Show Me The Way Home

Fandom: Eve

Rating: K+

Genre: Adventure, Romance

Pairing: Eve/Will

Word count: 4394

Summary: [Retelling of the Series one finale; used to be multi-chaptered] Eve didn't go to Calimov. Not right away. She went on the run with Nick and Will first. How will this affect her decision? Mentions of Eve/Will ONESHOT.

AN: I deleted the previous version of this story, mainly because I found that the story plan I wanted kept changing, and I also worked on it during a time that was hard for me personally and trying to continue kind of reminded me of said hard time; I didn't just want to abandon it all together, however, because I know that people liked it, so I rewrote it, using the stuff I already had and the bits and pieces from my rough outline, so at least you can have an ending. If you've stuck with this for this long, thank you, and I hope this oneshot version doesn't disappoint.

DISCLAIMER. I do not own Eve.

It was all a blur.

That was what the packing looked like to Eve. A mad blur. A rush of panic. A mess. And the only thing she could do about it was watch Will and Nick ransack their kitchen, arguing noisily about whether or not the saucepans needed to come with them - Will was all for it ("We've got to cook the food in something, Dad!"), whilst Nick was insistent that they wouldn't be able to carry saucepans along with the other bags, and that he was sure that Mary's people would provide them with saucepans and other kitchen utensils once they reached the pick up point. The sound of the two of them clashing was enough to make Eve's head hurt; Nick was usually the calm one, the one with a soothing voice and a cool head. To hear him bickering with Will in a state of panic just seemed wrong. It forced a bitter pang of regret through her.

Was it right of her to condemn her Uncle Nick and Will to this life? A life of running, of constant panic, of never being able to go home? Was it selfish of her to allow them to leave their whole lives behind just so that they could disappear with her?

She could go to Calimov alone. She could turn herself in, hand herself over. Will and Nick wouldn't have to leave their home, their lives. Lily wouldn't have to be lonely without her best friend - she liked him too much, Abe had said. She could make that a reality, if Will and Lily liked each other in the same way. Surely those feelings would follow in time, anyway. She'd read enough human books and magazines to know that.

But, did she want to live? Yes. Of course she did. That was her first protocol - to survive. It was screaming at her to run, to flee, to stay alive at all costs. But, was it okay to drag her new-found family down with her also?

Would Katherine spare them if she went quietly?

No. What was she thinking? Of course Katherine wouldn't let Nick go without any consequence. Katherine was ruthless; Nick had been hiding Project Eternity right under her nose for months. He wasn't going to be allowed to get away so easily. If he was with Eve, she could keep an eye on him, on both him and Will. She could keep them both safe. Did that mean that it was acceptable for her to be selfish? When her selfishness meant that she could protect her family?

So many questions, and yet Eve didn't have answers to any of them. For once, right and wrong were not as black and white as she was used to; she didn't even know if there was a right and wrong in this situation.

But when a breathless Lily burst into the kitchen and told them to run, she simply grabbed her bag as Uncle Nick swept her out of the room, saying nothing.

They camped under a bridge that first night.

"We should get some sleep," Nick commented, when the last of the lukewarm spaghetti had been scraped from the bottom of the saucepan and rain had started to fall from the dark evening sky and the pans had been put out to soak. "We've got an early start tomorrow. We need to be ready." He rummaged through his rucksack and unrolled his sleeping bag.

Eve dug through her own rucksack. "Here." She handed Will the rolled-up pack that was his own sleeping bag.

"Thanks." Will let it drop in a heap to the ground, before unzipping it and climbing inside, removing his shoes as an afterthought. "Are you going to be okay? Just sitting there with nothing to do?"

"I shall be fine," Eve assured him. She moved to sit against the cold stone bridge, drawing her knees up to her chest, watching the last few embers of the fire burning out as Nick and Will drifted off to sleep. Nick seemed to relax once that he had fallen into his REM cycle, but Will, who had so far appeared relatively unfazed by the whole ordeal of leaving his entire life behind, looked troubled as he slept, his face etched into a frown, as if whatever he was dreaming about was discomforting to him. Eve watched him for quite some time, and briefly wondered whether or not she should rouse him and save him any more nightmares or unpleasant thoughts; she reached out a hand to wake him, but before she could reach him, he rolled over so that he was facing away from her, and curled tighter into a ball - well, as much of a ball as the sleeping bag would allow. Was he dreaming of the home he had left behind? Was he dreaming of Lily? Eve squirmed. Guilt. She didn't particularly like to experience this emotion, but right now it was filling up in her chest, rising into every crevice in her systems.

