Lia knew something was definitely up when they arrived and the inhabitants of Clayton's ranch house - as amazing as it was - everyone was lined up outside and staring at them like they were pieces of meat. "I don't like this." she whispered to Hal, looking around at everyone. The sun was setting but they made it through the crowd of people and stopped as Clayton turned around, although Lia kept a firm hold of her gun. "Alright!" Clayton called, drawing her attention from the crowd of people and towards the man she didn't trust, though she knew she should.

"Good work everyone. Lets get everyone into bed and we'll do the tour in the morning." he said, leading everyone inside and up the stairs into a room set up with different beds, mattresses and sleeping bags. Lia huffed a sigh and waited for everyone to fall asleep before she stood quietly and attached her pistols to her waist and walked outside, nodding slightly to the guard and went to sit down at the bottom of the hill so she was obscured from the guards view, and laid up looking at the stars.

She was finding it harder and harder to sleep as the nights passed in the second mass, nightmares about the time they had spent with the skitters was coming back to haunt her, although they mostly ended with Hal ending her torture and carrying her out of that hell, but sometimes - and these were the worst ones - they ended with Hal trying to save her and getting captured himself, before he was killed in front of her… those were the hardest to get through, she would lie in the middle of the night, shaking violently and sweating like crazy, tears streaming down her face before she would force herself back to sleep.

She jumped slightly when a soft voice came from behind her. "Can't sleep?" She turned, knowing the owner of the voice very well. "Haven't been able to for a while." she said to him, watching as Hal laid down beside her and instinctively drew her onto his chest, wrapping his strong arms around her waist. "Not since I left the hospital." she whispered, trying to fight back the involuntary shiver and failing dismally. "You ready to talk about it?" he whispered, brushing a strand of hair away from her face.

Her heart began pounding erratically in her chest, her palms becoming sweaty and hot as she realised that she was ready to tell him, the only one in the world besides Jess… and possibly Ben, to know what happened behind the closed doors of the hospital. She took a deep breath and took his hand for support, before launching into her depressing tale.

"The skitters took us early, at the very beginning of the invasion. Even though Jess was deathly sick they realised that we had skill, and that we had human qualities that made us a good choice for the experiment. They had tried before on other… random kids, and they had all failed. I was with my parents when it happened, watching Jess play the piano when they burst in, the skitters grabbed us straight away and forced us to watch the mechs tear our parents apart." Lia's voice became thick and tears began to silently roll down her cheeks, Hal tightened his grip on her but didn't say anything, and for that she was grateful.

"They took us straight onto the mothership… the most god awful thing I thought I was going to experience." she laughed without finding anything funny, "how wrong I was." tightening his grip on Hal's hand she began to talk about her experience. "They split us up, I remember screaming and screaming for Jess until I started coughing up blood, even when they tied me down onto a table I didn't stop screaming, it was impossible for me to stop. I could hear the screams of other children as they were injected, and it scared me to death, I was sure I was going to die, I was so incredibly sure and I hoped and prayed that I would at least get to see Jess again before it happened.

"So when they stuck the needle into my wrist I started thrashing around, I had no idea what was going into that stupid needle and I was terrified out of my mind when I saw how blue the liquid was… I didn't think i'd seen anything like it in my life, it seemed like it was alive the way it moved and spun, like a tiny ocean I remember thinking, but it wasn't as harmless as the ocean. The liquid set my veins on fire… set my whole body on fire. It was like no pain i'd ever experienced, I was pretty sure that being dropped into a vat of acid would hurt less than the feeling of this injection… I remember seeing white spots and suddenly there was blood everywhere, dripping from my eyes and nose, trickling out of my mouth… I almost choked on my own blood it was coming so fast, and all because of the injection. The skitters didn't seem to think anything of it though, it must have been normal for them to see a kid dying.

"I blacked out, and they probably thought I was dead, but I woke up a few hours later still tied to the table, although everything had been removed. I could still hear the screams of the kids in the rooms next to me, but it all seemed… intensified, I could hear screaming from the other side of the ship, hear the conversations the skitters were having in their minds and even feel my own heartbeat hammering against my chest. I think the most painful thing was hearing the screams and then listening to them as they were cut short, dying in the throats of the dead children, they hadn't managed to get the dosage of the liquid right yet, it was trial and error. And I was their first success.

