I just don't think anyone should be alone during the storm," said Pearl as she swept the floor of the boutique with a smile. She wasn't taking Raphael's rejection of her invitation. If it really was an invitation. It was beginning to feel more like an order.

"I..."

"Pearl, maybe he's got other plans?" interjected Maria, who was setting out some of the newest pieces from Raphael's collection. She was at least as old as Pearl, but seemed to be a bit wiser. Perhaps it was because she was a mother and grandmother while Pearl had no relatives that Raphael was aware of.

Pearl didn't respond immediately which allowed Maria to continue. "My husband and I intend to join you, but Miguel is volunteering at the soup kitchen during the storm. Dominic intends to help the Coast Guard."

"What about Valentina? Surely they're not taking their daughter out in a storm!" Pearl immediately put a hand on one hip and glared incredulously.

"Of course not," said Maria, waving away Pearl's indignation. "She'll be with us. We agreed to keep her safe while they're out there helping keep others safe."

"You certainly can't have agreed to that. What if something happens?" Pearl's expression had become ashen.

As far as Raphael was aware, Pearl had lost her husband in the hurricane twenty-five years ago. She'd never remarried after that.

"They're adults, Pearl. I can't make decisions for them. Am I worried? Yes, but I also have faith that they're going to do everything in their power to come back to their daughter."

"What about Dominic's father? I'm certain he would be against this." Pearl seemed determined to continue arguing her point even though it was clear she had lost. Her interest into Raphael's plight had waned for the time being and he used the opportunity to return to straightening the display of shells in the front window.

There had been a break in the rain since last night. Large puddles still filled the streets, but the few remaining tourists on the island had already begun to peak their heads outside.

"Frederico is going to be with his wife and her father. They already moved her from the nursing home up to the Forest Hotel. That's where they're relocating all of the patients from the clinic and the residents of the retirement homes as well. It's high enough that the water won't even come close," explained Maria as she continued with her work. "Last time I talked to Frederico, he agreed with me. In fact, he seemed proud of his son's choice."

Pearl sighed heavily. "And I suppose you're going off to risk your life as well?"

It took Raphael a moment to realize she was talking to him. "U-um..." he glanced towards Maria for help, but she didn't seem to notice. He'd intended to just sit in his house and ride out the storm in safety. He had nothing to worry about high up there on the hill. The thought of actually going out there and getting involved in the relief efforts made his heart pound uncomfortably in his chest.

"I was actually...going...to...go and help at the soup kitchen as well," he managed at last. Though the moment the words were out of his mouth he regretted it. The soup kitchen was above the predicted water level, but only just. Then there was the fact that he would be surrounded by perfect strangers. It really wasn't much better of an arrangement than just going to Pearl's house would've been.

Pearl threw up her hands at his answer and let her broom clatter to the floor. "Why does everyone have to be so selfless?" she moaned, before picking up the broom and stalking into the backroom.

Raphael returned to his work with a sting of guilt in his chest. At least if he was working in the soup kitchen he would have something to keep his mind off the flooding. Sure there would be a lot of people he didn't know, but he was at least somewhat friendly with Miguel. Perhaps things wouldn't be so bad after all.

At least, that's what he tried to tell himself. The reality was that he didn't believe it for a second.

* * *

The sky had clouded over again by the time the boutique closed for the day. It was still early, but the flow of foot traffic had completely dried up. Pearl had muttered something about how the lack of sales was going to put her out of business. Raphael knew that she was making at least triple the shop's daily income by selling the shells online. She could have closed her doors for good and still been in a perfectly stable financial situation.

The reality was that she just liked to complain.

Which is what Raphael had to tell himself every time she berated him for not agreeing to come to her house during the hurricane. Her constant reminders that he would potentially be putting his life on the line were not helping things either. He was all too aware of just how dangerous it could be. His own brain had drilled into his head all of the gruesome ways he could meet his end during the hurricane. Most of them involved excessive amounts of water.

He was grateful when he was finally able to don his coat and boots and mount his bicycle once more. A nice, leisurely, bicycle ride was exactly what he needed to keep his mind off of the lunacy he had agreed to. Though, before he could head home he would have to actually go to the soup kitchen and volunteer to help. Otherwise Pearl would find out and call him a liar and he really, really didn't want to deal with that.

Before he was able to turn his bike up Main Street though, he heard someone call out to him.

Frowning, Raphael glanced back over his shoulder. It was the alpha from yesterday, Marcos.

He knew it was rude, but Raphael had no desire to hear anything Marcos had to say. He pushed off the ground and laid into the pedals, flying away from the approaching alpha. He didn't need this right now. It was bad enough that he had accidentally forced himself into volunteering. Dealing with alphas wasn't something he had any time for.

The soup kitchen was tucked down a series of side streets and sat right next door to the island's only clinic. It was housed in a hostel that had gone out of business. The upper floors were used to house the homeless in exchange for work or a low monthly rate that they could cobble together.

There was a series of steps that lead up to the front porch. Raphael felt only a little reassured that the ground floor of the building was an extra four feet above the expected flood level.

The dining room stretched across almost the entirety of the bottom floor. Long tables, lined with chairs, filled the room. A door near the back, presumably leading to the kitchen and a series of stairs leading up, was tucked down a hallway.

"Excuse me, dinner doesn't start for another hour." The voice immediately pierced Raphael. He glanced over to see a slender, short, omega with a mess of blonde hair and clothes that looked too big for him. He was standing at the end of one of the tables and there were a number of teens sitting around it.