It seemed like it was going to be a very long night alone with only her guilt and her thoughts for company.

"What is that?" Eve asked curiously.

"It's a dandelion," Will replied, blowing on the flower, sending clusters of seeds scattering through the air. Eve watched them sail away on the early morning breeze, as Will tossed the bare stem into the hedgerow. "People say that you should make wishes every time that you blow on a dandelion."

"I was under the impression that you didn't really believe in the power of wishing."

"I don't. Not really. But, well, it's tradition. Human custom, as you say."

"Did you make a wish?"

"Maybe."

"What did you wish for?"

"Ah. Can't tell you that."

"Why?"

"Bad things happen to you, apparently."

"Oh." Eve looked deadly serious. "We can't allow more bad things to happen."

"Too right we can't." Will glanced over his shoulder at Nick, who was still trailing behind them, muttering to himself about directions and how he needed a better A to Z. "Hey, Dad, how much farther actually is it? My feet are killing me."

"You've been walking for three minutes! Your feet shouldn't be killing you, you're young!" Nick called back. "Just keep following the road and we'll get there soon enough."

Will let out something between a sigh and a groan. "Must be nice," he commented, to Eve this time. "Not getting tired."

"What is being tired like?"

"You just feel...sluggish. Slow. As if everything else has suddenly sped up and then there's you, just going at the same pace that you always did, and you can't keep up properly."

"Sorry."

Will looked surprised by her apology. "Sorry? What are you sorry for?"

"For waking you up so early," she replied truthfully. Will let out a chuckle, brushing their shoulders together.

"That wasn't your fault. That was the fault of the tortoise back there." He nodded behind him.

"I heard that, young man!" Nick had caught up with them considerably, and was now glancing at Will warningly, who had suddenly jumped about three metres forward.

"Dad! Don't do that!"

It was three days later that Katherine's men came after them for the first time.

Nick had disappeared into a pub in order to relieve himself and stock up on snacks (Will had been complaining that he was hungry for the past ten minutes), and Eve was about to illuminate the younger Clarke that she'd consumed fourteen hours, twenty three minutes and fifteen seconds of television in this past week, but a car drawing up down the street caught her attention. It was black in colour, swerving to a stop right outside of the pub where they been only a few minutes ago. A tall man in a long dark trench coat got out of the driving seat and started talking to the bar-tender, digging in his pocket for something. After a moment, he brought out a small collection of photographs and began showing them to the bar-tender in turn.

"Eve?" Will had noticed her interest in what was happening down the street. "What is it?" She shushed him, using her hyper-sensitive hearing to tune in to the conversation.

"- don't know what you police people want from me!" The bar-tender was saying in an angry tone, as he took a heavy drag on a cigarette. "How am I supposed to remember the face of every guy who walks in?"

"Maybe you recognise one of these two?" The man in the trench coat showed him another photograph.

"For God's sake! Do you think I work like a security camera, or something? I don't know every Tom, Richard and Harry that lives round here!"

Eve relayed the conversation back to Will. "The man in the trench coat has images of us. He wants to know where we are."

Will let out a sharp exhale. "Did that guy tell him which way we went?"

"Negative." She recreated his sentence.

"Well, that's something I suppose. Alright, er...when he's distracted enough, we can make a run for it, yeah?"

"Warning! There is a seventy five percent chance that our sudden movements would alert him to our presence."

"Oh. Right." Will racked his brains for something else. "We could...er..."

"Solution devised."

"Oh, yeah? What?"

"I can interfere with the workings of his car. That should give us sufficient time to make a hasty retreat." Eve focused in on the car, blocking out all of her other surroundings, as her brilliant computer-like brain got to work; in less than a minute, a shrill, high-pitched wail cut through the air.

She had set the car alarm off.

