Alex Charles Whitman opened his eyes a crack, stealing a glance at the girl. The girl who'd never stopped moving or saying a word the whole three hours they'd been on the plane. But he wasn't complaining, she was so curious and full of energy. It reminded him of Maria. The fact that the kid had Maria's golden curly locks helped a bit too. No, he wasn't complaining, she'd been his entertainment the whole flight. The whole flight where he should have been sleeping, but he'd never been able to sleep on planes. they scared him to death. But this time, he'd been confident he'd be fine. Liz and Maria had assured him of it too.

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"Look, Alex, if you been on an airplane a few times already and everytime you've come out alive, what makes you think you're gonna crash on this one?" Liz reasoned.

"I just have a gut feeling. A feeling that something bad is gonna happen." He muttered ominously as he stirred the ice in his cup with his straw. Maria came out from under the counter a few empty sugar dispensers in one hand; the large bucket and scoop in the other. She hefted it onto the counter as she joined in on the conversation.

"You mean like the feeling you had when you though Kelly Jenkins had the hugest crush on you and when you asked her out, she completely rejected you?" She said with a smirk. Millions of grains of sugar crystals slid down the plastic of the scoop and into the glass container.

"Must you bring her up everytime we talk about my past mistakes?" His forehead dropped with a thud on the counter as the two girls giggled.

"Well, Mr. Gut Feeling, it was pretty stupid, all she did was look at you once and you're going crazy like she gave you the universal mating call." She sprinkled a few grains into his hair, which Liz brushed off, giving Maria a look.

"Hey, teenager horomones make you do weird things okay?" He replied defensively, with the same excuse he'd used for the past ten years. Both girls gave him the same look they'd been giving him in return for the past ten years.

"Uh-huh!" They said disbelievingly in unison. He just smiled at them.

"Alex, you know you're looking at this the wrong way. It's not everyday that someone from a small town, especially Roswell gets to go to Australia. If I were you, I'd be jumping around excited to leave, even if it's just a few days. And you know I hate planes so much more than you do." He nodded, agreeing with her. Maria who had been silently concentrating on pouring the sugar, had drifted out of the conversation.

"You guys are right-"

"Aren't we always?" Maria interjected. Alex chuckled.

"Yeah I guess, it's not gonna be so bad. It's just a plane trip. Then I'll have a great vacation-I wish I could bring you guys." Liz nodded silently, passing glances with Maria.

"It's not your fault, just make sure you take a lot of pictures and call us as soon as you get there. Okay?" She said with a symphathetic tone.

"Yeah. Well, gotta go pack, I'll see you two laters." The girls came out from behind the counter and embraced their best friend. A few chaste pecks on the cheek and he was out the restaurant as he waved goodbye over his shoulder.

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Alex smiled at the thought of his best friends. The two best friends who he felt so bad for because they couldn't make their way out of Roswell. They both had huge dreams. but financial difficulty and badly timed and unexpected deaths of parents got in the way. So now the two lived and worked in the Crashdown, the restaurant in which they grew up. They deserved so much better, but sadly, he couldn't give it to them. And to add to his guilt trip, here he was on a complimentary first class trip to Australia to help design a major music company's website.

"Could I get you something to drink?" The suprisingly cute stewardess asked. He always had a thing for girls in uniform. He grinned, flashing some teeth.

"Coffee would be fine." He answered; she returned a smile of her own as she poured him a little paper cup full.

"Sure, here you go." She said cheerfully handing him the cup.

"Coffee? Cream?" She asked.

"No thank you." He looked up and watched her roll her little cart down the aisle. He sighed, taking a sip of his drink. His eyes scanned in front of him. His eyes caught on a gleam of hazel. Enchanting hazel eyes. her perfect gorgeous blonde hair, bordering her face like a golden frame; she was beautiful. He didn't notice the coffee dripping onto his shirt. Until he felt the steaming hot liquid scalding his chest that is. He yelped in pain and shock as he grabbed a napkin from his place tray and dabbed at the dripping stain of coffee. He looked back up and the girl was gone.

