A/N:

I've been waiting to get Alex stoned for AGES. FINALLY IT HAPPENS.

And hey, more reviews and or suggestions would be really, really appreciated.

"No! This thing is hideous!" Cynthia bellowed as she chucked a blue vase filled with paper mache flowers across the rec room, creating a loud shatter as it broke against the wall.

"Cynthia! Calm down, it's just a vase." Alex attempted to soothe her agitated state.

"No!" She cried as she hurled another vase, this time it hit Alex in the shoulder, breaking on impact. A shard of the glass punctured his skin an inch below the middle of his left collarbone.

"God damnit, Cynthia!" Alex yelled as the sharp pain penetrated his shoulder. He brought his right hand up to clench the fabric around the glass in an attempt to control the hot pulse of blood.

Cynthia froze and placed her hand over her mouth. "Oh my god, Alex!" She rushed over to him, beginning to cry.

Alex grimaced and backed away several steps. "Just go calm down somewhere, okay? I'll be fine, I'll go to the infirmary."

Cynthia stepped forward, trying to get a view of his injury. "No, no, no... I'm sorry! Oh my god, I don't even know what happened!" She exclaimed as tears spilled from her eyes.

Alex held his left hand up to block her from coming any closer, which caused a bolt of sharp pain to cross the wound. "Just shut up and go lie down somewhere, okay?"

Cynthia nodded weakly.

Cynthia was somewhat of an odd character, Alex nor anyone else knew how much of it was from the trauma of the Siege and how much had been there before. Alex had barely known her before the Occupation, she'd only been at Terminus for two weeks when the men came. She had the tendency to occasionally emote more than what seemed appropriate at things, like having embraced Gareth tightly for simply agreeing to take her and Albert along to Atlanta. She once cried from joy because Camille had brought her an extra pair of sheets, and had a panic attack over a slight weak spot in Terminus' fence that was easily repaired. And now, she had had a meltdown over two vases being of colors she didn't like.

Alex turned and headed toward the infirmary, not bothering to see what Cynthia was doing behind him. "Shit," he muttered under his breath as he still clutched the hot and throbbing wound tightly with his hand while he advanced to the room he hoped Kaylee was already in.

As he arrived to the open infirmary doorway, he found Kaylee fiddling around in a clear, plastic box that rest on one of the beds.

Kaylee turned her head to the entrance upon hearing his arrival. "Oh my god, what happened?" she asked as she picked up and set the box on nightstand next to the bed.

"Cynthia had a meltdown over the colors on a vase not bein' the right ones, got in her line of fire," Alex replied as he stepped forward to meet Kaylee.

"Oh," Kaylee replied understandably. "Well, go sit down and I'll see how deep it is."

Alex plodded over to the bed and sat down, still holding immense pressure on his wound as Kaylee readied supplies.

"Uh, you're gonna need to take your shirt off," Kaylee said as she turned around with her equipment. The demand gave Alex pause, being as he was the modest type, especially when it concerned women. But he released his hand from the glass and removed his shirt anyway, setting it to his right.

"Okay," Kaylee said as she analyzed the piece of blue glass stuck in his skin, "I don't think this is too bad, looks about half an inch." She looked over the wound as she pressed a dampened cotton swab around it, absorbing bits of semi-dried blood. The cool sensation against his tender skin was as soothing as it was uncomfortable.

Alex avoided looking at the shard in his skin, the sight of considerable wounds on his own body often made him feel ill. Despite the desensitization he'd had to endure, he sill retained a bit of squeamishness. "Then why does it hurt like a mofo?"

Kaylee laughed. "Do you have a low tolerance for pain?"

Yes.

Alex shook his head. "Oh, no. Just, you know how glass is."

Kaylee gave a smile and nodded, Alex didn't think she believed him. "So, will this need stitches?" he asked, hoping the answer would be no.

She squinted at the wound. "Uh, no. I think you just narrowly skirted that."

Thank you, god.

"Good," Alex said as he chewed the inside of his mouth and glanced down, recalling the bright red hickey Theresa had given him on the right side of his waist the night before. He shifted in a way that he hoped would prevent Kaylee from seeing it, but she undoubtedly already had.

