A/N: So apparently it's been 2 years since the last chapter - oops! That doesnt mean my love for SB stopped - I've been running a Facebook group for the show. But I just couldn't get this chapter down for some reason. Even though I knew exactly what happens. Anyway I hope you enjoy this one - for the very few of you that read it!
The waves took him by surprise. Slamming against his body from all angles, they tossed him around without mercy like a cat playing with a mouse.
He tried to scream for her again but it was pointless. Every time he did, the salty water would rush into his mouth, choking him. It was almost like the sea was determined to stop him from doing what he had dove in there to do.
Frantically he looked from side to side for her, his eyes squinting in the darkness and his ears straining for any sound of her screaming for him. But this time was different, all he could hear was the crashing waves.
He was sure that he'd jumped right next to the spot where she had. She can't have been swept away that quickly. A nagging voice in the back of his mind reminded him that he wasn't totally sure that she was even Maria. He had acted impulsively in a moment of panic after all. But even if it wasn't her, he still had to save that person. He couldn't let another person be taken by the sea.
That was when he felt it. A quick brush on his leg, hard enough for him to know it wasn't just a piece of debris washing past him. Instinctively he pulled himself under the water.
Instantly, everything was calmer. The noise and violence of the water was gone. Before him was silent, dense water. Then slowly, fading into view - a hand.
He grabbed at it, catching it by the wrist. Dragging her out of the darkness, her face appeared, her hair fanning out around her head. Placing his other hand around her cheek, he pulled her towards him. Her eyes were wide open, full of fear and desperation. An expression he had only seen once before.
Five years hadn't diluted any of his memories. This time he knew for sure, those eyes were unmistakably Maria's.
Folding his arm tightly around her waist, Ben kicked as hard as he could, their heads breaking the surface in seconds. The noise came rushing back. Above him he could see the flashlights. Deciding that is the direction he should swim in to find the cliff's edge, he reclined back to support her head.
'Keep your head on me!' he shouted. He didn't expect a response, but something about the way her body was moving panicked him. There was no tension in it.
'Maria?!'. Her head rolled to the side and he caught it, holding the back of it against his chest so it was above water. On the cliff, the lights were roaming from side to side. 'HELP!' he screamed, 'OVER HERE!'.
Kicking furiously now, he swam in the direction of the cliff, shouting whenever he could catch a breath. Until finally, he heard voices behind him. Someone grabbed him by the shoulder suddenly, pulling him so hard his back scraped along the rocks.
'Help her, help her' he could hear himself saying, though his arm was still clamped around her.
'We got her man, let go, we've gotta get her to the top'. It was Michael or Casey, he didn't know which. They prised his arm off her and she was gone, lifted off him. 'Can you walk?', one of them said. He nodded, though his legs felt like lead.
Crawling up the cliff side was a blur. Michael and Casey were ahead of him, carrying Maria's limp body between them, navigating the rocks as steadily as they could. Every so often they would call to Ben to check if he was ok and he would raise a hand, willing them to forget him and just get her on solid ground.
With Ben still trailing behind, when Casey and Michael reached the top, they left his line of sight. But waiting for him was Meg. It felt like he hadn't seen her in weeks, not minutes.
'Oh my God, Ben' she reached out her hand but he didn't take it, not wanting to pull her down if he slipped.
'It's ok, I'm ok' he gasped as he pulled himself over the edge. He could sense a commotion as the group's attention turned to the woman now lying on the ground.
'I'll do it' Casey said. He knelt down next to her and pushed the hair from her face. Casey paused momentarily, a stunned look on his face. 'Jesus, it's really her', he whispered.
Casey was the only person in the group who had known Maria when she was alive. None of the others had even seen a picture. Ben had removed them all and hidden them away, just like he'd tried to push her unsuccessfully to the back of his mind for all these years.
At that, Ben's legs finally gave out and he crouched down, hands over his mouth. To hear someone else confirm it was her took everything out of him. Meg too fell silent, standing next to Ben in support as Gabi, Vanessa and Sara rallied around her.
