but I ignored it and swung the axe anyway… but because it was so heavy, I lost my balance and…and landed on the axe-ah! Ow, it really hurts…"

The boy finished his explanation and moaned in pain once again as he struggled to keep his tears at bay, obviously thinking that "men" don't cry. Dani furrowed her eyebrows and stood, but before she could search for help, the boy grabbed her hand and stared at her, fear overtaking his features. Dani kneeled to him again and laid her hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"Don't worry," Dani stated, "I'm going to get help. I won't go far, but I need to find someone to help us, because I can't lift you on my own."

The boy, still frightened, nodded and released his hold on her hand. Dani glanced around and ran through the trees, searching for any source of human life when she heard some more chopping sounds coming from a particularly dense part of the woods. She sprinted towards the sound and found a guy who carried an axe and was chopping up pieces of lumber left and right. Dani assumed that this was Luke, the boy's fellow apprentice, and rushed over to him.

"Luke!" Dani yelled, hoping he was in fact the apprentice the boy had spoken of. The guy turned around quickly, his dark blue hair swishing slightly with the movement under his bandana. He stared at the good-looking young woman who was running toward him, her short brown hair swaying and her breaths coming out in short puffs.

"Um," he began, "Do I know y-"

He was interrupted when Dani cried out, "You're-you're fellow apprentice, the young boy-he's been hurt, he needs help! Please, you've got to help him!"

Luke's eyebrows furrowed deeply as he stared at the girl and asked quietly to himself, "Bo?" His eyes alighted with a burning fire and he looked around the trees.

"Where is he?"

Dani quickly grasped Luke's hand and ran with him back to the spot Bo was at. At first sight of the wound the younger guy had obtained, Luke furiously tore off his bandana and wrapped Bo's leg tightly. Bo yelped at the feeling and grimaced at the throbbing sensation his leg was feeling. He felt as if his leg had been sawn off and his heart was about to explode with fear and panic.

Luke swiftly, but as gently as possible, placed an arm around Bo's shoulders and the other under his legs and lifted him off the ground. Bo screamed in agony and Dani grimaced at the sound. Bo had given up his attempt at not crying and was now sobbing at the pain radiating through his leg.

Luke glanced at Dani and nodded before running as gently as possible through the trees. Dani followed as quickly as possible, struggling to keep up with him. They were out of the woods within seconds and on the way to Dale's Carpentry. Dani hadn't even noticed the rather large building beforehand, but she paid no mind, only worrying about the younger guy.

"I hope he'll be okay."

Before she knew it they were inside the building. Everything happened so quickly, there was a flurry of Luke and an older man running around gathering things to help Bo, Luke calling the doctor, and Dani sitting by Bo's side as he lay on a bed trying to keep him calm.

It was all over soon though. The older man had just finished patching Bo's leg up and Luke came in the room after he finished the telephone call with the doctor and sat down next to Dani. Bo had finally calmed down and was so exhausted that he fell asleep, his wounded leg propped up on a pillow. The older man ran a large hand through his dark blue hair, which closely resembled Luke's, and sighed.

He turned to Luke with a menacing glare, "What happened?"

Luke looked taken aback for a moment before glaring right back and growling, "What? Do you think I had something to do with this?"

The older man crossed his arms and sneered, "You usually do. So what happened?"

Luke was about to shout at the older man when Dani jumped in quickly, standing as she did so, "It was an accident sir! Bo apparently got separated from Luke and decided that he would be fine without him. He didn't realize just how heavy his new axe was and ended up losing his balance and landing on the axe. Honestly, Luke had nothing to do with it, and I think Bo was just trying to maybe impress someone, though I don't know who. But Luke really helped, I couldn't move Bo by myself, so I went and found him, and he immediately ran to help Bo. If anything sir, he saved Bo's life. Who knows what would have happened if Luke didn't come and help."

Luke stared at the young woman who had come to his defense. She really was quite pretty, her very feminine form and gorgeous hazel eyes were enough to stop any man in his tracks who has normal hormones.

The older man stared long and hard at Dani for a few moments before sighing and looking back at Luke.

"Is this true son?" He asked. Dani took note at the "son" part and quickly put two and two together.

"Well, that explains the similar hair color."

Luke nodded, his bright amber eyes holding a passion that Dani had never seen before. It was obvious that Luke cred about Bo, a lot in fact. Why else would he have been so angry with his dad about blaming him for the accident? Luke would never hurt Bo, especially not on purpose. The older man sighed and looked back at Dani with the smallest of smiles.

"I owe you thanks. If you hadn't of found Bo, he might have had something even worse happen to him."

Dani smiled, "No thanks necessary. Any normal person would have done the same thing."

