A Tryst before Dying, a tribe fanfic

One shot set shortly before the Mallrats leave for Eagle Mountain. I do not own any of the characters mentioned, they belong to Raymond Thompson and Cloud9 Productions. This is a work of fiction and similarities are purely coincidental. Contains adult themes.

A Tryst before Dying

She couldn't sleep, but these days it wasn't an entirely unusual occurrence and she suspected that she wasn't the only one who suffered with bouts of insomnia in light of recent events although tonight the soft snuffling sounds and gentle snores of her makeshift family indicated that she was indeed the only one awake. Amber swung her legs out of her bed and padded softly from the converted shop that was now her own personal quarters into the deserted mall. It was dimly lit, with strings of fairy lights softly illuminating the darkness and giving the vast building a soft cosiness that made it somewhat homely.

The whole place was a far cry from where she had spent her formative years growing up. Bellevue Heights had once been part of Bellevue County on the south coast of the country that was renowned for harbouring some of the countries rich and famous including some major celebrities, sports stars and doctors. The town had become exclusive however when an incorporation bid was successful and the Heights had been granted city status. She had lived a privileged life, attending a private school and living in a modest house not too far away from the beach. Her father Jim had been a professor at the prestigious Victoria University and her late mother had been a well known journalist before her death from an autoimmune disease. She and her sister wanted for nothing and spent most weekends in this very mall, buying almost everything that their platinum cards could handle before returning home to attend pool parties and soaking up the sun at the beach. Unlike her sister and most of her peers though, she wasn't too shallow and still found time to spend with Dal, her friend from childhood who for the most part kept her grounded.

When The Virus hit and had started to kill off people around the world, the people of Bellevue Heights had been ignorant to the fact that their children were at risk and refused to evacuate their children. They hadn't counted on the virus being airborne and their ignorance had cost them their lives. When she found herself without her family, she had sought out her friend and discovered that he too was now alone in the world and together they had left their small city and ventured into to the countries capital, only to find after a few months that the situation was worse here and their best bet was to head out into the country. That was until they happened across Cloe and rescued her from Zoot and his Locos. That one selfless act had changed their course forever and they had ended up here, along with Salene, Patsy, Paul and their dog Bob. They were joined later by Lex, Zandra and Ryan, who had followed them seeking revenge only to be trapped like animals by Jack. Bray brought Trudy later and Sasha had stayed with them for a few months before heading off to pastures new. Amber would have gone too if it hadn't been for her feelings of responsibility to the tribe.

The young blonde girl walked stealthily along the upper floor of the mall popping her head around the curtains of some of the younger members of the Mallrats. She also found herself checking Bray's room only to discover that it was empty indicating that he had probably wandered off in search of supplies. The absence of the young man worried her as he hadn't mentioned that he was planning an excursion, but then times were tense at the moment with the impending trip to Eagle Mountain fast approaching and Amber knew that he probably didn't want to make anyone else any more anxious about the lack of supplies that they had to take with them. She wandered her way along to the food court and filled a pan with bottled water to bring to the boil. Coffee was the only thing that was going to get her through the night tonight.

While the water came to temperature, Amber rooted around in the cupboards and found a small thermos and located the coffee – it was the instant stuff but that was fine by her. Beggars' couldn't be choosers in this day and age and while she would have killed for a freshly brewed double shot espresso, she knew it wasn't to be so she added three large tablespoons of the dark granules to the pan and stirred it thoroughly. After a few short minutes, she decanted the now strong smelling black liquid from the pan into the thermos, rinsed and replaced the plan to its place on the side and ventured towards the fire exit that led to the roof.

The cool night air hit her the second she pushed the door open and it felt divine against her skin, cooling the light flush that had risen on her skin from climbing the stairs. The night sky was perfectly clear and a million and one stars shone brightly over City Central Plaza. Amber mused to herself that a year ago the light pollution from the city below would have hampered such a beautiful sight and that the only good thing that had come from the aftermath of mass genocide was that the world was now left with a fighting chance of regenerating itself and healing all the damage that mankind had inflicted on the planet.

