He isn't quite sure how everyone managed. Everything had happened so fast it was difficult to be sure. All he knew was that he was surrounded by water and people crying out for help.
They were close to the beach, he could see, but the water was still a good 40 feet deep, he caught sight of what remained of the plane; half on land, half resting in the sea. Most of it had gone up in flames, and he could see parts of it floating around him in the water.
He treaded water for a bit, his blue eyes were wide and searching desperately for his friends. He caught sight of two familiar forms; Brian and Meredith were on the beach. Two down. Not far from them, he found Joey cradling his arm against his chest. There is another. He kept looking and he saw Jaime, Charlene, Liam and Darren all swimming for the sand. That's seven…
"Joe! Joe!" He heard Julia's voice calling out a few feet behind him. He turned and was relieved to find Clark and Dylan with her.
"Thank God you are okay!" Her curls were plastered against her cheeks and the scarf that had been tied firmly in her hair was now hanging on by a thread. She had a small burn mark along her jaw, and was clearly flustered, but he was so thankful to see her alive.
"C'mon. Everyone is headed to the beach…" And she and the boys began swimming to the white sand.
He was in a daze. He kept telling himself to get moving, to follow his friends, but something was keeping him there.
Darren, Julia, Charlene. Liam, Dylan, Clark. Joey, Jaime, Brian, Meredith… Me….
Lauren.
"Lauren!" He shouted, his eyes widened in fear, and he began to desperately splash through the salt water, his head constantly on a swivel for the tiny brunette, "Lauren!"
"Are you guys okay!" Julia ran up to Brian, Joey and Meredith, giving each of them a drippy, tight embrace.
"Yea, we're fine."Brian answered calmly, looking into the faces of each of his friends, thankful to see them alright.
"I think my arm is broken."Joey spoke through a clenched and crooked jaw. The group hissed as they saw the swollen and bruised limb, a large bump sticking out roughly from beneath the skin. As Dylan and Clark inspected it further, Meredith began counting heads.
"We are two short... Who is missing?" Her voice growing higher in pitch as she grew more and more panicked.
"We saw Joe in the water... he was right behind us." Julia shaded her eyes from the sun, and scanned the waves. But Meredith's eyes went straight to the book lying open and face-down in the sand.
Lauren.
"Lauren." She stated loudly, catching the attention of her friends who were talking amongst themselves. Standing up, slowly to avoid blacking out again, she walker a few paces to the left. Bending down she picked up the novel. Cradling it like a small child, not wanting to think about what might have happened to the story's owner.
Suddenly, Brian and Darren were off, throwing themselves back into the ocean. Julia began running down the beach, asking any other person she saw if they had seen a girl with Lauren's description. One of their own was missing, and they were going to get her back. No matter the cost.
No. No. No. This cannot be happening. Not her. Please! Not her! Joe thought.
He kept calling out, raising his voice to be heard above the chaos. Then he tried something he had hoped he wouldn't have to do. Taking a deep breath, forcing his lungs -which had been conditioned for large intakes of air- to hit maximum capacity. And he dove. It was dangerous, he knew. With the amount of people at the surface it would be hard to find an opening, and undertow could easily cast him farther out to sea without him realizing it.
It wasn't these thoughts that struck him with fear, though. It was the sight beneath the waves that scared him most. Visibility seemed much easier now. There was so much less to block his view, but it was the occasional blocks that scared him most.
There were bodies. Whether they were unconscious or dead, he didn't know. But seeing them float lifelessly around was eerie enough for him to shudder.
But he only allowed himself this fear for a moment; he had something much more important to focus on. He thought back to what he remembered her to be wearing; that periwinkle colored shirt with the horse in it, black leggings, and black converse, and he started his search again this time in the water that stung his open eyes.
His lungs started to burn and his head began to pound but he paid it no mind. He pushed a small black piece of luggage out of his way, and that's when he saw her.
There was a wispy trail of blood originating from the top of her head and much more opaque one from the deep gash on her left temple. It was the stillest he has ever seen the vivacious small friend. Too still for comfort; there was no bright eyes visible, no beaming smile, no infectious laughter: Just Lauren looking pale and lifeless. He clawed hard through the dense ocean, though half a second it took to get to her, it felt to Joe like hours, and he feared he might be too late.