The older man shook his head and smiled a slightly bigger smile, "You're wrong. Most people would not have gone to all that trouble. I'm Dale. You must be the new farmer the mayor was telling me about. Your name is Donna?"

Dani laughed and replied, "No, but good guess! It's Dani, and it's very nice to meet you." She politely nodded and gave a warm smile. Luke tried not to stare at her beaming smile and soft pink lips. He blushed brightly at the thought of her lips and quickly looked back at Bo, trying to think of something else.

Dale and Dani spoke for a few more minutes, Luke only joining in when necessary, when Dani decided that it was about time she returned to her meet and greet.

She bid them a warm adieu and told them that she would visit soon to check up on Bo and to chat. Before she had the chance to leave, Luke ran up to her and handed her an older slightly worn out axe. When she looked up at him to question the gift, he gave her a bright smile.

"For helping Bo and defending me against my dad. It's old, but it'll be good for your first axe."

Dani thanked him and accepted the gift kindly. She bid him farewell once more and left the workshop.

She smiled at the wooden and metal object and smiled, knowing that today would be a good day. But just as that thought passed her mind, a small rock seemed to nudge itself in her way and before she knew it, Dani had tripped and was flailing towards the ground.

She groaned and sat up on the dirt road, feeling a sharp stinging pain coming from her leg. She peered down at it only to find a small gash in her leggings and the brown cloth turning marker as the cut on her knee seeped blood.

Dani pouted, and thought, "Guess I spoke to soon about it being a good day…"

She sighed and tried to stand, but found that it was quite difficult to do so. She hissed at the pain and wanted to squirm at the uncomfortable feeling of bloody leggings clinging to her leg. She slowly stood and grimaced at the feeling of fire shooting up and down her leg.

"Goddess, it's just a scrape, you'd think it wouldn't hurt this bad."

She leaned against her new axe and glanced around. She could go back to Dale's Workshop, but it was further than she thought. She looked ahead of her and saw a rather large building and decided that it would probably be closer. She began to limp towards the building, but had to stop several times before finally giving up and leaning against a large solid gray rock and heaved a heavy sigh.

"Ah-ah-achoo!"

Dani started at the sound of someone sneezing. The sneeze came from close by and Dani quickly looked around trying to find the source so she could obtain some help. A flash of reddish-brown hair could be seen from her peripherals, but it was gone before she could call out to the owner of the spiky locks.

"No! Wait, is someone there?" Dani called softly. A rustle from behind the rock could be heard, and a very tall young man stood up from behind it, towering over it and Dani. She gulped at his muscular physique.

"This boy is ripped! No, bad thoughts, bad."

His worried blue eyes stared at her in question. She tried to swallow, but her mouth had become incredibly dry. Dani cleared her throat and mentally scolded herself for being affected by the man's good looks and oh so nice body.

"Goddess, I'm acting like a little girl. Stop it Dani and speak."

"Um, hi… I'm sorry I –uh, you see uh-"

"I'm an idiot sir; I have no control over anything I say when an attractive man, like yourself, is looking at me. So I apologize for being a dumbass and stuttering, but I guess you can chalk it up to my being a complete coward and having the teenage girl fantasies of a fifteen year old."

The man quietly walked around the rock and took notice of Dani's hurt leg. His eyes widened a little at the sight and he quickened his pace so that he was right next to her. Before Dani knew what was going on, the young man had slipped a hand under her knees gently and wrapped the other around her shoulders. Dani kept her grip on her axe and squeaked at the man's actions, a blush quickly covering her face and spreading down her neck.

He carried her to the building Dani had been headed towards until she fell, and crashed inside. An older man looked over quickly and quirked a bushy eyebrow at the two before placing his hot tools on a metal table and walking over to them to check out what exactly his grandson was doing with a young pretty girl in his arms. An older woman with a sad face rushed inside the main room from a hallway and stared dumbfounded at the young man and the mysterious but quite attractive girl.

The muscular young man placed Dani down gently on a wooden chair and urged the older woman to get some bandages and antiseptic cream. The woman stared for a few more seconds before running back into the hallway only to appear a few moments later with the supplies asked of her.

"What's going on Owen?" The older man questioned, bushy brow still quirked at the pair.

Owen looked back at his grandfather and explained that he found her hurt near the material stone outside and helped her over here as quickly as possible so that he could bandage her knee. But as Owen turned around to finish his task, the older woman was already almost done wrapping Dani's knee in white gauze and bandage tape. Owen sighed, hating that he couldn't be the hero that he wanted to be, and Dani thanked the older woman.

The old man suddenly asked, "And who might you be?"

Dani looked up quickly and blushed.

