I want to thank you all SO much for all your reviews! I really love it all! Okay, I just want to say that I know Will is a little OOC in this story, but he needs to be. Just cause I say so. :P

Alright, I've heard all my readers begging be to get rid of Will. Be patient. It's coming soon.

Please review! I will try and post one more chapter today, because I leave to drive to another place tomorrow. I'm not sure when I'll have access to another computer. But I will post at least one more chapter today. REVIEWS!

Conflicted

After I drown my coffee, I quickly change into my usual outfit before Chelsea comes out of the bedroom. I'm just finishing putting on my boots when she does walk in.

I glance at her to find that she's wearing her usual ranching clothes with another red bandanna wrapped around her head. From what I could see, it hid most of the bald spots of hair. Although I have to admit I did feel a little less dizzy than when she was wearing those pajamas.

She walks up to me and hands me my hat. Her old bandana is still tied around it and I smile as I take it from her and place it snugly on my head.

"We have to go. The boat leaves soon." I tell her gruffly. She nods to me and picks up her suitcase. Neither of us says a word about the scene that had happened earlier.

Half an hour later, we're on the boat for Sunshine Islands. I'm standing on the dock, letting the sea wind blow in my face. Briefly I'm reminded of the first time I took this boat to Sunshine Islands. That had been an interesting day.

Chelsea was below deck right now, and I wondered about her. Was she really okay? What would she tell the people of the island about her absence? I was worried if she would be strong enough to work on her farm so soon after her ordeal.

My mind wanders back to what had occurred in my apartment. Only god knows how much I wish that she had never had to leave my arms. Just from my unconscious reaction to her touch showed how much I had grown attached to her. For the first time in a long time, I didn't wake up drenched in sweat or screaming from a nightmare. To think that she could do that to me…

And it scared me. I wasn't used to feeling this much affection for one person. It scared me because I knew I was only falling deeper and deeper in love with Chelsea.

I sigh and bang my head against the railing. Who was I kidding? A girl like her would never in a million years fall in love with a guy like me. I was cold and even though I had been a little less mean lately, I was too much of a shattered mess for anyone to piece together.

Besides, she was with another guy. However much I hated to admit it. It sickened me to think that anyone else beside me would get to hold her the way I had last night. Even if it had just been an accident.

And when I had kissed her briefly in the taxi cab on the way to the hospital. It wouldn't stop running through my head, and I knew I was longing to kiss her again. Every fiber of my being burned with hatred when I thought about Will being able to kiss her any time he wanted.

Some one comes from behind and stands beside me. The familiar brown hair and blue eyes are a daily and nightly torment for me. How I wish I could just sweep her up in my arms, and have her forever. But, I couldn't do something like that.

"How do I look?" She asks me as she turns to me.

I'm shocked. It looks like she'd never been to the hospital, never been beaten by her parents, or missed so much sleep. She must have seen the surprise on my face because she laughs.

"It's just makeup." She explains. "I'll use it to cover everything up until they do go away."

I nod and turn back to look at the sea. Sunshine Island was starting to come into view as we slowly inch our way through the water.

"Vaughn." Chelsea whispers. "I want to thank you, for saving my life."

I grunt. "You already did."

Then she stands up and kisses me softly on the cheek. My entire body froze as her soft lips brushed my grizzled face and lingered there for a second.

She turns back to looking at the island and I pull my hat down over my eyes. "You're welcome." I tell her gruffly.

Chelsea begins to speak softly. "Where you…were you talking to me? While I was under the sedative?"

My eyes widen and I pull my hat closer over my head. "You heard that?"

She nods and whispers. "Every word."

Ho-ly Crap. Uh…where are the awkward police when you need them?

"Did you mean it?" She asks me as she turns to face me.

"All of it." I whisper back. I turn my face to hers. "You'll never have to see your parents again." I knew that wasn't the part she cared about, but I was freaking out.

Instead of being disappointed like I had guessed. She smiles. "I can read between the lines Vaughn."

Shoot. Caught in a white lie. Oh well. I guess it would be okay. Suddenly she looks serious. "But just so I'm straight, Natalie is just a friend, right?"

I chuckle. "Yes, Natalie is just a friend."

She sighs in relief. "Okay then. You ready?"

For? It's then that I notice we've docked. Ugh, I became so absorbed in Chelsea I couldn't even pay attention to my surroundings. No wonder Denny had managed to see me almost kiss her.

I nod and we get off the boat. I take her luggage from her the second we hit the dock. She looked like she could barely carry a toothpick with the way she was huffing and puffing from carrying it.

