ReplacementsII-Part 9

I took my time opening my eyes, once I felt the warmth of the sun on my cheeks and heard the sea birds crying. I knew it was morning, but I was reluctant to move away from the comfort of Mark's arms.

I could hear Jason padding through the soft, warm sand.

"Looks like somebody stayed warm last night." He chuckled.

I felt Mark moving around beneath me as I raised my head and squinted at Jason.

"Awwww, Jase, we're sorry." I replied teasingly, and stood up, brushing sand off of me. "We could've joined you in the shelter at least." I walked over and hugged him gently. He seemed to be enjoying the attention.

Mark sat up. "Easy, Princess." He warned.

"It's just an innocent hug, Mark." I grinned. "Besides, you said no more kissing, right?"

Jason's face lit up. "Oh, you mean, like this?"

He dipped me backwards, and pretended he was going to plant a huge kiss on my lips, causing me to erupt in giggling fits.

Mark's expression relaxed, and he, too, chuckled at Jason's antics. Jason really was a master at breaking the tension between them.

"That's enough, you two." Mark said. "I'm getting hungry. We need to round up something to eat, so we can figure out how to get off this island."

"Why don't we rig up some poles and go fishing?" Jason offered.

"Are you going to clean them?" Mark replied. He wasn't very enthused.

The thought of cleaning smelly, dead fish and then cooking them this early in the morning repulsed me.

"I don't want to deal with fish guts, either!"

Jason sauntered past me and bent down to pick up a piece of wood from the sand.

"How very girly of you, Prin." He remarked. Then, he held up the wood. "Wood's dry."

"Girly?" I grumbled. "I'll show you girly!" I balled up my fists. Mark grabbed my shoulders, keeping me in place.

"You're showing me girly right now." Jason jeered. His eyes were focused on the rips in my uniform.

I blushed and adjusted my wings to cover me once again.

Somehow, Jason's last comments went right over Mark's head. Or at least, he was preoccupied with his duties as Commander.

"Jase, why don't you start a fire? Princess and I will round up something to eat."

Jason grinned and pulled out his gun, screwing on the blowtorch attachment. "This oughta do the trick."

Mark then grabbed my hand and pulled me towards to trees. "Let's go, Princess."

Jason couldn't resist one more smart remark. He called out, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

Once we found ourselves deep in the foliage, we scanned around for food. I couldn't believe there weren't at least a few coconut trees. We searched for what seemed like hours, only to find a small, freshwater stream babbling over some large rocks. We sat down and cupped our hands and sipped at the cold, clear water. It wasn't food, but it tasted delicious.

Mark pulled out a small water bottle and filled it up. "We can bring this to Jason, at least."

"Mark," I asked, "what if we don't find any food? What if we're stuck here?"

I stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Don't worry, Princess." Mark wrapped a comforting arm over my shoulder. "I'm sure the Chief, Zark ,Tiny and Keyop are searching for us, and besides, there's no way I'd ever let anything happen to you."

I could feel the intense concern in his voice, as he leaned in and kissed me once again. It felt so good to know that he felt so strongly about me.

Finally, we pulled away from each other, and Mark held up the bottle. "We'd better get this back to Jason."

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When we arrived back at our campsite, Jason had produced a roaring bonfire, and was proudly poking it with a stick.

"Got any marshmallows?" He grinned mischievously.

Mark grinned back at him, holding up the water bottle. "Will this do?"

Jason snatched the bottle and gulped down the tasty, fresh water.

Then he looked back at us. "All this time, and not even a coconut? What were you two doing in there? Wait, don't tell me…I don't wanna know."

"We searched everywhere, Jase. We just couldn't find anything…except this water." I explained.

Jason plopped down in the sand. "Oh, great. So we'll starve to death, but now it will take longer for us to die."

"Oh, stop, Jason…" I began. But then, I heard a familiar humming sound in the distance. "What's that noise?" I asked.

The three of us cupped our hands over our eyes, in an attempt to shield the sun from our eyes.

There, flying above the ocean waves, was Keyop's buggy!

I leapt into the air, and ran down the beach, in an effort to meet him. Mark and Jason joined me.

The buggy landed, not far from our fire, and the mouth popped open, revealing the small Swallow's helmet.

"Need a ride?" He grinned. Then, he strutted out onto the beach, with his chest puffed out proudly.

"Keyop!" I ran up to squeeze him tightly. It was so good to see the little guy.

"I'm glad you found us, Squirt!" Jason said, clapping Keyop on the shoulder. "I was starting to get awfully hungry!"

"Brrrt… no… doot… fishing?"

"Nah," Jason replied, grinning. "See, Mark refused to clean them, and Princess was kind of squeamish at the mere mention of fish guts."

There he was, trying to make me out as girly once again. I'd show him.

"Squeamish? I'll show you how well I can handle a steaming pile of entrails!"

I aimed my boot at his head once more, only narrowly missing him, as he ducked out of the way, laughing at me.

Soon after, we were interrupted by the beeping of Keyop's communicator. It was Tiny, and he was thrilled to hear that Keyop had found us.

"You're taking an awfully long time to get here." Mark spoke into Keyop's communicator. "What kind of pilot are you, anyway?"

"Mark?" Tiny howled joyfully, "Is it really you?"

Keyop replied. "Broop… breep… droot… beep… yes… all here… doot… waiting… breep… for you!"

"I've got your co-ordinates locked in, and I'll be there in a few minutes!" Tiny replied happily.

"I hope you brought some food!" Jason shouted into Keyop's wristband.

In the meantime, I was still seething over Jason's macho display. I took the opportunity to try my kick once more. This time, I landed it solidly on his jaw.

"Damn!" he cried, dropping into the sand. "That hurt!"

Keyop erupted into giggling fits, as he announced that Jason now had a matching set of bruises.

Mark smirked as he teased Jason about his comments toward me.

I had to agree, Jason really should have learned his lesson by now. We were still laughing as the Phoenix landed nearby.

It had never looked more beautiful. We had survived the mission, and we were finally going home.