Chapter Six

Sara lay uncomfortably on the ground, nothing separating her from the cold stone except a layer of palm fronds. The thunderstorm outside was continuing in a relentless onslaught of wind, rain, and electricity. Her 'bed' was situated alongside the wall opposite the spring, but near the fire. At present, Sara was staring at the rock wall, trying to escape from the light and sink into sleep, something that would get her away from the mayhem of the past 48 hours.

Ecklie had set up his bed near the entrance of the cave, and was snoring loudly. Another thing preventing Sara from falling asleep. Catherine was on the wall with the spring, in the center of the cave, with Lauren and Matt asleep on Sara's side. Greg was sleeping right next to the spring.

Despite the fact that Sara was attempting to sleep, her eyes were open and staring at the blank rock wall her body faced. The fire warmed her back, the trickling stream sounding quietly in her ears. Any normal person would have fallen asleep to the comforting features of the temporary Pacific Island resort, but Sara had too much on her mind. Ecklie's loud, obnoxious snores, obviously being in the top ten.

And then of course, there was the fact that she was hungry. Sure, she'd had two drinks of coconut milk as well as a piece of the actual nut to eat, but her stomach was already beginning to growl again. She prayed the rain would let up soon so she could go out to find something a bit more satisfactory than coconuts. But at the rate this thunder was pounding, the chances were slim.

She closed her eyes in the slight chance she would drift off. She held them shut, thinking of nothing, but the blackness was almost frightening. Her eyes fluttered open against her will and she stared ahead once more. The light of the fire was flickering against the rock, and her shadow was outlined along it. Sara's left arm was bent underneath her head, serving as a makeshift pillow, but it was beginning to fall asleep.

She moved it slightly and laid her head on the leaves instead, then closed her eyes again. The crackling fire sounded, the blackness of her sight morphing into something more than just darkness, colors of red, orange, and yellow, and a flare up of flame filled it as well. The plane had exploded, and Greg shouted out in pain. She jumped and her eyes shot open. Had she drifted off to sleep? Was it a dream or a memory? Both, maybe. The dread she had felt for the lives of the people on the burning plane filled her and she shivered, though she wasn't the slightest bit cold.

And she remembered the sorrow when they had found Lauren and Matt and discovering that their parents were gone, leaving the two kids with a group of complete strangers. Sara easily recalled what it was like. Lauren obviously wasn't all that affected, except for those times when she cried for one of her parents, but Matt…Matt was a different story, and Sara knew something was bothering him. Matt hardly said a word, and Sara knew his psychological well-being had been, or was being, affected.

A single tear ran down her cheek and she hastily wiped it away, allowing a lock of curly hair to fall into her face. She brushed it away. Damnit, Sara Sidle was crying and her hair was curly. She sighed and closed her eyes again. There were no sounds except for the random thunder roll as well as the stream and fire. Her eyes opened again. No other sounds? Ecklie had stopped snoring. He was awake.

Sara lay as still as possible, her breathing quickening despite her mental shouts at it to steady out. She tried to look and see what the man was doing without moving, but saw nothing. Seconds of tense moments passed, and then minutes of tense seconds went along. Sara's mind seemed to be stuck in a mental tug-o-war. Should she investigate? The answer was a hard-pronounced yes. She was a CSI. She was supposed to investigate. But then again, it could very easily be nothing.

Sara propped herself up on her left hand, the numbness in it fading slowly. She glanced around the cave at the other occupants; Greg, Catherine, Lauren, and Matt were all heaving up and down slowly with their breaths. Lauren and Matt shared a pile of leaves and Ecklie's suit jacket. Sara's eyes moved to the end of the cave where Ecklie was supposed to be. Nothing but his bed remained.

'Great…' Sara thought. She stood up as quietly as possible, straightened out her clothes, and walked cautiously over to Ecklie's deserted leaves. The pouring rain outside formed a sheet of wet Sara wasn't very interested in having to walk through it to go find him. She stood at the edge of the cave and gazed out, folding her arms against her chest as a cool blow of wind swept rain into her face. Her curls danced around her face, blowing backwards, then sideways, and then backwards again.

