Written by: Dallas Walsh

Orvilla Anderson stands in her large office at the Barracuda Blue. With her expansive view, she can see the summer storm unfold in front of her. The wind blows against the large windows of her office which rattles a little. She wraps her arms around herself to keep warm from the storm.

Her mind is still racing over the fact that Alex is out of jail and is going to help her ensure that she retains control of Meccanica. She realizes that she has to keep his mental health under control as he is still reeling from the fact that he, accidently, shot and killed his mother, Paola. She realizes that he is not in a good head space, but she needs him to be if they are going to carry out their plan to keep Meccanica.

"I have come too far to let Alex ruin this for me now," she whispers to herself. "I need to ensure he deals with the grief of his mother in a proper manner. I can't let him, or his grief, ruin my chance to keep this company."

Suddenly, there is a loud clap of thunder and lightning strikes across the sky, which illuminates Orvilla's face. The bolt causes the resort to shake a little and, then, the lights go out, causing Orvilla to gasp.

She rushes to the light switch and flicks it up and down a few times. She sighs heavily. "I guess we have a blackout at the Barracuda Blue."

/\/\/\

Marco Belli rushes towards the elevator as he sees the doors start to close. He had been drinking in the Café Tropical when he realized how late it was getting. Since he only had a couple of drinks, he still feels like he is capable of driving home. However, he is heading to the elevator as he used the parkade to park to ensure he doesn't get soaking wet from the rain.

He manages to grab the elevator before the door closes completely and moves inside. As he catches his breath he looks over and see Liam Thornton standing in the elevator next to him. He feels his heart skip a beat at the sight of the man that he has feelings for, despite having intense sex with Kelvin Jetter earlier in the day.

"Liam, hey," he says as he pushes the parkade button in the elevator. "I didn't realize someone else was in the elevator."

"It's all good, I am heading home too," Liam replies to him. "So we can ride together."

Marco feels his throat swell as he has no idea what to say back to Liam. He wants to something clever, or witty, but he can't think of anything to say. Just then, the lights in the elevator flicker, and then, it stops moving altogether.

"What happened?" Marco asks in a panic as a bright blue light comes on in the elevator, allowing the men to see their surroundings.

"I…I think the power went out," Liam admits to him as he starts pressing multiple buttons in the elevator.

Liam, then, tries to push the emergency button, but no sound is heard. "It looks like we are stuck until the power comes back on," Liam tells Marco, who gulps heavily again.

/\/\/\

Kelvin sits on the bench in the locker room of the Barracuda Blue. He just finished a workout as he was feeling frustration after seeing Marco and Justin "Arrow" Williams having a drink together at the Café Tropical. Earlier in the day, he and Marco had sex again, which left Kelvin feeling he was on cloud nine. He has wanted to be with Marco for so long now, so for Marco to take charge and sleep with him, he believed that it was a great step forward, especially since Kelvin had told Marco that Liam and Leaf were growing closer. Kelvin knows that, for years, Marco has had a crush on Liam, but given that he was growing closer to Leaf, it opened the door for Marco and Kelvin to reconnect.

At least, that's what Kelvin thought. That all changed when he saw Marco and Arrow at the bar together. They were huddled close together, having a drink together, looking like much more than co-workers. The sight made Kelvin sick to his stomach and he rushed to the locker room, where he took some frustrations out on a locker. That's when he realized that he needed to burn off some more steam, which is why he did a workout.

He looks over his right shoulder when he hears the door to the locker room open. He stands up when he sees Arrow moving inside.

"Arrow…what are you doing here?" Kelvin asks him as he wraps his towel over his shoulders.

"I was having a drink at the Café and I realized that I left my wallet in the locker," Arrow explains to him. "I'm just here to grab it so I can settle my tab. It seems late for a workout?"
"When you need to feel the burn, you need to feel it," Kelvin chuckles back to him.

"I hear that," Arrow nods back to him as he starts to open his locker. Once it's open he grabs his wallet and then closes the locker. "Well, I came for what I needed. I guess I'll see you around."

Kelvin clocks head back to him as the lights, then, flicker and remain off. Kelvin grabs his phone and turns his flashlight on. "What the hell happened?"

Arrow sighs heavily as he can hear another loud clap of thunder boom outside as the storm continues. "I'm guessing we are in a blackout," he tells him. "The storm, it must have caused the power to go down. Looks like you and I, Kelvin, we might be spending some time together."

/\/\/\

"I haven't seen a storm this bad in a very long time," Lyzz Thornton tells Cole Rockwell as they stand in his suite at the Barracuda Blue. The power has gone out in his suite, as well, so, he is lighting some candles that he found in his room to give them light. "I can't say that I am surprised the power went out."

"I am," Cole chuckles to her. "I would have thought that a resort like this would have a back-up generator, or something."

