AN: Hey guys! Here's chapter 26! Didn't take me as long to write as I thought it would, which if probably because I was so excited to get this chapter done. It's been a long time coming. You guys might have some question answered...and others not so much.

And HOLY SHIT, this story is now over 150,000 words long, has 258 reviews, 316 favourites and 465 follows. It blows my mind that we've made it this far, and honestly guys, I couldn't do it without you. Everything single comment, PM and follow makes my heart soar and makes me even more determined to keep writing. And believe me guys, we are nowhere near being done. :)

So thank you for sticking with me and following along. You guys are the absolute best!

And now, please read on and enjoy! :)

~~~O~~~

Chapter 26

~~~O~~~

The sense of urgency amongst the delinquents was one Alex hadn't seen since they had first descended through Earth's atmosphere. Tight lipped conversation and short fuses had become more pronounced as the afternoon went on. Not that she could blame them - the knowledge that the Ark - all their friends and families - were sitting on a time bomb was a pretty good motivator to get shit done.

But even the urgency couldn't fully mask the feeling of hopeless that lingered over the group. Nobody was willing to point out that the radio that should have given them an easy and direct line to the Ark was still drying out in the sun, nowhere near functional.

Even so, it was the first time it felt like the delinquents were coming together as a team.

Everyone knew that they needed to get in contact with the Ark as soon as possible, and that in and of itself seemed to be the drive needed to get people working together.

And thanks to the brilliant mind of Raven Reyes, they had something to focus their drive on.

Raven had been on the ground for less than an hour before she was saving their asses, her quick and brilliant mind thinking ten steps ahead from the moment she had set her gaze upon the water logged radio.

Her plan was this: they were going to make flares out of the recently-landed pod's thrusters, then send them sailing off into the night sky.

The idea was a long shot. Could it work? Sure. Would it work? Who knew. All they could do was try it, and pray that someone on the Ark happened to be looking in the right direction at the right time.

So that's what they did.

Delinquents scurried around, ferrying pieces of the pod to the site Raven had decided would work best, while other carefully dismantled the thrusters under Raven's watchful gaze.

The familiar feeling of working with her hands brought Alex a wave of nostalgia, memories resurfacing from a time when she had been training to be a mechanic on Mecha Station. Her training had barely begun before she'd been throw into Skybox, but it seemed that it was enough for Raven to hand her the wrench over some of the other boys who'd volunteered for the job.

"I seem to remember you being pretty good at this," Raven had said, holding out the tool to Alex with a contemplative expression. "I know it's been awhile, but even so... Don't screw up," she'd added before giving her a smirk and heading of to watch over those already working, not giving Alex a chance to respond.

Staring in surprise at the tool in her hand, Alex quickly pushed away the flicker of uncertainty that filled her, deciding that she could do this.

Determination filled her. She had been good at this once. She could do it again.

Which is how she ended up flat on her back under the belly of the pod, completely covered in dirt, while carefully working on removing the supports that connected the thrusters to the rest of the machine. It hadn't taken long for her jacket to come off as she'd warmed up, which was now laid out beneath her, providing her back some protection from the prickly forest floor.

Alex worked tirelessly, her arms straining as she attempted to loosen the bolts. Even though her arms shook from the effort and her hands were sore, she felt something that she hadn't felt in while.

She could be useful. She could help. She could do more - be more - and it felt good.

Across from her, on the opposite side of the pod, a teen mirrored her position, working on the supports for one of the other thrusters. He was fairly young, probably a few years younger than Alex, with dark shaggy brown hair and blue eyes.

It was only in passing that Alex knew his name was Myles.

Alex wished she could have said that they had worked mostly in silence, but that would have been a lie. If there was one thing that she had learned about Myles in the brief time she had known him was that he liked to talk. A lot.

"I think this is going to work, don't you?" he asked her excitedly, sending an easy grin her way. "I mean, if this works - and it has to work! - then the Ark will know we're alive. Which is going to be awesome! I mean, my parents will know I'm okay and maybe they'll be able to come down sometime, know what I mean?"

Alex blinked at him as he rambled on. She didn't know if his ramblings were from nervousness or if he always talked this much, but as she glimpsed his wrist, she saw that he was one of the few still wearing a wristband. His decision to keep wearing it, despite the pressure from everyone to do otherwise…

His excitement about his parents coming down suddenly made more sense.