As soon as we're on the beach, four girls practically tackled Chelsea. I could see her wince in pain and I step in to roughly push Julia, Natalie, Lanna and Sabrina off of her.

My eyes narrow at Sabrina. She looks me head on and her eyes seem to be begging me but I just look away and ignore her.

"Where were you?" Julia practically screams as she squeezes Chelsea's shoulders and wraps her arms around her in another hug.

I push her off. "Give her some room to breathe." I growl at them.

Lanna looks at me with a smile on her face. "Oooh, looks like our little Vaughny is getting a little over protective."

I glare at her. "Don't call me that." My voice must have sounded pretty threatening, because she backs off. Fortunatly, Lanna was the only one who called me that.

"So where were you?" Julia asks her again.

Chelsea looks like she's at a loss for words. She obviously hadn't thought about what she'd tell them. Quickly I blurt something out. "She got the flu. Couldn't call or write anyone, and her parents doesn't know all your numbers. She was feeling better when I got there."

She shoots me a grateful look and I nod. Julia frowns. "The flu? That sucks. I'm sorry we worried so much Chelsea."

Chelsea smiles. "It's okay. I would do the same if it was any of you. And besides, the welcoming makes up for it."

She motions for everyone to hug her, and I'm the only one who can see the pain on her face as she does so. I was actually quite impressed. She was acting as if everything was normal; she normally got lots of hugs from the girls of the island, so she couldn't just stop.

They all begin chatting aimlessly and I begin to feel awkward just standing there. Natalie walks up to me though and smiles.

"Hey Vaughn." She smiles. "How are you?"

I grunt as an answer. She shrugs and then smiles again. "Oh my gosh, there's a new resident on the island and he's a chef! His name is Pierre and he is just about the cutest guy I have ever seen! He's so smart and his food tastes amazing!"

Natalie's eyes are shining, and I can tell that she really likes him. "Why don't you ask him out?"

Her eyes widen. "You think? Maybe for the Starry Night Festival. It's in a week and a half."

The Starry Night Festival, eh? "Good idea." I knew who I wanted to spend that with…my eyes roam over at Chelsea.

Natalie pats my arm. "It'll work out. I know it."

I nod at her, when Chelsea suddenly pushes everyone away from her. "Alright girls! I do have a ranch I need to reacquaint myself with!"

They all laugh, and Chelsea beckons to me. After pulling my hat a little closer of my eyes I follow her as we walk to her ranch.

It looks so much different in the winter snow. The entire field was pure white, and the buildings were covered with snow too.

We walk into her house first. It's the first time I've been inside and I note that it's extremely homely. The kitchen looked well used, as did the furniture. There were pictures everywhere. Pictures of all her animals and of every single villager on the island. My eyes roam over all the pictures until they find one with a silver haired boy lying unconscious on a bed.

Her suitcase is still gripped in my hand. She comes over to take it from me, but then she sees what I'm looking at.

"It's the only time I could ever get your picture." She whispers.

I turn to her and grab her wrist. I don't keep a hard hold on it though, because I know there's a huge bruise there. "You visited me?"

She nods slowly. "Every day."

My eyes widen. "But no one ever saw you come in."

She smiles slightly. "You know, you guys leave the back door open."

My mouth gapes open and she blushes. "I'd just sneak in after Mirabelle and Julia went to bed."

By now, we're both blushing like crazy. I turn away from her lovely blue eyes and place her suitcase on the table.

She puts her hand on my shoulder. "Vaughn,"

"I have to go." I say gruffly and I flee the house.

Just as I leave, a huge clatter comes from the house; followed by a stream of curses from Chelsea's mouth. My eyes widen and without a second thought, I run back in the house.

I open the door and find Chelsea sitting on a chair, holding her foot. Her suitcase was now on the floor.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it…" Chelsea repeats the words over and over as she clutches her foot.

"What did you do?" I ask, my voice shocked.

She glances up at me and grimaces. "I was trying to stop you from leaving, and I bumped into the table. The suitcase fells and smashed my foot." She grimaces again and then manages a sick smile. "But it worked."

I sigh. "You're accident prone."

Chelsea shrugs. "Take it or leave it."

I don't comment on that. Mostly cause I wasn't sure if she meant something else by that. Instead I bend down and take off her shoe, followed by her sock.

Her foot was slightly swollen and very red. Thankfully it wasn't broken. "Stay there." I tell her sternly as I get up.

I walk to her freezer and pull out a bag of corn she'd frozen. After removing it, I close the freezer and walk back to her. Then I put the bag on her foot and she lets out a small yelp.

