WARNING: SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED IN THE DEPTHS WITHIN!

Hey everyone! This is my first fanfic, so please give me tons of reviews (good or bad) so that I can make it as good as possible, and improve my writing. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own the shuckin' Maze Runner. If I did... well, if I did a certain british shank wouldn't have died. -sobs- All credit goes to the amazing James Dashner, except for my OC's.

It was a fine Saturday morning: the sky was clear, the sun was shining, and Rowan Anderson was walking with her best friends, Tyler Armari and Sarah Gates, through the park near their homes.

"Rowan, why are you still single?" Rowan sighed in defeat. "Because I have absolutely no interest in any guy on this planet, so please stop asking me that." Sarah sighed in defeat. "All right, all right. Did you see than new guy in our class though?"

Rowan rolled her eyes and was saved answering Sarah's question by the ringing of her phone. "Hello?"

"Rowan, there's a problem at home."

"What do you mean, problem?! Is everyone okay?" Sarah and Tyler shared worried looks.

"Dean cut his arm up pretty badly, it's bleeding everywhere and I don't know what to do! How far are you from the house?!"

"I'll be there in two minutes, three tops. Do your best to calm him down."

"Is everything okay?" Kyle asked. "Dean got cut again, I have to run!" Rowan yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted towards their home.

Rowan, who's seventeen, lived with her seven-year-old brother Dean, and her fifteen-year-old brother James. Their parents had left on a trip when Rowan was ten, and had never come back. They had lived in an orphanage for a few years, until Rowan grew old enough to get a job and take care of her younger brothers. Rowan was a nurse-in-training, having graduated college the year before.

Rowan finally reached their house, and frantically burst inside, dashing up the stairs to the right and running to the bathroom to grab her medical supplies. Taking the stairs back down three at a time, she burst into the living room to find James with his eyes squeezed shut, trying in vain to comfort a crying and hiccuping Dean.

"Hey kiddo, can you show me where you got hurt?" She reached out, and Dean carefully lifted his arm from his lap where he had been holding it gingerly, placing it in her hands. Rowan suppressed a groan. There was a very superficial cut, barely deep at all, oozing a bit of blood.

"James, please try not to exaggerate so much next time" James, who had gotten up to be away from the blood, mumbled sorry under his breath.
"I'll try to get over this stupid fear, I'm really sorry, sis," he said a bit louder. Rowan stood, having spread a small amount of aloe on the cut and slapped some band-aids on it, and patted James on the head. "Don't worry about it kiddo," She grinned at him. He smiled weakly back, and tiredly went up the stairs to his room to recuperate.

"James, Dean, dinner's ready!" Rowan grinned, hearing the thudding of footsteps on the stairs at high speed, and started dishing out their spaghetti. James and Dean dashed into the kitchen, grabbed silverware from one of the drawers, and headed into the dining room to set the table. Rowan wiped away a fake tear. "I've trained them well," she thought.

She brought the spaghetti-filled plates to the table, trying to ignore the drool on the tablecloth from James and Dean, and gave them their food. Ravenous, they dug in instantly while she took her time, slurping up the noodles Japanese-style.

By the time they finished their meal, it was dark out.

"Big sis, how was your day?" Dean looked at her curiously. "I went out with Sarah and Tyler," "Big sis, when are you and Tyler going to fall in love?" Rowan choked on the water she was drinking, and spent several seconds recovering, tears spilling down her cheeks. "W-we aren't, Dean where did you get that all of a sudden?!" Dean looked crestfallen. "I wanted to have a nice, funny big brother"

James put a look of fake offense on his face. "What does that make me?" Dean deadpanned, and said in a heartless tone, "You're a boring brother." Now it was James' turn to

Dean deadpanned, and said in a heartless tone, "You're boring." Now it was James's turn to choke on his water, while Rowan laughed, "Nice one, Dean," and gave him a high-five.

Their laughter was interrupted by a bright white light shining through the sliding glass doors in the dining room that led to the backyard, momentarily blinding the three; followed by a loud thump, then a softer less prominent one. Rowan frowned, assuming the worst;

"A thief? Murderer? Could it be... No! It can't be him. I have to protect Dean and James!"

She whispered quietly, not wanting to draw attention to themselves, "James, stay here and watch Dean. I'm going to check it out." James's eyes widened, and he shook his head doggedly; "I'm coming with you, I won't let you go alone out there!"

"Stay inside and protect Dean!" Rowan whisper-snapped at him, and quickly but silently opened the sliding door, not bothering to close it behind her in case she needed a quick means of escape. Carefully, quietly, Rowan crept across the back porch, heading towards the railing so she could carefully guide her way down the stairs. As she passed the table, her toes nudged something soft and warm, and she squeaked in surprise. Reaching carefully downwards, she felt around until her hands came across something large and solid, yet soft. She drifted her hands upwards, shaking, and felt the contours of a pair of lips and a nose; then the soft brush of eyelashes. She gasped and abandoned all caution to the winds. "James! Dean! Get out here with some flashlights! Hurry!"