A/N: So sorry for the lateness of this chapter, I'd edited and saved it but forgot to upload it. We're approaching the end now, so it shouldn't take me as long to update the next chapters :D


Everyone looks at Xandred in horror. "Oh god," murmurs Evie.
"You look shocked rangers. I don't blame you. Now with my renewed power, nothing can stop me," smirks Xandred before turning to Dayu and a few minutes later they watch as he seems to absorb her into him.
"What did he do to her?" asks Mia.
"Whoa," gasps Mike.
"He killed her," whispers Evie.

Xandred turns to them again, "now, as for you samurai rangers. Where is the red ranger who deceived me all this time? I want him."
"Not happening!" yells Evie. She might be pissed as hell but she was not letting Xandred anywhere near Jayden.
"Careful guys, don't get to close," warns Mike grabbing Evie's arm to stop her charging forwards.

"Over here," calls Lauren as she appears on the other side of Xandred.
"I'm the red ranger, and your downfall. Today you will be sealed, permanently."
"What can a little girl like you do?" sneers Xandred. "Today is the end of the rangers," he says confidently.
"The only thing ending today, is you," retorts Lauren.
"You fool!" yells Xandred as he sends an attack at them.

"Watch out!" cries Antonio as he pushes Lauren out of the way, the two of them landing on the ground in a heap.
"You, okay?"
"Yeah, thanks," nods Lauren.
"Lauren," calls Emily as they all rush over to her.
"I'm fine," assures Lauren, "now listen. I'm going to use the sealing symbol, against Master Xandred. But it takes time to write, so I need you to keep him busy, got it?" asks Lauren.
"Got it," they nod.

"Kevin, take the black box," says Lauren.
"Gladly."
"Mike," she says handing over the disk.
"The shark disk, it'll help us cover you while you seal Xandred," says Mike as he takes it.
"We got it," assures Evie.
"No, Evie, you can't, this is not what I agreed too when I sent you out," protests Lauren.
"Well the universe has said this is what's happening, so this is what's happening, besides if you're all dead, then I'm next anyway. And nothing else will matter."
Xandred arrives then, cutting off any more arguments.


"Well, well, well," he says as he launches an attack at them.
Both Kevin and Mike activate the disk and black box and deflect the attack.
"Whatever happens. Protect Lauren," says Kevin.
"And only Lauren," warns Evie.
None of them look happy about it, but they nod.

Turning they charge forwards, as they hit Xandred suddenly he disappears, jumping out of the way completely.
"What?" asks Kevin looking around when they're attacked again and again, so fast they can't even track it.
Everyone is thrown to the floor, and Evie groans as her back impacts the rock.
Xandred stands over them laughing.

"I have no business with you small fish."
At that moment Lauren appears.
"But you" he says as he turns towards her.
"No Lauren!" yells Mike as they pull themselves to their feet and dive at Xandred trying to stop him advancing on Lauren.
"Gotcha," says Kevin as they grab hold of him.
"Get your hands off of me!" snaps Xandred as he throws them aside and turns in time to deflect Antonio's attack and counter it with one of his own sending him flying backwards.

The girls charge forwards giving everything they've got to keep Xandred distracted long enough for Lauren to seal him away.
As they're thrown to the ground he steps on Antonio, "You shouldn't get in my way."
"Nothing I'd rather be doing," retorts Evie as she attacks again trying to get him off Antonio.

But he lets loose another attack and she barely ducks behind a rock to avoid the brunt of it. And for the first time, she understands why Jayden hadn't wanted her out here like this. Because this situation was going from bad to worse.

"Now as for you," says Xandred as he looks down at Antonio and brings his sword up, only for the light zord to appear and get in his way allowing Antonio to break free, but then Xandred catches it in an attack and light zord falls to the floor chirping feebly.
Antonio pulls himself to his feet, "come on, we got to keep the pressure on him," he says as they charge again.
"You're nothing but pests!" snaps Xandred.

Jayden was still fighting off the Moogers, but could tell the team was in bad shape.