"I think we do, it just takes time to kick in," Lyzz explains to him. "Unless some lightening hit the generator, although I'm sure we would have heard fire trucks coming if that happened."

"Anyways, it is a good excuse for us to be in candlelight together," he purses his lips together and then moves closer to her. "You look beautiful in this light."

Lyzz blushes back to him. "You're too sweet," she replies to him. "But before we get too deep into this mushy stuff, I am curious about how your visit with Chloe went? Do you know if she's lying about being pregnant or not?"

Cole nods back to her. "I went back to her apartment with a new pregnancy test," he reveals to her. "I asked her to take it while I was there, and she did. The test was positive again. So now, I have two positive pregnancy tests."

Lyzz gulps heavily. She had hoped that she would have been able to catch Chloe in this epic lie, but now, it seems like she really is going to have a child.

"I guess that answers one question," Lyzz whispers back to him. "She's having a baby. But is it yours? She was dating Alex around the same time."

Lyzz thinks back to the previous day when she confronted Chloe about telling Alex that he was the father of her child; they ended up having a fight and falling into the pool at the resort. She is embarrassed by her actions, so she hasn't told Cole yet. The truth is, however, she wants to plant the seeds of doubt in his mind in hopes that he figures this out on his own.

"I asked her about that too," Cole reveals to Lyzz. "And she said that she and Alex weren't sleeping together. She claims that I am the father. I…I don't know how to prove that until the baby is here and we do a DNA test."

"I don't trust her," Lyzz admits to him as another flash of lightning strikes across the dark sky. "I wouldn't put anything past Chloe Peller. We just have to uncover the truth somehow, Cole."

"I agree," Cole nods back to her. "But how? How will we ever get to the truth?"

/\/\/\

Meanwhile, in Orvilla's office, she has, also, lite some candles to give herself some light while the blackout continues at the Barracuda Blue. She has poured herself a brandy and is sitting on the large leather sofa that views out to the Pacific Ocean. The sky is black like morning coffee, so she is unable to enjoy the view, expect when the lightening graces the sky. While she sits, she can't help but enjoy the storm as a form of entertainment. The lightning strikes are always bold, close, and electric; this is the worst storm she has seen in sometime, but she always enjoys watching them unfold when she can.

She takes a sip of her brandy as she thinks about her plan with Alex to Meccanica. She still realizes that she will have to ensure he deals with his grief properly, but she believes she can handle that. She has discovered, however, that she has another problem and it might be one that she can't control.

"Darryl Westin," she whispers to herself. "He is still in jail. If he learns that I bailed Alex out and he is working with me, he might reveal to the police that it was Arrow and I that hired him to kidnap Paola in the first place. I…I can't let that happen."

She takes another sip of her drink as she starts to think about how she can silence Darryl from talking about her involvement in the entire ordeal.

"One way or another, I will have to silence Darryl," she whispers to herself as another loud clap of thunder echoes outside. "It's just a matter of how."

/\/\/\

At the medical center, Nate Meadows walks down the hallway towards Rachelle Thornton's hospital room as she is still recovering from her overdose. Nate is grateful to be at the center as he is received numerous notifications from his Apple Watch that parts of the island are experiencing a blackout from the storm; the hospital has multiple backup generators that are keeping everything running smoothly.

As he gets closer to the door to Rachelle's hospital room, he can't help but recall how she had a memory flash recently. Lyzz and Liam have instructed Kymberlynne to stay away from Rachelle as they believed if the memories of their mother are coming back to Rachelle, they might be upsetting memories and will set her recovery back. Nate also knows that when Rachelle's memory comes back, completely, he could be in hot water because it was him that got her into the drugs. This was all a part of his plan with Orvilla to ensure that Rachelle wasn't in a headspace to run Meccanica. He just hopes that Rachelle can forgive him.

He opens the door to her room which causes Rachelle to turn her head. She gets a smile on her face when she sees him. "Nate, hi. It's an intense storm out there, huh?"

"You can say that again," he chuckles as he sits next to her bedside. "How you feeling?"

"Better," she admits to him. "I'm ready to leave this place."

"Calm down now," he continues to chuckle. "You're staying put until the doctors say that it is okay for you to leave here. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

She reaches over and grabs his hand. "Thanks for being here with me, Nate. I…I couldn't have gotten through any of this without you."

"I'm always going to be with you," he whispers as he kisses her hand. "You mean so much to me, Rachelle."

"And you to me," she whispers back to him. "Do you want to cuddle? I could squeeze over and you can lay beside me?"

"I'd love nothing more," Nate says as he crawls into the bed next to her and wraps his arm around her. Another loud boom of thunder cracks outside, which causes the lovers to snuggle even closer to one another.

