A/N - It's been a while! I know I haven't written lately, but I just don't feel like doing so as much lately. I've been going though quite a bit and it's hard. Sorry to anyone who was growing impatient for an update. Here it is though. Enjoy! (:

Part Two – Five Minutes to Midnight

Chapter 11 – The Man with a Plan

It's been a few days since I'd first moved into Nicholas' house and let me tell you: I've loved every minute of it so far! Their family has done nothing but accept me with opened arms into their house. I honestly feel like a member of this household. Of course my mom is always calling in from time to time to make sure that I'm not being a burden, but I guess that's expected.

I also call my brother every night just to talk about my day. Probably one of the hardest parts of all of this is the separation anxiety from leaving my brother. We've been together our whole lives and to be ripped apart like this definitely isn't easy on either of us. Although I have to admit, I feel just fine with Nicholas by my side.

So far, most of my week has been spent hanging around Nicholas. When he's at school I usually am just sleeping, but Christopher recently signed me up to attend their school. It's the only school for miles, and it's supposed to be a Christian school too. Go figure.

"So Zack, what do you wanna do today?" Nicholas smiles as we walk aimlessly through town.

"Doesn't matter to me. Whatever you want to do is fine." I reply. We've done just about anything there is to do around here by now. You'd be surprised that neither of us are bored out of our minds at this point.

Nicholas looks toward the ground. "Hmmm, well how about we…"

"Zack!" A higher pitched voice yelps as a young girl tramples onto my back. I turn around and see Theresa clinging onto me with several other girls watching her.

"Oh, Theresa, what's up?" I stare at her awkwardly as she holds onto me.

"Well, we were just about to play a game of hide and seek. Do you guys wanna play with us?" Theresa's face glows as she stares at me. My goodness. This girl stares at me like I'm her idol or something. Kinda scares me sometimes.

"I'm down for a quick game if Nicholas is." I turn toward Nicholas who seems not too fond of the idea.

"I suppose I'd be willing to play, but just one round and that's it." Nicholas sighs. Maybe I should've just declined their offer instead of forcing Nicholas into playing. What fun could possibly come out of this anyway?

"Not it!" All of the girls immediately scream in unison. Startled, I turn toward them and back toward Nicholas who is grinning at me. Does he want to be the seeker?

"Go on. Say it Zack. You don't know these parts as well as I do, so it wouldn't make sense to have you seeking out everyone." Nicholas points out. I guess that makes sense…

"Not it." I squint in suspicion. Why do I have the feeling that he's up to something?

Nicholas winks at me. "Okay, you guys have until I count to one hundred. Is everyone ready?"

Without saying a word, everyone begins to scatter about the town. I freeze up as I watch Nicholas begin to count. Where am I supposed to go anyway?

Suddenly, I feel a tug on my arm. "Zack come on!" Theresa begins to lead me. Well, it's not like I had any idea where I was going anyway. Might as well just follow her.

Without speaking, I creep away from Nicholas as if he'll catch me if I make noise. He's still counting, but I feel like I could potentially make my whereabouts known.

We run side by side into the forest when I finally attempt to inquire a sense of direction. "Where exactly are you taking me?"

"You'll see!" She smiles at me. I didn't think there was anything special about this forest. What difference would it make if we hid here or five minutes deeper into the forest? It's all just trees anyway. Oh, and leaves. Let's not forget about those.

As unconvincing as it is to me that there would be anything special to unveil in this forest, Theresa proves me wrong. "Here we are!" Theresa leans on the stone wall before her with accomplishment drawn across her face.

"What is it?" I stare in disbelief.

"It's a cave silly. Nobody else knows about it, so promise you won't tell anyone." She stares at me hopefully.

"Uhhh, sure." I make little of the situation. It's just a stone structure with some space inside it. It actually resembles the shape of an igloo, but it's made out of different material. A cave would be way bigger than this. I don't want to discourage Theresa though, so I keep my mouth shut.

"Yay! Then let's go inside. Nobody will find us and there's just enough space for the two of us." She grabs my arm once again and forces me into the structure. I wonder: did she have this planned out from the first second she tried to get us to play hide and seek?

