CHAPTER SIX: "So one by one they turn from me…"

A.N.: The song is "Walk Through the Fire" from the Buffy episode "Once More, With Feeling." This is where thoughts start to get naughtier, folks…and the story starts to get darker.

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When Clear woke up the next morning she was thankfully still back-to-back with Kimberly, but every single movement made her shiver with arousal, making her wonder what on earth she'd dreamed the night before. She carefully slipped out of bed to go relieve herself in more than one sense, and in the process woke Kimberly up.

"Mmn?" the half-conscious brunette asked incoherently.

"Go back to sleep," Clear said gently. Kim obliged. As Clear rid herself of tension in the bathroom, she wondered in great detail what it would be like to have Kimberly's hands bring her to ecstasy. StopitstopitSTOPIT, the blonde chastised herself as she followed the smell of fresh breakfast.

When she entered the kitchen she found Mrs. Peters and Maria practically dancing around each other in an attempt to cook five different kinds of foods. "Good morning, Clear!" Mrs. Peters said, looking up at the girl's entrance. Sit down, make yourself comfortable!" Clear was about to open her mouth to ask if she could help, but Mrs. Peters seemed to read her mind. "We don't need any help, dear, go ahead and sit down."

"Uh, thank you," Clear said a little shyly, sitting cautiously on the couch.

Back in Rory's old room, Kimberly woke up fully, feeling just as aroused as Clear had been, but unlike Clear, she remembered her dream. She had been lying with the blonde on a soft feather bed, sobbing. Clear had Kimberly's head in her lap and was stroking the girl's hair, whispering words of comfort in her ear. Kimberly had no idea what she'd been crying about, but she'd felt warm and safe in Clear's arms. Suddenly the two were lying side by side, both of them naked. Clear was still caressing Kim, but her hands were running across her breasts, cupping the small mounds in her hands. Kimberly arched her back and moaned as Clear administered sweet torture with her fingertips, tracing trails lower and lower down her stomach until her hand met the fiery arousal building between Kim's legs. Just as Clear was about to complete her exploration, Kimberly woke up, completely and totally frustrated. She had to ease her tension in the bathroom several times before she was composed enough to convene with the others in the kitchen.

When Kim entered, Clear was sipping at some hot chocolate and Maria was just coming inside with the paper. Kimberly sat down carefully next to Clear, not sure how close she wanted to get to the girl yet. Clear too looked uncomfortable at Kim's closeness, but more because she was afraid that she would lose control, take Kimberly into her arms, and kiss her senseless. Both girls forgot their feelings however when Maria put the paper on the table, both of them eager to catch up on the world outside.

The asylum fire wasn't mentioned on the front page of the main paper, but Kimberly found a picture of the flames in all their sickening glory gracing the front of the "Local" section. She shuddered at the memory and flipped to the next page looking for better news. She didn't find it.

Clear looked up from the article she was reading when she heard Kim gasp. The girl had dropped the paper on the table and was gripping the wood as if to crush it to sawdust. Her face was paler than Clear had ever seen it before, and the girl was trembling. Tears began streaming down the small brunette's cheeks as she stared in horror at the paper. Clear looked over her shoulder and her stomach dropped when she saw the headline. "MAN DIES IN FREAK ACCIDENT ON FREEWAY." The man in question was Kimberly's father.

Clear caught the sobbing girl as she fell from her chair, stroking the girl's back as she held her close. She had no words of comfort to give to her distraught friend, and could only hold her as the girl's anguish left her in a flood of tears. Kimberly wrapped her arms around Clear's neck, clutching the girl with no intention of letting go. She needed Clear's warmth and comfort more than anything, and the feel of being in her arms let Kimberly know she wasn't alone.

"Good Lord, child! What on earth is wrong?" Mrs. Peters asked as she and Maria hurried over to where Clear knelt on the floor, held holding sobbing friend. When the two women saw the newspaper article they slumped visibly. In bold black print, seeming to stand out from all the other words, the phrase, "Survived by his daughter, Kimberly," burned the paper with its harsh clarity.

"I'm here, I'm here," Clear murmured in Kimberly's hair. "Just let it out, Kimberly. I'm right here." She kissed the girl's forehead briefly in order to reinforce her words. Kimberly said nothing – just held onto Clear as if she was a lifeline.

"Oh my God…" Maria said, gripping the back of a chair for support as she stared in horror at the paper. Mrs. Peters said nothing, though sorrow filled her face. She quickly scooped up the entire newspaper and carried it to the back door, opening it and throwing the vile news into the recycling bin. When that was done, she helped Clear lift Kimberly enough to guide her to the couch, where the girl collapsed again, still crying. Clear sat beside her, and Kimberly fell over and landed with her head in her friend's lap. Mrs. Peters took a blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over the girl's shaking form. Clear looked at the woman gratefully.

"Maria, will you set a blanket out on the rug? It looks like we may be having breakfast in here," Mrs. Peters said softly.

It took Maria a minute to register the request through her shock, but she eventually nodded, and she and her mother left the girls alone in the living room.

Clear felt surprisingly compassionate as she stroked Kimberly's hair. The girl was slowly becoming to mean so much to her, and the news of her father's death hurt Clear as much as it did Kimberly. She could only imagine how alone and helpless Kimberly felt. But she's not alone, Clear thought. She has me. The completely uncharacteristic thought stunned her for a moment, but she pushed the surprise out of her mind. Kimberly was distraught, and Clear wanted nothing else on her mind if she was to offer Kimberly the comfort she needed. Offer the comfort she needed without paying attention to the fact that the girl's head was on Clear's lap in such a way that if Kimberly moved an inch she would be kissing the blonde's most intimate spot.

