Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama Island, and I am not making any money off of this story.

I'm sorry that this chapter has taken so long. But what can I say, college, that's really all there is to it. But now that I'm out for the summer I should be able to get more writing done. I'm also going to go back and edit my earlier chapters. I'm not making any changes to the story, but it should read a little better. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it wasn't easy to write, but it was fun.

Chapter Five: Past Meets Present

Cody and Courtney weren't sure how long they spent on that park bench. The couple sat their embracing each other, the sun slowly rising over the horizon.

But as they say, all good things must come to an end. It wouldn't be long before the fragile peace the couple had gained was shattered. By Chris, the other former contestants, or some other random force that ruined moments like this.

As the sun steadily rose higher into the sky, Cody tried to gently extract himself from his girlfriends grasp. As much as he enjoyed holding her, he was getting hungry, and the bench was beginning to get uncomfortable.

At some point after he had woken up, Courtney had come to sit in his lap, her legs stretch out along the bench and her arms wrapped around his waist. After several unsuccessful attempts to get out of Courtney's grip, Cody resolved himself to waking her. Gently gripping her shoulder, he gave her a little shake.

"Courtney, it's time to get up now."

Mumbling something under her breath, Courtney subconsciously tightened her grip on her boyfriend. Not wanting to move from her comfortable position.

With a sigh, Cody shook her a little harder, and this time she stirred.

"What, huh?" Courtney muttered, now beginning to come to. Cody thought she looked rather adorable like this. Her haired was a little messed up and her eyes were mostly closed, her face scrunched up, much different from her normal, guarded expression or fake smile.

It didn't take Courtney long to finish waking up, she was use to getting up early. When she did, she stood up and stretched, working out the kinks in her back that the bench had given her. After a moment she turned back to her boyfriend, smiling.

"Good morning." She said, offering a hand to help him up.

"Morning," he said, accepting the hand.

"You want to go get some breakfast?"

"Sounds great, but first..."

Courtney looked confused at his reluctance. "What?"

"Well, don't you think we should get changed first?"

Courtney's eyes opened in alarm. After everything that had happened, she had forgotten she was wearing her robe over her nightwear.

She immediately excused herself, and ran back in the direction of her room, telling him to meet her at the breakfast buffet. Cody chuckled a little to himself; it was a little amusing how forgetful Courtney could be sometimes. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, so he was less embarrassed about what he was wearing. At a casual pace, he began the walk to his own room; he saw no reason to rush.

Courtney ended up circling around the building and entering a stairwell on the left side, in an attempt to avoid encountering anyone in her state of undress. She successfully made it to her room, then set about the task of preparing herself for the day ahead. She only had two days left here with the others; she wanted to make them count.

Courtney, like most girls, was willing to take time to make sure she looked presentable. So by the time she had selected her clothes, gotten dressed, brushed her teeth, and combed her hair, more than an hour had gone by.

She was also rather hungry by then, so she made for the resorts café at a swift pace. They had a breakfast buffet that lasted until noon; it was one of Courtney's favorite parts of the resort.

Courtney was halfway there, rounding a corner, when she nearly ran into someone. She opened her mouth to apologize, but the words stuck in her thought.

The figure in front of her didn't seem to have that problem.

"Long time no see, huh princess, how you doing?"

Courtney winced at the familiar insult, which had ended up becoming something of a pet name. But quickly gathered herself, there was no reason to show weakness. Not to him. So she forced a smile onto her face.

"I'm just fine, Duncan." She said, putting emphasis on the final word.

If it bothered Duncan to be referred to by his first name, he didn't let it show.

"That's good, though I was a little surprised to see you and the dork together. What's that all about?"

Courtney glared at the former inmate, a bit of anger overcoming the numb feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Do not call him that!" She said each word slowly and deliberately. "You have no right to say anything bad about him. As for what were doing together, I really don't see how it's any of your business."

"Just asking," he replied with a casual shrug. "Can you blame me for being a little surprised? You don't really seem to have a whole lot in common."

"I suppose I can't blame you for thinking that, given my taste in previous boyfriends."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Duncan asked with a scowl.

"Only that Cody has certain qualities you lack." Courtney replied, this time with a genuine smile.

"Yeah, like what?"

"Well, he treats me with respect for one. He cares about my opinion on things. He actually listens to me when I talk, rather then pretending to listen. Should I quit while you're behind?"

Duncan scowled, but then reverted to a more neutral expression. He had been in enough arguments to know when it was time to switch tactics.

"I suppose you have a point. Of course, he's also a wimp. But hey, whatever works for you."

"What is your problem?"

"What's yours? I came over here and tried to be polite, but you..."

Courtney cut him off. "When have you ever been polite to me? All you ever did was mock me, and push my buttons. You never put any real effort into our relationship. It was all just one big joke to you, wasn't it?"

Duncan stayed silent for a moment, and then realized that his ex was expecting a reply.

"Well excuse me for living! I just wanted to have a little fun with a hot girl. Did you think I was going to change, be more like you? You think the dork is taking your relationship seriously? Trust me; he doesn't have that many options."

Courtney took a moment to consider Duncan's biting words. This conversation had started out awkward and it was getting worse. Seeing him like this, it was like facing an old enemy.

"What I expected," Courtney said calmly. "Was someone who would take a relationship with me seriously, someone who honestly cared about me. Maybe I was wrong to have expected you to change, but that's all in the past. But I'm happy now. That's really all there is to it."

Duncan's expression had shifted several times over the course of the conversation, now he had his neutral expression in place again.

"If you say so," he said, in a tone that said he didn't really believe her.