Damnit, Theresa.

He was certainly glad Theresa had been feeling better enough to have so eagerly pulled him into bed when he had entered her room the previous night, but he couldn't help feeling bashful over Kaylee seeing the mark.

Alex felt terrible that he had been sleeping when Theresa's mother was carried away to the killing floor. He, like Theresa, had thought Karen was going to be told that afternoon and hadn't anticipated Allison furiously shaking him awake, telling him of what happened.

While the butchering took place, he had sat on the sofa in the reception hall with Theresa's head resting on a pillow in his lap and her feet resting on Mary's. Later, when it was done, David appeared and told them she was ready. Theresa bolted up from having been idle for at least forty minutes, raced into the kitchen where she had prepared breakfast for her mother earlier that day, and proceeded to be delivered Karen's meat.

Alex said she didn't have to eat it if she didn't want to, Gareth however, said she needed to be strong enough to fully accept the choice Karen had made and not shy away from it. Alex had instinctively agreed with Gareth's opinion, but he didn't quite like the way he had put it.

It was a somber meal, much like that of Priscilla's meat, but Theresa ate vigorously, taking a sip of water after every fourth bite like she always had. She didn't say a word throughout the meal that she shared with only Alex, Mary and Gareth. Afterwards, she took a long bath, then climbed into bed and fell asleep with her face buried in Alex's chest.

Kaylee proceeded to remove the glass shard, causing a yelp to escape Alex's throat from the pain, which he attempted to laugh off after noticing Kaylee trying to repress her amused expression. He handled the rest of the ordeal better, breathing a sigh of relief after she'd thoroughly treated the injury.

"Can't believe you didn't need help with this," Alex remarked as he patted the gauze taped over the wound.

"Truth is, I love doing this," Kaylee said as she unfurled her rubber gloves.

"You're a natural." Alex smiled.

Kaylee placed the gloves in the trash can and looked away. "Primum non nocere; first, do no harm," she said solemnly.

"Huh?" Alex had heard the phase before, but he wasn't sure of the relevance.

Kaylee turned back to meet his eyes. "The Hippocratic Oath. I never actually took it because I'd only been in medical school for two years, but I'd already taken it at heart."

"You feel like you broke it?"

"I don't feel like I did, I did."

"Yeah, but only by proxy. You've never mistreated any patient, right?"

The corners of Kaylee's mouth twitched upwards. "I taught Gavin and David and Mitch about human anatomy."

"Yeah, but in this world, you make a damn good doctor," Alex reassured with a smile, reaching over and putting his shirt back on.

Kaylee smiled, flattered. "Well, I've never actually killed anyone."

Alex's smile fell at her remark. "Well... not directly at least. You know we're all guilty of killin' 'em."

Kaylee looked down to the unswept floor and nodded. "I know, I just try and tell myself I'm..."

"Yeah, so did I at first. You just gotta accept it and focus on all the good things you can do, like heal." Alex pointed to the bloody and torn area on his shirt that rest over his wound.

"Does it really work?"

"Not all the time, but it makes it a hell of a lot easier. Trust me," Alex replied as he unseated himself from the bed and made his way to the door. "Hey, thanks for this." He gave her a nod.

"No problem," she replied, appearing comforted by his words.

Alex proceeded toward his room, seeking a clean shirt devoid of blood stains. After he retrieved one, he began to venture to the garden where Theresa had been assigned duty. The garden had been replanted over much of the mass grave from the Siege, being as it made good fertilizer.

As he strolled to his destination, pain beginning to subside in his shoulder from the dose of aspirin Kaylee had given him, he saw David holding up a plastic gallon container in front of Gavin that carried about an inch of yellowish liquid in it.

"I dare you to drink this," David said.

"No way man, that's fuckin' bile! Shit's nasty," Gavin exclaimed. Alex had no idea why they had drained bile and put it in a container, but he wasn't about to ask.

"I double-dare you." David raised his eyebrows and shook the container. Gavin emitted an exasperated sigh and turned away from him.

