The Best Years of Our Lives **UPDATED**

[*Syd*]

awesome - can't wait for more

[pottypirate]

Great Chapter ;D update soon please

[thankful24]

ohhhh me likey!! update update!! You are amazing, i might add!

[venus567]

awesome update!

[designerdenimx3]

thanks carrie, and everyone else for the comments.

Mmmmk well i have writers block so i can't think of anything, which is stupid because i just gave myself something to huge write about. Whatever, don't expect much updates for this story for a while. Sorry

[designerdenimx3]

im finally updating! Thanks for all the comments!! Sorry this chapter was cut so short. i wrote it 10min ago and if i carried it on i wouldn't be able to update because my mom wouldn't have let me get on the computer.

Chapter 13

It had been three days since Jerry broke the news of the hurricane. The weather hadn't improved much either. It was still a dreary overcast. Everything had been pretty quiet. It was like Orlando's world was moving in slow-motion. The anxiety-driven days seemed to drag on forever. With having no connection to the outside world, everything was at a stand-still. The whole cast and crew were anticipating the next moves of the hurricane.

Nights were the worst. Not being able to see what was going on scared people the most. Some cast members had just stopped sleeping, thinking it would put an end to their worries. Orlando, however, enjoyed the nights most. He would wander the hotel's empty corridors later at night, contemplating the outcome of the hurricane.

Tonight he had unconsciously wound up in front of Keira's suit. He knocked on the door and patiently waited for an answer.

"Come in" a quiet voice called from inside.

Orlando pushed open the heavy, light brown door. Curiously looking around the room, he searched for Keira. But he couldn't find her. "Uh Keira? Where are you?"

"In here!" she answered in a happy little voice. "Sorry, i was looking for a pair of red ballet-flats. " She took a seat on her bed, coming out of the giant walk in closet.

"You mean those?" Orlando pointed to the shoes she had just described.

"Huh?" Keira's face had a portrayal of slight confusion as her eyes gazed down to the area where Orlando's finger was directed. "Oh my gosh! I am such an idiot!" she concluded, kicking off the flats and gently throwing them over to the closet door. "So whats up?"

"Do you remember the day we did the interview together and you said that you'd want me to come over one night?"

"Yes." a smile lit up Keira's angelic like face. She knew exactly where this was going.

"Well, I just thought that tonight would be a good night." Orlando said nonchalantly. He walked over to the side of the bed that wasn't occupied and laid down, propping his head up with a mass of pillows.

Keira let out a surprised gasp as he tugged on her arm, pulling her down next to him. She turned her head to face him. An intense stare formed between the two. Their mouths were silent while the gaze spoke verses. As if by second-nature, Orlando reached down for Keira's hand and intertwined it with his own.

"Maybe we should just skip the conversation and go straight to the second part." Orlando whispered in Keira's ear. His face was now centimeters apart from hers. The warmth of his breath against her skin sent shivers down Keira's spine. A nervous flutter filled her stomach. Why did she feel this way? She had been this close, possibly even closer to Orlando dozens of times before. Why would this time be any different? The atmosphere of the night felt more intimate, more personal.

"Couldn't have said it better myself" she said, laughing lightly. As she turned her head to face his, Keira's lips brushed up against Orlando's. His hand caught her face and grabbed onto it. He inched his head closer before firmly placing his lips against hers.

Their mouths gracefully danced against each other's. Orlando's tongue lined the edge of Keira's lips, trying to force it's way in. But she wouldn't let it, for it was her own way of teasing him. But it finally broke through the barrier and wasted no time exploring the new territory, as Keira did the same. Using his free hand, he pulled her closer, eliminating all space between their bodies. Keira's arms were tightly locked around his neck. Everything felt right; it was all perfect.

Pulling his face away from hers, he took a moment, admiring her beauty. "Keira..." Orlando started.

"Yes?" she said, smiling that infamous, toothy grin.

"I-"

Just as the last two words were on the tip of his tongue, the ringing of Keira's cell phone interrupted him. Orlando let out a long sigh. He was just about to tell her something that should have been said months ago. But now he had to wait even longer.