And Evie had already taken more hits than he was comfortable with, her strength ha be waning, and the others couldn't be doing much better. They needed him. "I'm coming guys!" yells Jayden as he drops the Moogers and races towards them.

Mike and Kevin release their special attacks allowing the girls to pull themselves to their feet.
But Xandred deflects both of them and sends them back at the rangers sending them all to the floor in agony.
"Pathetic," sneers Xandred as he heads towards Lauren.
Evie tries to pull herself up but falls back down again, she barely had enough strength left to stay morphed never mind anything else, her hand covering her stomach, watching helplessly as Xandred advances on Lauren.

But then Lauren releases the symbol and the next thing they see is Xandred in a fiery explosion as he hits the rocks with a scream of rage and pain.
"Yes!" they cheer as they pull themselves to their feet.
Evie smiles in relief looking up at Jayden as he appeared next to her. Before she looks back at Xandred and then her eyes widen as she sees something that shouldn't be possible.
"Uh guys" she calls in alarm, "tell me I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing?" asks Evie in a shaking voice, fear flooding her in a way she'd never felt before.
"What, that's impossible," gasps Mike.
"That's what I was afraid of," nods Evie in horror as Xandred emerges from the fire, looking none the worse for wear.

"Hey, what's the patch on his chest?" asks Antonio as the fire clears.
"This is far from over rangers," laughs Xandred.
"But how, no Nighlok can stop the sealing symbol," gasps Lauren, her heart hammering in her chest.

"Oh my god, he absorbed Dayu, and she wasn't fully Nighlok. The white patch, there's just enough of him that isn't Nighlok for the seal to not work," realises Evie.
Xandred laughs again, "Correct black ranger, and even better I don't need the Sanzu river water anymore."

"How can we stop him now?" asks Lauren desperately, years of waiting, of hiding, of training. All for nothing. She'd failed in her sole duty.
"Ha, you can't" laughs Xandred as he launches a devastating attack that knocks everyone to the floor and then another at Lauren that knocks her off the hill and onto the floor, causing her to de-morph.
"No, Lauren!" yells Jayden.

"Get her, I'll get us home," orders Evie quickly, demorphing and summoning the last of her symbol power. If they stayed, they were dead, and she wasn't done yet.
He nods and races over to Lauren's limp form.
Executing the teleport symbol the same moment Evie does, and it cost her more than she'd ever felt in terms of casting a symbol.
Everyone arrive back in nothing short of a heap, and Evie doesn't even bother trying to get up for a moment, but she needed to check to know if the pain in her body was anything more sinister, slowly, she pushes herself onto her hands and knees.

Taking a few deep breaths she stands, and looks down at herself, cataloguing everything. The feeling of each pain and ache, whether anything felt different.
Her jeans weren't in great state, but she sighed in relief when she realised there was no dark patches, no blood spreading down her thighs.

But as she looks back at the team and her eyes meet Jayden's, she can't imagine that's going to be the case for much longer. What the hell were they going to do now?

And she could see the same realisation settling over the entire team, if they didn't come up with something quick, they and the entire worlds, were done for.


They sat around the living room, Ji for once had allowed Evie to wave him off when she assured him, she was fine, sending him to check on Lauren and Jayden instead.
She'd checked she wasn't bleeding in the bathroom, and she felt nothing beyond the usual aches and pains of a hard battle.

"Master Xandred beat us bad. If the sealing symbol didn't work, what else can we do?" asks Mike.
"He's immune to the sealing power and he doesn't need Sanzu water," says Mia.
"Can we even beat him?" asks Antonio.
"We almost had him" groans Kevin as he hits the bag.
"I feel so sorry for Lauren, she spent her whole life learning the sealing symbol. And it was all for nothing" sighs Emily.
"We never could've seen this coming" says Evie, "Xandred's been one step ahead this entire time, even when we thought he'd been deceived," she sighs letting her head fall back against the wall.

"You sure you're, okay?" asks Mia looking over at her.
"No worse for wear than anyone else, nothing feels wrong, no bleeding, no cramping. In fact I'd wager I'm in better shape than Jayden and Lauren.