So lost in thought was she that she barely remembered sitting down on a long forgotten blanket near the edge of the rooftop and it was only when she heard a small scuffle a short way away that she realised that she was not alone. Her heart pounded and the blood rushed to her ears as she mentally berated herself for leaving the safe confines of the buildings interior. It occurred to her now that the alarm on the downstairs door had been disabled and that the door to the roof was ajar. How stupid she was not to have realised and not to have sounded the alarm, especially as she knew that Bray left the mall via the sewer entrance. If there was to be an invasion it was to be on her head that was of course if whoever was out on the rooftop with her didn't do her in first. Slowly, she placed the thermos that she was still clutching down on the blanket and looked towards the direction from where she'd came. It wasn't too far and if she hadn't been seen then there was still a chance that she could make it back downstairs and alert everyone else if not stop whoever was attacking their home. She pushed to her feet and turned on her heel - drawing on her past experience as a sprinter on her school athletics team – and prepared to run. The ball of her foot had barely begun to push off as she heard a familiar voice behind her.

'Amber,' the voice was deep, husky and sounded as though it was thick with emotion, 'what are you doing up here?'

Amber turned around only to end up with her face inches away from the hard muscled chest covered in black cotton. There was no mistaking who it belonged too and the girl let out a small sigh of relief that was sure to have gone unnoticed by the man before her. Looking up, she found herself face to face with her least favourite person in the world. Lex.

Lex had been tossing and turning for hours. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't sleep, his mind constantly on a loop playing back the past few weeks in which he had contracted and survived a new outbreak of The Virus. He had been at deaths door and he'd vowed to himself that if he made it through he was going to change his life for the better, that he was going to stop being a complete prat to the people that had become his makeshift family and be a better husband to Zandra, who he knew deserved better than him and so did the baby that she carried in her belly. For the most part, he had kept his vows, however now as Zandra laid in his arms; sleeping peacefully he couldn't help but wonder if recent talk of heading up to the observatory at Eagle Mountain was going to be as fruitful as everyone hoped. Over the past couple of days he'd been agitated and had been quick to jump down anyone and everyone's throats, including poor Cloe who had gently tried to take his hand and lead him to the old book shop where she had secretly been teaching him to read children's books away from prying eyes. He knew he'd upset the small Maori girl but he hadn't gotten around to apologising yet and now every time she laid eyes on him she hurried away to hide and made him doubt his abilities to be a father.

Though his wife of five months wasn't that far along into her pregnancy, Lex couldn't help but realise that bringing a child, planned or unplanned into this battered and bruised world was not the brightest of ideas especially in a city that was constantly at war – tribe against tribe, brother against brother, sister against sister. He and Zandra has discussed leaving the Mallrats and starting a new life outside of the city, something that the blue and pink haired teenager was giving much thought to – they had to give him or her a fighting chance at a better life than what they had now or what he'd had to endure growing up.

That wasn't strictly true – Lex had had a loving and well balanced life until three years ago when his grandmother had died and his father's outlook on life had changed dramatically. His father Tim had been a well known actor and his mother Rose, a writer. Together they had navigated him through his learning difficulties and had cajoled him into taking part in theatre groups to develop his confidence, but as he'd grown older and the dyslexia that plagued his life became a joke amongst his peers he had rebelled and fell into a bad crowd. It was around this time that the acting roles that his father had once been handed to him on a platter began to dry up – the studios wanted fresh young talent to draw in new audiences, they didn't want an old codger like his dad to roll about half naked with a youngling when they could have the likes of Caleb Ross and Dwayne Cameron in leading roles. The drinking had become a gradual thing, a couple of glasses of wine here and there until eventually after his grandmother passed it was a bottle of red for breakfast, vodka for lunch and scotch for dinner with anything that he fancied in between. Tempers flared and he and his mother always seemed to be walking on egg shells, never knowing if his father was going to be a happy drunk or a violent one. More often than not he was violent and abusive, and knocked his mum from one side of the room to the other, though if Lex could somehow manage to get in the way he would defend her with his life. After one particularly violent outburst, he gave his father a taste of his own medicine, pinning him against the living room wall and repeatedly introducing his fist to the older mans face.

Lex remembered that night as if it was yesterday because that was the last time he saw his father. The raven haired young man had taken his leave and shortly after The Virus struck, his father was quick to succumb, probably because he didn't want to live. He hadn't known about his dad until a few weeks after the fact, he'd been staying with some friends in a squat in a small town outside of the city and it was only when reports of the rising death toll reached him that he decided that he had to return to his family home. When he got there, he was shocked to find that his mother, his beautiful funny blonde haired mum was drugged up to her eyeballs and downing vodka as if it was going out of fashion. He hadn't been able to get mush sense out of her, she was too drunk to realise that he was home, but Lex had looked after her, putting her to bed and cleaning up some of the mess. The next day, there was a flurry of phone calls and the next thing he knew he was being sent away to a boot camp in the country, a supposed safe haven for troubled teens.