Should she stand here and wait for him to get back from wherever he had gone off to? A bolt of lightening could just be made out past the leaves. Nope…as much as she hated to admit it, she probably should go out to make sure he hadn't been struck by lightning, no matter how much of a tantalizing prospect that was…

Sara picked up one of Ecklie's palm leaves from the floor and pulled it over her head to keep her dry. It probably wouldn't work all that well; it didn't even cover the length of her head. Taking in a deep breath and cursing herself for caring too much about humans, even Ecklie, she stepped through the sheet of water. The liquid pounded on her 'umbrella', resounding in her ears and pummeling her head.

Squinting through the rain, Sara looked around for Ecklie. Already she was soaked with the rain, and she threw the useless palm leaf aside, leaving her hands free. She continued to squint, looking at the mud searching for any footprints he might have left. She found some, though they were filled with water and only recognizable as holes going in a straight line.

Sara tucked her hair behind her ears in a futile gesture, because the wind instantly blew it around again. She followed the tracks, doing her best not to step in the mud as she walked. It followed a relatively worn down dirt path. 'Probably from an animal…maybe it ate him…' Sara thought with a slight smirk, taking a step forward. When her foot met the slippery ground, she slid on a hidden rock and shot her hands out to the trunk of a nearby tree to keep from slipping. She gasped, as her hands slid down the rough bark scraping her skin.

She swore angrily and pulled herself back to a proper standing position before walking forward. She looked back towards the cavern, and could still barely make out its location from the flickering light of the fire. She'd turn back when it was out of sight.

She took another cautious step forward, arms out in case fate decided to make her fall again.

"Ecklie!" Sara cried, though her words were lost amongst an explosion of thunder. She eased herself down a slope, sliding slightly on the way. "Ecklie!" Nothing. Sara puffed out her cheeks and cursed herself again for even bothering to come out in the first place. She made to turn around and jog back to the cave, her clothes soaked almost as badly as when she had been swimming from sharks, but a sudden movement caught by the corner of her eye kept her feet planted.

"Ecklie?"

She took a wary step forward, towards a wall of bushes, she could have sworn she had seen move. And indeed, they moved again, and Sara held her breath for not more than a split-second before–

"Ahh!" Ecklie screeched, jumping backwards as he walked out of the bushes, zipping up his fly.

Sara cussed and hopped back with a start, foolishly throwing caution to the wind for sake of instinct, and dropping to the ground.

"What the hell?" Ecklie yelled. "Can't a man take a leak in private?"

"Well how was I supposed to know you were taking a piss? It's not like you told anybody where you were going!" Sara shouted angrily. She pushed herself off the ground, groaning with the fear of having to check the butt of her pants. She knew they were covered in mud, just as her hands were.

"Well I wasn't going to wake anybody up! What was I supposed to say, I gotta go pee?"

"I wasn't asleep!"

"You sure as hell looked like you were!" Ecklie glared at her in the darkness.

Sara said nothing to that, and instead grabbed a fern and wiped her hands on it, getting the mud off as best she could.

"You didn't watch did you?" Ecklie said after a moment, his voice slightly calmer.

"Oh God, no…" Sara said quickly. "I'm going to go back to the cave, see if I can clean off my ass before Catherine or Greg wake up."

"Am I still welcome?" Ecklie asked, his tone seeping with sarcasm. It was as if he wanted to put Sara through her paces of misery even though he knew the answer would be yes.

"Yes…" Sara said through gritted teeth, her back and muddy behind towards him as she walked up the slope. She could almost feel him smirk behind her as she eased herself up the slippery hill.

