Author's Note: I want to thank all of you for reading and commenting, it really motivates me to keep this story going, and I know it's been a while since I last updated and this chapter isn't one of the greatest, it's mostly just filler and set up to the coming chapters which hopefully will be up some time in the next week or so if my schedule allows it, but I hope you enjoy it at least a little. Also, just a heads up that this chapter is split into both Nick and Beth's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or any similarities this holds to the show itself.

Nick had shuffled through the contents of his mother's cabinet looking for pills. Anything. It didn't matter that he had already looked through it once, twice, thrice times over looking for anything that would appease the need that was coursing through his system. His eyes would scan the rows, over and over again, while his hands pushing around to see labels hoping that maybe this time he'd spot something worthy, see something he had missed.

Just like all the times before there hadn't been anything of worth. just Tylenol, vitamins, and hand lotion.

He knew it was wrong. He had said he wanted to quit, but he lied.

Did he want to quit? Hell no. Did he have to quit? Yes. There was nothing he was more sure of but that didn't mean it would change his behaviour.

It didn't mean that he wouldn't keep searching and do anything he could to get more. To get enough to appease him and the addiction that settled within him, itching for a sweet substance to take over, his mind on a constant loop of drugs, drugs, drugs you need them now.

In fact he would go searching through every house in this goddamn neighbourhood and flip everything over to find anything that would give him the high he was so desperately chasing because he needed more. He'd always need more. He'd chase them till he no longer needed to, if he could.

Everyone was on lockdown. It was a shame really because in the back of his mind he knew it was the perfect time to go searching through people's house because yeah sure they could report it – a break in and missing pills – but who would care? They had more important matters at hand. Something more adamant for their concern and attention than a petty misdemeanor.

He was a fiend, an addict, and there would never be enough to satisfy him.

But that was then and this was the now.

The now was a prettier sight, a more worthwhile tale. A tale where he was in a complete state of euphoria like he could take on anything. It was Nick Clark against the world and he'd always win.

And, he hadn't had to tear apart the neighborhood in search of this feeling. Hadn't had to commit a series of break ins just to find the bliss he so desperately needed. Or, wanted? He figured the two words were interchangeable, in the end it didn't matter.

What had mattered, to him, was that Hector Ramirez was dying and Liza was playing nurse. Typically such knowledge would be useless to him but it was very relevant when Hector Ramirez had a morphine drip. That said morphine drip that Nick would steal, or rather borrow, because in his mind he needed it more.

So here he was staring up at the sky and everything was right in the world- For him at least, because who could worry about the state of the world outside the walls when he felt this good?

He was here, alive, with his hand dangling into the warm water of the pool cocking his head to the side to look over at where Beth sat with her feet hanging off the side and everything seemed to make sense to him.

If he ignored the fact that the world was falling apart and his girlfriend was dead.

Beth sat at the edge of the pool, her feet dipped into the water below as she stared above at the impossibly blue sky. If she continued looking up it was possible to pretend this was normal, that it was just an average day lounging by a pool. A normality, a fun day with her friend because as she sat there with Nick a few feet away lounging on a floaty in the middle of the pool it was easy to pretend.

Every so often he'll splash her and encourage her to get in while she laughs and protests, saying she doesn't feel like swimming which isn't a lie. The truth is she couldn't be bothered with swimming, not when everything wasn't right, not when looking ahead meant the fresh knowledge of all the empty houses – where they all dead? – and the reminder of curfew; the army men that lurked about and while she knew they were there for the protection of the civilians she couldn't help but feel similar to a prisoner.

They kept them in, forbidden to escape the walls that were holding them in, the same ones that were patrolled all day everyday. It wasn't that Beth wanted out into the unprotected wastelands but more that she wondered if it was really abandoned territory for miles— not a single soul around because that was a lot of people and where they really all dead?

What about the rest of the world?

What about Georgia? All the people she left behind, all the loved ones she promised she would see again. Would she ever see her childhood friend Jimmy again? What about Otis and Patricia? Most importantly she should be with her brother right now, he should be with family. Why had he convinced Daddy to let him stay behind and run things?

It was supposed to be a fresh start after her mother died but it wasn't the same without him. And now, she might never see him again. It was like another death all over again because she had no idea if he was safe and how long would it be till she could? Would she ever? Could the last time she saw him be the final time; that her goodbye to him was forever?

She regrets not holding onto him for longer, their hug too short and her parting words not good enough. But how was she to know how things would play out?

"– you alright?" The question protruded into her subconscious, dragging her back to reality and far from her thoughts.

"Of course, I'm just tired."

Nick quirked his eyebrow, his playful expression almost telling her that it was a lie but thankfully he hadn't pressed on.

She let her gaze linger on and she couldn't help but acknowledge that lately he had been seeming a lot better, healthier, because he hadn't seemed as anxious and his pale and sweat sheened complexity had vanished. His sickness must have passed and she couldn't be more thankful.