He never saw his mother again; he returned to the house not long after leaving to collect a few keepsakes and on his travels had bumped into Zandra, a girl whose sister had gone to school with him. She was alone, scared and he knew that he could turn on his charm and play on the girls long time crush for him. He never expected for her to fall in love with him or for them to be here in the position they were in now. Lex loved her, but not like a man should love a woman and despite the fact that at times Zandra was very difficult to love, he did love her, just in the way that a friend loves a friend. However, he was a man of his word and he had taken vows and made a promise to look after her and their child.

Letting out a long sigh, Lex ran a hand through his shoulder length hair and gently peeled himself out of his wife's embrace. He needed to get out, there was no air in their room and it was stifling him. He pulled on a pair of striped pyjama bottoms that had been discarded beside the bed and reached out for his black vest. Sitting on the bed and watching Zandra as she nestled deeper into the blankets somehow made him feel like he needed a drink or a walk to clear his myriad of thoughts. He knew though he would settle for both and without much more indecision he found himself creeping out of his quarters and into the deserted mall. A quick peek into some of the rooms found Bray missing – as per usual – probably out and about in the city carrying out dodgier deals than KC could accomplish and the younger inhabitants of the tribe fast asleep. Not that he would tell anyone, but from the moment that they became a hodgepodge family of miscreants, he often checked on the sleeping children during the night, tucking teddy bears back under covers and placing gentle feather-light kisses on their foreheads. It never mattered how much of a pain he'd been or how much they'd announced that they hated him, he did it because he really did care about them all, each and every one of them, even Bray to an extent though he wasn't going to be shouting that from the rooftops anytime soon. His secret task complete, he hurried towards the stairwell that led to the roof and towards the secret stash of booze that he kept well hidden from the nosey parkers.

The lone bottle was still in its hiding place behind the water tank and Lex felt a surge of adrenaline as he wrapped his hand around the cool glass that he now clutched to his chest, yet at the same time he felt incredibly guilty that he was breaking his promises and he felt utterly and completely disgusted with himself. He was going to turn into his father if he wasn't careful and that was a road that he wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to venture down. He slumped against the large container that was now full of collected rain water ready to be sterilised for use in the mall and pulled a knee up to his chest mentally and morally debating the reasons why he needed a drink and why he shouldn't take one.

Eventually after a few moments, he voted in favour of taking just one sip of the amber coloured liquid inside the bottle and prepared himself to break the seal on the cap. With one hand poised and ready to open it he paused when he heard a noise on the other side of the roof and it was with his heart pounding in his chest that he got to his feet and slipped the offending beverage into the waistband of his pants fearing that Zandra had woken up and followed him. He couldn't let her see him this close to temptation and with some trepidation he crept around the large metal box that housed the air conditioning unit only to find someone that he hadn't expected to see.

With a small smirk, he watched as the visitor procrastinated over what she was going to do next and silently cursed the girl for not making her decision quicker – if he had been an intruder he could have attacked by now. Oh how he was going to be having words with her later about what to do when faced with potential danger, he would hold it over her that she was silly enough to hesitate and that alone would give him weeks of prime wind-up material. Lex walk around to face her keeping as quiet as he possibly could, she couldn't see him, not now as she'd turned to look at the door, her lithe body in a position that he himself would have used to sprint away.

'Amber,' he said somewhat thickly, 'what are you doing up here?'

Amber turned to face him and he found her startled eyes staring straight into his chest. She gulped and lifted her eyes defiantly towards him.

'Lex.'

'What the hell are you doing creeping around the mall in the middle of the night?' the fiery blonde demanded as she took a step backwards.

Lex held back a laugh as he took in the girl before him. Her usual Zulu knots had been taken down for bed and her overly bleached hair hung in ringlets and gone was her usual brown leather vest and cropped pants combo only to be replaced by a long sleeved grey top that hugged her curves in all the right places and a pair of flannel pyjama bottoms that were blue and covered in what looked like sheep. Her face had been scrubbed clean of her tribal markings.

'I should ask the same as you,' he retorted nastily, 'you keeping the flame burning for lover-boy?'

Amber fumed openly at the young man who shared the title of leader with her; clearly his brush with death hadn't changed him that much. 'No.' she spat 'I couldn't sleep.'

'Nah, neither could I.' Lex sighed softly, letting any trace of anger fade from his voice. He was fed up with acting like the villain.

'Oh,' said Amber, her defences also dropping. 'I don't know why I'm even asking, but do you want to talk about it?'

