"And tonight we shall praise the Harvest Goddess in all her glory, and pray that she may continue to bless our islands with great prosperity and life."

Nathan finished the morning's sermon with a final, rich praise to the Harvest Goddess. Mark could feel the church goers shift in their seats, ready to be out and continue with their days. But Mark did not raise his head. His hands remained clasped together and his eyes squeezed shut, because he was praying silently for something much more than just good weather and growth.

But he was quickly disturbed from the troubled silence he was in. Though he had been expecting it, the gentle hand that usually found its way to his shoulder was not present. Instead, it had been replaced with a much larger, much rougher hand. A hand that could only belong to a man that was just as intimidating as it felt.

Mark turned his head up towards the side, not surprised when his eyes caught on to the towering figure of a certain cowboy. His eyes, with their perplexing colour, bore through Mark's flesh and almost made him wince.

"What do you want?"

"I need to speak with you."

He stood up, and silently followed Vaughn out of the church and into the depths of the forest that surrounded it. He let himself look back at the Goddess Pond for a second, praying that she would help him in facing what he knew would come.

Soon, they had gotten so deep into the thickets that only the Witch Princess would have been able to hear them, and it was only then the cowboy stopped his fast paced walking. He spun around to face Mark, startling him out of his almost peaceful state.

"She's right across the street from me."

Mark gave Vaughn a look of bewilderment. Whatever he was trying to get at, it was far too complex for the farmer to understand without a little more than a hint.

"I'm sorry..." Mark said, closing his eyes and sighing. "But what the hell are you talking about?"

Vaughn never seized to shock Mark. He himself was a friendly, peaceful man, and something about Vaughn's passive aggressive nature shook him to his core. Perhaps that's why they had clashed constantly, even before Chelsea left. So when Vaughn shook Mark by the shoulders, he nearly cried out in astonishment.

"She...Concorde..." Vaughn breathed, barely managing to contain his frustration, "Lives in the apartment across the road from me. Right across the bloody road."

Vaughn's jaw clenched and unclenched, Mark could see the muscles working underneath his skin. He let go of Mark's shoulder, and took a step back.

Mark's green eyes grew in shock, coming to the realisation that Concorde had just come to haunt another part of their life. So, dumbfounded, he asked Vaughn what he was going to do about it.

"What can I do about it?" He hissed, "I don't have the money to move. But I sure as hell won't be going onto my balcony any time soon." His brow furrowed, and Mark knew that Vaughn was revisiting a recent memory of his.

"I don't understand why she's doing this. She's driving the whole island crazy." Mark said, exercising his deep connection with nearly every villager that lived on the islands. From the man that was about to lose his well loved inn, to the friendly natives that lived deep in the jungle, there wasn't one person that hadn't been affected in their own little way.

"I can't imagine how hard Julia is taking it."

Mark's comment took its own turn to catch Vaughn off guard. He had been observing the forest floor, rubbing at his chin in deep thought until he was snapped back into reality with Mark's words. Julia, the closest thing to family Vaughn had, would have been the most affected by all of this.

Perhaps that's why she had gone off at him so hard just a week or so ago.

Vaughn's angled face grew stern, and his eyes were narrowed surreptitiously. "She told me she hadn't had the time to get a good look at the woman." He said, relaying their little tiff to Mark.

So she said, Mark thought to himself. He turned his head away from the cowboy, letting his eyes wander their own path through the forest, yearning for an escape from this conversation. "Even Julia has her own days off. It's not like she the type of person to stay in her room and sulk away her depression."

Though he wasn't looking, he could feel the hot glare he was being given. It wasn't his fault he had accidentally put Vaughn's own habits into his example.

"There's no chance she hadn't seen her, and even if she hasn't... she must have heard all the rumours going around." The rumours, how many had Mark heard in the past week? Too many to count. They ranged from the absurd to the reasonable, from secret cloning devices to coincidences.

The spurs on Vaughn's boots tore together when he pushed his heels back, and for one short second the jeering sound of metal on metal was all they thought about.

There was a moment's silence, and Mark considered the opportunity of running out of the uncomfortable position he was in.

"You have no idea how much I worry about her."

Mark turned his attention back to the cowboy, who almost seemed vulnerable in this one moment where he let his true emotions show. His face, hidden behind the shadows of his Stetson, was hung low, and his gloved hands were tucked into the pockets of his black denim jeans. It was like the true Vaughn had left, and in his place stood a tall, awkward teenager who had just professed his feelings to the prettiest girl in school

But even though Mark was at a loss for words, he knew just was Vaughn had intended through his own. Vaughn, Chelsea's closest friend, annoying neighbour and her long-term lover, was kept so out of the loop during the last weeks of Chelsea's presence.

Hell, he only found out his girlfriend was pregnant after she left. And for all they knew, there might have been a little replica of the silver-haired man crawling around now, just shy of his second birthday. Mark had no idea how much that must have hurt.

He reached out to the crestfallen man, placing a strong hand on his shoulder. Vaughn made no attempt to even acknowledge the closeness of a fellow male, but Mark knew he wasn't so out of it to block out all physical feelings.

"Don't worry, we're gonna figure this all out." He said, squeezing Vaughn's shoulder. "And we're gonna send that devil woman back to where she came from."

