AN: This is a sequel to Fear is Tomorrow, so you'll probably be fairly confused it you just jump in here, though feel free if you'd like… regardless, happy to find how quickly this story conceived itself in my head after I ended the last one… very excited to see where this one goes.

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"I don't want to pretend that I'm stronger for it all

I don't want to pretend that the sadness is gone

'Cause I wanna know that I'm steady on my feet

I don't want to pretend so peace will be real to me"

-Hands Like Houses

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The cars sat still, purring and waiting patiently for their occupants to enter as exhaust hissed off towards the cold sky. Around the two vehicles, the four stood waiting for the last of their number to join them.

Blonde hair being tossed gently by the frigid breeze, one of them toed the ground, somewhat impatiently. She glanced to the side at her friend who was tapping the butt of her rifle against the side of the car, in what could have been an almost habitual way. Catching her gaze, the brunette swallowed and ceased, eyes cast down.

With clear native complexion written into the details of her face, another of them sighed and walked around the side of the car, trying to ignore the fact that she was, once again, leaving the person most important to her. Unable to keep her restraint in check, she turned to stare longingly at the massive wall that hid the inner workings of their occupational standing. Catching the gaze of her friend, the fourth person standing around in the twilight air, she returned the reassuring smile she was given, though she knew no amount of reassurance would ever fully comfort her.

Finally, the back door swung open, and their fifth strode out. Walking briskly forward, a dead fire in her eyes, she turned to look at none of them, though they all had come to expect that. They followed as soon as she had passed and mounted up into the vehicles. They needed only one, but the taking of two imposed the impression that they were greater in number, an old scare tactic if nothing else.

As door slammed shut, the blonde turned to briefly eye her friend who stared impassively forward, mouth hidden behind her red scarf. Knowing she wasn't going to get a look back, she returned her gaze forward, looking at the sun that dipped ever closer to the horizon.

"Thirty minute drive. We'll jam comms when we're close."

"They expecting?"

"Doubt it. We've no reason to believe they're that smart."

Nodding, and blinking past the jet-black hair that partially shrouded her face, the fifth shifted the SUV's gear and led the way into the mountains.

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Nestled within the building that housed all of his dealings, Alex kicked up his legs and stared out the window, deep in thought. After everything that had transpired, he dared to wonder if they had gotten away with it. By all means, they should have had people from three different groups banging on their door, threats spewing from their mouths, but their mountain pass hideout had seen no outsiders approach in weeks.

The intercom on his desk flashed with its green glow and he punched it, breath catching in his throat as it always did.

"Boss, some of the men are getting a little antsy about… you know."

Clearing his throat which hadn't known the feeling of speech in so many hours, he replied shortly.

"Tell them not to worry, I'll be down in a few minutes."

"Alright."

Alex waited as he didn't hear the usual click of the hang-up.

"I gotta say, I can't believe we did it. But we covered our tracks and we did what we had to do."

After nodding for several seconds, Alex realized that his compatriot couldn't see him.

"We did."

"What are you gonna do with your share? Buy a house? Move to Europe?"

Smiling at the seemingly limitless possibilities that did indeed stand before him, Alex stood.

"We'll see. Down in a second."

Ending the conversation himself, he pressed his knuckles against the desk and lowered his head and exhaled long and loud. He supposed the gravity of it all hadn't quite set in yet. For such a small organization, they had achieved more in a couple months than he could have deemed possible. As long as everyone played it safe…

Rapping his knuckles, he quickly marched out his abode, deciding that he wanted to be done with this as soon as possible. He walked down the hallways, dragging his fingers along the walls, wondering if he would miss the place. He certainly wouldn't be coming back.

Can't pretend.

With difficulty, he drew upon his consciousness to find the words of… victory? That seemed an okay word to use. He would need to thank them, congratulate them, but far more importantly, to remind them to be careful with their earnings. Laughing at his choice of the word, he grabbed the door handle to the large room that housed most of their briefings.

Or, at least he tried, as the moment the door swung open, he was knocked over by someone barreling through the door. Hitting the hall behind him, he cursed and looked angrily at the person who had nearly given him a concussion. Gus stared back at him, eyes wild and body language alarmed; the sight of him diminished Alex's anger, but only slightly. He dragged himself up, making no attempt to hide his annoyance.

"Some sort of hurry, Gus? I said I would be right… "

"They're coming."

Alex blinked as an invisible hand grabbed at his heart.

"Who's coming?"

Gus stared back, shaking his head and looking increasingly panicked.

"It has to be them."

"Did you seem them?"

"I… I didn't… "

"Did you. See them."

"No. But who else could it be?"

Turning and running back to his room, Alex could hear Gus pounding after him.

"Cameras picked up two black SUVs coming up the pass, driving right fast."