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He rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times. Yup, the girl was gone. Maybe he'd just dreamed her up? No, his imagination couldn't create someone. that perfect-looking. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, sighing. Alex was lucky, he had the choice of whether to sit in the aisle or window, he had an empty seat next to him. Not that it mattered where he sat, he was still terrifed of flying in general.

The plane shook a bit from some wind turbublence. He exhaled nervously through gritted teeth. His fingers gribbing the armchair tensely. His knuckles white, he felt the sweat beading up in between his hand and the leather he was gripping for dear life. As the plane stopped its rocking, he exhaled relieved.

"SHIT!" He shouted as the plane jolted violently knocking the little girl who'd been standing, into his lap. Taking a deep breath, he placed the girl in the window seat next to him and buckled her up tightly. He could see the fear in her little eyes, the wetness started to form around her eyelids, the tears came and so did her screaming. The plane leveled off again as he unbuckled her seatbelt; the girl ran into her seat and clicked the two parts of her seatbelt together quickly.

The pilot announced that the seatbelt sign was up and that they'd be experiencing a bit of turbulence. His voice faltering; as the plane began to shake violently. The plane dipped harshly, which unlatched all the overhead compartments. Heavy handbags began to fly and strike the skulls of frightened passengers. With the sudden panic, they'd forgotten to put on their seatbelts. And Alex's worst fear came true; the plane nosedived.

The unprepared were ripped from their seats, flying rapidly over rows and rows of seat until they hit the nearest wall. The plane began to spin rotating around it's own long axis. The bodies and luggage began to fly in a mayhem of human and innaminate carnage. Everyone was screaming for their lives; Alex sat quietly, his eyes on the little girl who was crying.

He let out a scream as he watched her tiny body fly out of her seat and into the air, hitting a wall. Her screaming coming to a end by dull thud. The oxygen masks had dropped but he could barely reach them, missing everytime with the added distraction of a freefalling and spinning airplane. Finally, his fingers caught around the elastic as he pulled it over his nose and mouth. He tried his best to slow down his breathing. it wasn't working. The mother of the girl was shrieking hysterically until she was silenced by a heavy handbag. The windows cracked from the sudden change in pressure, creating holes in the windows like earthly black holes sucking everything out into the blue abyss.

"EVERYONE GET INTO EMERGENCY LANDING POSTION!! HEAD BETWEEN YOUR KNEES! NOW NOW NOW!!" The cute stewardess shouted, the fear so obvious in her voice. He could hear her straining to hide it. On instinct, he turned around and his eyes met those of the girl from before. Mesmerized he watched again, until his vision went cleared and black. A briefcase leaving its mark at his temple.

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Awake. barely. At least he was alive, he thought. his mind and body still reeling with numbness. He opened his eyes-

"Oh F*CK!!" His parched throat strained to shout as his body's sudden burst of adrenaline pushed him back away from the open-eyed corpse. The eyes were a pale yellow, perfectly still, just staring at him with an everlasting gaze. His heart was starting to bruise his ribs with its maniacal beating rate. He pulled himself up, noticing for the first time, he was drenched with sea water or at least he hoped it was. It was dark, somehow the emergency generators were on, a dim haze over the results of the accidental massacre.

"Okay, Alex, just breathe. what would Liz do? What would Liz do? Think, think think. PHONE!" He exclaimed triumphantly as he looked down at the nearest arm rest for the chair number. Walking backwards, ten rows of seats, he grimaced as he found the body of the little girl's mother. shaking his head, he stuck his hand under his seat, hoping to god that his bag and nothing else would be under it. He felt the drenched canvas as he pulled it out dripping. Shoving his hand into the front pocket, he groped inside until he found his trusty red Nokia. Putting the backpack on, he pushed the on button.

"Dammit!" He cursed as he threw the broken phone over the seats against the wall in frustration and left over adrenaline from the earlier 'meeting.' The hard plastic phone bounced off the wall and landed with a soft knock onto a body. He thought he heard a female voice grumbling curses. but maybe it was just the buzzing he was still experiencing with his monsterous headache.