"Hold on" she told him, holding up a finger, telling him it would only take a minute.

"Hello?" she answered cheerily. "Oh, hi mum. Yes, im fine." Keira rolled her eyes with slight annoyance. "Look, can i call you back later? I'm talking to Orlando. Ok, love you! Bye!"

Keira snapped her phone shut and set it back down. She turned all of her attention back to Orlando. "So what were you saying?"

"Oh, nothing. It's not important." he replied disappointedly.

"Ok, whatever." Keira said as she kissed him again. But Orlando could only think of one thing.
It wasn't the right time

[thankful24]

YAY for them! but kinda sad for Orli... UPDaTE soon!! i love this story! keep up the great work!!

[Lola]

I´m so happy you updated!!!... ;D
Great chapter!!

[missendicott]

This is wonderful!!!!

[designerdenimx3]

In the last chapter it was like 8 o'clock or whatever and now it's like two in the morning. Sorry it's short. Just to let you all know, this is a pretty violent hurricane that's coming...

Chapter Fourteen

A mess of tangled bodies laid on top of Keira's bed. It was difficult to tell where he began and she ended. Orlando slept straight as a board while Keira was slightly on top him, just a little to the side. His arm was tightly enclosed around her small waist while one of Keira's arms was wrapped around his neck; her head buried into his shoulder. Orlando's elbow was propped up and Keira's free hand was carelessly thrown across their bodies, laced together with his. It was impossible to tell each other's legs apart.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Johnny Depp was frantically running down the halls, trying to alert anyone he saw. Their worst fear had arrived. The hurricane was here. He skidded to a halt in front of Keira's suite, completely unaware that Orlando was also in the room. Noticing that the door was ajar, he barged right on in.

"Keira! Keira, wake up!" Johnny shouted urgently, walking over to her bed.

"Huh? What?" she said, rising from her sleep. "Orlando, did you say something?" Keira asked, looking over at the seemingly lifeless body beside her.

"Orlando? What are you talking about? I'm Johnny!"

"Johnny?!" Keira exclaimed, whipping her head around to face him. "When did you get here?"

"I've been here for about two minutes or so. But the better question is when did Orlando get here, huh?" he asked casually, forgetting that the disaster was violently approaching. "Did i interrupt something?"

"Um...." Keira began, groping for the right words. She really didn't want to explain what had been going on between her and Orlando for the past two months.

"Never mind that!" Johnny decided, waving away the subject. "Wake up Orlando and follow me. It's here!" As Johnny finished his last sentence, strong gusts of wind started howling uncontrollably and rain viscously started pelting the hotel walls. Huge claps of thunder exploded all around them. A loud, shattering crash could be heard throughout the the entire building.

"Keira desperately tried to wake Orlando from his deep slumber, pushing and shoving him in every direction. But it was no use; he wouldn't budge. She bent down and screamed his name into his ear, gabbing his hands and pulling him up. The two followed Johnny out of the room and quickly tried to find the rest of everyone.

As they sprinted down the deserted hallway, Keira slowly started to fall behind. She couldn't see through the heavy raindrops that flew down into the hotel from the cracked and shattered glass windows. Orlando turned his head around, making sure that she was still with them. When realizing that she wasn't, he stopped dead in his tracks, brining Johnny with him.

"Keira!" Orlando worridly called out. There was no reply. "Keira!" he tried again, still getting no response. He scanned the giant hallway helplessly, hoping to catch any glimpse of her. But he didn't .

"Come on! Let's go!" Johnny yelled over the wind, pulling on Orlando's arm.

"But-"

"No! She'll be fine! Hurry up!" He continued to pull on his arm, forcing him to follow.

Orlando was heistant on coming. He wasn't fully convinced with Johnny's theory. He had many qualms about leaving Keira behind all by herself. But another loud crash brought him back to his senses. The two men ran away from the storm, hoping to escape.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Keira couldn't see a thing. Her vision was all fogged up due to the raindrops slapping agaisnt her face. As she desperatly tried to escape the devastaing hurricane, the top half of a smallish plam tree came billowing through the wall. She let out a surpirsed and scared scream. Keira jumped to the other side, seconds before it hit the ground. However, the thud from the trunk hitting the floor tripped Keira up. causing her to fall unconcious to the glass and debrie covered carpet.