Her expression softened. "Yeah, I think it's going to work too."

Myles, Jemma…Charlotte. They're all just kids who just want their families back.

His grin turned into a full blown smile, which Alex returned with a small one of her own, trying to ignore the pang in her chest, thinking of the parents on the Ark that must look down on Earth and pray that their child was somehow still alive.

Did Mr. Miller think Nate was gone? And Clarke's mother - did she think the radiation had killed her daughter? Did they already think they were all dead?

A feeling washed over her, something that she hadn't felt since she was a kid, when she used to wonder where her parent were, dreaming of them returning from some long mission out into space, wondering when they would come home and would take her away from Mrs. M. Someone who would love her and care for her.

Too bad Kane didn't give a shit about you, she thought bitterly, glaring at the nut that was refusing to budge. Your "father" never went anywhere. He was standing right in front of you the whole time and he just didn't care whether you knew the truth or not. The thought was an old one, an echo of her time spent locked up, when she'd had only her thoughts and anger to occupy her time.

Thoughts that had faded to the back of her mind ever since she'd arrived on Earth.

She had to swallow the hurt that accompanied them.

As she continued working, Alex kept half an ear open for Myles as he continued to ramble on, a stream of never ending commentary about their time on Earth so far. She 'hummed' and 'ah-ed' every so often, though the boy never seemed deterred by her lack of enthusiasm.

"I mean," he grunted, voice straining as he attempted to turn a particularly tough bolt. "What's the chance that there would be people left over after all this time? The radiation should have poisoned them long ago - do you think we'll meet more of them? Bellamy seems to think there may be out there watching us."

The sound of Bellamy's name had her snapping out of her thoughts, and she hummed noncommittally in response, even as her mind drifted to the aforementioned subject - Bellamy.

He knew the truth. Or at least thought he knew the truth. And the look he had given her by the river told her this wasn't something he was about to let go.

She couldn't help the grimace that crossed her face at the thought. But what could she tell him that would somehow deter his questions? What would he do with the information?

He could use it against her; it was something that he wasn't above doing, she had seen it when he'd gone after peoples wristbands. When he was determined to get something, he wasn't above using all the resources he had.

Maybe he won't say anything at all, her mind supplied, after all, he understands the importance of protecting family.

The uncertainty nagged at her more than she liked.

But she also knew that saying nothing at all wouldn't help make matters any better.

She had just finished loosening the last of her bolts when she happened to glance at Myles to see how he was doing.

"Myles!" she barked at him, reaching over and grabbing his wrench, stopping him from accidentally disconnecting the wrong pieces. He froze at her touch, turning to stare at her with wide eyes. "Pay attention to what your doing," she told him sternly. "If you want your parents to come down, we need to do this right. And that won't happen if you disconnect the combustion chamber from the exhaust."

His wide eyes looked darted from her face, to her hand, to where his wrench was resting, before turning bright red.

"Right! Right, I'm sorry!" he mumbled, shooting her a nervous grin.

"Just be careful," she continued more soothingly this time as she gently released his wrist. "We all have someone on the Ark who needs our help."

He nodded his head vigorously in response, before returning to work, this time his expression focused and determined. His commentary reduced to a minimum.

Alex watched him carefully for a few more minutes to make sure he wasn't going to go for the wrong connection again. Once she felt assured that he wouldn't make the same mistake twice, she slid herself out from under the pod and into the cooler air, using the back of her arm to wipe the sweat from her face, before brushing off the pine needles and dirt that were stuck to the back of her pants and shirt.

At her movement, Raven looked towards her from where she was standing by the door to the pod, her hands carefully holding the control panel that they were going to use as the ignition point.

Catching her gaze, Alex gave her a nod and a thumbs up, even as she noticed Myles slid out from underneath the other side of the pod. "The thrusters are good to go," she informed the dark haired girl as she moved towards her.

Raven nodded back, before looking around and point at two boys who were milling about, looking like they wanted to help, but apparently not knowing where to begin. "Hey! You two! Get over here and give Alex a hand moving the thruster to site. Move slow! And listen to what she says, last thing we need if you guys dropping it."

Alex couldn't help the grin that tugged at her lips as she met Raven's gaze once more, the other girl giving her a short wink before returning to her own work.

She had a feeling she and Raven were going to get along just fine.

