Scott took himself out of the party. He slipped away shortly after Marissa had disappeared. The rumours he'd overheard whispered amongst the other guests made it sound like she wouldn't be coming back any time soon. With her gone, Cara was the only one left he knew well enough to talk to, so what could he do? Marissa had planted a seed of doubt in his head. He was now questioning his friendship with Cara and now he wanted to be alone with his thoughts.

He left the sound of laughter and cheesy dance music and had found himself wandered through the trees behind the lodges. He eventually came to the steep beach where they had come ashore in the canoes. He sat himself down in the sand and began throwing pebbles into the waves.

…

Almost as soon as he'd stepped onto the island he found himself wondering why he was even there. It wasn't like he knew Erica or Jackson all that well. And as nice as the island was, a wedding is still a wedding wherever you held it.

Scott picked up another large pebble and flung it into the surf.

If he was honest he already knew why he'd come. It was because Cara had asked him. He'd abandoned his baby and his sick girlfriend because of the pleadings of a woman he barely knew.

Scott's thoughts drifted back to Cara; her dark eyes and her warm smile. She'd asked him and in that moment he couldn't think of a reason not to come. Now he could think of a hundred. Was he really that fickle? Was he that ready to abandon all his responsibilities..? Yes he was.

Scott howled in frustration and hurled the next rock as far as he could into the ocean. He was supposed to be the good guy. He didn't want to be that man that would give up on his family because things were tough. He shouldn't get distracted by a pretty face… just because he was lonely. It was selfish of him to want to escape it all. It wasn't Madison's fault she was ill. It wasn't Holly's fault she couldn't sleep through the night. It wasn't works fault that Scott had decided to personally oversee the Joossen sale despite the many late nights needed. But here he was running away from all of it... Good guys aren't supposed to run.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you." exclaimed a welcome, and yet unwelcome, voice behind him. He realised then that he shouldn't have cried out. He'd given away his hiding place.

Scott turned to see Cara picking her way across the sand towards him, her shoes in her hands.

"You've missed all the fun." she called. "The party's winding down and everyone is escaping to their beds."

"I've been having fun out here." Scott called back.

Cara looked unconvinced.

"Yeah, it looks like it." she said her voice dripping with sarcasm, but then she laughed as she sidled up beside him. "So what are you doing?"

"Throwing rocks."

"Well then I can see why you didn't want to go back to the party."

She sat down beside him, settling herself with a sigh.

"It is a beautiful night though." she said. "And you found a beautiful spot."

The moon was shining brightly and the night sky was so clear you could see the river of stars that formed the milky-way.

Scott didn't know what to say. Now she was sat so casually beside him, Scott kept going back to Marissa's questions about him and Cara; could it be more than friendship?

"Are you missing Holly?" Cara asked, completely derailing Scott's thoughts. She was worried about him but she clearly had no idea about the real reason for his distracted mood.

Scott sighed.

"Yeah." he said. He found himself thinking back to his tiny beautiful daughter. "I miss her. I don't miss the crying, or the diapers. But I miss her."

"You could call." said Cara, "They have a satellite phone in reception. I spent twenty minutes before the wedding wishing Charlie a good morning. She'll still be awake. Is she with Randi or your dad?"

"Randi offered to look after her." said Scott. "I think she's smitten with my little girl. Not that I could blame her."

Cara gave him a friendly smile when he turned to look at her and he felt like a fool. Of course she was his friend… just his friend. This idle curiosity was just that, curiosity. And it was clearly one sided. This was only him running away again, even if it was only in his head. She'd probably think him an idiot if he spoke to her about it. He had a life and commitments back home, that's what he should be focused on!

"You could call Madison as well." she said, as if reading his thoughts.

Scott's smile grew sadder.

"She wouldn't want to know me right now. I spoke to the doctor yesterday. She's… she's not doing well at the moment. She's getting confused… quite badly confused. She reverted back to the delusion that she killed Holly and Sarah and I forced her into it with my imaginary affair. They think she's been missing her meds so she's being monitored 24 hour a day and they put her in isolation. I should probably be with her right now… even if I couldn't be there. Instead I'm here, throwing rocks."

"I'm sorry. I had no idea." said Cara, putting a hand on his. "You can blame me. I shouldn't have asked you to come. It just looked like you needed an escape."

Scott looked down not wanting to meet her eyes. Maybe she did know he'd only come because she'd asked him? But why did she ask him?

When he looked back up she wasn't looking his way anymore, she was distracted by something out at sea.

"What's that?" she asked leaning forward.

"What?" asked Scott following her line of sight.

"There." said Cara, pointing to a spot of light flying rapidly toward them.

"It looks like a chopper?"

"Maybe they could give you a ride home." Cara joked.

Scott was right, it was a helicopter. It came thundering in over their heads blowing up great clouds of sand, leaving them chocking and spluttering. It looked like it was landing by the resort beyond the trees.

"Are you okay?" Scott asked as he tried to wipe the stinging sand from his eyes.

"I think so." said Cara, "But that jerk of a pilot… He must have seen us..! And why is he here so late?"

Scott stood up and brushed the sand from his clothes and held out a hand to help Cara to her feet.

"Maybe they are delivering supplies?"

"Maybe." said Cara.

They could hear shouting now, beyond the trees.

"Or maybe something's happened." said Cara. They shared a look of concern and as one started running towards the noise…

…