I awoke to the early morning sunlight flooding the cabin. Gerard was standing by the bed, pulling on his pants, a grim look on his face. I sat up immediately, wiping my hand over my eyes.

"What's going on," I whispered. He looked over at me then, and smiled.

"Good morning," he whispered.

"Where are you going?" I asked again. He sighed, and ran his hand through his black hair.

"Out. With Frank and Ray," he replied, not quite meeting my eye.

"Why?" I asked, but I already knew. I sighed, and got down on my hands and knees, pulling out the briefcase. I took out the lock box, and took the key out of my locket.I opened the box, and stared down at the gun for a moment, before picking it up gently by the barrel. "Here," I whispered, offering it to him. "I'm not dumb, I know you're going after Phil. Just take it already," I said.

"No, you might need it," he replied softly.

"I'm coming with you," I replied. He shook his head.

"No way, Angel. I need you to stay here. I want you to make sure that you're with Bob or Mikey at all times, ok?," he said, very softly. I sighed again.

"I'll stay on one condition," I whispered.

"Alright," he replied.

"You take the fucking gun. If we see any sign of Phil, we'll race up here, pull up the ladder, and close the door. We'll be ok, but I'm not letting you go out there unarmed, and that is my final word. See? I can be just as stubborn as you are, so take the frigging gun, damn it!" I could hear the New England accent I had worked so hard against coming out in my voice as I spoke, and he grinned at me.

"Fine! I'll take it, but you promise me you'll be careful, and stay here!" he replied, and I nodded.

"I'll be good, I promise," I said.

"Good," he replied. "Put that on the bed, I wanna talk to you real quick before I go." I placed it carefully on the end of the bed, closing the lock box, key still in the lock, and placing it in the briefcase, which I shoved back under the bed. Gerard stepped closer to me, and began to whisper in my ear. "Promise me.If anything happens to me, you'll take care of Mikey." When he said it, tears came to my eyes, but I held them back, and gulped.

"I will, I promise, nothing will happen to him, I'll get him home in one piece," I choked out. He put a hand on my shoulder, and tilted my face up to his. The next thing I knew, he was kissing me, more passionately than I had ever been kissed before. My eyes widened in surprise. After a moment, he pulled away.

"Sorry," he whispered. "I didn't want to, um, you know, leave without doing that.I'm really-" I cut him off with my lips, wrapping my arms this time tightly around his neck. We stood that way for several minutes.

"Come on already, Gee, we gotta do this," I heard Frank call, and we broke apart. Gerard grabbed the gun, and shoved it into the waistband of his jeans, before sending me a sad smile.

"Go crawl back into bed with Mikey," he whispered. "You could use some more sleep. Be careful, Monkey." I looked straight into his eyes.

"Come back," I whispered, wiping a tear out of my eye.

"Only if you promise to kiss me like that again," he replied, smirking.

"Oh, you can bet on it, I will!" I replied.

"Well then, I'll be back." I followed him to the door, where he met up with Frank and Ray, both carrying knives and rolls of duct tape. Ray offered a knife to Gerard, who motioned to the gun in his belt, then pointed at me. Ray held the knife out to me, and I took it, placing it on the beverage cart.

"Pull up the ladder and shut the door when we're gone, will you Angel?" Ray asked, and I merely nodded. I knew if I tried to speak, I'd cry. Ray went first, followed by Frank, and then Gerard, who stopped a few inches down. I bent over, and kissed him quickly on the lips, he smiled at me, and continued on down the ladder. As soon as he was on the ground, I pulled it up, and watched as the three of them took off down the beach. As soon as they were out of sight, I swung the heavy door shut, and as it closed, I felt my stomach drop.

"Angel?" I heard Charlotte's whispered voice come through the curtain, and I peeked my head in. She was laying on the bed, her face flooded with tears. I crept over to the bed, and crawled into Frank's place, wrapping her in my arms as she wrapped her's around me. We clung together, both of us crying, for a long time.

The morning was tense, hot, and awkward. We stayed in the cabin all morning, alert, waiting for the sound of a shot, or for Phil himself to appear. Bob, Tori, and Mikey had breakfasts of banana, but Charlotte and I were far to nervous to eat, and Zara was completely out of it.

I had been right, this HAD put her over the edge. She was not her normal, perky self, but in some strange, dreamlike state. For hours, she sat there on the bed, talking to Amanda, laughing and giggling. I knew she had snapped, and, if we managed to get out of this before she killed herself, I knew she would never be right again.

By late afternoon, it was hotter than hades in the cabin. We had opened all the windows, and pulled back the curtains on the ends, but it was still stiflingly hot in there. We gazed out at the cool water cascading down the waterfall longingly.

"We could just take a quick dip, to cool off," Bob suggested eventually.

"It would probably be ok. We could go in two groups, so someone could stay here with Zara," Tori added. I nodded slowly.

"Bob, why don't you take Tori and Charlotte down. Mikey and I will keep an eye on you, and on Zara, and then we can switch? Does that sound ok?" I suggested. In answer, Tori and Charlotte immediately began changing into their swim suits, as Bob headed into the bathroom to change. Soon, laden with toiletries, they descended the ladder. Bob first, then Charlotte, then Mikey and I lowered Tori down to Bob's waiting arms. Soon, Mikey and I sat at the edge of the cabin, watching jealously as the trio waded into the water. I sighed.

"Are you scared, Angel?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah, I am," I replied quietly.

"Do you love him?" he asked next.

"What?" I cried.

"My brother. Gerard. Do you love him?" he asked again, grinning at me. I stuck my tongue out at him. "Come on," he said, laughing. "You can tell me. Do you?"

"Not yet, but I think I could, very easily." I replied. It was only half a lie. I knew already that I did. "There, are you happy?" Mikey started laughing, and singing.

"Angel and Gee, sitting' in a tree," he sang.

"Oh shut up," I said, punching him lightly in the arm. "I'm gonna get changed." I hurried into the compartment I shared with Gerard, and sat down on the bed. Then I laid down, burying my face in Gerard's pillow, and inhaling his scent. It calmed my tense nerves, but only a little. I groaned, and rolled over, picking up my red and black bikini and quickly pulling it on. I folded up Gerard's dirty clothes, and my own, and carefully placed them back in the overhead compartment. I emptied my purse into the overhead, and filled it with my toiletries, then I grabbed my towel, and returned to Mikey, still sitting in the opening. As soon as I sat down, Mikey got up, heading to change in the bathroom. I sat there, feeling tense and nervous, as I watched Bob, Tori, and Charlotte in the water. I hated waiting.

As Mikey joined me, we saw them coming out of the water, heading back to us. We hurried to the door, and as they reached the mat below us, we lowered the ladder. As soon as they were up, Mikey and I, my purse over my shoulder, climbed down, and silently headed for the water. We dove in, and began to clean off, passing my shampoo bottle and soap back and forth. I felt as though we needed to rush, though I didn't have any idea why. Soon, we were both clean, and I put the shampoo bottle back into my purse.

"Race you to the waterfall," Mikey said suddenly.

"You're on," I replied. "1, 2, 3!" I dove in, and began swimming as hard as I could, surfacing when I reached the waterfall. Mikey, I saw, was still in the middle of the pool. "I win!" I called.

"No fair!" he cried. We began to laugh, and I swam back over to him, and splashed a little water in his face. That's when we heard the shot.