Ryan and Gillian finally made it out of the city and had been
driving down the two lane road for twenty minutes. They
should’ve been to the resort by now, but the weather made it
almost impossible to drive.  The storm was in full swing, the sky
almost constantly aglow with flashes of lightening followed by
loud blasts of thunder.  Rain hammered down on the windshield as
Gillian broke the silence.
	“Ryan, I’m really starting to get scared. Are we lost? I
mean, shouldn’t we be there by now?”
	“Relax, Gillian. We were stuck in traffic for awhile, that’s
all. We’re not lost. And really, this storm isn’t that bad,” Ryan
said.
	Gillian looked back out the windshield, but all she could
make out was a wall of water.
	“I don’t know how you can see a thing,” she said to him.
	“Don’t worry. I can see fine.”	
	He was lying to her. He could barely make out the road, let
alone other cars - but he doubted there were any. To be completely
honest, he was starting to get a little worried himself. But, it
wouldn’t do any good to let her know that.
	“This weather has really slowed us down. Since we’re
driving half as fast, I figure it will take us twice as long to get
there,” Ryan reasoned with her.
	“Ok,” Gillian said, feeling some security.
	Suddenly there was a bright flash of lightning and Gillian
could just barely make out an object ahead.
	“Ryan, what is that? Is there something in the road?” she
asked.
	“What, Gillian? Where?”
	There were rapidly getting closer when the lightening
flashed again. They could both see it this time and right in front of
them.	
	“Oh my God, Ryan! It’s a tree!” Gillian shouted.
	Ryan slammed on the brakes and swerved to the left. The
car spun and skidded across the road, smashing into a tree along
side the highway.
	For a moment they were both too shocked to move. Then
finally, Ryan spoke.
	“Gillian,” he said, reaching towards her. “Gillian, baby, are
you okay?”
	“Yeah, I’m, I’m all right.” 
	“Are you sure?”
	“Yes. Look,” she said, showing him her arms,” not a
scratch.”
	“Good. But, I’m afraid the car isn’t all right,” Ryan said. 
	He fidgeted with the key in the ignition but nothing
happened. 
	“The car’s dead, Gillian, possibly totaled. We’re stuck
here,” he said.
	“What? We can’t be stuck here. In the middle of a storm?”
	