Once the thrusters were detached, it only took a few more hours before everything was in place, all three thrusters braced and aimed in the direction Raven had determined the Ark would be crossing the sky.

Then everything was set up. Alex helped Raven check over the ignition, fuses and fuel supply, listening to the other girl mumble to herself as she double checked and triple checked each and everyone of the connections.

Once it was all said and done, all they could do was wait for the sky to darken and for the bright glow of the Ark to sail across the sky. The realization that they had a very small window of opportunity didn't seem to escape anyone's notice, and left the group with chatting quietly to one another as they waited.

Sit and wait. Something that she was never quite good at.

So she paced around the inside of the wall, keeping away from most of the other delinquents as she thought.

As the minutes ticked by, she felt herself become increasingly anxious, unable to stop playing with the threads on the inside of her jacket sleeves.

What if this doesn't work? What if we miss our opportunity and then the Ark runs out of air? The thought made her stomach churn. Liam, Mr. Miller...Kane...they were all stuck up there with nowhere to go. They'll all die up there.

What if it does work? Her own mind countered. They by themselves a bit more time...but how will they be able to get to Earth? Is it even possible that they have enough drop ships available for everyone to descend?

Those were the thoughts that occupied her mind when she finally stood among the group and watched as the flares ignited then took to the sky with a deafening roar, leaving three glowing lines in their wake as they went. They seemed to soar for thousands of meters straight up before curving off into the horizon.

Most of the delinquents cheered at the sight, and although Alex shared in their joy - things had gone right for once, she couldn't help worry her lip at the contradicting feeling that pervaded her thoughts.