As Kimberly lay in her friend's lap, thoughts of her dream returned to her. She wondered if her dream had been a sort of premonition, but that would mean that she and Clear would have sex later that afternoon, which she doubted. It was then that she realized that she was close to kissing Clear's center, and the thought made her lightheaded even through her tears. Deciding that a change of position would be beneficial, Kim got up and sat on Clear's left, draping her legs over the girl's lap and wrapping her arms around her neck. She couldn't help but snuggle closer as she rested her head on Clear's shoulder.

Clear was startled for a moment, but reached for the blanket that had fallen off of Kimberly's shoulders and re-wrapped it around the trembling girl. Once that was done, she held the girl close, rubbing her back and stroking her hair. Clear's heart fluttered when Kim sighed at the contact as her tears began to abate. Clear kissed the girl's forehead again, then her cheek. "I'm here," she repeated. "I'll never leave. I'm here."

A pang of longing went through Kimberly's heart, but she pushed it aside and shifted so that she was pressed against Clear as much as she could be. The contact made her tingle all over, but she needed it more than anything. She moved her head down and felt the blonde's heart beating rapidly in her chest. Kim wondered what on earth was causing Clear's pulse to race, and she didn't dare contemplate what she hoped the reason was.

When Kimberly put her head on her chest, it was all Clear could do not to climax on the spot. She knew that Kim might only be snuggling this close because she needed comfort, but a hidden part of her hoped that it was more than that.

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As much as Mrs. Peters, Maria, and Clear tried, Kimberly wouldn't have a single bite of pancake, and Clear ended up half-carrying the girl back to the room they shared. For hours and hours Kimberly lay morosely on the bed with Clear beside her, still stroking the girl's brown hair. As Kim lay in total silence, breaking in and out of small bouts of tears, Clear sat and mused as to why she felt the girl's pain as if it was her own. Had they really become that close in the space of a year?

It's inevitable, she said to herself. A year together in the same room, the same building, sharing the same emotions. Every day. Every minute. You'd look into her eyes and see the same pain. How can you not love her?

Clear's train of thought screeched to a halt and nearly derailed. Love her??? It was absurd. But…did she? Clear thought back to when they were in Burke's apartment for the night and they had ended up in each other's arms, and then later the day before when Kimberly had kissed her on the cheek and Clear had returned the kiss on the girl's forehead. Friendship?

Clear closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She'd have to be a fool not to recognize what was happening. She was falling in love with Kimberly. Hell, after last night's shower, she thought wryly, remembering how in her fantasy she had made love to the petite brunette. But as obvious and undeniable as it was, Clear was still struggling to accept and understand it.

The blonde looked down at Kimberly to see that she had drifted off, exhausted by her tears and the pain of her loss. Maybe…Clear let out her breath in a rush. I am so going to hell for this. Gathering her courage and taking another deep breath, she bent over Kimberly and kissed her cheek, barely a millimeter away from the girl's lips. Clear savored the feel of the brunette's skin before pulling away, feeling warm both inside and out. She felt a little ashamed of herself, but that feeling vanished when she saw the look on Kimberly's face. Despite the sorrow she was feeling, she was smiling in her sleep, looking utterly content.

Relieved, Clear drew the covers over the girl's shoulders and quietly left the room.

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While Mrs. Peters was out on an errand that afternoon, Maria and Clear sat listlessly in front of the TV, flipping through channels. Supposedly there was a zombie movie marathon on HBO, but they hadn't found it yet.

Talk show…Sesame Street…commercial…news…talk show…zom—

"Wait," Clear said, even though they'd reached their destination. "Go back a few channels." Maria complied. "Stop!"

On the news was a collapsed house, where police officers and even firefighters were picking through the rubble. Clear gaped in horror as the reporter on the screen calmly described the scene.

"I'm here at the site of the collapse, where the rubble is desperately being searched for Mr. and Mrs. Browning. As of yet no apparent cause of the collapse has been determined, but a year ago a loose brick off the roof killed the Brownings' son, Alex, a survivor of the Flight 180 tragedy…"

"Enjoy the zombie movies," Clear said weakly as she staggered up from the couch and stumbled for Rory's old room. She collapsed next to Kimberly on the small bed and curled up into a ball.

"What happened?" she heard Kimberly whisper, turning towards her friend.

"Alex's parents just died…" she said hoarsely. And then it was her turn to retreat into grief.

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Dinner was a silent affair. Maria had recognized the significance of the news story and had passed the information on to Mrs. Peters. Neither woman was surprised when the girls ate little and retreated to bed early.

In the small hours of the next morning, Clear dreamt she was running. She had Kimberly's hand in hers, racing as if their lives depended on it. Kimberly looked behind her and gasped, instantly increasing her pace. Her reaction compelled Clear to look over her own shoulder.

Behind them was a monstrous tornado, gaining fast. Like a living presence it bore down on them, roaring deafeningly as it destroyed everything in its path…

Clear sat bolt upright in bed, startling Kimberly out of a dreamless slumber. "Clear, what is it?" the girl asked.

"I just figured out Death's design."