	She could feel the panic building. Again lightening lit up
the sky.
	“I’m going to go outside and see how bad the car is,” Ryan
said.
	“You’re going outside, in this?!”
	“Just stay in the car, Gillian. It’s the safest place,” he said
opening the door and stepping out.
	“But I’m not worried about me,” she said, as the door
closed. “I’m worried about you.” 
	Gillian inhaled and exhaled, trying to stay calm. 
	“Wait! I remember!” she excitedly dug through her purse
and retrieved her cell phone.
	She burst outside and the rain immediately hit her in sheets.
	“Ryan!” she shouted over the wind, running to his side of
the car. “Look! I found my cell phone!”
	“Gillian!” Ryan said. “Get back in the car!”
	“But I found my phone!” she shouted, waving it in the air.
	“Gillian, get it out of the rain!”
	He reached for the phone as she was bringing her arm back
down. Lighting flashed as the phone went flying.  For a minute
neither one of them could see where it went, but they heard a little
crack as it hit a tree.
	Ryan fell down on his knees looking for it. He finally found
the phone in a puddle below the tree that it obviously had hit. 
	“I’m sorry!” Gillian shouted, nervously. “What are we
going to do?!”
	“Well, we -”
	Ryan was interrupted by a load snapping sound. Gillian
screamed as a large branch came crashing down and landed
through the windshield of the car. Gillian inched closer to Ryan,
now visibly shaking.  A burst of lighting lit up the sky and Ryan
spotted their salvation.
	“Gillian!” he said. “There’s a cabin over there. Up the hill,
through the trees. We’ll get help there. Come on!” 
	He took her arm and they started running. There was a loud
clap of thunder and Gillian ducked, tripped over a fallen branch. 
	“Gillian, are you all right?!” Ryan asked.
	“Yeah, let’s go” she said.
	Ryan helped her up and they starting running again. They
made it to the cabin but were more then a little disappointed. It
was really no more then a shack.. Ryan knocked on the door, but
no one answered.
	“I think it’s deserted,” he told her. 
	He jammed his body against the door and it burst open to
reveal the emptiness inside. It was a single room with a small
wooden table and cot. The two windows were merely closed with
wooden shutters.
	Ryan closed the door against the rain and looked around.	
	“Ryan, there’s nothing here to help us! No phone, no radio,
no TV. What are we going to do?” Gillian said.
	“We’re just going to have to stay here until the storm is
over. Then I’ll walk back up the road and find someone who can
help us,” Ryan said. 
	He looked over at Gillian who’s eyes where anxious and
huge. He took hold of her forearms and drew her closer, looking in
her eyes.
	“Gilly, it’s okay. We’re going to be fine. It’s just a
thunderstorm. It’ll probably be over in a few minutes,” he said,
soothingly.
	Loud sirens began to blare over the sound of the wind.
	“What’s that?” Gillian said, panicked.
	Ryan took a deep breath, struggling to check his own fears
and remain calm.
	“Gillian,” he said steadily, worrying how she’d react,
“those are warning sirens. They sound those to tell people to seek
shelter.”
	Her eyes grew bigger. “The storm,” she said, beginning to
cry, “it’s that bad?”
	“It’s a tornado, Gilly, maybe a hurricane. I don’t know. But
it’s, it’s bad.”

Chapter 12

Gillian stood there frozen.
	“What?” she said, her voice scarcely above a whisper. “Oh,
God.....Oh, my God. Where going to die.”
	“No, Gillian. No, baby. We’re not going to die,” Ryan said
tenderly, trying to sound reassuring. 
	He looked around the room for a minute and tried to figure
out what to do.
	“Okay now, Gillian, I need you to stay calm and focused,”
he said.
	Gillian nodded, and he went on.
	“I’m going to do the best I can to protect us, Gilly - and,
nobody’s going to die. Okay? Now, what we’re going to do is take
this cot here,” he said, pointing to the small bed under the window,
“and tip it on it’s side in the far corner of the room. That’s as far
away from the windows as possible.  Then, we’re going to get in
the corner and duck behind it. It’d be better if we could’ve fit
under it, but it’s too small. All right, we’re going to move it on
three. One....Two...Three.”
	Gillian and Ryan moved the cot to the corner and Ryan had
her climb into the small cubbyhole they had created. He was about
to follow her when he had a last minute thought. He had noticed
one piece of wood left in the fire place and he fixed it into position
across the door to secure it. 
	By now the cabin, as pitiful as it was, had begun to slowly
sway with the wind which had become significantly stronger. Just
as Ryan was heading back to Gillian, both of the windows flung
open and a mixture of wind, rain, and mud swirled into the room. 
	Gillian screamed, but immediately Ryan took action. He
slammed the shutters closed on both window, but it soon became
apparent that it wasn’t good enough. He needed something to
secure the wooden shutters from handle to handle and tie them
closed. 
	Both he and Gillian couldn’t find rope anywhere in the
room and he was about to give up, when he got an idea. He ripped
off his shirt and wrapped it around the handles of the shutters,
tying it with several knots. It seemed to work and the shutters
where no longer blowing open. But there was still one more
window. 
	Ryan turned to Gillian, who was now at his side and said,
“Take off your shirt.”
	She looked at him with wide eyes.
	“Come on, Gillian. This isn’t a come on. I need to tie the
other window closed.”
	Wordlessly, she raised her arms and allowed him to lift her
shirt off. Even in the urgency of the situation, he took his time with
slow, deliberate movements, finally lifting the shirt over her head.
He allowed himself the indulgence of admiring her beauty, and for
one long moment, just looked at her.
	Gillian had thought that she and Jake would have time for a
swim, so she had dressed with her bathing suit under her clothes.
Since the purpose of the weekend had been seduction, she had
worn her skimpiest black, string bikini. For the first time in longer
then she could remember, Gillian actually felt shy under her
ex-husbands roving glances and silently wished she had just worn
her bra, which incidentally would’ve been less revealing then what
she had on.
	The shutters blew open again and Ryan was reminded of
why he had undressed her in the first place. He tied up the second
window and they both climbed into their cubbyhole. There they
huddled, half-naked and a bit muddy. 
	There was a bright flash followed by a loud crack as lightning struck something
very close by. Gillian screamed and clung to Ryan who held her close, skin to skin. The
cabin swayed and the storm raged outside but, for the time being, they where safe.

