Hi everyone, I've managed to write a little more, but, I won't be writing as much anymore as I have other things to do, so instead of being finished totally, this story is more in a state of something once in a while - life- what can I say - it happens. Anyway, I hope you enjoy -and SORRY, SORRY, SORRY, up front about the editing, I haven't gone through it, and for some reason my keyboard seems to be dropping letters, guess I might need a new battery.

Dee and Thomas.

Dee was playing with Kelly and Hayes, helping them both with their drawings of Steffy playing with a Kangaroo, the results of which Dee was encouraging, including a purple and orange Kangaroo with three arms and four plump donkey legs – curtesy of Hayes, and a bright yellow Kangaroo with a surprising Chesire Cat like grin from Kelly, she looked up at the firm knock on the door, quickly followed by Thomas poking his head in.

"Steffy, it's just me, I brought Douglas over for a visit," he said before spying Dee. "Oh, hi Dee, where's Steffy?"

Dee smiled in delight at Thomas's arrival, she turned and pointed out to the dark sky outside the patio door.

"Storm-walking again, so I'm minding Kelly and Hayes while she's out, we're in the process of re-inventing the Kangaroo."

Thomas and Douglas walked in and both Kelly and Hayes jumped to their feet to go and greet Douglas.

"Hey Dee," said Kelly importantly, "this is my cousin Douglas, he's a great drawer, can he help us?"

Dee nodded, "Nice ta meet ya Douglas," she said solemnly holding out her hand and shaking Douglas's. "I'm Dee, I'm a friend of your Aunt Steffi's and your dads, it's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard a lot about you," she said smiling.

Douglas shook her hand and smiled back at her, "It's nice to meet you too, you come from Australia, don't you?" he asked, his eyes wide.

Dee nodded, "yep, a little place in the Northern Territory called Humpty Doo."

"You're teasing me," said Douglas as he began to giggle.

"Nope, look it up on ya phone," said Dee. "That's even where I met your Aunt Steffy a long time ago, she was ridin her motorbike through Australia on an adventure and she broke down just outside of town, that's where we met. I was with me cousin Jiemba going into town when we saw her and stopped ta help, and we've been friends ever since," she said in her Aussie drawl.

She glanced down at her watch, as Douglas stared at her wide eyed before taking her advice and taking out his phone to look up Humpty Doo.

"Speakin of Steffy, she should be back by now; she said she'd only be a half an hour, and it's starting to rain."

As Dee looked up at Thomas lightning flashed and a deep roll of thunder rumbled across the house, this was quickly followed by long yell of rage, and a terrified scream

Thomas and Dee's eyes went wide, they looked at each other in shock for a moment before, as one, they both ran for the patio door, Thomas yelled at Douglas to stay put and mind Kelly and Hayes as they headed straight for the patio door.

Wide eyed and scared Douglas obeyed and ushered Kelly and Hayes back to their drawings while he stood protectively over them. Frowning, he looked down at his phone before quickly finding the number he wanted.

Steffy.

She stared at Finn in shock as he ran towards her and Liam, her mind unable to grasp the site before her, the man she had once loved looked utterly insane, and in that one terrifying instant, she realised he wanted to kill both her and Liam. Just as she started to step away Finn reached them.

She felt his arm grab at her waist, pushing her backwards with his momentum, she twisted, desperately trying to keep her balance, but the force of the glancing blow was too much, and she was way too close to the edge, despite her efforts she fell backwards.

A scream was wrenched from her throat as she felt her upper hip hit the lowest part of the fence as she fell, it was the one part that hadn't, as yet, been raised since Thomas's fall, and just like Thomas, she tipped over it.

She shrieked again as she desperately tried to grab hold of the rail, but just like in a horror movie, she felt the tips of her fingers brush against the smooth metal bar and glance off it before she landed with a thump on the small sloping edge of lawn behind it, and began to slide slowly backwards.

Acting purely on instinct she started to dig her fingers and toes into the dirt as she slid toward the edge of the cliff, finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, but was in fact a few seconds, her hand hit a large root, left from when there had been trees along the fence line. She managed to grasp it and hold on, just as her lower body, up to her breasts dangled precariously over the precipice.

"Oh please, please god!" she whispered in terror as she looked up at the fence, that now seemed a mile away instead of the five and a half feet it was.

"Steffy! Steffy! Where are you?" she heard someone yelling. Was that her brother?

"THOMAS?" She screamed as loud as she could, even to her, her voice seemed to be snatched away by the increasing wind.

She looked up towards the fence line barely able to open her eyes against the now torrential rain, the storm had finally broken and seemed to be intent on dragging her from her precarious perch.

