The next day everyone was up doing whatever it is that they do. I was going over a few patient files, Bill was around here somewhere, and Tran was steering.

"Hey babe." Bill called from the bedroom

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen Kong today?" He asked me and I set my stuff down

"Actually come to think of it no. You can't find him?" I asked and he shook his head. Then he asked everyone else have they seen him and got the same response.

"Where are you?" I heard Bill say. I put my hand on his arm

"I'm sure he's fine Bill he could've gotten far, and he very smart. He knows to come home." I told him but he just nodded then headed up top to look for him. I was trying to be okay but seeing Bill this worried has me a bit worried. What if something happened to him?

Just then Gail came from the back once again shouting on her phone. She kept repeating 'can you hear me now' obviously they can't

"Can you hear me now!?" She shouted again

"We can!" I snapped at her I turned to put my work away there was no way I could get anything done with her around just then I heard a splash and turned to see she had fallen off the boat.

"Tran stop the boat." I called up no worry in my voice what so ever. I really wanted to laugh because this was nothing but karma come right back around on her. Just then Bill came down with the stick, we shared a small smirk then he went to help Gail. Everyone else was laughing and mocking Gail. Bill and I climbed down on the platform, Bill stuck out the stick for her to grab on to. She was swimming very slowly because she wouldn't let go of the phone. Just as she was about to grab the stick a giant crocodile jumped out of the water and almost took her arm off. Before we had time to react Bill jumped in after her. I grabbed the stick holding it out for Gail's dumbass to reach it. Just then Bill lifted her up onto the platform then the croc came straight at him

"Bill look out!" I screamed he turned and shoved the plastic crate into its mouth. Bill took that time to climb on its back. He began stabbing the croc repeatedly, just as Tran came running back with the rifle but couldn't get a clear shot as the croc took Bill under the water and began doing its death roll. They came back up and I saw Bill stabbing it a few more times then they went back under. What felt like hours was really only seconds before I saw Bill reappear, and the croc was floating to the surface dead. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding.

"Oh shit you won." Cole said as Bill swam over to the boat

"You're okay?" He asked Gail out of breath

"I lost my phone." Was all she said I could've kicked her in the face if I wasn't so worried about Bill. I grabbed his hand and Ben grabbed the other and we pulled him from the water. I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight. He wrapped his arms around me too and held me just as tight

"I'm getting you all wet." He said

"I don't care." I said then we pulled away and I smacked him in the face as hard as I could

"Oh!" Everyone said but I heard a giggle from Tran

"William Johnson I swear to God if you ever do anything like that again to me I will kill you myself." I snapped and he just laughed. We got up I climbed back on the boat first. Then Bill just before he came over I saw Sam staring at him. It was a familiar look a look I knew well because it was the way I use to look at Bill around the time we started dating.

"That was either the bravest or the stupidest thing I've ever seen." She said still staring

"It's a fine line." He said then climbed aboard

It was then I felt a small amount of anger in the pit of my stomach. Then Bill wrapped his arm around me and it went away as quickly as it came. We walked upstairs and I pulled him in for a deep kiss, when we pulled apart I felt the tears coming

"Oh no, no, no Lia don't cry I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"I love you so much." I said burying my face in his chest

"I love you too baby you know that I'm sorry."

"You asked me to marry you and in order for you to do that I need you alive." I said to him and he just kissed my forehead and held me

"Promise me you won't go playing that hero anymore."

"You know I can't promise that." He said

"I know but you need to remember I need you too. Not as a hero I need the man I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life." I said I kissed him again. Just the Tran came up and we pulled apart

"Sorry, I just want to get us out of here as quickly as possible." Tran said

"I agree." I said as Tran started up the boat

We had stopped about an hour later and Ben was stitching up Gail I knew I shouldn't because I would have made sure she had a permanent scar when I was done.