Raphael immediately felt as if he'd interrupted something important. "I...I'm sorry, I just...I came to volunteer to help during the hurricane..." He was already feeling extremely uncomfortable as he backed towards the front door he'd just entered through.

"Go see Lupita, she's in the kitchen." The blonde omega said with a shrug as he jerked his thumb towards the kitchen door. He turned his attention back to the kids. He had apparently been giving them a lesson in basic math and they were following along in their notebooks. Now that Raphael took a moment to look at them a little more closely, he realized that the kids were all dressed in worn clothing. They were dirty, their hair and faces were a mess, many of them had holes in their outfits.

Were they all homeless?

Raphael found it difficult to believe that there were that many homeless teens on the island. The island's population wasn't that large to begin with. There were at least a dozen kids at the table, which wasn't an insignificant number. He could only assume that they represented a sample and the true size of the homeless teen population was much larger. He suddenly felt even more uncomfortable than he had when he first entered the room.

The teens and their teacher, however, seemed to be ignoring Raphael. He didn't factor into their lesson and therefore wasn't worth wasting time on.

Nervously chewing his lip, Raphael made his way towards the kitchen.

Delicious smells were wafting out of the room as he approached. Inside the room, several people were hard at work preparing dinner. The kitchen itself was a mishmash of old and new equipment. Nothing matched, but it looked like it was all working. None of the people in the room bothered to look up at him when he peeked his head inside.

Raphael swallowed hard. Was one of these people, Lupita? His heart pounded in his chest. He felt nervous as he tried to force back the lump forming in his throat. He was going to have to speak up and actually say something. He'd already come this far, backing out now wasn't really an option.

"U-um, excuse me. I was told to talk to Lupita?" Raphael tried to speak up so that he could be heard over the various clattering, chopping, and simmering sounds that filled the kitchen

"Yes? What do you want?" A graying woman with broad shoulders and arms as thick as tree trunks approached him.

"I...I wanted to volunteer to help. During the storm." Despite the fact that she was nearly six inches shorter than him, Raphael couldn't help but feel intimidated by Lupita's presence. It was clear that she knew how to handle herself in the event of a crisis.

"Do you know how to cook?" she asked, drying her hands on a towel that had been hanging over one shoulder.

"I...I can cook. I don't...I mean...I've never..." Raphael's voice trailed off.

"Look, I can't use you if you don't speak. If all you're going to do is stammer uncertainly, then you're better off going home and riding out the storm there." She shook her head and made to turn away from him.

"Wait, I'm sorry." Raphael spoke before he had a chance to think everything through. He hadn't even wanted to do this originally, but now that he was here Lupita's rejection had stung him a little more deeply than he'd expected. "I want to help," he continued, "but I've never cooked for anyone but myself. I don't know how much use I'll be."

"Okay then," said Lupita. She rocked back on her heels thoughtfully. "Well we can always use a server, and you can fetch things or wash dishes. An extra set of hands is always welcome. What's your name?"

"Raphael Alvarado."

"Okay then Raphael." Lupita grabbed a clipboard hanging on the wall nearby. She skimmed over it and made a note. "I'm asking all volunteers to be here by noon the day of. Landfall isn't supposed to be until six but that may change as the storm gets closer. If you could write down your number here, so I can call in case the time table changes." She passed him the pen and clipboard.

Raphael took it. There were already large number of names on the list. Looks like a lot of people were coming together to help out because of the storm. She had added his name to the bottom of the list. He scrawled his phone number next to it just like the other entries ahead of him had done.

"Great, it really means a lot to see so many people willing to come together for this." She smiled at him and hung the clipboard back up without bothering to look at what he had written. "Don't forget, you'll probably want to bring a sleeping bag, some clean clothes, and things like that. There's no telling how long we're going to be here once the storm hits."

"Right, of course," Raphael nodded his head. He hadn't realized he might be spending the night. He glanced around. The building seemed clean enough, but for some reason he had begun to doubt how stable it would be once the water started to rise. He bit his lip again and willed his heart to slow down a little. There was no backing out now. He had committed to this.

He should have just agreed to go to Pearl's house like she wanted.

Bidding farewell to Lupita, Raphael turned and made his way back across the dining room. The class was still in session, though now the kids were asking questions and their teacher was moving around the table to help them. He caught himself wondering whether or not he could do something like that; help out those less fortunate than himself.

As he stepped out onto the front porch, he shook his head and sighed. It wasn't that he didn't want to help people, but he preferred simplicity in his life. Helping people was complicated and he decided that he didn't want the drama.

He retrieved his bicycle from where he left it near the base of the steps and turned back towards home. No sooner had he made his way back to Main Street, then he heard someone call his name. It was that damned alpha again. Had he been waiting around this entire time?

Marcos was just coming out of one of the small restaurants that was still open. He had a paper bag in one hand, presumably takeout of some sort. Raphael really didn't care to find out what it was or what the alpha had to say to him.

"Are you going to try and avoid me forever?" Marcos called out as Raphael began to ride past him.

"Are you going to stalk me forever?" Raphael retorted as he slammed on the brakes and turned to face him. "If you keep this up I'll go to the police and tell them you're harassing me."

"I'll stop, but first you have to answer one question."

Raphael rolled his eyes. This was going to be rich. "What question would that be?"