"Keep that on there for twenty minutes and the swelling should go down." I tell her. While I may not be a doctor, I could deal with small injuries.

She smiles at me. "Thanks."

I nod and get up to leave. She calls out my name. "Vaughn? Where are you going?"

I turn when I reached her door. "You're in no condition to be walking around. I'm going to feed your animals for you."

Then I turn around and leave, but not before catching a grateful look from her. It makes me smile.

Taking care of her animals calms me down. First I go to the chicken house and see that she had two new chickens. I look at the roster on the side of the barn and see that Amour and Yellow were still there, along with their chicks V and Kernel. My face deeps in colour when I realize that the V is my initial; she named the chicken after me.

I put food in the feeders and then pet all the chickens. They all seem to like me a lot, especially Amour and V. After a while, I leave and head to her barn.

There I see that she now has two cows and one sheep. After checking the roster I see that Amethyst is still there along with Sapphire and the sheep Snow. I shrug. A name is a name.

I set fodder in all of their feeders and then brush them all to a fine shine as I talk to them. They enjoy the talking and I tell them how wonderful their owner is. They seem to love it.

After putting the brush away, I leave the barn and begin to trudge my way through the snow back to her house. As I'm walking I see a set of footprints leading to Chelsea's house. And they weren't mine.

My eyes narrowed and my face neutral, I open the door of her house. Only to find Will kissing Chelsea like there's no tomorrow.

My eyes light up in anger. I slam the door behind me and Will practically jumps off of her. Which a pretty amazing feat even for him, seeing as though he had been straddling her.

"Get. Out." Each word is pronounced and enforced with deadly seriousness. My words seems dark even to me, and I knew that I would not hesitate to break every bone in his body if he didn't leave that instate.

Will appears scared for a second, but then he glances at Chelsea and his bravado seems to come back. "Why should I?"

I take a step closer to him. "Because if you don't, I will break every single bone in your body. Painfully. And Slowly."

"You are not her father." Will stands up tall to me.

"No," I admit. "But I am the guy with a knife in his boots."

Will's eyes widen. "You are bluffing."

Without taking my eyes off him, I reach down into my boot and pull out my switchblade. Then I open it and look at it. "And I have deadly aim when throwing this."

Finally Will seems to get the message. He flashes a smile at Chelsea. "I shall see you tomorrow night to dine on my ship, my lady."

He then bows to her, flips me off without her notice, and leaves the house.

I close the knife and put it back in my boot. Then I clench my hands; I was still wound up with anger, even though Will had left.

"Vaughn." Chelsea begins as she stands up. I notice that her foot is looking better. It must have taken me longer than I'd thought to take care of her animals.

I hold my hand up. "I don't want to hear it Chelsea." Then I head into the kitchen and begin making her some food more lunch.

She follows me and sits down on a stool. "Vaughn, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Mean to what? Kiss him? It sure looked like you meant it." I slam the fridge door closed after I take out a bunch of vegetables. Not carrots though; I hated carrots.

I take out a knife from in the drawers and begin to cut up the veggies. Chelsea continues. "Please Vaughn. He just came in here and was so happy to see me. He got a little carried away."

"Why are you telling me this?" I ask through clenched teeth. "I don't care. Why should I care? He's your boyfriend; you have a right to kiss him." I say everything through clenched teeth, as I chop the veggies much harder than they need to be chopped.

"I wasn't kissing him back." She whispers. "And I'm not strong enough to push him off."

I chop the veggies one last time and then place my hands on the edge of the counter. I count to ten as I take deep breaths through my mouth.

Then I'm calmer. I take all the cut up veggies and place them in the frying pan. I work over it for a minute before Chelsea speaks up again.

"Please, Vaughn."

I turn to her and walk so that I'm right in front of her, with only the counter separating us. "Look Chelsea. I'll always be your…friend…" I nearly choke on the word friend. "Even if you're not there to see. I don't want to talk about Will when we're together."

Then I turn around again and walk back to the veggies. They're done, so I scrap them off onto a plate and grab two forks.

I head back over to Chelsea, who's looking at me with a strange look in her eyes. I'm not sure what it is exactly, so I just put the plate in front of her and hand her a fork.

She takes the fork. "Stir-fry?"

"I think so." I say. Honestly, I'd just chopped veggies to let out my anger but I think it was a real dish too. "I can cook."

Chelsea smiles and takes a bite of it. She chews it slowly and I watch, waiting for reaction. "It's good." She mumbles between bites.

I smile a bit at her and then take a bit of the dish. It actually wasn't that bad. We finish the meal together in silence.