Following the previous night's events, Andrea had hurried to her room. After Sean interrupted them on the balcony, Alex had left quickly, almost too quickly she had worried. As she hurried through the halls back to her room she wondered if what had just passed between the two of them was real. It certainly seemed too good to be true.

She'd locked her door and climbed into bed, hoping no one would come knocking to stir her from her thoughts. A mild heat spread through her scar as she drifted off to sleep and in her last waking moments she discarded the worry of what people would think when they found out, for Sean was sure to tell everyone, and instead touched her fingers lightly to her lips. Remembering how eagerly he'd kissed her back then... she couldn't help but smile.

She awoke to a banging.

"Aaandreaaa!" came Raven's muffled voice from behind her door. She sat up in a daze and nearly tripped over the plush carpet as she staggered sleepily to the door. Swinging it open she was faced with a slyly smiling Raven already dressed in her grey tracksuit, the hoodie tied around her waist and the tank top showing off her curves boldly.

"Hey." Andrea yawned, covering her mouth.

"YOU DOG!"

Andrea jumped at the sudden raise of voice, but Raven was busy laughing. She dragged her friend back into the room and raised her eyebrows, ignoring Andrea's shocked expression.

"You made out with Alex!" she exclaimed, her smile never faltering. Andrea turned scarlet, the sudden realism of the matter hitting her full on.

"Oh." she mumbled. "That."

"What do you mean that?" Raven laughed, plopping herself down on the bed as Andrea leaned against the wall, still blushing. "Don't tell me it wasn't amazing."

"No, it was, it was!" Andrea exclaimed, holding out her hands in defense. "Believe me. It was."

"I'll bet." Raven smirked. "Did he make the first move or was it you? Did you see fireworks? What was the best part?"

His hands, his lips, his smell, his hair, the sounds he made...

"Whoa, slow down there!" Andrea said, holding her hands out and trying to shake her current mind frame that kept taking her back to last night.

"I want to know!" she insisted, banging the mattress for emphasis.

"Um, well I think he made the first move, but that part's kind of a blur..." she said blushing. "Fire works... I don't know..."

"What about the best part?" Raven asked, clearly not impressed at her blunt answers so far. She took a moment to think it over.

"Everything." she said bashfully as Raven finally let out a squeal.

"Well you'll have to tell me all about it tonight." she announced, bouncing up off the bed. "You're coming over to my room. We're having a girls night."

"Really?" Andrea said happily. She'd never had much time to have "girls nights", let alone hang out with many friends. Sure she was friendly with people and had been invited to a few, but she'd always held back, worried about what human contact could do to effect her power. Now though, she was safe.

"Absolutely. And I'm sure you'll have even more to tell about what's going to go down today." Raven added deviously.

"Wait, what? What's going on today?"

"Charles wants you back in training. You're meeting him at the bunkers again. Alexis going to be there." she teased.

"Oh God..." Andrea moaned, covering her face in her hands. "I see Alex again for the first time after last night and Charlesis going to be there?"

"Enjoy that awkwardness." Raven winked. "I'm going to weapons training with Hank and Sean. Hopefully Charles will get you two to work realclosenow that he knows how the two of you scared the shit out of Shaw with that bolt. I know I was unconscious and everything, but Hank told me it was a doozy."

"See you." Andrea dismissed as Raven waved and disappeared out the door, kicking it shut behind her. She turned to face her closet: the grey tracksuit sticking out like a sore thumb.

"Well..." she mumbled, grabbing it off the hanger. "...this should be interesting..."

She'd left shortly after and had walked across the grounds on her way to the bunkers, taking in the clear sky and flourish of growth that seemed to be everywhere on the estate. Stepping outside she'd been met with a warm gust of air from the sunny day and had removed her sweat shirt and tied it around her waist just like she'd seen Raven do. The further she walked the more clearly the bunkers stood out and the next thing she knew she was at the door to the one they'd been assigned to for that day.

Reaching her hand out she moved to push the thick door open, but it wouldn't budge. Frowning, she tried again but the heavy door seemed to be locked. Looking around for another entrance, she turned to go when there was a loud groaning of metal on metal behind her and she turned to see the door wide open, Alex standing in it's path.

For a moment he looked slightly surprised to see her even though they must have been expecting her, but his face quickly composed itself and he pressed his lips together.

"Hey." he said, a small smile sneaking onto his face. She could feel herself blushing already.

"Hi. Is Charles in there?" she asked, trying desperately to calm the heat in her cheeks.

"Yeah, we've been waiting for you." he said, stepping aside to let her in. She tried to do something with her hands so they wouldn't look so awkward but just ended up walking straight in with them at her sides. As she passed him their arms brushed momentarily and she caught a whiff of cedar that seemed to linger on his skin like he'd been out walking in the forest.

