Colin Savage sat at his desk, going over detailed maps of the Atlantic Ocean. His desk was covered in maps, satellite shots and reports from his search team. It had been a month since his son's plane disappeared. He would spend every dime he had to bring his son back if it came to that. Travis was the one good thing he had done in his life. Unlike Colin's brother's children, Travis was a good person, while his nieces and nephews relied on their trust funds so they could drink and party all the time, his son wanted to make the world better. After college he joined the Peace Corp. They had an agreement, five years before Colin wanted to retire Travis would come work at the company and learn his role. It was all going to Travis, that was already a done deal. His son had the purest heart he had ever seen. He just wanted his little boy back.

A knock on his door drew his attention. Looking up he saw his assistant, Greg. If was funny, ten years ago after one of his wife's friend's lost her husband to his own assistant his wife made the demand, he could only have a male assistant. After three useless assistants over the period of six years Greg started working for him. It was Travis who convinced him to give the kid a shot.

Greg was a little too flamboyant for Colin's taste but the man was a kickass assistant. He kept everything on schedule and moving like a well-oiled machine. Also it didn't hurt that his wife, Ronda, loved Greg.

"Yes, Greg?" he asked the man at his door.

"I have a Mr. Kinney on the phone. His husband was on Flight 530. He said he was going to pay for a search and salvage team for the plane. He was wondering if you already have a team, he wanted to be able to cross some places off if you've already looked." The sadness in Greg's eyes was clear. Greg and Travis had been best friends since middle school.

"What line?"

"Four."

Colin nodded and waved for Greg to shut the door. He didn't want the whole office to know that he was just holding on by a string. He was sure talking about Travis would make that string break.

"Mr. Kinney?"

"Yes, is this Mr. Savage?"

"Yes, sir. My assistant said you called about my search for Flight 530?"

"My husband was on that flight. Ever since they stopped the search, I've been going crazy. It wasn't until my daughter said that I should look for him that it occurred to me. I was wondering if you hired a search team? I didn't want the one I'm hiring to look over the same area you already had looked."

"Well, yes I am looking. But Mr. Kinney, you have to know how expensive the search costs."

"I have nowhere near the kind of money you have but I do have some."

"What do you do for a living Mr. Kinney?"

"I own an advertising agency, Kinnetick. I also own a few other businesses."

"Wow, I've heard of Kinnetick." He was impressed it was big firm. "So let's get down to business, maybe together we can find this damn plane."

"My eyes, my eyes," Justin said as he turned and practically ran from the horrific sight he just saw.

There were a lot of horrible things he had seen in his life. But that had to be worst, he was going to be sick. Thankfully, Joshie was helping Leda with making the shelters more secure.

"Justin, please stop," a female voice practically yelled. She must have gotten dressed using super speed.

"Nancy, I really have to go…do anything else but be here."

"Justin, it wasn't what it looked like."

"That's good, because it looked like you and Paulo were having sex." He shivered as the memory came back to him.

"I was just hoping that you keep this to yourself. I wouldn't want Ron to be upset."

"Then maybe you shouldn't be fucking the twenty-year-old rugby star from camp three. What did you promise him? Maybe aged is his thing though."

"Ron won't believe you even if you tell. Who would?" she sneered.

"Then you have nothing to worry about."

He turned and got the hell out of there. That was the going to be the last time he went looking searching for useful things for camp.

"Justin, have you seen Nancy?" Ron asked as he entered camp.

To lie or not to lie that is the question. He thought about what Brian would do. He truthfully didn't know. Brian always was straightforward but if it was someone he liked, it was hard for him to come out and say something.

Justin liked Ron, God help him he did. The man adored Joshie and started talking about getting a relationship going with Gus and Lindsay again. He missed his daughter but had let his wife's views cloud his own. Ron even talked about wanting to meet Briana.

"Yeah, I saw her out with Paulo." There he said it, he didn't say what they were doing but he didn't lie.

"That woman and her boy toys. You would think being on a secluded island would stop it but apparently not."

Justin looked at Ron shocked. "You knew?"

"Of course I know, she's not exactly James Bond. Leda and Joshie were looking for you. I'm going to check the other camps to make sure everyone is doing okay."

"Papa, looks," Joshie ran to him holding up a small, blue booklet.

"Whose passport is that?" he asked Leda.

"It's Joshie's, or should I say Joshua James Matthews. We found his grandmother's carry on. It had her passport in it too, there was also a lot of documentation for Joshie. I put the bag by yours."

"Wow, that's really helpful. Thank, Lee."

