DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN WAR OF THE WORLDS.

I woke up to the bright morning light shining on my face. Glancing at my surroundings, I found my head on Robbie's chest and his arms around me. I wasn't sure when she came but Rachel had her head laying in his lap. I smiled softly at the sight. They both looked so innocent.

Tilting my head up to look at Robbie, I brought my hand up and gently brushed it through his hair. He stirred slightly before slowly open his eyes. His mouth lifted at the corners as he looked at me. He reached his hand out and lightly trailed his fingertips against my cheek. I felt a light blush appear on my cheek, looked away and looked back at him.

"Sorry, I woke you up." I murmured.
"It's fine." His voice was much deeper in the morning and I found myself wanting to hear him speak more.
"I-"

A tripod blasting in the distance cut me off. We stiffened and looked around.

"Where's Ray?" Rachel had woken up and it was only just then that we noticed his missing presence.
"Probably left us." Robbie admitted with bitterness coating his voice. A mask of severe dislike hung on his face. This wasn't the Robbie I knew.
"No. He wouldn't do that." I tried to convince him.
He moved his gaze to me, his face softening, before responding "You don't know him, Melody."
"But from what I do know," I said, "He brought you here, instead of abandoning you and saving himself. He's stayed with you the entire trip. He's put himself in danger to keep you safe. And... he loves you." My voice dropped down to a whisper as I tried to persuade him.

Robbie didn't reply, merely scanned me curiously. I felt as though he could see right through my soul with his piercing grey eyes. We were so busy focusing on each other that we didn't realize Ray was back and speaking to Rachel who had stood up. "I told you."

"Eyes only on me okay?" She nodded. "Don't look down, don't look around me. I'm taking you to the car, you're going to want to look but you're not going to. Are you?" Ray spoke.
"No." she shook her head.

My stomach started to feel queasy. What had happened while we were down here? I glanced at Robbie to see he was watching Rachel. My mind started to drift a little and I forced myself to come back to the present. Not now.

Ray lead the way out of the chamber and I gasped when I saw the demolished basement. Had we remained upstairs we would have died. Once we got outside I started trembling again, shaking so hard my vision blurred. My breathing increased. I was beginning to lose it again when a warm, gentle arm wrapped around my waist, guiding me. Instantly, everything became clearer. I buried my head against Robbie's chest, not wanting to see it anymore, not wanting to view the images of utter destruction. "It's okay." He comforted. It was a lie. Nothing was okay.

Clutching at his shirt, he escorted me to the door of car where I remained standing, waiting. Robbie walked off into the mass of ruined houses and I kept my eyes on him, trying my best not to focus on the landscape of surroundings. He placed his hands on his head in despair. His friends must have lived in these houses. Neighbors. Acquaintances.

My heart panged. I could feel his distress. "Is this normal?" I tried hard not to cry for him, for the pain he was feeling. How would we ever recover?

"Melody, get in the car." Ray called. I looked at him , nodded and got in. He reversed the car and turned it around. "Robbie, get in. Robbie, get in!" He yelled when Robbie didn't respond. Robbie turned around, his face cold. "Get in."

I involuntarily shivered at his expression. He got in and sat down, not speaking. I wanted to help him but sitting in the back of the car, I couldn't do much. So I leaned forward slowly and whispered in his ear "Come sit with me. Please?" He stiffened slightly and nodded. Climbing out of his seat he managed to make it through the small gap between the front seats and planted himself next to me. He then positioned himself laying down, his head in my lap. A small smile creeped onto my face. I ran my hand through his hair.

Without knowing why, without knowing where I got the courage to do it, I started to hum. I could only get the tune, I couldn't remember the words. Nor could I remember where it was from. The whole car grew silent as they listened to my humming. When I came to the end of the tune, I restarted from the beginning but this time Rachel joined in with the lyrics. I began to recognize it now, a faint, distant memory in my head. "A gentle breeze from Hushabye Mountain, softly blows o'er lullaby bay," she sang.

I felt Robbie's eyes on me and I looked down at him as I started to sing too: "It fills the sails of the boats that are waiting - waiting to sail your worries away." Robbie took my hand that was still brushing through his hair. He pressed a kiss to my palm, then interlocked our fingers and placed it above his heart. My affection for him grew.

My other hand made its way to his cheekbone and my fingers lightly traced the outline. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth "It isn't far to Hushabye Mountain and your boats wait down by the quay." he joined. "The winds of night so softly are sighing-"
"Soon they will fly your troubles to sea." I finished. "So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain."
"Wave goodbye to cares of the day," Robbie went on.
"And watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain," Rachel continued.
"Sail far away from lullaby bay." the three of us finished.

Silence encased us all. I was too busy smiling down at Robbie who in return was doing the same at me. The crinkles by his eyes, the way his cheeks raised up, his slight dimples, his beautiful teeth. I found myself wishing he would never cease to smile.

"I would clap but I'm little preoccupied trying to drive." Ray broke the silence. We all let out a laugh and tried to enjoy the moment as we most likely wouldn't get more of these opportunity's in future.