"What on -?" The trench coat man turned his attention onto the car, giving Will and Eve the chance to make a run for it down the high street without him noticing.

"Question," Eve commented in her usual cheerful manner, as the two of them rounded a corner, and headed down a side road. "Do you know where we are going?"

"Never do, Eve!"

The second time Calimov tried to catch them was the day Eve discovered the bookshop.

Will had pulled her inside so that they could hide until it was clear to leave and rejoin Nick, only for the young Clarke to take his eyes off the robot for a few seconds and look back to find her surrounded by at least a dozen open books; she lay on her stomach in the centre of them all, flicking through several at one time, her mouth moving but no sound coming out as she recorded all this new knowledge she had access to, contained between the pages of all these books. She glanced up when she felt Will watching her and smiled giddily, like a child on Christmas morning.

"Did you know," she began in an eager rush, "that earth is the only planet with life on it in this entire galaxy, and it takes the human body eight to twelve years to decompose after death, and that the first telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell?"

"I do now," he replied, amused, with an eyebrow raised; Eve shifted over so that there was room for him to lie on the floor too. He reached for the book nearest to her - a Harry Potter compilation - and flicked to the first page of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but he hadn't got past the first three sentences before there was another cry of, "Will!"

He glanced over to her. "Yeah?"

"Look at the world!" She'd finished with one of the other books she'd been reading, and was now focusing on an atlas, open on a map of the world. "It seems so small printed in these books...and yet it is so big and vast in real life!"

"Really makes you feel small, doesn't it?" Will mused.

"Have you ever travelled outside of England?" Eve traced the shape of the small country with her finger.

"Yeah. Once. A long time ago. When my mum was still around." His voice held a degree of sadness in it at the mention of his absent mother. Eve was about to tentatively inquire about what had happened to her, when Will suddenly picked up where he had left off. "We went to Italy. We have a couple of distant relatives out there."

"Italy..." Eve let the word fall from her tongue, the excitement in her eyes renewed. "Where is Italy? Show me Italy!" Will flicked through the atlas, watching pages of Europe flash by, before he finally came to rest on Italy.

"There. That's where we went. Florence. Right here." He tapped the labelled dot.

"What was it like?"

"Warm," Will replied with a shrug. "Way warmer than the weather here. I can't really remember much of it - I was only about seven. The only other thing I really remember was this beach, not far from where we were staying. At least, it didn't seem far...It's all blurred together, really. But I can remember standing on the beach with my mum; the sand was warm and every time the sea came close to us we ran away..." He trailed off, lost in the faded memory of that golden afternoon. Eve rested a hand on his shoulder as he came back to the present.

"I would like to go to Italy one day," she said quietly. "I would like to take you back to this beach."

Will gave her a half-smile. "We'll have to go one day. We can buy a dozen ice creams whilst we're there."

"I should enjoy that very much." They descended back into companionable silence, save only for the sound of pages turning, before Eve suddenly spoke.

"What are you reading?"

"Harry Potter." He showed her the cover.

"Ooh!" Her interest was sparked once more. "What is that about?"

"Why don't I read some to you, and you try to guess what it's about?"

"Oh, yes, please!" She shuffled closer to him, abandoning the other books that were scattered around her, and waited patiently for him to begin.

It was around the time that Harry was receiving his Hogwarts acceptance letter that Nick clattered into the shop and found them in their little corner, surrounded by books. Will was in the middle of doing a Hagrid impression, much to the delight of Eve, who had her hand to her mouth to muffle the giggles.

"There you are!" Nick sighed in relief, making the two teenagers look up. "I was worried that Katherine's men had found you."

"Don't worry, Dad." Will gave him a smile. "We're fine. Anyway, what took you so long?"

"I...got stuck."

"Got stuck? Where?"

Nick glanced down at the floor. "I got stuck...trying to climb out of the bathroom window."

Will tried to suppress the grin at the mental image of his father flailing as he tried to free himself from the window in some kind of James Bond manoeuvre. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"No, no, thankfully. I just got a bit held up." Nick quickly changed the subject. "From the looks of things, the man has moved on from here. We should get going." Eve rose from the floor, gathering up the large pile of books that had accumulated beside her. Will got up to help her, but he kept looking at the copy of Harry Potter that he still had in his hands. He trailed after Nick and Eve as they left the shop with their luggage; the two of them had to stand outside and wait for him.