"No, problem. If his grandmother didn't want you to raise him, I might have fought you for him. I know Izzy's real close to him, and Ron. If we ever get rescued I'm really going to miss the hell out of all of you."

Justin felt bad for Leda, he was sure she was ready to settle down but she wouldn't admit it. He knew she had feelings for Ricki but the redheaded woman was very standoffish and quiet.

"You're not getting rid of us that easy. We're family after all," he told her. She smiled at him warmly.

"Papa, looks," Joshie said again. Justin took the passport from Josh and looked at it.

"Josh, why don't you go help Ron and be his helper for today." Justin looked up at Ron who was eyeing Justin confusedly. "Is that okay with you, Ron?"

"Sure, I'd love to have Joshie as my intern." Ron was about to make his rounds to check on all the camps.

"Yay," Josh yelled before joining Ron as he started to walk towards Travis' camp.

"What was that about?" Leda asked.

Justin usually only let Josh do things inside the camp where he could see him. So far the only ones that he let take Josh anywhere that he couldn't see was Leda and Isaiah. They were his closest friends and he trusted them. His trust wasn't easy to come by but they had made being trapped on the island easier for him. They were good people; it was clear to anyone who met them.

"What do you think today's date is?"

"Well, the flight was on the third of October. We've been here thirty days, at least I think we have."

"Yesterday was Joshie's fourth birthday. We have to do something for him."

"We're out in the middle of nowhere; it's not like there are party stores here."

"He's four, I know four year olds. When Gus was four he wanted a treehouse. Now we can't do a treehouse because we aren't Swiss Family Robinson but we can make him his own play house. I can sneak over to get Travis from his camp, I'm sure he'd love to help."

"That's a great idea. I hope he likes it. What about a cake?"

Damn. There was nothing there they could use as a cake. They only had what they could catch and find like berries and plants.

"We can't do a cake but we can pick some blackberries. He was so heartbroken when we said that we would have to stop. I thought he was going to eat them all."

"That's a great; I'll go collect them."

Justin smiled as Leda rushed off. Sometimes he saw her looking at Josh sadly. She wanted a family, she was just too scared to admit it to herself. He hoped once they were gone from here that she got everything she wanted. She really was just like an extra sister to him.

He laughed thinking about his brother and sisters meeting her. That would be something to see.

Justin headed for Travis' camp; he hoped that Ron and Joshie were still at the camp. He needed to talk Ron into keeping Josh busy away from their camp.

Luck seemed to be on his side because Justin saw Ron and Josh talking to Mrs. Calloway. Mrs. Calloway was an older woman who was very much like Debbie. She was brash, fun and nice. Justin wished she would have been in his camp but then he thought it would get old real fast.

Ron looked up at that moment and spotted Justin. He had known there was something up when the blonde had asked him to take Josh with him.

"Josh, can you stay here for a moment and find out what is ailing Mrs. Calloway?"

"Ail'n?"

"Yes, find out what is making her not feel well."

"Oh, yes," the boy said happily, turning towards the older woman. Mrs. Calloway had cut her hand a day ago. He had treated it the day before but was worried because the woman couldn't remember the last time she had a tetanus shot. He just hoped they were rescued soon.

He neared Justin and asked quietly so Josh wouldn't look up. "What's going on?"

"Leda found Joshie's passport. Yesterday was his birthday; he's four now. I wanted to ask Travis to help build a small playhouse for him."

"That's a wonderful idea. The girls loved their playhouse when they were small," Ron said wistfully.

"Thanks, do you know where Travis is?"

"Yeah, he took off for his traps a few minutes ago."

Ron pointed off to the forbidden area. It was only forbidden because Travis was the only one that knew where all the traps were.

"Damn. I'm going to go to the edge of the area and see if I can see him. Can you keep Joshie away from our camp for a few hours?"

"Sure, why not?" He really didn't have anything else to do today. His whole reason for these check-ups were to get away from Nancy.

He had been eighteen when he met Nancy. She was a beautiful, sweet and smart seventeen-year-old. Once he started at university they had started a long distance relationship. It had been a true love story in his opinion. The next year when Nancy graduated, she told him she had been accepted to his school. He had been so excited. He followed his dream of being a doctor and Nancy on the other hand changed her mind a lot. She never stuck with a major.

She used to go on about wanting to be a teacher but seemed to lose enthusiasm for it. They started to drift apart right before he graduated from med school. He was going to end it when she told him she was pregnant. He had always wanted children. They were married by a justice of the peace soon after.