Jayden walks out of the door and sees Lauren in the garden, "Lauren, you okay?" he asks walking over to the bench.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asks looking up at the stars.
"Yeah. Evie used to make me spend hours out here with her, just gazing at the stars, finding the constellations, and telling me the stories they came with."

He knew he needed to talk to her, because today it was a godsdamn miracle that she hadn't ended up losing the baby. And he kind of hated that they weren't in sync, he also knew in hindsight that reacting how he had, was about the worst way to go about things. But for now he needed to focus on his sister.
"It kind of reminds me of what we're fighting for," says Lauren.
"Lauren," starts Jayden.

"You know what's coming next, don't you? That cloud of misery Dayu released, probably has the Sanzu river ready to burst. Nothing will stop Master Xandred from sailing his evil ship, right into our world. I let everybody down Jayden. You, the rangers, and especially dad," she sighs.
"There was no way to see this coming Lauren, no way at all. We didn't even know it was possible."
"Regardless, my plan failed Jayden, dads plan has failed. Because I failed. Years spent training and preparing, all for nothing."
Her voice taking on a bitter edge as she picked up her samuraiser and threw it onto the grass.

Jayden stands up, and walking over, he picks her samuraiser up, before walking back to her and sitting down.
"The plan did fail, you're right. But we will find another way, we have to. It's our duty, and I have no doubt you're going to play a part in that. I wish I could say something to make it better, but I know I can't. All we can do is move forwards, we're still samurai, we're still rangers, we're still Red Rangers."

Lauren looks at him and reaches across using her uninjured arm to take his hand.
"You're a really good leader you know that?"
"I have a good team."
"You do, and a good partner. I should probably apologise for sending Evie after you. I never imagined we'd end up in a battle against Xandred."

He shakes his head, "Evie would've found a way, and the way you dealt with it probably helped a lot more in her not taking any big risks than what I did. I might be a good leader, but I have been a rather crap boyfriend. Usually I know how to talk to her to make her see sense, this time I just, I lost it."

"She's carrying your baby Jayden; I think most expectant fathers would lose it at the risk we're taking. The fact its taken you this long says a lot."
"She doesn't see it that way. And I pulled the leader card on her, we've never done that before. Well not in a serious way, never mind just taking her samuraiser from her. Seeing her today after Deker, she would barely even look at me. I nearly died and she was so pissed at me, she barely looked at me. And I'm not entirely sure how I fix it," he admits.
He couldn't lose Evie, he just couldn't. Not now, not with the baby, not with how close they might be to the end one way or another.

Lauren squeezes his hand; she hoped someday a guy would be this crazy about her.
And unbidden Antonio's smile fills her mind.
"Talk to her, apologise, and explain, the way you should've in the first place. She loves you Jayden, and I'd wager the reason she wasn't looking at you after Deker, was because she knew she wouldn't be able to stay mad at you, after almost losing you."

"Do I talk to her or to the team first?"
"Talk to the team, treat them all the same, and then talk to Evie, once its just you."
"Thanks," he smiles.
"What are big sisters for? I have a lot of years to make up for."
She stands up, "Alright, you gather everyone, I have something to do that hopefully might help."


A few minutes later everyone had gathered around the map table.
It doesn't escape Jayden's notice that Evie wedges herself between Mia and Mike, ensuring there was no way he was sat even close to her.
But he lets it slide, Lauren's words had given him hope, that she was avoiding him, so she didn't give into the idea of forgiving him.

Lauren takes a deep breath, wincing as her arm jostled, the sling holding it in place was doing some of the work, but it still hurt like a bitch.
"Tomorrow Master Xandred must be stopped. As you know, the sealing symbol failed to stop him. I failed to stop him. And before anyone tells me it wasn't my fault and I couldn't have known. Regardless of the circumstances, I couldn't get the job done. I've played my part, and I'll play any other part that is deemed necessary, but no one is to make a special effort to protect me anymore.

