"Yes it does! You left me when I needed you the most! I was so scared! Do you know how terrifying it is to be seventeen and carrying a life in your body!" She wouldn't hold back anymore.

"Do you understand how scared I was! I needed you there! I missed you!" she almost choked. I tried to say something but couldn't.

"You missed your daughters birth and every moment since!" she screamed. Her face filled with flushed cheeks, making her freckles almost vanish.

"You've missed what a great father Kai has been to her!" she finished loudly. Ouchathat last one stung. She knew right away that her words had devastated me. I couldn't respond. Everything she had said was true.

"What? No witty comeback?" she asked half heartedly, and stormed out the front door. I stood frozen as I slowly crumbled. I watched her fade away into the warm night.

"I don't deserve your love," I told myself out loud.

Sam walked to the street and stopped herself at the last second. She was crying completely now. Slowly and softly I made my way to her, stopping only a few feet from her shadow.

"You're right Samayou should leave. I won't try and stop you," I said. Quietly she turned to face me.

"I'm so sorry for all the pain I caused you." I turned to walk back to the house when her shaking hand stopped me. She turned me around, back to her wet face and slipped a small piece of paper into the palm of my hand. It was a picture of Madi taken recently. Her hair in tiny baby pigtails with a green and silver hair clip snugly placed on top her soft head. It was a skull and crossbones with little jewels in its eye sockets. Her eyes were smiling and she looked so happy. She looked perfect. Sam was right; Kai must have been doing just fine without me. I stared at every line of her face for a few moments before returning my stare back to Sam's.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Mahalo," she smiled. It was small, but it was there.

"She has your nose," I nervously laughed.

"She has your lips," she said, distantly staring into my eyes. Every fiber of me wanted to kiss her.

"Madison huh?" I asked caressing the picture in my fingers. I never liked my real name.

"Who told you?" I already knew the answer. My uncle was the only one who knew that precious information.

"Frank of course."

"Crazy old man. Did he happen to mention that I hate that name?" I asked. She shifted her body toward me and the wind picked up through the street and flipped her hair around.

"Do you?" she asked with a hint of forgiveness on her face. I glanced down at the picture of Madi and then back to Sam's shimmering green eyes.

"I guess not so much now," I smiled. Sam returned the smile and she seemed to finally be letting her defenses down. As we leaned in even closer to one another my hands filled with heat.

"Can I see her again? Soon?" I begged softly. She took longer to answer me then I was expecting and my heart began to pump with doubt.

"Yes," she finally said.

"And you?" I asked in a whisper. She watched me from the corner of her eye suspiciously. I could tell she wanted to say yes. In fact, she looked as if she wanted to shout it as loud as she could. She pulled her lips together tightly, daring the word to come out. She held it back and I felt sadness hit me again.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to push," I lied.

"Of course you did," she said as fact. All I could do was smile. Her smile grew bigger too as a calming feeling washed over us. It felt like it used to. So safe, so calm, and so absolutely right. I was becoming lost in the moment, but that moment only lasted a few seconds.

Out of the dark a car appeared in the road. Its lights were off and it was tearing along the asphalt in a menacing approach. The engine growled like a mechanical monster and I recognized the sound immediately. It was Kai's dinosaur of a vehicle. His old rusty muscle car from the seventies. Sam knew it was Kai even before I did and stared on in confusion at how erratic he was driving. As the wind howled along side his machine, it became apparent that he was speeding up.

"Kai! No!" she shrieked. I grabbed her from the charging steel. My hands were already close to combusting. She winced at my hot touch as I threw her to the side of me, away from the road. He was obviously trying to make a point by scaring me, but I knew he was only bluffing. I turned my back to the street and motioned with my hand to Sam that it would be alright. I was wrong.

The right headlight hit me square in the small of my lower back. The glass splintered instantly with a crisp pop and sent me spiraling through the air to the ground. My hands burst into flames with black smoke and Sam screamed. It echoed down the street. At first there was no pain, just a tight feeling in my lower back. My head was fuzzy and slightly dizzy when the pain finally hit me. It hurt so badly that my muscles locked up and I writhed along the driveway.