/\/\/\

Kymberlynne Thornton wraps herself with a blanket as she sits on the sofa in the living room of the Thornton mansion. Next to her is a large glass of red wine and the fire place has a huge fire roaring in it, so she is able to see, despite the power being out. As she takes a sip of her red wine, she finds her mind wandering about how she can still ensure her children are not the next CEO's of Meccanica; her fear is still that if Lyzz or Liam take over the company that Orvilla will, then, expose her affair with Carson. She realizes that her children are still upset with her for leaving after Samuel's death; the last thing Kymberlynne wants is for another thing to come between her and her children.

On the other hand, Kymberlynne knows that the longer Orvilla is in control of Meccanica, the firmer the grip she has over the company. Hell, she was even able to convince the board to keep her on as CEO after Kymberlynne exposed all of her wrong doings to her children.

"There must be some way that I can win back the trust of my children while removing Orvilla at the same time," she sighs to herself as she takes a sip of her wine and there is another loud boom of thunder from outside. She sets the wine glass down and curls herself into the blanket. She has never liked storms; the loud noises have always scared her. She realizes that the storm, currently, is a metaphor of how she is feeling inside. She feels like she can't win no matter what she does.

"I am sorry to interrupt, but there is a Mr. Carson McGuire here to see you," Sonya, the maid of the estate, announces as Kymberlynne jumps up from her comfortable position.

Before Kymberlynne can protest, Carson emerges from behind the maid, who excuses herself out of the living room. Kymberlynne looks at Carson with an arched eyebrow.

"What are you doing here, Carson? The storm is intense outside and there is a blackout," she informs him. "You driving here, it's dangerous."

"I had to see you," Carson admits to her as he moves closer to her. "And, I knew we would be alone here. I know that Lyzz is at the Barracuda Blue with Cole Rockwell; and I know that Liam is with Leaf. And sweet Rachelle is still at the hospital. So, I figured it would be a good time for us to be alone."

"How many times do I have to tell you that we can't be together?" Kymberlynne huffs back to her lover. "You have to understand this, Carson. What happened between you and me, it was a horrible mistake!"

Carson moves up to her and caresses her face. He, then, leans in and kisses her passionately. The kiss lasts for only a moment before she pushes him off and she slaps him hard across the face.

"How dare you!" she shrieks at him.

Carson nurses his red cheek before he looks back at her. He smirks back to her. "If anything, Kym, this proves that you still want me. We have a spark between us that you can't deny. I know that you're upset about what happened, but the truth is, I love you, Kymberlynne. And one day, you will realize that you love me too."

"Please," Kymberlynne gasps back to him as tears swell in her eyes. "Just leave Carson. And do not ever come back."

/\/\/\

Back at the Barracuda Blue, Liam and Marco are sitting next to one another on the floor of the elevator. The bright blue light is still shining, so they can see each other. Earlier, Marco was feeling apprehensive about what to say to Liam, but now, he is just trying to stay calm as he is extremely claustrophobic.

"You doing okay?" Liam looks over at him. "You told me that you were claustrophobic. Just try to breathe, Marco."

"That's all I'm doing," Marco replies to him. "I'm taking deep breathes in and out. I'm…I am just glad that you're here with me. I would be in worse shape had I been in here alone."

"I'm not going anywhere," Liam says to him. "We are in this together. I hope you know that."

"You want to know what is crazy?" Marco uneasily chuckles to him as Liam arches his eyebrow. "Earlier, I was nervous about what to say to you and now, I'm sharing my health issues."

Liam chuckles back to him. "You were nervous to talk to me? Why?"

Marco takes another deep breath to keep his heart rate down. "Isn't that obvious?"

"Uh, no," Liam shrugs back to him. "Is it because I'm a Thornton and my family owns the Barracuda Blue?"

"Nah," Marco replies to him. "It's because…I like you, Liam. I've had a crush on you for a very long time."

"Oh!" Liam blushes back to him. "I mean, we haven't had that much time together. I never would have guessed that. You…you should have said something."

Marco nervously chuckles back to him. "Say what? You were always so consumed with your tennis career and when that ended, you were involved with Leaf. I…I never felt like I had a chance to say anything."

"Well, I am flattered Marco," Liam looks back at him. "I am with Leaf, but…"

"But?"

"But," Liam continues to tell him. "I do think that things are moving very fast with Leaf. It's why I'm here…I ran out on him earlier."

"You ran out on your boyfriend? That doesn't sound good."

"I don't want to get into the details," Liam admits to him. "I…I just felt like I needed to breathe for a moment."

"You were telling me to breathe earlier to help with my claustrophobia, and now you need to take your own advice," Marco says as he grabs his hand. "Come on, let's do it together."

Marco takes a deep breath in and then exhales. "Come on, in and out," Marco guides Liam, who starts to do the breathing with Marco. They do it three times before Marco looks over at Liam. "Do you feel better?"