Chapter 13

The storm fiercely continued as Ryan held Gillian, doing his best to
calm her fears. The winds whipped outside and they could hear hail
beating against the cabin. Gradually, they began to notice a sound
off in the distance that seemed to be getting closer and closer.
	“What is that?” Gillian asked. “It sounds like a......train.
Why would a train be out in this storm?”
	Ryan knew better then Gillian what the sound was. He knew
immediately that what they were hearing was a tornado. 
	“Everything’s all right, Gillian,” he said.
	“Okay. I just wondered why they would be a train. I think
it’s getting closer. God, it’s really loud,” she said covering her ears.
	Ryan weighed in his mind whether or not he should tell her
it was a tornado. It was definitely getting closer and he didn’t know
what they we’re going to do if the cabin was in it’s path. He
decided he had to tell her. It might be a matter of life or death - and
they were running out of time.
	“Listen, Gillian,” he said, speaking loudly to be heard over
the noise. “What you’re hearing isn’t a train. It’s a tornado. We
have to....We have to get down. Duck down as far as you can into
the corner. Stay close to the floor. I’m going to cover your body
with mine to protect you.”
	Gillian hesitated. If a tornado was coming....If this was the
end....There was so much to say.
	“Ryan I-”
	She was interrupted by the loud smack of a flying tree
hitting the cabin. Gillian had reached her breaking point and began
sobbing.
	“We’re gonna die, Ryan. We are. We’re gonna die.”
	“No, baby. No.”
	“I don’t want to die like this!” she cried. “There’s so much
that isn’t, isn’t right.”
	Ryan looked at her, tears streaming down her face, and
knew what she was trying to say.
	“It’s not fair....Oh please, God. If I could just have a second
chance. I would change -” her voice broke and she closed her eyes.
“I would change so much.”
	“Me too,” Ryan said, softly. “You know that I.....Still, I.....”
	The sound of the tornado got louder and louder.
	“Get down, Gilly. Get down!”
	
*******************************************************
	Somehow that night Gillian’s prayer was answered and the
shabby little cabin withstood the storm. The tornado passed close
by, but ran out of intensity and lifted back up into the clouds.
	It took a long time for Ryan to convince Gillian that the
tornado was gone and they were safe. He stayed up with her most
of the night, talking about everything and nothing - just anything to
take her mind off what had happened.
	Eventually, they tipped the cot back over and laid down.
And, in the early morning hours just before dawn, they finally fell
asleep in each others arms.

