They continued down the road, past the bonfire. They found themselves in a courtyard, surrouded by buildings that resembled the apartments that were in the other sections of City 17, but were haunting mockeries. They were even more run down than usual, and had gore dripping down some of them. Corpses of zombies and humans alike riddled the streets, staring up with lifeless eyes. Claire subconsciously edged closer to Gordon, wrapping one of her hands around his forearm. He patted her hand comfortingly and led the two women on.

The road ended, and the only avenue out was a dark alley. Claire released Gordon's arm, and he flicked on his flashlight, shining it down the corridor. They could see a few zombies on the ground, but they weren't fooled. These zombies weren't really dead. Well…dead dead. They were just waiting for someone to unsuspectingly walk past so they could take them by surprise. Claire raised her shotgun, but Gordon put his hand on the barrel and lowered it. She looked at him questioningly, until he pulled out a grenade. She nodded and lowered her shotgun completely. He pulled the pin and threw it down the alley. The grenade stirred the zombies, and they rose to see who was nearby. They didn't have a chance to investigate, though, as the grenade blew up, sending them flying.

They walked down the corridor, and were met by a startling sight. There was a fence blocking their way. This normally wouldn't be a huge obstacle for the trio, but there was a new twist thrown into this fence - it was electrified. The charred corpse of something - or someone - was stuck to it, it's body jerking every once in a while with the electric shock.

"Crap." Claire muttered, walking closer to the fence. She saw some live electric wires were entangled in the fence, which was the source of the shocks. She followed the wires with her eyes until she saw that they led into a room on the second floor in the building behind them.

"Electricity's coming from up there." Claire said, gesturing towards it with her shotgun.

"How do we get in?" Alyx asked.

Gordon began to retrace their steps, following the building until they found an entrance. They saw the door was behind the bonfire.

"How convenient." Alyx said.

Freeman immediately began searching the area. Alyx and Clare stayed put, watching Gordon's back so he could search without fear of being attacked. They could feel the heat from the fire on their backs. Suddenly, the fire disappeared. They turned around to see that he had turned a wheel on a gas tank, closing it and taking away the fire's base. They walked up to the door.

"Claire and I will stay here and watch the entrance." Alyx said. Gordon nodded and entered into the building.

It wasn't very long before they heard gunshots and zombie screams coming from the building. After a few minutes of standing in silence, Alyx spoke and startled Claire out of her wandering thoughts.

"So I'm guessing you like Gordon, huh?"

Claire had to think a moment to refocus her attention on the sudden question.

"Well, yeah. I wouldn't have stuck with him all this time if he was unbearable to be around."

"You know that's not the 'like' I was talking about. You have feelings for him."

Claire looked at Alyx and saw that she was dead serious. Of course she had feelings for Gordon - she just hadn't talked to anyone about it.

"I…uh…"

"Well, look. They way I see it, you've had your shot at him. You've worked with him for a long time, and I haven't. Why not back off and let another girl have him?"

Claire was still fumbling for words.

"You have feelings for him?" she asked.

"Of course." Alyx snapped. "And it's hard enough to get him to notice me without you prancing around him like he's some sort of god. Hands off."

Claire was completely thrown off. Alyx had seemed friendly at first, but now she was just…well, for lack of a better word, a bitch. Before she could respond, Gordon's footsteps sounded behind them.

"Did you turn off the fence?" Alyx asked, acting like nothing had happened.

Gordon nodded, but when he glanced at Claire a worried expression crossed his face. He looked at her with an inquiring look. She shook her head, and smiled, but she could tell he wasn't fooled, though he dropped the matter for now. He led them back down the alley, where the now-still corpse still hung lifelessly in the now de-electrified fence. Gordon scaled it first, and when Claire tried to follow behind him, Alyx cut in front of her and climbed first. She glared at the back of her head but didn't say anything.

"It's starting to get dark." Alyx commented. "We need to find somewhere safe to spend the night."

She motioned towards a building.

"Let's see if there are any rooms in there that are livable enough."

They entered building, shot a lone zombie that was wandering through the hall, and opened/broke down each door until they found one that seemed untouched by the undead. It had two wooden chairs, a wardrobe and a single bed frame and mattress.

"I call dibs on the mattress." Alyx said, walking over to it and stretching out.