"Oh god. my head.." The girl moaned, Alex ran quickly over to her. Almost relieved that he wouldn't be the only one alive, his breathing caught a bit as he realized who it was.

"Are-are you okay?" He stammered, still shocked that she was even more gorgeous up front. He kicked himself, realizing how stupid it was when hundreds or so people had just died and here he was admiring a girl!

"That is the STUPIDEST question a guy could ask a girl that just survived a plane crash!" She complained coldy as she pulled herself up. A deep gash in her forehead encrusted with dried blood explained her nasty mood at the moment.

"Yeah, well my brain isn't exactly working right now." He muttered, not exactly looking her in the eye. She dusted herself off, grimacing as she felt the deep purple bruise on her cheek, inches below the cut on her forehead. Realizing he should talk and not just sit drowning in his own pool of drool.

"So what do we do?" He asked as he took another look around at the bodies, all still. She gave him a disgusted look.

"Aren't you the man? Take charge! Do something manly!" She gave him a way-too-obvious once over with her eyes and smirked. "Not that you look like much of one anyways."

Alex just shook his head letting it slide. Lucklily, he'd survived somehow without much damage, except for his aching back and his still pounding head. He felt the back of it with his hand, noticing the large tender lump at the top of it.

"Well, I'm gonna check up on the rest." He shivered at the thought of all the dead surrounding him. suffocating him with their unbearable silence. "To see if there are any others."

"Do you think I care?" She replied still cold with a taunting tone in her voice.

"No, I'm just telling you in case you need me." He muttered as he walked out of the first class cabin and into economy class.

"Like I would need anything from you!" She called behind him, a little too loud realizing that she and him were probably the only ones that could hear her. Her face turned paler than before. realizing she was stuck in a room alone, with dead people. Squealing in fear, she ran up behind Alex practically knocking him over.

"WHAT? WHAT?! WHAT?!?!" He asked peeking over her shoulder to see what she was running from.

"Nothing, I just got freaked."

"By what?"

"By what? Oh yeah, a bug. That's what I was afraid of. You know I mean, there's nothing else that could scare me here. besides all the dead people!!" She shouted pissed and sarcastic.

"Damnit, why are you such a smart-assed bitch?" He grumbled as he went back to checking each row, softly tapping each with his hand. She quickly shut her mouth, deciding better against saying anything more. She just watched him, his hands touching each body, checking pulses. She heard a sniffle and then watched a single tear drop from his chin and splash onto the cold and dead skin of another poor lost passenger. He turned around wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. He'd caught her watching him.

"Look, we'll be able to figure out how and what to do next if we divide the work. I'll get the last section, you take the remainder of this one okay?" His eyes were red and concerned.

Maybe she should've been crying more, or at least crying. she was supposed to be the emotional one out of the two. But for some reason, she couldn't. Maybe it was because she was different, because she didn't feel that 'human' bond, that he did to all these people. Or maybe she was as cold and heartless as everyone kept telling her she was. She felt an emotional pang in her gut as she forced herself to nod silently to his suggestion. He went off ahead stopping at the curtain which was a door between the sections. Ripping the broken and ripped curtain door down to the floor, he stepped in. She heard a curse. and another stifled sob.

Looking down the aisle, she realized many of the bodies had fallen through the length of the plane and piled up in the last section, since the plane had been diving headfirst. She shook her head, realizing she should check on the people in her section. Alex had been lenient only giving her the remaining four rows.

"Oh god." She gasped at the mutilated and marred face of the only person she'd recognized. She wanted the tears to come. but they wouldn't. Realizing that they'd be fake ones, fake plastic tears of false sadness. She wasn't glad Trevor was dead. but she wasn't angry he'd left. Alive, he'd been a no good, cheating, abusive, rich bastard who'd married her with the only intention of sex and trophy cases. She'd been his ultimate trophy. Now he was dead. never again would he mistreat her and sleep around.

"It's over, Isabel, the bastard's gone. he died in his full glory, flirting with the stewardess." She muttered. The cute stewardess was gone too, luckily, her face hadn't been jabbed full of hunks of glass like Trevor's. Instead, she just had that same blank expression in her glassy eyes with a few bruises on her forehead. Isabel waved her hand over them, clearing up her face.

