Don't own Flight 29 Down

"So Lex, how long until the garden's ready?" Nathan asked the younger boy as they walked trough the dense jungle.

Lex was quiet for a second; he hadn't expected Nathan to ask him something, he'd been more attention to Daley than him on their search. "Um, I think the squash will be ready in a few days, then the corn and then the tomatoes and peppers."

"Cool," Nathan said, turning his attention to the path in front of them.

The three walked on for about another hour before Daley checked her watch. "Oh no, it's after noon, we'd better head back."

"Yeah, Eric and Taylor are probably back at camp." Nathan said. "Let's cut through the woods here, I think I see the beach, it'll be easier walking through sand than all this."

The other two agreed and soon they were on the beach.

"Holy crap." Nathan said when they broke through the tree line. "Are you seeing this?"

"Yeah, I think," Daley said walking towards the huts.

"This is so cool!" Lex said.

F29DWN

"Eric!! Look houses!!!" Taylor shouted running towards the huts. Then she stopped, did a 360 and ran back to Eric. "What if there's something, or someone in them? You go first."

"Me why me?" Eric asked.

"Because, you're the guy, I'm the girl." Taylor said in her I-can't-believe-he-just-said-that voice.

"Fine," Eric sighed cautiously he started walking to the huts, Taylor close behind him.

"Hey," He said when they could see around one of the huts."

"What?" Taylor asked crouching behind Eric. "Is it a ghost?"

"No, it's Nathan and Daley." Eric said, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. "Hey, we're over here!"

F29DWN

"What was that?" Lex asked when he heard Eric's yell.

"I don't know." Nathan said taking a cautious step to the right. "It's Eric and Taylor, come on."

"Hey, did you find them?" Daley asked when they got closer to the other two.

"No, you?" Eric asked.

Nathan shook his head.

"Hey!" They heard someone shout from the hut on the other side of the semi-circle.

"Melissa!!" Daley shouted.

"Is Jackson with you?"

"How long have you been here?"

"Did you build these?"

"Yeah, Jackson's with me, we stayed the night here. And no Taylor we didn't build them." Melissa said when they got to the hut.

"Where his he?" Daley asked.

"Right here." Jackson said walking out of the hut. "So what do you think of just living in these?"

"I think it's a great idea." Nathan said.

"Let's vote." Taylor said. "All in favor of moving out of the smelly shoebox raise your hand."

Everyone raised their hand.

"Is there a water source near by?" Lex asked.

"We'll have to look but I think there is." Melissa said. "The soldiers lived here for a while by the looks of it so there's got to be."

"Are we going to sleep in separate huts?" Nathan asked.

"I think girls should be in one, and boys in another." Melissa said. "Then we can use one for storage, then I don't know about the others."

"Sounds good," Daley said. "We could move one of the huts next to another then take down the center walls and have one big hut, like a meeting room."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's just see if there's a water source first." Eric said. "That sounds like a whole lotta work."

"I have to agree with him." Taylor said. "That's like moving a house."

"Fine, we'll split up and look for water." Nathan said, "Mel and Jackson, Taylor and Eric, and Lex, Daley and me."

Everyone nodded and head off in different directions.

F29DWN

Melissa and Jackson walked through the woods directly behind the huts. Every now and then Jackson caught Melissa looking at him.

Finally he stopped. "What?"

She jumped in surprise, "Nothing, why?" she asked looking away form him.

He raised his eyebrows. "It's about what I told you last night, right."

Again Melissa didn't say anything.

Jackson sighed; it was like this every time he told someone. "It's alright; I've accepted that everything happened. I can't change the past."

"But how can you just go on with your life?" Melissa asked, tears forming in her eyes.

Jackson shrugged. "I just did."

"I wish I could have done that when my grandmother died." Melissa said quietly, tears rolling down her face.

Jackson didn't know what to say, they walked in silence for a while.

"Look Mel." Jackson said pointing to a clearing. They walked into it.

"Wow," Melissa said. A fairly large creek was running into the clearing. There was a small waterfall at the other end of the clearing, with the water gathering into a pool about fifteen feet in diameter.

They walked to the pool and watched the falling water.

"This is it." Jackson said quietly.

"Yeah, we have water." Melissa said.

"No, this, things like this, this is how I get on with life." Jackson said. "Beautiful things like this that make life seem so simple."

Melissa nodded, although she couldn't believe that someone who looked as tough as Jackson would ever be saying something like that.

"There's always something good that comes from bad." Jackson said turning to face her. "I got put in foster care, and then sent to Hartwell that was the bad."

"So what was the good?" Melissa asked.

"I met you." He said leaning forward he softly kissed her.

Oh. My. God. Melissa thought as Jackson's lips touched hers.

"Melissa, I love you."

There ya go. Thank you for hangin' in with me through 9 chaps before Mel and Jackson hooked up. I had planned it to happen later but I though now was a good time, so… hope you like it. Again thanks for all the reviews.