"Oh no," I gasped. Fire engulfed my arms and back. My body instinctually tried to heal itself with the flames. As the pain grew, I dug my burning hands into the dirt, scorching the ground. My fingers scratched deep enough to draw blood from my nails. I was twisted in a prison of agony. Kai jumped from his car and grabbed Sam in his arms.

"What the hell are you doing?" she screamed at him.

"He'll be fine, I just grazed him," Kai smiled.

"Kai!" she bellowed. She pulled away from his grip.

"Calm down Sam! You rememberahe's unbreakable!" he chastised.

"He's right," I coughed from the ground. "I'm fine," I growled as fire dripped from my blurring eyes. They both stood still at the sight of my agony.

"There's just one thing I forgot to mentiona" I coughed up blood onto the charred ground. It sounded like I was choking on it.

"Max?" Sam gasped. Her eyes welled with scared tears.

"Stop fooling around Maxaget upa" Kai said with worry and building guilt. I attempted to get up but fell over on my side with a grunt and gasp of air. My burning eyes caught Sam's again.

"I seem to break just fine now," I joked, and my body began to shake uncontrollably. Sam ran for me but I stopped her with a hurt look on my bleeding face.

"Max please!" she begged.

"You better go," I pleaded through a bloody mouth.

"No! I won't leave you!" She tried to help me up. I focused as hard as I could and stopped the shaking for a moment.

"Kaiabrother pleaseaget her out of here."

"Max, if I had knowna" he said sadly.

"Leave!" I screamed. The flames covered my torso and overtook my will. I pulled my broken self to my feet, ablaze in white and orange fire. It crackled louder than the blowing wind. Kai grabbed Sam and shoved her into his car.

"Let me help him, please!" Sam called from the window.

"Go!" I screamed even louder, but this time not because of the throbbing pain of my breaking body. I lost control because as my fires overtook my body, my picture of Madi turned to ash in my hand. It was, emotionally, the last straw.

Kai started the car and drove away as Sam watched the horror on my face as the photo fell away in a dark puff. After they disappeared around the bend in the road, I managed to drag myself to the front door of the house. I pushed the flames back down inside of me and numbness set in. I stumbled through the door to a scared and frightened Oz. He circled me with his tail tucked between his hind legs. I spent the rest of the night trying to manage the pain and heal the best I could. He spent the rest of the night by my side. My little bodyguard.

Surprisingly, I managed to fall asleep; probably because of the massive amount of painkillers I had gobbled down. I kept having the same dream all night. The evening's drama repeated itself in vivid detail, but every time I relived the hit from Kai's car, I saw something I hadn't seen at the time of the accident. A bright flash from across the street. A camera flash.

Somebody was watching us.

Skeletons - 12.

*You Can't Always Get What You Want: The Rolling Stones*

Sunday morning - 8:42 a.m. - November 19th.

The morning light woke me quickly. It was soft and warm with the fresh island air slithering through it. Pain radiated down my back and legs. Not as bad as the night before but enough to make getting dressed difficult.

"Oww." The bones along my spine popped and cracked. My healing ability may not be entirely gone; I still healed faster than normal, but it was getting harder with every injury. I slowly made my way to the kitchen and made a quick breakfast for Oz and myself. I wasn't really hungry, but I knew I needed the energy for the day. Oz on the other hand ate like he hadn't eaten in days. I missed his ravenous appetite.

We both jumped in the truck and began our drive to the hospital to pick up uncle Frank. It wasn't a very long drive and seemed to last just a second because of my racing thoughts of Sam. Her green eyes haunted my every thought. I was completely lost at what I should do next. Maybe my uncle would have some much-needed advice for me. I just hoped he was feeling better.

"Morning old man," I teased from the doorway of his hospital room. He was on his feet and dressed. I startled him a little as he was stuffing his things into his overnight bag. I was so surprised to see him moving so effortlessly. He looked so bad the other day when I arrived. So frail. So sick. Now, with the exception of looking slightly thinner, I'd say he looked exactly the same as when I left many months ago.

"Max! Good morning my boy," he said with the biggest smile I'd ever seen. A slight cough rumbled from his chest as he made his way over and embraced me tightly.

"Ouch," I whimpered. His eyes filled with curiosity. He could always read me like a book, and now was no different.

"Alrightaspill it. What's wrong?" he asked, worried.