Sara looked a mess. Her hair was plastered onto her face, the curls flattened, except for random frizzy locks. Her arms were wind-whipped and her hands were raw from gripping the tree trunk. Her pants were covered in muck as well as the rest of her clothes. Sara's stomach rumbled in rhythm with a roll of thunder as she continued making her way up the hill.

Then a flash of lightning illuminated the foliage around Sara and Ecklie, who trailed behind. Several bush-like trees looked to be carrying fruit, ten or eleven foot trees with overlapping bark and thick trunks. Each leaf separated into three sections, which in turn divided up into numerous prongs.

Sara could have sworn she had seen fruit near their trunks, but couldn't see through the pouring rain and darkness. Squinting, she reached over and grabbed onto a different plant to keep from falling backwards down the hill. She would have to wait for another lightning strike before she could–

And there it was. The lightning flashed, lighting up her surroundings and revealing the plants again. Clustered around the base of the leaves were several good-sized fruits, yellow with faded orange near the top. Her stomach clenched painfully and Sara trudged towards the fruit, thoughts of a full stomach driving her forward.

"What are you doing?" Ecklie called from behind her. She disregarded him and reached for where she last remembered seeing the outline of fruit. Lightning lit up the plant in front of her and she sighed in relief, or perhaps the anticipation of a feast ahead. Reaching out, she grabbed the fruit from its stem and tugged. It was a good five or ten pounds worth of fruit, and she struggled to carry it and walk up the slope at the same time.

"Hey, answer me!" Ecklie commanded, trying to jog up to her side as she hoisted herself up by a hanging vine, slippery fruit tucked under her arm. Light from the cavern's fire showed they were at the top of the hill.

"I found something to eat." Sara muttered hurriedly, planting her feet firmly on un-sloped ground and walking through the mud. She didn't care if she got anymore dirty than she already was. She reached the cave entrance, rain still pouring from it in a sheet of water, running away from them down a steeper hill in a stream.

"Well that's obvious…" Ecklie said, stepping up beside her. "Are you going to go in or not?"

Sara wasn't listening to him. She thought she could hear some slight sniffling amongst the waterfall sound of tumbling water. With a deep breath, she stepped through the blanket of water, though the wetness didn't affect her since she was already soaked.

"Finally! I've been waiting for you for forever! Where've you been?"

It was Catherine, sitting upright on her pile of leaves, Lauren held tightly in her arms, sniffing. As soon as the girl spotted Sara, she wailed and held her arms out.

"What happened?" Sara walked up to Catherine, placed the fruit down on Catherine's bed, and lifted Lauren into her arms. The girl buried her face into Sara's wet shoulder and cried.

"She woke up and cried for her dad. When she realized that he wasn't here, she started crying for you."

Sara seemed slightly surprised, and looked into Lauren's curly mass of hair.

"Are you sure she was calling for me?"

"Is your name Sawah?" Catherine asked mockingly. The woman stood up and straightened out her shirt and hair. Somehow, her hair appeared almost untouched by the disaster of crashing into the middle of nowhere. Other than a few stray snarls, it looked perfectly normal.

"So…" Catherine began again. "You were…where exactly?"

"Looking for Ecklie."

"Did you find him?"

As an answer to Catherine's question, Ecklie stumbled into the cave, shaking his head of the newly acquired wetness and shaking out his soaked limbs.

"Oh…"

Sara made an annoyed face as she ran her hand through Lauren's hair.

"I found some food too. Papaya, I think." Sara added as Ecklie bothered himself with the task of wringing out his clothes.

"Yeah...It's good-sized. That'll actually probably feed us enough to numb the hunger pains…I'm starving…"

Catherine bent down to the papaya where Sara had placed it, and examined it. While she did that, Sara glanced around the cave at the other two occupants. Greg was still sleeping; through the thunder and rain, he was still sleeping. Matt was awake however, and was seated by the fire again, Ecklie's jacket wrapped around his shoulders, his eyes empty of emotion.

Sara's eyes lingered on him for a moment before she turned back to Catherine, who still seemed to be struggling with how to get the papaya into pieces.