Lawrence James Peterson was born seven months later. He was the light of their lives. Nancy's mother, Faye flew out to see them. She adored the baby and Nancy was happy to have her mother's acceptance for once. Faye was a wonderful grandmother but she had trouble loving her children. He knew the secret the woman kept, she had told him on her deathbed. She had sensed a kinship in Lindsay before Lindsay told anyone that she was a lesbian, and that was why she had favored her.

But before Lindsay or even Lynnette was a thought there had been Lawrence. At two months old, Nancy put Lawrence to bed one night and expected him to be waking her up at in a few hours. She had been so exhausted that when he didn't wake up she didn't think anything of it. Ron had been doing his internship at the teaching hospital he was accepted at. He was basically living at the place at the time. One of his many regrets. Maybe if he would have come home that night.

The next morning Nancy arrived with an ambulance. She had woken up and Lawrence wasn't breathing. It had been way too late by that time to save him. He was gone. After that Nancy wouldn't allow anyone to mention him, and no one did. But he did think about the baby a lot.

Two years later came Lynette then a year after her came Lindsay. He knew Nancy loved their girls but she didn't get attached to them like she had Lawrence. In his heart he knew it was because she couldn't handle if the same thing happened. But somewhere along the way she also distanced him away from his children. Lynette had become a spoiled brat afraid of staying with the same man. She married like people changed shoes. Lindsay on the other hand had been with the same woman for a while, and they had two beautiful children that he only had seen in pictures. He was tired of letting Nancy run his life. It had already been thirty-five years. It was time to make a stand. He missed out on his own children's childhood but he would be damned if it happened with his grandchildren. Spending time with Joshie just drove the point home.

Truthfully, he had been the only one in the marriage in a long time. She hadn't been faithful in a long time. He just wanted one woman who wanted him. He had known that wasn't Nancy, it hadn't been in a long time. But he had been holding on to the woman he held when they buried their son. It was strange but it was like the crash was God telling it to just end it now. There was no denying who she was anymore. Even stranger, he was okay with that.

"Travis," Justin called into the wooded area.

"Who's there," an annoyed voice asked.

"It's me Justin. I was wondering if you would do a favor for me?"

Travis' head popped out from behind some brush. "Oh, hey. Sorry I was short with you but it's dangerous here, this is where my traps are."

"I know, and I'm sorry. This is just time sensitive."

"That sounds important. What's up?"

"Yesterday was Joshie's birthday. I wanted to set up a playhouse for him. Do you think it's possible?"

"Yeah, we'll give the kid the works." Travis smiled at Justin with his killer smile. If Justin wasn't hopelessly in love with Brian, he might have crushed on the man. Travis on the other hand seemed asexual. He didn't talk about a girlfriend, wife, boyfriend. Nothing. But he did travel a lot maybe he just liked to play the field.

The next few hours were spent setting up a makeshift playhouse. It wasn't big but or very pretty but it was a present. He was sure once they got home Brian would have a big playhouse built for all the children. The longer he was on the island the surer he became on making his marriage work. Whatever it was that made Brian so cold with him, he would fix.

Leda had done wonderfully with berries. (Since I made this island up I put blackberries on it. Not sure if they would be there but that's what I'm going with.) Logan, the ten-year-old and only other kid made a present for Joshie too. He didn't really make it but was giving something to Joshie. Logan had found his bag earlier in the week, his stuffed panda bear. Justin told him he didn't have to, that it was a nice thought but it wasn't necessary. The kid surprised him and actually smiled at him. He said that Lockie needed new home anyway. He went on to say that if he was as young as Joshie and had just lost his grandmother he would need Lockie to hold onto. Logan's mother was doing better; she was even walking without help now. It looked like everything there would be okay. At least he hoped it would.

Francisco and Ricki were decorating the camp as best as they could. He cared about everyone in his camp and the others, except maybe Nancy. It was really looking like a birthday party now. They had used everything they could find. Bags, tissue, colorful clothes and someone's colorful packing peanuts.

Justin couldn't wait until Olly figured out how to get into the cargo hold. The man had been working on it forever it seemed. Their salvation wasn't there; it was somewhere lost on the island. Travis, with his traveling so much actually had a satellite phone. But he couldn't find his bag. He turned it off when it was fully charged so after a month out in the weather, who knew if it was even usable but it seemed like their only shot. They had search groups every day go out and look for the phone, but no luck so far.

Justin shook himself out of his depressing thoughts in time to see Ron carrying Joshie back into camp. He could tell the boy was awake just tired of walking.

They all started to sing happy birthday. Joshie's head shot up from Ron's shoulder and he turned to look at them. Joshie started to squirm in Ron's arms until he put him down. Joshie ran full speed to Justin.

