Austin chuckles as Tim rolls off and falls exhausted next to him.

"Why are you laughing? Was I that bad?" Tim asks with raised eyebrows.

"No. Oh Hell no." Austin says raising up, kissing Tim on the cheek then laying his head on his lover's chest. "It was amazing. Oh my God, it was amazing."

"Then why are you laughing?" Tim asks, running his thumb up and down the smaller man's back.

"Cause it's been over five years since you've had sex with anyone and you know exactly what to do to drive someone insane." Austin smiles as he carefully pulls the condom off Tim. "I mean, I know we made love yesterday but I topped."

Tim gets up from the blanket.

"Where are you going?" Austin asks.

Tim smiles down at him and holds out his hand to help the smaller man up.

"I thought you were wanting to go walking on the beach naked." Tim says with a smirk.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." Austin giggles as he takes Tim by the hand. "You kinda distracted me."

They walked out of the cave and made it down the steep path without Austin falling down this time.

As they walk across the sugary white sand, Austin was constantly looking around him.

"Something wrong?" Tim asks as he takes Austin's hand as they walk.

"It just seems a little weird being out in the open like this." Austin giggles.

"Trust me, no one is gonna see you. I go without clothes quite a bit. As a matter of fact, when I found you on the beach I was nude." Tim smiles.

"Wow, only in my dreams would I ever think I would be rescued by a gorgeous naked man." Austin laughs. 

"I even had to give you mouth to mouth." Tim smirks.

"Dang it! And I missed it." Austin chuckles.

"Well, I've given you mouth to mouth several times since then." Tim laughs as they reach the water.

Broken Palm leaves covered the beach along with a lot of trash blown in from the storm.

"Looks like we have a lot of cleaning up to do." Tim says as he reaches down and picks up a piece of board. "Does this belong to you?"

"I think that's what's left of my boat." Austin chuckles, taking the board from Tim.

"You know that could very well lead the rescuers this way." Tim says sadly as he looks out across the ocean. "I'm sure there is more debris from your boat scattered between here and there. And if they follow the current, it'll lead them straight to here."

"That's a depressing thought." Austin says as he wraps his arms around Tim from behind and kisses him on the shoulder.

"Yeah." Tim sighs and bows his head. "But you'll be happy once you get to see your family again."

"But what about you?" Austin asks as Tim turns around to face him.

"What about me?" Tim asks.

"How am I supposed to forget about you?" Austin asks, tears filling his eyes.

"I hope you don't, really." Tim says, giving a light chuckle. "But I'm sure there are some good looking Georgia men just waiting for you to come home."

"Are you kidding?" Austin tries to chuckle as he wipes away a tear. "You haven't seen the rednecks that live in my town."

"So you're the peach of Georgia, right?" Tim smiles.

"I hate you." Austin sniffs before throwing his arms around Tim's neck and hugging him tightly.

"Okay, Georgia Boy. Enough of this mushy stuff." Tim sniffs as he pulls away. "We have work to do."

After they finished cleaning the beach, Tim catches a few crabs while Austin collects some firewood.

They make a trip up to the cave to take quick showers to wash some of the sand off. They get dressed because of the cooler night air, grabs some blankets and head back down to the beach.

"You know what I miss most of all about civilization, besides my family that is?" Tim asks, laying back on the blanket after finishing their meal of crab.

"What's that?" Austin asks as he lays down and stares at the multitude of stars above them.

"Well, two things really. Beer and bacon." Tim says with a smile. "Oh, and Big Macs."

"Big Macs?" Austin chuckles.

"Yeah, I love Big Macs." Tim says.

"I don't guess I've been gone long enough to miss anything." Austin says. "I really like the peace and quiet here. Nothing but the sound of the waves. And just look at that sky, absolutely beautiful."

"Mhmm." Tim hums an agreement and yawns. "I'd probably go nuts in the city now from all the noise."

They lay in comfortable silence for several minutes, watching the shooting stars streak across the night sky every few minutes.

Austin turns his head to say something to his lover but sees that his eyes are closed and his breathing was slow and steady.

Austin smiles as he raises up on his elbow and looks down at the sleeping man. Leaning over carefully, he places a soft kiss on Tim's cheek.

"Good night, Sweetheart. I love you so much." Austin whispers then lays down next to him.

~~

A peculiar sound breaks the morning silence.

Tim slowly opens his eyes to the bright morning sun glaring off the glistening white sand. It takes him a few seconds for his brain to catch up with the sound he was hearing.

He quickly sits up and looks around at the still sleeping Austin.

"Oh, No. Austin." He whispers. Without a second thought, he jumps up and runs to the edge of the woods.

"What the hell." Austin mumbles as a loud chopping noise and blowing sand wakes him up.

He sits up, shielding his eyes from the sand and looks up to the sky.

Time slows down to a crawl as he stares at the helicopter that was hovering overhead. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

He looks around to where his lover had been laying only to find him gone. His eyes scan the surrounding jungle. He spots Tim peeking out amongst some bushes. Their eyes meet and Tim gives Austin a sad smile.

"AUSTIN BROWN?" The pilot asks from a speaker on the helicopter.

Austin looks up at the pilot and slowly nods. Glancing back around at the tree line, he sees Tim is gone.

Austin shields himself as the helicopter lands on the beach. The side door slides open and a man in a Coast Guard uniform hops out and runs toward him.

"Are you alright?" The rescuer asks.

Austin nods numbly. He had no idea how to feel. He should be happy but he felt his heart breaking.

"It's time to go home." Was the only thing that Austin heard the guy say.

"Wait. I gotta get something" Austin says as he remembers he had taken off the necklace Tim had given him and left it in the cave.

"Please hurry." The rescuer says.

Austin turns and runs in the direction of the cave, tears streaming down his face.

"TIM!" He cries as he runs into the cave only to be met by his own lonely echo. He wipes his eyes and reaches down for his necklace. Laying beside the necklace was an envelope addressed to Dena Foust, Nederland, Texas. "I did make a promise." He whispers as he picks up the letter and sticks it into his pocket. He slips the necklace on and walks out of the cave, taking nothing else with him.

The sound of the helicopter's door closing and latching causes him to jump. He grasps the shark's tooth around his neck and stares out the window as they begin to lift from the beach.

His eyes searching desperately for one last glimpse of the man he had fallen in love with.

The pilot and co-pilot were busy with radio transmission. Neither were paying attention to the island they were leaving.

Austin sobs and lays his hand on the window as he sees Tim standing in the treeline. He holds his hand up as if to try to touch Austin's. Tears were streaming down his cheeks.

In the sand in front of him, he had written:

I LOVE YOU.

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