Alright... so you guys will probably hate me for this cliffhanger, but maybe I'll get a few laughs. Enjoy!

Claire woke with a start to yelling and crashing. She immediately jumped up and ran into the kitchen in a panic and saw…

Pizza.

Shane and Eve were having their usual banter and Michael was getting out the plates, rather noisily. She breathed a sigh of relief and tried to make her heart beat normally again. At that, Shane finally noticed her standing in the doorway and noticed how scared she looked, "Claire?"

She looked at him and smiled, seeing the relief wash over his face, "Sorry, I was still half asleep and thought we were being attacked." She chuckled at how silly she had been, but anything could happen in this town, and it did.

Shane laughed as well, walking over to her and resting his hands on her hips, "Nah, I would never leave you in there alone. While you were asleep, no less. Who do you think I am?" He said as he placed a sloppy kiss on her nose.

She flinched back, "Ew, Shane!"

He grinned, "I can't help it, and it's so cute." He winked and let go of her, walking over to hold out a plate, "You want to try and eat a little?"

Claire nodded, not being able to resist the alluring scent of the pizza. She sat down at the table next to Eve and watched and giggled as her and Shane continued arguing over God-knows-what. She looked at Michael, raising her eyebrows and he just shrugged and rolled his eyes. Claire was able to eat a little more, which pleased Shane and she was comforted by the normality of things. She was so on edge from Brandon that she forgot how nice it was just to be with her friends on a normal night.

Now all that was left was to get passed her bed rest and find a way to talk her friends into letting her out the house again. Insert sigh here, Claire thought bitterly.

After dinner, they all retired to the living room where Shane and Michael were playing an intense game of shooting walking dead people, in this case: Zombies. They all knew there was plenty of another kind of walking dead people around this town. Claire smiled a bit at her own dumb joke as she looked down at her textbook and she practically jumped out her skin as warm breath hit her ear, "What are you smiling about, beautiful?"

She looked up at her grinning boyfriend who was looking at her book over her shoulder, "Jeez, you are a freaky genius girl. I don't know what any of that means."

Claire laughed and patted his cheek, "That would explain why I'm the one specializing in it." she whispered.

He playfully glared at her, "You win this time, but just wait until you're better" he grinned mischievously at her and Claire quickly pecked him on the lips before standing, or trying to. She needed help from Shane as she suddenly felt the bruising in her ribs again. She said goodnight to everyone, ignoring Shane's worried stare as she ascended the stairs into her room to get more medicine and before she knew it, passed out.

Claire woke up alone and in the dark, panting and sweating. Another downside to the medicine: nightmares. "Damn it." she sighed

She knew she wouldn't really be able to go back to sleep and looked at the clock. 12:14. Shane might still be up, she thought hopefully. With that, she carefully climbed out of bed and padded quietly to Shane's room and knocked. A few seconds later, Shane was standing in front of her in his shirtless glory and Claire took a second to take that in, "Hey," he said, pulling her back from her thoughts, "what are you doing up?"

"Can't sleep." She answered and Shane immediately stepped back, gesturing her into his room. She happily and eagerly stepped inside and he lead her to his bed after closing the door. Claire carefully flattened herself onto the mattress as Shane flopped down next to her. She wanted to giggle at the lack of grace there. She looked up to see those beautiful brown eyes staring back at her, but full of concern and gently placed her hand on his cheek, swiping her thumb under his eye, hoping to erase the negativity there. To her success and relief, he smiled and kissed her palm, "You okay?" he asked softly.

Claire nodded, "Better now."

Shane grinned and pressed his lips to hers, and she desperately missed the easy and natural contact. Lately, it seemed there had been less of it, and when they did, it was forced, strained. Not this time, no, this time was as if it were the first all over again. Spontaneous, exhilarating. Claire sighed into Shane's mouth and he chuckled, "Slow down there, girl."

Claire pulled back and stared at him, smiling slightly. He grinned crookedly, "Don't want to risk further injury."

Despite herself, Claire giggled, "Wow, getting cocky there, Collins, it's almost a turn-off."

Shane got so close that their lips were almost touching and smiled, "Almost, huh?"

Claire closed her eyes at the exposure of his breath on her face, trying to steady her breathing. This was no time to be getting hot and heavy and, embarrassingly enough, she had to strain not to blush and giggle like a twelve-year-old at the thought. Much to her surprise, she stayed collected and cool, "Almost," she whispered as she stared into his eyes, "so you probably shouldn't push it."

"Oh, really? I think you're limiting one of my many talents."

"Mmm, can you handle it?" she challenged.

He raised an eyebrow and with a dramatic and husky voice, answered, "I know I can."

Finally, Claire couldn't hold it anymore and started laughing. Shane grinned and winked at her, glad he got her to smile. Claire sighed and snuggled closer to Shane, pressing her face into his neck as he kissed her hair, "Try and get some sleep," he told her softly.

There you go, the next chapter or two will most likely be just fillers like this one, but you'll get some action soon :) I'm at 12,000 words for the over all project now so I think I have enough filler to go on with the plot and action scenes. Hope you liked!