She layed their motionless and unconcious, unaware that the storm was still going strong. A gust of wind brought piles of emerald green seaweed throgugh the broken windows, covering parts of her body. The sloppy mess of plant, debire and cold rain water made her hidden from any passerbys. A final clap of thunder concluded the destructive hurricane. It stopped at quckily as it had begun; whisking away the troubles of worried cast and crew members. The night was over and everything was going to turn out alright.

[missendicott]

Ah! Orlando must come to her rescue!!!

[venus567]

Orlando come and save your damsel in distress! great update!

[thankful24]

nooo!!! no!!!! Update update! can't wait for the next chapter- great update!

[*Syd*]

this is too exciting. please please update xxx

[shine07]

OMG I'm hooked! Do update soon...fantastic fic by the way.

~Shine

[designerdenimx3]

Yes, I’m actually updating this! I honestly didn’t mean for it to take three months for the next chapter. A bunch of stuff came up and this story kinda got forgotten. Sorry! But whatever, I’ve got the entire story finished; so expect lots of updates for this in the next few days. Here’s the next installment.

Chapter Fifteen

Keira slowly pushed her bruised body up off the trashed floor. She was half-conscious and had vague memories of the night before. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, Keira tried to stand up. But she lost her balance and crashed to the ground. It was too hard. The hurricane had taken away most of her strength. Keira didn’t know what to do. She wanted to get downstairs to tell the cast and crew she was alright, but there was no way she would be able to do so. If Keira couldn’t muster enough strength just to stand up, operating an elevator or walking down five flights of stairs was out of the question. She would probably hurt herself more in the process. The only thing to do was sit and wait. Keira scooted herself closer to the hole and rested against the wall. Even though the air was humid and clammy, the breeze of wind against her face felt soothing. She shut her eyes and tried to remember what she did last night. But it was useless. Exhaustion took over her body and she collapsed onto the ground. Her body was masked by water and he head had fallen centimeters away from the hole.

~*~

“Mackenzie, Lee, and Naomi, you look on this floor, the second floor, and the third floor. Johnny and Orlando, search the last three. Jack, you stay down here. Jerry and I have calls to make. Everyone got it?” Gore asked in a hurry. The cluster of people shook their heads in agreement. “Ok, go!”

Johnny and Orlando dashed to the elevator as the others went off in another direction. They immediately hit the button for floor six. That was the last place they had spotted Keira. It was 4:13 pm, and everyone was extremely worried. Keira hadn’t shown up during the day. Nobody knew is she was lost, hurt, unconscious, or worse. “Can’t this thing go any faster?” Orlando muttered to himself.

“Chill out,” Johnny told him calmly. “She’s fine!”

“No Johnny, she’s not!” Orlando retorted. “She just slept through a hurricane! And judging by what I saw before the rain obscured my vision, she’s going to be in a pretty bad condition.” Orlando was now yelling at Johnny. He would feel guilty about it later, but all he wanted to focus on right now was Keira.

“Calm down!” Johnny shouted, trying to be louder than Orlando. “I know you want to save you girlfriend, but getting upset and blowing things out of proportion isn’t going to help! It’ll-”

“Whoa! Wait, girlfriend?” Orlando began in disbelief. “Johnny, this isn’t the best time for your jokes.”

“Jokes? What are you talking about? I’m being serious.”

“Serious?”

“Yes. I’m being completely and utterly serious.”

“Why would you think that Keira and I are together?”

“Well, judging by what I saw last night, you two seem to be much more than platonic friends,” Johnny said, hoping Orlando would finally come out of the dark about Keira and their relationship. “I’m not the only who thinks it either. Ask anyone from the cast and they’ll tell you that they think you’re together.”

“Well, you’ve all got it wrong. It’s not what you think, I swear.” Orlando hoped that his fake act would work, but Johnny saw right through him.

“So what were you doing tangled in Keira’s sheets asleep last night?”

