(A/N: The storm outside was lovely so I decided to stay up and write a bit to listen to it. It's just now over so, despite being rather short, I think I'll just go ahead and post this now. Thank you to all who have reviewed thus far with such encouraging words! They do truly mean wonders to me! As always, thank you for taking the time to read and constructive criticism is always welcome.)

"Sana…" Snippy repeated still in shock at the sight before him.

Her face round and pale with the exception of dirt and ash smudged about her low cheekbones . Dark bushy eyebrows rested above her deep set hazel eyes. Her dark hair was slicked back into a tight bun sitting at the nape of her neck. Her aquiline nose with a slightly upturned tip had a single freckle to the left of it. She looked sickly as she stood before him.

"Yes, that's exactly as I said. Now, Mr. Buzzard…"

"Snippy," he cut her off, again trying to get her to use something people actually referred to him as. "My name is Snippy."

"Is that the name you were given by your parents?" She locked eyes with him, not blinking, her stare more intense than Snippy expected.

Snippy turned away from her to admire the plant picture in the corner, breaking eye contact as he felt his face grow a bit red. "Well, it's my family name."

"Oh, well Buzzard is your new nickname then!" She smiled a large nearly perfect smile, her teeth a surprising white. Her eyes even smiled with the rest of her face, appearing more green with her excitement. "Isn't that what friends do? I read that in a book once that friends often have special things they call each other!" She chattered happily, bouncing around snippy, collecting the rope off of the bed, still smiling.

Snippy sat in shock. 'Friend? Did I miss something?' but he continued to sit in silence, a small smile playing on his lips. He had made a friend. How exactly, he was unsure. Her smile amazed him, filling out her facial features, reddening her cheeks, making her look alive and happy. 'And rather pretty' his mind added as an afterthought, an afterthought which he quickly shook away, embarrassed. He watched her continue to prattle so excitedly about the book with the characters that had given each other nicknames.

"Oh! I wonder what nickname you'll be giving me? I suppose that'll come in time. I read in another book that people often got nicknames based off of things they did, but you haven't gotten to see much of me yet considering you just woke up," her voice drifting.

Snippy was brought from his thoughts, watching her as her voice trailed off, her excitement seeming to wane. As her smile fell, her eyes seemed to go back to the hazel he had seen before. It was then a little voice whispered into the back of his mind, tearing him from his happy thoughts.

'You don't even know her. How do you know she won't shoot you in the back, slit your throat in your sleep. For all you know she'll follow you back to Captain and the rest, kill you all as you lay in bed, then steal your supplies.'

Snippy grimaced, not only because he hated the low hissing voice that sounded so much like his own yet so different, but because it was right. How could he trust her?

"Um… Sana?" Snippy started unsure what to say next. She turned her head to him and tilted her head, waiting for him to continue. "I was curious, why were you following me out there?"

She scrunched up her forehead, frowning slightly, her eyes almost appeared to lose color. "I had to make sure you weren't one of them."

Snippy recalled her mentioning something about 'them' earlier, but hadn't thought much of it. "What do you mean? One of who?" he continued to ask about 'them,' but she didn't seem like she wanted to answer.

She dropped her eyes to the rope in her hands, inspecting it rather than answering Snippy's inquiry.

"Sana?" Again Snippy tried to gain an answer. Her head stayed down, so Snippy reached out, trying to place a supportive hand on her shoulder, but something stopped him. 'When was the last time I touched a girl?' His hand withdrew quickly, placing it over the scar on his stomach, as he remembered the brunette girl from his dream or vision that had been trying to warn him about something before being dragged into an abyss of coffee. "Sana?" He tried once again.

"I don't kno-ow!" She let out a wail, wrapping her arms around Snippy, sobbing into his shoulder.

Snippy, shocked by the sudden outburst of emotion, sat immobilized on the bed, unsure of what to do. He looked around half expecting for the 'Coffee Flood of Doom' to appear once again and take her away. When it didn't, he turned back to the girl, wide-eyed. 'Well this is something you don't see every day.'