Lex cocked his head to one side, unsure if he could take the bait, after all he and Amber very rarely saw eye to eye and in the many months that they'd known each other they hadn't had what one would call a friendly conversation. If she wasn't having a go at him about something or other he was making snide remarks about her leadership skills. Tonight could be a fresh start for the two of them and it wouldn't be a bad thing to have a truce of sorts and perhaps work towards a more stable relationship.

'Or not,' she said as she turned away from him clearly annoyed that he was spurning her offer of friendship.

Lex grabbed her arm and she turned her head, her eyes flashing with annoyance briefly. 'Sure, why not?'

The young woman nodded and gave a small smile as she motioned for him to follow her to the middle of the blanket where her thermos was still sat. She sat down, pulling her knees underneath her and shared the coffee between the two thermos cups, passing one to the dark haired man who had taken a seat next to her. He took it gratefully and watched as Amber took a long sip of the strong smelling liquid. She savoured the flavour of the bitter beverage as it slid over her tongue and she wished more than anything that she had the luxury of adding sugar.

Lex followed her lead and almost coughed and spluttered as his own tongue assimilated to the taste. 'Jeez, Amber you could probably use this as a weapon of mass destruction.'

Amber shrugged. 'I like it strong.'

'Do you like not having taste buds?' Lex quipped.

'Says the man who drinks the hard stuff that smells and looks like paint stripper.'

'Speaking of…' Lex shoved a hand under his vest and retrieved his bottle of liquor and gave it a shake. 'What some?'

Amber glared at the bottle and then at the man beside her. As much as she could take or leave his young wife and her fits of fancy, she was angry on her behalf and also on behalf of the rest of the tribe. 'You promised Zandra you'd stop Lex. I should have known you wouldn't keep your word.'

'I have!' Lex growled, trying to tamper the flames of anger that were beginning to burn inside of him, once again judged unfairly. 'I was going to, but I didn't. See, the seal's not broken.' The blonde girl could indeed see that he was telling the truth, but that didn't change her feelings. 'I was going to have a night cap, help me sleep but I didn't do, did I? You came up and disturbed me and you know as well as I do that I never swore I was coming off the source completely. I agreed that I'd drink responsibly and socially with the rest of you lot.'

It was true, Amber realised now that she thought back on the conversation that she and the older members of the Mallrats had had with the hot headed teen, he had agreed to their demands, well Bray and Ryan's demands anyway as she, Zandra, Tai-San, Trudy and Salene had wanted him to have a full on ban of the alcohol that he had become so fond of – it only led to problems and him being a complete jerk. The boys however had sided with his argument of it being unfair for him to be left out of not having a slug of something or other if they had parties and such and had backed him into a corner.

'So, do you want a bit then?' Lex asked as he opened the bottle and poured some into the coffee. 'This is what is considered a social occasion right Ambs?'

The girl shrugged and offered her cup in Lex's direction. He gave her a salacious grin and poured a decent amount of the alcohol into her drink. It smelt like Whiskey, but as she'd never been a big drinker of anything but the odd beer or glass of wine it could have been Brandy for all she knew. She retracted her hand back and raised her cup to her mouth, taking a long swig. It didn't taste half bad and the alcohol began to warm her insides better than the coffee had. The two lapsed into a somewhat comfortable silence, staring out over the ruined city skyline and up at the stars.

'Why couldn't you sleep?' Lex asked finally breaking the silence that lingered. 'You always seem to have a lot on your mind just recently. It's not girl stuff is it?' That was the last thing he needed to get into tonight, he'd had enough over the past year of Zandra harping on about what his mum had called 'women's problems.

Amber sighed heavily and leant back on her elbows, never taking her eyes off the sky above her. 'I think we're wrong.' The young man raised a questioning eyebrow in her direction but she carried on. 'I don't think we'll find the answers at the observatory. It feels too easy, like we're going to be walking into a trap.'

'What other choice do we have Ambs?' Lex gulped the rest of his coffee back, grimacing at the fact that he could taste the bitter coffee over the Whiskey. 'We need answers and fast, otherwise we're all done for. The Virus is back and it's worse than ever. We're not immune any more and we don't even know what caused the original outbreak in the first place. There's no two ways about this, we have to go otherwise all this,' he waved a hand behind him in the direction of the stairs, 'will be for nothing. I'm going to be a dad Amber and I want my child to have a fighting chance. He's not going to go through anything that I went through and I might be completely rubbish but I've gotta try.'