Robbie raised his head from my lap and looked out the window. "Why the hell are we on the turnpike?" he asked, turning to Ray.
"I don't want everybody to see we've got a working car." He went on to describe the route we would take to get to Mary-Ann's parents' houses.
"Where is everybody?" questioned Rachel.
"I dunno. Running, hiding, hiding in their basements."
"If we had any balls, we'd go back, find one of those and kill it." Robbie's voice became spiteful. I started to worry about the meaning behind his words. He wanted to fight. Queasiness in my stomach returned. I squeezed his hand to calm him down but he payed no heed.
"Thank you, but maybe you should let me handle the big decisions."
"When will that be, Ray? Never? Never's about your speed."
I was about to warn Robbie to stop but Ray exploded: "OK, enough of the 'Ray' shit! It's 'Dad,' or 'Sir!' Or if you want, 'Mr. Ferrier.'... That sounds a little weird to me but you decide."

Robbie shut up after that and placed his head back down.

"Dad?" Rachel asked, emphasizing the word 'Dad'.
"Yes, Rachel?"
She sighed before answering, "I've got to go to the bathroom."
Ray glanced at her in disbelief. "Really?"

...

We pulled up in abandoned farmland where no civilization met the eye.

Everybody immediately scrambled for the door but Ray had locked us in "Let us go!" said Robbie.
"Alright, alright, there's two things you gotta watch out for and the second is people who might want our car."
"There's nobody around!" he argued.
"Yeah," agreed Rachel, "I gotta go."

Robbie ran out and turned back waiting for me. "You go on," I said, "I'll be waiting by the car."He shrugged and ran on.

In the distance I could hear Rachel and Ray arguing about where she should go. Sighing, I leaned my back against against the car and surveyed my surroundings. A few minutes later a rumbling noise echoed along a dirt track. Walking over, I identified army tanks going in the same direction we had just left.

My heart skipped a beat when I noticed Robbie shouting and waving his arms for attention from the passers-by. "Robbie!" I called. He payed no heed.

"Stop! Don't move! Wait, stop! Let me on! Let me on, give me a hand!" The soldiers merely stared at him as went on. "Wait! Stop, stop!"
"Hey, watch it, kid, you're gonna get yourself run over!" yelled one of the soldiers.

Deciding this was enough I ran over to Robbie and grabbed his arm. "Robbie. Robbie, come on!" He glanced at me before looking back at the tanks.
"You have room! You have room! Let me on!" He continued to scream out more words of persuasion.
My heart started to hurt. Why was he doing this? He couldn't leave me, he said he wouldn't.
"Robbie. Please. Robbie, don't go." A few tears escaped my eyes. I didn't like the pain in my chest, the pain in my stomach. "You said you wouldn't leave me." I whispered, my voice breaking. He looked at me and was about to say something when Ray came sprinting towards us.

"Robbie, you want to go in that direction? There is nothing living in that direction!" he bellowed.
"What do you care? You never gave a shit before! You never gave a shit!" Robbie screamed in response.
"Okay, hard-ass. You're in charge now? So what's your plan?"
"We catch up with these soldiers, and we head back there, and we get back at them! We get back at them!" He pointed at the direction of the tanks. He ran a hand through his hair, exasperated.
"Okay, now come up with a plan that doesn't involve your 10-year-old sister joining the Army! You got anything like that?"
"Why don't you tell the truth? You don't know where to go! You only chose Boston because you hope Mom is there; You hope she is there, and then you can dump us on her! Then you will only have to care about yourself, which is exactly the way you like it! " The cold Robbie had returned, and I didn't like it, I didn't like this side of him.

I sank to my knees on the ground and let out a sob. I needed Robbie to remain sane for ME to remain sane. If Robbie went mad so would I. My hands flew to my scalp and I pulled at my hair, my head facing my lap. I could feel my clothes sticking to my skin, soaked from the water spraying from the tank wheels.

'After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White Rabbit to himself as he came, "Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess! Oh! won't she be savage if I've kept her waiting!"'

Distantly, I could Rachel screeching at Robbie but I was too lost in my mind to care.

'Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, " If you please, sir ―" The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, and scurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go.'

"I'm sorry, Melody. I'm really sorry." His voice brought me back into reality. My head turned up to see him leaning in front of me. His face was covered in guilt and worry for me. He reached out for both my hands which, somehow, were sitting on my lap. 'Weren't they in my hair?' I asked myself. He stood up and pulled me up also. I continued to stare at him, feeling betrayed, hurt and lost. A lone tear fell down my cheek.

Letting go of one of my hands, he reached out and brushed the tear away with his thumb, leaving his hand on my cheek.

"You didn't leave." I stated.
"No." he shook his head.
I stared at him a moment longer, searching for something - I don't know what. "Good." I replied and pulled him into a hug. Waves of electricity hummed through my body. It happened so quickly, he stiffened at first before relaxing. Our bodies molded together perfectly like two puzzle pieces. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his went around my waist. Burying my face in his chest, I went on to tell him, "You scared me."
"I know. I'm sorry." He said and he genuinely did sound bad, "I won't do it again." We both knew that was a lie but didn't say it.

We stayed in that position a little while longer when Ray beeped the horn of the car. I had totally forgotten about them. I looked over to see Ray and Rachel staring at us and a blush painted my cheeks. They had seen everything. Even if it wasn't very intimate it was still special to me.

"Come on." said Robbie and towed me towards the car.