It was a beautiful day on the island. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and a cool breeze was blowing through the trees, creating a soft swishing sound as branches swayed against one another in the wind. It was relaxing - soothing - so much so that he almost forgot that they were stranded on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. He walked along the shore looking for her, hoping that he'd find her fishing for their lunch. She was so excited when she awoke that morning to find a fishing pole all her own and with her name carved into the wood. He had made it for her as a surprise to celebrate her newly acquired talent for catching fish. Not bad for a woman who almost ate poisonous berries when they were first abandoned on that island prison! He was very proud of her for learning survival skills so quickly...and so in love with her. He never planned on falling in love with her, and yet he did. Doing so changed him...loving her changed him forever.

When he finally spotted her from a distance, she wasn't fishing. He instead found her staring out into the ocean, lost in a daze so it seemed, but smiling. A breeze blew through her reddish-brown hair pushing her bangs away from her eyes. She was beautiful. "Hey," he said as he approached her. "Daydreaming, are we? Or do you see a rescue ship making its way towards us?" He laid one hand on her shoulder and then peered out into the ocean....squinting.... pretending to look for a boat. Elbowing him jokingly and still smiling, she turned to look at him. "What?" he asked. "It's not a rescue boat...but a plane maybe? But you have to help me out here, Lily, because I don't see either....." The smile slowly disappeared from her face, but she continued to look him directly in his eyes. "Simon..... I need to tell you something." Her tone was serious and it worried him a little. "You can tell me anything....you know that. So what's stirring in that pretty head of yours, huh, that you need to share with me?" He ran his fingers through her hair, but he felt her pull away. "Lily? Is there something the matter?" "It's just that..." she began as she turned away from him. "Lily, if there's something the matter...." he said as he walked towards her, "please talk to me." "It's nothing really," she replied. She was smiling again. "It's just that...." "You don't like the fishing rod I made you," he chuckled, "that's it, isn't it?" She shoved past him and started walking back towards their cave. "No, don't be silly! I love my gift...it's perfect."

"Then what? C'mon, now....." he grabbed her gently and pulled her towards him until he had both his arms locked around her waist. "I won't let you go until you tell me," he teased as she tried to break away. Unable to squirm free from his arms, she instead settled into his chest....resting her head on one of his shoulders. He smiled as she did so, held her a little tighter, then kissed the top of her head. "Just great, Frasier," he thought to himself as he continued to hold her close, "just great. You had to fall in love with a married woman. Isn't this just about the dumbest thing you've ever gone and done....or the smartest....." It didn't matter either way, really. All that mattered was her....

"Simon," Lily said snapping him out of his own thoughts. "Do you believe in fate?" She was looking up at him now but was still wrapped in his arms. "Um, uh," caught off guard, he wasn't sure how to respond. "Fate? I don't know. I haven't thought much about it, I suppose. Why do you ask?" He let go his grip around her waist and continued walking towards their cave. "It's just that I've always believed that things happened for a reason, that certain things were meant to be...." she explained as they entered their island abode. "Like you and Holden?" It hurt him to say his name...the name of the man who had her heart..... "Yeah....like Holden. We always believed that we were part of each other and were meant to be together. And God knows we had obstacle after obstacle to overcome, challenges to face....but we prevailed. Our love prevailed...." "Why are you telling me all of this, Lily?" His tone was harsh, annoyed, but only because it hurt too much to hear her talk about the man she loved. "I'm beginning to wonder if it's supposed to be that hard..." "I'm not following, " he replied. "If Holden and I were meant to be, then why has it always been so hard? And why does fate continuously throw problems our way, continuously make things HARD and nearly impossible for us to be together? Maybe fate is trying to tell us something...." "C'mon now, Lily," He said trying to make light of the matter. "I know you're very hurt that Holden didn't know that Rose wasn't you, and I'm not making excuses for the guy....but.....once we're rescued I'm sure the two of you can work things out and you'll have your family back again....like things were meant to be." She said nothing, and her silence just made his heart ache even more. "Besides," he continued, "as the great playwright William Shakespeare once wrote, "the course of true love never did run smooth....' He smiled and threw a banana at her.

"I wish it were as simply explained as that," she said. "But I've been through so much in life that I'm not sure what I believe anymore." "I'm hungry," Simon interrupted trying to change the subject. "Isn't it almost lunch time? What about breaking in that new fishing pole of yours...." "What if we were meant to meet and become stranded here on this island?" She seemed tense and very serious. "Now you're talking crazy, Lily!" he blurted as he grabbed the fishing pole he had made for her. "I've brought nothing but trouble and danger to your life, and we both know that you would've been better off having never met me!" He started to walk out of the cave in a hurry. "I wish I could take it all back and make everything right for you again, but I can't. So the best I can do is make sure you return safely to your family...." "Do you?" she asked. She stepped in front of him, stopping him from leaving the cave. "Do you wish that you could take it all back?" "Of course, I do," he replied. "I wish I never hurt you or your family...." "...never to have met me?" she took the fishing pole from his hand. "I didn't say...." He turned away from her....flustered. "I don't know what you want me to say, Lily....what you from me...." "Honesty," she quickly responded. "That's all."

