Alright, everyone! I have some good news and some (kinda) bad news. The good news is I decided to split this chapter in two since it was becoming WAY too long, so there is still one more to look forward to! :D And the (kinda) bad news is that the last chapter may not be up for another week or even 2 or 3 weeks depending. May is looking to be a pretty busy month for me since I'm taking a class this summer, my career obligations, and then also family obligations as well that may keep me from posting. But, don't worry! This fic will be finished and THAT I promise! But, there is another reason why I'm going to take time on the last chapter. Mainly that in the last chapter I decided that I kind of wanted to show more of who I would have in this merge of my AU since I want to show more of the challenge and the characters going head to head as they get near the dining hall of Camp Wawanakwa on the Island. But, before we get to that, let's check back in with our favorite duo of different personality extremes, shall we?! Lol. Again, thank you all so much for showing this random short fic that I decided to make SO much love and support. It really made these past couple of weeks for me. :) Anyway, hope you all enjoy part 1 of the conclusion!

Dawn barely looked like it decided to break over the horizon, but not quite yet as the faint rays of sunlight slowly started coming through.

Since it was still dark, most teams decided to take the opportunity to get some more sleep before taking off running to be freed.

And for Damien… it definitely looked like it couldn't come soon enough.

While Lauren was sleeping pretty soundly with her unnerving smile and expression still somehow stayed ever present even in sleep, Damien… not so much.

He sat bolt upright with bloodshot eyes and hugging his knees close to his chest and glancing down at Lauren every once in a while before looking back up to the east to see the sun rising.

"C'mon, c'mon…" Damien whispered in desperate panic to himself under his breath, desperately urging the sun to come up faster… or at least REALLY trying anyway.

Confessional: Damien

Damien's eyes were wide and nothing about any energy he was giving off seemed like he was remotely 'okay' as he continued in a panicked whisper, "Look, not gonna lie here… I'm exhausted. I didn't sleep ALL night because I was too scared to. But, if some scary lady looks at you and tells you she possibly killed some dude she used to date and has been throwing axes and knives in a circus since she was a kid?... NO WAY! I don't care! I was not gonna fall asleep if it killed me! I just need to fight nodding off for another 20 minutes and I'll be good! After all, it takes between 10-70 minutes for the sunlight to be considered…"

The camera cut to static to cut off another (while now sleep-deprived) intellectual rambling from Damien again.

End Confessional

Damien was practically strained his eyes to focus on the sun, really looking like he was trying to 'hang in'.

But, within 5 minutes, Damien's entire being looked like it was just succumbing to his fight or flight adrenaline wearing off and just generally being a 'human that needs sleep' as his eyes slowly closed and he fully nodded off. Almost quite literally 'nodding off' since his head nodded forward before falling back to rest against a tree trunk he was leaning up against, his mouth open slightly as he snoozed.

He remained that way for another 10 minutes until he heard a familiar scarily gleeful and creepy tone of in his left ear, "Morning, partner."

His eyes snapped open only for his heart to feel like it stopped when he saw Lauren right in front of his face, her usual creepy smile and glare in her eyes ever present and caused Damien to immediately start screaming in absolute horror.

Damien was quick to spring away as far as the chain would let him until he was resting back on his elbows and hyperventilating. Becoming even more horrified since Lauren hardly moved a muscle from him pulling on the chain quite aggressively to get away from her out of a natural self-preservation instinct.

Then; and somehow, Lauren managed to drive Damien's terror even more through the roof as she rigidly turned her head over to look at him from where she was still crouched, her neck cracking in the process as she kept her usual unnerving grin on her face as she kept looking at him.

Damien continued to scream in horror, causing birds in nearby trees to scatter from being spooked.

Confessional: Lauren

Lauren shrugged before looking at the camera and saying, almost as if nothing she just did to Damien was in any way 'not okay', "What? A girl can't let herself have a little fun? This is better than that time I dropped that bucket of spiders on this girl at the fun house. I hope this challenge never ends!"

