~Disclaimer: I own none of them, I'm just playing with them, and I'll be returning them when I get through. I also stake no claim to any episodes that I use for the Flashbacks. They belong to the writers and FFC. I do however own Alex Wallace, his father and his secretary Connie.~

*I got so many reviews for the last one, You guys must really like the longer parts....So here it is.
*This is going to be one of the last segments of "Cabin Bound." I am going to bring you which idea they are going to re-live in my new fic "The Eyes Are Your Window." It should be posted some time around Thanksgiving.

~If you haven't found anything worth dying for, then you have never truly lived.~ Unknown


The cell phone on the counter rung a few times before Auggie was awake enough to answer it. After making sure Juliet hadn't woken up, he slid out from under her and proped himself on a chair as he reached for the phone. "What?" He asked angerily. He heard a rustle behind him, and turned to see Shelby bring a knife out of the back room. There was still no response from the other line. "Hello?"

Shelby dropped the knife in the sink. "Just hang up on them Aug." She offered helpfully, watching to see if Scott was looking at her. He wasn't of course, but she had told herself that he could have been. Shelby took the phone from Auggie and was about three seconds away from pushing the end button when a voice interupted her.

"Shell?"

The phone was at her ear faster than she could say anything. "Hey." Auggie walked back over to his place on the floor and scooped Juliet up to take her into the girls' room. He didn't bother asking who was on the phone. He had a feeling that he already knew. "Where'd you get the number?"

The bathroom was still flooded with steam from his shower when Alex decided to give Shelby a call. He wasn't sure what time she was to get up, so he just hoped for the best. The smooth silk of his new shirt felt so good against his skin as he dressed. "That's the thing about cell phones Slate." He started to mock her, throwing in the name for an added extra. "They can save the numbers that call them. You didn't remember that?" He waltzed out of the hotel room to see Martin Barringer standing in the middle of his suite. "Hey Slate, I'll call you back." He hung up on her without a second thought. Something I can help you with Mr. Barringer? He started shortly.


Shelby set the phone back on the counter and went to the radio in the corner. The dials were set so that all they had to do was turn it on and they could reach Horizon. "Well," The first knob turned easily. "Lets get this little Quest going, shall we." The lights came on and she could hear all the different counsolers who had taken their groups on Quest talking to the person who was unlucky enough to be incharge of the switchboard. "Cliffhangers to Horizon?" Shelby started. "Jeff you there?" It only took a second for Jeff to repsond. "Peter and Sophie back yet?" She waited patiently for his answer.

"Peter here." Peter rubbed his hands on the back of his neck. There was something in Shelby's voice that he wanted to take further, but he wouldn't do it over the radio. "What do you need Shelby?" He already knew that she was probably the first one up. Checking his watch, the red digital numbers were flashing 9:34. 'This is way too early for everyone else. Especially if they were up as late as Jeff said.' Still, he thought he might humor Shelby for a while.

"Oh I don't know.....A combination would be nice." The edge in her voice just wouldn't disapear. Even after Auggie came back into the room and hugged her good morning, she still couldn't shake what happened the other night. "We can't open the lock box without one."

Peter passed to transmitter to Sophie. "I'll give you a hint." She started. She would rather Shleby figure it out on her own than them tell her. It would make her think. "Admission date." Soohie didn't need to tell her anymore. "Horizon out." And the radio went dead.

Auggie brought her a steaming cup of coffee. "Here, this might take some of the edge off." It was as if he was reading her mind. She took a sip and closed her eyes, savoring the taste as it went down. "What was Sophie's hint for the lock box?"

"Admission date." Both of them looked completely surprised by this. Sophie wouldn't be that mean. To pick one of the Cliffhangers' admit dates at random. That would take them forever to figure out. "Get me a piece of paper." She commanded softly. "We'll do this rationally. Kat was admitted on January thirteenth. You and I came in November twenty-first, Juliet admitted on-"

Daisy popped her head out of the door. "When were you admitted?"

Auggie thought for a second. "November twenty-first. Why-"

"Shell? What's TODAY's date?" Dasiy was on to something, she only hoped she was right.

"The twenty-first..." Then it hit her. "Of November. Auggie get the box and put in eleven-two-one and see if it opens." The lock stayed shut. "How about one twelve one?" She said out loud, trying it out. The lock still stayed shut. "Loved the idea Daze, but the lock won't open."

Daisy pulled the box into her lap. "Was anyone else admitted on the twenty-first of November?" She thought trying to come up with a suitable number to go in front. 'Shelby, Auggie, David...' Then it hit her. "DAVID!" The others stared at her. "David was admitted on the twenty-first. So it wasn't that that wasn't the right date. It was that there was supposed to be a number in front of that." As she talked, she put in the numbers three, eleven, twenty-one, and the lock popped open. "Go me." She pulled out the envelope and passed it to Shelby. "I think we should wait for everyone else before opening it." She commented quickly, as she stole Auggie's coffee cup away from him.

A hand jetted out in front of Shelby and her coffee disapeared. Ezra stood on the other side of Daisy, the steaming hot cup of coffee in his right hand. "Yummy." He said simply. "I told you Shell, I can smell caffine." Everyone laughed, and Shelby went into the kitchen and poured four more cups of coffee and a two large glasses of orange juice. She brought two cups over to the table, setting one in front of Ezra before snatching hers out of his hand. Daisy stood, with cup in hand, and took one of the remianing two cups over to Scott.