Her sobs broke in his shoulder for a second as she spoke, "I-I've read everything I could! But I can't find out what they a-are!" Again, the weeping moans came, dragging out the last word into a lamenting groan.

"Ah… Sana?" Snippy tried to nudge her off his shoulder, but she only clung tighter. He had to do something to calm her, so after a bit of internal conflict settling with himself he slowly wrapped his left arm around to her back, his right still sitting on his scar hoping another like it didn't appear to wake him from this dream. Slowly, hesitantly he began patting her back softly. "It's, ah… It's ok. I was just asking." The sobs began to abate, dwindling to sniffles. The patting slowly turned into rubbing.

"I'm sorry," she whispered into his shoulder. "I really don't know what they are. I just know they've been getting closer." She lifted her face from Snippy's shoulder, her red eyes seemed to crowd around a pool as the iris took on a more blue hue. Her face sat mere inched from Snippy allowing him to see the odd mixes of blue, green, and brown that speckled her irises. Her frowning eyes making her look sickly again. "They're evil and out to kill. That's all I know."

To Snippy's disappointment, she pulled away from him again, letting his arm drop back to his knee. "Have they come after you already?"

She sighed, "Yes, a few times."

"Are you here alone?" Snippy asked, looking toward the closed door, waiting for one of her comrades to suddenly walk in to answer his question, but to his surprise she nodded her head. Then her smile slowly returned.

"Story time!" She exclaimed happily. She hopped to the middle of the room and prepared herself, heels together with feet at a 45 degree angle. Her hands were clasped at her waist. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath then began. "Once upon a time, that's how most good stories begin you know, I read it in all the books. Well, as I was saying once upon a time this was my Great Great Great Great Great Great times a million greats Grandparent's house."

'This is going to take a while,' Snippy thought idly to himself, getting comfortable.

"They made it into a fallout shelter in which my family has always lived and stayed in minus trips to the city occasionally at least until WWIII when I lost both my parents while they were on a trip to the city, leaving me here alone until Prince Charming comes to whisk me away in a pumpkin with no shoes. The end." Green eyes flashed with her smile again, waiting for Snippy to say something.

Confused Snippy said the first thing that came to mind, "I'm, ah, sorry for your loss. That sounds really sad to be smiling like that." He nervously fidgeted on the bed as she stared up at him, cocking her head to the side.

"I suppose it is sad." She muttered as if in deep thought. "But I really do love stories and reading." Again she perked up with a smile.

Snippy couldn't help but smile too. "You'd probably enjoy Captain, then," he said with a sigh. Then it hit him. He stood up from the bed, eye's wide. "Shit! I need to get back to Captain! And Engie! And Pilot!"

"Are those your other friends?" Sana asked, curiosity lacing her voice.

The thought of Pilot as a friend to him was incomprehensible. And Engie was always so quiet, there wasn't much to befriend there. And Captain was, well, Captain. "Eh, kinda, I guess. They're more acquaintances…" Snippy brought a hand to his head rubbing the side that was still slightly sore. "Either way, I've got to report my findings."

"Findings?" A hint of fear crossed her eyes.

"Well, I could tell them there's nothing over here and direct them elsewhere, but I would rather you join us, especially if there's something out there that's after you." Snippy said rather simply, but Sana did not seem impressed.

She narrowed her eyes to slits, giving them a black appearance. Gripping her rifle tighter, she spoke slowly, "How do I know you won't just kill me and steal everything from my bunker?"

Snippy's eyes widened at the irony of hearing his previous thoughts coming from her mouth, but then a memory came to him. One of her smiling as she bounced around the room.

"Because I'm a friend, Bookworm. And sometimes you just have to trust a friend." He smiled gently and her eyes widened a bit. Then after a moment he added for good measure, "Not to mention, friends don't kill friends then steal their things."

Again, Sana smiled that dashing smile of hers, brightening up her face. "I trust you, Buzzard. Just give me five minutes to get ready and we can go!" and with that she ran out the door leaving Snippy to his thoughts.

"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life" –Mark Twain