The girl hung her head letting long tendrils of curls to fall around her face. She knew that Lex was right, but when had he become such a paragon of virtue? If she was honest, she found it refreshing that he was so quick to jump all over her and beat her into submission when usually it was the other way around.

'I think you'll make a good dad,' she said barely louder than a whisper, 'if you're as passionate about him or her the way you about this.'

Lex puffed his chest out a bit like a peacock and grinned. 'You think huh?'

She nodded silently causing her curls to bounce to a shuddering halt as she brought her head back up completely. 'So, how come you can't sleep?'

Lex explained about his misgivings about being a father and the two friends finished off the strong coffee, mixing it with the liquor and the two seemed to having fun. The raven haired young man passed the half full bottle of Whiskey to the blonde and she took a long swig, smacking her gums as the neat liquid burned a path along her tongue.

'You shouldn't hold yourself accountable for your mum and dad's issues Lex,' Amber mused as she absent-mindedly picked at non-existent bobbles on the blanket. 'It sounds like they suffered with depression a lot, I suppose it didn't help that your dad died and left your mum heart broken.'

'You sound like you know a thing or two about it.' Lex replied, also picking at the blanket, though his steely resolved gaze was aimed at the building across from the mall. 'Who went first, your mum or your dad?'

'My mum died of an autoimmune disease when I was nine,' she grabbed the bottle out of Lex's hand. 'It was a long illness and her best friend Dianne nursed her till the end. It was only later that I realised that my mum had pretty much pushed her and my dad into falling for each other and they married a few months after she died.'

'I'm sorry.' Lex patted her hand, 'that must have been a difficult time for you.'

'My sister Solaris was pretty pissed off, she was two years older than me and she gave Di a really hard time, my dad too.' Amber shrugged off Lex's hand from hers. 'We didn't think The Virus would reach us though, we carried on living our lives, going to parties and doing the stuff that teenagers do, but it did and dad went first that time, followed by Di.'

'What happened to your sister?' said the young man.

'She just left me; I don't think she could cope with it all. Her perfect life had been destroyed. Dal's parents took me in, but well you know what happened there.' Amber finished thickly, hoping that Lex couldn't see that she was crying; she didn't want him to think she was weak. She lowered her head once again, letting her hair fall around her face giving her enough cover to swipe at her eyes.

It was too late though and much to her shock, she found herself being swept into Lex's warm embrace as her body broke down and she became wracked with sob after sob. Lex, to his credit held her tighter and rocked her gently, soothing her by stroking her head and telling her in a soft whisper that she was braver than anyone gave her credit for and that while everyone around them had lost their families, she'd had a double blow. It was only as her body finally squeezed the last of the sobs from her that she realised that the places that the young man's hands had been previously burnt with a fire that she'd never felt before. It wasn't unpleasant; in fact Amber couldn't help but like it more than she should have done. Never before had she felt such a sensation when she'd been held by a man, not Sasha and certainly not Bray, who on more than one occasion had made his attraction to her clear. She certainly found it hard to believe that this feeling could only be caused by the man she had initially found attractive and eventually had grown to dislike as time had gone on.

Amber pulled away out of Lex's arms and looked up at him, her grey coloured eyes locking with his brilliant blue ones for what seemed an eternity. She noticed a smug smile of satisfaction play across his lips and she berated herself mentally for allowing herself to fall into his trap, here she was, yet another idiotic hormone driven woman falling at the feet of the overly arrogant man who had once boasted to everyone that he could have any woman he wanted. His smile vanished as quickly as it appeared and it looked as if he was contemplating something or other which in her mind gave her leave to begin to untangle herself from his arms. It was a loosing battle however as Lex held her tighter and pulled her closer her to him.

'Let me go,' Amber groused, 'dammit Lex. Let. Me. Go.'

She looked upon him once more, her eyes full of fire and anger and his full of something else… a wildness that she'd never seen before, a combination of lust and something primal that should have frightened her but it didn't. The logical part of her brain was telling her that he was looking at her like she was a big fat juicy hamburger just waiting to be devoured, but the other part of her brain was telling her, nay insisting that she have those wild eyes gaze upon her forever. Passing thoughts told her that should have had him look at her forever if she'd just taken him up on his offer to teach her about pregnancy.

'What are you thinking Amber,' she chastised herself, 'he's married… to your friend. You shouldn't be thinking about Lex like that, besides what about Bray? He's got it bad for you and you like him too.'

