As the group walked back to the beach the sun almost completely drained from the sky. "Where are you guys staying while you're here?" Danny asked as they walked towards the parking lot. "We're staying on the beach actually. We brought a tent." Sam said happily, she loved camping on the beach, she used to do it with her family all the time as a kid. "Oh that's cool, if you don't want to tomorrow night then my place is free." "Oh! Thanks! Are you guys going to be back here tomorrow?" Sam asked. Danny's place was alwasy empty, his Father spent the majority of his time at his long-time girlfriends house, leaving their house to Danny and all his friends, he was a lot like Sam's father and that's why they were really good friends. "You know it!" Danny answered, climbing into his beat-up, orange Chevy truck. Sam remembered his Dad driving it and she guessed he passed it on to Danny. As they drove away Sam and Nate took the camping supplies out of the back of the jeep. They carried the stuff to the beach and while Sam set up the tent, Nate lit a fire. They spent the next two hours on the beach roasting marshmellows and watching the stars. At around midnight a car pulled into the deserted parking lot. The lights shone onto the beach and sparked in the dark water that had risen significantly since that afternoon. They both turned around but were blinded from seeing any further than the lights that filled their eyes. The sound of the car door opening and closing echoed through the quiet beach. Heavy footsteps came after. Finally Sam could make out a figure in the headlights, it was a man, obviously, built, and that's when she realized it was a police officer. "Nice night, huh, guys?" He said in a friendly voice, again the voice sounded familiar. "Yeah, it's really nice." Nate said, seemingly unaffected by the fact a cop was approaching them. As the police officer came closer Sam recognized his face. They used to get in all sorts of trouble when they came here, but it was mainly Riley. He was always getting brought back to the cottage drunk or high, or because he had tresspassed, or vandalized something, he was the troublmaker... always. "Well I just wanted to..." His voice trailed off as he came closer and recognized a familiar face. "Samantha, right?" He said poiting his finger. "Hey Officer Stecyk." She said smiling as she arose from the beach. "Wow I havn't seen your family in a while! How is everyone?" He asked. "They're good, and yeah this is the first time I've come up in a long time..." She answered. Nate rose from the sand. "And Riley? How's the kid doing?" He asked, unaware of the events that passed the following year. "Uhh.. he's.. well.. Officer Stecyk, Riley passed away last year." Sam said looking at her feet, trying really hard not to choke up. "Oh, oh my god, Sam I'm so sorry, if I had of known I would have come up to the funeral. Is everyone alright?" The large amount of concern that he had on his face was evident. Sam knew he cared. She had learned quickly who cared and who pretended to care. "We're dealing with it the best we can, things are finally getting back to normal." She felt her eyes stinging and her face was flushing. "Well that's all you can do I guess, but I'd love to stay and catch up but I really have to get back to work. Next time your family comes up, come by my place for an afternoon. It'll be nice to see everyone again, and make sure to put that fire out soon." He said with a wide smile, their families had always gotten along. All the locals had befriended Sam's family at one point, they had a lot of friends there. "I will Officer Stecyk, take care." He waved back and drove off down the dark road. Sam watched until his car was out of sight and let out a huge sigh. She walked back to their tent where Nate was just putting out the fire. "Are you okay?" He asked, concern flushed his face. "Yep." She answered, obviously disturbed, but again Nate knew that she would talk when she was ready, although it was killing him seeing her hiding her emotions from him. He walked over and gave her a tight hug. Sam buried her face in his chest and hugged him back, he seemed to take every stich of fear and disturbance from her mind. "Come on, let's go to bed." Nate said, still holding Sam tightly in his arms. "Kay." She answered not letting go. He swept her up from under her feet and carried her into the tent. They had both already changed and set up the blankets earlier that night. Sam crawled onto the giant air mattress and into a ball under the three quilts and a sleeping bag that they had brought for warmth, the beach got rather cold at night. Nate crawled under them too, and slid his arms tightly around her body, pulling