Did we make it? Was it enough?

~~~O~~~

Once the flares split and sailed out of sight, the excitement in the group died down pretty quickly, groups splitting off and heading to their usual fires, the exhaustion after the hectic day becoming apparent with the loud yawns that trailed people to their tents.

It was only as the crowds became more sparse that Alex caught Bellamy's eye. They both paused, studying the other, Bellamy's expression somewhere between blank and thoughtful, Alex's between guarded and exhausted.

It was unavoidable.

With a sigh, she turned away, heading to one of the fires furthest from camp.

If they were going to have this conversation, she wanted it to be on her own terms - they weren't going to be overheard.

She only stopped briefly to pick up something along the way, the bottle a reassuring weight in the palm of her hands as she snuck it away from a few delinquents.

She knew Bellamy was following her, she could sense his eyes on her back as she walked, each step filling her with uncertainty as they distanced themselves from the rest of the group.

Approaching the fire, she stepped over the log that rested on the ground before it, quickly grabbing a few piece of woods and placed them over the dying embers before settling herself down on the cool mossy ground, leaning back against the log.

Unscrewing the cap of the bottle, she brought the rim to her lips, grimacing at the bitter taste on her tongue and the way it burned all the way down the back of her throat. She hoped it would somehow calm her nerves, instead it only made her feel jittery.

She didn't have to wait long for Bellamy to join her.

Her shoulders tensed as Bellamy gracefully hopped over the log, lowering himself down to the ground beside her, leaving only about a foot of space between them. Though she watched him out of the corner of her eye, he didn't immediately make a move to meet her gaze, instead staring into the fire that was slowly coming back to life before them.

Though the silence between them wasn't exactly awkward, Alex could feel the nervous flutter in her stomach, which was in complete contrast to Bellamy relaxed posture - legs extended and arms crossed loosely across his chest - making him seem like he didn't have a care in the world.

What are you really thinking? She wondered, arm braced on her knee, swirling the bottle of amber liquid before her, before taking another sip, already feeling the warmth spreading from her achingly empty stomach. Guess there's only on way to find out...

She extended an arm and held the bottle out towards Bellamy, dangling it from the end of her fingertips. She could see him examine the bottle, before shooting her a questioning look.

"I'm not going to be the only one drinking for this, Blake," she said simply, though she couldn't keep the defensive tone out of her voice.

Bellamy's eyes narrowed at her before he reached out and took to proffered bottle from her hands, his fingers grazing her own. His gaze never leaving hers as he brought the rim to his own lips.

She couldn't help the smirk that tugged at her lips as he immediately coughed, sputtered and grimaced at the taste, pulling the bottle away to glare down at the offending liquid.

"I can't believe you're drinking that - what is that shit?" he asked, voice rough as he finished coughing, looking disgusted as he held the bottle back out to her.

"No idea, something Finn found," she shrugged, bringing the bottle to her lips. She swallowed the liquid, already beginning to feel it's warming effects. "Are you really complaining?" She offered it back.

There was only minor hesitation from his part as he took the bottle once more.

The glow of the fire grew as darkness descended around them, the crackling the only sounds as they passed the bottle back and forth between them.

Alex knew Bellamy was waiting for her to break the silence and she was both thankful and wary as to why he would give her time to collect her thoughts. It was different from how he had acted in the past, usually one to demand answers until he got them. Could sense her nervousness and reluctance? Is that why he was giving her time?

He hasn't always been aggressive and demanding, she thought, thinking back to the time they had been stuck in the cave together with Charlotte, how he had calmed her down, how he had held her hand and eased her panic. There's more to him than meets the eye. He just does a good job at hiding it.

She licked her dry lips, opening her mouth but the words wouldn't come. What could she say? Where could she begin? How could she answer questions she herself didn't know the answer to?

Before she had a chance to try again, Bellamy's voice cut through the silence between them.

"I was seven when Octavia was born," he spoke quietly and softly, and her gaze snapped to him in surprise. She noted that his eyes were still focused on the fire, though she wondered if that is what he truly saw. He took a deep breath before continuing, his shoulders rising and falling with the heavy motion. He rolled the bottle absentmindedly between his hands. "I remember my mother passing her to me only moments after O was born...she was so fragile, so small…" he trailed off, his lips quirking upwards at the thought. "It was one of the best moments of my life. Having a sister, someone I could tease, someone I could watch over and protect, it became everything to me. My sister...My mother...they were everything to me."

Alex eyed him, watching the light from the fire dance across his features, reflecting in his dark eyes, surprised that he would share that with her. But even as she watched, his expression sombered, a frown pulling at his brow as his eyes cut to hers. His gaze was sharp, dark eyes catching hers.

She couldn't look away.

"But then Marcus Kane took away all of it." His tone deepened as anger seeped into his voice. "He floated my mother for having a child. He took my sister away from me and threw her in a cage for something she had no choice in." His gaze turned accusing, and she fought the cringe. "So what I want to know is how he gets away with destroying my family, while his family get to live happily ever after."