"Who's birthday?" Joshie asked excitedly.

"Yours. You're four today." Justin decided they didn't have to be on the exact date.

"Me? Yay. I gots presents?"

"Yes, first do you like the pretty things around the camp? That is Francisco and Ricki's present to you."

Joshie looked around at all the things that were new to their camp. He nodded happily. "So pretty," he said dreamily.

"What do you say?" asked gently.

"Thank you, Franny and Ric."

Justin held back the snort at the nicknames the boy had for the two. Ricki didn't seem to care but Francisco didn't seem to like being called Franny but wouldn't call the small child on it.

"Here, he used to be mine but I think Lockie would like to be with you," Logan said handing Joshie the worn stuffed panda bear.

"Mine?" Joshie asked in awe.

Justin was sure that Josh's grandmother had gotten him stuffed animals before. He hadn't had one on him at the time of the flight and it wasn't in his grandmother's bag. Justin was sure Josh's bag was around somewhere with some mementos and clothes in it. He had looked for it but couldn't find it. He would ask Leda where she found the grandmother's bag later, maybe it was near it.

There was still places almost no one went. Back to the original site was one of them. The bodies were too close and it smelled like death there. Even now if the wind blew the wrong way you could smell them. He mourned for the people lost and hoped one day they could be put to rest. It was getting to where they were wondering if they should be burying them. They didn't want to because they were sure they would be found soon. But soon was starting to feel very far away.

Justin smiled as Joshie hugged the stuffed animal to himself. He kept kissing the top of its head, and telling it how much he loved it. It was a sweet sight to see. Justin knew that even when they were found he wanted to keep that sense of awe in Joshie's eyes. His thoughts wondered to Briana but then his heart started to hurt. It was only at night he let himself think of his daughter, when no one could see him cry. He could only function knowing Brian was there with her.

"Did you get me something Papa?" Joshie asked shyly.

"I did, it's not just my present though, Travis helped me."

Justin led Joshie over to the playhouse. It was put together with sticks, mud and twine. Travis had used brush to fill in the holes. On the inside was a small log for Joshie to sit on, it had a pillow on the top of it.

"What's this?"

"This is your playhouse." Justin hoped he liked it.

"Wow," Joshie said before climbing inside. "Lokie loves it."

Justin saw Logan smile when Joshie mispronounced the name. It was so good to see the boy so happy.

"Joshie, there is one more thing." He looked to Leda who had the berries on one of the airplane trays.

Josh popped his head out of his playhouse, his eyes widened as they spied the berries right away.

"Berries!" he yelled.

They all sat around the fire and ate berries before the dinner. It was wonderful. There was something that he had noticed but it was more clear now. After a few berries he was getting full. He looked down at his stomach and noticed how sunken it was. He only ate what kept him moving. He gave most of his food to Joshie. The boy was so small but he seemed to always be hungry, possibly a growth spurt. Justin didn't want Josh to get sick. They were all unhealthy to a point now but he wanted Josh to say closer to healthy. Logan's mother was doing the same for him he saw. It was not Blue Lagoon out there, it was more like Lord of the Flies with democracy and no boar.

Pilot Malik Morris looked out the side of his rescue plane. It was week four since the plane disappeared and two weeks since Mr. Savage had hired him and his team. They weren't the only ones looking but they were the best. They were all former special forces. When he had been in the Air Force he was a Combat Rescue Officer. It was something he loved.

"See anything?" his co-pilot and friend, Cole, asked.

"Not a thing. Gurk, you can mark this area off. The sun will be setting soon, we better start heading back in," he yelled back to their navigator.

"What's that noise?" Leda asked.

"I don't know," Justin told her. They had just started dinner. It was still light out but the sun would be setting soon.

"LOOK!" Isaiah yelled.

Everyone in their camp looked up to the sky. It was a plane but not the kind they were used to seeing. They had seen one or two planes that were commercial flights, too high to see any signs. This one though was much lower.

"Where's the flare?" Ricki yelled.

They all started scrambling to find it. Each camp had one but at the moment they couldn't find theirs.

"I gots it, Papa," Joshie said running to Justin with it in his hands. For a moment Justin pictured the flare gun going off and hurting the small boy. It didn't happen though; Josh gave it to him without an issue.

Justin handed it off to Ricki. She grabbed it and ran to the beach as fast as she could. Just as she shot the flare in the sky the plane started to circle around to go back where it came from.

"NO!" several people shouted. People from other camps had started to run to the beach too. They must had run as fast as they could. But it was no use, the plane was now flying further and further away. Some people fell to their knees and started crying. He wouldn't do that though, not in front of Joshie.

