Lexa

I must have been more tired than I thought because it didn't take long for me to pass out once in my room. I woke up a few hours later and realized that Ash wasn't here. I went to get some food because I was starving and I was hoping to find her in the dining room but she wasn't, so I ate my food and then stopped by her room to check and see if she was there but she wasn't there either. I decided to just go back to my room and wait. An hour later I was beginning to get worried. I was just about to walk out of the room when there was a knock on the door and in walked Ash.

I was so relieved to see her, I gave her a hug as soon as the door closed. When I let go she smiled and said, "What was that for?"

"I missed you and was worried something had happened to you because it has been so long."

She replied, "Well, we had a lot to talk about. We had to agree on a contract then he felt the need to take me on a personal tour of the place. Oh, and you were right, Omar did replace Alex and Ahmed wants me to take over Omar's duties."

"I told you, I know how Ahmed thinks. That's great for you, from what I saw your room is pretty nice. The fact that he trusts you and seems to trust me now should help us out. It seems like everything is falling into place for us."

"Yes, so far so good. I have some even better news though. I was able to convince Ahmed to let me have you as a partner. I told him that after working with you in the valley, that you were the only person I trust to cover my back and he agreed to my terms. Not only that, I told him that you would be sharing my room at least until you were back to 100% and he threw in a vehicle and ATV that we can modify however we want."

"Really? You did that for me?"

"Well, I did it for me as well but yeah. So, get your stuff together and let's go to our new room. We need to get it organized and we still need to have a talk that we have been putting off."

I gathered my things, which didn't take long because most of it was still in my backpack. I shoved my meager clothes and personal items in a duffel bag, and we headed to our room. I can't believe she called it our room. I'm not looking forward to whatever it is she wants to talk about, but I am looking forward to being around her.

When we get to the room, I see that someone has brought in another bed. Ash's is a nice big bed with an actual mattress. Mine was the normal cot that I was used to, which was fine because it is in the same room as Ash. I continue to look around and see a couch and a dresser and small closet. Ash said for me to take the bottom three drawers and she would take the top three. Then she told me to grab my shower stuff and follow her. I did as she told me, and I followed her into the biggest bathroom I had ever seen. It even had a tub!

She smiled at me and said, "So what do you think?"

"This place is amazing. Are you sure you don't mind me being here?"

"Are you kidding me? I can't let you out of my sight, plus I like having you around. When we go back into town, we can go shopping for a TV and whatever else we need. Right now, though we need to talk."

"Sure, what do you want to know or talk about?"

"For starters, I wanted to tell you thank you for saving my life in the valley. I also want you to know that I do trust you completely with my life and I hope you know that you can trust me as well. Now for the hard questions, how did you know that you could jump off the ATV and keep me from taking that bullet and how did you know that land mine was going off in enough time to keep us from getting killed?"

"I told you before that I always knew that I was different from everyone else. There are just some things that I can do better than most. I am faster and can jump higher than anyone else I have ever met. I'm also stronger than most people my size which is what allows me to carry you so easily. I have always been able to calculate odds and risks. This is how I knew what needed to be done in order to keep you safe. As far as the mine, I heard Alex step on it and knew he wasn't smart enough to realize what he had done so I used my speed to get us as far away as possible."

She takes a moment to think before saying, "So what you are saying is that you can hear things other people can't and I don't even know what else to say."

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I can do these things. I have just always been able to. I will understand if this freaks you out and you want me to go back to my old room."

"What? No, that's not it. That never crossed my mind. I was just trying to understand what happened back in the valley. If it wasn't for you, I would not be alive right now. I'm sure that it has something to do with what Abby found in your DNA. Whatever it is, it doesn't scare me."

I don't know what to say at this point so I just nod. Then I say, "Since we are asking hard questions, I have one for you. What exactly is going on between us?"

She turned red and began to stutter, "Well, I, I'm not completely sure. I mean, I know I like you and trust you which is huge for me but...passed that I'm not sure. What I do know is that I enjoy being around you and I want to get to know you better when our lives aren't at stake. I also think that we should keep it to ourselves until we do figure out what this is."

I look at the floor and say, "Okay, I understand. I just want you to know that I have never felt like this before and it kind of scares me. I also need you to know that I do trust you completely, but I also need you to know that I don't really know how to interact with people except in things like missions or training. I have never really had any friends so...I guess what I'm saying is that I will follow your lead."

Ash looks at me and smiles, "Well okay then. Why don't you let me change your bandages so that Abby doesn't fuss at me next time we are at the clinic."

For the next half hour or so, Ash works on cleaning my many wounds and rebandaging them. Then I do the same for her. After we finish, we go to the dining hall for dinner. We grab our food and sit down at a table to eat, before we know it, we are surrounded by people asking us a million questions about what went down in the valley. It was unreal how everyone had heard about the mission and thought we were basically heroes for what we did. We stayed and chatted for about an hour after we finished eating and then decided it was time for bed.

When we returned to our room, I changed into some shorts and a tank top. I told Ash she could shower or whatever since I wasn't supposed to really with all the stitches. As she showered, I lay in my bed thinking about how much things have changed in just a few days. I must have fallen asleep at some point because I was awoken by Ash crawling into my bed. I smiled and said, "You know your bed is way bigger and more comfortable than my little bed."

She laughed and replied, "Maybe, but your bed has something mine doesn't."

"Oh yeah, What's that?" I ask.

"Your bed has you in it silly and I want to be next to you."

"Well I like being next to you also, but you could have just asked me to sleep in your bed."

"I was going to, but you looked so cute sleeping that I didn't want to wake you up. But now that you are awake, let's move to my bed so we have more room."

"Whatever you say, ma'am."