Chapter 11: Sunday, 4 AM
"You asleep?" Stella whispers, moving her head to look up at him.
"No. Can't."
"Me either." She yawns and lifts her weight off of Mac. Thirsty, she goes to get a drink from one of the bowls, only to find both of them almost completely frozen. "We now have no water."
Mac, still on the ground, stretches. "I always thought those chairs were uncomfortable. Now I don't think they're that bad."
She laughs, "Still, a bed is much better."
"But why would we keep a bed in the lab?"
"So you don't have to sleep on that couch in your office. Yes, I do know you still sleep in your office sometimes."
"Maybe twice a month."
"You need to go home and sleep every night, Mac. You're human, whether you think so or not."
"I don't know about that. I must be a superhero if I can survive the weekend in here with you and no heater."
"And what did you mean by that?"
He shakes his head, "Nothing. Forget I said it."
"But you did say it."
"Well, we both know that we don't always get along, especially after being together for a while. It hasn't really been that bad in here, minus the fire thing."
"Another thing I don't understand: we're so close to each other, yet we fight all the time," she sits back down beside him.
"Married people always fight with each other. I'd like to think that they are close or they wouldn't have gotten married."
"For one thing, they're together all the time."
"So are we. Both of us have made work our whole life."
"Wait, why are we talking about married couples?" she interrupts.
"I'm trying to explain why we fight so much."
"I get that; we spend too much time together."
"Claire and I spent very little time together because of my job. The night before… we had a big fight. She thought I was having an affair… with you because I always told her I was at work, and I was. I tried to tell her I wouldn't do that to her and you wouldn't either; you two were friends. We never got to apologize since… the towers fell."
"That must be worse than her not being found," Stella puts an arm around him.
"I shouldn't have told you this. Now you have to deal with it too."
"Mac, I can't see Claire thinking we're having an affair. She didn't mean it; she was just jealous because you spent more time with me than her. She asked me if we were a couple moths before… that day… when we went shopping together." She watches him as he takes the news in. "I'm sure she's forgiven you for not spending enough time with her."
Mac nods, "Thank you, Stel."
"I'm kind of hungry."
"That banana's still up there. You can have it if it isn't frozen yet."
"No, I can't let you starve."
"Just eat the dumb banana. Do you have to argue with me every time?"
"Yes. Here," she offers him half the banana.
"Let me see your half."
"Why?"
"So I can make sure your half is bigger."
"Than it wouldn't be half, would it?" she smirks and takes a bite.
"Smarty pants."
She sticks her tongue out, "So?"
"You are so immature, Bonasera."
"I'm still hungry."
"Want the rest of my banana?" he offers.
"No, I don't really like bananas."
"But you just ate part of one."
"Well there's nothing else in here to eat unless I become a cannibal."
A/N: I would've updated yesterday, but when I first checked my email, you guys had let me down. I didn't have any reviews. Then when I checked later I had three, but I didn't feel like updating. And this morning I had two more. Thanks; now I feel better. So... I'm on page one hundred sixteen in Huckleberry Finn. And as soon as I finish this I'm off to read some more. Actually the book isn't all that bad; it's just kind of hard to understand what they're talking about. And my chart is halfway done, at least. I have a bazillion characters and lots of little details for the plot, though I can't exactly figure out what the main conflict is except they're running away. But I have no connections, themes, symbols, or predictions. Then when you look on the back of the book, it states that there is no plot or moral in the book. Well how am I supposed to fill that out on my chart then? Summer reading is so stupid. I practiced my flute today; I've got three out of seven memorized (just football show). Hopefully I can get at least two more done before camp starts next week. What else... not very much writing getting done. I'm stuck on my one story so I started another. And typing wise, I've got the All Access one done and three chapters of the Nickelback one. Can't remember what happens next chapter in this one, but the one after that is good; Stella's climbing in the air vent. More tomorrow as long as you continue to review.