Our best hope now I think, is Jayden, because he is your leader, your Red Ranger. He knows you best, knows your strengths, and together, you don't seem to know how to fail. So from now on, I rank no differently than any other member of this team."

Jayden squeezes her arm before looking back the group.

"Alright, listen up. Master Xandred is more powerful than ever. It appears he's unbeatable. But I have a plan, we're going to take him out with brute force," smiles Jayden.
Everyone lets out disbelieving sounds.
"That's your plan?" asks Kevin.
"I know Evie is scary when she's mad but even she's not that bad," says Mike.
Evie hits Mike in the arm and he winces muttering a quick sorry.

"Laurens plan to seal away Master Xandred didn't work, but it definitely weakened him. Dayu's human half may have saved him, but it also created a weak spot, that we can exploit," explains Jayden. "Forget sealing him. If we hit that spot with a strong enough blow, we'd be able to destroy him."
"It's mad, but in principle its sound," nods Evie.
Jayden resists the urge to laugh at the begrudging tone she delivers it with.

"Yeah, but we'd need more power than we have," points out Kevin.
"And you'll have it, thanks to this," says Lauren holding up a disk.
"The Shiba fire disk," smiles Jayden.
"I'm too hurt to join in the battle, but I used every last ounce of my strength, to pack that disk with as much symbol power as I could. Hopefully, it'll be enough to help you defeat Master Xandred, once and for all. I have essentially drained myself dry into this disk. Everything I could've brought to the fight were I able, is now in here."

"Nice," nods Mike, "thanks Lauren, for everything you've done to help us."
"No doubt it'll be a tough battle, but we're a strong team, that together, can accomplish anything. We have Lauren's disk, and we have all of our and combined powers, we've got this, because winning is our only choice, and we've not met a Nighlok we couldn't beat yet," smiles Jayden confidently.

They all nod in agreement.
"Good, everyone rest up, tomorrow, we got to war, for the entire world," he nods.
"Not pressure," mutters Mike.

"That definitely includes you, Jayden you've not had an easy couple of days," says Ji as he stands up and pats Jayden's shoulder.
He stops next to Evie then resting his hand on her arm.
"You feel anything, you come and find me, and we will get you checked out."
"I will." She reaches up and squeezes his hand.
Ji nods, before heading to his own room. He knew they'd come and find him if he was needed.

"We could train?" suggests Kevin.
"We're as prepared as we can be, we've had a tough day, don't push yourselves tonight. Relax and rest up," reiterates Jayden with a pointed look at Kevin.
"Come on, we can watch a movie?" smiles Mia as she stands up. Glancing between Evie and Jayden.
He nods and follows her out of the room, seeing where her gaze landed.

Emily lets out a yawn and leans against Mike.
"I think someone needs to sleep," smiles Mike as he wraps his arm around Emily and guides her to her room. He had no intention of returning to his own bed tonight, even if was just for snuggling and kissing.

"Why don't you tell me some more stories from your childhood?" offers Lauren looking at Antonio, "and how you managed to make yourself a samurai ranger."
"Happily senorita," smiles Antonio offering her his arm and the two walk out.
Lauren casting a deliberate look at Jayden as she does so.


As soon as they're alone the silence seems to intensify, and for the first time in as long as Jayden can remember, its incredibly uncomfortable.
Evie was still deliberately not looking at him. And he felt like moving closer to her was a bad idea for now. He wasn't sure which metaphor was more apt, approaching a trapped animal that might lash out, or approaching a predator in no mood to play games.

"So your big plan is faith, trust and fucking pixie dust?" she asks, unable too bear the silence any longer.
"It's our only plan. And you agreed Dayu being part of him makes him weaker."
"He was weaker the last time we faced him, and we got our ass's handed to us. This time, we're lucky he didn't kill us. And tomorrow," she shakes her head and stands up beginning to pace.