Lex mused to himself that Amber had stopped squirming and was seemingly having some sort of moral dilemma with herself. He was too, one hand he wanted nothing more to untangle himself from the blonde and return to his sleeping wife and their unborn child – his present future, yet on the other he wanted to pull his co-leader closer and kiss her until the sun came up. Honestly, he had always had a thing for her, had even tried to lure her into his bed with a ridiculous line about teaching her about pregnancy. It had been a disgusting proposition, he knew now as he held the girl in his arms because the young woman before him needed more than innuendo and meaningless fumbles. She needed someone who could keep her fires burning and could sate the lust that he could see shining in her eyes.

'Dammit Lex,' he screamed at himself, 'you're a bloody idiot sometimes. Think of Zandra, think of your child. You need to get a hold of yourself.'

Those eyes and that fire were making him come undone and so before he realised what he was doing he found himself tilting her head back and watching her gulp in anticipation as he brought his face closer to hers, never breaking eye contact. His lips came crashing down on to hers and though at first she was unresponsive and didn't part her lips, he eventually felt her body betray as her mouth opened and she began to match his own movements with fervour. He growled against her mouth and pulled her even closer to him so that her pert breasts where pushed up tight against his chest allowing him to deepen the kiss. With her body pushed up against his, he felt Amber hands graze his face and her fingers lace through his hair before she turned her body ever so slightly and pushed him backwards onto the blanket, allowing herself to straddle him. She tasted like coffee and Whiskey, cotton candy and apple pie all rolled in together and she felt like nothing he'd ever felt before. His body began to respond to the attack she was carrying out on his lips and it was only when his passion was pressed up against her, separated by thin cotton and flannel did she break the kiss.

Amber scuttled backwards, her eyes wide, her face flushed and her breath coming in laboured pants. She hadn't ever been kissed like that before and she was thoroughly ashamed with herself for allowing her body to respond to Lex of all people in such a manner and she was disgusted that she had betrayed her friend who slept only metres away.

'We shouldn't have done that Lex,' she said through gritted teeth, her heart beating fast and her stomach churning with guilt. 'What the hell is wrong with you?'

'Me?' Lex spat indignantly 'you kissed me back, you more than kissed me back Amber.'

Oh god, he was right, she had kissed him back and even worse she enjoyed it. Oh she felt sick. 'Well you kissed me first,' she replied hotly, keeping her voice even as best as she could. 'And you're married. I thought we could become friends, but that's not going to happen now. I don't even want to look at you.'

The blonde pushed herself to her feet and began to pace towards the door only to be stopped moments later by Lex spinning her around to face him. 'I might be married but I don't love her in anyways more than friend. I don't think I ever really have. She was just meant to be someone who kept my bed warm for a while.' It was a nasty thing to say, but as the words left his mouth he knew that they were the truth.

'You're sick,' Amber spat at him, 'how can you say that? Zandra's pregnant and she doesn't deserve for you to be so cruel.'

'It's the truth Ambs,' Lex shook his head, 'I tried to dump her, I told her loads of times that I didn't want to be with her.'

'Didn't stop you trying to rape her though did it?'

'I wasn't really going to rape her. I'm a bastard but I'm not that fucking twisted. I wanted to scare her, make her see sense that I didn't want her any other way than just having sex with her. It didn't work though did it? I told her why married her and she still took me back. The baby, well that that was unexpected and I meant what I said, I want to be a good dad and give my child a proper family, but how can I do that when I'm…'

'When you're what Lex?' Amber challenged.

'When I'm in love with you.' There he'd said it. He'd told her how he felt. He'd fallen for her the first day he laid eyes on her in the playground. She had been a siren, calling to him and as much as he had tried to forget her with Ebony, Tai-San, Zandra and a few other nameless faces who he'd kept company with he couldn't forget about the Zulu knotted beauty who he didn't consider his enemy but his equal.

'Ha!' Amber sneered in disgust. 'You know nothing of love Lex; you're selfish and arrogant and think that the world owes you a favour. I pity you and I pity the baby in Zandra's belly if all it has is you for a role model.'

Incensed, Lex took a step towards the woman goading him, his ire rising inside of his belly. How dare she say that to him when he'd bared his soul to her tonight?

Amber took a step back, knowing that her words had hit their target. There was a very different look in his eyes now, that same wildness that she'd seen only minutes earlier was now clashing with the fire of anger. 'Don't you dare take another step nearer Lex, or I'll scream.'

'You don't get to say that to me Amber and not pay the consequences,' he snarled and his blue eyes glinted in the darkness as he came closer to her. 'You don't get to judge me, not after everything you've just done. Trying to be a 'Goody Two-Shoe's' isn't really suited on you, not when you spent months making Bray jealous by snogging Sasha every spare minute, not when you spend weeks doing a merry dance with Bray debating whether you fancy him or not, mooning about over the whole Salene thing only for you kiss me like that.'