Justin looked around to see which one of his friends weren't breaking down. Ricki wasn't but she wasn't moving either. Leda seemed calm but disappointed.

"Leda?"

"Yeah, Justin?"

"Can you watch Josh for a little bit? I need a moment."

He could see she understood what he meant. After everything settled down she would go off on her own for a while. They all would probably need a moment after tonight. Being so close to being rescued with it just slipping though their hands.

"Sure, go get your head on straight." She picked up Josh who immediately settled on her laying his head on her shoulder.

Justin watched her carry him away towards camp before he headed off in the other direction. He was going away from all the camps. Further into the woods than he usually would. He wandered around until it was close to dark. His stomach rumbled reminding him he had only had berries that night.

Just as he decided to head back to camp he heard a crunch behind him.

Turning around he looked for the source of the sound but he didn't see anything. "Hello?" he called.

"It's about time you separated from the pack," a male voice said. It was familiar but Justin couldn't place it. He didn't know everyone that well.

"Who's there?"

His eyes widened as the man walked out from behind a tree.

"What do you want?" he asked Gishi.

Travis had wanted Gishi moved to their camp but Ron refused. He said it was too big a risk with the children. Gishi had started showing signs of severe mental illness. Ron couldn't tell them exactly but because of this he was given a sort of keeper. Justin looked around to see Eito wasn't anywhere in sight.

Eito was born in America and a businessman. He had volunteered to watch over Gishi because he felt it was his duty because Gishi was of Japanese descent as well. He didn't know where Gishi was from but he knew he didn't live in Japan or America. When Gishi started talking out of his head though it was always in Japanese. It was an easy way to see where is head was.

What really freaked Justin out was Gishi was big, like really big. His size reminded Justin of Caveman. The thought made him shiver. Gishi was nothing like that man he had to remind himself.

"Where's Eito?"

"Sulking over the plane. I was able to slip away. This has got to be the worst day since the crash." Gishi stepped closer to Justin, who unconsciously took a step back. "You're scared of me?" Gishi asked, sounding hurt.

"It's not that, it's just getting late."

Gishi looked up and saw that the light was barely coming through the trees. "Yeah, let me walk you back to camp."

"Thanks, that would be nice." He didn't want to offend Gishi again.

"You speak English really well. Where did you learn?" he asked as they walked back through the trees.

"There were classes but truthfully it was my father. I'm only half Japanese but I take after my mother more than my father. Well, at least looks wise. She didn't really like me. I was a mistake that she never could forget about. When I was nine my dad came to visit. He saw the bruises on my body and made her an offer. She didn't want me anyway. He took me home to Ireland."

"You don't sound Irish."

"My dad isn't either, his wife is. He's American but has been living in Ireland since the seventies."

"Was he married when you were conceived?" Justin couldn't help but ask.

"Yep. It was why I lived with my mother until I was nine. When my dad called my stepmom about the abuse she made him bring me home as soon as possible."

"Your stepmom sounds nice." He felt so bad for the little boy that Gishi had been.

"She was," he said sadly.

"I'm sorry." Catching on to what wasn't said.

"It's okay, it's what this whole trip was about. Dad died when I was seventeen, Siobhan then just a few months ago."

They walked in quiet for a little bit.

"I'm not crazy," Gishi said suddenly.

"I never said you were."

"I'm bipolar. I can't find my bag with my meds. They are completely out of my system now but I'm okay. Well, at the moment I am."

"What does your bag look like, I can keep an eye out for it."

"Doesn't matter, I only had two weeks of meds left. It's not enough for my system to adjust again if we have to stay here." Justin nodded.

They had just entered his camp. "Thanks for walking me back."

Justin thought Gishi was going to say something but suddenly the man leaned in and captured Justin's lips. The kiss was hard and painful. By the time Justin's brain caught up with what was happening it was over. Gishi turned and quickly went back to his camp.

"What the fuck was that?" he whispered to himself.

"That's what we'd all like to know."

Justin turned around and show his entire camp staring at him, including Joshie. Just great. Leda had been the one who had spoken.

"The ship is on its way to the coordinates," Colin Savage said to his assistant, Greg.

"This could be it, right? The plane crew said they saw a flare right?"

"That's what they said. Unfortunately, they were running out of gas and daylight. The ship should be there in a four days. Four days, Greg. In four days Travis might be on his way home."

Colin looked up to see Greg wipe a tear from his eye. Greg was really a great friend to Travis, they were almost inseparable. He hoped all their wishes were answered in four days. He thought about calling Mr. Kinney but decided not to; no need to get his hopes up if it wasn't them.