The guys had done a neat job. Six curtained off sections met us, the section containing the door held the spare seat. Each other section contained two leather airline seats reclined into beds, resting on the seat legs and a couple of suitcases. Bob and Ray climbed up, and were passed the beverage cart from someone down below. Then they began taking the food and beverages off, and stacking them neatly in the cupboards below the sink in the stewardess' station. As soon as the beverage cart was empty, Zara and I pushed it against the wall, and began to unpack all of the medical supplies we had into it. Gerard, Mikey, and Frank kept passing things up, suitcases full of books, the rest of the food, and all that sort of stuff. As soon as something was put on the floor, Zara, Ray, Bob, or I would unpack it, and put it away. Eventually, all of the communal items had a place, we had even managed to fit Frank, Ray, and Mikey's guitar cases into the stewardess' closet, now known as the supply closet. The bathroom, which now was unusable, had been filled with toiletries for both genders, and would be used as a changing room. The transistor radio and alarm clock had been placed on the beverage cart, along with the sewing kits. Charlotte and Amanda had lugged all of the suitcases filled with unusable items onto the sand in the center of the lower level. Zara, Ray, Bob, and I deplaned, and we all made our way to Victoria and her shrinking pile of things. The only stuff left were the piles of clothes, the pillows, the blankets we had made, and our own personal belongings.

"Does anyone need clothes?" Tori asked as we reached her. "I pulled out a bathing suit and some shorts, a sweatshirt, a tee shirt, and some long pants."

"I better look," Amanda said. "I can't wear my slip forever."

"I think the rest of us all have clothes," I said, but Charlotte broke in.

"I'm gonna look for some warm PJ's, I don't have any. And maybe some jeans," she said, as she dove into the pile with Amanda. Zara and I exchanged a look, and then we dove in as well. Soon, I had a spare bra and two pairs of extra panties, a pair of jeans, an extra tee shirt, and a short, light blue sun dress to add to my small collection of clothes. Eventually, we had taken what we wanted, the guys laughing at us the whole time, and packed them into our own suitcases and purses. Then we packed up the last of the clothing into two suitcases, which Bob carried into the lower level of the plane, and it was time to pair off. I knew it was going to be awkward, there was going to be at least one pair that was guy/girl.

"I'm going with Amanda!" Zara cried immediately, and I simply stared at her. I was slightly shocked that she hadn't chosen me, I mean, we had the bond of undergraduate school and medical school, the only bond she had with Amanda was money. I guess, to Zara, that was more important. Victoria, Charlotte, and I looked uneasily at each other. I heard a whisper in my ear.

"We stick together, remember Angel," Gerard whispered. Relief spread through me, I was ok with Gerard. I mean, I had only known him for two days, but I knew he was ok. Besides, we had to protect the secret in my locket. I nodded.

"Tori? Charlotte? You guys can go together if you want," I said. They both turned to me, smiling in relief.

"Are you sure?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Mikey, why don't you stay with Ray, and Frank and Bob can stay together," Gerard said. "Angel and I already decided we'd stay together." When he said that, eight matching faces wearing the same smug expression looked at us, eight eyebrows raised.

"Not like that, you pervs!" I said, laughing.

"Sure, Angel," Frank said smugly.

"Let's get moved in, then you can make fun of us all you want," Gerard said.

"Hey, if you guys can move me to the fire, and bring me the rest of those meals, I'll cook dinner, and maybe Charlotte can unpack for me?" Tori offered.

"No problem," Charlotte replied with a smile. Bob immediately picked her up off the sand, and carried her to the edge of the yellow rubber mat, where Frank had made a circle of rocks around a small cooking fire. As I began lugging my pillow, blankets, suitcase, and purse over to the plane behind Gerard, I saw Bob coming down the ladder, boxes of meals in hand. Frank and Charlotte were behind me, both of them carrying their own things as well as Victoria's. I handed my things up to Gerard, before climbing up the ladder myself. We stood there, the first on board, looking around.

"Which one do you want?" I asked him. He nodded his head to me, and walked to the compartment against the wall at the front of the cabin.

"This one ok?" he asked, and I responded by tossing my pillow onto one of the seats. The beds, I noticed, were pushed right up next to each other, against the end wall, and I involuntarily shivered a little. It was essentially now a double bed. I noticed then that all of them were pushed together.

"Ray and I thought if they were together, if it got cold, we'd have body heat to keep everyone warm. But if you want to separate them, it's ok with me," Gerard said, as if he were reading my mind.

"No, it's fine," I said. "If it's fine with you?"

"It's cool with me," he replied. "Do you want to make it up as one bed?"

"Alright," I replied, and began spreading the four blankets across the bed and arranging the pillows at the head, before putting my suitcase at the edge of the bed, and beginning to unpack. When I had all my belongings and my purse neatly stored in my half of the overhead compartment, Gerard took my suitcase, laid it flat, and put his on top of it.

"Bedside table," he said, smiling at me, as he placed two bottles of water, a flashlight, some batteries, his notebook and pen, and what looked like a sketch pad and colored pencils on top of it.

"Good idea," I said, smiling back. I laid my book on top of his sketch pad. We looked around at the tiny room.

"Welcome home, Angel," he whispered, giving me a grim smile. At the realization that this was home, for however long, I felt tears well up, and my lower lip began to tremble. "Shit, I'm sorry," he said, immediately wrapping his arms around me, pulling my head to his chest. I stood there for a moment, amazed at the fact that as soon as his arms went around me, I honestly felt better. It was a strange feeling, that even though things were completely shitty, at the same time, things were just fine.

"Thanks," I said after a moment, "I'm ok." He pulled back and looked at me, though his arms stayed around me.

"You sure?" he asked. I managed a watery smile, and nodded. "Come on, let's see if dinner's ready." I took a deep breath, and followed him out into the aisle.

Mikey and Ray were setting up beside us, beside them was the entrance area. Directly across from the entrance, Zara and Amanda were setting up, beside them, across from Ray and Mikey, Charlotte was putting the finishing touches on the bed she would share with Victoria. Across from us, Frank and Bob were haphazardly throwing their things into the overhead compartment. I followed Gerard to the ladder, and soon we were sitting with Tori on the yellow mat. I could smell the meat cooking, and wondered vaguely what Phil would do for food tonight.