Okay, first, I want to apologize for the long wait. I just got caught up with homework and volleyball. Second, I apologize for this chapter. It's not my best because I'm running out of ideas. It might start to take me longer to update because it's becoming harder to write. I might end the story soon because of my lack of ideas. I also feel like this wan't a very good chapter for some reason. I don't know why I feel that way but I do.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Lorien Legacies.

Adel-

I walk down the hallway to where the Cêpan are gathering for a meeting, thinking about the nightmare I had last night. It was terrible. I was forced to watch Lorien be destroyed over and over. Also, my mind decided to come up with the image of my parents laying dead and bloody on the sidewalk, murdered by Mogadorians. I try to force the memory of my dream away and think about the meeting instead. We all put our charges to sleep so we could have this meeting alone. It's so quiet without them running around. I almost miss the chaos the nine toddlers could cause. It helped distract me from my troubles.

"Wow, it sure is quiet here, isn't it?" Kentra asks as he walks up beside me. I jump and snap out of my little daydream. "Those kids can be pretty loud."

"Yeah, they can be noisy," I agree. We walk in silence for a couple more seconds before rounding a corner and enter the large room we have reserved for adult meetings. Kentra and I are the last to arrive and everyone else looks up at us when we come in.

"Oh, good. You're here," Brandon says as soon as we enter. I take a look around. All of the Cêpans are sitting on the floor talking and looking at papers, pictures and maps. The papers have foreign languages written on them. My eyes immediately find Sandor. He's sitting in the corner with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. I forgot he was sick with the flu. I can't believe Brandon made him get out of bed. He looks miserable. I make my way over to him and sit down.

"Adel," he starts quietly. "I'm sick, go sit next to Kater or someone else."

"No, you look lonely," I reply, thinking about how I actually just want to sit next to Sandor. Not only because he seems lonely. I want to sit next to him because I've had some terrible dreams and he is the only one who can take my mind off of it. Well, he and Seven are the only ones who can take my mind off of it.

"But I don't want to get you sick," he urges, trying to convince me to leave. I shake my head. All of us are at risk of getting sick because the ship is so small. It doesn't matter whether I sit next to Sandor or not.

"Sandor, I want to sit here. And there's nothing you can do to stop me," I say as I scoot closer to him to see the foreign maps. "What's this?" I ask as I point to one. He sighs and gives up, knowing there's no way for him to convince me to leave.

"These," he says, gesturing to the maps surrounding us. "are maps of Earth, the planet we're going to. These are all of their countries and it is all in their main language: English." I scan the documents.

"It looks complicated," I murmur as I try to decipher the many symbols.

"Actually, it's quite simple. We helped the Humans develop their written languages long ago, so this is really just a different version of Loric. Of course, it's been adapted a lot, so it's not very similar. You know what? I changed my mind; it's not simple at all…" he rambles, trailing off. I stare at him. There's just something comforting about the way he speaks, it's like he doesn't have a care in the world. I watch his face twist with confusion as he tries to read the language. "Damn, this is so hard!"

"It can't be that bad, you're just not used to it," I say.

"Well then how about you try to read it," he exclaims as he shoves the papers towards me looking angry and frustrated. I stare at him for a second longer than necessary. I think I'm the only one on this ship who thinks Sandor looks cute when he's mad. My gaze shifts downwards towards the translator papers near his feet.

"Okay. I will," I remark as I reach across him to grab the translator papers. My hand brushes his and I blush as I yank the papers towards me quickly. He tries to look over my shoulder and watch but he's too far away.

"Dammit! Now I can't see what you're doing!" he says angrily. I scoot close enough to him to feel the heat of his fever through his shirt.

"Can you see now?" I quietly ask. He nods and when he speaks again, his breath tickles the back of my neck.

"Yeah, I can see now."

"Okay good," I say. We sit like this for a while until one by one the others leave and the symbols on the paper blur together as the lack of sleep I had last night catches up with me. I lean backwards, forgetting Sandor is behind me. He catches me before I fall over and chuckles softly.

"Looks like somebody didn't get much sleep," he teases. I don't respond; all I want to do is sleep. The long, tedious translation process isn't helping with keeping me awake.

"I had a nightmare last night. It was a bad one, I couldn't sleep for a while later," I murmur. Sandor immediately turns serious.

"What was it about?" he asks.

"It was just like the others," I answer. I don't have to explain further because I've already told him about my earlier nightmares. "Only I also saw my parents killed. It was terrible." He squeezes my hand reassuringly.

"How often do they occur?"

"Almost every night."

"Do you know how to make them stop?"

"No."

"Oh," he pauses, looking for something else to say. "Do you think that sleeping with someone would help you feel safer?"

I think about this. "I don't know. It wouldn't hurt to try, right? Maybe I could sleep with you."

"No, I'm sick, remember? I shouldn't even be comforting you now. You should be staying away from me." I laugh softly.

"I wouldn't mind being sick if it means I find a way to get rid of the nightmares."

"But what if it doesn't work?" I sigh when I hear his skepticism. Right now, I don't care if it doesn't work. I can't even think straight because I'm so tired. There's a small part of me screaming "shut up" really loud because it's afraid of me saying something I'll regret but the majority of me doesn't give a fuck.

"I don't care about it not working and I don't care about getting sick."

"Well, you can't sleep here and I can't carry you…"

"We'll walk to my room. Or yours." He looks at me when I say this.

"What?"

"I want you to sleep with me."

"Adel, I'm sick."

"So, I probably am too."

"Adel," he urges, trying to make me change my mind.

"Sandor, please," I beg and he gives in.

"Okay fine," he says, starting to stand up. I do the same and we both lean on each other. One of us exhausted and the other weakened by sickness. Distantly, I feel myself pull him closer as we leave the room and walk silently to mine. I don't even bother changing into pajamas or turning on the light and neither does Sandor. We both collapse on the bed and Sandor wraps his arms around me. He's been working out since we got on the ship and he's no longer just some small, powerless teenager. He's stronger now, and that makes me feel almost like nothing can hurt me while he hugs me. It's comforting. The two of us fall asleep like that, me in Sandor's strong embrace.

So how was it? Was anyone too mature or OOC? Was it bad? Personally, I think it was bad. Is it just me or does it feel like this chapter moves too fast. I'm going to try to update my other story also to make up for the long wait.