"Lex you've got to see this!" Daley exclaimed.
Lex abandoned his blueprints and followed Daley across camp and into the woods. They soon came to an opening and Daley stopped. Lex couldn't believe his eyes…
"My garden!" Lex cried.
He was looking at rows and rows of vegetables: peas, squash, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, and corn had all grown in the place of the little green leaves that had recently been there.
"But how did they grow?" Lex asked. "I gave up on them a month ago!"
"I don't know," Daley said curiously. "Maybe they grew on their own and didn't need help. Or maybe someone took over for you…"
Nathan and Jackson emerged from the trees.
"Hey guys," Nathan began. "What's… whoa!" his eyes widened as he noticed the vegetables.
"Lex, this is incredible!" Jackson added. "But I thought you gave up on this?"
"I did," Lex replied. "We were just wondering how they grew."
Melissa, Taylor and Eric all arrived and wondered the same thing.
"But who cares how they grew?" Eric said. "What matters is that they did grow!"
"Daley said, "You're right. What's important is that we have enough food to last us months!"
Everyone agreed, and they all got back to work.
29DWN
Nathan sat by the plane, staring out into the ocean and lost in thought. He had one thing on his mind- the one thing he had been thinking about for weeks- Daley. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't stop thinking about her…
"Hey, Nathan."
Nathan turned and saw Melissa standing next to him.
"Hey," he greeted her. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing much," Melissa said. She noticed that his gaze was unfocused and he was staring at the sand. She frowned. "Anything wrong?"
"No," Nathan replied. "Just…. thinking."
"About what?"
"Well, about…. Daley."
Melissa sighed as she sat down next to him.
"I just can't get her out of my mind!" Nathan explained. "I just, I don't know what to do about all this. I want to talk to her, tell her how I feel, but I don't want her to say what I'm afraid she'll say……." Nathan sighed. "I guess I'll just have to go with what happens as it happens, because, right now, I have no idea what I'm gonna do…."
Mel gave his hand a squeeze. "It'll all turn out fine, don't worry."
Nathan smiled at her. "Thanks, Mel."
29DWN
Everyone had a good lunch of fruits and vegetables fresh from the garden, and afterwards they all sat around camp relaxing. Daley and Lex played a card game, Jackson worked on writing a song, Nathan carved a spear to fish with, Melissa read a book, Eric took a nap and Taylor flicked through a magazine. Soon, though, the fire died out because no one was paying it any attention. Everyone then found something to do around camp. Jackson asked of the group, " Could someone go out and find some wood to keep the fire going? Seeing as we didn't actually get any this morning?" He exchanged looks with Nathan.
"I'll go," Daley volunteered.
"I'll come with you," Nathan said, jumping up to go with her.
They went into the forest and started searching. Soon they had enough wood to last them for days. They sat down on a rock to rest.
"We did good," Daley said, looking at what they had collected.
"Yeah," Nathan said, shifting throught the pile. "We'll have enough to last us for awhile."
They sat in silence for a few minutes before deciding to head back to camp. Nathan had started to gather the wood when he heard a soft "Ouch!"
He turned around and saw that Daley's hair was caught on a branch and she couldn't go anywhere. He smiled at her and said, "Hold on, I'll help you."
Daley's heart warmed up when his smile beamed her way. She sighed happily as Nathan came over to her and looked her knotted hair over.
"Wow," Nathan said. "It's caught on there pretty good. Might have to cut some of this off…"
"What?!" Daley cried, her eyes widening.
Nathan laughed. "Don't worry, Day, I'm joking."
Daley couldn't help but smile. She just loved his laugh- it was contagious. When she was having a bad day, he could always find a way to cheer her up.
'Oh, come on, Daley, just tell him you like him,' Daley thought.
She blushed as she watched Nathan trying to get her hair untangled from the branch.
Nathan wasn't only concentrating on Daley's hair- he was trying not to get lost gazing into her eyes. He could get lost in her eyes forever- staring into those beautiful, silver- blue eyes was something he never got tired of. He was not really succeeding in what he was trying to do-or not to do- he accidentally pulled Daley's hair, to which Daley responded with a soft "Ow!"
"Sorry!" Nathan said quickly. 'Get it together, Nathan,' Nathan thought as he continued with the knot. "Almost got it… yep, there you go!"
"Thanks," Daley smiled at him.
"No problem," Nathan said as he smiled back.
They stood there for a moment, gazing into each others eyes, when Daley said "Listen, Nathan, there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about…"
"What is it?" Nathan asked her, a slight look of concern appearing on his face.
"Well, this is kind of weird to tell you, but it's been on my mind so much lately… and… well…. Nathan… I've realized that…" She was interrupted when Nathan leaned in and kissed her. She was shocked at first, but then she kissed him back, and they didn't break apart until air was needed.
"…I love you," Daley finished breathlessly.
Nathan smiled and kissed her again, and many more erupted from that. When they pulled apart they were both smiling.
"I love you, too," Nathan told her, putting his forhead against hers. "I think I always have, Daley, but I just haven't realized it until now…"
Daley kissed him and wrapped her arms around his neck. In return, Nathan hands found Daley's waist. After a few minutes, Nathan interrupted and said reluctantly, "We should probably get back to camp. The others will be wondering what happened to us."
"Yeah, okay," Daley replied, giving Nathan her puppy- dog face,
"Aww," Nathan said. "Don't give me that look, please, I'm weak, I'm…" He trailed off helplessly as Daley continued to give him the look. "Oh, I can't help it!" he finished, and their lips collided again. Nathan grabbed Daley by the waist and brought her closer to him as their kisses got more passionate by the second. During a pause Nathan said, "Daley, I love you so much. There's nothing I want more on this world than to be with you." He paused, then said, "And right now, there's nothing I want more than to keep holding onto you-" Daley kissed him again, and when they pulled apart, she said, "Me, too," and they kissed again.