"Almost eaten to find a flower, it hardly seems worth it." Bill said to them I as snuggled closer into his arms when I noticed Sam once again staring at him

"It's worth it I mean thing about it. A pill you take every day for the rest of your life. Now even if we charge a dollar a pop, we're billionaires." Mitchell said they all agreed with him

"Now a hundred dollars a bottle I'll dive into the river and fight that croc myself." He joked everyone laughed but me, Bill, and Tran. I didn't like the way he was talking. He was just all about the money

"So how many orchids does it take to save the world?" Tran asked

"We figure about fifty orchids will hold about an ounce of chemicals." Sam answered

"You could a football field full of those orchids it still doesn't mean you could get them through human trials." Gail argued and for once I agreed with her

"She doesn't even believe in you." Tran said with fake disappointment

"Comes with a territory. In research you've got to go out on a limb and there's always someone waiting to chop it off" Jack said to him. When something jumped down from the ceiling making everyone jump. I calmed down when I noticed it was Kong. He was really upset and wouldn't stop screeching.

"Where the hell have you been? Huh?" Bill asked putting him on his shoulder

"Damn that thing!" Gail snapped

"Where have you been boy?" Bill asked Kong who just kept on screeching

"Calm down baby calm down." I said walking over and rubbing his back

"Poor guy he looks like he's seen a ghost." Sam said as Bill and I kept trying to calm him down.

That evening the rain started coming down, and hard too. I walked up to the top deck where Tran and Malia were.

"How's it looking?" I asked Tran who just shook his head

"Shit! Alright I'll talk with Jack." I said to Tran who agreed, then I looked over to Malia who was still taking care of Kong. Something has him really spooked I've never seen him like this before. Ever since he came back, he won't let me or Malia put him down.

"Oh come on baby." Malia said to him I walked over to them and kneeled down next to the bench

"How's he doing?" I asked her

"He stopped shaking. He won't eat Bill, and I'm really worried." She said turning back to him

"Come on Kong, it's a mango you love mangos come on just eat a little for me huh?" She said trying to give it to him but he kept pushing it away

"Kong eat just a bite." I told him but he just looked away

"What do you think is out there that scared him so bad?" Malia asked me but honestly I don't know

"I don't know Lia, just keep trying. I'm gonna to talk to Jack about this storm." I said then kissed her, and headed down below. I found him and Sam in the back he was clearly trying to get her to sleep with him but she kept turning him down

"Am I interrupting something?" I asked but I didn't really care if I was

"No, no I-I was just about to head to bed." Jack half stuttered, half slurred

"Well before you do that we need to talk." I told him and he came out and followed me upstairs.

"Hello Malia."

"Hi." She smile politely at him

"How Kong doing?" He asked her

"I didn't bring you up here to talk about my monkey." I snapped not liking the way he was eyeing my girl.

"Bill." Malia said giving me her 'Be nice' look I just rolled my eyes and turned to the windshield

I turned on the lights so I could show him what I was talking about

"Now we have a problem. See the water level?" I asked him

"Uh-huh."

"In high water the Mendranang gets rough. What we could do is turn around and try to find another course. But that would take at least two days." I told him

"We don't have the time." He said quickly shooting down the idea

"If the river becomes impassible, it'll take a lot longer." I told him

"And if we turn back, then we're definitely screwed. We're gonna have to risk it." He said and I looked at him like he was crazy

"What if I don't want to risk it?" I said then quickly glanced back at Malia I would never forgive myself if something happened to her

"Do you have any idea what this flower means? We're talking about the biggest medical discovery in history. You get it don't you Malia?" He asked turning to face her

"Um please leave me out of this." She said

"You know what that sure does sound amazing Jack, but I was never any good at history. You want me to risk the Mendranang it'll cost you an extra 50,000." I told him

"Done." He said quickly

"Done? Don't you need to ask the boss lady or something first?"

"I'll pay it myself." He said and I thought about

"All right you got yourself a deal, but if we hit trouble your people do what I say you got that?" I told him

"You're the captain." He said in a mocking tone that made me want to punch him. Then he nodded to Lia then went back downstairs. And I turned back to the river

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lia asked coming to stand next to me

"Not really I kind of feel like I just made a deal with the devil." I admitted

"Well if that's how you feel maybe you shouldn't do it. We don't need the money that bad." She said

"Yes we do, it's just….I don't know something about that guy doesn't sit right with me."