"Okay then…umm…How're we going to do this?" Catherine asked aloud.

"I suppose we could all just take bites instead of cutting it open."

"Yeah, well they have seeds, don't they?"

Sara shrugged. It was more of a 'So?' than an 'I don't know' shrug.

"You know, Lauren I'm getting you all wet." Sara said as Catherine turned back to staring at the papaya. "All that stripping for nothing, huh?" Catherine's lips moved up into a grin, though her eyes never moved.

Sara smiled too, then gripped Lauren under the armpits and began to set her back on the ground.

"No! No! No!" Lauren screeched, her cries echoing through the cave.

"Okay, okay, I won't put you down!" Sara hushed, pulling Lauren back to her shoulder. "You can catch cold with me then…"

Catherine was still looking for a way to eat Sara's prize, when Ecklie decided it was his turn to speak.

"Can't you think of something to do with that thing? I'm starving!"

"It's harder than it looks," Catherine defended. "Besides…if anyone's going to eat it might as well be one of the kids."

"They don't need it! They've had more coconut than anybody!"

Catherine and Sara glared at Ecklie, who seemed to shrink slightly into the shadows.

"The kids eat first." Catherine said, articulating every word sternly.

Ecklie said nothing.

"I'm hungry." Lauren whispered quietly, her voice slightly shaky.

Catherine smirked at Ecklie, her meaning clear. 'Then it's settled…'

"Here Lauren, go to Catherine for a moment." Sara ordered softly,

"No!" she whined, her grip tightening.

"It'll just be for a moment. She's going to get you something to eat."

Lauren sniffed. Then she let go.

Sara gently eased Lauren to the floor, where the girl stepped right on over to Catherine, sitting in her lap and looking up at her expectantly. Catherine held the papaya up and took one bite, to break through the tough skin so Lauren could eat some of the softer flesh. It tasted sort of like a cantaloupe with a slight tangy zing.

"I'm gonna go see if Matt wants any." Catherine said quietly, setting Lauren on the leaves and swallowing her bite of papaya.

"All right," Sara said. She took the heavy fruit from Catherine and leaned against the cave wall, not wanting to cover Catherine's leaves with the mud caking her butt.

Catherine sauntered over to Matt and sat down quietly by the boy's side. Her shoes squeaked softly as she walked, and Matt's eyes turned to her for a split-second, before drifting back to the blazing flame.

"Hey," Catherine said.

"Hi…" Matt answered, but it was so quiet it was almost like a squeak.

"You hungry?" Catherine asked.

Matt shook his head, pulling the jacket closer to him.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded.

Catherine stared at him for a few moments, then at the fire, watching it crackle and twist. She reached over to the pile of materials from earlier that day and threw in a couple pieces of dried wood.

"Are you all right?" she asked, quietly, calmly. She wanted him to respond, not be so upfront that he curled into his shell, never to come out.

Matt hesitated, or more didn't make any signs of noticing she had spoken to him. Then, slowly, he shook his head no.

"Do you…wanna talk?"

Another no.

She didn't want to press the matter, only reaching out to Matt and gently rubbing his back.

"It's gonna be okay, all right?" Catherine laid her head on her knees and ran her fingers across his hair. "Everything's going to be just fine…"

Without a word, Matt scooted right up to Catherine's side, causing her to stop stroking him. The next second, he had reached both of his arms around Catherine's waist and hugged her tightly.

Catherine couldn't help but smile.

Catherine, Sara, Matt, and Lauren sat in silence on or around Catherine's bed. Sara had banished herself to the rock floor, for the sake of keeping her filthy pants off Catherine's bed. The papaya had made its way around the group, and to Ecklie who now sat on a boulder near the front of the cave. The fruit was only about half eaten, the peppered-black seeds of the papaya dotting a hollow in its center, numerous bite marks around its top, piercing into the yellow flesh. The rest of it was left for Greg to take his fair share once he had woken up.

