A/N: this takes place shortly after Ghost town, so sorry for any spoilers.

Ipswitch Airport, 1 year later

Claire P.O.V

I never thought I would ever see gloomy old Ipswitch again. I never thought I would see my gorgeous brothers, or my childhood crush ever again. Nor my hair-brained drunk of a mother.

But I never though that Shane would cheat on me either. With Eve no less. And I never knew that Amelie thought of me as a daughter, either. Or that Myrnin saw me as a little sister. But hey! We never now until the apocalypse happens.

"Sigh…"

"Claire!"

My head snapped up at the always familiar voice of my big brother, Caleb. I saw him jogging toward me and lurched to my feet and glomped him.

"CALEB!" I squealed.

He just laughed and squeezed me.

"Oh, it's so good to see you again, Claire Bear! I missed you so much." He said as he put me down, as we were creating a scene.

"I missed you, too, Cay!"

"You got everything?"

"Yup."

It was mostly questions from there. I didn't hold anything back about Morganville. If Caleb and the boys wanted to know, I wouldn't lie to them. But I wouldn't just tell them, either.

"So, you were pretty cryptic over the phone. What happened?"

Here it was. The moment I had been dreading.

"Well, it was a lot of things. With mom's condition, and all…and…I was cheated on by the guy I thought I loved…"

Caleb was silent for a long moment.

"I'll kill him."

"Caleb-"

"No, Claire. You're not going to talk e out of this one. He hurt you, I can see it! And I warned him that if he hurt you, I would kill him!"

"I was going to say, go ahead."

"Oh… Well,…that's unlike you. What changed?"

"A lot of things. I guess Morganville just changed me. Nearly getting killed all the time really does that to you."

The car screeched to a halt in front of our house.

"W-what…? Did you just say nearly killed?"

"Yes."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said."

"What?"

I couldn't avoid it any longer. I proceeded to tell him everything about Morganville. Every happening. Every near death experience. I even told him of the extent of mine and Shane's relationship.

He was speechless after all of that. We just sat in the driveway for two hours. Then he reached over and hugged me.

"I'm so sorry. I never should have sent you there. I thought…I thought I was doing the right thing."

His voice broke. My brother was…crying? I felt tears rush to my eyes. I tried to hold them back, but when I herd my brother sob, I let one out. And then, we, the Danvers children, cried for each others sorrow and loss.

An hour later, I was getting out of the shower and Caleb was sitting on my bed. I looked through my closet and picked out my outfit (a purple corset top, black skinny jeans, and purple converse) as we chatted about other little things. I told him more about Eve and Michael.

I told him about Myrnin and Amelie and Oliver. When I was done getting ready, we headed out to his mustang. We were headed to the most popular hangout in Ipswich. Nicky's.

'I can't wait to see the boys. I've missed them so much!'

"You excited?"

"You bet I am!" I yelled over the music.

"Well, the boys don't know you're home yet, so we get to surprise them!"

"WHOO!"

I love surprising my boys.

I walked into Nicky's and was assaulted with the smell of cigarettes, alcohol, and lust. Ah, the smell of home.

"They're over there, playing pool!" I heard Caleb shout over the music.

I rushed over to the pool tables. I then saw all of my boys and my heart swelled with love. I ran and jumped onto Pogue's back.

"SURPRISE!"

The three of them just stared at me for a minute as if they didn't recognize me.

"Guys, it's me!"

Their eyes all widened.

"CLAIRE!"

"Yup!"

They all attacked me with hugs. They all began shout at once and I just screamed," One at time!"

They all raised their hands and I thought for a moment.

"Tyler."

He attacked me in a bear hug and cried, "I've missed you so much, baby girl!"

"I thought that was Reid's nickname for me?" I choked out.

"Well, we all call you that now."

"Ok. Reid."

He came up to me, kissed my cheek and said in my ear, "I've missed you so much, Baby Girl."

I shuddered. I then caught a glimpse of his cocky smirk. I smiled at him and said, "I've missed you too, Reid."

I kissed his nose then.

"Pouge."

I was again attacked with a bear hug.

"Oh, Claire Bear, I missed you so very much!"

"I missed you, too Pougy Bear!" I cried, hugging him back.

I stepped back only to come into contact with a hard chest. I turned and found myself face to chest with Aaron Abbot.

"Hey, Claire. You sure have changed. Maybe for the better. What do you say we get out of here?"

"Um, I'd say, no."

"Come-"

"She said no, Abbot."

"Stay out of this Garwin. She's not yours."

"Yes she is."

"She is?"

"I am?"

"Yeah. Don't you remember, Claire? I asked you out right after you got back."

I then caught his wink.

'Ah. I see what he's doing.'

"Oh, yeah! Sorry, I was kinda tired after the long flight. Sorry, Reid."

"That's ok, Baby Girl. I forgive you." And then he kissed me smack on the mouth. If I hadn't gotten so good at composing myself in Morganville, I would've freaked out. I had been in love with Reid since I was 4.

So, instead of freaking pout, I enjoyed the moment and kissed him back just as adamantly as he was kissing me, which was pretty adamantly. When he let go, I couldn't help but be light-headed.

"See ya, guys." And he led me out to his '97 Chevy pickup. He helped me in and as we started to drive off, I busted out laughing.

He looked at me, looking startled. I could feel that I was blushing, but didn't care. Reid Garwin, my childhood crush and the man of my dreams had just kissed me. Even if it was a charade…

My laughing died off pretty quick after that thought.

"What?" he asked.

"What?"

"What's wrong?"

"….."

I didn't know how to say it, but I \was going to say it. After all of these years, I was going to tell him how I felt.

"Reid…?"

"Yea?"

"Was…Was there anything…behind that kiss?"

"Well, you wanted Abbot off of your jock didn't you? I 'm sorry if I upset you."

"No…It's fine."

I had my answer. I felt tears rush to my eyes as he pulled into my driveway. I got out and shut the door running to my front door and locking it after myself.

"Claire!" I heard him shout after me. I didn't care though. I felt my heart breaking for the second time in a short while.

I felt so alone…