"We're strong Evie, we're an extra ranger up, two essentially with Lauren's power. And we have something a lot of previous teams haven't had, we're more than just a team. We're a family."
"Oh that is so trite Jayden, like I said it's a Disney movie ending you're hoping for. That good has to triumph, we both know that's not how the world works," she scoffs.
"I am not hoping for a Disney movie ending Evie, I am playing all of our cards, laying out our entire hand in one last desperate move. Because if we fail tomorrow, if we can't destroy Xandred before he floods this world. We're all done for."

"What about me?" she challenges rounding on him. "You said we're two rangers up, or should that only be one? After all, you're the one who benched me."
Jayden sighs and rubs the back of his neck, "I owe you an apology for that. For how I did it. I just," he groans and stands up.
"I know one the biggest fears you have had since we found out you were pregnant, was that someone would get hurt or killed because you weren't there.

I thought with Lauren's arrival, that maybe, you would be willing to see there was less of a risk since there was someone there to at least hold your place while you couldn't be there. I shouldn't have yelled at you how I did, I shouldn't have tried to play the leader and Red Ranger card, and I shouldn't have taken your samuraiser off of you either.

I handled the whole thing badly, and for that I am sorry. Without you I wouldn't have beaten Deker, in fact, I wasn't the one who beat him. You were. You were always his more worthy opponent it seems. I was an asshole, okay I know I was. And given that tomorrow is quite literally all or nothing, I'm not going to stop you from fighting. Because if we fail tomorrow, then this world is gone and so are we. But if we succeed, then our child may never have to be called. He or she might never have to know this life. And that is worthy every risk in the world."

He stops in front of her, taking her hands in his. "I was a jackass, I handled it badly, trying to make it about being a leader, but you were right, I didn't want to have to make the hard decision. Much as I wish I could keep you both safe here and out of danger. Defeating Xandred is the only way to truly ensure both of your safety. Because having you at my side in battle, gives me more strength than I know how to name. And I know it gives the team the same feeling. You're one of our best, and I can't pretend otherwise. You could quite likely make or break tomorrow."

Evie studies him for a moment, absorbing what he'd said and admitted.
And she really isn't even sure where to begin in terms of trying to give voice to her thoughts, so instead she settles for something much simpler.


She closes the gap between them and kisses him.
Jayden responds immediately, pulling her flush to him as her tongue invades his mouth. He lets her dominate the kiss, a physical apology to match his verbal one.
She finally breaks the kiss to breath, resting their foreheads together.
"You could've saved us so much fucking hassle if you'd just said that to me yesterday you know."

He snorts, "Yeah kind of occurred to me after the fact. I can't say tomorrow is going to be easy for me, but we always knew it may well come down to this. And I cannot think of anything I'd regret more than going into our final battle without us being okay.

His hand slides up to cup her cheek, his thumb running over her lower lip. "I love you, Evie. I love you so fucking much that I think losing you might actually kill me too."

"You think I don't feel the same. You don't think I hate it as much as you, to see you put in harms way. Jayden you are everything, until the team came along you were my entire world. You think I'd survive losing you?"

"Deker was right, wasn't he? When he said we were naïve to ever think we could be objective with each other?"
She nods, "So fucking naïve. But we can't change it now. Tomorrow, we win, or we die. We either give our child a world free of this life, or there won't be a world left."

"Its going to be the first one, I have to believe that Evie. For my own sanity I have to believe we can win."
"I know what you mean. And I really hope it's the first one too."


They lapse into silence, holding onto one another, their breaths mingling as one.
And this time the silence is anything but uncomfortable.

"Come on, the others aren't the only one's in need of rest," he wraps his arm around her and they walk down to their room.
Stepping inside Jayden shuts the door, and Evie does likewise to the bathroom.
But she stays leaning against it, her hand on her stomach.

"I've never as scared as I was today. When Xandred emerged and I realised how much danger we were in, I thought we were done for," she admits.
Jayden pulls her into his arms, burying his face in her hair.
"I know, I was scared too. When you went down on that last hit," he shudders.

Pulling back he brushes her hair behind her ear, "You sure you're, okay?"
She takes his other hand and rests in on her stomach, "I'm good, no bleeding, no cramping, no pain beyond what comes from a very difficult Nighlok fight. Or baby is tough, like her parents."