"I knew I was in danger from the moment i woke up, a skitter had come in to check on my body and was scared out of his mind to find me awake. Jess was led in some time later, her arm was glowing even brighter than mine, spreading at an alarming rate through her system. Her veins were more pronounced than mine… you could see the blue liquid shining through her blood system, eating its way through her cells and pushing its way to the forefront of her skin."

Lia pulled up the sleeve of her shirt and listened to Hal's quiet gasp as she concentrated and the blue veins lit up like christmas. He sat up fully, bringing her with him and took her hand gently. "So the liquid did this to you?" he whispered softly, running his finger up a single line, staring in shock at the lines running and spiderwebbing their way around the circumference of her arm, stopping at the joint of her elbow. She nodded slowly, looking away from his face. "They knew we had something special after that and transported us straight to the hospital, using our love for each other against one another. The skitters masters had designed programs for the children who were to survive, they shot at us, threw knives, fired mechs beat us and pushed us to the limits before we were finally broken, I cracked and broke down. I'd had been tortured beyond belief, they liked to cut lines into my skin and stab me, only to find that it would heal a few days later, much quicker than any human. We were incredibly fast and strong and could run for miles without stopping. But all through it all I remember was the constant pain, the sounds of the other children in the hospital dying as they screamed, the feeling of knives cutting my body if I was too slow, and mech bullets tearing me apart if I didn't get out of the way.

"They liked to see us in pain, and they liked to torture us… and I cant imagine why, I tried my hardest to protect Jess and always stepped in when they went to torture her. I took double punishments in order to set her free, and they used that against me, knowing that I would always step in if she were to ever get hurt, so they made it easier to give her punishments, sometimes up to 10 times a day so I would have to take constant beatings and extended practice, running me hard and pushing me to my limits in order to gain a reaction, but I never used my abilities against them, not once, I never fought back and learned to contain my screams and profanities and they beat me harder, not getting the right amount of satisfaction out of it before they put me away for the night, like a child's toy, broken and battered, torn and ripped until it was no longer recognisable. I honestly had no idea what I was anymore… who I was, I felt like I was going insane."

Lia stopped and took a deep breath, looking into Hal's eyes. "And then you showed up… like an angel out of heaven, god I don't think i'd ever been glad to see anyone more in my entire life, a boy unharnessed and alive and well, it was like something out of a dream, I thought they'd stuck me on something. But you took me away from that place Hal, and I can't thank you enough for that… I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you for getting us out of there." he smiled at her and took her hand again.

"I'd go anywhere for you. I'll make sure they never get their hands on you or Jess again. They'll never have you back, I promise." Hal said fiercely, frightening even her with his furious eyes and loud statements. She blushed and looked down, knowing that her story was over and he didn't think any less of her for it. "When you first told me that you'd tell me if you were still here in a week, I knew that it was something bad, and I knew that you were thinking that it would change my opinion of you… but I can tell you now, honestly Lia. That I have never ever thought more of a person than I do about you now." her eyes shot up, blonde curls bouncing as she stared at Hal's dark eyes. "You're so incredibly brave and loyal to do that for your sister and to take all those beatings just so she wouldn't have to… it's the bravest thing I've ever heard or seen anyone do."

He paused and took a deep breath, staring into her eyes, before reaching up and brushing her hair out of her face, his hand lingering on her cheek before brushing his hand down to her neck, curling around the soft skin there and pulling her closer to him slowly. Lia took a deep breath, knowing full well what was about to happen, and she welcomed it, knowing she had wanted it for a while now.

She wound her arms around his neck and crushed her lips to his, rushing forward to meet him as his arms locked around her waist. She melted into his arms, pressing herself flush against his body, relishing in the feeling of his strong arms cradling her as he deepened the kiss, his mouth opening hers and slipping his tongue in, both of them relishing in the taste of unfamiliar territory as they both kissed in the darkness, relishing in the feeling of burning they got from each other, feeling the fire that their hands on each others skin brought.

His hands slipped under her shirt and began rubbing circles onto her bare back as she sighed in containment, drawing back for breath before slamming her lips back onto his, smiling into the kiss as he moaned in appreciation.

Yeah… she could definitely get used to this feeling…