Her face flushed as his words ignited a blaze of anger inside her, her thoughts growing more uninhibited by the alcohol now flowing freely through her system.

How dare he - he knows nothing about me or my life!

"Happily ever after?" she asked, glaring back at him, a mocking smile crossing her face as she scoffed. "Please, Blake, keep telling me about how perfect my life was." She snatched the bottle back, and took a large gulp, hoping to push back the emotions that welled up inside her.

He sat up, shoulders tense as he turned to face her full on. "You had your family, your parents, your brother," he accused. "You never had to fear of being discovered, never forced to live hidden under the floor, all because you're related to Marcus -fucking- Kane."

Bitter amusement sparked through her, and she couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her. That's what he thought?

"Wow, Blake. You really don't know anything about my life," she shook her head, turning to meet him head on. "You think I somehow magically grew up with Kane and nobody noticed? Don't you think you would have heard something about Kane having a daughter? Don't you think people would have questioned it from the moment I was born? Don't you think my last name would be Kane instead of Evans - if I had grown up with Marcus Kane as my father?!"

Her chest was heaving by the end.

A flicker of unknown emotion crossed Bellamy's face before it settled back into a carefully blank expression.

"But your mother-"

A strangled laugh escaped her. "You don't know anything," her voice cracked as she cut him off. "I grew up with a bitter old witch, not with some loving family-" she broke off, taking a shuddering breath and shoved the hair out of her face with one agitated motion.

The feelings that she had buried that day rose up and choked her, leaving her with a lump in her throat that she couldn't seem to swallow. The truth that her parents hadn't died in some freak accident, that she'd had family, someone who should have cared for her, loved her, fought for her, but had instead given her away like some unwanted gift…

She had to turn away, blinking away the sudden burn in her eyes. "I don't have a mother. I don't even have memories of my mother. And the person who was supposed to be my father didn't care enough to fight to keep me. So maybe Kane did break to rules for himself. But maybe the only reason I was allowed to even be born was because he never gave a shit about me," her voice softened towards the end, reflecting the hurt that she felt inside. "If he'd had it his way, I would have never known the truth."

Silence descended between them.

Alex kept her face away from Bellamy, struggling to push down the hurt and anger that came from saying the words out loud. Sucking in a harsh breath, she wiped away the moisture in her eyes before turning back to face him.

Bellamy was studying her with dark eyes, his face not betraying whatever he might be thinking.

"Does Liam know the truth?" he finally asked.

She shook her head. "I - I don't think so," she swallowed heavily. "I only found out right before…"

"Right before you attacked Liam," Bellamy finished for her and look of realization crossing his face before his gaze narrowed once again, this time looking at her with a hint of suspicion. "Is that why you did it? You wanted to hurt him, to get back at Kane?" he asked cautiously.

"No!" Her head snapped around to face him as the desperate word tore from her lips at the familiar accusation, the conclusion that Bellamy had automatically jumped to - everyone jumped to. "That's not what happened! I would never hurt him!" She sounded pathetic even to her own ears, the pleading obvious in her voice. "He was my best friend long before I knew he was my brother. I would never have hurt him," she repeated softly. "I would have died for him - I should have died for him..." she ended softly.

He paused, studying her. "What happened that day?" he asked her cautiously, almost gently.

She blinked, staring at him. Had anyone ever really cared enough to ask?

She took a shuddering breath, running a hand through her hair, hating thinking of that day, but knowing she did it far too often anyway..

"It was the same day...the same day I found out..." she trailed off before clearing her throat, deciding to backtrack a bit so that it would make more sense. "The fact that nobody seemed to know who my parents were always bothered me," she began softly. "They were always just two unknowns, you know? Just two random people who had died sometime after I was born. And whenever I asks it was always clear that no one knew anything about them. Just that their last name had been Evans." She paused, chewing on the inside of her cheek before she continued. "Mrs's M. was the worst about it," she stated bluntly, clenching her fists. "She used to tell me that I was just the unwanted runt of two people who had died."

Bellamy looked startled by the information. "She said that to you? When you were a kid?" He looked disgusted by the information. He shook his head. "Why would she do that?"

Alex pursed her lips and shrugged. "She hated me. And I guess she wasn't wrong," she admitted simply, and when Bellamy opened his mouth, looking almost like he was offended for her, she hurried to continue, not willing to go any deeper into the subject of her guardian. "Anyways, the lack of information bothered me. Hadn't anyone known my parents? Didn't anyone even know their names?" Her frustration seeped into her voice. "So I started looking, started digging through the open databases, through old files and documents...Nothing. They were ghosts that had never even existed." She inhaled deeply, and lightly cringed at what she was about to admit. "So I hacked into the medical records…"

Bellamy blinked at her before shaking his head. "I know," he said dryly, "I'm pretty sure a crime like that alone would have been enough to get you locked up in the Skybox."

She shrugged almost sheepishly. "I needed to know!" she told him defensively, before sobering up. "And it worked... I found my birth record buried in the database. And it was all there," she said softly. "Mother: Sarah Evans. Father… Marcus Kane."

