The Exceptions

March 29th, 2149

                                                                                       Alessia

"Good morning," Charlie mumbled into Alessia's shoulder. She was barely awake but managed to pick her head up.

"Morning," she smiled. They had come home from competition yesterday and somehow Charlie managed to convince her to sleep in his bed again.

He wrapped another arm around her torso and laid his head on top of her stomach. "Glad to see you didn't leave me again," He joked, referring to when she left before he woke up yesterday.

"I didn't necessarily leave you, I just went to see Nick,"

"Therefore leaving me," he sang.

She laughed at his childish behavior and placed a hand on his head. "I'm sorry, I won't leave you again,"

"Good," he muttered.

She played with her suddenly interesting fingers. "Why did you ask me to sleep in here again? Shouldn't you be in that girl's dorm that you sleep - sleep with?"

"Do I detect a hint of jealousy in your tone?" he asked, obviously amused.

"No, you don't. I'm just wondering," she defended.

He chuckled lightly. "Well, I'll have you know I'm sort of done sleeping around,"

Alessia lifted her head from the pillow. "Huh?"

"Yeah. I got with a lot of the girls here. I'm bored of it," she had only known Charlie for a short amount of time, but she never expected him to get bored of sleeping around.

"Interesting..." she trailed off.

"There's a few girls I didn't get with because I didn't want to. Like Daisy, who's like my sister, Zoe, taken and not my type plus a few others. I pretty much got every girl I wanted." he stated. "There is, however, still one girl that I want," She rolled her eyes. "And when I get her, I'm going to keep her."

Alessia's eyes shut painfully for a moment before she opened them to look in his. "Then get her," she told him and attempted to push down the uneasy feeling in her stomach.

"I'm trying," he whispered as his eyes moved from hers and down to her pink lips. Her eyes followed his and she suddenly became nervous at their close proximity, but at least the pit disappeared. It was replaced with something positive; hope. Charlie began to move his head forward. Alessia's stomach flipped as she wondered. For the first time, she had hope that maybe he did want her. She was snapped back to reality when his nose gently hit hers-

"Emergency. — Emergency. — Code A. — Please gather your belongings and make your way to the replicas. — Emergency — Emergency. — Code A. — Please gather your belongings and make your way to the replicas," A voice operator repeated over the loudspeaker along with the room flashing red lights.
Panic filled Alessia's body as she shook her head. "Oh no,"

Red. All she saw was red.

"Get out! There's a fire!" Ten-year-old Alessia yelled, running through her foster house.

"What happened?" Renzo, her foster father asked.

"I-I don't know! There's smoke everywhere!" she cried. He picked her up, carrying her down the steps. "Wait! Wait! We can't leave without him!"

"Alex! It's okay!" she barely heard Charlie's fading voice trying to calm her down.

"The door is blocked!" She yelled as fire surrounded the two. Thick, bright, hot fire. Fear ran through her body. She had only been this scared once before.

Then something happened. Suddenly she was cold. Like all of the heat was overthrown by the freezing cold air. The heat was simply gone. She opened her eyes and was greeted with darkness. Just like that, the fire was gone. She looked up at Max, but his face was gone. She closed her eyes and when she opened them, she saw someone else. Someone else who could help her...

Warm arms wrapped around her small body. "Shh, shh, shh, shh, it's okay, it's okay," Charlie soothed her.'

Alessia peaked her head out of the little cocoon he created around her with his arms. The sirens had stopped but the red lights turned blue and continued flashing. "I-I'm okay,"

He looked down at her with concern in his blue eyes. "What happened?"

She frowned deeply. "Bad, bad memory..."

Charlie nodded and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Let's go see what's going on, yeah?" Alessia nodded. "What's code A?" He asked.

"Acid rain,"

"Hey, it's okay. Go get your stuff and meet me back here, okay? Elijah will come back too," he said calmly with a hand on her cheek as the flashing lights began again all around the building. She calmed herself down, but she couldn't speak. All she could do was nod. "Hey, look at me," She raised her eyes to his. "Everything is going to be okay." he smiled softly, Alessia did the same before they parted to find everyone.

                                                                                       Daisy

"Damnit, what did I say?" Cole yelled, rushing to Daisy and Alessia's room.

Alessia shook her head. "Cole, where's my brother?"

"He slept at Nick's. I just saw him, he went back to his room after Nick packed," he explained.

Daisy turned to Cole. "Are you packed?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "You guys?"

"Yes, Charlie told me to meet him by his room, so let's go," Alessia told them. They nodded and ran off to Charlie and Elijah's room. When they got there, they were waiting by the door.

Elijah ran to Alessia, scooping her in his arms. "Alex!"

She smiled widely as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hi,"

Daisy's attention went to Charlie, who was walking up to her. "You good?" He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, I'm good,"

"I'm all for reunions, but let's hustle," Cole said, gaining a light smack on the arm from Daisy.