"I have been honest," he said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I told you how I feel about you, Lily. You know that I'd do anything for you....but..." "But what?" she was facing him, holding one of his hands. "But what I haven't told you is how much it hurts to be here alone with you and not be able to hold you the way I want... knowing that I don't have the right to be with you... that you'll never feel the same way about me...." Shaking his head, he couldn't help but laugh a little at what he had just confessed. What a fool he must've sounded like. "How's that for honesty, eh?" he chuckled, pinching the bridge of his nose again. "Now I've gone and opened up my big mouth more than I should have...." "I think we were supposed to meet, Simon," she said forcing him to look at her. "I think that this whole business with Rose and Holden...this quest of yours for that diamond....it's all part of an unfolding plan in which we were supposed to meet...." "You're talking crazy, Lily!" he interrupted. "I almost got you killed! I've destroyed your life! You're just hurt....and...." "I'm not sorry I'm here with you, Simon." She took hold of one of his hands again. "Please, Lily, don't do this....you're too kind to toy with my emotions...." he said as he tried to turn away from her. "I'm not," she said as she gently stroked one side of his face with her hand. "Even when we're rescued, Simon, things won't ever be the same. Not for Holden and me....not for my children.... not for us...." She leaned closer to him, her hand now at the back of his neck, pulling his head gently towards her own.

For an instant he was unsure what was happening and then thought for a moment of pushing her away, but he couldn't....didn't want to. He needed to kiss her, to hold her close just for awhile, to pretend that she was his. Then, as their lips brushed against one another for the first time, he said what he had been needing to say for months.... "I love you, Lily," he whispered as his lips touched hers. "I love you..." They kissed passionately, desperately, like reunited lovers who had found each other again. Simon held her body tightly against his own, kissed her neck, her face, and then found her lips again.... "I love you, too," she sighed into his ear. He wasn't sure he heard her correctly. Cupping her face with both his hands, he whispered, "Can you say that again...." His heart was pounding as he held her close, but he had never felt more alive. "I love you," she whispered with a smile. There were tears in her eyes. "Just one more time," he said softly, "please....so I'll know I'm not dreaming." "I love you," she said as she peered into his eyes. And then she kissed him again....

Lily wiped the perspiration from Simon's face. He had come down with a fever a couple days earlier and grew increasingly worse. Now he was unconscious, mumbling unintelligible phrases in his delirium, and the fever was raging. "Don't you give up on me, Simon Frasier," Lily said as she put another cool piece of cloth on his forehead. "You hang in there...." "Lily," he whispered....but he was dreaming..... "I'm here, Simon," she said. "Wake up, come on, wake up....." "Oh, why don't YOU wake up, Lily?" Celia commented. "The man isn't sleeping, he's dying....the fever is probably frying his brain as we speak....." "Shut up! Simon is not going to die!" She poured some water into Simon's mouth, but most of it just spilled onto the cave floor. "Come back to me, Simon.... please come back to me...."

He was still smiling. He couldn't help but do otherwise since Lily's declaration of love for him. It almost made being stranded in the middle of nowhere a dream come true. But it was more of a nightmare than a dream. He had ruined Lily's life, and he knew that she was suffering. Holden's betrayal was devastating for her, and she missed her children terribly. He needed only to look into her eyes to see how much she was hurting. But he also saw love in her eyes....love for him....and it saved him. "Simon! Simon!" She was calling him from the shore where they washed up. "Lily?" He stepped out of the cave and walked towards the sound of her voice. "Simon! Come here....." "Lily? Where are you? I can hear you but I can't see you...." He searched the beach but there was no sign of her. He continued to hear her call out to him. "Simon, please, Simon....." "Where are you?!" He began to worry. What if she were in trouble, needed him.... but where was she? Worry soon turned to panic... "Lily! Lily!" he shouted. "Simon, please...come here....please, come back to me......"

"I think his fever may be breaking," Lily said to Celia as she once again tried to get Simon to drink some water. "I think he's coming around." "Oh, goodie," Celia said unconvincingly. "My baby brother was always a fighter. Too bad he was stupid enough to fall for you and fight for the wrong side." Ignoring Celia's comments, Lily continued to try to wake Simon from his delirious sleep. "Simon, Simon? Come on, Frasier, open your eyes...open your eyes..." "Lily," he whispered, "where....Lily?" Slowly he began to come around. Blinking, he managed to open his eyes enough to see shadows...sillouhettes....a blurry image of someone looking down at him. "Lily?" "Yeah, that's it....look at me, Simon," she said smiling. Her voice was hopeful. "What happened?" he muttered as he slowly regained consciousness. "We're on an island...do you remember?" Lily asked giving him some water to drink. This time he swallowed and not one drop fell to the cave floor." "Yes, I remember," he replied. "I got sick..." "Yeah, soon after Celia became stranded with us when Cooley stole her plane. Do you remember?" Nodding his head he then tried to prop himself up. "Easy now," Lily said. "You've been so sick, Simon. I wasn't sure you were going to make it. You've been delirious for days...mumbling stuff about fate and William Shakespeare." She felt his forehead to check on the fever. "Good....your temperature is down. I think the fever has finally broken. Oh, thank God."

"I dreamt it all," he muttered to himself. "None of it was real...." "What are you talking about?" Lily asked as she gently wiped away drops of perspiration from his face. "Nothing," he began. "It's not important." He took hold of her hand and kissed it. "Thank you for watching over me." "I was so scared you were going to die on me, Simon," she said as she kissed his hand in turn. "I would've never forgiven you if you didn't come back to me." "Now I'm really going to throw up!" Celia barked from across the cave. "I just don't have the stomach for all of this ooey-gooey love!" Simon glared at her. If he weren't so weak he would've thrown something at her... like Cooley's machete. "You disappointed me again, little brother!" Celia continued. "You were supposed to die! But again you fail me, and again you make my life more difficult! Now I'll have two bodies to dispose of instead of one....." "That's what brothers are for, sis," Simon barked back. He sat up and drank more water on his own. "It's a brother's duty to torment our sisters....to be the proverbial thorn in their side." He was smiling. "Do you guys hear that?" Lily interrupted. "Those are propellers. There's a plane approaching!" Celia ran out of the cave before Lily even finished her sentence. "Stay here, Simon," Lily began. "I'll go find out who's flying that plane!" "Lily, wait," he tried to stand but failed. "Be careful...."