She swallowed the returning lump in her throat. "I was so angry at the time. It hurt," she admitted, "knowing that my supposed father was always right there in front of me, that he had given Liam a life that I had always dreamed of, while keeping me at arms length." She shook her head angrily. "And when I confronted him about it. He didn't even deny it - didn't even care. He looked more worried about the fact that I now knew the truth and that it would somehow ruin his reputation." She sneered, remembering the worry on Kane's face as he told her she couldn't tell anyone. "I ran. I didn't know where I was going. My hands were shaking so badly. But I knew I needed to find Liam. All I could think about was whether he had known the whole time too and whether he had lied to my face day after day like Kane had done my entire life."

She stared into the fire, though she didn't quite see it. The bottle was long forgotten between them.

Bellamy patiently waited for her to continue.

"But when I found him, I barely had time to ask him anything. He looked so confused at my questions. I should have known something was wrong. He looked - he looked scared," she said softly, curling forward and wrapping her arms around her knees even as the memory of Liam's startled gaze crossed her mind. "I should have asked him what was wrong, but all I remember thinking was that his problems couldn't be any worse than my own."

When her words caught in her throat, she paused, trying to collect herself. Bellamy shifted at her side, clearly unsure what to say.

She cleared her throat, hands closing into fists around the material of her coat. "I was wrong," she croaked out, shaking her head. "I should have asked….not that it would have mattered. Two guards arrived right after I did." She recalled the way they had stepped into the hallway, their hardened gazes landing on Liam before landing on her, and the chill that had swept down her spine at the time. "And I remember how Liam looked at me - I'd never seen him look like that before - like he knew we were about to die," her words grew more hurried as she forced herself to continue talking.

"And they - they just jumped on us. One hit me with a shockbaton before I could even move, pinning me down on the ground, dug her knee into the middle of my back. The other - the other went for Liam... I didn't know he was holding a knife." She couldn't stop the small sob that escaped her as she recalled the overwhelming horror that had spiked through her veins that day. "I didn't know." She viciously wiped away the tear that leaked from her eyes. She couldn't stop herself from crying.

It took her a second to regain control of herself to continue.

Bellamy sat quietly by her side, his expression somber as he watched her talk.

"I don't know how I did it, but I somehow got out from under the woman pinning me down and leapt onto the other guards back. I remember...I remember seeing Liam's face over the guards shoulder. There was blood everywhere, he was choking on it." Her eyes slid shut and she pressed her fingers to her eyes, trying to force away the image of the blood that bubbled from Liam's lips, spreading across the material of shirt. "I knew - I knew he was dying and I- I snapped."

"After that... I don't really remember how I got the knife." She shook her head, before glancing down at her hands. Her knuckles were still red and angry looking, scabbed over from her fight with Murphy. "But I do remember the feeling of their blood on my hands." She rubbed her fingers together, vividly remembering the warmth and stickiness of her red slicked hands, and the way it seeped into the material of her pants as she knelt beside three unmoving bodies. "Then Kane arrived." Her voice softened, she swallowed. "When he came around that corner and found us, he looked at me like he knew, like he had been expecting me to do something like this. Like I had been some monster all along." She stared blankly into the fire. "And it didn't matter what I said," she stated, her voice becoming hard. "He'd made up his mind then and there. It was simple: I was the monster that killed his only real child, and he would never believe a word I said."

She absentmindedly picked at one of the scabs on her knuckles, hardly noticing that when the skin split and began bleeding.

The feeling of warm fingers encircling her own made her freeze, and her head snapped up to look at Bellamy, red eyes widening in surprise. For a second, she had lost herself in her memories and nearly forgotten he was there, sitting beside her.

The cold and distant expression on his face was gone, replaced with something softer - sadder. As he held her hand in his own, his fingers gripping her comfortingly, he sighed and said three words that broke her.

"I believe you." The sincerity in his voice shattered the remaining walls that she had struggled to keep up for two years and the little control she held vanished entirely.

Her face crumpled as one sob escaped her. Then another. Soon her body was wracked by sobs, her hands covering her face as she tried to regain control of herself.

As she cried, Bellamy sighed again softly and slid closer to her until his shoulder was pressed firmly against her own. He slid one arm around her back and gently tugged her towards him.

It didn't take much convincing for her to turn into his side and burying her face into the soft skin at the crook of his neck, her hands burying into the well worn material of his shirt. He held her as she cried, one arm around her back, thumb slowly drawing circles on the back of her neck, while the other cupped the side of her head, stroking her hair.

They stayed like that for a long, long time.

Slowly the sobs eased to soft cries, before fading away entirely. Soon the only sign that she had been crying were the sniffles that escaped her every couple of seconds.

Awareness of what she was doing and who was holding her came back to her slowly. She soon realized that she was pressed up against Bellamy's side, her cheek pressed against the warm skin of his neck, his pressed against the side of her head, his breath softly caressing her hair. She could feel the steady rise and fall of his chest with each breath he took, and for a moment, she allowed herself to fully sink into the comfort he was providing her.