Lauren sat half-awake in Sara's lap. Matt leaned against Catherine who was half-asleep, resting her head against the rock wall, eyes closed.

"Catherine…" Sara said quietly, "I'm going to head back to sleep, all right? Do you want me to put Matt to bed for you?"

Catherine's shoulders drooped and she lifted her head up off the rock wall. She yawned widely then responded, "Matt can go to sleep himself, right?" She sent Matt over to the bed he and his sister shared. Sara stood and followed him, setting Lauren down to rest next to Matt. The big brother shared Ecklie's jacket with his sister and closed his eyes. Lauren made no complaints about being put to sleep, so Sara walked quietly away to her pile of leaves.

With her stomach full and her back turned to the fire, Sara fell asleep promptly.

Catherine awakened with a start, to sounds of barely controlled shouts.

"You ate it?"

"I was hungry!"

"You're such an animal! That was supposed to be for Greg!"

"I know, but he wasn't going to eat it! He was busy sleeping!"

"For when he woke up!"

Catherine's eyes shot open and she pushed herself off her leaves. Sara and Ecklie were having a shouting match inside the cave, both of them standing face-off style. Rubbing her eyes, Catherine intervened groggily.

"What is going on?"

"Ecklie decided to eat the rest of the papaya." Sara spat.

"Ecklie!"

"I told you I was hungry! Besides, it's not as if he's going to be missing it! And what'll he need to eat; he's a scrawny lab tech!"

"Was a lab tech." Sara corrected. Her hair was standing on end, the mud on her jeans caked. "He works in the field now."

"Not very adeptly."

"He's doing just fine."

Ecklie glared at Sara, who stood very tense, poised to attack if her anger turned to that.

"Ecklie, you owe all of us food. Go make yourself useful." Catherine ordered.

"No." he said promptly. "I outrank you at the lab. There's no reason I should have to listen to you here."

Catherine stared at him, mouth agape.

"What's going on?"

Greg was awake.

"Absolutely nothing." Ecklie said sardonically. "Nothing at all."

Sara glared, Catherine stared, and Greg looked completely lost.

"Do you really want to know Greg?" Sara asked.

"If it would help me find out why you're yelling when two little kids are sleeping, yeah."

"Ecklie decided to eat your food. And everyone else's seconds."

Ecklie scoffed and rolled his eyes, turning on his heal and strolling to the front of the cave.

"Oh. Well, I didn't want any more coconut anyway. Not much of a fan."

"It wasn't coconut he ate. He ate the papaya I found and brought back."

Greg shook his right arm and stood up. His hair was tousled and his eyes glazed.

"Well in that case I guess I can be mad."

"Yeah, you can go ahead and be mad now Greg."

"One thing you left out, Sidle, is how you found it in the first place. Did that detail slip your mind?"

Sara gritted her teeth and Catherine walked over to Lauren and Matt. Lauren had woken up and was staring wide-eyed at the quarrelling adults. Catherine put a comforting arm around her shoulder, whispering in her ear and trying to get her back to sleep.

"Sidle must have forgotten to tell you how she found it…" Ecklie continued, evil lacing his words. "She's the newest peeping tom of Polynesia. She followed me out of the cave when I was on my way to take a piss. She's quite the little pervert."

WHAM!

Sara slapped Ecklie as hard as she could in the back of his head causing him to cry out in pain. Sara stood above him, her nostrils flaring in indignation, her eyes wide and crackling, her chest heaving up and down.

Then she stormed through the sheet of rain, out into the darkness.

A/N: I just looked at how many hits I have...1080. Can you believe that? 1080! Anyway...all of your reviews are appreciated very very much. :) All of your ideas were excellent and I combined a few of them with what I had originally planned and I'm very satisfied with the outcome. My plot is going very smoothly, at least in my opinion. I don't need the readers help for the next chapter...BUT you always help out when you review because it makes my reason for writing that much better. :D Happy reading!