29DWN
"Where have you two been?" Jackson asked as Nathan and Daley walked into camp a half hour later.
Nathan and Daley exchanged looks. "Uh,…" Nathan started, as he gently put the wood he was carrying on the ground. "It took a little longer to find this than we expected…" Jackson nodded and Nathan and Daley exchanged looks again.
"Where is everybody?" asked Daley, noticing that they were the only ones at camp.
"Um… Mel is doing some laundry, and Lex ran off to the garden, but I'm not sure about Eric or Taylor…-" Jackson was cut short by a sudden screaming. Taylor came up to them and demanded, "Where's Eric?"
"Don't know," Jackson replied. "Why?"
Before she answered, Taylor had taken off angrily.
Jackson, Nathan and Daley looked at each other in confusion. Jackson shrugged and left. Nathan and Daley sat down next to each other and smiled. Nathan wrapped is arm around Daley and kissed her on the forehead. Daley laid her head on Nathan's shoulder and said, "I love you."
Nathan smiled and said, "I love you, too," and he pulled her closer to him and rested his head on hers.
29DWN
"ERIC!"
'Uh oh,' Eric thought. 'Taylor's on a rampage.'
He got up and started to creep away when Taylor stormed up to him and screamed, "Eric, you idiot!"
Eric sighed and turned around to face her. "What now, Taylor?" he asked, annoyed. This was the fourth time in two days that Taylor had gotten frustrated with him, and he was getting tired of it.
"Like you don't know!" Taylor said, but she didn't wait for an answer. "Where's my pink skirt?"
Eric froze. "Umm……. Did you ask Nathan?"
"Don't mess with me!" I know you took it! You told me about your-" Taylor lowered her voice- "'problem'… yesterday! So you can just give it back, already!" She paused. "On second thought, I don't want it back if you've been wearing it! Make sure you wash it- twice- before you give it back!" And she stormed away.
Eric watched her go, thinking, 'Girls. They have the emotional range of a teaspoon.'
'You'd think these boys would learn their lesson from wearing wet shorts!' Taylor thought, annoyed. 'First Nathan, now Eric?! And what do I look like? Some sort of personal skirt store?! Urgh!'
29DWN
Lex filled the cup with water again and carefully poured it over the plants. When he heard footsteps coming from behind him he turned around. "Hey, Day," he greeted his sister.
Daley absolutely beamed at him. "Hi, Lex! How's the garden?"
"Great," Lex answered.
"Great!" Daley said cheerfully, still smiling. "Haven't things just been going so great lately? Isn't it awesome?"
"Yeah…" Lex said slowly. Daley was being much more cheerful than usual, and Lex was curious of the reason. "Any reason why you're so happy?" he asked, a small smile appearing on his face.
Daley snapped out of a trance. "What? Oh, no,…" She smiled again and sighed happily. "Today's just been going really well, that's all!"
"Okay," said Lex, still thinking.
"Well, I'm going to go see if Nathan needs any help back at camp. Bye, Lex!" Daley set off, humming to herself.
Lex watched her go, smiling. He loved seeing his sister so happy, but he still couldn't help but wonder what had caused her to be so perky all of a sudden. He could tell there was something going on inside her head…
29DWN
A few hours later, Jackson sat on the shore, watching the water spash his feet and absentmindedly drawing in the sand with a stick. He dropped the stick, sighed, and laid his head back on the sand.
His head was spinning. His mind was battling with thoughts and questions. He was lost; lost in Melissa. He really liked her. A lot. He'd never felt this way about anyone before. He wanted to tell her how he felt, but he wasn't sure how things would work out. He didn't know if she felt the way he did- Taylor and Eric had broadcasted Melissa's tape for everyone to hear, and it had revealed that she liked Jackson. But that had been months ago- who knew if she still felt that way? And even if she did, would they be able to have a relationship on the island? Jackson thought that having a relationship on the island would cause too much drama. After Eric and Taylor had revealed Melissa's secret, Jackson had told Melissa that when they got rescued they could be together. But months had gone by since then, and Jackson was starting to get impatient. He had strong feelings for Melissa, and he really wanted to be with her. Besides, who knew when they would be rescued?
Jackson was staring up at the darkening sky, thoughts still racing through his mind, when he heard a familiar voice greet him.
"Hi, Jackson."
He sat up and turned around. Melissa was standing there, and they both smiled when their eyes met.
"Hey," Jackson greeted Melissa.
'Now's as good as any other time,' Jackson thought. 'Just say, 'Melissa, I like you.' No, that's stupid!' he realized. 'It needs to be more romantic than just, 'I like you.' You need to let her know you really care about her…
He hadn't realized how long he had been silent until Melissa said, "Jackson…?"
Jackson snapped into focus. "What? Oh… sorry, what were you saying?"
"Dinner's ready… are you okay?"
"Um, yeah, I'm fine, I just, it's been- kinda a long day and everything, and I- I was just- I've been kinda- you know…" Jackson stuttered out.
Melissa looked a little confused, but all the same she smiled. "I guess… you coming to dinner?"
"Yeah," Jackson told her. "Yeah, probably, it's just… I… I'm… well-….. it's kinda… yeah," he finished hopelessly. When she continued to stare at him with a look of mingled confusion and curiosity, he said, "Yeah…… I'll be right there."
"Okay," Mel said, and giving him one last concerned look, she left.
'Way to go, Jackson,' Jackson thought. 'That was real smooth.'
He sighed and got up to follow her back to camp.
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There's chapter 2 for ya! What will happen between Mel and Jackson? Will he tell her how he feels, or wait until they get rescued? To find out, keep reading! And, review, too!! If I don't get reviews, I don't post the next chapter!