But before she could say anything else he walked away.

Courtney watched him leave with some relief. Whatever excitement that Duncan had once brought into her life had faded. Now he just left her feeling annoyed and stressed out.

Not sure how much time had passed, Courtney hurried towards the cafe. She wasn't sure how long Cody had been waiting, but it would be rude to leave him waiting much longer.

Cody's morning, by comparison to his girlfriends, had gone well. He had taken his time walking to his room and changing into something more presentable. Once he had gotten dressed, he simply lied down on his bed for a few minutes. Having grown up with a mother and two sisters, he knew there was little chance of Courtney beating him to breakfast, so he didn't rush.

Once half an hour had passed, the tech geek decided to get going. He estimated that it would take him fifteen minutes to reach the restaurant, then another five to fifteen minutes for his girlfriend to arrive.

He was brought out of his musings when he bumped into someone. He relaxed when he saw who it was.

"Oh, sorry Beth, I wasn't watching where I was going."

"It's alright."

Beth had changed quit a bit since Total Drama Island. She was more determined than she had been before the show, trying out as many new things as possible. She had kept in touch with certain people after the show had ended, Cody included, and she had eventually worked up the nerve to ask him out.

He had accepted, to her immense relief.

He genuinely liked Beth. She was very kind and rather now that she had gotten rid of her braces. So they had gone to see a movie, and gone from there.

But after two months, Cody began to realize something. His relationship with Beth wasn't going anywhere. They went to movies, hung out, and spent time together. But it didn't feel any different than when he did it with his regular female friends. He assumed it would feel different when he did it with a girlfriend.

He had kept at it, not wanting to lose his first girlfriend over something he considered silly. But after two more weeks, he decided he should be honest with Beth. So he told her what he had been feeling. She had been upset at first, and he didn't blame her. But she got over it. They had remained friends and still hung out occasionally. Though there had been an undeniable awkward period.

It was a simple story, but it had been a simple relationship. There was no drama or passion, just an attempt to find something more.

Cody took a few minutes to speak with Beth and then excused himself. He didn't want to risk Courtney actually beating him to breakfast. Or was it lunch at this point? He wasn't really sure. Either way, he was really getting hungry.

The resorts breakfast buffet was, in Cody's humble opinion, one of the resorts nicer eateries. There were pancakes, waffles, sausage, bagels, toast, crumpets, and a few dozen other things available. Cody wasn't sure what everything was, but no one ever left unsatisfied.

But as hungry as he was, he wanted to wait for his girlfriend. It had been…actually he had lost track of time, but he doubted she would keep him waiting much longer.

It was only another ten minutes until Courtney joined him at his booth. As much trouble as the confrontation could have caused her, she was glad it had happened. Glad to have, in some way, closed that particular chapter of her life.

Cody was so lost in his inner dialogue, which consisted of many ways to declare hunger that he didn't notice seem to notice his girlfriends approach. She greeted his from the restaurant entrance and then again when she reached him, but he did not reply either time.

Dissatisfied with being ignored, the councilor in training snapped her fingers next to Cody's ear. This had the humorous result of Cody jumping into the air and landing sideways in the booth. Courtney laughed while the young man in front of her rushed to right himself, giving her an annoyed look while he did it.

Courtney only laughed harder at his look. Cody never failed to amuse her, even when he wasn't trying to be funny. With an apology she helped him back into his seat.

The next half hour passed in relative silence. The café was pretty quiet because the others had already passed through, and the couple was hungry enough to focus on their food rather than each other for the moment.

Once his hunger was properly alleviated Cody decided to talk to his girlfriend. He wanted to make sure she was doing all right after yesterday.

"So Courtney," Cody began cautiously, pushing his empty plate to one side. "How do you feel today?"

"I feel just fine."

"Better than yesterday?"

This time, Courtney paused before answering. "Yes."

"I'm glad," Cody said, sincerely.

Courtney smiled at him; Cody could actually appreciate the little moments like this. Maybe she was being a little unfair to Duncan, but she had given him more than a few chances.

"What do you want to do today?"

Courtney only looked at her boyfriend in confusion.

"I mean, we only have today and tomorrow until we have to go home. So if you want to spend it with your friends I understand. But I figured since tomorrow was Valentines Day we could do something."

Despite having a girlfriend, Cody was still a little unsure at times when it came to girls. He could act confident when he wanted to, but it was just a mask, he didn't really have the confidence that he tried to show others. He waited for the girl across from him to respond.

Courtney considered the question. On the one hand, she had a few good friends on the island that she didn't get to see very often. But on the other hand, this entire trip was about Valentines Day. Shouldn't she be spending more time with her boyfriend? They may have lived near each other, but the opportunity to do things as a couple didn't come up as often as one would think. And their time at the resort so far had been...less than spectacular.

So yes, she did want to spend more time with him.

"Did you have something in mind?"

Cody considered the question for a moment before shrugging. "Is there something you want to do?"

"As a matter of fact," Courtney began. "There are a couple of things I would like to do."

And there we go. Courtney and Duncan have met again, and maybe not for the last time. I'm sorry if the Beth and Cody portion was disappointing, but I honestly don't see them going after each other the way some of the other couples do. It was a simple relationship for a simple couple. Next time, Cody and Courtney get to spend some alone time together and we'll hear what some of other campers really think of the couple. I hope the encounter between both couples was realistic; I didn't want to make Duncan into a heartless jerk.

College finals are finally over, so I should have more free time to write. Or at least, that's my hope. I have other things to do, but I will never abandon my stories. As always, please leave a review telling me what you thought of the chapter, I appreciate the input.