2 Weeks Later…

Just like he had done weeks before, Thomas sat on the desolate beach, watching the waves roll steadily into the shore. The sun was just rising above the sea, the air still brisk with the early morning chill. There was nobody else awake, and the camp was consumed in gorgeous silence.

Thomas breathed in deeply, the slightly salty air tingling his nostrils, the coolness descending deep into his chest. He rustled around in his pocket and pulled out Chuck's carving, turning it around in his fingers like he did when he thought.

"I thought I might find you down here."

Thomas jumped slightly, and turned around to see Newt walking towards him. Newt had been steadily improving over the last two weeks, so much so that he had moved into Thomas and Minho's homestead.

"I woke up and saw your bunk empty. Thought I'd come find you." The blonde settled down on the sand next to Thomas, wincing as he did. He stretched his bad leg out in front of him, pulling his mouth into a tight grimace, briefly putting a hand on his not-quite-healed gunshot wound. "Shuck."

His face twisted into a slight smile. "Just the walking wounded, aren't I?"

Noticing Thomas's distant expression, Newt looked at him in concern. "Y'know, I'm starting to think you're actually not awake right now. Do you sleepwalk, Tommy?"

"Sorry. Just thinking."

Newt noticed the small carving in Thomas's hands, and his face fell. "He would have liked this place."

"Yeah."

"He's happy now Tommy. Don't you forget it. He died free, a luxury many others died without." Newt rubbed Thomas's shoulder. "Like Alby…" his hand froze in the motion as his expression glazed over, blinking slowly towards the sand. A silence overtook them, Thomas focusing on the carving in front of him, Newt raining small piles out sand out of his fist.

"It's beautiful here. You guys picked a good spot." Newt's gaze drifted towards the sea, softening as they took in the white sunlight glittering off the brilliant blue of the water. Thomas nodded slowly, and the conversation was overtaken by the splashing of the waves against the shoreline. Until Newt broke the silence again.

"Y'know, all the time I was in there, when I wasn't dreaming, I was thinking about you guys. Most of the time it was, well, wondering if you were actually going to come." he paused, eyes focused on the piles of sand beside him. "I know I said I didn't want you to...but I did. And I'd often get these flashes of doubt, wondering if you were even going to bother."

"Newt." Thomas's voice was soft.

"They have these things, Tommy. They can convince you of anything. They told me you weren't coming, just to enjoy my suffering. I still dream about that place, you know." Newt's voice broke. "I didn't ever imagine I'd ever leave, never mind ending up in a place like this."

A sea breeze came blowing from the water, sending a wave of wind towards the two, ruffling their hair slightly.

Suddenly, a slightly larger wave came rolling towards them, just touching the tip of Newt's outstretched leg.

"We should probably move further up, yeah?" Newt asked, slight worry creating a quaver in his voice. But his warning was too late, as another large wave came crashing on the sand, creeping their way up the sand, soaking the pants of the two. They yelped and scrambled up the beach, but the damage was done.

"Bloody hell, it looks like I just pissed myself," Newt muttered, inspecting the dampened garments. His head whipped sideways as he noticed Thomas sniggering.

"What?"

"Nothing…" Thomas tried to act nonchalant, but his laugh was forcing its way through his plain face facade.

"What?!" Newt's voice rose in curiosity.

"You...have...a starfish...on your butt!"

"What!" Newt flipped over so quickly you'd think he was sitting on a scorpion, and sure enough, a small purple sea star had clung to the seat of his pants. He rolled sideways in the sand as he tried to pull the offending creature off his backside. "Get...off...you...bloody...slime-thing!"

Thomas had completely fallen over in the sand, laughing so hard he was crying. Newt finally pulled the animal off and threw it back in the water, before shooting a look at Thomas.

"It's not that funny," Newt pouted, but that only made Thomas laugh harder, until finally, Newt's mouth twitched.

"Are you laughing at me?" he asked in mock anger. He pulled a handful of wet sand and lunged forwards, mashing the goo into Thomas's hair, rubbing it in until it created a congealed mess on the side of his face as well.

"Hey!"

"Oh I'm sorry. Here, I'll wash it off." Newt stood up and started splashing the ocean water onto Thomas, ultimately soaking him more.

"Hey! Quit it! Knock it off! Newt! Hey!"

Newt finally stopped, bracing his hands on his knees as he laughed heartily alongside Thomas. Until suddenly, another large wave rolled in from behind and knocked him off his feet, sending him propelling forwards, right on top of Thomas.

Suddenly the laughter ceased, as deep brown eyes met light brown eyes, thousands of questions,

emotions,

and promises

between them. Newt's eyes flicked from Thomas's eyes to his lips and back again, before swallowing hard and gently rolling off of him. The silence turned awkward as they turned away from each other, only occasionally broken by the shuffle of sand or the clearing of a throat.

"Listen, Newt-"

"Tommy-"

They both started speaking at the same time, and Thomas gestured for Newt to go first.

"Right." Newt shifted a little closer, and cleared his throat. "Look, I - well, I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"For getting us out of the Maze. For leading across the Scorch. For getting us away from WCKD. More than once. For saving my life. For giving me a life again. For making...me whole again." Newt trained his eyes on Thomas's face, biting his bottom lip. "Just...thank you for being there for me. For everything"

"No, Newt. Thank you. God, you have no idea...I would have been dead and buried for a long time if I didn't have you." He tapped on the bottom of his boot to get some sand off of it. "In more ways than just one."

Suddenly Newt was in front of him. He reached out his hand and Thomas's heart was in his throat, until Newt's hand closed around the necklace around his neck.

"You still kept this, huh?"

"I can't really seem to get rid of it." Thomas could hardly breathe, even getting the words out was choking him.

"I could have said so much more." The British boy's gaze raised from the necklace to Thomas's face, a playful yet painfully sincere expression on his features. Thomas reached up and closed his hands around Newt's and the necklace, and brought them against his chest, feeling the erratic heartbeat. Newt's eyes widened slightly in shock, and his breath hitched.

"You have no damn idea...why I needed you back here." Thomas's voice broke on multiple words, thick with hopefulness. "You are...so important. More than you know."

"I know."

Newt brought his other hand up to cover them all, and slowly brought the clenched hands down to the sand, so there was nothing in between them anymore. But he hesitated, gaze slightly panicked, flicking all over Thomas's face. Thomas closed the distance between them, and it was bliss, pure bliss.

Joy.

Peace.

Hope.

Love.

They finally broke apart, and looked at each other with giddy grins, laughing slightly, and the sun just peeked out over the horizon, casting them all in a warm light. Voices started to drift from the camp behind them, and Newt stood, extending a hand. Thomas took it and pulled himself up, and they walked, hands joined back to the camp.

They had finally escaped the Maze.

And thank you to everyone who read this story! I hope you enjoyed it!