CHLOE'S POV

I was rudely awakened to my head hitting the window on my side of the car as Kit drove over what I'm guessing was a pothole. I blinked a few times to make sure I was awake because the whole car was dark. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness a little, I glanced beside me to find Derek sitting upright, watching the road through the windshield. I turned around to see that Simon and Tori were still asleep - appearing dead - in the back seat. Kit and Aunt Lauren were seated up front and I think Aunt Lauren is asleep because she's quiet. Whenever she was worried, she would never stop talking until everything she felt was laid out for everyone to see.

I jumped a little when I felt a warm hand rest on my knee. I looked over at Derek and he was looking at me with concern. I offered him my best reassuring smile and a placed my hand on top of his. I knew he wasn't buying it because I was worried about everyone. We have been on the run from the Edison Group for days, bouncing from motel to motel and it was very exhausting. Especially for Kit.

"How far until the next motel, dad?" Simon groaned from the backseat, re-positioning himself and forcing Tori up against the window on her side of the van. She woke up right away. Great.

"Watch it," she snapped as she sat up.

The van turned and we were bumped around a little bit as Kit pulled into the parking lot of another motel. This one had two floors of motel rooms and the office was located at the entrance of the parking lot. When Kit turned the van off, we all slowly climbed out and stretched as Kit made his way to the office. I felt Derek's hand entwine with mine and I looked up to meet his piercing, emerald green eyes. The concern from earlier was still there, so I gave his hand a squeeze.

I felt bad whenever I noticed how worried Derek got for me. I think after everything we've been through I am able to hold my own to a certain extent. However, I did appreciate his care for me as well. I just wish there was more I could do to prove to him that he didn't to feel so protective of me all the time.

Kit came back with two room keys and a small brown envelope. One key was to a room for the boys and a room for the girls. Simon and Derek followed Kit across the lot to their room, while Tori and I followed Aunt Lauren to our room up the stairs. I hated being so far from the others, but they were in the same building, so that was the only reassurance I had. When we got to our room, Tori made a beeline for the bathroom as she called dibs on the shower first. While she did that, Aunt Lauren and I sat in silence for a few moments that seemed to go on forever.

"Chloe..." Aunt Lauren came to sit beside me on the bed. "Are you sure that this whole thing with Derek is a good idea?"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I just worry about him because he so much bigger and much stronger than us, and -" I cut her off.

"Aunt Lauren," I said, taking her hand, "you have nothing to worry about with Derek." She only managed a half-smile. "If anything," I added, "he's a danger to our enemies."

I watched as Aunt Lauren took my hand and gave it a tight squeeze. When she reacted the way she did towards Derek, I was sure us being together was going to cause tension, especially since she was involved in the experiments. If anything, she should know better than me about our powers.

She opened her mouth to say something further, but the bathroom door and Tori emerged in a towel wrapped around her middle and her head. She was smiling through the exhausted look on her face, but you could tell she was relieved to be clean. Aunt Lauren looked with that same half-smile and motioned her head towards the bathroom, signalling me to go next. I gave her a quick hug and skipped into the steamy bathroom.

...

When I came out of the bathroom, I found Tori sound asleep in the bed we were sharing and Aunt Lauren asleep on the other bed. The lamp by the door was the only light I had to see throughout the room. I threw my clothes back on, turned the lamp off and climbed into bed next to Tori where I fell asleep myself as soon as my head hit the pillow.