Vaughn was once again tapping his heel against the deck of the boat waiting for it to dock. He had spent almost a week away from the island to reflect on the events of the previous six days. He was happy to have a stressful office job to help him keep his mind off of the repressed emotions but they still came to haunt him when he wasn't careful. He would have to remember to stay away from Chelsea this time, any link to Skye was bad news.

When the boat finally docked, Vaughn trudged off of it, eager to be away from all the obnoxious noise he had travelled with. As usual, Mirabelle was waiting to smother him in one of her bear hugs. And, as usual, there was no Chelsea this time.

The walk back to the shop was filled with mindless chatter from Mirabelle. She spoke of how Julia was growing closer to that Elliot boy that Mirabelle really didn't trust, she spoke of the wild dogs in the forest, but most of all- she spoke of Chelsea. How her heating was finally fixed, how adorable she was, how her and Julia were becoming such great friends.

Vaughn was infuriated when he felt a pang of jealousy rise in him. The girl had been here a little over a week, how had Mirabelle become so invested in her already? Vaughn thought of what Mirabelle said about Chelsea being like Vaughn when he was younger. He realised, bitterly, that Mirabelle was a doting mother, she had given her affections to Vaughn when he was a lost cause; and now that he was no longer a lost cause, Mirabelle had moved on to Chelsea.

This visit was not going well for Vaughn; first he was jealous of Chelsea, then he was criticising Mirabelle- who was practically his surrogate mother. Vaughn reminded himself that Mirabelle was like everybody's mother, everybody on the island turned to her in times of need. But Vaughn was special to her, not as special as Julia, but still special. She was caring for Chelsea because she was new and out of her depth, not because she was looking for somebody to replace Vaughn. Vaughn brightened up at this thought and decided to stop acting like a jealous brat. He wasn't a boy anymore- he was a man, he should be more mature than this.

When he and Mirabelle walked through the door, he was met with the usual hug from Julia, and for the second time, the sight of Chelsea standing nervously behind.

"Hi," She spoke timidly. He returned her greeting by acknowledging her with a nod in her direction.

"I'll get some tea on," Mirabelle declared, planting her hands on Chelsea's shoulders "Come help, dear."

Chelsea followed Mirabelle into the kitchen area and began pulling mugs out of the cupboards. It seemed that she knew her way around the house pretty well already.

"So, did you miss me?" Julia asked, smirking

Vaughn grunted in response a usual reaction to conversation.

"Aw, why are you being so grumpy today?" she teased, placing a hand on Vaughn's cheek. Vaughn shrugged her off and directed a glare to the floor.

"Why don't you put your things in your room." Mirabelle offered from the kitchen

Pleased to have a reason to leave the room, he nodded and made his way to the guest bedroom. He placed his bag on the floor and flopped onto the bed, sighing deeply.

He picked his hat up off of his head and closed his eyes. He wasn't feeling on top form, as much as he loved work, he really didn't feel up to it today.

A knock on the door startled him into shock; he really hoped it wasn't Mirabelle at the door. He couldn't bare to turn her away.

"Come in" he said begrudgingly.

"I need to ask you for a favour" Julia stated, entering the room tentatively. She perched herself on the end of his bed and crossed her arms, awaiting his response.

"What?" He asked, sitting up and crossing his arms.

"I think Chelsea could use a bit of help on the farm" Chelsea, of course.

Vaughn spoke without thinking "Why are you guys helping her out so much? Why not just leave her to it?"

Julia smirked "Aw, are you jealous?" She stood from her position on the end of his bed and made her way over to him "Don't worry, you're still our favourite grumpy old man." She said, pinching his cheek between her fingers.

Vaughn shrugged her off "Of course I'm not jealous," He lied "and I'm not old either." He reached into his bag and began to unpack his things.

"Well if you're not jealous of her than you'll have no problem giving her a bit of help on the farm will you?" She smiled smugly.

"Get out, Julia, I need to unpack"

He had only agreed to helping Chelsea out because Mirabelle had asked him to, and that was exactly what he told Chelsea when he turned up at her farm and she asked him why.

To her credit, she looked horrified when he told her Mirabelle had asked for help on her behalf.

"There's really no need, I've got it all covered" She tried to politely shoo him away.

"You've got it all covered? Great. So I assume I'll be seeing you in the shop later today to pick up some medicine for that sick chicken?"

Chelsea looked at him in confusion "What?" Vaughn rolled his eyes at her, she really had no idea what she was doing, did she?

"What's her name?"

"The chicken?"

Once again Vaughn rolled his eyes at her "Yes, the chicken, what's her name?"

"She doesn't have one"

Now it was his turn to look horrified. "What do you mean, she doesn't have one? How are you supposed to bond with her if you don't even give her a name?" He felt suddenly enraged at her, how was she supposed to care for animals if she couldn't even bond with them?

Chelsea threw her hands over her face and let out a pained groan "I can't do this." She sighed, she looked at if she was about to cry.

Vaughn had no idea what to do, he had never had to comfort someone before.

"Um," He said uncomfortably, Chelsea interrupted him before he could speak.

"My parents were farmers, I grew up on a farm but I still don't know what I'm doing." She began "I just wanted to make my parents proud, even if they're not here anymore."

Chelsea began to feel tears welling up at her eyes and turned away, hiding her face behind her hair. She was snapped out of her daze by a large hand awkwardly resting on her shoulder.

"Do you want to go and grab some food?"