"Finished?" Nick hoisted his own rucksack onto his back again. "Well, we'd better make a move, then..." He started down the high street, patting the pocket where he kept his map; Eve went to follow him, but Will caught her arm, holding her back.

"Here." He passed her something wrapped in a brown paper bag. "I, uh, bought this for you. You know, so you don't get bored during the night."

Eve opened the bag, pulling out the tattered Harry Potter compilation.

"Thank you," she said, touched by the kind gesture.

"You're welcome."

They held each other's smiling gaze for longer than necessary.

The third time Katherine came for them, Eve almost got caught.

They had found others, people like them, a camp for those who had no where else to go. No one gave them a second glance there; they were all in the same boat, after all, all shunned by society. Eve had never seen a community like it, but she felt like she could stay there for eternity. It was how life should have been: everyone accepted everyone else for who they were, relied on each other for help, supported each other through the good and bad. But it was even more special because she found someone who had reminded her of her mother. Beth, her name was, the mother of a five year old son called Noah, who's green eyes were brighter than grass in the middle of summer.

"Evie, isn't it?" The woman had asked, coming to sit with her as the robot girl watched Nick and Will talking and chuckling amongst themselves, something that she hadn't seen in a while. It was like a breath of normality in the blur of chaos that her life had become.

"Eve."

"Eve. Right. Whereabouts in America are you from?"

"I'm not sure. I've been in England for a long time. My entire life, in fact." It wasn't technically a lie, after all. "My uncle Nick looks after me."

"Aw, that's nice." Beth smiled at her. "Your boyfriend seems to look after you well, too."

"My -?" Eve frowned, before realising who she meant. "No, Will isn't - Will is my cousin."

"There's nothing wrong with you being cousins as well, dear, if that's what you're thinking -"

"No. He's not my boyfriend." Eve shook her head. "Besides, he has affections for somebody else." She thought back to Lily and Will's goodbye; See what you've done by being selfish? She scolded herself.

"Really?" Beth didn't look convinced, or aware of Eve's inner conflict. "Are you sure about that?"

"Quite sure," Eve replied, although she didn't sound quite so sure. "We are just friends. Nothing more."

"Hm. We'll see," Was all Beth said in reply, as she examined Eve's expression of uncertainness, leaving the robot to wonder what the older woman meant by such a remark. Maybe she would have asked her if the camp hadn't suddenly been stormed by Katherine's men. If she hadn't become paralysed by fear the moment she saw the man in the trenchcoat getting closer to her shrouded corner. It was Will who had pulled her out in the end, grabbing her by the hand and blindly running, not caring where their legs took them as long as they got away.

It was only afterwards that Eve realised that Will hadn't let go of her hand for a while. The whole thing made her even more confused.

They had been away from home three weeks when Eve came to her realisation.

Nick glanced between the two teenagers in his care. "One of us should really stay here with you, Eve. I'd prefer it if Will -"

"I shall be fine," Eve replied, without looking at the boy in question. "I do not need a babysitter. Go.

"I'd rather stay." Will's voice was terse.

"Go." She forced the word out through gritted teeth. It was so venomous that Will merely let out a huff and rose from his seat, stalking away from the camp with a "You coming, Dad?" thrown over his shoulder. Nick gave Eve one last look, as if trying to query her about her behaviour, but, after a moment, he simply told her that they'd be back shortly and that she needed to be careful, before he hurried to catch up with his son.

Eve waited until they were both out of earshot before she let out a sigh. She didn't like conflict with people, least of all with Will, her best friend, the most important person in her life, but, well...there was no excuse for what he had said, was there? If only there was someone who was an expert on things like this, an expert of Will...

Oh. Of course. Why hadn't she thought of that before? She knew exactly who she needed to call.

She rummaged in Nick's bag, pulling out his phone and dialling a number. There was the sound of the UK dial tone in her ear, before there was a soft click and someone answered.

"Hi, there!" Eve frowned; this certainly wasn't the voice of Lily Watson, the voice she had been expecting. "Lily can't come to the phone right now, so you've been forwarded to the Abe Watson Corporation of Practical Jokes, perfect for all your humorous requirements!"

