Maddie hugged Sam tightly at the airport on Sunday morning, telling her she would see her in two weeks when she came back to pack up her apartment and put in her notice at the firm.
Sam waved as she disappeared from view and Maddie turned to where Maverick, Ashley and Darry were waiting for her.
"How about we head out to the new house and take a look at what needs to be done first." Ashley suggested.
God knows she could do with the distraction.
Nobody had seen Lee since their argument the previous morning and she was beginning to feel concerned despite her best efforts to force herself not to care.
"Great idea Ashley." Maverick agreed. "It's a beautiful day, maybe we could head down the beach for a swim while we're there.
Why don't you girls head on out to the house and Darry and I will go get the swimming gear."
"Sounds great honey." Maddie smiled at him as she got into Ashley's car and watched him drive off in her Porsche.
"Told you I'd never get to drive it again once he got his hands on it." She grinned at Ashley as they headed in the opposite direction.
"Ashley, please be careful. Maybe we should just leave this to the professionals."
Maddie pleaded with her friend as she held the ladder steady while Ashley climbed onto the roof to survey the extent of the damage.
"Stop stressing Maddie, I'm fine." Ashley laughed as she tested the strength of the section of roof she was going to walk on.
"It's not as bad as I thought it would be and besides, we need to know what we're dealing with to make sure that the roofing guys don't try to rip us off."
Gingerly she put her full weight onto the tiles, poised to jump back on the ladder if they gave way.
The roof held easily and she stood upright and gave Maddie a wave before disappearing from sight into the middle of the roof.
On first inspection, it seemed that a fair portion of the roof was still in good condition; only a few damaged parts would need to be replaced.
The view from the roof was absolutely spectacular and Ashley paused to gaze out across the uninterrupted vista of the ocean.
Lost in her thoughts, she found her mind wandering back to Lee.
She almost felt bad that she had spoken so harshly to him, but he didn't have the right to tell her what to do or to pass judgment on her.
Sam's words were still echoing in her mind. Could it be that Lee's erratic behavior had been because he was fighting the fact that he had feelings for her?
She shook her head, dismissing the thought as pure fantasy and turned to walk back towards the ladder, waving to Maddie as she went.
Ashley had nearly made it back to the edge of the roof when Maddie head a sickening cracking sound and to her horror, her friend let out a scream as she vanished from view through the collapsing roof.
Maddie took the stairs two at a time, racing to reach her friend. She had phoned the ambulance and help was on the way.
"Please be breathing, please be breathing." She chanted to herself as she ran into the bedroom underneath the area where the roof had given way.
She could see a leg sticking out from under the rubble, the ankle twisted at a nasty angle.
Maddie began clawing her way through the debris to reach Ashley, throwing tiles and wooden beams behind her in her haste.
She managed to uncover Ashley's face and chest and with relief found that her friend was still breathing, though it seemed labored.
Ashley was mercifully unconscious. There was a small cut above her left eyebrow and her right arm was pinned at an awkward angle above her head.
Maddie decided it was probably best not to try and move her, and sat down close to her friend, praying for the ambulance to arrive swiftly.
She heard a car pull up and rushed to the window.
"Mav, don't let Darry come up here." She yelled at him out of the window. "There's been an accident and Ashley's pretty badly hurt. I've called the ambulance."
Maverick appeared in the doorway in record time. He had sent Darry to the end of the driveway to direct the ambulance in when it arrived.
"Jesus Christ, Ashley." He breathed as he took in the scene confronting him. "What the hell happened?"
"She was on the roof, and it just gave way and she, she, she just disappeared." Maddie began to sob as the shock of what she had witnessed hit her hard.
Maverick dropped to the floor beside her and checked Ashley's vital signs. Her pulse was still strong, which was a good sign, though she seemed to be having some difficulty breathing.
He wrapped his arm around Maddie's shoulder, pulling her close to him.
"It'll be ok honey, the ambulance will be here any minute." He comforted her. "I'll get them to take Ashley to the Base Hospital, they'll take good care of her. Everything will be just fine, you'll see."
"I should have made her listen to me Mav." Maddie cried. "I told her I didn't think the roof was safe, but she went up anyway."
"Honey, Ashley will do what Ashley wants to do no matter what anybody tells her." Maverick soothed. "This isn't anyone's fault, it was just an accident."
He heard the approaching wail of the ambulances siren and rushed downstairs to meet them.
The next half hour went by in a blur. Ashley still hadn't regained consciousness.
The ambulance officers gently moved her from under the rubble, telling Maddie and Maverick that it looked like she had a dislocated shoulder, some broken ribs and a badly broken ankle.
Apart from that, they couldn't say much about the extent of any other injuries.
Maverick instructed them to take her to the base hospital, and he would meet them there.
He phoned ahead to get Tom to clear everything and to have a medical team waiting for their arrival.
They agreed that they would say Ashley was Maverick's cousin to avoid any problems getting her admitted.
He then gently guided Maddie out of the house and into the car where Darry was waiting for them and headed directly for the base.
They sat in the hospital lounge waiting for news. Ashley had been in surgery for about an hour, and they hadn't been told anything about her condition.
Karen had taken Darry back to the boy's house.
He was extremely upset as he had grown very attached to Ashley and the hospital waiting lounge was not a suitable place for him to be.
Maverick had tried phoning Lee a number of times, but his calls went straight through to his message service.