For a long minute Casey methodically administered CPR, breathing and pumping, breathing and pumping. Ben wasn't a religious man, but that moment he prayed to whoever was listening.
'Please not again' he said quietly, his eyes fixed on her. Hearing him, Meg glanced over, trying her hardest to control her own emotions.
At that, Maria's body convulsed, water spluttering from her mouth. A collective sigh of relief ran through the group. But none more than Ben, who stood up immediately and stepped closer to her.
She opened her eyes to a collection of faces staring down at her. She could hear someone speaking next to her but she couldn't take in what he was saying, her head was swimming.
Behind him were others, all of which she didn't recognise. Apart from one.
Her eyes must have opened a little too widely because the faces above her suddenly looked concerned. 'It's ok' she heard, 'no-one's gonna hurt you'.
He took a step towards her and she reacted instantly, propping herself onto one elbow and dragging herself backwards away from him.
'Maria' he said almost pleadingly as she tried to get up. The two men beside her held her arms so she could stand. As soon as she was standing she pulled her arms free. To her surprise, they let her go.
'Maybe we should give her some space' said a woman's voice. It came from a petite woman with cropped dark hair. 'I'm Gabi' she said with a nervous smile, 'how about we get inside?'.
She looked behind her considering her options. She'd never be able to outrun all of these people. And maybe she didn't need to. They all looked genuinely concerned.
'Great' Gabi said, taking her silence as agreement, in a tone that was obviously overly cheerful.
'I'll lead the way!' said the woman with corkscrew curls. She was joined by the two other men who directed their lights back into the forest.
Gabi placed a hand on her back leading her forward. She shuddered, unused to being touched. Gabi moved her hand immediately. As they began to walk, she could feel his eyes in the back of her head. Sure enough, when she turned around he was staring straight at her. The woman next to him had her arm looped around his.
She slowed down looking back and then ahead every couple of seconds. He was still looking at her.
'Are you ok? We can rest for a minute if you need to' Gabi asked, noticing her discomfort. She said nothing in return.
'Ben, Meg, why don't you guys go ahead of us' Gabi called to them.
'I think I should stay at the back in case…' Ben started but Gabi wouldn't let him finish.
'...Michael can do that. Michael!' she called before Ben could protest.
'You ok Gabs?' he called back from the front.
'Come swop over with Ben will you?' she said.
'Sure'. Michael came jogging past them. Patting Ben on the back, he said 'I got this'.
Ben looked reluctant but went anyway with the woman she now knew was called Meg.
The rest of the journey back to the house was spent in silence. The occasional warning from Gabi to watch out for branches or rocks that could trip them up was all she heard. Occasionally, Ben would look back at her. Was he checking that she hadn't escaped again? She couldn't tell. All she knew was that she didn't want him anywhere near her.
When the group got back to the house, it was like worker bees flying into action.
Casey and Sara immediately went to see if they could make contact with the mainland. Vanessa and Michael collected blankets for everyone, and Meg set a large pot to boil to make hot tea.
Gabi took Maria over to the couch and sat her down, placing a blanket around her and leaving to find some dry clothes. She sat still, staring at her cut knees.
Ben leant against the kitchen counter watching her. He still couldn't quite believe that after all this time, she was here. But it had become clear that she didn't want to speak to him, for now anyway. And he couldn't blame her.
'Ben?' Meg said.
'Huh?' he replied. He hadn't heard her speaking.
'I said do you want sugar in your tea?' she said. 'You could do with the extra energy'.
'Oh sorry' he rubbed his head. 'Yeh sugar's fine'.
'What about you Maria?' Meg said, trying her hardest to be normal.
Maria looked up blankly but didn't say a word.
'She takes two sugars' Ben answered for her, his eyes not leaving Maria's face.
Meg looked away trying to hide the worry in her eyes.
'Right' Casey said, walking back into the living room. 'I found a radio in one of the locked rooms and managed to contact Sunset Beach. A helicopter should be on its way right now'
'Thanks Casey' Ben said absently.
