I'm alive! It's a miracle!

Ellie shifted uncomfortably. Devon had fallen asleep after drinking six energy drinks. He usually was able to control himself, but under the stress of the situation he had binged on the first thing he saw. After drink number six, he eventually crashed and had now been sleeping for at least an hour. His head was in Ellie's lap and he was snoring softly. The sound used to be annoying, but Ellie had grown used to it over the years, and now it soothed her frayed nerves, even though the position Ellie was sitting in was no longer comfortable and she couldn't move because of Devon.

Shouting started in the front of the store, and Ellie rolled her eyes. The people who had taken over the store had been fighting on and off the entire time. They were a team in the shallowest meaning of the word. They worked together, but they hated each other, and they made no effort to hide it. Like Preacher and Jake, as Ellie had learned they were named. The two weren't able to have a short conversation before devolving into insults.

Devon made a noise and Ellie glanced down at him. He looked almost angelic in his sleep. Similar to when he was awake, too, actually. Devon was just…. It was hard for Ellie to describe him in one word. Anyone else would just say that he was perfect or, more common, that he was awesome. Once upon a time, Ellie would have said that too. But she knew him better now, better than anyone else (she thought). She knew his quirks and flaws (yes, he had them), and he was annoying a lot of the time. Like how he found a way to use 'awesome' in every conversation he was engaged in.

There was a blast of noise from the rear of the store, closer to where Ellie was sitting. She jerked violently, almost accidentally hitting Devon in the face, but relaxed when she recognized the scene. "But Weston!" a woman screeched, backed up with swelling and dramatic music. "It's not what it looks like!"

The noise woke Devon, who jerked up in a confusion of limbs. His bleary blue eyes found Ellie's, and she smiled calmingly at him. "Don't worry, babe," she said before he asked anything. She patted him on the bicep absently. "Weston just found out that Maria was cheating on him with Marcus. It's not a big deal."

Devon's confusion cleared. "Oh, I see." He smirked. "That scene's pretty awesome."

Ellie furrowed her eyebrows at him. "They break up, Devon. How is that awesome?"

"Because Maria is totally not worth Weston's time," Devon said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I still don't understand why Weston even went for her in the first place. He totally ignored Jessica." Men were shouting in the background again. Ellie ignored them.

"Jessica?" she repeated in horror. "Oh, I forgot for a second that you like Jessica more than Katherine."

"Uh, yeah, of course I do. Who planned the romantic picnic in the park? Who bought him chocolates when he wasn't feeling awesome? Jessica. And what was Katherine doing? She was taking care of her pet bird."

"It is a very rare species of macaw that requires a lot of attention, you know that!" Ellie said defensively.

Devon spun on his butt to face his girlfriend fully. He sat with his legs crossed, his arms resting on his knees. "Then why should Weston date a girl who cares more about her bird than about him?"

"That is not true!" Ellie protested. "She skipped bird bath day to go out with him!"

"Yeah, but we all know that that stupid bird is what she was thinking about the entire day. Plus, they have no chemistry on screen."

"Says the guy who prefers Jessica, the one who literally got cast because she's the director's niece."

"Who cares why she got cast? Jessica loves him more that Katherine "Bird-Lady" does, end of discussion."

Ellie gasped dramatically. "You take that back! Katherine made a collage of his face for his birthday!"

"Jessica bought him an entire bouquet made out of chocolate!"

"Katherine abandoned her super rich and hot boyfriend for him because she realized she was in love with Weston and not that stupid egotistical jerk!"

"Jessica skipped her own mother's funeral to go on a date with him!"

Ellie shook her head vehemently and opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by someone next to them. "Oh, my God," a girl said. She looked about college age, and her phone was lying on the floor beside her, its battery dead. She had called the police with it earlier, but they weren't able to get her out, so she just wasted the rest of the battery playing some game. "Will you please both just shut up?" she asked.

Devon turned to look at her. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today," he observed. As he said it, Ellie noticed that his hair wasn't messed up at all from sleeping, and he was already completely awake. Apparently he had already slept off the energy drink crash. She silently envied his magical hair.

The girl glared at Devon with narrowed brown eyes. "We have been kidnapped, you idiot," she hissed.

"I know that," Devon said. "But that's no reason to act so rude. That is so not-"

"I swear, if you say 'awesome' one more time, I will take someone's gun and shoot you."

Devon closed his mouth sullenly and looked back at Ellie for support. She just shrugged. Nothing? he mouthed at her. She smiled sarcastically at him, and he grinned. "You are useless," he said, with no hostility behind the words.

"I am not!" Ellie said immediately, but Devon pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. She grinned into his shoulder.

The girl made a retching noise, and Ellie pulled back. She kept her hand on Devon's thigh as he shifted and leaned back against the shelves she was sitting against. He put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently. "So, babe," he started.

The girl retched again.

"Do you think we should try to get out of here now?"

