One of like, four stories that I'm posting. All new, all one-shots. Including this one.

Kim POV

"Mr. Anderson. Can you please stop staring at me, and get back to your work." I told him, as his seat was right next to mine. My boss didn't care if we started making out right there and then. It would take something a little more inappropriate to make him move us away from each other, and that won't be happening anytime soon.

"So, this is what it has come to?" He asked, leaning on his chair arm, his head in his hands.

"What has come to this?" I asked, not looking up from the screen I was typing busily at.

"Last name basis. We were great friends in middle school and high school. Then in college, we split."

"Yeah, well… people change. Get used to it." I said, still not looking at him. If I did, I would be forced to look into his cocoa brown eyes. They'd pull us together the same reason they split us apart.

"Harsh." He said, attempting to act upset.

"If you don't get your work done, I'm going to something that would make any person cry for mercy." I said, my voice not sounding as harsh as my words. I acted like I had just asked him to the prom; it will always freak him out.

"You're insufferable." He said, leaning back in his chair.

"You're unbearable." I said, looking to him slightly.

"You're…" He started.

"So in love with each other." A voice sounded from behind us.

"We are not!" I yelled, just as Jack said something different.

"You figured it out that easy?" I glared deep into him, giving him, 'the look'. The same look that used to get him to kneel in front of me, grabbing my legs, and begging for mercy. Except now, he had a look of his own.

Which was ten times worse. His was totally cute. The eyes. His same brown eyes I had avoided since the day we 'supposedly' ended up starting to work here, on the same day.

'Look away," I thought to myself. With much struggle, I forced myself to walk back to my seat.

"Is she…" The man asked.

"Nope." Jack said.

"Has she…" The man asked.

"Nope."

"Do you think…?" The man asked.

"Oh yeah." He whispered.

"Do your work!" I screamed at him. "I can only do half of the experiment and as the fate that-hate-me-enough-to-make-my-life-even-more-miserable-than-it-is have said; I get stuck with you doing the other half. If you fail, I fail."

"You make it sound like I'm important." He said with a smirk. He sat down next to me and began typing, as neither of us looked up.

"You may be a big part, but not as big as the part you play." I said, rereading my data.

"And?" He asked, staying the same way, as if he didn't talk.

"'And' what?" I asked. "There is nothing to it. If this job wasn't so worth paying I would quit."

"Harsh." He said.

"I heard that." I hissed.

"I know, you were supposed to," He said, getting louder the more he talked. "That's why I said it loudly." I rolled my eyes and put the finishing touches on the graph I had just started working on.

Ding, ding, ding.

Three sharp blares came from the loudspeaker.

Lunch.

I stayed where I was, as if my stomach wasn't eating it's was out of my skin.

"You coming?" Jack asked.

"Nope," I said, not looking up to know that he was staring over my shoulder at the work I had done. "And if I were you, I wouldn't go either."

"Why's that?" He asked.

"You have work to do." I said, annoyed. He sighed and sat down; opening the work he had just closed.

"How are you doing with your work?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood. Since everyone left, I had no reason to respond to him.

"Fine," I replied, ignoring my conscience.

"What is that?" He asked, pointing to an electronic map between our monitors. A red blinking was covering the few room surrounding their room.

"Red blinking. You don't think…?" Jack asked, as I rushed out of my chair to the door, him not following.

"Dear god!" I exclaimed, looking at what the red blinking stood for. "Fire!"

"What?" Jack yelled, as the fire alarms went off. He rushed to the door and looked out. The hallway was covered in ashes, the walls and roof on fire.

"Should we cross…?" I started to ask, as a piece of the roof fell in front of us. I yelped and leaped back, catching my hair on fire.

"Fire extinguisher!" Jack yelled, spraying with a fire extinguisher that I didn't know we had in the room.

"I'm… fine." I said, chilled by the heat, and then frozen solid.

"You sure?" He asked. I coughed in response. He took off his jacket and placed it over my mouth, slightly shoving me back inside the room.

"I'm…fine. I don't… need you to… take care of… me." I said, coughing in between words.

"Stop being stubborn and just offer help when it's given, and you clearly need it." He said, closing the door.

"Are you calling… me helpless?" I spluttered.

"I'm just calling you stubborn," he said, putting his hands up in defense. "Stop putting words in my mouth."

"It's called reading between the lines," I said, putting my hands on my hips. "It was of use to me, when it killed you."

"How'd it kill me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I loved this job. All it said in the job application was something along the lines of recording data," I said. "But I thought of making the experiments."

"How does this include me?" He asked after a pause.

"You know very well how." I said in a motherly tone.

"Could you tell me so I can be sure were on the same page?" He asked.

"We will never be on the same page, much less the same book. Or would it be novel?" I asked with a smirk. "You just had to follow me."

"I did not!" He defended himself lamely. "I love science."

"Oh really," I raised an eyebrow. "Because you weren't banned from handling anything with chemicals or anything that could possibly hurt a person."

"I'm not good with science," He said embarrassed.