'There's something else' Sara blurted out.
'Not now, not in front of…' Casey began.
'We went past that room and he's gone!' Sara said it so fast, the words ran into each other.
'What? You mean Derek's not…' Meg said, panicking.
'I don't know Meg, he just wasn't there anymore, and there was blood all all over the floor, and oh God it was AWFUL!'
'Sara calm down!' Casey snapped.
'It's fine.' Ben said shortly. He didn't want Maria to be any more scared than she already was.
'How is it FINE?' Sara said, trying and failing to keep her voice down.
'Look, we're all together, he knows we're on our guards, I doubt he'll come back' Ben said.
'Besides, he had quite a knock to the head' Casey said, smiling in Maria's direction.
She was looking at them but turned her head to stare at the floor immediately.
Meg handed the tea to Ben, her hands shaking.
'Hey, it's ok' he said, instinctively placing a hand on her shoulder. A sting of guilt passed through him. He couldn't do that in front of Maria. But Meg needed him.
He left his hand awkwardly on her shoulder, failing to slide his arm around her as he usually would.
Saving him from working out what to do next, Meg said 'Ben, Casey, you guys better get out of those wet clothes.'
Ben took his hand away, 'I'll be alright' he said.
'Don't be silly, you'll freeze' Meg said.
'I don't want to leave...any of you. Just in case Derek comes back' he said, hoping he sounded convincing.
The truth was he didn't want to let Maria out of his sight. What if she just disappeared into the night again?
Before Meg could argue, Gabi, Vanessa and Michael returned, arms full of blankets and clothes.
'I think these should fit' Gabi said. Maria watched her as she unfolded and refolded pairs of jeans, tshirts and sweaters. 'What do you fancy?'
She didn't say a word.
'Oookay. How about some tea then?' Gabi bounced over to the kitchen counter and Meg handed her Maria's tea.
Placing it on the coffee table in front of her, Gabi tried again. 'You should really drink something, you've had a rough night'.
Maria eyed the tea suspiciously, leaving it on the table.
'A sweater then at least' Gabi said patiently. She handed Maria a long chunky brown knitted cardigan that belonged to Vanessa.
At last she relented. Ben even thought he saw her nod slightly.
Shrugging the blanket off her shoulders, she slid on the cardigan, pulling it tightly around herself.
Thirty minutes later, the group all waited in the living area. All of them apart from Ben and Maria had changed clothes. Sara had even packed her suitcase and bought it down before Casey informed her the extra weight wouldn't be allowed on a helicopter.
That had provided some light relief for a few moments. The rest of the time was spent in silence, occasionally broken with one of them thinking they could hear the helicopter.
Maria hadn't moved from her spot on the sofa with Gabi next to her, still refusing eye contact with anyone. The rest of the group were congregated in the kitchen area sipping at their tea as something to do.
At last they heard the unmistakable whirring of the helicopter blades and the search light beaming into the house.
'Finally!' Sara said, running outside, waving her hands in the air. The helicopter landed in some clearing in front of the house, crushing some plants as it went.
Casey strode up to it, shaking the hand of the man who emerged from the door, an old friend from the search and rescue team.
With Casey beckoning everyone forward, the rest of the group filed out of the house.
'I'll be right behind you' Ben said to Meg. He waited at the door for everyone to pass. Last came Maria, her arms still tight around herself. She darted a glance at him as she passed. But unlike in the sea, now he couldn't read anything in her eyes.
Climbing into the helicopter just before Casey's friend, Ben looked around him.
Here were his friends, all of whom were seated on the floor, having just experienced the worst night of their lives.
On one of the fold out seats next to the window was his fiancee, looking to him for reassurance, of which he could give none.
And seated at the opposite window, his wife. Staring down into the sea as the helicopter lifted off, back from "the dead".
He had more questions than he could count, five years of things he'd been desperate to tell her. But it would all have to wait. Because first they had to take Maria home.