The other two offered no argument. Gordon walked over to the closet that was attached to the room and found a few blankets. He tossed one to each of the girls, and laid one down on the wooden floor for himself. Gordon moved the wardrobe in front of the door to slow down any unexpected visitors. Claire didn't realize she was staring at him until he looked over at her and smiled. She smiled back and quickly looked down. She set down her shotgun and small pistol, and spread out the blanket. She sat down. What she wouldn't give for a pair of pajamas right then.

Almost as if reading her mind, Gordon opened the wardrobe and pulled out a t-shirt and some soft shorts. He walked over to her and handed them over, grinning.

"Thanks." she said, walking over to the closet and shutting the door.

She climbed out of her HEV suit in the darkness and pulled the T-shirt on. It came down to almost halfway down her thighs. She was about to pull on the shorts when she heard a small hiss. She froze, the only light coming out from the crack at the bottom of the door.

Something leaped onto Claire's shoulder, and she screamed, slamming open the door and scrambling out, smacking whatever it was off of her shoulder. She ran into a very surprised Gordon. Alyx whipped out her gun and shot the poison headcrab that had scared Claire. She buried her head into Gordon's chest and shivered, the adrenaline slowly leaving her body. Gordon wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair comfortingly, and held her until she calmed down.

"Sorry." she said, stepping back.

Gordon waved his hand and gave her a 'don't-worry-about-it' smile. He then glanced down, and his cheeks flushed red. He averted his gaze. Claire was about to ask him what was the matter, when she realized that she hadn't put the shorts on yet. The t-shirt was the only thing that covered her long legs, leaving most of them out in the open. She blushed furiously and went back in the closet, but not before checking it for any other inhabitants, which there weren't any.

She slipped into the shorts and stepped back out of the closet. She glanced at Alyx, who was glaring daggers at her, obviously not pleased by the physical contact that had taken place between her and Gordon. Not being able to help herself, she smirked as she walked past. She set her HEV suit down next to her weapons. She curled up on the blanket, and pulled the half she wasn't lying on over her, to create a make-shift sleeping bag. She shivered with the cold, sleeping on the floor wasn't helping.

Claire awoke to a completely dark room. She wondered what had woken her up, when she realized that Gordon was shaking her shoulder gently. She sat up, and Gordon pulled her over to the door. Alyx's soft snores was the only sound. He moved the wardrobe quietly, then opened the door. Claire stepped out into the dimly lit hallway, rubbing her eyes tiredly. Gordon closed the door behind them, and led her a little ways from the room, out of earshot. He then turned to face her.

Claire looked at him, and could tell he wanted her to explain what had happened earlier when he had been looking to shut off the fence.

"Gordon, I really can't talk about it." she said.

Normally, she would tell Gordon anything, and in this case it wasn't because she feared Alyx. It was that in telling him, she would also reveal her feelings for him. If he didn't return them, she didn't want the rest of the trip to be awkward, and she feared that if he knew he wouldn't want to be around her anymore. The thought made her stomach sick. He moved forward and put a hand around her forearm, pleading. She decided to just be out with it.

"It's just…" she paused, and he nodded encouragingly. "While you were gone, Alyx asked me if I had feelings for you. When I said yes, she told me that I should 'back off' because she wanted you all to herself."

There. She had said it. She couldn't look at Gordon's face. They stood frozen for a few moments, and Claire feared she would fall over. She felt sick to her stomach and her knees threatened to give out underneath her.

"I…you don't have to…"she sighed at her fumbling lips. "I know you're probably really weirded out, but I think it's only fair you know-"

Then something happened she would have never expected. Gordon kissed her.

At first, she didn't know what was happening. This couldn't be happening. Could it? She kept on expecting herself to be waking up from a dream…but she didn't. Gordon hadn't run away screaming. He hadn't gotten angry. He was KISSING her. Wake up stupid! Her mind yelled. Her brain started functioning again, and she kissed him back. She lifted her arms and slid her fingers into his short, messy, brown hair. He smiled softly against her lips, and pulled away, resting his forehead on hers. He laid his palm against her cheek, and she leaned into it, loving the long-awaited touch of his hand.

Gordon suddenly snapped his head up, and stared down the hallway. Claire turned to see the last thing on the planet she wanted to - Alyx standing, watching them.