Goddamn morons, Alex thought. He had to respect them for doing the dirty of dirtiest deeds for Terminus, but he didn't think of them as being the smartest of their pack. Gavin, however, could be somewhat fun, Alex felt. Despite the intimidating appearance the large, bald man had, he had once playfully picked up Kaylee and then Albert one night in the courtyard and carried them around for a short while to show them what it was like to be tall. The two really seemed to enjoy it and Alex had laughed at their antics.

Alex approached the gardening area full of sprouting vegetables that eagerly ate up the springtime weather to see Theresa pulling up carrots by their stalks, and Martin and Gina fiddling with a bag of fertilizer.

Uh-oh. Alex knew Martin and Gina were Theresa's least favorite people at Terminus and hoped she wasn't too cross by their presence.

"Hey guys." Alex waved at the three.

They all turned their heads to spot Alex offering them a wave.

Theresa smiled, looking relieved to see him there, and stood up. "Where have you been?" she asked.

"Uh..." He knew telling her about Cynthia injuring him would anger her, "Well, Cynthia had another meltdown and I ended up gettin' cut in my shoulder with a shard of glass when she threw a vase in the rec room."

"Whoa, damn," Martin said.

Gina simply twitched her eyebrows upwards.

"She what? Where is it?" Theresa trotted forward to meet him.

Alex pulled the sleeve on his shirt down to reveal the injury covered in gauze. "Kaylee patched me up."

"Fucking bitch," Theresa spat.

Alex pulled his sleeve back over. "Theresa-"

"No, she needs to be punished for this. Crying over clean towels is one thing, but she physically hurt you! Have you told Gareth yet?"

"No, not yet."

Her eyes widened. "Why aren't you mad about this? This must hurt."

"I was mad at first but she... she's not all there."

Theresa crossed her arms. "I don't care, she needs to be punished. Lock her in her room for a few days."

"Make her have to torch the shit from the burn vat for the next week," Martin interjected as he knelt down and cut open the bag of fertilizer with a pocket knife.

"Yeah, that seems fair," Theresa said.

"We'll talk to Gareth, okay?" Alex put his hand on her shoulder.

Theresa let her arms fall back down to her sides. "Yeah, now," she said as she walked past him and began moving quickly toward Gareth's office.

Alex sped after her. "No, wait."

"Don't try and stop me, Alex," she shot back.

"No, Tess, that's not what I mean, would you just stop first?"

Theresa let out an aggravated sigh and halted. "What?" She turned around.

"I wanted to tell you that I have a surprise," he said with a giddy smile.

Her anger turned to curiosity. "A surprise?"

"Gare said it was okay if me and Mike took one of those pot plants we found. So we dried it and the leaves are all ready to be rolled."

Alex and Mike had found patches of wild marijuana plants while on a run and asked Gareth if they could take one or two back to Terminus. Gareth said yes, as apparently Alex had caught him while he was in a good mood, and Gareth told Alex he deserved to get high after not having done so since shortly after the turn. Theresa had also told Alex a while back that she'd never smoked weed and after Alex had found the plants, she said she'd like to try it if Gareth gave the okay. Alex also hoped it would help Theresa feel better after having become so depressed after the incident with her mother.

"Oh... okay, great," Theresa replied, a smile forming on her lips.

"So, tonight at ten-thirty when we're both off?"

She exhaled deeply. "Yeah, that sounds great."

"I still cannot believe you've never smoked weed before."

"Well, I was never much of a party girl," she said lowly.

Alex cracked-up. "Pot isn't a party drug," he laughed.

"Why?" Theresa appeared genuinely confused.

"'Cause you can't die from doin' too much of it," He laughed again before falling serious, "Alright, I'll go talk to Gareth, you keep on pullin' up carrots, okay?" He placed his hands on her shoulders.

She nodded, her face softening. "Okay."

"Alright," he said before leaning down and kissing the top of her head. He then walked past her and headed to Gareth's office.

When he arrived, he saw the door was closed, which was very odd to him. He knocked somewhat awkwardly on the hardwood surface.

A few seconds later, Gareth opened the door with a smile that faded to disappointment upon the sight of him. "Oh, hey Alex. What are you doing here?"

"You think I was Martin?" Alex asked, realizing why the door had been shut. Alex had been told by Camille that she had heard Gareth moaning Martin's name from in the laundry room recently, Alex responded by making gagging noises and asked her to never mention it again.