Ellie frowned. "Well, no. There are like a hundred guys in here with guns. I think that would be an absolutely horrible idea."

Devon shrugged. "I don't know. I think it's a better idea than just sitting here."

"But that's what we have been doing for the past few hours."

"Yeah, but it seemed like a better idea back then, when the police hadn't been sitting out front doing nothing to help us out."

Ellie pursed her lips. "I don't know. I think we should just wait here." She looked around, at the mostly full shelves of electronic appliances that no one would need. The girl was completely ignoring them now, as far away as she could get without crossing the line that had been established by Caleb, the guy who had been watching them. He had left earlier to take a restroom break, but that had been thirty minutes ago. He had probably gotten sick of having the most boring job (watching prisoners that just refused to give him a reason to shoot them) and bailed.

"I was thinking that there's probably some way out the back," Devon continued anyway. "We could go find it and sneak out."

"Easy as that," Ellie said flatly.

"Well," Devon hedged. "There might be a small amount of danger involved, but-"

"A small amount is too big an amount," Ellie pronounced with finality. "It's a bad idea."

"But Ellie!" Devon protested. "We have to do something!" As he said it, a loud ringing echoed through the store. "They called!" someone yelled, and there was a loud crashing and thudding as people flooded to the front. Someone sprinted right through their little hostage circle. He stopped long enough to tell them to stay where they were unless they wanted to get shot, then was off.

"You heard the man," Ellie said after a pause. "We're staying here."

"But they all just went to the front!" Devon said. "We can go the other way and avoid them."

"There is no way everyone in the store went up there," Ellie said skeptically "That would be incredibly stupid of them."

"But possible," Devon said. He held her gaze and stared at her intently.

"Dev," she tried. "Please, it's a horrible idea."

"I think you mean an awesome one."

"No. No, I don't."

But Devon was already getting off the floor. He extended his hand to her and smiled calmingly. "It'll be fine," he reassured her.

Ellie crossed her arms. "No, it will not be fine. Now sit down before they see you and shoot you."

But Devon wouldn't be persuaded. He bent down, grabbed Ellie by the arms and lifted her easily to her feet. When she struggled, he swept her up over his shoulder with a smirk. "Devon!" she hissed. "They're going to see us! You're too tall!"

Devon immediately crouched again, but didn't look worried. "Ellie, babe, we gotta go before they change their minds and shoot us," he tried again.

She said nothing until he set her back down. She straightened her shirt and huffed. "I still think this is the worst idea you've had in a very long time," she said. "Just so we're clear."

Devon nodded. "Understood."

Ellie pressed her lips together as she looked at him, then sighed. "Fine."

Devon's face lit up, and he drew in a breath to let out a shout. "That's-!" Ellie lunged toward him and frantically covered his mouth with both of her hands. She met his eyes and widened them warningly. The college girl rolled her eyes again.

Devon removed Ellie's hands carefully, then whispered, "That's awesome!"

Ellie fought the smile that was creeping onto her face. "Come on." She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him, but he stayed put.

He raised his finger. "I think I should be the leader of this expedition, El."

"What? Why?"

"Because it was my idea." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ellie took a moment to calm herself, then said, "Devon, that makes absolutely no sense, but because I love you, go ahead."

Devon grinned at her goofily. "Thanks, babe." He planted a kiss on her cheek. Ellie caught one last glimpse of the college girl pretending to puke before Devon pulled her away.

Ellie recognized the difference in him immediately, even from the back. He was now officially "in the zone". He may have been laughing and joking around earlier, but Ellie knew that if she could see him from the front, she would see his serious face that he used when he was focusing on something really important: eyebrows drawn together over narrowed eyes that betrayed no emotion other than complete concentration, his jaw set. It showed in the way he held himself as well, although now that he was crawling around behind some shelves in a Buy More, it looked a little more ridiculous. He looked like some secret agent infiltrating a top secret organization.

The thought of such a thing occurring in a town like Burbank, and even more, that Devon would ever get involved in something like that, made Ellie want to laugh.

After pausing to look around a corner, Devon let go of Ellie's hand and sprinted forward down the aisle. He slid in behind a shelf on the opposite side and waited a few seconds before peeking out to wave Ellie over.

Ellie was not nearly as athletic as her boyfriend, so when she reached his shelf and tried to slide behind it, something she had never felt the need to do before, she misjudged everything and crashed into it instead. The entire shelf shook, and while Devon was able to catch anything that fell off on their side, there was nothing he could do about the sounds of shattering glass on the other side.

Ellie cursed under her breath. Devon tried to smother the smirk growing on his face. Ellie didn't curse often- neither of them did- and when she did, he found it absolutely adorable. Just like he found everything else she did adorable. It annoyed her, especially when she was angry at him.

Voices echoed through the room from the front. Ellie and Devon shared a glance, then Devon grabbed her hand again and took off, dragging her behind him as they ran. Elie's legs were nowhere near as long as Devon's, so she struggled to keep up. But when she heard the shouts behind her getting closer, she found she had no problem with Devon running as fast as he could, even if that meant he was dragging her.