Orlando opened his mouth to respond, but he was (thankfully) interrupted by the ding of the elevator. They had reached floor six. Now the attention needed to be focused on finding Keira. Unfortunately, neither Orlando nor Johnny could remember the exact place where Keira had fallen behind. Their best bet was to split up. The floor would be covered faster and Keira would be found quicker.

“Why don’t you go to search the left side, and I search the right one,” Orlando proposed. He hoped that Johnny would agree so he wouldn’t have the chance to interrogate him even more about the events prior to the hurricane.

“Sounds good. If you find her, call. That way I can stop looking,” Johnny added.

“Call your phone?” Orlando asked, making sure he understood.

“No, call me on my shoe. It has much better service and gets free minutes on the weekend!” Johnny retorted sarcastically. His frustration with Orlando was rising. “Of course you’ll call my phone! What else could you contact me with?” Orlando was starting on a response, but Johnny didn’t want to hear it. “Just go!” Johnny shooed him off with a wave of the hand.

While Orlando was walking down the hallway, thoughts dashed in and out of his head. What would they do if Keira couldn’t be found? What would happen if she was unconscious or had been hurt severely? It was too scary for him to think about. “Keira!” Orlando called out her name, hoping for an answer. There wasn’t one. He tried again. “Keira!” She didn’t answer. Orlando turned the corner. A very interesting sight lay before him.

A giant hole was in the wall at the end of the corridor. Water had flooded most of the passageway. It became deeper as Orlando inched closer the hole. Seaweed and mounds of foul-smelling debris littered the floor. Then he noticed the palm tree. It was soaked with rainwater Orlando assumed it was the cause of the hole that ran in a straight line from the ceiling to the ground. Scanning the scene, he noticed a small figure lying next to the tree. It was Keira.
Oh God, please, no!
Orlando rushed over to her. The water level kept rising. It splashed all over the place due to his running. Once he was closer, Orlando could make out scrapes, scars, and ugly blueish black bruises all over he body. He kneeled down and lifted the seemingly lifeless body off the ground. It took a few tries since she could not support herself. Once Keira was sitting up straight, Orlando attempted to wake her. “Keira,” he called out in a normal tone, hoping that one try would work. It didn’t. “Keira!” Orlando tried again. This time he raised his voice. “Keira!”

Her eyes slowly flickered open. She squinted a little. Even though the weather was a cloudy overcast, her eyes didn’t like the light. “Orlando?” She looked around. This was all confusing. The last thing she could remember was sleeping in her hotel room. How did she get here? “What’s going on? Where am I? How did this happen?” She began to question him endlessly.

“Keira, don’t worry. Everything is going to be all right. You’re fine. Just calm down.”

“But what happened?” Keira was annoyed that Orlando wasn’t answering her questions.

“Can you remember anything that went on last night?”

Keira wanted to respond with can you answer my questions?, but she restrained herself from doing so. It would take too much to fight with Orlando. She barley had any strength to stay awake. “The only thing that I recall is parts of last night. I know that you came to my room and fell asleep there. Then Johnny came in and we left. There was also lots of rain. And there was wind, lots and lots of wind. But everything after that is a blank.”

“Ok. Well, at least you remember something. Now, I need you to stand up. I’ve got to get you downstairs.” Orlando was relieved. If Keira had actually lost her memory… It wouldn’t have been pleasant.

“You still have to answer my questions!” Keira was determined to know what happened.

“I’ll tell you later, ok? We need to get you downstairs. Gore, Jerry, and the entire cast are looking for you.”

“But-!”

“Later! Come on!” Orlando gently pulled her up and studied her face. It was clear that Keira was ticked off. But he smiled. “Listen,” he started, softening his voice. “Once you get some rest, I’ll tell you everything.”
“Promise?” Keira was determined to know. Something bad must have happened. She usually didn’t wake up in murky water, lying next to palm trees. She also didn’t like the fact that people were searching high and low for her.

“I promise.”

[thankful24]

oooohhh!! update soon!! great chapter!

[missendicott]

Awww!! Orlando promised her! OK that was really cheesy to say, but it makes me happy! Please update!

[venus567]

fantastic update! ;D

[Lola]

yay!!... An update!! ;D... i lovede it!