As she gazed upwards in terror, she saw Thomas's face appear at the fence.

"Hold on, I'm coming," he said as he franticly climbed over and grabbed the fence with one hand as he leant down and tried to reach her with the other, he was agonisingly short.

Steffy stared at him, terror etched in every line of her face, she could feel the root she was hanging onto beginning to move slightly.

"Hold on Steffy, I'll be back, I have to get some rope," said Thomas in horror as he realised, he would never reach his sister this way.

He pulled himself back to the fence line just as the tree root Steffy was holding loosened some more, sending her backwards another few inches, she shrieked in terror as she felt herself move.

"We need some rope," said Thomas to Dee, who had seen what had just happened to Steffi's unstable perch.

"No time, can you hold on to both of us if you lower me and I grab hold of her? That tree root is giving way, I don't think she has even a minute left," said Dee as she looked at Steffy in terror at what she was suggesting.

"Okay, good idea," said Thomas. He helped Dee over the fence then grabbed hold of her arm firmly.

"I've got you," he said.

Dee nodded, closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath to steady herself, and then started to edge down the slope. When she reached Steffy, she wrapped her right arm around one of her wrists.

"Okay Steffy, now grab a hold of me with your other hand," she said loudly, as the storm continued to break around them, the wind snatching at their hair and clothes, as if angry about the attempt to take away its prize.

Steffy closed her eyes, then in one swift motion let go of the root with her right hand, and grabbed Dee's wrist.

"I got her," yelled Dee to Thomas, as Steffy clung to her.

Thomas strained with everything he had in him, but lifting both woman was simply beyond him. He started to panic, he couldn't let them fall, he had to save them, and that's when he heard his father.

"Thomas?" shouted Ridge running up to him through the heavy rain.

"Dad, oh thank god, Dad, help us?" yelled Thomas desperately.

Ridge reached him, took one look at what was happening and quickly jumped over the fence and joined his son, he grabbed Dee's arm above Thomas's hand and together they heaved both women back to the fence, before all four of them basically fell back over to the safety of the yard before crawling a few more feet away and collapsing on the ground in shock.

Ridge went straight to Steffy, "Steffy, what happened?" He asked, the horror of seeing his daughter hanging over the cliff still etched clearly on his face.

"Finn," gasped Steffy brokenly through her tears. "He came out of no-where, just as the storm hit, he pushed Liam and I over the cliff with him."

"Oh my God," said Ridge as he gathered Steffy into his arms.

ON HEARING Steffi's half hysterical answer to Ridges question, Thomas quickly stood and hurried back to the fence line to try to see if he could spot either man.

"I can't see a thing, the rain is just too heavy," he yelled loudly, so that they heard him.

"Let's get inside and call search and rescue," said Ridge, he stood and helped his daughter to her feet before placing a protective arm around her and leading her back to the house.

Thomas walked back to Dee as she was slowly getting to her feet, "Are you all right, Dee?" He asked.

Dee nodded, not trusting herself to speak, she was absolutely terrified of heights, and what she had just done had reminded her of that in a very big way. All she wanted to do was to go home, have a long hot shower, followed by several very big drinks, and crawl into bed where she could ring her mum or Jiemba for a little sympathy and family love.

Once everyone was back in the house it took a while to calm the kids who, by now, knew something very bad had happened, after Steffy and Ridge had finally assured them that their mum was alright and they had nothing to worry about. In the meantime, Thomas had called search and rescue and the police to tell them what had happened, as well as Bill, while Dee sat in shock on the couch, quietly watching as everyone was busy helping Steffy, the kids, and ringing the authorities.

She looked up as a hand covered hers and Douglas sat down beside her, "it must have been really scary for you too, are you okay?"

Dee tried desperately to stop the tears of terror that were so near, from falling, she looked into Douglas's warm kind eyes, they seemed to be full of genuine concern for her.

She blinked several times and gave him a watery smile, "I'll be okay, I was just a bit scared, I'm not real good with heights I'm afraid," she said quietly.

"That's okay, I'm not either, but my Dr says that being brave is all about not letting your fears win, it's about knowing that they're there, but still doing what you have to do, you can't let them control you," he said sagely.

"That's one heck of a Doc you got there Douglas, thanks, that's really nice to hear."

Douglas smiled, "he's helped me a lot . . . I had a lot of things I had to talk about, like mum, and Hope, and things, but I'm feeling a lot better now," he said quietly.

Dee opened her hand and turned it, to hold the boy's smaller hand more fully.

"Anyone ever tell you you're one heck of a kid?" she said.