"She was pretty." She thought to herself. Suddenly inspiration struck. She lifted up her left hand and struggled to pull of her ring. The ring she'd been wed with. To honor and protect him. She let out a noise, a half sigh and half moan. It was the only noise she could make. it seemed sufficient. Slipping the ring of her finger, she picked up the stewardess' hand. Trembling, she slid the ring on, adjusting the width with her powers till they fit perfectly. Softly she placed the hand back onto the girl's lap. With two fingers, Isabel closed the girls eyes forever and walked away never looking back. She just walked as quickly as she could away from her past and down the aisle once again.

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"Anyone?" Alex asked as he caught her gaze as she walked towards him.

"Don't you think I would have brought the person if I'd found anyone?"

"He could've been hurt, and couldn't move or something. I don't know--I'm not trying to jab at you or anything. well anyways, look, the sun is setting but I can see some land. half a mile at most." He pointed out the open emergency door towards the land.

"I don't think I can swim that far." She admitted.

"Neither can I, but we have the seats, they're flotation devices."

"How'd you know they were flotation devices?" She asked curiously as she grabbed the bottom seat Alex had just handed her.

"I was bored and read the laminated safety menus." He said with a shy grin; it caused her to smile back blushing. Why was she blushing!?

"You should get started, I have to grab a few things before we go." He suggested, as if he hadn't noticed the blush. She looked away, knowing if she caught a sight of his eyes, something unexpected would happen.

"Okay." She said quietly, looked over the edge at the water below her. The airplane had hit an irregular sanbar so it was lying on a small island of sand submerged by water. She leaped in and howled as she came out breaking the surface, sputtering water.

"It's freezing." She shivered inside the water.

"Start heading toward the island!!" He shouted, waving her off. She obeyed, kicking her legs frantically, dogpaddling slowly towards the distant island. Alex, took a deep breath, before opening what he assumed was a supply cabinet. No dead bodies. He opened up his backpack and began shoving in two first aid kits along with two emergency kits. He couldn't fit anymore if he wanted room for the two green wool blankets in their space compressed rolls, wrapped in thick plastic. Zipping up his backpack securely, he put it on before grabbing his own seat. He took another deep breath and one last look down the hallway of the plane. A tear slipped down his cheek as he leaped into the water.

She was right. The water was freezing! No, not a refreshing freezing like an ice cold lemonade on a hot summer day. It was a excruciating cold that shot bolts of lightning through his bones every five seconds whenever a wave crashed against his body. He was surprised he was still breathing.

She could see the land's outline against the dark purple horizon. It'd be completely dark soon, but she was getting closer and closer. Her muscles burned, she couldn't feel her hands or feet. The only thing she could feel was the cold, the painful cold. She wasn't swimming in water, she was swimming in ice cold needles. Every breath, she could feel them jabbing through her lungs puncturing them full of tiny holes. She closed her eyes, as she focused on kicking and only kicking.

Whenever the large waves had crashed and started to recede, Alex could hear the nearby sounds of her swimming. He realized he'd been pretty stupid misjudging the distance of the island from the plane. The half a mile he'd predicted had turned into a few more miles than just a half. He resoluted to apologize once he'd gotten on solid ground, if he even made it that far that is.

"Please god, let her do something useful before I get there." He prayed to the heavens, as he tried to force his legs to move quicker, but due to the extreme cold, the nerve receptors in his legs seemed to have shut off. He closed his eyes too as he swam, his only reason to survive: to be able to see Liz and Maria again.

Isabel forced her legs to kick even harder, she was only a few meters from the shore now. She pushed harder and faster, desperate to get out of the water. After a few seconds, she felt her bare knees scrape against the sand. Cursing in pain, she tried to pull herself up, but exhaustion forced her back down like a heavy alien paper weight. Instead, she crawled, with every ounce of anything left in her body. She crawled to the shore throwing the water-soaked airplane seat in front of her every few feet. Finally out of the water, she collapsed. Her head hitting the temporary flotation device with a wet thud.