She gave a replied quickly, "I'm Dani. I'm the new farmer on the island. It's nice to meet you mister…"

The man chuckled, "Ramsey, no 'mister' required. How did you bang your knee up?"

Dani gave a sheepish smile and told him about her klutzy accident to which he gave a hearty laugh, only furthering Dani's embarrassment. Owen stared at the young woman as introductions were made. The older woman, Mira, presented herself in her usual polite way and asked if she would be able to walk around okay, to which Dani presently nodded and said she'd be fine.

Owen introduced himself to her as well and conversed briefly with her before the front door slammed open once again. They all turned to see the person that had just come in and stared at the flamboyantly dressed. Dani's eye twitched a little.

"The hell?"

The man flipped his long ponytail over his shoulder and gave a strange but dashing smile and announced, "Do not fret dears, for I, Julius have arrive-"

He stopped talking and quickly sped towards Dani, kneeled before her, and grasped her hand before crying, "My dear, you are truly a fine specimen, a creature created only for the pleasure of looking at and to be enjoyed by me! I cannot believe that I would ever chance upon seeing you on a solemn island like this! My heart cannot bear the utter beauty that every pore, no every fiber of your being exudes! It is as if the Harvest Goddess has looked upon me with a smile and graced me to meet someone who is as beautiful as me! My dear, this meeting cannot be chance! This meeting is pure destiny!"

Dani only stared to him, confusion all over her face as he kissed her hand and glanced up at her with his violet eyes.

"Let's be beautiful together," he whispered and smiled. Before Dani could say anything, Owen picked Julius up by the fur collar of his majestic purple coat and walked over to the door presently and proceeded to fling him outside. He swiftly reclosed the door and turned around, acting as if nothing had happened. Dani looked around and saw that the other two acted the same way. Completely befuddled by the situation, Dani placed her head in her hands and sighed, not knowing what else to do.

The door was flung open once again to reveal a very angry Julius who had become completely red with anger and embarrassment.

"Owen! How dare you embarrass me in front of such a rare beauty! This means war!"

Owen rolled his eyes and walked over to Dani.

"Do you need any help getting up or anything?" He asked kindly smiling, totally ignoring Julius's threat. Dani blushed even further and shook her head as she warily stood up, supporting herself on her axe handle. Her knee, though still stinging, felt much better after it had stopped bleeding and was smeared with antiseptic cream and it seemed like it would heal in no time at all.

Julius glared at Owen menacingly and shouted, "How dare you ignore me! Turn around and fight me like a man!"

Owen glanced over his shoulder at the fuming tall, fashionable, long-haired man and smirked, which only further aggravated Julius. Before Julius could continue his tantrum, the door opened once again, and in popped a young girl with her strawberry-blonde hair pulled into a tall pony-tail and carrying a large crystal-like red sphere. She stopped beside Julius and looked around.

"What's going on?" She asked innocently. Dani almost squealed at how cute the girl was; she didn't look any older than maybe twelve and had the cutest look on her naïve face. The young girl noticed Dani and smiled at her.

"Oh, Julius and Owen are fighting over the new farmer to see who will win her affections," Ramsey stated simply. Dani, Owen, and Julius blushed severely while the little girl giggled and placed her large gem on the counter on her right side. She then walked over to Dani and held her hand out to her politely.

"Hi!" She giggled, "I'm Chloe. It's nice to meet you!"

Dani took Chloe's hand and gave it a firm but gentle shake and introduced herself as well.

"I can see why they'd fight over you, you're really pretty!" Chloe admitted to which Dani blushed furiously for the umpteenth time that day. Chloe gave a sweet laugh and told Dani that she should go check out the mines sometime. Dani agreed and said that she'd head over there soon.

After a few more moments of everyone listening intently to the young woman, she announced that she should probably get going and said farewell to them all. Before she left, Owen handed her an old hammer and told her that she'd need it. Dani accepted the gift graciously and took off.

"Goodbye beautiful princess!" Julius yelled after her retreating form and then closed the door.

Dani shook her head and sighed, "Man, all the guys here are a little too good-looking…"

She passed a sign that informed her of the mine's proximity and decided that she would just take a quick peek inside. She sauntered over to the mine quietly taking in her surroundings and breathed in a slow and savory breath. The air held scents of pine and a light ocean air smell due to the fact that she was on an island. She was really beginning to like it here, despite her only being here for a few days. The mine's opening became visible, and Dani slowly stuck her head inside only to find that it was incredibly dark.

She stepped in further, but could hardly see anything and decided that she should come back again but with a lantern or a flashlight. As she was turning to leave, the sound of someone grunting and footsteps could be heard from the depths of the mine. Dani turned back and looked around, a little frightened and held her breath.