End Confessional

Confessional: Damien

Damien gripped the camera attached to the door and looked (understandably) thoroughly freaked out by what just happened as he yelled, "THIS CHALLENGE NEEDS TO END NOW!" Damien kept freaking out and screaming as he slowly but surely looked like he was descending into terrified and overly exhausted madness.

End Confessional

After the fear eventually wore off and Damien looked like he was (while very slowly) coming down from his 'episode', he looked up when he realized Lauren was holding out her hand to him.

Damien just kept looking up at her in absolute terror until he was almost shocked awake and also causing Damien to involuntarily jump further away from Lauren even more (not that he wasn't partially thankful for it at the moment) when an air horn went off.

The noise blared and carried over the entirety of the Island's P.A. system until it finally died down as Chris's voice sounded off, "Goooooooood morning campers! It is now officially sunrise and officially time for you all to get back to camp. Ready? GO!"

Then almost unnecessarily, Chris seemed to have the volume turned up on the speakers before setting off the air horn again, causing Damien and even Lauren to recede in on themselves a little, clench their teeth, and cover their ears in response to the 'uncalled for' level of noise.

This was then confirmed as Chris added, turning the volume down a bit, "Hehe! I love this thing!"

After Chris seemed like he signed off, the forest was almost dead silent again and Damien looked like he was mere seconds away from having an actual full-on heart attack, Lauren held her hand out to him again as she said, "Need a hand, partner?"

Damien slowly and hesitantly looked back up at her and despite Lauren's usual unsettling grin still being in place… it was almost like Damien could sense she had no 'ulterior motive' for whatever reason and that she did seem to want to help him.

That, and even though he was also blaming it on his exhaustion, Damien just reached up and took Lauren's hand as she helped him back to his feet.

Damien looked like he was trying to get himself 'oriented' again since his whole being felt nothing short of ALL OUT disorientation from lack of sleep and having his entire sympathetic nervous system being tested for almost a full 24 hours.

He kept looking like he was trying to 'normalize' until his eyes went wide when he looked down as he felt something off.

Right as he looked down, his eyes felt like they were going to fall out of his head when he looked to his right hand that he used to grab Lauren's left and saw Lauren readjusted her hand around his. Somehow, while Damien was trying to ground himself in reality once he got to his feet, Lauren somehow readjusted her grip on his hand by weaving her fingers between his.

Even though Damien had only been on two dates in his entire life so far (with neither of them being that great and mostly being painfully weird or awkward like most things that usually happened to him), was taken off guard by it.

That and despite all of Damien's friends joking around with him about how despite how smart he can be 'pretty oblivious with his friend Kiera being the main 'playful' critic on that, even Damien knew exactly what it looked like Lauren was doing right now.

Considering from his perspective it looked like she legitimately holding his hand.

But, before Damien could ponder it even more through his perplexed (and still exhausted) confusion, Lauren quietly literally pulled Damien out of his thoughts as she started almost playfully yet kind of forcefully pulling him along said in her usually cryptically playful tone, "Well, let's get going, partner. La la la…"

Lauren continued to playfully tote him along as she continued skipping and 'singing' to herself.

But, while also trying to keep with Lauren's pace to prevent himself from becoming 'rag-dolled' again, he couldn't help himself from looking at Lauren's hand still holding his like she was doing right now as his entire expression continued to twist in absolute and total confusion at trying to figure out why.

Okay, I know nothing much really happened in this chapter by comparison to the previous one, but I do hope you all enjoyed the chapter regardless. As for 'what is happening' currently between Damien and Lauren (at least Lauren toward Damien), I'll leave you all to speculate exactly 'what' is happening from your opinions. Haha. ;) But, I do hope you enjoyed a little more of just the typical Lauren and Damien dynamic with Lauren getting one last good scare out of Damien before the last leg of the challenge. Anyway, if you have any guesses on the contestants I selected to be in the merge/being paired together other than Bowie and Julia and of course, Damien and Lauren, then feel free to leave your guesses! I already have some pairs in mind, but I'm intrigued to see your headcanons for this AU. :) Anyway, thank you again for reading, constructive feedback is always very much appreciated, and thank you again in advance for your patience with the final update. Have a great rest of your weekend!

Stay Classy!

Dexter1995