Wrapping his left arm tightly round her waist, he pulled her to him and kicked hard for the surface. He broke through and gasped loudly for air. Adjusting the girl in his arms so her head was well-above water, Joe began the swim to shore, it seemed much farther away now, but he didn't care. He would swim back to Chicago if it meant Lauren would be okay.
"Joe!" Darren and Brian were now swimming towards him, both looked fearful, and when they saw who he held, fearful turned to terrified.
"Oh God, is she..." Brian would dare finish the sentence.
The three of them paddled quickly back towards the beach, Darren offered to take her so Joe wouldn't tire, but he refused the offer, not wanting her out of his grasp quite yet.
When the water became shallow enough for the boys to stand, Walker rashed her bridal-style out of the waves reach, and gently deposited her on the sand.
Come on, come on... He began pumping her chest, lifting her chin ever so slightly, he pinched her nose, and ducked his head. He placed his mouth against her soft lips, breathing hard, he began to pray.
Something he hadn't done in a long time.
He repeated the steps three times more, growing more and more desperate each time. He hadn't even noticed his friends gathering around them. He heard a great sob come from Julia before there was a horrible retching noise.
Her small body convulsed as she threw up a few liters of water, along with whatever was in her stomach before the crash. Julia threw herself down beside her best friend, rubbing a soothing hand along her spine as she continued to cough.
Joe had walked away as soon as she had stopped puking. No one had noticed him leave the circle, and for that he was thankful, walking a few paces down the beach he sat himself down in the sand close to the water's edge, the waves lapped at his toes. He didn't remember losing his shoes, but he doesn't remember a lot of details. He buried his head in his arms and squeezed his eyes shut to hold back tears of relief.
Brian stoked the fire once more. Darren and Liam had done a great job with it, it was huge. He sat back down on the old airplane blanket that had washed up on the beach; he wrapped an arm around Meredith's shoulders. Others were on plane chairs ripped from the wreck, or logs pulled from the woods. Everyone was quiet now, exhausted from the day's events. The group around the fire was smaller than the group of passengers on the plane. They marked them with crosses made of sticks, and buried them yards down the beach. All of the StarKids had made it, thankfully. Joey's arm was broken, and there were cuts and scrapes, but nothing too major.
The survivors of the crash had done the best they could with salvaging usable materials from the plane. Taking as much luggage as they could find and planning on distributing and dividing their finds fairly the next day. They found a few snack and drink carts that were immediately set aside, as well as, tiny bottles of alcohol that were to be used only for medical purposes.
And as the sun went down, they all huddled around the fire. Meredith was leaning into Brian, Joey was in between Clark and Jaime, Julia was next to Charlene and Darren, and Lauren next to them, huddled in a blanket, still shaken from her near-drowning. Then there was Joe, sitting next to some of the other survivors, trying to think of a way to get them off of the island. The Australian fans would be going crazy. Some people were talking, some were staring off into space, trying to make sense of what happened. Lauren stood and walked over to Joe, trying not to make a scene of it.
"Hi," she whispered, kneeling next to him.
"What's up Lopez?" He tried to keep his tone playful, trying hard to forget the situation they were all in, but it came out tired. He smiled at her, and moved off of his log and sat next to her. The kindly old man with the thick gray moustache gave a small smile at the young pair. Noticing her downcast eyes and twiddling fingers, Joe tried again.
"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned, almost regretting it. He didn't want to keep it on her mind. He brought his eyes to hers, seeing the color of her eyes fade a little as she relived her ordeal.
"Yeah," she said, looking down again. She looked so tiny - tinier than usual - wrapped in her blanket. "I just wanted to thank you."
"What?" he asked, a bit surprised. Her gaze locked on his for a moment, whiskey eyes searching. There was a silent pause before she broke eye contact and continued.
"Thank you. For saving me. If it wasn't for you, I-" she broke off, not wanting to finish her thought.
He pulled her in close and kissed the gash on her temple softly, they sat like that for a while. They stayed like that while people drifted off to sleep on their make-shift beds, or curled up in the sand together, looking at the stars - they were so clear on the island.
Charlene had gone over to a 'bed' and had fallen asleep, leaving Darren and Julia together. Julia turned to Darren and smiled, happy to have a moment with him. She missed him, he was always working and she felt like she never got to spend time with him. But she'd rather not have their time together be on a deserted island with no idea what would happen next.
"Do you remember when you asked me out that first time?" She broke the silence with a soft smile, hoping he wouldn't mind bringing up their past.
