The Exceptions

Phase Two - Day 1 Underground

                                                                                      Alessia

Nick groaned obnoxiously as the group sat in a circle on the floor in the main room. "This sucks,"

Alessia rolled her eyes. "We've been underground for a total of ten minutes,"

"And we will be down here for weeks," Cole sung, making the group laugh.

Alessia stood up to go and get water from the rations bin. She immediately knew Charlie was following her. "Yes?" she asked without turning around.

"You better now?" He asked. She turned looked up at him. His face was full of genuine concern. Blinking a few times, she nodded. "Good," he smirked, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "You know, we have single rooms now, so if you get lonely it will be easier to come back to me."

She laughed quietly, shaking her head. "Yeah, no. Look, it was nice, but I don't think we should keep sleeping together,"

Charlie's face lit up as a giant smirk appeared. She knew immediately how bad that sounded and her face turned pink. "Oh trust me, if we were sleeping together-"

She covered his mouth with both of her hands as he laughed. "No! Shh! You know what I meant!"

"What are you crazy kids doing?" Elijah joked as he approached the two.

Charlie smirked. "Oh, nothing. Your sister here was just telling me how much she likes sleeping-" she covered his mouth once again, smacking his arm. Charlie hissed in pain before laughing and walking back to the group. Elijah's confused face looked to Alessia.

"I'm not even going to ask,"

She shook her head with a smile. "Yeah, you don't want to,"

Elijah smiled for a moment before his face turned serious. "Look, Charlie actually told me about your little panic attack from before- not that he had to because I actually felt it but couldn't find you," Alessia averted her eyes to the floor guiltily. "You can talk to me."

"I know. It's just... I've never had anyone to talk to about this stuff. You know? My baggage,"

Elijah shook his head. "Your baggage is mine. I can help you. You know I can,"

"You're right. I do know that you can. But- I just- I'm not used to someone caring so much. Now I have you, Daisy, Nick... Charlie," she rambled.

"Exactly. You have so many people who love you so much and want to help you. Sis, you have to let us. Especially me. We share feelings,"

She frowned. "I know, I know,"

He put his hand out for her to take. "Come on, let's go talk in my room, yeah?" Alessia nodded and took his hand.

That night, all Alessia could think of was Charlie's offer. She couldn't sleep, and she did feel lonely again. She was going back to her old ways, the sadness the anxiousness, the bad thought. She couldn't be like that anymore. She needed to learn to actually trust others.

Rubbing her face, she began to get up, however, she heard a knock at the door. Groaning, she got up in the dark and opened the door, only to see a shirtless and tired Charlie.

He looked down at her sleepily. "Can I come in?" His face was pale and had dark circles under his eyes. His usual bright eyes were now stormy seas of darkness.

"Yeah. I was actually just about to come to your room," she said, shutting the door.

"Don't turn the light on, just sleep." he mumbled, laying down on her bed.

"And who said you were allowed to come in here and dictate?" she asked playfully.

He let out a quiet chuckle as he wrapped his arms protectively around her body, burying his face into her shoulder. "I did," he whispered.

She frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Same as you... just lonely,"

"You look exhausted," she said, pushing his arms off of her so that she could face him.

"How would you know? It's dark,"

"From before, idiot," she giggled.

"Oh yeah," his voice got quiet.

"So?"

"It's nothing," he said, sounding colder.

"It's not nothing," She pried.

He sighed loudly. "Leave it-"

"I can help-"

"Alex," he said almost dangerously. "leave it," Her heart dropped to her stomach as it pounded loudly against her skin. She immediately shut her mouth, discretely moving away. He had never heard him talk so angrily around her. It was a trigger... bringing her back to her aggressive foster families, although she knew he would never hurt her. It still frightened her to that day.

"No, don't..." he let out a long sigh. "don't go away, they all go away."

His words sounded familiar. Probably because she had thought that so many times when people would leave her. She knew what that was like. How it felt to watch people that you care about leave you no matter how badly you want them to stay. She used to get so angry and people would grow afraid of her. She understood.

"I'm not going anywhere," she whispered. A quiet gasp escaped her lips when she felt Charlie's arms wrap around her once again and pull her up against him.

"I'm sorry. I can't control my anger sometimes. Please don't be afraid. I could never hurt you," he said genuinely.

"I know," she felt him smile against her open shoulder. After a little while, she shifted onto her stomach, placing her head on his chest and throwing her arms around his torso as his grip on her waist tightened.

                                                                                        Elijah

Elijah laid in bed with Nick in his arms. He was thinking about Alessia. It took a really long time to find her, and now that he has he couldn't have been happier. He had always protected her, even though she could take care of herself just fine. The need to protect her was always there.

When he looked at Charlie, he began thinking he didn't need to be her protector anymore. His need to protect was much stronger than his own.

"Are you up?" Nick mumbled into his shoulder.

"Yeah. I'm just thinking," he whispered, kissing his head.

"About what?"

"Alex,"

"My favorite girl," he joked.

"Mine too,"

"Hey, Lijah,"

"Yeah, babe?"

Nick chuckled. "Are we- like together?"

"Do-do you want us to be together?"

"I mean. I like you a lot, so yeah,"

Elijah smiled. "I like you a lot too,"

Nick sat up and hovered over him. He leaned down and kissed Elijah's neck. His lips travelled down his neck and back up to his lips before he pressed his lips onto his mouth. Elijah moved his hands to Nick's cheeks and attempted to get on top, but Nick wouldn't let him. He hadn't seen this side of Nick. He was used to the goofy and funny side of him, but he liked this side just as much.