As we crawl into the opening of the structure, I find that there is a perfect amount of space for the both of us to sit comfortably inside it.

After we both take our places on either side of the structure, I realize that this is going to be a while. "So what do we do now?" I ask, kind of bored.

Theresa slides closer to me. "We wait." She lays her head on my shoulder with the biggest smile across her face. Well, if it weren't obvious to me before, I think it's safe to say that she has somewhat of a crush on me. It's actually kind of cute coming from a little girl. I guess I'm somewhat of a pushover when it comes to this sort of thing.

After a few minutes of her head resting upon my shoulder, I look down and discover that she has fallen asleep. She must've been really tired from the active schedule she keeps up with around here. Oh well, I guess she kind of has the right idea. I think I need to catch up on some sleep myself. I tilt my head so that it rests on top of her silky hair. 'Who knew that Theresa would actually be this comforting for me?' I think as I close my eyes and drift off into a silent slumber.

…

*KSSSSSHHHHH*

My eyes fly open as I attempt to stand, only bumping my head on the stone pavement above me. Theresa slides off of me, waking up as well. "Wh-what's going on?" Theresa rubs her eyes as she sits back up.

I pop my head outside and notice the torrential downpour in progress. "It's a thunder storm." I calmly state as I shield my head back under the structure.

"Oh no! Are we going to be okay?" Theresa shrieks as she begins to panic.

"We should be fine. I'll give Nicholas a call on his cell phone and let them know where we are." I reply as I pull out my cell phone. After I turn it on, however, I notice the lack of reception. "Crap. The storm must've knocked out the reception. I can't call anyone." I sigh.

"Zack, I'm scared!" She cries out as she presses her head into my chest.

I wrap my arms around Theresa in an attempt to comfort her. "Don't' worry, everything is going to be f…"

*KSSSSSHHHHH*

Theresa looks up. "What was…"

*THUMP*

"AHHHHH. What is that?" Theresa points at the giant object blocking the entrance to the structure.

"I think it's a tree. It must've been knocked down by the thunder." My eyes widen at the realization I am given by that tree. If it had fallen just a little bit closer, we could've been killed.

"Zack, please make this stop! I want to go home!" Theresa begins to tear up.

I take a deep breath and exhale every ounce of fear held inside myself. "Just relax Theresa. If you want to get out of here, then I'm going to need your help too." I smile at her, trying to lighten the mood. Theresa stares at my smile for a few seconds. She then wipes away her tears and nods to reassure me that I have her full attention. "Okay then, the only hope we have is to push this tree out of the way. We need to move it before the dirt it is on dries up because it'll be harder to move on dry dirt than on mud." I inform her as I begin to push the tree.

"Zack, the opening isn't big enough for both of us to push though." She mentions. Did I really not even notice that? Wow, am I stupid or what?

Suddenly, the tree begins to budge. "Just push me into the tree. That'll help." I say as I push with all my might.

As soon as she places her hands on me, I become startled upon the fact that she pushed on my butt. "What happened?" Theresa hesitates as if she thinks something bad happened.

"I just didn't think you'd push me on my butt is all." I state as if that should be obvious.

"Well, where else do you want me to push? Your back is bent due to the fact that you can't be upright because of how low this cave is. I really didn't have much of a choice." She admits. Well, I guess she has a point.

I take another deep breath. "Fine, continue what you were doing. Let's just get out of here already." I turn back around and continue pushing. I cringe a little when I feel her hands applying pressure on my butt once again, but I shake it off and just continue pushing.

After about thirty seconds of pushing, the tree begins to budge. "I think we've pushed it far enough." I say as I back up. "You ready?"

"I don't know… what if the lightening gets us?" Theresa begins to shake again.

"Well, we aren't any safer in here than we would be out there. Let's just get home." I insist as I begin to climb through the new opening between the tree and the stone.

After maneuvering my way out, I reach my hand into the structure. "Your turn." I say, getting quickly chilled by the rain.