"One heck of a kid alright," said Ridge as he looked over at Douglas from where he was holding Steffy.

"Douglas is the one who rang me, he knew I was staying in Steffi's guest house, and when you and Thomas ran outside, he rang me to tell me what had happened and I ran straight up here."

Douglas smiled at the praise from his grandfather as Thomas came over and sat on his other side.

"Thanks bud, without you this might have all turned out very differently, you might have saved all of us with your quick thinking."

"Hey, we have our very own Captain America," said Dee as she smiled at Douglas. Thanks, Cap, great save mate!" she raised her hand, palm up, and with an enormous grin, Douglas high fived her.

A knock at the door alerted them to the arrival of Bill, after Bill told them he had Justin organising his own search for Liam there was another knock on the door, the Search and Rescue unit had arrived, quickly followed by the police,

Thomas quickly asked Douglas to take Kelly and Hayes upstairs and then he went to let the authorities in, it was going to be a very, long night.

Liam and Finn

Liam stared in shock as Finn came barrelling towards him and Steffy, screaming like a mad man. He stood frozen, unable to comprehend what he was seeing, the lunacy in Finns eyes, the hatred, and then he hit them.

Liam was pushed off his feet as Finn grabbed him, he flew backwards, his back hitting the section of fence that Steffy hadn't as yet replaced, he flipped over, along with Finn, then he was sliding backwards until, once again, he became airborne.

He let go of Finn, who was still falling beside him, as he tried desperately to grab the edge of the cliff, he missed and began a freefall to the water below.

Out of instinct he took a deep breath and curled himself into a ball, placing his arms around his head for protection, and then he hit the water.

Normally he would have been landing on a small beach head of sand, but with the storm came a king tide, and instead of sand, he hit around five feet of water, which had just risen to six feet with the next incoming wave.

It wasn't much to break his fall totally, and he still hit the sand underneath with force. He felt something in his shoulder snap as the breath exploded from his lungs he ploughed into the bottom; it was all he could do not to gasp in another breath immediately.

As the wave retreated it tried to drag him along with it, he pushed himself upwards and stood, finding himself at chest level in the cold ocean. Something smacked into him and he looked down in confusion, it was Finn's hand, he'd landed near him, and was now obviously unconscious, and floating face up in the water. For a moment Liam thought of just saving himself and leaving him to drown, his shoulder hurt like hell, and he couldn't move his right arm without him screaming in agony, but he knew he'd never forgive himself if he didn't try, so instead, he grabbed his arm with his one good hand and dragged him towards him, just as another wave broke over them.

Now coughing and spluttering from the salt water he'd inadvertently inhaled he braced himself and Finn against the pulling surge as the ocean as it retreated once again, trying to drag him and his burden back out to sea.

As he tried to catch his breath he turned and watched, the next time a wave rushed forward, he threw himself and Finn forwards, riding it several more feet towards safety, this time when he stood up the water only reached his lower hips. He walked the remaining dozen yards to the cliffs edge before he collapsed in both pain and exhaustion.

The water was still several inches deep, and seemed to still be rising with each new wave, he didn't know what to do, Finn was still out to it, and his shoulder had reached new heights of agony from his efforts, he felt like he was on the verge of passing out. Taking a deep breath, knowing it would hurt, he dragged Finns upper body half onto his lap so he wouldn't drown if he passed out, then he closed his eyes to rest, and wait, as the ocean slowly rose around him, inch by inch.

Meanwhile, back at Steffi's the police have taken a brief statement from Steffy, Thomas, Dee and Ridge but unfortunately Search and Rescue have said the storm is far too dangerous to risk a search, but Bills rescue crew has arrived and has entered the main living room.

"Sorry mate, but going out in that is asking for a quick death," said the thick set Englishman looking at Bill, while three other men stood silently behind him.

"I'll pay you one hundred thousand each if you bring my son back to me alive!" said Bill, who was still enraged at Search and Rescues refusal to work until the storm had abated and it was safe.

The Englishman's eyes widened only slightly at the amount, before he could refuse Bill exploded, "Look you limey bastard, you're supposed to be the best in the world, Special Boat Services or something military like that! I was told you used to do this stuff for a living, well, think on this, you bring my son back to me, alive; or dead, and I'll pay you each a quarter of a million dollars."

The mans eyes narrowed, "you speak to me, or any of my crew like that again and I'll shove your teeth so far down your throat you'll be eating out of your arse for the next year, do you understand me?"

Bill took a deep breath and nodded as it finally struck him that these men were not people he could intimidate, in fact, he was now beginning to feel intimidated simply by their presence, but he had to try.

"Please," he implored.