Amber walked backwards once again but found herself trapped up against one of the air conditioner units and Lex almost on top of her, hands either side of her hampering her from moving away. She stood there silently recalling her self defence lessons and trying to remember how to incapacitate an attacker correctly rather than going for a knee in the groin. He gazed upon her once again and she couldn't help feel apprehensive about his next move, she had never known him hit a woman before but at this moment in time she wouldn't have put it past him trying to hurt her. Her words had been cruel and uncalled for she realised and he was right she had kissed him back despite it all. He raised his hand from her side and she involuntarily flinched away, waiting for the sound of skin on skin to reverberate around them. It didn't come and when she opened her eyes, he was caressing one of the long tendrils of her hair.

'You liked kissing me didn't you Ambs?' he whispered huskily his eyes never leaving hers and his hand continuing its ministrations. She swallowed noticeably and nodded. 'I thought so. Are you going to tell Zandra?' Amber shook her head, no she wouldn't tell. 'Are we going to tell Bray?' Again she shook her head. 'Good.'

Lex's lips found hers once again and this time Amber wasted no time in lacing her hands around his neck, allowing him to lift her up so that she could wrap her legs around his waist. If he thought that the girl tasted of cotton candy and apple pie, then he was cinnamon and spice, with just a hint of the Whiskey to her and again her body responded in ways that she never thought it could. The dark haired Mallrat carried her back over to the blanket and laid her down, never breaking contact from her lips. A heat that she had never felt began to build inside of her belly and travelled down to her abdomen as she continued to kiss the life out Lex. She had never felt like this before and at fifteen she was barely a woman, not far out of her childhood while Lex was a man of seventeen. There had been nothing like this with Sasha and she doubted that she would ever feel this way with anyone other than the man who was now trailing soft kisses along her jawbone and along the base of her throat.

A lusty growl emerged from between the kisses that were been administered to her and she couldn't help but mewl when a kiss was planted in a sweet little spot behind her ear. Amber let her arms drop from behind Lex's head and trailed her fingertips along his sides, tingling as they touched the bare skin of his lower back and lower abdomen. They skimmed along the elastic of his pyjama bottoms and were tickled by the soft smattering of hair that led ever downwards. In response to her touch, she could feel Lex growing hard against her leg, longing for her to reach further down and take him in hand. Part of her silently laughed for at that moment she had control of the situation, but that was nipped in the bud when she felt the cool night air on her own stomach as Lex's hand pushed up underneath the cotton vest and slid upwards to cup her breasts. His fingers grazed the nipple on her right breast, hardening it to a stiff point before he moved to the left. When he was seemingly satisfied that both her breasts were ready for more attention he slid down her body ensuring that his length ground against her, his lips never leaving her skin.

The blonde woman bit back a gasp as his mouth latched onto one of her hardened nipples, laving it with his tongue, suckling and biting and lovingly massaging the tissue around it. If she hadn't been wet and ready for him already, she certainly was now as the beginnings of an orgasm began to sweep through her, her muscles contracting and clenching in approval to his ministrations. She couldn't stop herself from bucking her hips against him as she climaxed and all from such a simple act of foreplay. Lex chuckled against her breast and turned his attention to the other, repeating his actions until once again she came, this time whispering his name.

Lex pulled away from her and looked into her eyes, knowing full well that there would be no one else who could make her orgasm like he had just done. Twice in a row. Her eyes begged him not to stop and so after claiming her pink lips with his once again, running his tongue against her teeth before making it dance with hers he moved his kisses down the valley between her breasts and over the plains of her stomach. His fingers, like hers had done earlier skimmed along her blue coloured flannel pants, before pulling them down with ease, he didn't even ask her to lift herself up so he could remove them. The man was clearly a genius in her eyes. Lips burned a path downwards until he found her heat and without so much as a warning, he delved his tongue between her soft folds, lapping against her nub and tasting her and the results of his previous efforts. Her hands laced with his briefly until he untangled his right hand and began to tease and tantalise her with his fingers, stroking the areas where his tongue wasn't before dipping inside of her. One at first, then two for definite, she lost count as orgasm after orgasm rippled through her body, leaving her a shuddering mess on the blanket. His didn't remove his digits; instead he added his mouth to her hard nub and started all over again. This time though, she bucked her hips against his face and screaming his name from the rooftop as she came harder.

