Nora and Mia had been staying in their new living quarters for a little over a week, although Nora hadn't been spending nearly as much time in her own room as she had been spending in General Matheson's, when Nora thought that her sister had finally started to adjust a little to the new setting. That observation proved to be wrong incredibly quickly though as Nora made her way back down the hallway one morning to go wake her little sister up.

"Mia?" She tried for the third time. She knocked on the door again. "Mia. If you don't come out, then I'm letting myself in." She hesitated a few more seconds before announcing, "Alright, I'm coming in."

She turned the knob and found that the door had been left unlocked. She slowly pushed the door open, but instead of finding her sister, she found a folded piece of paper with her name written on it sitting on the bed.

She slowly walked in, still scanning the room as if her sister was about to jump out at any moment and tell her that this was all just some bad joke. She reached out to the paper and lifted it carefully, as if she were afraid that the paper would crumble from her touch, then slowly unfolded it.

Nora read and reread the note, but she was still having a hard time believing it. Only when she looked around the room again and realized that all of her sister's belongings were gone, did she begin to believe that it was true. Her little sister had left her the night before, without even saying goodbye to her face before going.

In her note, Mia had said that Nora shouldn't worry about her, but that was all that Nora knew how to do since the Blackout. The note had also said not to come after her, that she wanted to go by herself, and that she couldn't stand staying in the militia headquarters for any longer.

For the first time since the power had gone out, Nora found herself without anyone else to look out for. She was completely alone, with all of her decisions left up to her, and she wasn't sure what to do with that or how to feel about it. She wished that she had seen it coming and talked her sister out of leaving, but at the same time a sickening part of her felt a small sense of relief at the freedom that came with having her sister gone.

Apparently she must have been standing there for longer than she had thought, since Miles eventually showed up looking for her and dragged her out of her thoughts as he questioned, "Where's your sister?"

"She's gone," Nora responded before turning around to look at him.

His eyes flickered from the hurt look on her face to the piece of paper, which was still clutched in her hand, before he asked, "Does that mean that you're leaving too?" He tried to keep his expression indifferent, but the truth was that he had grown used to having her around and he wasn't ready to watch her go. He hadn't wanted to keep someone around this badly since Rachel.

Maybe, for the first time in a long time, her decisions affected only her. But she realized then that she wasn't alone. She still had Miles and she found that, even without a sister to worry about earning money for, she still wanted to stay in Philly with him. She had grown to like her job, along with the sense of accomplishment that she got from it, and she liked him.

"She's already gone," Nora pointed out. "And I like it here." She took a few steps closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I think I'll stay here for a while, if I can."

He grinned down at her before bringing his lips to hers. "I think we can arrange for that."

The End

A/N: Please read and review! Another huge thanks goes out to simbagirl for being awesome and reviewing last chapter! :D