"Yeah, actually. To be honest." Gareth sighed.

"Well, your rendezvous will have to wait, 'cause we have a problem," Alex said as he passed Gareth in the doorway. "Aw, no candles and rose petals?" Alex teased. He felt pleased that he finally had something to poke fun at Gareth for.

"Just tell me the problem." Gareth was irritated by his joke.

Good.

"Cynthia happened," Alex said as he pulled down his shirt sleeve.

Gareth didn't look surprised. "What now?"

"The vases in the rec room. The colors upset her, so she threw one and then threw another and it hit me. A piece went about half an inch deep. Kaylee fixed me up."

Gareth narrowed his eyes. "Where is Cynthia now?"

"I told her to go calm down somewhere, so maybe her room."

"Oh... dear." Gareth rubbed his eyes. "Was she throwing it at you, or just throwing it?"

"I think she was just throwin' it. She was pretty upset after she saw a piece stuck in me."

Gareth took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay, we'll need to meet on this. Pronto."

A meeting on the incident had been called in the map room and everyone except three—Cynthia, Albert and Mitch—had been called in. Someone must be on watch at all times, and order states that the two parties involved in the conflict must give their side of the story separately as to identify possible inconsistencies. Since Albert had said he was in favor of whatever helped Cynthia, who had already given her side, and Mitch had already told Gareth his opinion, he had told them to stay watch while they meet.

"Now, I know you guys get sick of this, but we have to read the opening of the creed, alright? Mom?" Gareth asked Mary to read the opening lines of the Terminus rules and doctrine written up after the Occupation. Gareth had decided it needed to be read before each and every meeting, no matter what it was about.

Mary cleared her throat. "Our minds and our bodies, our hearts and our souls, were torn and battered, ripped and broken, hollowed and stolen. Our minds and our bodies, our hearts and our souls will be mended and woven, reclaimed and restrung, full and our own."

"Thank you," Gareth began, "now, Cynthia has always been quite the case. We know she's had some of the hardest times dealing with everything that happened and what became of it, and she sometimes acts out, inexplicably. And until now, none of us have inflicted a bleeding wound on one another before. I know you get into fights sometimes and I've seen some bruises, and I've even take them, but we've never made each other bleed."

Gareth's mention of taking bruises from his people made Alex think of the fact that Mary had struck Gareth when he'd told her about what he'd done in Atlanta. Her nails had left a small, red mark on his face that unless you were looking for it, didn't appear much different than any red blemish most people carry on their face. But Alex noticed Gareth had let his beard grow in thicker than he normally did and in doing so, it had hidden the mark.

Despite how mad Alex had been at Gareth, and still was to a degree, he felt genuinely bad for him when he heard their mother had slapped him. Alex hated to be a source of conflict and definitely didn't want anyone getting hurt because of him.

"Sorry to interrupt," Theresa broke in, "but she needs to punished. I don't care if she's fragile, that's no excuse," she said firmly.

"Yeah, unbelievably, I agree with her," Martin chimed in. "I mean, when Albert clocked me, I was askin' for it. Alex didn't do a damn thing."

Theresa expressed an ounce of pride at the fact that Martin was actually on her side.

"As the man who was actually attacked in this, can I say somethin'?" Alex asked. Gareth held his hand out to signal yes.

"Cynthia was over mumblin' about the damn vases, and she does that sometimes so I brushed it off and kept rearrangin' stuff. Then I heard her yell from behind me somethin' about it lookin' ugly as sin. And you know how she gets, so I told her it's just a vase and we'll move it if it bothers her, but then she lost it and threw the thing across the room. And when she threw the second one, she wasn't throwin' it at me, she was just throwin' it. She wasn't even lookin' at me when she threw it. So for her case, I'm pretty sure this wasn't about me."

"Alex," Theresa began from beside him, "she cut you. Made you bleed, made Kaylee have to pull a shard of glass out of your skin. It doesn't matter if she didn't mean to, it happened."

"Yeah," Greg agreed.

"Seriously," Maddie added.

"Yeah," Kaylee spoke up, "I saw the wound up close and if you could see it that close, then you'd know that it's not something that needs a slap on the wrist."