"Surprisingly, yes," Liam smiles back to him. "Thanks a lot Marco."

Without thinking, Marco leans over and kisses Liam on the lips. The kiss lasts for a moment before they pull away, but Marco leans back in and kisses him again, this time with more passion.

/\/\/\

"I don't remember the last time a storm had so much thunder and lightning," Kelvin admits to Arrow as he sits on one of the benches in the locker room as Arrow paces back and forth. "It's no wonder the power went out."

"I am just surprised the generator hasn't kicked in yet," Arrow sighs back to him. "It is something Orvilla and I will have to look into in the morning."

"That's a good point, you'd think this high-end resort would have power at all times."

"Supposed we are lucky that we don't have very many guests right now," Arrow replies to him. "Otherwise, we'd have endless complaints."

"Ugh, the rain…never mind," Kelvin says as he glances over at Arrow.

"The rain…what? Finish your sentence, Kelvin."

Kelvin chuckles as he stands up and moves closer to Arrow. "It just always puts me in the mood….to be honest."

"Oh yea?" Arrow asks him with a slight grin on his face. "Are you suggesting…?"

"We are two single, gay men," Kelvin licks his lips together, realizing that he could use this to his advantage. If Arrow and Marco hadn't slept together yet, if he gets with Arrow first, Marco will be off limits. He grabs Arrow's hand and places it on his crotch, which grows firmer.

Arrow moves closer to him and they kiss. "Are you sure about this?" Arrow asks as their lips part ways.

Kelvin removes Arrow's jeans and falls to his knees. He looks up at Arrow. "Very sure, sir."

/\/\/\

"Alright, I have an idea," Lyzz tells Cole as they continue to face one another as they stand in his suite at the Barracuda Blue.

"I love your ideas," Cole chuckles to her as he moves closer to her. "Especially if it involves you, me, and this big bed."

"It doesn't," Lyzz pushes him back as she moves to the bar. "I was going to say that we should have a drink and talk about anything but Chloe Peller."

Another loud clap of thunder booms outside, as she starts to make the drinks. "And how what topic would you like to discuss?"

Lyzz sighs before she passes him his drink. "Well, finding out about you and Chloe while I was in my coma was a surprise. I already know about some of your past entanglements in Kelsey Lake, namely with Celeste Baldwin and Madi Stewart. So, I am curious. What other relationships have you had, Mr. Rockwell."

Cole uneasily takes a sip of his drink before he sighs back to her. "That's an interesting question," he reveals to her. "Because, I have had some…unique experiences in the past."

"Unique? How so?" Lyzz asks him as she takes a sip of her drink. "What made them unique?"

"I've been with men," he reveals to her as Lyzz's open wider in surprise. "Including one while you were away at rehab, Lyzz."

"Wait, what?" Lyzz asks him in surprise. "You told me we would talk about our relationship when I got back from rehab! And in the meantime, you hooked up with a guy?"

"I did," Cole nods back to her. "Look, I don't mean to upset you, but I want to be honest with you."

"I..I don't know what to say," Lyzz admits to him. "I don't care that you've been with men, that's fine, you can be fluid. But I do care that you told me you want to be with me and the minute I'm gone, you're doing dick hunting."

"It wasn't like that…"

"Then tell me how the hell it was!" she shrieks back to him. "God, I've been such a fool!"

"No, no, no," Cole moves up to her. "I can explain everything, if you will let me."

/\/\/\

Rachelle and Nate are fast asleep in her hospital bed. After they started to cuddle together, they ended up falling asleep in each other's arms. Suddenly, there is another loud boom of thunder, which startles Rachelle awake. She looks around and realizes that she is still in the hospital; she, then, sees Nate, who is still fast asleep.

She, however, feels the blood drain from her face as her memory seemingly comes flooding back to her, including her seeing Nate and Caramel share a kiss outside of the Belview Academy, and the fact that she overheard Kymberlynne and Orvilla discussing her mother's affair with Carson, which is part of the reason she overdosed in the first place.

"Oh my God," she whispers to herself as a single tear falls down her cheek.

/\/\/\

Orvilla remains in her office on the sofa as she continues to watch the storm unfold. The clouds, however, are starting to break up and the rain is getting lighter, which means the storm is coming to an end. She finishes her brandy and just as she sets the glass down on the table next to her, the lights come back on.

"Thank God the generator finally kicked in," Orvilla says as she stands up from the sofa. "Because now, I can carry out the next phase of my plan."

While she was watching the storm unfold, she came to a conclusion on how she can ensure that Darryl remains silent on her part of Paola's kidnapping and subsequent death. She walks to her desk and picks up her telephone.

"It's Orvilla," she announces when the other person answers the phone. "I have a job for you and it involves Darryl Westin. Listen carefully because nothing can go wrong with this; my entire future depends on it."