"Her?"
"I think it's a her."
Jayden smiles, "Then Gods help me if she looks like you."
But he sighs, pulling back a little, "I hope I get to see her look like you."
Evie runs her thumb over his cheek. "We win, or we die tomorrow. This will be the hardest battle we have ever fought, make, or break on a grand scale."
"The harsh reality, for all my confidence, it might not be enough."

"Reality can take a hike for the night. Because your right when you say, we've yet to fail. So stop thinking, tonight is just us, you, and me, here and now. We'll face whatever tomorrow brings, and if it is our last night, I don't want to waste it. So shut up, and take me to bed."


He closes the gap between them quickly his lips crashing against hers. One hand tangling in her hair, pulling her head back as his lips slanted more comfortably over hers, the other grabbing her hip to hold her against him as she returns his kiss with equal fervour. One of her hands fisting in his shirt the other tightening on his bicep to steady herself as he kissed her senseless, a desperate mix of teeth, lips and tongues clashing together as both fought to control the kiss.

He backs her towards the bed and they begin pulling haphazardly at each other's clothes, not caring what was ripped or torn as they were tossed aside, desperate for more skin on skin contact.
They fell back onto the bed, naked and wanting, Jayden rolling at the last moment so Evie was on top of him.
She kisses down his jaw and along his neck, her teeth nipping lightly as she went, kissing down his chest as one of her hands roamed over his stomach and down to grasp his already hardening member.

"Evie," he gasps as she continues her descent, pausing on his kanji momentarily and her mouth soon joining her hand and Jayden bit down on his lip to stop himself moaning out loud at the feel of her lips around him.
His hand tangling in her hair, the other clenching desperately in the sheets as all coherent thought flew from his mind.

With a practised ease Evie brought him to the brink quickly, before sending him over the edge with a strangled moan as she swallowed with ease before releasing him with a soft pop and satisfied smirk as wiped her mouth with her thumb her gaze meeting Jayden's which was alight with desire. She crawled back up his body before joining their lips again, Jayden not caring he could taste himself on her tongue.

His hand slid up her leg and he used the momentum to roll them so she was lying beneath him, before his hand continued up her leg and found her already wet core, running his fingers over it as his lips found her neck.
"Fuck, Jayden," she gasps arching her head back and letting her legs fall open as he bit down on her neck at the same moment his fingers slid inside her.

Her eyes slammed shut and her nails dug into his arm as she bite her lip to keep from crying out.
Adding another finger he increased his pace as Evie bucked against his hand, fighting to keep herself quiet.

He circled her clit in the way that drove her wild as he pulled her hand back from her mouth, lacing it with his before he pressed it into the bed, covering her lips with his to swallow her sounds of pleasure. Her body tightening around his hand and a moment later she bit down hard on his lip as her orgasm crashed over her.

Jayden hissed in pain but didn't stop his movements as she rode out her orgasm before collapsing beneath him, her breathing ragged as she gazed up at him with hazy and lust filled eyes.

Leaving her lips he kisses down her body, pausing to tease both nipples to stiff peaks with his mouth, before his lips continue to her stomach and he pauses.
Their child was growing there, a perfect mix of himself and Evie. A little girl with her mother's hair and his eyes.
He trails reverent kisses along the skin, there was no physical sign of their child yet. But he knew she was there, and God he couldn't wait to see it.
A possessiveness unlike anything else rearing inside him at the thought. No more hiding, no more need to be careful, no Nighloks, no moogers. Just them and their baby, for the entire world to see.

The rush of lust that thought sent through him had his mouth dropping further, settling between her legs with an intensity that had Evie covering her mouth with her hand to stop the loud cry escaping. Still sensitive from her orgasm.
Her other hand tangling in his hair as his tongue lapped over every spot he could reach. Setting her off in all the right places.

"Jayden, please, too much," she whines unsure whether to push him away or to press against him more.
He pulls back, but before she can even make a sound in relief or protest, he covers her mouth with his.