Theresa hesitantly takes me by the hand. As soon as she feels the rain pounding on her arm, she pulls back. "I don't want to get wet. I'll get sick." Theresa frowns. Really? That's what she's worried about? This is a matter of survival and she's worried about catching a damn cold?

After groaning at her statement, I come up with an idea. I lift my shirt over my head, leaving my upper half completely vulnerable to the rain now beating on it. "Use my shirt to cover your face." I throw it over her head.

"But what about you? You're gonna get…" She begins.

"Don't' worry about me. I don't care about some stupid cold. Let's just get to safety." I hoist her out of the structure without waiting for her approval. I've kept patient for long enough. She's coming with me whether she wants to or not.

I take Theresa by the hand as we bolt across the forest. She doesn't exactly run fast enough for my taste, but I slow down and go at her pace anyway. I also keep an eye on Theresa as we run. She seems awfully determined to get home. It's as if nothing else is on her mind at the moment. I wouldn't even be surprised if she forgot I was alongside her. Whatever the case, after all this time with Theresa, I guess I've learned to like her presence. She isn't really as annoying as I'd initially thought. She just takes some getting used to.

"You know, Theresa, you're actually a pretty cool girl." I wink at her as we run through the forest.

"Awww, you're so sweet Zack." She jumps into a hug with me, stopping in her tracks. I guess she wasn't as focused on getting home as I'd thought.

I cradle her in my arms, not caring that we are standing in the rain. I guess, in a way, I've grown attached to Nicholas' sister. Not like a girlfriend or anything, but definitely like my very own sister!

Suddenly I look up and notice lightening striking a tree right beside us. The tree slowly begins to descend. Could another tree really be falling in the same storm? Couldn't be…

As I'd hoped it wouldn't happen, the tree in fact begins to tip over. "Theresa, watch out!" I scream as I pull her along with myself as fast as I can. Luckily, we barely manage to get out of the way of the tree.

"Zack, y-you saved me…" Theresa stands in frozen in shock.

"You can thank me later. Let's get a move on it." I begin to run once again, leading her toward the now in view town. At this point, I just want to get us both home in one piece.

When we arrive at the door, Katherine answers it, immediately clinging onto her girl. The boys apparently took the car to search for us. Guess we must've been missing for a while.

I run upstairs and change into dry clothes after thoroughly drying my body. Now that I am finally able to relax, I realize that I am somewhat light headed. I lay down on my bed. I guess Theresa was right about the after effects of going shirtless in the rain.

After a few minutes of resting, I hear Nicholas and Christopher entering the house downstairs. Christopher begins to tell his daughter that he is so relieved to see that she is safe. She apparently gives me all the credit though. She tells her dad about how she brought me to her secret hiding spot for hide and seek when it ended up raining. She even includes how the tree almost killed her. If she's trying to give her parents a heart attack, then she's doing a phenomenal job.

After that, I hear footsteps making there way up the stairs. I quickly shut my eyes as the person begins to walk up to me. "Thank you Zack for taking care of my sister. You're the best friend I could ever ask for." Nicholas whispers as he hugs me. A smile forms on my face. I guess this is what being a hero feels like. Well, aside from the cold that is.

Nicholas then stands up, tucks me into my covers, and leaves his bedroom, closing the door behind him. "Is Zack in there?" Christopher asks his son from outside the door.

"Yeah, but he's sleeping." Nicholas tells his father.

Despite what his son had just said, Christopher opens the door anyway. I squint to see that he is smiling at me. "God bless this boy." Christopher whispers as he closes the door. Wow, even Christopher is happy with me. Could this day get any better? Well, it wasn't exactly a good day, but I won't complain. I've become even more welcome into this family, and I'm loving every second of it. I don't want to leave this place. Not now, not ever!

How well will Zack get along with everyone in Nicholas' family in the days to come? Will Zack fit in at the Christian school he will be attending shortly? Read on to find out!

For this review, tell me what you thought of Theresa and how she bonded with Zack. ^_^

Thank you to all my readers and reviewers for staying so patient and I will try to update again when I have time!