"Abe?"

"Robo girl! Is that you?" Abe cheered at the other end of the line. "Didn't think we'd be hearing from you guys for a while! How's life on the run?"

"Terrible," Eve replied glumly. "I miss home. I miss you and Lily and Maddy and Viv. And Will and I had a...disagreement, which is why I wanted to speak with Lily -"

"Seriously?" Abe cut her off. "You and Will? What did you say to him?"

"He started it!" Eve said childishly, beginning to take Abe through her side of the story.

Will and her had bickered many times, of course, and they had hurt each other before, but they had never actually fought with one another. Eve had occasionally wondered if they were even capable of doing so, considering how close to each other they were. But, just like a lot of things, she was wrong. Everyone could argue. Even with the people they were closest to in the world.

"I don't want to discuss this," she'd said snappily as she faced the younger Clarke with a grimace.

"No, let's! Let's discuss this!"

"What is there to discuss, Will?"

"Do you remember what happened when he broke up with you?"

"He had his reasons."

"Stop defending him!"

"I am not defending him!"

"Yes, you are! Have you really forgotten what he did to you? Because I remember it all very clearly: the hours you sat around the house, moping after him, how nothing would put a smile on your face for weeks...And, yet, after everything he did to you, and everything he said, you still have feelings for him."

Eve glared at him. "I do not still have feelings for Zac."

"Then why are you defending what he did?"

"I am not defending him!" She had resisted the urge to stamp her foot like a child. "And, even if I did, why is it any of your business?"

"Because I was the one who had to clear up the mess left behind!"

"Why did you even bother to do so?"

"I don't know!"

"Will you two shut up and go back to sleep?" Nick had suddenly roared, effectively ending the heated conversation and sending the two teenagers to settle down for the next, facing away from each other.

"I wanted to ask Lily what I should do," she said now, once she had finished telling Abe all about Will's offences.

"Wow, Robo girl." She could picture Abe shaking his head. "You really have no idea, do you?"

"What does that mean?"

"People fight all the time! It's basically the basis for everything in life: politics, friendships, loving relationships -" He paused, as if to try and convey something. Whatever that was, Eve hadn't picked up on it yet.

"What are loving relationships, if they are based on negativity and arguing?" She asked, confused as to why the younger Watson, of all people, had brought up love. She hadn't been aware that he had a concept of it.

"Love is lots of things," Abe replied breezily. "You know, like valuing another person above all the others in your life, putting their needs before your own, risking everything for them..." There was a pause. "You know -" Abe began to prompt "- like Will did when he packed up his entire life and just left his best friends and his home so that he could run away to protect you..."

Oh.

"Are you...implying...?"

"When have I ever done that, Robo girl?"

"...Will...loves me?"

"It's crossed my mind once or twice." There was sarcasm in his voice for a moment. "And? How does that make you feel?"

Eve paused. According to all the novels aimed at her age group, when a friend got a crush on another friend it usually became very awkward because the friend didn't like them , she didn't find this revelation to be awkward. In fact, she felt...pleased by this news. Very pleased, actually. Did that mean that she returned Will's affection for her?

Yes. It was very possible that they were. In fact, of course they were. She had already acknowledged that Will was the most important person in her life, and that she trusted him above anybody else. The thought made her let out a strangled chuckle.

Oh.

The laughter in her throat suddenly died, sinking back into her stomach. Now that she knew that this was true, what was she going to do about it? It was one thing to drag her family down with her, but, well, Will wasn't just like family to her, was he? He was...something she didn't quiet understand, but somehow it was more than family, more than just a friend. Weren't you supposed to do anything to protect those who you felt this way towards?

She couldn't subject Will to a life in hiding. She didn't have it in her to do that.

"Robo girl? Eve?" Abe's voice buzzed in her ear. "You still there?"

"I have to go now."

"Why?" The younger Watson sounded wary. Eve tried a smile, before remembering that he couldn't see it.

"There's something I need to do."

Katherine looked at her with amusement in her eyes. "Do androids have families?"

"I don't know." Eve replied, keeping her face void of emotion and her voice strong. "But I do."