Sorry for the delay in updating. After a crappy work trip and a tooth I'm ready to tie to someone's trailer hitch and let them yank it out as they speed away... I've been less in the mood of writing.

So here is a quick chapter to tide y'all over until the next one. I'm sorry if it's not very good or fails. I apologize for mistakes. And I apologize for the suck.

The sun broke over the trees with the swift dawn. What amazed Claire was how green the country was. It seemed less of northern forest of deciduous trees punctuated by pungent alpine slopes. It was a thick, evergreen jungle of trees with broad leaves and verdant vines and bushes with bright flowers. It was a far green country, far from the desert and Infection.

Crickets and frogs chirped a broken chorus, as if announcing the arrival of another day. Birds squawked and fluttered through the branches, perturbed by Claire's intrusion into their forest. Something rustled in the undergrowth to her left; a squirrel or snake perhaps. There was life here, a frenetic pulse of the forest that beat with every shrill bird and chitter of squirrel, as chaotic and thrilling as the desert was dead.

How long had they traveled to reach this place? This haven? This is what lay beyond the silver glass of her dream: a peace that Claire rarely knew, a still contentment of her heart. None of the running, the death, the loss mattered anymore at this end to their journey. It all melted away like the last bit of night, chased away with the rising sun.

It was hope, Claire realized.

Slender arms encircled her waist from behind, the warmth of a body pressed to her back. Alice placed a gentle kiss on the base of Claire's neck. Smiling, Claire reached behind her without looking and ran her fingers through Alice's hair. Neither of them spoke. Words were not needed for this moment.

The couple stood in silence, content in their new paradise, content in one another's arms.

Eventually, Claire turned in the embrace, looped her arms around Alice's neck and kissed her. It was different from their first kiss, which had been slow and agonizing. This kiss was passionate, as Claire held nothing back that she had denied herself over the past months. Alice returned the kiss, pulling her closer, pushing their bodies together.

Claire gasped as Alice's tongue slipped in between her lips, teasing. Strong hands caressed her back, reaching underneath her shirt to make contact with bare skin.

The sky darkened; the sun retreated under clouds. Not dark clouds, angry and oppressive, but gray clouds, light with promise of rain. Claire opened her eyes and glanced up as the first drop of rain hit her shoulder. The break in their kiss gave Alice the opening she needed to slip her hands under the front of Claire's shirt. Rain. Six years ago it had just been weather. Now it was more than that.

Arching into Alice's touch as her hands cupped her breasts, Claire whimpered. A long suppressed desire woke within her, and she crushed her lips to the other woman's again, surrendering herself to need, letting the warm rain rinse the dust of the desert from their bodies.

Inquisitive fingers found their way past the waistband of her jeans, her underwear. Unable to resist the swelling need, Claire pushed herself down on Alice's fingers. "Please…" She breathed, fisting her hand in Alice's hair, pulling her closer. Her eyes sought Alice's glacier blue eyes, searching them for the same desire that she herself felt. Alice's eyes were dark, and she obliged, slipping two fingers into Claire, her opposite arm around her waist, supporting the redhead when her knees buckled.

Claire could not break the gaze she and Alice shared, even while following the languid pace Alice's fingers set with a roll of her hips. "I love you, Alice," Claire whispered breathlessly, and Alice smiled the true, genuine smile that had broken Claire's heart weeks ago, only now it seemed to mend her.

The gray curtain of rain descended on the two lovers, cloaking them in a misted veil.

Claire woke with a start, disoriented. She attempted to sit up with the sudden jog into wakefulness, but an arm cast about her midsection kept her in place. Her tank top clung to her skin with moisture. Several quick heartbeats passed before it registered with Claire that she was not still damp with rain, but from sweat. Her skin was flushed, hot, and it had very little to do with the body heat from the woman behind her.

Or perhaps a lot to do with it, Claire thought as the full effect of the dream hit her. The second flush that washed over her was embarrassment. Oh fuck. She thought, reaching up to cover her eyes with her hands. Embarrassment was quickly replaced by a sinking, sickening weight that started in her chest and descended into the pit of her stomach.

It had been a dream. The green forest, the end of fear, the respite for the constant battle for survival, Alice… Alice's fingers… it had been a dream. Claire wanted to weep with frustration. For a moment she thought that they were safe, that they had left the desert and the T-virus far behind.