It felt...nice.

A soft sigh escaped her. Maybe she could just stay there, just a little bit longer…

Had anyone ever held her like this before? She couldn't remember, but the thought had her tensing up.

Bellamy, feeling the change in her posture, allowed his arms to slide away from her, giving her the opportunity to pull away.

Sliding back to her original spot, Alex wiped at her face, erasing the dampness on her cheeks, while also doing her best to keep hold of the embarrassment that was slowly building within her, staining her cheeks red.

For fucks sake, you just cried on Bellamy Blake's shoulder.

The thought brought her a weird feeling of hysterical amusement and she snorted into her hands, before leaning back and allowing her hands to fall away from her face, lips unwillingly quirked in amusement, only to find Bellamy watching her.

"Feeling better?" he asked cautiously, looking unsure about her rapid change of emotion.

She paused at his question, realizing that she did in fact feel better. The knot of tension that had been in her chest for as long as she could remember had loosened. And it had all been because of Bellamy Blake.

Forcing herself to meet his gaze, she nodded. "Yeah," she replied softly. "Yeah, I do." Then she noted the damp spot on the collar of his shirt, and her face flushed deep red once again. "Your shirt's wet," she stated dumbly, already wincing at the stupidity of her comment.

Bellamy's gaze roamed her face and she wondered what he saw beside watery eyes and a splotchy red face. He ignored the redness in her cheeks and instead huffed a laugh, pulling the wet collar of his blue shirt away from his skin. As she met his gaze, she saw the amused quirk of his lips as he watched her. He shrugged. "I needed a shower anyways."

She couldn't help the amused quirk of her lips, or the short laugh that escaped her.

You just cried on Bellamy Blake! The irony didn't escape her notice and she smiled.

His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What?" he asked her warily.

She shook her head in amusement. "It's just that...if someone had told me a week ago that I would have this conversation with you… I would have laughed in their faces," she admitted.

He looked offended. "What?" He pointing at himself with raised eyebrow. "What do you mean me? What's wrong with me?" As she opened her mouth to answer, he pointed at her, though she noted the small tug at the corner of his lips. "Be careful how you answer that Evans," he warned.

Her smile blossomed into a full, mischievous grin. "Well, where should I begin…"

Bellamy's expression softened as he stared at her, then blinked and shook his head. "Fair warning Evans, I give as good as I get."

She snorted. "That I don't doubt." The mischievous quirk of his lips told her he hadn't missed the implication of her comment. But as she continued, the amusement faded. "But seriously...thank you. What you said...that you believe me…." Her heart clenched.

He nudged her shoulder with his own. "I do, Alex," he said firmly, ducking his head down to catch her gaze. Deep brown eyes stared into her grey. "I believe you."

Flashes out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned away from Bellamy and looked up at the sky, only for her breath to catch in her throat.

Above them streaks of light, almost like falling stars, crossed the night sky. One after another they trailed away, disappearing as they burned up in the atmosphere.

A chill swept over her. She knew that wasn't a meteor shower.

She was only distantly aware of having stood up to get a closer look.

Three hundred people...Sorrow filled her. Liam...No! You can't think like that! He'll be fine. Determination swept through her. If there's one thing Kane is good for, its for looking out for Liam. He wouldn't let anything happen to him.

Movement behind her had her glancing back down at Bellamy, noting his slouched form as he stared up at the night sky. His expression was caught somewhere between disbelief and sorrow, his eyes never leaving the dashing streaks of light that flew overhead.

She stared down at him sadly. Was it guilt that filled him? Regret over the deaths he could have prevented? The sorrow in his eyes certainly seemed to say so.

Sympathy filled her and without thinking, she reached down and placed a hand on his shoulder.

He tensed beneath her touch, but didn't pull away as his gaze slid to her own. He suddenly looked drained and tired.

"We've always done what we had to to survive," she told him softly, her gaze drifting back up to the cascading lights above them.

~~~O~~~

AN: YESS! I've been waiting to write this chapter for so long! Things have finally taken a turn between Alex and Bellamy. I won't say things will be sunshine and rainbows between them from now on, because they definitely won't (I love all the drama between them too much), but there's been a shift between them and now things can move forward :)

Also we finally have some idea of what happened between Liam and Alex. Is it what you guys expected? What do you think happened to Liam before Alex encountered him? Send me your thoughts!

What do you guys think of this season so far? I've really enjoyed the change, though some character's I've been struggling with, although I think that's more to do with them not showing us what happened over the six years in space and underground. Does anyone else feel like Bellamy lost his 'spark'? I'm curious to hear what you guys think.

Please review, I love hearing what you think and only takes a couple of seconds from your day to make me super happy.

Anon reviews:

KatLyn: Welcome and thanks for dropping me a review! The wait definitely wasn't too long for you for the next chapter! I can't wait to hear what you think of this one! :)

Wandemaximoff: the slowburn IS real! Lol, I'm definitely waiting just as long as you guys to get to the good parts, if you know what I mean *winks* Thanks for reviewing!