Chapter Three

Year Two, Day 31, 12:42 P.M

For a moment, neither of them moved. Then she was across the room in his arms and he had never held her tighter. They didn't say a word, just sat on the bed holding each other and gasping for air as if they'd forgotten how to breathe in each other's absence. They calmed down slowly but didn't let go of eachother.

"You're alive." Newt whispered.

"I'm alive." Claire said with a watery chuckle.

"What appended? How are you here? Where have you been?" Newt asked.

"All good questions." Claire said, pulling away despite his protests and wiping the tear that had leaked out of the corner of his eyes. "I have no idea. I thought I was gonna die in the maze, but next thing I knew, I was in the greenie box." Claire shrugged.

"Did- did Nick tell you-"

"Yeah." Claire interrupted. Newt avoided her eyes but Claire grabbed his face and turned him to face her. "Promise me you'll never do that again."

"I can't."

"Newt-"

"I refuse to live without you again."

"Newt! You can't just do that! Our friends would be devastated and I'd be pissed."

"I don't care if you'd hate me for all of eternity, at least I'd be with you."

"You don't know that Newt! You almost died on a maybe!"

"Maybe's better than nothing. If there was a chance I could be with you, I was going to take it." Newt stared at her challengingly and she blinked at him, speechless. She honestly wasn't sure what to say. Way back in the early days of the maze, another Glader had asked what happened when you died. No one knew what to say, and she and Newt talked about it several times after. They didn't know for sure, but they both hoped that they'd end up with the people they cared about. Eventually Claire sighed, offering him a small smile.

"I suppose I'll have to stick around and keep an eye on you then." She said, leaning down to kiss him slowly, her fair falling around him and hiding them from the world. Eventually she climbed off of his lap, settling down next to him and laying down, talking quietly. Eventually he fell asleep, and Claire decided to let him be, seeing the dark circles underneath his eyes. She carefully slipped out of his arms and went downstairs to find Clint, who had her take off her T-shirt and jacket, leaving her in a sports bra and light blue denim shorts. They found several bruises and scars litterine her body.

"Someone beat the clunk out of you." Jeff declared. Claire gave him a deadpan look.

"Thanks, Jeff, that's very helpful." She snarked. Clint pointed out the one inch band of bruised and chafed skin that ran around each wrist and ankle.

"Looks like you were restrained, and from the needle mark on your arm I'm guessing they had to drug you. You've got bruised knuckles and blood under your nails so I'm guessing you put up a hell of a fight." Clint explained,writing something down in his journal.

"Atta girl!" Jeff laughed before getting serious. He pointed out some new scars running down the right side of her ribs. They were thin, jagged lines running parallel to each other, each about a centimeter apart. "Looks like a large animal clawed you, the scars are still pink and raised so it probably happened early on. I'm not sure what the ones on your thigh could be." He said, nodding towards her left thigh. There were two small marks there, about an inch long and parallel to each other. Though they were small, they definitely ran deep into her skin, you could almost feel it when you pressed down around them. Other than being beat to hell, there was nothing much they could tell from her time away, so she got dressed again and went to check on Newt. She found him curled in a ball gasping for air, in the middle of a panic attack.

"Newt! Newt whats wrong?" Claire asked, rushing towards him frantically. He didn't respond but reached out, yanking her towards him and holding her tightly. He muttered something that she couldn't understand and held her to him, rocking them slightly back and forth. Claire settled in for the moment, running her fingers through his hair and humming quietly. It took a while before he managed to calm down.

"I woke up and you were gone." Newt choked out. "I thought- I thought it was just a dream."

"Shh… I've got you. I'm here and I'm not leaving you." Claire promised. As his breathing went back to normal Claire settled down next to him and they started talking quietly, Newt catching her up on everything she'd missed in the last ten months. While they talked, they were constantly touching each other. Newt was playing with her hair or Claire was playing with his fingers, but they stayed close the whole time. Eventually Jeff came to announce that it was time for dinner. He helped Newt out of the bed and Claire quickly found his crutches and brought them over to him. They helped him down the stairs and walked with him towards the Mess Hall. "How much longer on the crutches?" She asked Jeff.