Forcing herself to ignore it she continued through the steel door and into the bigger chamber, forcing herself not to look back even though she could feel him much closer behind her then one normally would stand. Instead her eyes turned to Charles who stood in the middle of the room, the familiar smile still splayed on his face, but this time there was a twinkle of knowing in his eye and suddenly his smile seemed to more closely resemble a smirk.

"Good morning you two." he greeted cheerily and Andrea found herself staring at her shoes for the most part. "I hope you both had a... satisfactory night's sleep last night."

Alex cleared his throat and Andrea felt her face grow even redder, wishing momentarily that Shaw would have just finished her off so she wouldn't have to stand this situation.

"Today we're going to be looking deeper into your abilities, mainly those that triggered the situation that saved all of our lives the other day." he said, and Andrea could detect some gratitude in his voice. "It appears that the more adrenaline the two of you are feeling at the time of contact, the bigger and more powerful the blast will be. Luckily we have several of these buildings at our disposal, so it won't take long and much energy to discover more about what we can do to strengthen the two of you."

They stood there for a moment until finally Andrea spoke up.

"So what exactly do you want us to do?"

"Well that in itself is up to you. I'm going to step outside while your goal..." he said, smiling, "will be to make a blast twice the size of the one you made on your first day in here."

Charles must have seen the expressions on their faces because he let out a laugh.

"Charles, you can't be serious." Alex said, mouth agape. "Something that big... there would be nothing left of the bunker."

"Well, if my theory is correct the certain type of power you're going to produce won't need to destroy it. So let's hope that works." he said slyly before turning around and opening the door.

"I'll be back when you've achieved the expectations." he called, before closing it behind him and leaving the two of them alone for the first time since last night.

There was a moments silence before Alex spoke up.

"Well this is going to be interesting."

She turned to look at him and caught him doing the same thing, even though the two of them quickly looked away the moment their eyes met.

"What does he expect us to do, exactly?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"I dunno. Maybe try the same thing as last time?"

"Seriously?"

But that's what they ended up doing. In a minute, Alex stood at one end of the bunkers while Andrea shifted from foot to foot awkwardly at the other.

"Now what?" he asked, and she felt herself smile slightly. She needed to relax. This was just another day of training, nothing more. What had happened between the two of them was something they could talk about later. For now, she needed to concentrate on achieving their objective so she could leave. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, searching inside herself for the source of her power. Darkness, darkness, darkness... she needed to find the spark that would light her up. She needed fireworks...

Wait a minute.

Fireworks. Hadn't she just talked about this with Raven? Seeing fireworks... maybe that was what she needed to make this work.

The thought was so sudden that it seemed to trigger something inside of her. Suddenly, she felt her whole body alive- slowly charging with power.

Ohboyshe thought to herself. Fireworks.

"Andrea?"

She had completely forgotten about Alex as her plan fell into action. He was still standing on the opposite side of the bunker, looking at her carefully. "Are you okay?"

Fireworks.

"Come here." she said softly, her voice carrying across the room and she watched his expression change to suspicion. "Trust me."

"I do." he said, his face calming slightly but that look of curiosity still there. She did the same, starting to walk towards him slowly. She knew she should be feeling uncomfortable. Awkward even. But all she felt was electricity, tingling on top of her skin, surging tides inside her. They were almost six feet apart when she spoke again.

"Stop."

He stopped walking and looked on, cautious of her movements but in the dim light from the florescence she could see that his power had started moving as well. He was glowing slightly and there was a ringing in the air. She kept walking towards him, her eyelids half closed.

"You're kind of freaking me out." he whispered neutrally. She was standing directly in front of him now and her eyes flickered open. "Sorry." she whispered back and saw him smile. She raised her hand slightly so it hovered over his chest and heard him inhale. The air seemed to be full of static once again, just like the first time they'd tried this. If she touched him now, she knew what would happen. There would be a blast. A blast that would rip through the wall behind her and shatter out into the open air.

But that's what she did last time.

If she wanted to double the power, she needed to find a way to enhance the power. If the tips of her fingers could cause something that strong, then what would fireworks do...

She felt a crackle under her skin and looked down. Tiny bolts of lightning slicing the space between her hovering hand and Alex's chest. She stared at it, transfixed, before casting her eyes back up to him. He was staring at her, an expression of awe transfixed on his face. She stretched herself up on her toes so their faces were only centimeters apart.

"Andrea?" he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Hmm?"

"I've never met anyone like you before."

She smiled, tilting her head towards his so she could feel his breath warm on her face, smell the cedar on his skin and see every emotion she was making him feel.

