"What am I doing sleeping in the snow?" she wondered aloud. And then, rolling over, she remembered. The events of the previous night hit her like a freight train. "Taylor," she whispered. She sat up and looked over at him.

"Oh god," she whispered, feeling as if she would throw up at any instant. She had only been able to imagine his condition the night before, but seeing him in this early morning sunlight was the most horrifying thing that she had ever experienced.

His face was covered with cuts and bruises; she figured that the rocky creek had carried him downstream, face forward, from wherever he had gotten hurt. Both of his eyes were blackened and swollen, and covered in blood. The blood, she saw, had flowed from his nose. He had two large gashes, one from his forehead to his cheek and the other from one side of his chin to the other.

Not wanting to see any more of the bloody mess, she trailed her eyes down the rest of his body. The bulky snowsuit covered most of it, but she could definitely notice the extreme angle that his left arm was turned at. It looked very, very broken.

"Taylor," Nicole asked aloud, crying once again. "What happened to you? Can't you just wake up and tell me? I can help you. I can get you down the mountain. But you have to wake up Taylor." She looked back up at his face. No use. He was still unconscious.

She took off one of her frozen gloves and dipped it in the creek. Then she began to gently wash the blood from his face and hair. When she was finished, she began talking again.

"Just think of everything else you have ahead of you Taylor," she explained as if she was talking to a child. "Your musical career. You're probably one of the most influential people alive right now. Millions of screaming girls love you. And your music has touched so many people. You can't give up on that. I won't let you. I won't let you die Taylor. Not here, not now. So you better just open your eyes and give me some kind of sign that you're going to be okay."

But still she got no response from Taylor. He was deathly pale now that she had gotten rid of most of the blood, but she could rest her hand on his stomach and feel his shallow breathing. She knew she had to let him know the truth now, or it may be too late.

"Well, I guess I better tell you this now Taylor, because I don't know if I can do it later. I know you remember yesterday morning when you asked me that question about where I would be right now if I wasn't with Isaac. Well, I have your answer." She stopped for a second and took a deep breath. She tilted her head back for a moment, staring up into the beautiful sunlight. And as she did this, she missed a small movement from the snow below her, as Taylor regained consciousness and tried to sit up. He failed, and she looked back down at him without even noticing.

"Okay," she said. "I've been thinking so much Taylor, all during this trip. And I realized something. I'm going out with Isaac, right? Well, duh. But I haven't said 'I Love You' to him in the past two months. But I don't think he's even noticed. He and I have grown so far apart without even knowing it. I don't think there's much left for us."

"But," she continued, "you and I have also grown apart. We used to be the best of friends Taylor. Now we sometimes act as if we're strangers. And that tears me apart inside. All I can think about is putting everything with you back together; I can't stand the pain I'm putting you through. And I've made my decision based on that. I want you Taylor. I want to be with you; I want to be your girlfriend. That's all I want, and that's all I've wanted for months. I just couldn't bring myself to believe it, so I ignored my feelings and hung on to Ike as long as I could. But I can't do that anymore. I.....I love you Taylor. Not just as a friend; more than that. And I can't stand the thought of you with anyone else but me. The other night when I saw you with Laura, that's when I started realizing how much I really care about you. So there's your answer Tay. If I wasn't with Isaac, then I would be with you. And I will be with you, but you have to come back to me. I'm not a miracle worker Taylor. I can't bring you back to life."

Suddenly, she found herself staring into the most beautiful set of baby blue eyes that she had ever seen. "You just did," Taylor said in a small, pained voice. He smiled up at her as happily as he could through the agony his body was going through, and slowly moved his hand until in touched hers.

"TAY!" Nicole screamed, grabbing Taylor's hand. "You're alive! You came back!"

"I love you too Nicole," Taylor said softly. She reached down and gently kissed his forehead.

"Thank you Taylor," she whispered, crying again. "Now I have to find a way to get you out of here." She sat back, thinking, and then the idea hit her.