"She made it!" He shouted triumphantly in his head. As he watched her collapse, he felt a twang of smpathy and a bit of panic. Now, he forced himself to swim faster. She might be hurt! His adrenaline kicked in again; he could almost feel the warm stream of energy pass through his viens. His legs kicked faster as he got closer and closer. The waves started to get rockier and pound even harder against his body. But he struggled onward, knowing the more time he made up now, the quicker he could make sure she wasn't gone.

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It seemed the world had gone black, pitch black. He could barely see the island, even with the crescent moon shining brightly. It was faded out by the dark of night. He gave up trying to pinpoint her location from in the water and just swam.

"Brr...cold." She shivered, the hairs on her arms and legs raised. Her breathing was down to normal now. Her legs on the otherhand was far from normal condition, they were aflame in pain, sore from the hours of strenous kicking. Oh yeah, and that bruise and cut on her head wasn't exactly helping. She was surprised she hadn't whined about it to herself while in the water. Though now she recollected the irritating memory of the stinging pain that cut through her head whenever she was ducked under into the salty water by a particularly large wave..

Taking in the sweet but cold night air through her nose, she forced her up body up, groaning. Somehow she was standing, undecisive on what to do next. A cold wind blew by causing her to shiver violently again.

"Heat would be nice." She said out loud, sarcastic even as she talked to herself. She shuffled slowly over to a pile of dried up debris. She clumped them together before she looked around cautiously. Shaking her head in disbelief, she mumbled aloud and with a click of her powers, the pile was lit with tiny dancing flames.

"I'm on a deserted island and I'm still nervous about using my powers." She muttered as she plopped down next to the fire.

"Much better.Mmmm.." She basked in the warmth of the flames, gently massaging the feeling back into her arms. but when she looked down at her hands, she gasped. Frostbite had set in, turning her fingers a dull dead color. But as soon as she had noticed, every trace of it had disappeared, replaced by healthy and natural fingers. She heard a splash and a string of expletives from the ocean in front of her. She smiled secretively, happy he'd made it.

Choking and sputtering, Alex stumbled his way over to her, trying to open his backpack. His fingers weren't exactly cooperating, in reality, he couldn't even feel his fingers. He looked down, just seeing two masses finally opening up the pack. Pulling out both blankets, he threw the green backpack further ahead of him. He kicked the flotation seat over next to his pack. He struggled to rip open the plastic casing over the blankets. Isabel got up slowly and walked over to him. As she saw his fingers, she stifled a gasp.

"What?" He asked annoyed, his teeth chattering.

"Nothing. Let me see your hands, I'll fix-warm them up for you." He stuck out his hands willingly as she grasped them with her now warm fingers. Shielding his hands with her body, Alex struggled to look over her shoulder to see what she was doing.

"What are you doing? Be gentle, they feel like they're gonna fall off." Isabel gasped as she accidently pulled off a piece of his pinky finger.

"God, why am I even trusting you.?" He asked himself as Isabel fumbled to seal his finger and hand back together. As she held the bodyparts together, she concentrated. Alex somehow managed to look over her shoulder and noticed his hands glowing.

"AHH!! What are you doing?!?!" He screamed, but his mouth shut as the connection formed. The images flashed in front of his eyes, he experienced each moment, the emotions, the sights and the sounds of each scene. It seemed like thousands had passed but he was only able to catch a few. One of the girl and some guy walking down the aisle, a tear was sliding down her cheek. Somehow, he knew it wasn't a tear of joy. Another moment, of tense fear and anger suddenly he felt a twinge of pain at the sight of the next scene: the same man seriously attacking her. Fists, slaps, and throat stranglings all at once. He tried to close his eyes but they just kept coming. He screamed, yelling for them to stop. But not a sound left his voice, but just as quickly as it had started, it was over.

He was panting, but maybe that was just because of the swimming? She was silent, her frame breathing heavily.