The desert was still there, outside of the Hummer, and beyond that the T-virus still lay in wait. The reality was crushing.

Alice stirred behind her.

The other woman had held Claire while she cried, offering her the only solace that could be had for such horror, such grief: the comfort of another human's embrace. Alice had all but carried Claire to the backseat of the Hummer, laying the pair of them down, Alice's front pressed to Claire's back, arms wrapped around her. She had pulled a blanket over them and held Claire until the fitful tears subsided into sleep.

"What's wrong?" Alice said softly, her voice husky with sleep.

Swallowing, Claire tried to smooth the unsettled edges of her voice. "Nothing. Just a nightmare. Sorry I woke you."

It had not been a nightmare. It was a dream. A wonderful, perfect dream, but Claire wished it had been a nightmare instead. A nightmare was easily combatted once awake; she could dismiss the terror, the pain by reminding herself it had only been a nightmare, it had not been real. But this dream… there was no such consolation. Reminding herself it had not been real caused the nauseating pain to double in force. It had not been real, and the truth of it almost made Claire lose herself to tears again.

As if sensing Claire's unease, Alice propped herself up on an elbow. "Are you sure? You were whimpering in your sleep."

"Yes," Claire hoped her voice didn't sound too strangled. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to control the physical symptoms of her dream. The thudding of her heart, the perspiration matting her hair to her brow, the pronounced rise and fall of her chest, the wetness in between her legs… She could not open her eyes, not to see Alice gazing down at her, brow furrowed in concern.

Waking up to find that had only been a dream had been torture enough. Waking up aroused, wrapped in the arms of the woman who had been, in her dream, fucking her, was beyond torture. It was unnerving and humiliating. If she had still believed in god, Claire would have prayed that Alice did not notice, prayed that her hyper alert senses would not pick up on the signs Claire's body betrayed.

"Claire—"

"Thank you," Claire blurted, abruptly cutting Alice off. Whatever she was about to say was dangerous. She had to regain control, for both their sakes. "For last night, for now… I appreciate you being there for me." It sounded thin, even to her own ears. "It's like there is so much darkness and evil and death now. Sometimes I think there can never be any good in the world, that it's all lost. But… thank you, for being there for me… when I needed a friend." Claire squeezed the arm around her waist, feeling the comfort her own emotional walls provided as she drew them back to her.

The hint was not lost on Alice who removed her arm from about Claire's waist and gingerly swept the hair matted to Claire's brow from her face before withdrawing her hand completely. "The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater."

Sitting up, Claire reached for her ball cap and shoulder holster. The quote sounded familiar, but she could not place it. She could not remember the last time she had read anything, let alone given thought to any of the great works of Before. They seemed irrelevant now. "You're quoting literature to me, now?"

Still propped up on her elbow, Alice watched her buckle on the holster. "Just telling you that I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you… when you need a friend."

The last word stung, even though the other woman's tone had not changed, and it had been Claire who quickly reestablished the boundary between them. "I'm going to go check the perimeter." She declared and did not wait for Alice to respond before climbing out of the Hummer, hoping the chill would cool whatever desire still lingered after her dream.

Both women pretended for the other's sake. Claire pretended that what transpired between them meant nothing, that the comfort Alice offered had been a gesture of friendship, that Claire had only sought the solace of a friend's embrace, that the consolation she found was the support of a comrade supporting her through her grief. Friendship was all they could allow themselves; love would destroy them. She pretended that her resolve was as strong as ever, that her walls remained intact. She pretended that the dynamic of their relationship had not been irrevocably changed by accepting Alice's comfort, that she could not keep Mikey's last words from rolling over and over again in her mind.

Alice played along with Claire's wishes, refusing to push her towards acknowledging their feelings for one another. She pretended that what Claire had said was true, that it had only been with friendship that she had gathered Claire into her arms.

Alice pretended that she had not heard Claire cry out for her in her sleep.

Like I said, a quick chapter until I can work on the next. I'm not sure I like this chapter, but oh well. When the medicine wears off, I'll delete or edit this as needed. Fuck. I hate this pain medication crap. It fucks with my muse.

Please review! Pleeeeeaaaaaseeeeeeeeee!