Hey, yay new chapter! Please leave a review and thanks to everyone for their support, I really appreciate it x x x

This is just in response to a review by Tears of a Clown:

There are pretty big time jumps in this story so the characters are changing quite quickly. Lauren has been away from the others for over 6 months and at this point the thought of ever returning is seeming impossibe. She has not forgotten Joe, but she truly believes she'll never see him again and so she is turning to the only source of "love" and "care" she feels she has - Shane. IT's now 6 months later so she'd not tied up anymore. It's just a regular bedroom that she's been given that she was in.

Sorry, if I didn't convey that well. Hopefully this chapter will make things a little clearer :D

NB: The representation of starkid is purely made up and for the purpose of the storyline

SIX MONTHS LATER: STARKIDS

Joe froze as a twig snapped beneath his boot, and looked around. Hundreds of tall thick tree trunks surrounded him, their foliage blocking out the sun. The trees, in their overwhelming mass, were intimidating, their gnarled and twisted features casting grotesque shadows. But through it all he could hear a small voice…her voice.

He ploughed forward. He could feel her presence. She was so close. He started to run, ignoring the branches and thorns that snagged at his clothes, tearing them. His foot caught on a branch and he swore as his body slammed down, knocking the breath out of him. Gasping for air, he pushed himself up and staggered on. He could hear her calling for him. She sounded so scared. Finally he stumbled into a small clearing and stopped as his eyes fell on a small figure huddled on the ground, shaking.

"Lauren," he whispered breathlessly, rushing to her. He pulled her into his arms and immediately felt her body go limp,

"NO, No no," he choked, pulling her hair back behind her ear. Tears poured down his face as he saw her brown eyes vacant and lifeless, stared back at him, her lips slightly parted, "no I'm here, you can't leave me Lo, no, no…."

Joe sat up gasping, drenched in a cold sweat. He looked around and swallowed as he took in the familiar red and grey walls of his bedroom, "it was just a dream," he reassured himself, squeezing his fingers to his eyelids, trying to erase the image from his mind. He swung his legs out over the side of the bed and stood up.

Closing the door of the bathroom, he looked at his pale face in the mirror, glistening slightly from the beads of sweat reflected by the bright bathroom lights. He reached for the cold tap, struggling to turn it as his hands shook. He couldn't escape. Even in his sleep, she haunted him. Her cold fingers clamped around his heart, sucking the life out of him. He knew he needed to move on, but he couldn't. A part of him was even afraid of letting her go.

Going back to sleep at this point was pointless. He quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and left the house, the cool night air shocking his lungs awake. He walked to the nearest 24hr garage. A bored teenager sat behind the desk, earphones in, his head bobbing along to the beat. He raised his eyes lazily as Joe entered before going back to his ipod. Joe headed to the self-service coffee machine and grabbed a cup. He heard the door to shop open as another nightly customer came in.

Yawning, he added sugar and milk to his cup before making his way towards the counter. The teenager leaned forward,

"That'll be $3.50," the teen yawned

Joe rooted around in his pocket and swore as he realised he'd no cash on him,

"Fuck, sorry I'll have to leave it."

The teen shrugged his shoulders and reached for the cup. However a woman's voice stopped him,

"It's ok, I'll pay."

Joe turned around surprised and started to refuse as the woman pushed a 10 dollar note into the cashier's hand. She had short blonde hair and grey blue eyes and Joe guessed she was of a near enough age to himself. She looked at him expectantly before picking the coffee up and handing it to him,

"Oh, thanks," he stuttered, taking the warm Styrofoam cup. She smiled shyly and collected her change. Joe walked out with her, holding the door open as she passed,

"Wanna sit?" she asked flopping down on a steel graphitized bench and taking a sip from her own steaming cup. Joe hesitated before nodding and joining her,

"So," she began, "what brings you out this late? Nightmares?"

Joe chuckled bitterly at the irony, "ya, I suppose you could say that."

After that they both fell silent for a few minutes. Eventually the woman spoke, "my name's Evelyn."