"We don't issue corporal-" Gareth began.

"I know we don't," Kaylee clarified, "but there has to be something else. Give her extra work hours, make her glue back together the vases, have her be the one to clean and change the gauze on Alex's shoulder until it heals."

"I'm for all three, if not more," Theresa remarked.

Alex sighed. "Theresa-"

"Alex, come on. She cut you." Theresa yanked down Alex's sleeve to reveal the wound.

Alex felt a flicker of annoyance. "Tess-"

"Would any of you want to give Cynthia a slap on the wrist if she did this to you?" Theresa circled her vision around the group. Most people shook their heads no and a few gave words of agreement.

Alex nudged Theresa's hand away, pulled his shirt back up and turned his eyes to her intent face. "I didn't say she should be let off, okay? Just put down your pitchfork."

Theresa grit her teeth hard and crossed her arms, refusing to look back at him.

More talk ensued, many people expressed a desire to see Cynthia punished, while also wanting to offer some way to assist in her ongoing distress and outbursts that had become more frequent as of late.

"Clean his wound until it heals, no rec room time for a week," Mary declared their final decision. "And I will talk to her about all her... issues," she added.

Gareth turned his gaze to Theresa. "Is that enough for you, Theresa?"

Theresa nodded. "Yes," she replied placidly.

Gareth then turned and pointed his finger at Kaylee. "And Kaylee, you'll show Cynthia just how to primp and coif his wound, right?"

Kaylee nodded.

"Okay then, we have it decided then. Meeting adjourned," Gareth proclaimed as he slapped his hand on the table he leaned up against.

Alex turned to Theresa as the people began to disperse. "Tess, you know I wasn't tryin' to-"

Theresa held her hand up. "I know, I know. You just aren't apt for picking up your pitchforks, which... I like, but... what if the shoe were on the other foot and I was the one who got a vase tossed at them?"

Alex imagined it, and he felt anger rise up inside him at the thought of Cynthia injuring Theresa. But he also had a definite pang of sympathy for Cynthia and what caused her to act the way she did, he'd certainly want her punished if it had been Theresa she'd injured, but sans Theresa's attitude.

"You bet I'd be pissed. But damn, we're all lucky we don't toss shit around just because we feel bad, or cry because we got clean sheets. We're all warped in our own ways, it's just more visible on the outside in her case."

Theresa was silent, she looked down, contemplative. "I know, I was there." She raised her eyes to Alex's. "It's just... you know how overprotective I am and it just..." She exhaled, unsure how to finish her sentence.

Alex wrapped his hand around her forearm. "Hey, we'll both feel better later tonight when we get stoned. Just focus on that."

Theresa smiled wide. "Yeah, okay."

"So..." Gareth interrupted, having approached the two.

The two turned to him. "'So?'" Alex returned.

Gareth smirked. "So, the prodigal stoner son returns."

"What, you want some?" Alex offered, genuinely wishing he could experience seeing Gareth high again. Marijuana influence had always made Gareth very mellow and uncharacteristically, at a great loss for words.

"No, no not this time. Maybe some other time if I'm ever feeling spontaneous."

Alex sighed, amused. "Man, that's your problem. You can't plan spontaneity."

Gareth figured it was true, he had thought carefully about whether or not to 'spontaneously' knock everything off the table in the map room and seduce Martin. He almost began to tell him of the incident between himself and Martin in the laundry room and how it was the most impulsive thing he'd done since he couldn't remember, but he knew Alex and Theresa would not want to hear about his sexual escapades.

"Can and will," Gareth replied. "And Theresa, I'm sorry my baby brother is corrupting you."

Baby brother. Alex hated when he called him that.

"You know, that whole spiel doesn't work being that I'm old enough to be your big sister. I'm old enough to corrupt you," Theresa replied with an upturn of the corner of her mouth.

God, I love you, Tess.

"Why do we have to sit on the floor?" Theresa asked Alex who had laid two pillows out for both of them beside his bed.

"It's tradition to get high on the floor, come on, you gotta do it this way the first time," Alex replied.

Theresa rolled her eyes playfully. "Okay, okay fine," she said as she seated herself on a pillow, crossing her legs.