her closer. Within five minutes Nate was asleep, he found it a lot easier to sleep with Sam in his arms. But that night, Sam had too much on her mind to sleep. After waiting another twenty minutes, she knew she wasn't ready to sleep. She wriggled from Nate's grip and quietly unzipped the tent. She quietly walked onto the sand and looked out at the black waves that were tumbling with force towards shore. Sam moved towards the water until the tide touched her toes and sat down. She couldn't hold them back anymore, a tear slid down the side of her cheek, and more after that. The wind swept over her bare arms and goosebumps formed but she didn't move. Her heart ached, and finally she realized what she wanted more than anything. She wanted one last hug, she knew she couldn't have pursuaded him not to do what he did, but she wanted to at least say goodbye and that she loved him with all her heart, and tell him at he was more special to her than anyone else. Sam and Riley had shared a bond that couldn't have been replaced by anyone, not even Nate. She would never feel that bond again and it killed her inside. "Sam?" A voice broke her sobs. "Sam what's wrong?! Are you okay?" Nate ran over to her. His eyes sank at the sight of Sam crying so hard. She remained silent and kept on sobbing. "Sam... I can't take this anymore, it's killing me. You need to tell me..." Her eyes flooded again and her head fell onto his shoulder. He slid his arm around her and pulled her into his lap. "I...I...I miss him." She said, not even looking at Nate. "I never thought he could do that to me. He swore to me, he made a promise that he would never leave me when our Mom died. He said he couldn't leave me and see me that heartbroken again. But he lied! He lied about it all! Now how can I be sure that he didn't lie about everything else he's ever said to me? All he left was a letter, a letter that basically told me he was a coward and couldn't handle it anymore...." Her flushes of tears turned boiling, anger filled her body. She wanted to strangle something. Her breaths were heavy and her tears choked her. "My Mom's probably standing up there right now, looking at him. Staring him down. She didn't have a choice, but he did. She probably slapped him. I knew she would have been a lot more proud if he had just admitted his problem and got help instead of taking his life out of guilt. She didn't raise us like that, she would have never wanted him to waste his life like that but he did, and what bugs me the most was how she told us, that day, the last time we saw her, one of the last things she said to us in that operating room, all in scrubs and a shaved head, she said to us that if she didn't make it out to never stop fighting, to live our lives, to grow up and give her a reason to keep on smiling. She said that even if we didn't have her, we would always have each other, we had to look after each other. She told us she loved us and that she knew we were fighters and told us how brave we are, BUT LOOK AT HIM NOW! He's dead, he's gone, he went against everything she wanted us to live by. He let her down, and it makes me sick!" She took a deep breath and got up from Nate's lap. "He fucking left me here alone! With NO ONE! NO ONE!" She started screaming. "Yeah well Riley, FUCK YOU! You fucking COWARD!" She fell to her knees and put her head in her hands and kept on crying. Nate got up and ran over to her, scared. He had never seen her like this before. She looked like she wanted to run and drown herself in the ocean. He slid his arms around her and held her and she grasped him tightly back. "Shhh.. Shh. It's alright, I'm here Samantha." Nate whispered calmly into her ear, rubbing her back. "Don't ever leave me, don't ever leave me like he did.... you're all I have left Nate..." She sobbed into his shoulder. Nate pulled her away from his chest and looked into her eyes. Her arms still slung around his neck. "Samantha, I would never do that to you, I couldn't ever hurt you. I will never leave you, I promise." He said, tears almost comming to his own eyes. "Do you mean that?" She said. He wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Samantha Lena Aviitio, I promise, I will always love you, and I won't break that promise ever." She pulled him close and kissed him. She never wanted him to leave her. Without his touch alone, she wouldn't breath. He then lifted her up like a baby and carried her back to the tent. She was shivering feircly. She tucked her under the blankets and slid in beside her warming her up. Her breathing calmed, her tears stopped and her mind was free. She had been holding everything back for so long that it was a huge releif to be able to let it all go.