"Joe," he responded.

"You're a man of few words," she sighed, "you from around here?"

"Ya I'm an actor and member of a theatre production company set up here in Chicago."

"Wow an actor. That's cool. I'm just a sales assistant. What's your company called?" she asked. Joe knew she was only being polite, yet it felt nice to talk to a stranger, who knew nothing about him,

"Starkid," he answered, "we kinda got lucky after one of our shows went viral in college and we were able to make a career for ourselves... We're kind of on a break of sorts at the moment."

"Why? Did someone not get their own dressing room or something?" Evelyn joked, bringing the cup of coffee to her lips.

Joe paused before replying, "no am… one of our members passed away."

Evelyn spluttered and brought her hand to her mouth, "Oh God, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

Joe shook his head, "no honestly, it's ok…. Her name was Lauren, the girl that died. She…she was amazing and it's just taking the team a bit of time to, you know… rebuild ourselves again."

Evelyn nodded, "that's understandable. It's difficult to lose someone you love."

Joe wondered if he was that obvious about how much he loved Lauren, when even a complete stranger could pick up on it,

"Harder than I ever imagined," he said lowly.

6 MONTHS LATER: LAUREN

Lauren emerged from her room, her few belongings, stuffed into a dark rucksack. She sat down and waited. Shane hadn't kissed her since that night a few nights before hand but there had been a definite shift in the way he looked at her, or maybe it was just that she was only noticing it now, she couldn't be sure.

She felt conflicted about her feelings towards Shane. It had been a long time since she'd felt like someone cared about her. She found him strangely compelling. Every look she stole a glance at him, she felt like she was betraying Joe, but she wasn't going to see Joe again, that much was certain. Marcus had informed her that she had been officially listed as deceased according to police records and that her friends had accepted her death and were moving on with their lives. She knew she should be happy but it hurt to think of them leaving her behind,

"You ready?" Shane asked, his eyes bright and alert, interrupting her thoughts.

She nodded her head absent-mindedly and stood. They were moving base today, to a new city. Lauren didn't even want to think about the motivation behind the group's sudden activity, but it wasn't for a change in scenery, that much she was certain of,

She stood silently as Marcus came in, followed by two men dressed in immaculate tailored suits. They eyed Lauren warily and Lauren gulped as she saw the handle of a gun poking out from one of their pockets. Marcus handed Shane two disposable mobiles and a small black handgun,

"Take the route we discussed last night and don't attract attention. Call when you're entering the city and I'll give you further directions."

He inclined his head towards Lauren, "she's your responsibility. If she stirs trouble, kill her."

Lauren sucked in a sharp breath of air, earning an amused smile from Marcus, "I know what you're thinking," he spoke gruffly, his cold eyes bearing into Lauren, "there's no point trying to escape. People before you have tried it and ended up in a morgue."

"She's not going to run…" Shane started however Marcus cut him off,

"I'm just making sure I'm clear, acting comes naturally to her."

She knew it was pointless to think about running, but she couldn't ignore the temptation to try. She could hide, find help. But she they'd find her, she knew they would. She'd seen enough of how they worked to know.

He smirked and turned to leave, throwing a set of keys over his shoulder. Shane caught them and faced Lauren,

"Let's go."

Lauren winced as the light hit her eyes, savouring the feel of the heat on her skin. She'd never been out the main entrance before. Shane's hand gripped her wrist as they crossed the road and he stood over her as she slid into the passenger seat of the sleek black Audi, that was parked waiting for them.

She looked out the car window and was surprised to see that the building they'd exited looked like a normal apartment block. How did no one notice there was an illegal organisation based there for months. Her hands were shaking as she moved a strand of hair from her face. Why didn't people notice? Shane started the engine and locked the car doors. Before releasing the handbrake he paused. His eyes were fixed straight ahead and the muscles in his jaw were tensed as he spoke,

"Please don't run Lauren. He'll make me kill you and I really don't want to do that."

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