Grasping her thigh and pushing her legs further apart, his erection hard against the inside of her leg.
Before he pushed into her, filling her to the hilt in one thrust, their kiss swallowing their sounds as they joined.
Evie wrapped her legs around him as they both found a rhythm they liked, their lips never separating for more than a moment as she met him thrust for thrust, a mix of desire and desperation driving them.

Evie still sensitive from her previous orgasm, and Jayden's mouth soon feels her release approaching, "don't stop," she gasps against his lips.
Jayden increases his pace as he recognises the signs in Evie, and a moment later felt his own fast approaching.

A few moments later Evie's walls clenched around him as she fell over the edge, triggering his orgasm in the process, her nails raking down his back and arm as his hand tightened on her thigh hard enough to leave bruises as their pleasure washed over them.
Jayden collapsed on the bed next to her ensuring he didn't crush her in the process, both taking a moment to catch their breath as the aftershock wore off.

Evie rolled onto her side and gazed at him with a content smile on her face.
Feeling her gaze Jayden looked over and smiled in response when he saw the look on her face, lacing his hand with hers and bringing it to his lips as both waited to regain full use of their bodies.


They lay in content silence for a few minutes just gazing at each other before Evie sighed, "We should shower."
"We should," nods Jayden, getting to his feet before holding his hand out to her, "join me."
"I really hope you're not after another round just yet, because if we're going to win tomorrow, I need to be able to walk normally," giggles Evie.
"Just shower. You're not the only one who needs to be able to walk."
Evie smiles and takes his hand.

Jayden cautiously opens the door to the bathroom and seeing it empty they step inside, locking the door that joined to Jayden's room before turning on the shower and stepping inside.
Twenty minutes later they were dry and Evie was plaiting her wet hair as they prepared for bed, the sheets now clean.
"We should probably check Antonio and Lauren are okay sharing a room again," he says.
"Well she's not coming in here with us."

Jayden just shakes his head and walks across the hall knocking on the door to his room before walking in.
He found Antonio and Lauren sat together on his bed in the middle of a conversation.
"Is it safe to leave now?" teases Antonio.
"Yes" replies Jayden, "You still good in here?"
"I am though uh quick question, do I need to change these?" asks Lauren nodding to the bed and clearly not enjoying having to ask the question.
"No, they're clean" assures Jayden quickly not much liking having to answer the question.

"Yeah, I made it a rule, they're not allowed to have sex in here."
"Okay didn't need to know that, do not need to know anything about that" interrupts Lauren quickly.
"Right, no discussing your brothers sex life," says Antonio.
"No, no discussing that all," pleads Jayden.

Lauren grimaces at the thought.
"Well it'll make a nice change given how much Antonio likes to push," retorts Evie from the doorway.
"Here you're going to want these, there's a reason Jayden used to flee to my room and it had nothing to do with sex a lot of the time," she throws a box to Lauren.

She catches it her eyes wrinkling in confusion until she sees the earplugs.
"Yeah, he likes to talk, and say your name," nods Jayden.
"I do not!"
"You do, its incredibly annoying, so for your own sake Lauren, wear those," he advises.

Lauren nods, "Thanks." She looks up at Evie, only to notice the obvious mark on her thigh, or rather the collection of marks that were beginning to resemble finger prints, her shorts doing nothing to hide them.
Evie notes her line of sight but does nothing to cover them. "I wouldn't ask"
"I wasn't going too, judging by the marks on Jayden's arm," chuckles Lauren nodding to her brother.

He blushes at that. "And on that uncomfortable note, good night."
His arm wraps around Evie as he pulls her back through the bathroom.
She rolls her eyes and moves towards the bed, settling on her preferred side.

Shutting the door Jayden walks over, pulling his shirt off before sliding in next to her before rolling over and throwing his arm over her, pulling her back flush against his chest. His hand splaying over her stomach.

"I love you," he murmurs.
"I love you too," she smiles.
Because whatever happened tomorrow, there was no other way they'd rather spend the night before they fought for the world.


A/N: Ta-da, not far off now, lemme know your thoughts :D