"Hey!" a man shouted. "What's going on?!"

"The hostages are escaping!" a woman shrieked in answer as she rounded a corner and came running after them. "Caleb! You had one job!"

"It was boring!" Caleb responded as he vaulted the desk in the middle of the room. "You try staring for hours at some strangers who hate you and see how long you last!"

"We've all done it before, and none of us let them escape!"

"Will you all please shut up!" a deep, powerful voice boomed.

"You shut up, Preacher!" Caleb shot back and then promptly hit his hip on one of the shelves, spun in the air as he left his feet, and hit the ground with a wail. Almost simultaneously, there was a sudden uproar on the other side of the store. More shouting rang out into the room. "Stop! Stop or I shoot!"

Ellie risked a glance over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of someone tearing through the room in the opposite direction. He was too far away for her to recognize him, but his short, curly hair suggested he was a guy. He followed closely by a woman with long blonde hair. Already, most of the people had veered from Ellie's trail and were chasing the other pair. For some reason, they seemed to take higher priority over two escaping hostages.

Ellie started to slow as her brain began to process, but Devon pulled her forward. They reached a door labelled "Employees Only" and crashed through to the other side. They sprinted down the hall and made a few turns before it was clear Devon had no clue where he was going. But they could hear someone behind them in the corridor and couldn't stop moving.

Until they reached a dead end.

Devon cursed. They couldn't turn around without running into their captors, so Ellie opened a random door and locked it behind them once her boyfriend followed her.

They were in a break room, one wall lined with green lockers. A few tables and chairs were in the middle of the room in front of a couple vending machines. She could see nowhere to hide other than under the tables, which would work for approximately 2 seconds.

"Now what?" she asked, panting.

Devon scratched the back of his head as he looked around. "I, uh, don't really know. I meant to get to the storage room, because I think there's a back exit in there, but we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere."

Ellie sighed and sat down at a table. "Devon…"

"What?" he asked in a high-pitched voice. "We had to do something."

"No, we really didn't. And now we're probably going to get shot."

"No," Devon said decidedly. "I am not going to let you get shot, Eleanor Bartowski. You have my word on that."

"I'm going to get shot, Devon. You probably are too, because we're locked in a break room while someone with a gun is probably making his way toward us right now."

"Then we need to find some other way out," Devon said.

"It's not that easy, babe," Ellie tried, even though she could hear the stubbornness in his voice.

Devon wasn't listening. "Do you think we could fit in those air vents?" he asked, pointing at one near the ceiling. "That's what they do in the movies."

Ellie didn't even bother to look. "You're way too big to fit inside an air vent, Devon."

He put his hands on his hips. "Hmm, you're right."

Ellie hated to be so pessimistic, but she was a realist, and she recognized that there was no way they could get out of this one barring a miracle. She stood and walked toward her boyfriend. "Look, Devon, I…"

After a pause, Devon looked at her, confused. "You what?"

Ellie had stopped in her tracks and was staring at the lockers. "Do you see that?" she asked.

Devon turned. "Uh… nope. Unless you mean those pictures in Lester's locker. Although I can think of no reason why you would want to draw attention to those."

Ellie brushed past him lightly and stopped in front of them. Devon looked a little disgusted. "You really want to look at those? And I thought I knew you pretty well."

"No, Devon, of course not," Ellie said. "But these lockers look weird."

"What do you mean?" Devon came up and looked at them over Ellie's shoulder.

"There's a gap between these two. Do you see it?"

Devon frowned. "Yeah, but that could just mean they were installed badly."

Ellie said nothing. Devon said nothing. Ellie got her fingers in between the lockers and pulled a little. Devon was confused, but still said nothing.

The locker swung away from the wall, revealing a metal door that was slightly cracked open, showing a dark hallway behind it.

Devon stuttered a bit before managing to get out, "What in the name of all that is good and holy is that?"

Ellie's jaw was dropped. "I, uh… have no idea."

There was a pause. Then Devon grinned. "Nice one, babe! Let's go!"

Elie took a step back. "Wait a second, we can't just go around walking through random secret passages. Who knows what kind of messed up stuff could be hiding in there?"

"In case you'd forgotten, babe, we're kind of running for our lives here. There's not much of a choice here," Devon said, trying to usher her in ahead of him. As if on cue, there was a loud bang from inside the hall and a shout of pain ("Dude, that was right my my ear!" "Then go away!" "I can't, or you're gonna mess this up again!" "I am not!" etc.).

Ellie took a breath, then said, "Okay. But if we get killed because of this, you're sleeping on the couch tonight."

"Awesome."

Sorry, I kind of lost inspiration for a bit there after finals. Hopefully, introducing these two into the story will help with that. I do plan on finishing this, however long it may take.

Thanks for reading!