"I'll take that as a compliment." she whispered, as she leaned in to kiss him.

It was electric. Literally. As if waiting for her permission, once their lips touched, he raised his hand to her face, cupping it with his palm and kissing her harder. She folded into him, letting him take over, trying to concentrate on the climax of power she was feeling inside her, trying to wait at least a moment before releasing it. He was making it almost impossible to concentrate though, with his hand caressing her face, his kisses rougher then the night before like he had stayed up all night thirsting for more. She moaned into his mouth and he pulled her closer still, barely pulling away to breathe.

"Alex..." she gasped against his mouth, but he didn't listen, clearly caught up in the kiss. She tried once more to warn him but by then it was too late. She let out a gasp through their lips and felt the power shoot out of her, charging into him. She felt his body tense as if realizing that the purpose of this was to make their powers fuse, and expected him to do the same as he had last time- tell her to get down so he could release all the energy. But he didn't move. She could feel her power inside him, and his eyes widened. They had broken the kiss but neither of their bodies could move for some reason. In a flash, panic set in. He was going to have to let that energy out soon, she knew he didn't have the control to keep it. But if they couldn't move... then it was going to hit her.

And if it hitting her was anything like it was when it hit the wall, it wasn't going to be pretty.

Just as the thought shot through her, she felt his body tense, ready for release, and she looked into his eyes. Would this be the last time? In what was just a second that seemed like eternity, she had realized that she was going to die. He must have seen it too, because his face was so panicked and agonized that she couldn't even begin to imagine how hard he was trying to control it. She felt his body lurch and knew what was coming next. In a flash of emotion, she finally felt her muscles loosen, but instead of getting out of the way- something she knew she'd have no time for- she lurched forwards and wrapped her arms around his neck, his body still frozen, and held him like he was a lifeline.

He tensed a final time and his eyes widened while hers shut.

"NO!" he yelled, but it was too late.

The moment was like before when he had triggered his power. Once again, time slowed down. She opened her eyes for a moment just to see the light from his power shoot out, joining the electricity that crackled in lightning all around the room. She felt a burning sensation in her stomach, something that must have been the power. She braced herself for the pain and then the end, which she knew would come soon. Squeezing him tighter for one last time, the blast finally came. It shot out hard, directly through his chest and into hers. She screamed, more in the fear and the power of the gesture then the pain, and felt everything leave her as she was suddenly left in darkness.

But it didn't come. The darkness she saw was just the backs of her eyelids.

She was still squeezing him and what finally made her open her eyes was that he was holding her too. Both of them breathing heavily, neither of them moving, they stood there in the middle of the bunker which was now empty of fire and lightning but all the walls appeared scorched black. That was when Andrea felt something inside her. Something full, like she had eaten to much and was ready to burst. It wasn't painful, but the feeling was unfamiliar to her. This and the fact that she found herself alive finally made her come to her senses.

"Alex..." she said, her voice cracking on his name, but he didn't let her go. "Alex, I'm alright. I'm alive."

Finally, shakily, his arms loosened and she pulled away to look at him. His eyes were wide, his face in shock, his muscles still tense as if ready to leap into action at any minute. "How...?" he said, his eyes searching as if he couldn't believe that she was here in front of him. "I don't know." she replied, equally as shocked.

They heard a screeching from behind them and jumped, Alex pulling her towards him, her hand clenched in his. Charles stood in the doorway, a look of equal surprise on his face. He walked quickly into the room, his eyes searching the walls as Andrea and Alex watched him, astounded.

"Unbelievable..." Charles was muttering to himself. "Absolutely extraordinary..."

"Charles?" Andrea asked weakly, her whole body trembling. Alex on the other hand, seemed to be feeling furious.

"Did you know that was going to happen?" he said, his tone laced with anger. "Did you have any idea that she almost died?"

"No, of course not." Charles said, still astounded. "I expected her to manipulate the blast- convert it into lightning. But Andrea, what you've just done... I can't begin to explain..."

"Try." she said, her heart still hammering in her chest which was still full of the feeling she had gotten from the blast.

Charles stared at the two of them, his face a mask of awe and wonder.

"You've just shown that you have the capability to have the same power..."

Alex squeezed her hand tighter.

"...as Sebastian Shaw."

WELL. That took me forever to update, sorry guys. I've been so into my HP fic that this one has kind of been ignored :P Sorry! Anyway, this was a very revealingchapter I thought, and make sure to stick around. I think it's about time I lived this fic up to it's rating, so stay tuned for fun M rated times ;)

Thanks for all the subs and alerts, and thanks to all of you who are still sticking around :P

Reviews welcome, I love them all!

xx

-Cal