A bright glow was emanating from a corner of the first floor of the Ganache Mine, and as the light became more and more evident, a figure came into view.

"Ugh-" The figure groaned. Dani was almost bout to scream when the face of the figure stepped further into the rays of daylight that seeped in through the mine's opening.

It was a strapping man carrying a large box of rocks and papers, a flashlight in between his lips. Dani gulped at the sight of the man. He was a little too handsome with his well-defined torso and shaggy dirty blonde hair coming in wisps from underneath his hat and a bit of his muscular chest poking out the top of his partially unbuttoned shirt, showing the ample but not grotesque chest hair that rested there. He looked surprised at the young girl and stepped out of the mine completely, urging her with a nod to follow him. He placed his box down on the ground and turned his flashlight off while placing it on top of the box's contents. He turned toward her and examined her, his light blue eyes taking her in entirely. She was lovely, a rare find in his mind, with her generous curves and feline features, her most striking feature definitely being her eyes which stared at his intensely.

He slipped a glove off of his right hand and stretched it out for her to shake, which she did politely.

"Hello, I don't believe we've met before. I'm Calvin; it's nice to meet you."

Dani smiled, a blush creeping its way across her face before saying, "I'm Dani, same. I'm the new farmer and I just wanted to take a peek in the mine, but it was too dark for me to really see anything. To be honest you really scared me half to death."

Calvin gave a hearty chuckle and released her hand unwillingly. She gave a small shy smile and tucked a strand brown lock behind her ear. A small beeping noise interrupted their quiet moment, and Calvin looked at his wrist-watch and then sighed.

"Well, it is getting awfully late. I need to get some paperwork done for this dig."

"Dig?" Dani asked, not wanting to be too intrusive in his business, but still curious nonetheless. He gave a crooked smile and lifted his heavy box once again in to his arms.

"I'm an archaeologist," he began. "I've been digging for a little while, trying to find out some more information about the ancient ruins in the mine and possibly uncover something to help me further my studies. So far I've come up pretty dry, but I have a strong feeling that I'll stumble upon something huge soon."

Dani stared at him incredulously and smiled.

"Do you need any help?" Dani asked quickly before Calvin even moved to head out of the Ganache Mine District.

"Sure," he smiled. "You can carry some of the paperwork here."

Dani nodded, eager to help the handsome young man, and groped around in the box for a few seconds before retrieving the medium sized stack of papers.

Once adjusted, she followed him as he made his way to the Maple Lake District. She stared at his back with a light smile on her features. He had a strong broad back that narrowed into a perfect V-shape where his torso met his hips and his lovely tight hindq-

Dani shook her head quickly and blushed brightly at her thoughts of his lower halfs.

"Goddess, I swear it's like I'm a complete child. I've got to stop acting like this and become more neutral…"

Dani's thoughts were interrupted as she bumped into the very man who was occupying her thoughts and dropped all of the papers. She gasped and kneeled hastily to the ground to pick up the stray papers, her hands moved in a flurry but stopped when Calvin's larger hands touched her own. She gulped and peered at Calvin from underneath her thick eyelashes as a blush crept across her cheeks.

"Sorry, I'm such a klutz," Dani sighed and placed the last of the papers on the stack they had recreated. Calvin laughed in reply and placed a gentle hand on her soft shoulder. She gave a small smile in return and with his help stood up, stack of papers in arms. She glanced around and realized that they were in front of a rather large house. She gulped, understanding that this was Calvin's house, and that he was opening the door to his house, and beckoning her to come inside. She could barely force herself inside, her legs turning into jelly, but she managed to walk in as steadily as she could. He placed the large box on his coffee table and took the stack of paper gently out of Dani's arms, giving her a warm smile as he did so.

"Feel free to make yourself at home," Calvin suggested as he walked to his dining room and placed the good sized stack of paperwork on his dining table.

"Um, I should actually probably get going," Dani muttered, flustered by the thought of staying for even a few more seconds in a strange but attractive man's home. Calvin gave her a concerned look before nodding.

"Okay then, but hey," he said quickly before Dani stepped over the threshold.

She observed Calvin as he moved towards her and placed an arm on the doorframe behind her, getting a little too close for Dani's comfort. Her breath hitched as she traced her eyes over his chest up to his eyes. He gave a sincere smile and chuckled.

"When you decide that you want to explore the mines," he began, "you should come find me and I'll show you around."

Dani bobbed her head in understanding, blush still swept across her face, and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear before she stepped out the door and left Calvin's house. He stared after her for a while until she became a small figure on the horizon and sighed.

"Real smooth Calvin, scare away the beautiful new girl on the island…"

He sighed again and shut his door.