The door banged against the wall as he threw it open, snapping his computer on and pulling up footage of the outside lot. He waited with bated breath as Gus shut up. For what was at least a minute, he watched the screen, the tension becoming more and more thick. In his peripheral, he saw Gus's eyes flashing between him and the screen.

"Maybe… maybe there was a bug in the cameras… picked up something that had happened a long time ago or… "

Swift and clean, two identical SUVs pulled into the lot parking evenly alongside each other. Heart pounding harder than should have been possible, he dug his fingernails into the wooden surface. Then, on the screen, the door swung open and an unmistakable young woman slid cleanly out. Alex swore and put a hand to his forehead, reeling wildly; Gus dropped his head and began shaking it in frightful distress.

"Oh God… what do we do… what the holy hell do we do… "

Remembering his position as a leader, Alex straightened and snapped at his friend.

"Tell everyone to do nothing hostile. Act as if nothing is wrong. They'll slaughter us if they see reason to."

Gus nodded frantically and rushed to the door.

"I'll do that. But then, I'm out of here."

They stared at each other a moment.

"You're running?"

"I'm leaving."

"There's a difference?"

His friend snapped, arms flailing, and eyes now wide with obvious fear.

"We should never have tried to hide it! Now they're here! And I don't want to die!"

Alex took a step forward.

"We're not going to die. They don't know what we did."

Giving him one last terrified look.

"They will."

And he was out the door; Alex could hear him sprinting down the hall before the door swung shut. Swallowing and trying to convince himself he was in control of the situation, he looked back to the footage being played live over his computer. They were all out of their vehicles now and most were marching to the doors of the building. He sat down, rocking in his chair, praying he didn't hear gunfire.

After several painful seconds, his intercom crackled.

"Hey, we've got some pretty… "

He heard no gunfire, but audible sounds of a struggle played furiously through the speaker which ended with what were unmistakably the tunes of bodies collapsing. After a bout of silence, a female voice, clear and menacing, sliced at his soul.

"Open up, Brewer. Or do I have to destroy everything that stands between me and you?"

Licking his lips, which had become remarkably dry in such a short time span, he somehow allowed some smartass to slip into his voice.

"I'm flattered you think so much of me."

He cursed himself quietly, and punched the key that slid open the blast doors that shielded the entrance. Pacing around his desk once or twice, he took deep breaths to calm himself.

Innocent… you are innocent. Don't be scared, they have nothing on you. Act calm and you'll be fine. Act calm, act calm, act…

No more time was given to him to try and calm himself as his door was kicked open with all the force and surprise of a bomb going off. Looking up he found himself staring down a silencer which was attached to a heavy pistol; the young woman who held it had a chill to her gaze that did the job of holding him almost perfectly in place. The fact that she was considerably shorter than him did nothing to sway the intimidation he felt.

"Guns."

He swallowed, trying to look politely bemused.

"Uh… one on me, one in the front drawer."

She walked smoothly around the desk, gun still pointed right between his eyes. Continuing his façade, he gave her a pair of raised eyebrows.

"Can I ask what this is about?"

Through her blonde hair, she looked at him with an almost painful amount of condescension.

"You can."

Swiftly, she relieved him of both his firearms.

"But I'm not going to answer."

She moved back to the door and she gave him a look that almost had him wishing she would have just beat the hell from him instead.

"You know damn well why we're here."

And she was gone. As the door swung shut behind her, he slumped forward, knuckles on the front of his desk as fear pounded through his veins.

They know… how the hell do they know, how could they have any fucking idea…

He desperately started pacing, taking deep breaths and running through every possible excuse in his head, trying to decide which one he liked the best.

Play it cool… try and bounce blame to someone else… who? …doesn't matter… anyone… just need to…

"Those look to be the exact movements of someone trying to convince themselves that they're guiltless."

Alex almost fell as he spun on his heel; in the doorway, looking both annoyed and amused behind a red scarf, was her. In a desperate and fast attempt to regain his footing, he swelled up with something that he hoped could pass for anger.

"Actually, I was wondering why in the hell you people come barging in here like you own the place, stick us up, take our weapons like we did anything to warrant such damn inexcusable behavior, believe me, when I… "

As he spoke, he found himself almost believing the words that spewed from his mouth, anger cloaking the fear. While he rambled, she slowly walked into the room and up to him, and he found himself silenced as she lay a finger across his lips. He swallowed as she pulled free her phone and swiped the screen a few times; finding what she was looking for, she it up for him to get a good look. On the screen was a body, shot and slashed. The jacket on the body was pulled back to reveal a hidden holster, a wallet, and a bag of…

The fight rushed out of him as he knew how they had known. Why they were here.

And why he didn't have any chance of making it out of there alive.

He silently prayed that Gus had made it out of there while he still could, and he decided that if anything was to be done at that point, it wasn't going to be in his own self-interest.

