"Chloe? Chloe! Chloe." For the second time that morning, I blinked awake. This time, it was to the sound of someone repeating my name in a multitude of tones, each growing more and more urgent. "Chloe?"

Derek's face hovered mere inches above my own. "Hi…"

"Thank god," he rocked back on his heels, giving me room to push myself to a sitting position. "You weren't waking up…"

I bit my lip, deliberating. Do I tell him the truth? My conversation with that ghost- Brian- was still fresh in my mind, masking all other thoughts. If what he said was true, I had started a war. And now, somehow, I was supposed to fix it? The thought made my head hurt.

What I would normally have done in a situation as bad as this one is tell Derek. Or, if not Derek, then Simon or Tori. I had screwed up so royally, I would have to suck up my pride and ask for help fixing it. That was the only smart thing to do, I had to admit. The problem with that, though, is that I doubted anyone really would be able to help me, anyway. Not any of my friends, at least. This was a ghost problem, one they wouldn't be able to help with. But even the moral support would be nice…

"Chloe?" I had hesitated too long, lost in thought.

"Sorry. It must have been those drugs they gave me yesterday. Maybe they hadn't all worn off." I lied. No, I wouldn't tell them. Not yet at least.

Derek let out a heavy breath, reminding me that whatever the reason for not waking up right away, I had scared him. "That's probably it," he agreed after a moment.

"Chloe up yet?" Tori poked her head around a tree, several yards ahead. "Simon and I are ready to keep moving."

"Yeah, we're ready to get out of here," Simon's voice floated back to us. "I am starving."

"Ok, ok, we're coming," Derek stood up, offering me a hand. I couldn't help but wince as I was forced to put weight on my still sore feet. Derek, not missing this, immediately picked me up again.

"You don't have to carry me, you know," I protested, but the argument was weak. I knew the alternative was me actually walking…and as selfish as it sounds, I just didn't want to have to deal with that.

"It's fine, Chloe," he grumbled. And that was that.

We walked for most of the morning, not really having a destination in mind, just wanting to get out of this forest. It was a mostly silent walk, everyone tired and hungry. I tried to bring up the subject of the testing that went on while I was unconscious a couple more times, but was shut down by a stern glance from Derek.

At least it was a little warmer in the daytime. What weak sunlight trickled down through the treetops brought a heated glow, so that I wasn't shivering quite so bad. Tucked away against Derek's warm chest, it wasn't long until I was bathed in a light sheen of sweat.

As I felt a muscle jump in one of the arms holding me, however, I realized that it wasn't my sweat. I glanced up at Derek, studying his eyes. They weren't quite as glazed as they usually were right before he changed, but they were certainly getting there. "How long, Derek?" I kept my voice low, not wanting Simon and Tori, who were both walking silently ahead of us, to hear.

"What do you-"

"How long until you change?"

He wrinkled his nose, seeming annoyed. "You worry too much."

"Derek," I stared hard at him.

It was a minor victory when he was the first to look away. "Ok, ok," he muttered. "I probably have until tonight, at least."

"Probably?" I let the skepticism creep into my voice.

"What do you want me to say, Chloe?" he growled. "It's not exactly like I have it down to a science. How am I supposed to know?"

"Fine," I backed down hastily, stung. I shifted in his arms so I was facing outward, not wanting to have to look at him.

It was several minutes later (several minutes too long later) when he sighed. "Look, I shouldn't have snapped at you." It wasn't an apology.

"No, you shouldn't have," I replied, not bothering to disguise my annoyance.

"The change makes me pretty grumpy. Lame excuse, but…yeah."

What was lame was his ending, when he kind of trailed off. That was the time when a normal person might apologize. Derek, though, isn't a huge fan of apologizing. I had accepted this long ago, knowing he would only apologize when he felt the situation truly warranted an apology, but it still grated on my nerves from time to time.

Still, now it was my turn to sigh, knowing at least this really was a legitimate excuse. He shouldn't have to apologize when it was beyond his control, not totally his fault that he was irritable. "It's fine." Brian wouldn't have snapped at me like that, though, a whisper of a thought tickled my conscious, quickly followed by another, louder one: Where the hell did that come from?

I was just so worried about everything he had told me, I reasoned, that I kept thinking about him. That was the reason that for the merest of seconds I imagined I was being held in his arms instead. Any other reason simply didn't make sense.

"So, um…" Derek was trying to redeem himself, grasping about for a topic. "Are you still cold?" See, Chloe? See how sweet and kind and loving he is? See how stupid you're being for even contemplating being mad at him?

"No, I'm fine now," I assured him, twisting back around so he would see my smile. And it was a real smile, too. Not a forced one at all. Or, that's what I was telling myself.

"Are you sure? You could wear my sweatshirt if you want…"

"I'm not cold, Derek, I promise."

"Ok, just…tell me if you get cold, ok?"

"Ok."

"Hey, look!" I couldn't see what he was pointing too, but Simon had started grinning.

Tori gave a little groan. "That smells amazing," she picked up the pace a bit.

It took another couple of Derek's steps before I, too, was able to smell the greasy, fried stench of fast food. Tori was right, it really did smell amazing, especially since I had no clue when I had last eaten.

"Please be open, please be open, please be open," Simon began chanting softly as we drew closer to the end of the tree line. It was a lot brighter (and consequently warmer) now, and buildings were visible in the distance, one of them presumably the food place we smelled. They were all walking faster now, the prospect of a hot meal lending us energy.

When we were still several paces in the forest, however, Derek stopped. "Hang on a second, ok guys?"

Simon and Tori sighed but complied, walking back to join us. We all waited as Derek cocked his head and flared his nostrils. "Nothing familiar," he said at last. "I think we're good." By that, I assumed he meant there weren't any traces of the Edison Group.

"So we can go now?" Simon looked hopeful.

"We can't," Derek gently set me back down on the ground, propped up against a tree. "Simon, have you seen your face? You look like you were mauled by a bear."

"A wolf, actually," he muttered, but Derek's responding glare clearly said that that wasn't the point.

"You should really try to avoid being seen until that heals up a little more. It would just draw more attention to us."

"Fine, fine, I get it. I wait here."

Derek nodded. "With Chloe. She can't exactly walk, and she's in a hospital gown, people will get suspicious." A part of me wanted to argue, but he probably was right.

"Ok, we'll stay here then," I agreed.

"Tori? Don't let him eat all of the food before we get any, ok?" said Simon.

Derek rolled his eyes. "We'll try to find some clothes for Chloe, too, so it might be a little while."

"How about you bring us food first, then go shopping?" Simon said.

Derek opened his mouth to argue, then snapped it shut. "Fine," he grumbled, after a pause. "We'll be back soon."

"Bye."

As the two of them disappeared, Simon flopped down onto the ground next to me. "You doing ok, Chloe?" he said after several minutes of companionable silence. "I feel like I haven't really talked to you since we escaped last night."

"I think I should really be asking you that," I shot a pointed look at the gruesome mask that was his face.

"Nah, it looks much worse than it feels," he assured me.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Because if I hadn't been stupid enough to get myself shot you guys wouldn't have had to go back and you'd be fine and-"

"Chloe, stop. It's not exactly your fault."

"But I-"

"Don't. Move."

The voice came from behind me and wasn't Simon's.

Don't you just love my awful cliffys? MWAHAHAHA

:)