"Oh, wait. I gotta do this without pants, another tradition," Alex said as he began unbuckling his jeans.

Theresa giggled. "Really?"

Alex felt overjoyed from having made her giggle, she only ever did it for him. And she hadn't done it since Karen's death.

"Yeah, it's how I used to do it at least two-thirds of the time," he replied as he pulled off his pants, folded and then placed them in his clothes drawer

He then picked up a former Altoids case from the top of his dresser and thought of a fact he hoped would also amuse her thoroughly. "Oh, just F.Y.I., I can't get it up when I'm stoned. I'm not sure why, but I can't to save my life," he said as he sat down on the pillow next to her.

She giggled again. "Well there goes my wish to finally fulfill my fantasy of doing a stoned guy in his room while his mom's sleeping down the hall." She grinned.

"Yeah, sorry about crushin' your dreams." Alex grinned back at her as made himself comfortable and crossed his legs as well, happy to be out of his daywear and in a simple shirt and boxers.

"Did you already roll it?"

"Hell yeah I did," Alex responded as he popped open the lid to reveal a rolled joint and a Bick lighter.

"God, I've never seen you so excited about anything." Theresa's tone was half humorous and half serious.

"'Cause I've never been so excited," Alex joked as he took the joint and lighter in hand. "Alright, now watch me." He scooted further towards Theresa and held the end of the joint between his lips; she watched him intently.

Alex then lifted up the lighter and flicked it with his thumb, causing the flame to erupt and immediately catch on the end of the joint. As the end lit up, he sucked gently on the part just past his lips, instantly feeling a strong rush of nostalgia.

As he further inhaled, the sour taste and aroma pleasantly filled his airways while a scratch built in his throat. He then brought the joint back down to hold it by his lap. "See? It's-" Alex's sentence was cut off as he began coughing. "Oh god, I'm-" He continued to attempt to speak through his hacking as he covered his mouth with his free hand.

"Wow, that looks like fun," Theresa said sarcastically.

"It's worth it," Alex rasped as he began to get a hold on his coughing fit. "Your turn." He passed the joint to Theresa. She took it between her fingers and turned it around, analyzing it.

"Don't think," Alex advised as he reached for the thermos of water next to him and took a large swig before setting it back to his side.

Theresa nodded and did just as Alex had, she slid it between her lips, flicked the lighter, setting the end of the joint ablaze, and slowly inhaled. Alex eagerly anticipated her reaction, ready to hand her the thermos if she had a rough coughing fit.

"Whoa, hey slow down," Alex said as she inhaled until she couldn't breathe in anymore. She held her breath, her face turning red while Alex held his hands out as if he might have to catch her if she fell. She then exhaled a large amount of smoke from her mouth and began coughing into her fist.

"Oh my god, that is disgusting," she stated as Alex handed her the thermos and she gulped down a large amount of liquid.

"You wanna keep goin'?" Alex asked, desperately hoping she did.

Theresa nodded as she continued to hold the bottle to her mouth.

"Okay then, can I get it back?" Alex reached over to her left hand which still held the drug.

Theresa handed him the joint back and he took another toke, finding it was easier than his previous inhale. He figured his body wasn't used to it anymore and this round would be especially intense, despite the mediocrity of the plants. And the fact that he was doing it with Theresa made it feel especially fervid, like they were exploring new territory together. He liked it.

After a few moments, Theresa asked for another hit and she reacted in the same way she had the first time, but as they passed it back and forth, she began to mellow and enjoy the feeling. The feeling of serenity and of seeing things in four dimensions, every color, breath and touch heightened.

Alex eventually ended up lying against the side of the bed with his legs opened just enough to allow Theresa to lay her back up against his chest as she rest her head on his shoulder and entwined her hands with his. The pain in Alex's shoulder had become nearly non-existent, something he was very grateful for as it had been bothering him more than he had let on.

Theresa's warmth seemed to seep straight out of her back and into Alex's chest as if there was a bridge in between them. It felt especially intimate, more so than usual when they'd cuddle, like it'd been magnified.

"You still awake?" Alex asked softly.