"Two more days, we'll keep him in the Med Hut for another week and then he can get back to work." Jeff explained.

"Where are you gonna be working?" Claire asked Newt.

"Mostly the Gardens, but I'll help out wherever they need me. Nick said-" Claire didn't hear the rest, something collided with her from behind and sent her and whoever jumped her tumbling down a small hill. As soon as their momentum failed them and they'd rolled to a stop, Claire was yanked up and into a pair of arms.

"Minho!" Claire shrieked joyfully when she got a look at his face. She held her best friend tightly as he spun her around, the pair of them laughing like loons. Eventually they calmed down and Minho pulled her even closer, taking a shaky breath.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again, Claire-bear."

"I won't Min, I promise." She promised. Minho kissed her hair and pulled back with a smirk, He started to say something but was cut off by Newt.

"You gonna give me back my girl anytime soon Minho?" Newt asked, grinning playfully at his friend.

"Not a chance. Now that we have reunited, our love will never die!" Minho declared, dipping her as she laughed maniacally.

"Well, true love will have to wait. Frypans making baked potatoes and I'm not missing it." Claire and Minho's eyes lit up and they scrambled up, racing towards the cafeteria, pushing and tripping and tackling each other the whole way. They were so busy wrestling that Newt and Jeff managed to beat them there. When they did manage to stumble inside, Claire was swept away into a group of Gladers before she could get any food. Frypan eventually shoved his way through the loud crowd and dragged her away and to a table, dropping a plate in front of her and ordering her to eat.

"No wonder the Grievers didn't eat ya, you're a shucking toothpick Clary!" He whined.

"Slim it, Fry. Go grab a plate." Claire held up a hand to stall his protests. "Clean up can wait, I'll stay and help out. " She promised.

"I'll hold you to that." Fry said with a grin, leaving to grab a plate and joining her. Claire leaned against Newt as Minho, Nick, and Fry caught her up on what'd she'd missed, with occasional snarky comments from Alby that had them all in stitches. She glanced up and found Newt already watching her. Newt leaned down and pressed a slow, sweet kiss to her mouth, which she eagerly returned. They separated when Nick told them to 'get a room, there are children present.' as Minho and Jeff gagged dramatically.

"We've seen you and Alby do worse!" Newt snarked, making both boys blush madly.

"Slim it!" Alby barked as everyone laughed. Claire grinned, watching her boys. She missed this.

Year 2, Day 364 10:14 P.M.

Life went on. Nothing strange happened following Claire's return, one greenie came up every month, just as they always had. Newt's leg slowly got better and he eventually started working in the gardens, or just wherever he was needed around camp. It took a few months and several panic attacks before she convinced him to let her go back into the maze, on the condition that she ran with Minho and was back well before sundown. He wasn't happy about it, but knew there was little he could do to stop her. The maze didn't move, she returned early, and things stayed the same.

Until last month. They'd continued to have no luck with the maze, no sign of a way out, and someone suggested they try going down the elevator shaft. Nick volunteered. When they sent up the Greenie Box, it held a boy, barely older than ten. As they hustled him out and began removing the supplies that had been sent with him, Claire made her way over to Nick, who'd been talking quietly to a worried looking Alby.

"I have a bad feeling about this Nick." Claire murmured, eyeing the box distrustfully.

"We have to try. What if this is our way out?"

"What if- if whatever's out there is worse than here?"

"Then at least we'd be free. Not trapped here like rats in a cage. We have to try Claire." Nick said firmly, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing. Claire nodded uncertainly and left him to Alby, making her way to Newt and the snivelling boy. Then-

Well, then they buried the half of his body they were able to recover. Nick had been there since the beginning, and his death shattered the Glade. They recovered eventually, although Alby was never quite the same. Claire and Minho threw themselves into running the maze while Alby and Newt led the camp. Life went on.

Then, Thomas jumped out of the Greenie Box. And he ran.