Again, there are some references here from Skin Deep, written by K. Presson. For more back story on Lucas and Samantha, and for a detailed understanding of the events that Lucas relates to Ellie, please read Skin Deep, it's a good one! Thanks!

Walking out of the mess hall, he quickly caught up to Kristen and Ellie. He hung back a bit though, just watching them. He watched how Ellie walked, fearless, her head up. No one looking at her would believe that she could be scared of anything. He turned his eyes to Kristen, someone who had done her best to be a motherly figure to him. He noted that she, too, walked with her head high, appearing every bit as confident as she usually was.

Ellie caught the sound of his footsteps behind them and turned back to look at him. She gave him a small smile, and motioned to him to catch up. The little kid in him almost caused him to break into a sprint to join her, but the man in him caused him to hesitate and hold back. Though his tears, for the moment, had stopped, his heart was still breaking and he was almost afraid of getting near her now. What if he couldn't handle losing her? What would happen to him?

She saw the darkness pass across his features and her brow furrowed. She turned her head forward again; she wouldn't force him to do anything that he didn't want to do. He was hurt and afraid, she could sense it clearly, and she understood. Inside, she was just as hurt as he. Here was this wonderful, beautiful young man. He was her son; and she would never get to see him grow up. She would never see Lucas' first steps, hear him speak for the first time, witness all of his accomplishments. Her chest tightened as she fought to keep back all of those feelings. She had to be strong for Lucas; she couldn't dissolve into a teary mess in front of him.

As the thoughts passed through Ellie's mind, a wave of intense sadness and emotion washed over Lucas so that he could hardly breathe. He heard her thoughts almost as if she had spoken them aloud, and he wondered for a moment if she had. But he knew that she had not said a word, if she had, Kristen would have responded to her. He realized then that the bond that had formed between he and Ellie had gone beyond anything that he knew. He struggled to keep himself in check, knowing now that he was not the only one who would be hurt by all of this.

They reached the guest quarters and entered. The room was simple but elegantly decorated, with a bed on each side of the room. On one of the beds, Kristen had placed a set of surgical scrubs for Ellie to wear. Ellie noticed them and thanked Kristen quietly.

"You're welcome. I'll wake you both up in the morning," Kristen said, walking out and shutting the door.

Alone again, the two looked at each other from across the room. He saw Ellie fidget with her hands, something that he did occasionally. He gave a small, unnoticeable smirk before turning away and sitting on the bed. He knew he should say something to her, but he didn't know what. He heard her sigh, pick up the scrubs and walk into the washroom to change.

Lucas, alone with his own thoughts for a moment, closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands. It couldn't end like this, he couldn't pull away and be cold now, it would do neither of them any good and he ran the risk of missing out on so much. He looked up as he heard the door open and saw Ellie emerge, dressed comfortably in the scrubs, her hair down. She looked so pretty, even dressed down for sleep.

She stopped and looked at him, then continued on to the bed on the other side of the room. She laid down quietly, her back to him. She didn't know what to say to him and he didn't seem to want to talk.

As he saw her turn her back, Lucas sat up straight. Had he offended her somehow? No, it wasn't that. He realized that he had already turned himself off, and she was reacting to that by just not bothering him. Lucas knew that this was exactly the right thing to do when he was in a mood like this, but it wasn't the right thing for this moment. He stood up and walked over to where Ellie lay; touching her shoulder lightly. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, and then gave him what he didn't even know he'd been wanting, a smile.

He smiled back at her, and sat down next to her. She turned over to face him, and moved back against the wall, just as he had done in his quarters earlier. He recognized the invitation and lay down next to her. They just looked at each other for a long moment before Ellie spoke.

"So, Lucas, what's up between you and Sam?"

Lucas was taken aback by the question. "What do you mean?"

Ellie grinned and poked a finger in his chest. "You know what I mean. Do you like her?"

"Of course I like her, she's my friend."

Ellie laughed. "No, do you like her."

Lucas thought for a moment and then it dawned on him. "Oh! Uh, no I don't think so, at least not that I am aware of at the moment."

She nodded. "So then what is it with you guys then, because something is definitely up there."

"Ummm…" Lucas hesitated before deciding to tell her the whole story about the VRN experiment, sharing his body with Sam, going to Chatton, losing control of himself when Sam took over and got drunk, of having to force Sam out of him and back into her own body, of how they now shared many things after sharing the same space, having taken pieces of each other the way they had.

Ellie listened, wide eyed, laughing as he told her about learning to share his body with Sam and all the missteps that came with it, as well as when he told her about Sam getting drunk on the night when she'd been in full control.

"My goodness Lucas, that's quite an adventure!"

"I'll say," Lucas muttered.

"Very cool though, that you have that ability, and that kind of connection with her. I have a feeling that it will serve you well in the future, but for now it's nice to see that you have a friend who can truly understand you."

"It has been nice to have someone who understands," Lucas agreed. "It's why I asked her to come with us tomorrow, just in case…"

"Just in case I don't come back," Ellie said, finishing his sentence. "I think that was a good idea. But let's not talk about that now. Tell me more stories about you!"

Lucas grinned, happy to oblige, excited that someone actually cared enough to want to know. Even Juliana hadn't really asked him about his life. The pair laid there, Lucas talking, Ellie listening while laughing or interjecting some point, and talked most of the night. When he ran out of stories to tell her, they moved on to his work and he did his best to explain the technology and what it did. Eventually, completely worn out, Lucas fell asleep mid-sentence. Ellie smiled, thinking how interesting it was that she often did the same thing while talking with Gavin when they got into a really good conversation.

She stroked his hair gently, watching him sleep. He really did look just like Gavin they could have been twins. "Goodnight sweetheart," she whispered.