"But yet you love it." I pointed out. There was a long silence between us as we listened to the burning of the fire from outside the room.

"Let's try and find a way out," I said. "Sooner we do, sooner I'll be away from you." I walked all around the room, pushing buttons, none that worked. I opened cabinets to look for an exit, looked at every nook and cranny to try and find a way out.

"Where's a bookcase when you need one?" I mumbled to myself.

"Huh?" Jack asked.

"You need to watch more mystery shows." I said, without looking at him. Do not give in to his eyes.

"I can't find anything," I said, flabbergasted. "I looked everywhere." I sat down in my chair and leaned my head on my hands, my knees to my chest.

"We're going to die here, aren't we?" He said, looking at me.

"Yeah," I whispered. "I think we are." I put my legs down and turned to Jack, but didn't look into his eyes.

"Thanks for staying with me." I said.

"Why?"

"I wouldn't have wanted to be alone for this. But, I do feel responsible for killing you."

"You haven't killed me," he said. "What makes you think you killed me?"

"I convinced you to stay," I whispered. "I killed you."

"Kim…" He lifted my chin towards his face. "It was my fault. If I would have gotten done with my half, we wouldn't have been here."

"I chose to stay, though," I said, still avoiding his eyes. "I would have stayed whether or not you finished. I'm just glad I don't have to die alone."

"Kim…" He said, his voice telling me to look up into his eyes, and give in. "Look at me." I slowly looked up into his deep brown eyes.

"Why did we break up in the first place?" He asked. I reached my hand up to his face, my fingers basically poking his eye, which he closed.

"My eyes?" He asked. I nodded.

"How?" He asked, opening his eye.

"You were checking every other girl out with them," I said. "I got jealous."

"Why'd you get jealous?" He asked.

"Because they weren't looking at me." I whispered, looking away.

"Kim… I'm, sorry." He said. "Truly, I am."

"Right…" I said, looking at the map monitor. "It's coming." He didn't need to ask what I was talking about. He knew, mainly because things started falling from the ceiling from the fire. Ashes blew everywhere, and there was nothing we could do about it. We were going to die. Right here, right now.

"Kim, you do know that since the day you left, I've never stopped thinking of you."

"Jack… I…" I looked at his smiling face. "Why are you smiling?"

"You called me Jack."

"That is your name, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yes, but you've always called me Mr. Anderson, or that annoying-creature-that-has-to-sit-next-to-me." He raised an eyebrow, still smiling.

"You heard that?" I blushed as he nodded. "Oh."

"But, what I said was true. I've never stopped thinking of you," He said. "Not once."

"But, when I left," I said. "How come you didn't chase me?"

"I didn't know you wanted me to," He said.

"I didn't think I had to," I said. "I assumed it was obvious."

"It wasn't," He said. "But when you left, there was something you forgot behind."

"What?" I asked, not thinking of the death sentence waiting to happen.

"Me."

"I know that," I said. "That's why I left."

"I'm sorry." He said.

"You're a little too late now," I mumbled.

"Kim, "He said. "I still love you." He leaned as if to kiss me, he closed his eyes, but I kept mine open, wondering whether I loved him back. He reached forward with his lips, and when they didn't touch mine, he opened his eyes.

"Kim," He started, only to look up. "Air vent!" He scrambled out of his seat, forgetting our little awkward moment.

"Help me up," He said, looking at the ways to open it. "I'll go out and get help." I stared at him.

"Uh, Kim…" Jack said, noticing how I hadn't moved. "I'm sorry…"

"Right," I said, as if talking about something else. "Air vent." I got up and walked over to the air vent in a daze. I cupped my hands and bent my knees slightly.

"Come on," I said, sadly. He nodded and climbed on my hands and pushed the vent away easily, as the screws holding it in place were melted.

"One, two," He counted, both of us bouncing on each number. "Three!" I pushed and he got half way in the vent.

"I got it," He reassured me. "I'll send help. 5 minutes tops." He went all the way in and scrambled through the vents. I listened till the bumping was drowned out by the fire burning through the door, wall, and ceiling.

"When in a fire, stay close to the ground," I muttered to myself, lying on the ground. I curled into a ball and cried for who knows how long.

'He's not coming back,' I thought. 'Again.'

(The devilish line break! Don't hate me.)

"There she is!"

"Let's get her!"

"Is she breathing?"

"I think so!" I heard few screams, but couldn't make out the people. I could hear them, and could feel my lungs burning. I felt my body being picked up and carried away.

I could feel brightness flood my vision, but I couldn't open my eyes. I felt something being placed over my mouth, and could finally get a breath. I coughed for what seemed like hours before I opened my eyes.

I saw a fire truck and a burning building, which I soon realized to be the lab. I saw people putting out the fire, and people scrambling away from it.

"You're welcome," said a voice from beside me. I sat up and blinked at the person I was looking at.

"You came back," I said. "Why?"

"I made the mistake once to not come after you, "Jack said. "I'm not doing it again."

He leaned into kiss, and this time, I knew whether I liked him or not.

I kissed him back.

H esaid, putting his hands up in defense.