Leroy took Nathan back to Ohio with him two days after Judith, Hiram, and Amy left for their search. In California, reporters and photographers were camped outside Rachel and Noah's house, determined to speak to Leroy and his grandson.
Nathan didn't need to be around that. He was just a kid, and he still didn't know what had happened to his parents yet. Leroy wanted to tell him, but he didn't know how. What was the best way to tell a four-year-old that both his parents were probably dead?
Instead, Leroy would change the subject or just flat out lie every time his grandson brought up his parents.
Leroy had put Nathan in Rachel's old room. The kid seemed to like it in there. It was decorated for a girl, but it reminded him of his mother. Nathan even sometimes felt as though his mother was there with him.
He missed her a lot. His dad too, but he really missed his mom. She would always tuck him in at night and give him a kiss on the forehead. Grandpa tried to do it, but it wasn't the same as when Rachel did it.
Nathan may have been only four, but he knew something had happened to his parents. His grandfather had told him that his parents were just having so much fun and that's why they weren't back yet, but Nathan knew they would never do that to him. If anything, they'd come home then go back and bring him with them. They'd never gone away this long before.
All he wanted was his parents to come back. He didn't like them being away. He loved his grandfather, but it wasn't the same as having his parents there. He missed the way his dad would throw him over his shoulder and carry him upstairs, or the way his mother would kiss his forehead before he went to bed.
Nathan climbed out of his bed, walking down the hall of his grandfather's house. He grabbed the railing as he headed down the stairs, searching for his grandfather. He found him sitting in the kitchen, a phone pressed to his ear. Nathan hung back, listening to what Leroy was saying.
"No sign of them?" he asked, nodding his head at something that was said on the other end of the phone. "Hiram, this is no use. You three should cut your losses and come home. I don't think this is like last time. I think they may really be gone," he said quietly. He let out a sigh. "I know what Judy thinks, but we have to be realistic. Just because they survived a plane crash before doesn't mean they can survive one again."
Leroy murmured his goodbyes before clicking the phone off, setting it on the table in front of him. He looked up as he heard rustling. Nathan walked into the kitchen, his teddy bear in his arms.
"Hey, buddy," Leroy said, walking over to his grandson. He picked him up, kissing the top of his head. "I thought you were still asleep."
"I miss Mommy," Nathan said, resting his head on Leroy's shoulder. "I miss her and Daddy. Are they coming home soon?"
Leroy knew he needed to tell his grandson the truth, but he also knew he had to pick the right moment. Right now wasn't it.
"Yeah," he lied. "They'll be home soon."
xxxxx
An hour into their 'date' and things were going horribly. Rachel had thought her big romantic gesture would turn out wonderfully, but she kept getting strike after strike.
It started with the food. She'd prepared the best she could find for her and Noah to eat. After he'd arrived and found what she'd done, the two of them spent some time talking. Eventually, their stomachs demanded attention, so Rachel led Noah over to the makeshift table.
Rachel still had a huge smile on her face when she sat down, though it disappeared the instant she saw the food. The meal, which had looked marvelous an hour ago, was covered in flies. Apparently, you couldn't leave cooked fish outside uncovered for that long.
The fruit was covered in bugs as well, meaning there was nothing for them to eat. Rachel was humiliated.
"Noah, I'm so sorry," she apologized, dumping the useless food into the water. She didn't know what to do. She'd made the meal especially for them to share, and now it was ruined.
"Hey, don't worry about it, Rach," Noah said as he came up behind her, putting an arm around her shoulder. "It's not your fault. You didn't plant the bugs there. Things happen." He was trying to make her feel better, and it seemed to be working.
If that had been all, the disaster could have been averted. But of course, the bugs didn't just get on the food. Rachel had inadvertently transferred some of the bugs from the food to her when she dumped what was left of their meal into the water. The same bugs that were now crawling from her skin to Noah's.
Rachel smiled up at him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Even if the meal was ruined, she was still enjoying her time here with Noah. She turned her face a little to the side so she was looking up at him. She was about to say how she was actually enjoying their time here for once before she felt itching on her arm.
She looked down, her eyes growing wide as she saw a trail of small bugs running up her arm. Rachel let out a shriek, pushing Noah away as she tried flinging the bugs off her skin. It was as if three more formed where she got rid of one. Puck watched her with curiosity and confusion as Rachel sprinted into the water, diving under the surface.
Puck watched her for a few seconds before he felt the crawling sensation on his skin and realized why Rachel had sprinted into the water. He chased after her, swimming out into the water, the bugs vanishing once he was submerged.
Rachel kept her distance from Puck, the flowers that had been in her hair now floating in the ocean. Her clothes were soaked and she was drenched from head to toe. This was not how she'd planned for things to happen.
Frowning, Rachel slowly swam over towards Puck, chewing on her lower lip. "Noah, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault," she apologized. "I should have covered the food."
Puck shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Rach. It's over. Nothing we can do about it now." He glanced at her for a moment before rising to his feet. "We should probably get out of the water. It's dark—never knew what's swimming around and looking for a midnight snack," he said, heading back towards the shore.
Once Rachel and Puck had dried themselves off, Puck scraped together something for them to eat. It was just a little bit of fruit, but it was better than nothing. He promised he'd cook up some of the leftover boar when they got back to their camp. Rachel was ready to cut her losses and suggest they head back there instead, but she wanted to salvage the evening and not have it turn out to be a total bust.
Once they'd indulged on their meal of bananas and coconut, Rachel moved from the makeshift table into the sand, looking out at the water. It was almost pitch dark now, the only light coming from the torches Rachel had set up for them.