Lex was so hard now that he desperately needed a release of his own, he had his ideas of how he could achieve that but he didn't want to push his luck with Amber any more than he had done already, still for someone who had called him disgusting he wasn't doing that bad of a job of making her body sing. He moved back up her body and stroked his lovers face, planting gentle kisses on her jaw and noting the light sheen on her skin. As if she had read his mind, Amber finally pushed his bottoms down and freed his member. A small gasp escaped her lips as she realised that he was in fact a man and not a boy and was bigger than she had clearly thought he was. He asked for permission with his eyes, which was freely given by a small nod and a smile and he made his move to enter her, gently at first until she became used to his length and girth creating small strokes back and forth before picking up his pace and slamming into her with a greater amount of force. He sat back on his haunches and reached down to tease her nub with his fingers while he continued his rhythm.

His lover's body began to shake as her orgasm built and he could feel himself getting closer to his own. They reached the precipice together, him burying his head in the crook of her neck, whispering her name and declaring his love for her once again and her calling his name aloud, also confessing that she too loved him all the while raking her fingernails down his back, not enough to draw blood but enough to mark him for a day or two.

Amber and Lex lay silently on the blanket, holding each other not wanting to break the spell by speaking of what had just happened. Both of them knew that this would not and could not happen ever again. When morning came, Lex would play the somewhat dutiful husband and father to be and Amber would continue her efforts to help Jack and Dal figure out the source of The Virus and would most likely embark on a relationship with Bray, feigning jealousy and annoyance when he showed attention to another woman. Lex knew that not matter how much he resented the other man that Amber would endeavour to be happy with him and if needs be, he would give them a push in the right direction – all the while knowing that he had had the girl's love first and that would do for now.

The sky was beginning to lighten when Amber gave a sad sigh and untangled herself from the man she had made love with. She reached for her clothing and dressed quickly without a word as Lex leant back on his elbows and watched. She collected the thermos and made her way towards the stairwell. She knew that Lex would follow shortly, allowing her a few minutes to reach her room before he made an appearance in the mall, that way it would look suspicious.

'Amber,' Lex called out to her as she reached the door and began to open it, 'I meant what I said. I do love you and I always will. I fell in love with you the day we first met and despite everything my feelings haven't changed. Zandra's my present but one day I hope that you will be my future.'

Amber nodded and choked back a sob. 'I love you too Lex.'

With that she vanished out of sight and padded back through the deserted mall to her room, stopping only to check on the children. When she reached her room, she fell into bed and stared at the ceiling just as she had earlier that night. She knew that her encounter with Lex had been so very wrong, it had also felt so very right and her declaration of love for him as they finished their copulation had been true. She had fallen hard and fast for Lex the minute that he had walked into the mall and tried to defy her at every turn. And now she knew that he had had every reason to be cocky and arrogant towards her.

'Men!' she grumbled as she settled down into her pillow and fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

Lex crept along the upper level of the mall and into his room. Zandra was laid on her back in the centre of the bed, arms stretched wide snoring gently. He looked at his wife and smiled, happy with what he had at that moment in time, but looking forward to what could be in the future. No one knew what the future held, but he was damn sure that one day he would be holding Amber and calling her his own.

He shucked off his vest and climbed into bed, giving his wife a forceful shove. A blur of pink and blue turned over and grumbled. 'Where've you been Lex?'

'Nowhere babe, just got up for water,' he smiled, 'go back to sleep.' Zandra snuffled but said nothing more as he settled down beside her and drifted off to a sleep thinking of the beautiful woman who had stolen his heart.

A week or so later, the mall was invaded by Tribe Circus and shortly after Bray was taken by Ebony and the Loco's. The Mallrat's left the city and headed out to the observatory on Eagle Mountain leaving Bray behind. It was lucky that he happened upon the message on a mirror that Trudy had left him otherwise the tribe would have been trapped inside, left to die. Several of the Mallrats including Lex and Zandra decided to part ways for a time, they were going to head over the mountains; Tai-San would stay at the observatory with Jack. Bray decided that he would leave alone. In a bold move on both their parts, Amber called Bray out and Lex gave the gentle push to get them together, even though it pained him to do so. However, moments later an explosion rocked the building and it tumbled down around them. Zandra was killed instantly and according to Ebony, she had pulled Amber out and had sat with her on the hillside where she had taken her last breath. Ebony had buried the body and Lex laid is wife and his unborn child to rest next to her. The Mallrats and the dark haired man who had lost the three most important people in his life would never be the same again.