Chapter 14

The next morning came sunny and peaceful, without a hint of the
destruction of the night before.  Ryan and Gillian lay asleep on the tiny
cot, Ryan holding her cuddled against him. Both were sans shirt, which
were still knotted around the shutters. 
	It had been several months since Gillian had shared her bed with
anyone - even if it was just to sleep - and the tiny cot didn’t help. She
sleepily rolled over on her other side and softly landed half on top of
Ryan. In her groggy state of half-sleep, she settled down with her head on
his chest, her face upturned towards his.
	The light jostling woke Ryan, and he opened his eyes to find
Gillian more or less laying on him. He looked down at her peaceful
expression and closed eyes and knew she was still asleep.
	He sighed to himself. He missed this. Holding her in the night,
until they both fell asleep. Slowly waking up together the next morning.....
He missed her. A wave of longing washed over him and, bending down,
he gently kissed her temple.
	Gillian sleepily smiled, slowly opening her eyes. It took her a
moment to fully wake up and remember where she was. As soon as she
realized she was laying on Ryan, she quickly jerked back towards the
other side of the cot. But Ryan instantly caught her around the waist and
pulled her back on him, holding her there with his arm. 
	Unable to move away, Gillian held herself rigid and looked
downed at him cautiously.
	“Good morning, Princess,” he said.
	“Good morning,” she replied, slowly. 
	Ryan smiled softly at her.
	“You’re alive.”
	This brought a happy smile to her face, and she relaxed her guard a
bit.
	“Yes,” she said, “We both are.”
	A stray piece of hair fell across her face and Ryan reached up,
brushing it behind her ear. 
	“It looks like you got your wish,” he said, gently.
	For a moment, Gillian was puzzled and didn’t understand what he
meant. Then, it all came back to her. The night before, in the midst of the
worst part of the storm, she had pleaded with God to safe her and give her
a second chance to fix what was wrong with her life. 
	She looked down at Ryan and knew instantly what was wrong. Her
eyes softened and she melted against him, laying her head on his chest. 
	Ryan had watched the emotions play across her face, and saw as
well as felt the change in her. With his free hand, he lightly stroked her
hair. For awhile, that was enough. Then, Ryan broke the silence.
	“Aren’t you going to thank me?” he asked, playfully.
	She lifted her head off his chest and turned to look at him.
	“Thank you?” she asked, acting outraged. “For what?”
	“For saving you life,” he said simply.
	She smiled.
	“Thank you.”
	“What? That’s all?” 
	She looked at him incredulously.
	“What did you expect?” she asked.
	“Well,” he said, his eyes sparkling as he talked, “generally, when
the White Knight saves the Princess, she rewards him with a kiss.”
	“A kiss?” she repeated, smiling.
	“Yes. And you are a princess. And, I think it’s safe to say, I’m
your White Knight.”
	“Oh, you are?”
	“I saved you from deportation. I pulled you out of the wreckage at
Holidays. I saved you just now.....” He paused, the playfulness gone from
his face. “But, in this case, the princess also occasionally saves the
knight.”
	She looked at him now, with sheer love in her eyes, and slowly
bent down to kiss him.
	Their lips met, for the first time in months, softly and sweetly.
Then, as they tapped into the unbridled passion and love that was always
there with them, just below the surface, the kiss deepened and threatened
to spiral out of control. 
	Gillian had both her hands wrapped about his neck. Ryan had one
hand caught in her hair, the other softly caressing the bare skin at her
waist.  
	Clearly sensing that she was no longer holding back, Ryan ran his
hand up her back and slid it underneath her bathing suit strap. Gillian
tensed a little, but continued to kiss him. Then, he slowly moved his hand
around to her rib cage.
	Gillian jerked away and Ryan, who was not prepared, couldn’t
catch her in time. She moved to the opposite side of the cot and they
stared at one another, breathless. She slowly moved her hand to her
bottom lip and, with one finger, traced where he had just kissed her.
	“That’s....That’s all the thanking I’m prepared to do right now,”
she said.
	Ryan looked at her for a second longer and, in one fluid
movement, got up from the cot. This new position provided her with an
excellent glimpse of his chest, which wasn’t exactly helping her. Ryan felt
the same way looking down at her, and determined he desperately needed
some air.
	“I’m going to go look outside,” he muttered, and quickly left the
cabin.
	Gillian stared off after him, feeling his absence as soon as the door
closed. She wasn’t sure what to do, but she decided getting dressed would
be a good start.