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"Can I have my hands back?" He felt-he felt! He could feel his hands again! His hands felt the warmth of her fingers leaving his. He picked up the blanket rolls and opened both of them. As he took a few steps toward her, he dropped the blankets.

"What the hell just happened?" He asked quickly and loudly, the tense fear obvious in his voice. She turned around. Was she crying? He looked down at his hands, they were glowing! He screamed bloody murder before running back into the water. Scrubbing his hands furiously, he rubbed and scratched trying to wipe the glowing off in the harsh and freezing water of the sea. The girl was coming towards him!!

"AHHHHHH!!" He screamed, high-pitched with fear. Sprinting in the sand, he turned around but was soon knocked into a supine position. The air left his body in a rush as her knee jabbed him in the groin. Somehow she'd tackled him to the ground and had him pinned against the deep sand.

"What did you do to me? Don't hurt me!!" He pleaded, quivering in fear. She looked down at him crying, why was she crying? But even in his pure panic, his heart shined through. A shivering thumb rising up to her face and tenderly wiping away her tears. Her mouth dropped agape in shock. Their eyes locked in a strong gaze, both trying to understand the other. Alex was the first to break the silence.

"Could you get off me? I mean, not to complain or anything, because it's not everyday I have a girl on top of me, but you're really heavy." He joked; his eyes twinkled in jest. Her mouth shut and formed into a tiny grin. She smacked him in the shoulder playfully before getting up slowly. What was she doing? Acting all nice and chummy with this guy?

"Asshole." She stated plainly before started walking back towards the fire.

"Friggin' mood swings." He muttered before getting up and following her. He watched the way the wind blew her hair up like a golden halo, shining in the moonlight. She didn't even look human anymore. well maybe not that extreme, but he'd never seen anything compared to her before, not on television shows, magazines, no where. It was an otherworldy beauty. He chuckled at the idea that she wasn't human. If anything wasn't human, it was her on and off again attitude.

"Whatever, I've seen my share of high school priss bitches, I can survive with this one." He shrugged to himself, then he realized his hands were still glowing.

"Could you please explain what the hell you did to my hands?" He asked curiously, throwing himself down into the sand next to his backpack and blankets. She stared at the flames, licking around the pieces and chips of wood and other debris.

"They were frost bitten, so I healed them." Her tone flat and bored as she answered him simply. Alex snickered.

"You healed me?" He burst into laughter. "No, really, how'd you make them glow?" He asked in between spurts of giggles.

"It's an aftereffect of the healing. It goes away in a few days."

"Whoa-wait, what?!" He asked incredulously.

"You have some frost bite around your ears and nose. that's why you can't feel them. I can heal it. if you let me." She whispered, her voice barely audible. Alex's mouth formed an 'o' as he just breathed for a second, thinking to himself.

"She hasn't hurt me so far, and she's right, I can't feel my nose or earlobes..What's the worst that can happen?" He contemplated his decision in his head. After a moment, he whispered back an answer.

"Okay." She nodded, accepting his trust. She crawled over to him looking at him for a second. Examining his face, his eyes. those caring brown eyes, whoa, Izzy, hold your horses, just heal him. She reached out touching the tip of his nose with her finger. Her finger glowed for a second, and soon he could feel her pressing down on his nose. As she removed her finger, he noticed the bright glowing on his nose.

"Great, now I'm Alex the silver-nosed dork!" He played around. She smiled raising her hands to his ears, turning them silver but healing him.

"Thanks." He looked at her gratefully.

"You can't tell anyone." She said automatically, instinctively.

"I don't have anyone to tell." He said as he stretched his arms out pointing to the endless sea and dark jungle. She shivered, but the smile was still on her face.

"So, what's your name?" He asked curiously, opening his backpack, pulling out a survival kit. She looked at him strangely, as he flipped the top of the kit box up revealing the contents.

"Isabel Rivers-I mean, Evans."

"You don't know your last name?"

"I slipped up okay? God, don't jump all over me about it."

"I wasn't, calm down."

"Why don't you?"

"I am."

"So am I!" She growled irritated before shivering again.

"Here have a blanket." He threw one to her, which she wrapped herself up in immediately.