The man took a deep breath and turned to look at each of his men in turn, despite Bill being unable to see any change in expression in them, when he turned back, he nodded.

"Fine, a quarter mill each, dead or alive, show me where they went over."

Thomas took them outside and showed them the exact spot, after a brief look through the pounding rain the man simply nodded and he and his men left.

Liam swayed in the water, he was so tired, and so very, very cold. His teeth chattered uncontrollably as the water swirled around his lower hips, he was sure he'd passed out a couple of times, but somehow, he both kept a hold on Finn's jacket, and kept standing upright.

Half delirious, he wondered vaguely if anyone would miss him if he died. Tears began to course down his cheeks, mixing with the salt spray of the hungry ocean.

He didn't want to die, not like this, not when he hadn't made amends for all his mistakes, all the casual cruelties he now realised he'd inflicted on both Steffy and Hope when he'd waffled between them. He admitted to himself that a part of him had just expected both women to wait for him, and now, well now neither of them wanted him, and he'd realised far to late that the one woman he truly loved, would never risk her heart with him again.

He raised his head to stare out at the ocean, his eyes-tired slits, perhaps if I just let go, it would all be over, no more worry, no more pain, and I could see mum again.

He heard the ocean growling in agreement, he grinned, "you want me that bad, hey?

He started to giggle as the growling noise grew louder, until out of the pouring rain came a black boat.

He watched as it slowly made its way to him, when it was a half dozen feet away from him three men jumped out, two held the boat somewhat steady, while the other came towards him.

"You'd be Liam then?" asked a thick set man to Liam. He simply nodded dumbly, unable to think of anything to say.

The man reached over and took Finn from him, then guided his still unconscious body to the boat where the other two men quickly lifted it in as he held a rope on the side to keep the boat steady.

After that he approached Liam, "I think I've busted my shoulder," he said as the small man neared him.

He nodded and said, "brace yourself," then he lifted him up at the waist and the two other men who were now back in the boat dragged him in as fast as possible as the smaller man heaved himself onboard.

Despite how tired he was, and despite the men trying to be a bit gentler with him, the agony of being dragged on board made him scream anew as bone ground against bone.

"Sorry mate, but we can't afford to stay here, were getting pounded as it is, so there's no time for gentleness, we have to move."

Liam looked up at them as the black boat turned and headed back to sea, its powerful motors straining against the surf.

"Thanks, I thought we were dead, how's Finn? I tried to keep his head above water, but he hasn't regained consciousness since we fell," he said wearily.

The man looked over to the others, one who gave the barest shake of his head.

"Don't worry about him mate, we've got other worries at the moment, like getting out of this bloody storm in one piece, now just settle down and close your eyes, you need the rest."

Liams eyes were already half closed so he missed the interaction between the men, instead he took their advice and passed out.

Back at Steffi's everyone was sitting around waiting for news, Douglas has just taken Keely and Hayes up to their playroom to start on a colouring project.

"It's been over four hours since they've been gone, why haven't we heard anything?" said Bill angrily.

"They had to go get their boat," said Ridge with a frown, "you were lucky they had what they wanted at the marina, but that still would have taken at least a half hour to get there and get their equipment loaded."

Just as Bill was turning around to argue with Ridge his phone rang, he brought it to his ear quickly.

"Spencer."

Everyone held their breath as Bill listened and nodded before saying, 'thank you, your money will be transferred as soon as you give Justin your bank details, put the equipment hire on the bill too. I owe you men; I won't forget this."

He nodded again and then hung up, a huge smile splitting his face.

"Liams alive, he's got a broken collarbone at least by the looks of things, and probably hypothermia, he's on his way to the hospital now."

"Finn?" asked Ridge.

"He didn't make it, they found Liam holding him afloat by the base of the cliff, but he was already dead," said Bill with a frown.

"Look, I'm going to the hospital, I'll call you all when I have more news," and then he rushed out the door leaving the now somewhat relieved group.

Dee looked up at Ridge and Thomas, "I'm going to get going too, Steffy is going to need her family right now, so I'll leave you to it."

She reached over and gave Steffi's hand a squeeze, "you take care matey, and if you think this gets you out of your promise then you're sadly mistaken, I will still be demanding answers."

Steffy smiled despite herself, "Until next time then, I'll see you at work."

Ridge and Thomas sat down either side of Steffy, and all three joined in a family hug.

"As long as we have each other than nothing can break us," said Thomas

Ridge nodded, "you're my kids, my family, and I love you, we're going to get through this together."

Steffy sighed heavily, tears slipping down her face at the words she'd so wanted to hear all her life.

"As a family, the Forresters united, this time forever."