Some level of sense returned to the man, and he recognised that he was making contact with a man he more than disliked. So with one rough movement, Vaughn shoved Mark's hand away from him, and the cold, heartless fire that burned within his eyes returned.

"Fine." He snapped, almost hissing with determination. "But first we find out who she really is."

Mark closed his eyes, hearing the sound of Vaughn retreating. When he was gone, and the young farmer was left in his wake, he opened his eyes once more and sighed. "The problem is... I don't think any of us want to find out."

~X~

Sabrina sat down, patiently waiting for Vaughn to return. She knew he was often off on his own, and he enjoyed having his own personal space, but she had grown slightly anxious. He should have been there to take her on their walk already.

Sabrina looked up from her pale hands towards Julia, who had just left her position behind the counter to come sit by her. She could see the dark rings underneath Julia's blue eyes, and how her blonde waves of hair seemed to have frizzed in an unkempt manner. It was obvious, even to the shy girl, that Julia hadn't been getting much sleep at all lately.

"Are you feeling alright?" She asked, tucking a dark strand of hair behind her ear. Julia glanced up, smiling as she nodded her head in response. The smile didn't survive long.

"You look terribly tired. You really should take a day off..." Sabrina added, still worried about her closest friend's cousin.

Julia closed her eyes, contemplating the idea. "I'll be alright... It's just tough, running the place all by yourself." Sabrina understood her position entirely. "But I gotta do it. It's not a big business, but it's a valuable one, and I have to keep it running."

"Even if it means working yourself to death?" Sabrina worried.

Julia locked her eyes on the pale, timid girl. Her pink lips twitched into a smirk, and Sabrina couldn't help but feel a little sadistic just looking at it. "Isn't that what Vaughn plans to do?"

Sabrina sighed, thinking about the man she had grown so attached to. It seemed like, when he wasn't working he was with her, and that was a minority of his own time. It just piled onto a list of things that Sabrina needed to worry about, and he seemed to be the priority. She had seen how he had changed when that Concorde lady came into town, and though he hadn't spoken a word of his suspicions, Sabrina was not an idiot. She knew exactly what was going on inside his head. She knew what was going through everyone's head.

"Is it hard...?" Sabrina asked, her pale eyes flitting back and forth between her companion and the floor. "Seeing her around...destroying everything?"

The tired form of Julia groaned, suddenly unhappy that the new woman had become the centre of conversation once again. "Of course it is. She looks just like her. Can you imagine how guilty I feel when I see her, or even hear about her? It feels like when Chelsea left. That woman, whoever she is, is set on ripping open old wounds, and she doesn't even realise it."

Sabrina clasped her hands together, a small frown blessing her shy face. "You must really hate her."

"I do, but not because of what she plans on doing. I hate her because she makes me hate myself. And I hate myself for pushing Chelsea away."

Just then, the depressing little party was disturbed when the bell above the door rang, and the loud clap of wooden soled shoes hit the floor. Finally, Vaughn was back from wherever he had been. He seemed surprised when he walked into the kitchen, seeing the two most important women in his life sitting there, conversing. And then he realised he was meant to be spending the afternoon with his... 'girlfriend'.

"Oh." He grunted, locking eyes with Sabrina. It made her shiver. "I forgot. Sorry."

She smiled up at him and stood, taking his hand in hers. "Let's go now, before the sun begins to set."

"Alright." He answered, glancing over at Julia while he was pulled out of the house again. For a second, Sabrina saw the worry flash through his eyes. "I'll see you later Julia. For dinner." He said in farewell.

For some reason, while they were walking down the path towards the beach in the waning sun, Sabrina found Vaughn's silence ten times more powerful than it ever was. It was like his wordless nature summed up the internal turmoil of every individual on the island. She didn't know what he had been doing that took him so long, but she could tell that it had left him in an odd state of mind.

And it made her determined. Tonight, she was going to go home and use her dad's power to find out as much as she could about this Concorde lady. Whoever she was, Sabrina was going to find out. Maybe then, when all the secrets had been laid bare, the tense atmosphere would dissipate and the islanders could work together to stop her. And then Vaughn would be happy again.

He would be happy. Like he used to be happy, when Chelsea was around. He would smile like he did in her presence, the way Sabrina wished he would smile when he was with her. And he would realise that Sabrina was the one who could make him happy, and he would dedicate his life to her.

That's all Sabrina wanted... was it too much?

"Who does this Concorde person work for?" She asked, her voice quiet.

Vaughn glanced down at her, a stern look on his face. "A hotel group. Why?"

Sabrina looked away, smiling. "No reason." 'But you're gonna be mine. One day, you're gonna be proud of me, and you're gonna be mine."

A/N: It's been a while. But don't worry, I'm off school until February now, so expect updates :D

So, as Sabrina plans on digging through the business databases to find Concorde's past, and as two old enemies come together for a common agenda, is Concorde going to end up in the deep end and surrounded by a bunch of upset, angry islanders? Who knows? Oh wait, I do!

Not much to say here, except happy holidays! Enjoy spending time with your family, while I spend my January at Rod Laver Arena, cheering Roger Federer on!

I apologise for any errors you might find, as always. Thanks and bye!