"UmaI fell down," I said with a groan. His smile completely faded and he raised one eyebrow in disapproval.

"I had a little accident," I admitted.

"Explain," he demanded.

"Lets just say it was nice catching up with Kai," I frowned. "And his car."

"Oh I see. I was afraid of that," he said, with a careful smile. I shuffled nervously as the throbbing ache in my back tickled my nerves again.

"I bet you have a thousand questions son." Frank coughed, and for the first time he sounded like a man who had been very sick for a long time.

"No. Just one," I said seriously. He returned the look and walked past me with his bag snugly packed.

"Madison," he spoke her name quietly. I followed him into the hallway and quickly shadowed his stride.

"Why didn't you tell me Uncle?" I asked, growing upset. We stopped at the nurse's station.

"Did you find the answers you were looking for while you were gone?" he asked. I was confused by his question.

"Yes and no." I shook my head. He smiled softly and slid me a clipboard with his discharge papers.

"Fill these out for me and we'll continue this talk at home," he said, and turned to leave.

"Unclea" I was upset now.

"Max, you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find; you get what you need," he joked, and left me standing next to the nurses desk. The cheery nurse laughed from her chair and winked at me.

The drive home didn't go by as quickly as before. I pouted all the way there. I just wanted some answers and I found my patience hadn't grown much in the year I had been gone. I was still an over eager teenager at heart.

We settled in at the house quickly. Little Oz was so happy to have us both under the same roof again. I was happy too, even though I wasn't ready to admit that out loud yet. After avoiding the obvious questions for the rest of the morning and a good part of the afternoon, we found ourselves tensely preparing our upcoming dinner. The back porch still looked the same, cozy and comforting. I watched as Frank peppered some pork for the BBQ grill and I couldn't hold my tongue any longer.

"I should have been told about my daughter. I should have been here for her." I slammed down the plates I was holding. Steam was already trickling from my burning knuckles.

"I should have been here for Sam!"

"Maybea" Frank said calmly. His hands continued preparing our meal. I pouted more.

"But you're here now, and Madison is happy and healthy." He smiled my way. I hated his answer.

"Whatever," I grumbled.

"You can kick and scream all you want but what's done is done. You have to remember that Max." Frank watched as I grabbed at my back in frustration. My heating temper was soothing the pain but the tendons in my back begged for relief. I ignored his glance and continued pouting.

"Speaking of healthayou wanna explain what's going on with your back? I thought you were made of sterner stuff?" he chortled.

"Well, since my amazing resurrection things have been different," I let my tone calm itself.

"Different?"

"I'm stronger than everaa walking supernova. But my healing ability is fading." I paused and laughed to myself. His old face watched me silently.

"Fadingait's almost gone. I don't know why." I shrugged my shoulders. He only looked at me like it wasn't that weird. I wondered what that look meant. Did he know something I didn't? My thoughts quickly shifted to the guilt I was feeling about not being able to help him. He could tell exactly what I was thinking.

"I wish I could help you Uncle. I'm so sorry," I folded. He walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Son, you are helping me just by your presence. We are dealt the hand we're given, and I will accept that. You were dealt a terrible hand early on in life, and I have watched you overcome that tragedy. Now it is my turn." He shook me slightly.

"Unclea"

"I'm going to be fine Max. My health is not your burden." He smiled as if he were all knowing. How was he able to put my fears to rest so easily? I guess he had some special powers of his own. A soft smile crept onto my lips.

"Okay." A long relieved breath pushed its way out of my mouth.

"I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. I should have told you as soon as I knew about Madison," he said.

"It's okay. I wasn't exactly the easiest person to track down," I said.

"No kidding!" he laughed with a cough. I was starting to hate that sound in his chest. I felt my temper coming on again but I did my best to subdue it.

"It doesn't seem like you had much of a problem getting a hold of Asia though," I accused. He looked at me surprised.

"She told you?" he asked, shocked. I quickly ran inside and grabbed the stack of medical bills and brought them to him.

"Nope. I found these," I said as he took them from my warming hand. He let out a long sigh and shuffled his feet.

"After you left the island a lawyer started poking around here. He tried to make a connection with you and Devon's disappearance," he spoke, but my mind locked onto that name. I hadn't heard it spoken since Asia opened up to me about what she had done. I hadn't missed it.