"Tay, where's your board at?" she asked, making sure hers was still at the edge of the creek, where she had left it.

"I don't know," Taylor said, trying his best to remember. "I think it's upstream; wherever I fell." Nicole squeezed his hand and looked at him with hope.

"I'll be right back," she said. "I'm going to go find it." He nodded slowly, and she stood, tracing the creek in the other direction. In the distance she saw it, bright red and sticking out of the snow.

She ran toward it as fast as she could in her boots, and soon came to it. Sure enough, it was Taylor's board. Wondering how he had gotten hurt, she inspected the area. Everything looked perfectly fine, until she looked up.

"Holy shit," she muttered under her breath. A cliff rose above her. And not a small cliff either; this one must have dropped down fifty feet. And then she saw the answer to her question at the top of the cliff: A small, wooden fence with a Taylor-sized hole right in the center. She shuddered and quickly carried his board back.

Taylor acknowledged that she had returned and soon Nicole set to work with the two snowboards. First, she took the laces out of her boots and used them to tie the boards together and make one double-sized board. Then she gently took the laces out of Taylor's boots and slid them both under the boards.

"Okay Tay," she said, "you've got to work with me now. I'm going to pick you up and put you on the boards, okay?" He nodded again. About ten minutes later, she had him on the boards and was gently lacing the laces from the bottom of the board around him, so that he wouldn't slide off.

"Ready to ride?" she asked, half-joking. Taylor looked up at her with courage. "Yeah," he whispered.

"See what Isaac?" she asked. "We've been looking since 4 AM and now it's almost 9 AM! I'm tired, I'm hungry, and there's no trace of your brother and Nic."

"Quit saying that!" he cried. "We're going to find them. I was just saying that now it wil be easier to search for them." He rolled his eyes and continued dragging her along.

"Ike, I'm sorry to say it-," she started.

"Well then don't!" he yelled, turning to face her. "If you don't think there's any hope that we'll find them, then just go back to your room and have a nice nap. I can't believe I actually thought you cared Chris!"

"I do care!" she yelled back. "I can't believe you would say such a thing Isaac! I'm just tired, and we've covered this mountain so many times, and the ski patrol won't help us, and...," she let off, beginning to cry. An awkward silence followed, and Isaac soon realized that she was waiting for him to speak.

"Chris," Isaac said softly, "please don't cry. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm not in the best mood..."

"No one is, Ike!" she said. "Can't you see that? You aren't the only one suffering. What about Zac? He's in that hotel room, all alone with no idea what's going on. And all of those people in our group who genuinely care about Tay and Nic! We're all in pretty sucky moods!" She began crying uncontrollably now, and Isaac had no idea what to do. Choosing to comfort her, he gave her a big hug and whispered in her ear. "I know that now," he whispered. "And I'm sorry Chris. I shouldn't have been so blind to everyone else's feelings. I'm truly sorry." Christen pulled her face from his shoulder and looked into his warm brown eyes.

"I'm sorry too," she sighed. "For being a brat. I should have respected the fact that one of your brothers and your girlfriend are missing, and you're very upset about it." She continued gazing into his warm, but sad eyes for a moment, and finally noticed how close their faces were. She closed her eyes and felt Isaac's full lips brush hers, and then press against them passionately. She let the kiss last as long as she could, and it was he who pulled back, a look of confusion on his face.

"Chris," he started, but was interrupted by a shrill scream.

"Isaac! Christen!" They turned around to see something coming over the hill. Ike brought his hand up to shield his eyes, and recognized them immediately.

"NICOLE!" he yelled, running clumsily up the hill. When he reached her, he looked down at the bundle on two snowboards behind her. "Oh god," he said. "Taylor?"

"He fell Ike," Nicole whispered. "Off a cliff. At least fifty feet."

"Damn," Isaac said. "We're about three quarters of the way down the mountain," he said. "Let's go. Come on Christen!" he yelled down at her. He took control of the "stretcher" Taylor was on and they began their trip back to the lodge.