Darren smiled at the memory. "Of course I do. It was the middle of Sophomore year, and we had just finished a show, it was the cast party. I had had a thing for you since the beginning of the year... That shot I had gave me enough courage to ask you." He started laughing, remembering himself tripping in front of her and into a chair.
She laughed and avoided his gaze, "That was also the night you had to get stitches... you know... the ones before these!" She teased and gestured to the row of neat black threading on his bicep that she had sewn up after the crash.
"Yeah..." He sighed, "The hospital probably isn't the best first-date." He shot her a smile.
And she knew.
It was a real Darren smile. Not an obligatory smile he gives at photo shoots, on interviews, or when he is mobbed by fans. It was to one he wore throughout college, when he got the call from Glee, when he joined them on tour. It was the one he always gave her.
Jaime gazed around the fire, her bright blues finding each familiar face first. It was a miracle they all made it. She smiled softly at Brian and Meredith cuddling on an old seat cushion. She shot Darren a playful wink when she caught him talking softly to Julia, making the poor guy blush scarlett. And she sighed contently when she saw Lauren eliciting a deep chuckle from Walker.
She looked over to Charlene who had curled up in the minute, homey area the gang had set up earlier. It was close enough to the fire to provide some warmth, but farther up the beach on the edge of the trees. Dylan took up residency beside her sleeping body. His eyes scanning the sea, his mind miles away.
Clark and Liam were sitting on a log off to her right, engaged in an epic thumb war battle. Their smiles were true, but worn out from the days events.
She then began to study the unfamiliars, though she didn't get very far. There was a flight attendant with bleach blonde hair, the same that was coming around collecting garbage when the turbulence began. She had sharp eyes and a sour expression as she shot a glance at Joe and Lauren.
Jaime made accidental eye contact when she snuck a glance at the old man next to Joe. He seemed sweet, and gave her a sad smile from across the flames. She smiled back, but it was one of comfort, not of joy. She didn't know much about the man, but she knew he lost his wife that day.
Back behind the circle, an Australian mother was singing quiet lullabies to her two young children. The kids appeared to be twins, about 5 years old, and had fair hair and eyes. She smiled at them, but the children were beginning to fall asleep, and the mother was smiling tenderly at them as she finished singing.
Lastly, she turned to Joey, who was grimacing every few seconds, the pain in his arm overbearing.
"You okay?" She asked for, what felt like, the thousandth time that day.
"Yea... it's just... Can you tighten this for me?" He asked, as he yanked and tugged at the makeshift sling.
Taking the torn shirt in her hands, she gently re tied the knot and eased her friend's arm into a new, much more comfortable fashion. As she did so, Joey's dark eyes grew darker, and he studied the familiar face once more, a secret hobby he had picked up long ago. He felt every brush of her nimble fingers, and although her skin was cool, the touch was hot.
"Better?" She mumbled.
"Much, thanks." The corners of his lips twitched in her direction. She patted his knee, and laid her head down delicately on his right shoulder, his unbroken side.
Finally, the StarKid family decided to call it a night. They made the mini-camp as comfy as possible, laying out blankets over loose sand, and cushions from the crashed plane for their heads. Dylan had even had the idea of setting up an old tarp he found, and, raising one edge of the thick green material on two even sticks, and holding the edge opposite to the ground with some larger stones, the tarp provided a small shelter in case of precipitation.
Brian and Meredith walked over to it slowly, their fingers entwined the entire time, and lay down together next to Charlene. Darren walked with Julia back, his hands shoved deep into his pockets, the two were still chatting in hushed tones. Joe scooped up Lauren, who had fallen asleep just after 2 am. Joey, Jaime, Clark, and Liam left the circle at about 3.
The twelve of them all slept incredibly sound that night, for survivors of a plane crash, at least. Julia slept with Liam's stomach under her head all night, and got her legs tangled in Darren's. Darren woke Brian up twice, but accidentally slapping him across the face. Brian held Meredith tight against him all night, the smell of her hair allowing him to sleep easy. Meredith, with her back pressed against Brian, had fallen asleep with Dylan's hand grasped in her own.
Lauren used Joe's chest as a pillow, while Jaime's arm was slung over the petite girl's waist. Clark slept on his back, but as close to Jaime as possible. Joey kept his head next to Darren's, but had his body sprawled the other direction. He snored awfully loud but the silence of the island was the most deafening.
The family slept close. All of them having some sort of physical contact with another. All of them needed the closeness. All of them needed the comfort. All of them needed each other.