"Go away, Daisy." Scott said angerily. "I don't want-"

"You either listen to me or pack you bags and get ready to leave early." Daisy didn't have time for Scott's attituide. "This holier than thou shit you're playing is going to stop. I don't know what you think she did on the streets, but chances are you didn't hear anything she told you last night. If you did, you'd know how much she's hurting. You think she sold herself for her? You think you leaving didn't bring back any of those feelings of abandonment and resentment. You think you leaving only hurt you didn't you?"

"Daze-"

Daisy didn't let him finish his sentence. "No. This is MY turn to talk and you're gonna sit there and listen." She slammed the cups of coffee on one of the side tables and noticed that everyone was listening to them. Even the missing three people had awaken to hear her tell Scott off. "You're not the king of the world here Scott. I don't care what they thought about you back home. Here, you're just plain Scott. We've seen the good, the bad and the ugly, and we used to think more about you than the fact that you could catch footballs. Then you left. You built up her world, and then dropped her like she was nothing to you. We thought you cared about her."

"I do!"

"THEN WHY'D YOU LEAVE?!" No one had ever seen this side of Daisy, and it was scaring them. Daisy had all this pent up anger and hurt was exploding on Scott's face. She could have sworn a few hours ago that she had more self control than this. It was as if something clicked in her brain that told her that this was the way to stop Shelby's pain. And Daisy, being the friend she was, had no choice than to do what she had to. "Tell us Scott? Why did you let go of us to go back to HIM?"

The room fell silent. Even Peter and Sophie, who were watching from the camera that was positioned right about the fireplace, couldn't say a word. They had no idea that this could come from them spending the night unsupervised. Yes, they had known that Auggie and Shelby had issues with Scott, but never Daisy. They never suspected Daisy. They silently debated with themselves whether or not to re-pack ther bags and head up there to get them and bring them back.

"We're waiting?" She spat. Even she couldn't explain her mood. After another few minutes of the silence and she had had enough. "You know what? Keep your thoughts to yourself. WE don't want to hear it. You couldn't give us and explenation five months ago, why should you be able to give it to us today? I pity you Scott."

"Why?"

Daisy shook herself off, and wiped the unshed tears from his eyes. "Some of us aren't lucky enough to find our soulmate. Here yours is, standing not ten feet away from you, and you don't want anything to do with her." She turned and walked into the girls' room. "I pity you." The door slammed, and nothing more was said in the room.


But Shelby wouldn't let Daisy get off that easily. She marched into the room and re-slammed the door. "What the hell do you think you just did in there?" She shouted as long as she could. Part of her wanted to hug her friend, but the other part of her wanted to strangle the life out of her. "Daze?"

Her head lifted, but Daisy refused to look her best friend in the eyes. "I don't know Shell. I just... I just hate seeing you like this." Her relationship with two people were on the line. The least Daisy could do was save one of them, and she had given up on Scott. "I hate watching you destroy yourself over a guy who can't figure out what he wants. You were right back when you told me about him. He's self centered, and irrational. He only wants something he can't have. And I refuse to let him toss you around like one of his footballs."

Shelby didn't know what to say. "I know you're trying to protect me, Daze, but I don't think we need to worry about Scott. I think you made him realize what he wanted." She pulled Daisy into a huge bear hug. "Remind me to thank you one day."



Sophie had her pack, and was almost on her way out the administration building before Peter could get a hold of her. "Soph. Sophie WAIT." She whirled around and looked directly into his eyes. "Sophie you need to think about this. They have to work out their problems on their own." He was making sense. At least he thought so. "Soph we need to let them work out their problems by themselves."

"And if they kill each other first?" That was a point that Peter had forgotten. "Peter, you may not see it, but leaving them up there to figure things out...We never found Shelby's knife. What if she decides to end it up there? Or what if David finds it and decides to take revenge on Scott for leaving them? Peter, my kids are up the that mountain, and I refuse to leave them there when they could put themselves in danger."

Peter knew that Spohie was right. "Okay, we can go get them. I should have known that this wouldn't work." Peter reached into the office and grabbed his pack. "Just give me enough time to hit the breakfast bar. I need my stregnth if I'm gonna tackle the trails again." Then arm in arm they headed to the lodge.



"What do you mean he's coming to get us?" Auggie yelled at the radio. "He left us here last night. Jeff, he can't be on his way back up." Aggie listen to Jeff explain the situation one more time before having enough. "Cliffhangers out." He slammed the transmitter on the table and looked at everyone. "Damn." The realization of what had happened hit him. The gourp couldn't even work togeather for ten minutes. They had lost the ability to trust, and that was what was splitting the Cliffhangers up. "Peter and Sophie are on their way up. They think we need to work out our problems in Group."

Jess didn't know what had happened. "We don't HAVE a group therefore we can't HOLD Group." They had all crowded around the livingroom area. The way they were sitting showed Jess that they Cliffhangers she had joined last May were gone. Auggie and Juliet were at the table that held the radio, neither one of them looking at the chair that Scott was in. Daisy and David were on the couch, it looked like David was seperating Daisy and Scott. Shelby sat in Ezra's lap, with his left hand around her waist. Ezra had been able to keep a good grip on her so far. He only hoped that she wouldn't do something crazy like attempt to jump at Scott. Everyone on her side of the room looked like ther were somehow guarding her from Scott. This wasn't the group she had joined in May. "So?" She asked the room. "Waht do we do now?"