"Mm-hm, no way I'm falling asleep." Her eyes were closed, but she was wide awake and gave his hands a squeeze to communicate the fact. He hoped she would be able to sleep soundly later and not be interrupted by the memories of her mother yelling for Maddie, Greg and Mitch to let go of her, or of what happened during the Siege. Theresa had told Alex that her still habitual nightmares from the Occupation had gotten worse since she'd lost her mother, as if the demons that haunted her had cheered and cackled when they saw she was vulnerable and decided to strike while the iron was hot.

He released his right hand from hers and trailed it up her thigh, eventually making it to the hem of her off-white, baby doll t-shirt, rubbing the material back and forth through his fingers. He was enthralled by its softness and his sudden appreciation of its egg white color. His mind flashed him an abrupt recollection of his old college dorm and more specifically, the dreams he'd have of it. He instinctively checked the floor beneath him, forgetting for a split second if he sat on a rug or carpet and what color it was. He saw it was a faded blue-grey rug, not any longer a plush, forest green carpet beneath his feet.

He had to briefly remind himself that he wasn't in a college dorm, he was in his room in a place called Terminus that sat on the edge of the world as well as in the center of it, pulling in everything around it. He had just gotten stoned, but he had a girl with an egg white shirt in his lap, not a Macbook Pro with an egg white frame; he definitely preferred the former.

"Hey, got the munchies yet?" Alex asked into her ear through the dark hair that covered it.

"No, not really. Is that unusual?" Theresa replied, still with eyes shut.

"It's different for everyone, but I'm startin' to want those Hershey's Kisses behind the books."

"Ugh, and disturb by complete and utter comfort?" Theresa mock whined.

"Yeah, sorry," Alex said as he bent his legs and began to pull himself to his feet. Theresa leaned forward to give him room and he stood up, then stepped over to the bookshelf and reached his hand behind several paperbacks.

"Yes," Alex said triumphantly as he pulled out the bag of candy, made his way back over to Theresa and placed the other pillow to her right as he then sat down.

Theresa extended her hand outwards to him. "Yeah, give me one of those to get that horrible taste out of my mouth."

Alex pulled one out and dropped it in her palm. "You'll start to like it after a while."

She unwrapped it and took a bite. "Am I doing this again?"

He slowly undid the foil on his. "Do you not want to?"

She spread the chocolate around in her mouth, feeling a warmth engulf her chest at how good it tasted. "No, I didn't say that. Just hadn't thought about it."

"Well, there's plenty more where it came from." Alex placed a whole piece in his mouth, "I don't know how Gare will feel about maybe plantin' some in the garden, and my mom, oh man. I mean, she was glad I wasn't doin' meth or heroin back in the day, but she never liked the stuff. One time she-"

"I really thought she'd stay," Theresa interrupted, staring straight ahead. Alex had hoped she'd eventually officially talk to him about her mother, being as she'd said nothing of it since she was eaten and hadn't shed a tear that he knew of since she'd embraced Gareth in the church. He had tried to get her to talk about it several times, but she told him in no uncertain terms that she didn't want to him hover.

"I mean," she continued, "I feel like a idiot. I should've known that it would have been out of character for her to say yes. And... god, Alex, the way she looked at me..."

"Go on." He swallowed his candy.

"I can't stop picturing it, the look she had in her eyes. I keep walking around and thinking about it. I look in the mirror and try to imagine being her and being terrified of the person I see looking back at me, scared enough to run. And god, that's what I've been thinking about most of this time. Not the fact that Gavin and David sawed off parts of her body and then burned them, the fact that she was so scared of me." She fidgeted and pressed her hands together as she spoke.

Alex placed his hand on her uneasy ones, ceasing their movement. "She was scared of us, not just you."

Theresa turned her distressed face to his. "I know. And I know we are scary people, but it's never bothered me before. Not until I saw that look in her eyes. And her fear of all of this." Theresa lifted her arms up, gesturing to the room and Terminus as a whole.

Alex nodded along. "This here, right now, isn't anything to be scared of. I wish your mom could've seen that. Like when Hayley and Allison were freaked and then they saw us all havin' dinner and saw us smilin' and just... bein' thoroughly unscary and they got it. How and why it's all worth it."

"Yeah, but my mom was just one of those people not meant for this world, or at least for our world."