Noah joined her in the sand, taking a seat beside her. He placed his hand in the sand behind her, making sure not to touch her. He wasn't sure if she wanted that or not, so he was going to follow her lead for tonight. She was the one who had made the first move, after all.
"It's weird," she said after a few minutes of silence.
"What is?" Puck asked, turning his head so he could look at her. The glow from the fire cast the right amount of light on Rachel, making her eyes glow. Puck couldn't help but admit to himself how incredibly beautiful she was at the moment.
"We're hundreds of miles—maybe even thousands—away from Nathan, yet right now we're both looking up at the same sky and at the same stars. Do you think he misses us?" she asked.
Puck smiled a little, scooting closer to her in the sand. "How could he not? You're his mother, Rachel. I'm sure he's thinking about you right now and wishing you were there with him."
"That's if he even thinks we're alive," she said miserably.
"Hey," he scolded, putting his arm around her shoulders. Rachel didn't shrug him off, leaning more into his chest instead. "He's got to know we're still alive. How many times have we promised him we'd never leave him? He's got to believe in at least a small part of his heart that we're coming back for him."
Rachel smiled at that, looking up at Puck. He was looking down at her, his one hand rubbing her back in a comforting manner. "How do you know just what to say to make me happy?" she asked with a small laugh.
"Because I've been with you for longer than I can remember. I know you better than you even know yourself," he joked.
Rachel smiled, resting her head against his chest. Right here was what she missed. She and Noah used to spend time like this all the time. But everything had gotten so complicated and screwed up. Hell, she'd almost lost him. But now she had a chance to get him back, and she wasn't going to waste it.
Puck ran a hand through her hair, brushing it away from her face. Her hair was still wet from the water and a bit tangled, but his fingers still ran though it easily. Rachel closed her eyes, feeling the heat rise to her face.
She remembered why she fell in love with him in the first place, how he'd made her feel like the was the most beautiful girl in the world, how he'd saved her life more than once, how he'd kept her safe for months last time.
And after all that, she'd still put everything else above him. She'd never really appreciated Noah for who he was or what he'd done for her until he was ready to walk out of her life for good.
The crash interrupted her thoughts. Rachel opened her eyes and saw that Noah's lips were close to hers, but he'd paused at the noise. Rachel turned her head away and saw a strike of electricity in the sky before she was being drowned in water.
Noah jumped to his feet as the torches were extinguished in the rain. Rachel couldn't see anything save for the bolts of lightning that kept illuminating the sky. She was looking around frantically when she felt a large hand encase hers.
Noah.
She felt him tugging on her arm. It sounded like he was trying to say something, but she couldn't hear him over the rain and thunder. She couldn't even see him.
Rachel followed him, allowing him to pull her along. After walking a few feet, the rain stopped and she was just dripping wet from the rain. It was also a little quieter. As her eyes started to adjust to the darkness, Rachel realized they were in the small area of the beach that was covered by trees, protecting them from the rain.
Noah had sat down in the sand, his back leaning against the trunk of one of the trees. Rachel carefully walked over to him, taking a seat beside him.
"I guess we'll just camp out here for the night," he said. "It's too dark to walk back without getting lost. Besides, I can't tell left from right in that rain." Rachel nodded her head in agreement, wrapping her arms around herself to attempt to keep herself warm.
Noah put his arms around her, pulling her close. Rachel leaned her head against what she assumed was his shoulder, still shivering a little. "I'm c-cold," she whispered.
"Then let's get you out of those wet clothes," he said. "I'll behave, I promise." Noah slipped her shirt off before getting her out of her shorts so she was left in her bra and underwear. Noah pulled his shirt off and got rid of his shorts so he was left in his boxers before lying down in the sand.
Rachel snuggled in next to him, allowing him to put his arms around her. "Why are you so good to me, Noah?" she asked, still shivering slightly. "I've been the world's worst wife, yet you're still here helping me."
"Because I care about you, dummy," he teased, kissing her forehead. "I can't just turn off caring about you because you've been distant recently. No matter what, I'm always going to care about you."
Rachel could just make out his features in the dark. She reached a hand up, her index finger tracing the lines of his face. "I care about you too," she whispered, avoiding the use of the 'love' word for now.
Puck turned his face towards her hand, his lips kissing her thumb ever so slightly. "I know I promised to behave, but you being so close like this is making it very hard," he murmured, kissing the back of her hands a moment later.
"So don't behave," she whispered, crawling over so she was seated on top of his chest, looking down at him as her hear swung onto her face. "You don't have to behave at all if you don't want to."
Noah looked up at her, leaning forward so he could see her eyes in the dark. Rachel was smiling down at him. He pulled her face close to his, pressing his lips to hers. No matter what he wanted right now, he was going to behave, regardless of what Rachel had just said.
But kissing. Kissing was still behaving.
Puck rolled them over in the sand so Rachel's back was on the ground and he was on top of her. His hand stayed on her hip, pressing her into the ground as he continued kissing her lips. Rachel seemed to be enjoying it as well—she wasn't pushing him away or slapping him this time, at least.
Rachel ran her hands over his bare back, her fingers tracing the outline of his shoulder blades. Puck finally pulled away when he knew he'd keep going further and doing something they'd both regret in the morning.
Rachel appeared to pout at him in the dark. "Why'd you stop?" she asked over the noise of the rain on the trees.
"Because," he said, rolling off her so he was in the sand beside her. "I promised I'd behave tonight."
"And how do you plan on behaving?" she asked, turning onto her side so she was facing him."
"By just holding you in my arms until you fall asleep," he said. And that was exactly what he did. Puck's arms wrapped themselves around Rachel's waist. He stayed like that until she was fast asleep on the sand, him succumbing to sleep not long after her, both of them still wrapped in each other's arms.