AN: There are no words to excuse my behavior. It had been over 20 days since my last update! I can't truthfully say what happened...between school and work, time has just flown by. But, please, please, please, find it in your hearts to forgive me.

Also, be sure to tweet that you want a second season on Twitter. I don't remember the exact hashtags and etc., but I am sure you can find it on there. You all seem pretty tech-savvy. ;)

I am planning to update once a week. I only have one night off a week from work, so I don't have a ton of time to write after I finish homework and such. There will probably be times that I am able to update more, but I can't make any promises. As usual, thank you for your spectacular reviews and thank you for reading!

REELOUPASREEL: Thank you for reading! I am super jealous that you are bilingual enough to read a story in English; I hope to someday be proficient in several languages. You are more than welcome to translate the story for other French readers.

They were both completely silent and the only sound seemed to be the echo of the smack. Skye's hand came up to feel the spot that felt like fire. She wasn't really angry—she knew what would happen if she kept pushing—but it didn't make the strike any less painful.

Lucas looked stricken. For once, it seemed like he had stopped thinking completely. His hand was still halfway raised, as if to protect himself from whatever she was planning to do in retaliation.

It was the second time she had one-upped him, and she relished the moment just as she did when she had lead him into an ambush. Only this time she wasn't going to let him slip away while she was distracted.

"I guess that just proves my point," she said, her voice sounding like a battle cry in the quiet clearing.

Her words seemed to be the key; he came to life again, his eyes wild with fear and anguish and despair. She imagined a robot coming back to life after someone had ripped out a bunch of wires.

"H—how dare you—" he sputtered. "Never—never—mother—again."

Spit was shooting out with each word and Skye stepped to the side to get out of the target zone. She had never seen him so unraveled before, not even when fighting with his father. He was unpredictable and dangerous.

She crossed her arms over her chest, "That's the problem, Lucas. You refuse to talk about anything."

This seemed to only rile him up more. His face was turning a dark red with all the pressure. He tried to say something, probably a threat, but Skye cut him off, "You and the Commander, jeez. You both are too stubborn and prideful to admit that something is wrong."

Lucas certainly did not appreciate the comparison between his father and himself, "You don't know anything about it!"

"Of course I know about it! I lost my father and almost my mother. You're not the only person to ever lose a parent, Lucas."

"You didn't have to watch as someone tortured your father! Didn't have to stand there and watch while…" he couldn't finish, and Skye didn't want him to describe what had happened.

"No, I didn't have to watch as someone killed my parents. But I was there to watch as a disease killed them for three weeks. I sat by their bedside tables and waited everyday for them to take their last breaths." Tears were overflowing down her cheeks, but she couldn't stop. "I comforted them as they coughed and puked blood, as they tried to hold back cries of pain from the fever. I watched as my father died and knew my mother was only hours away. But, no, I guess I wouldn't know anything about what you went through."

He passed a hand over his face and all the anger seemed to pass with it. With jerky movements, he reached forward and pressed Skye into his chest, where she sobbed without restraint. Her emotions had been all over the place in the past twenty-four hours and she couldn't hold in her tears. His arms circled around her tightly and he rested his head against hers. She could feel tears drop from his face also. It was the same exact thing she had done with the Commander after her father had died; he had swept her up and they cried together as he told her everything would be alright. She had been comforted then, just as she was now, strangely enough.

They were just two kids separated from their parents; one dead and one cut off. But where Skye risked her life to be with hers, Lucas was risking his life to kill his.

The moment was short and Lucas pushed her away gently, saying he had to make a fire before it got dark. He started a pile of wood and branches in a spot that looked like it had been used before, a couple of feet away from the cave so that smoke wouldn't drift into it. Skye wiped her face of the tears and helped him. They worked in silence, neither one of them feeling the need to say anything. Skye didn't even want to think; she knew memories of those awful weeks would flood her mind, overwhelming her. She tried so hard to be strong every day, to let nothing bother her, but sometimes she just couldn't do it. Sometimes she needed someone to hug her and tell her everything would be ok, and so did Lucas.

"Are you hungry again?" Lucas asked roughly once they had the fire going.

She shook her head, "No. But I am thirsty."

Lucas handed her the canteen he had filled at the stream and she took a long drink from it. She handed it back to him and he took a quick swig. It was pretty dark and Skye wasn't sure what to do now that the fire had been built up. She sat down against the wall of the cliff and looked up at the stars.

"Why do you go into the jungle at night by yourself?" Lucas asked after a few minutes.

Skye turned her attention away from the stars to him. "Sometimes I just want to be alone."

She could practically see his brain adding the new information into the calculation that was her. She wasn't sure if it would be another unsolved variable, or something that would help reconcile the equation.

"Couldn't you find a spot in Terra Nova?" Lucas' mouth formed the name like it was a curse word.

"It wouldn't be the same," she shrugged, looking back up at the sky. "I need some place to just stop the world and think. I don't want some soldier on patrol to stumble in and start up a conversation. Why would you rather live alone in the jungle than live with the Sixers?"

She looked over to see him shrug. She didn't really need an answer, she already understood.

"I used to miss having someone around," he admitted quietly. "Someone to hunt with or just talk with. And then I remembered that people only ever disappoint."

There was accusation in his voice, directed unswervingly at her.

"Eventually, everyone disappoints you in some way," she said thoughtfully. "But that isn't their fault all the time; maybe some of those times you just have expectations of them that are too high."

She thought about how she was disappointed in Hunter for telling her that he liked her. She had just expected him to regard their relationship just as friends, not as anything romantic. It wasn't his fault that he liked her romantically, but she had always just expected more from him.

"And sometimes those people betray you over and over again," he grumbled, glaring at her.

"And sometimes people threaten people you love, and you'll do anything to stop them," she said unwaveringly. She didn't regret her decisions, not in the slightest. Did she feel bad for shooting him? Maybe. But she would do it again to protect the Commander, like she had told him.

She could tell he wanted an apology from her. Somehow, in that genius of a mind, he just didn't see how he could be in the wrong. But she would never apologize to him, so they were at an impasse.

"Well, I'm tired," she said as she stood up. It was dark and chilly now, so she might as well sleep. He watched her as she went into the cave, but didn't say anything.

She looked around in the semi-darkness of the cave for something to lie on. She supposed she could just fall asleep on the hard ground, but that would be extremely uncomfortable. Her eyes spotted a couple of pieces of material hanging on the wall of the cave. They were thin and worn, but they would better than nothing. There was a pile of what looked like moss or leaves in the back of the cave, like a makeshift bed, but she left that for Lucas. Besides, she figured there would be creatures sleeping in it already, and she didn't like to share.

She scrunched the sheet up for maximum comfort and then lay down on top of it. She remembered the leaves she had grabbed earlier and placed one on top of her, throwing another one over to the bed for Lucas. The leaf nearly covered her completely and after a few minutes, she wasn't as cold. She closed her eyes and drifted off.