"Look, you got me. I'll admit it. I fucked up and you got me."

She stared back, her expression unreadable; he put up his hands.

"But this was all me. No one else knew what I wanted to do, they thought it was above board and… "

He got out nothing more than this as her fist flashed across the distance between them and pulverized his gut. Gasping, his legs wobbled and a sharp kick to the side of his knee caused him to scream in pain and drop to the ground. Pulling for air, he curled up and grabbed at his knee, which may very well have now been broken. In his peripheral, he saw her crouch beside him; he felt surprise through his fear, as her fingers ran delicately through his wavy hair.

"Alex, you and I both know that is proper bullshit. I know bullshit when I hear it, I've been dishing it out my whole life."

Managing to get ahold of his breathing, he found himself praying that his death would be swift. He felt himself give an uncontrollable shiver as her fingers reached his neck.

"Every single fucking person in this building knew exactly what you wanted to go down. And they were all on board. Hell, I don't blame them. You guys pull this off, you all get an early retirement and enough money to give you a good wrap."

She stopped moving.

"But you got careless."

Her fingers clenched on his hair and yanked him up; he howled as she dragged him almost effortlessly to his desk which he was slammed to.

"Now you're trying to talk your way out of it."

Wheezing in breath, Alex choked out,

"I'm trying to save them!"

Her eyes narrowed a moment then, she straightened and released him; he collapsed against the side of his desk, panting. He dared to watch her as she walked the window, which overlooked the mountains beyond. Slowly, she shook her head.

"Why… why is everyone trying to save someone else… "

Seeming to shake free of whatever thought was holding her in place, she turned and walked back to him.

"Whatever. To a certain extent, you are in control here."

Almost immediately, a cocked handgun was against his temple.

"Tell me who put you up to it."

"What? No one, this was for me, for us! We didn't want this to go any farther than it did! We just… "

Giving a short, exasperated sigh, she dragged him to the ground and climbed on top of him, forcing his face in the floor.

"What the hell are you… "

He screamed again as her hand yanked his pants down and he heard the unmistakable sound of a knife being drawn. Kicking wildly with his legs, he felt cold metal brush against his rear.

"I don't want lies, Alex. I want the truth. Do you want these people to live, or not?"

"I do, I do, I do, I'm telling the truth, this was for us, no one else!"

It came very close to piercing him.

"Last chance."

Trying desperately not to beg, he took several quick, deep breaths to steady himself.

"I can't tell you any other way. I'm not lying."

He jammed his eyes shut, ready for the pain he knew was coming. Instead, he felt her breath on his ear.

"Alright."

Opening his eyes, he looked back at her in surprise. She stood, sheathing her knife and looking back at him that wasn't quite pity.

"I believe you."

She drew a finger to where an earpiece must have been.

"We're good. End it."

For a moment, he looked bemusedly at the door as muffled gunfire and shouts assaulted his ears. Looking back to her, mouth agape, he found he could do nothing more than stare as she eyed him the same way a disappointed parent looked at their child.

"You didn't really think anyone other than you was getting out of here alive, did you?"

He snapped finally, and roared in anger, before a boot slammed into his face and sent him into darkness.

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She sat at the computer, cursing her uselessness.

Having gone over the records again and again, she knew that the more she did it, the antsier she would become. It was already half-driving her crazy.

But there was nothing she could do. She had made this choice and was living with it.

Not for the first time, she ran a hand over her stomach, the large curve of it ever an indicator of what was so close, but what still seemed so far away. It could be any day now, that day where everything was going to change. In so many ways, it was going to change. She still had no idea how things would become different; she was far more scared than she was ever going to admit.

This is a good thing. A good thing.

She sat back and closed her eyes, smiling. In her head, she saw the three of them, sitting on the porch, sun high in the sky. The house wasn't detailed vividly in her mind, but it didn't need to be. All that mattered was the three of them, happy and safe.

Safe.

Sitting back up, she frowned. What did it mean to be safe anymore?

Away from anything that could be physically harming… or… or…

She grit her teeth and shook her head.

Later… that comes later… think of right now.

And she returned to the horrifying place in her mind, a place where she normally had to venture to multiple times a week. A place where she waited, waited for the one person she truly loved to return to her.

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I can't change it.

None of it. I just want it to be over. But it can never end. Because I failed.

I made something of it. I fooled myself to believe I could be happy. That because of what we had, I could someday move past everything that's happened. Run away together. Grow old.

Stupid. Fucking stupid.

But I won't stop. I promised.

And that's really all I have left.

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Around it, the grass grew.

Around it, the earth changed, slowly as if to be unnoticeable. The trees came to fruition, green leaves blooming from branches that hung above it. Then, as cold crept through the forest, the green became orange, then yellow and fell. Wind blew them about as the earth shifted around it.

But never to consume it.

Not quite.