Sacrifice

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Present Day 

Newt was woken by Minho so that he could take over the next watch. He carefully tried to get up without waking Claire. As he tried to gently place her head on his backpack she began to stir. A moment later her eyes opened. 

"I'm sorry," Newt whispered. "Go back to sleep." 

"It's okay, I wasn't really asleep." 

Claire sat up and took Newt's hand. They sat there in silence, not quite sure what to do with themselves. They carelessly swung their interlocked hands in midair feeling very silly. Before they knew it they were grinning like idiots and had to be careful not to laugh to loudly, or they might wake the others. Newt was really glad to see her smile. She'd been so quite and withdrawn that day and he was worried. 

"Stars are out tonight," Newt commented, looking up at the night sky. 

"Jack would love this," Claire said. "He would always look for patterns in the stars to create pictures, he showed me some. The sky's so much more open here, he would have a field day piecing together images." 

Newt squeezed her hand. 

"I'm sorry, Claire. I miss him too." 

"It's my fault," Claire said so softly, Newt almost missed it. "I-I couldn't hang onto him." 

"Listen to me, it is not your fault." 

"He couldn't have been older than thirteen, and now he's gone." 

"I know, and Chuck was even younger. And I keep thinking about Alby, Jeff and Winston. I can't help but think that if I was smarter, or just a bit faster, they'd still be here." 

"None of that's your fault," Claire said. "If anything, Alby's death was mine. If I wasn't just standing there like an idiot, he wouldn't have had to push me out of the way, he would have had time to save himself." 

"Claire, that was far from your fault. If anything, it's WCKD's for creating the Grievers and putting us in the Maze in the first place. Alby chose to save your life, he wouldn't have done it if he didn't want to, and I'm so happy you're here with us." 

"Really?" 

"Claire, your life is always worth saving," Newt said. "Alby would want us to continue on, and not mope about what could have been. Anything less would be an insult to his memory." 

Claire smiled. 

She couldn't believe how much had happened to them in just the past few days. She also couldn't believe the things that were starting to change between her and Newt. He had been her first friend in the Glade and was the person she felt closest to. He was still her best friend, but things were different now. The kiss had changed everything. 

The kiss in the Glade had been an act of passion, something ignited by the possibility that one or both of them could have died escaping the Maze. But Claire found that she didn't want that to be the last kiss between them. 

"How'd I get so lucky," she said. 

"About what?" 

"Having you in my life." 

Newt smiled and hugged Claire. 

"We're gonna make it," he said. "We have to, you, me, all of of us." 

Claire nodded. 

The two stayed up until it was Frypan's turn to take a watch shift. They fell asleep in each other's arms, dreaming, for once, of a hopeful future. 

****************  

One Year Ago 

The Gathering went quicker than Newt had expected. Alby  told the others what happened with Nick. He explained how he had to stab Nick order to protect Newt. To Newt's relief, Alby didn't disclose any of what Nick had said. When Alby appointed Newt as the new second-in-command, no one protested.