Warning: Contains some fun stuff.

Contagious

XII.

I don't know how long we waited in that vent for the place to clear. On one hand, I was grateful that one of the escapees actually called the police so fast. On another hand, I wished we could have gotten out of there before they raided the place. Blaine and I didn't talk; we were too worried that someone might hear us and we didn't want to take that chance.

At least…that's the reason I gave myself. I was still reeling over the fact that I actually kissed him. And I do not say that sentence lightly. The exclamation marks are going off all around me. I tried to blame it on not only Audrey brain, but adrenaline. We just went through something crazy, still kind of in the thick of it, and it was a kneejerk reaction.

But besides all that, I was getting really hungry. I wore out a lot of energy fighting those guys and my mind was getting a little fuzzy. I thought about the brain waiting for me back at the hotel and really just wanted to get back there, stuff my face, and figure out our next game plan.

When the coast was finally clear, I had to shake Blaine from his stupor. I'm sure his leg was throbbing something horrible, and stiff from being in the same position for hours. I helped him out of the vent and out to his car. Why the police did not tow it or have someone watch over it, I wasn't sure. I told him I would drive, and thankfully he did not put up a fight.

"This really sucks," Blaine said as he limped into the hotel room with Liv's help.

"Tell me about it," she commented, letting him go only when he sat at the edge of his bed, "But at least now we know he's not working alone."

"Also," he hissed as he tried to bend his leg, "I think it was a bad decision to just let all those people go the way you did."

"What?!" Liv exclaimed, her eyes wide, "Did you expect me to just leave them there?"

He held up his hands in defense, "All I'm saying is…all those people are going to tell others about their experience. And what do their experiences have? Zombies. Word's gonna get out pret-ty quick."

"Oh, shit," she sat down dejectedly beside him, "I didn't even think about that…"

"Eh-heh…and don't you think at least a few of them are going to give descriptions of you?"

She covered her face with her hands, "This is gonna cause a panic…And I lost my phone again!"

"Just another thing to link back to you," Blaine shook his head and slowly stood up, "I need to wash this wound out. Order some pizza, would you?" He unlocked his phone and tossed it to her, "I'll pay…since you're going to be without a job soon."

She looked at him with dull eyes, but couldn't tell if he was joking or not. He limped into the bathroom and pushed the door closed, but left it open just a crack. Liv searched for the nearest pizza place and ordered a supreme. She couldn't wait to heat up Audrey's brains and toss them on top of the pizza. She almost drooled just thinking about it.

Before she could put down his phone, a text came through. The number wasn't marked by a name, but it said they were trailing him again…and to turn on the TV.

Liv did as the text said and instantly she saw all the interviews that were filmed.

"I'd been locked up for…I don't even know, what day is it?"

The interviewer told her the date.

"Oh my god, I've been in there for a good four months. They were…zombies! O-or…deranged cannibals…I don't know. This girl saved us today though…she had the same red eyes as the men, but she…she was different."

"How so?"

"Well…I mean, she saved us. She was an angel."

"Aw…" Liv smiled at the compliment, "Hey, Blaine! Did you hear that? I'm an angel!"

He didn't answer her. She muted the TV and listened for him. But all she heard was the bath water. "Blaine?" She got up and went to the bathroom door, knocking loudly, "Blaine? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine" he finally answered, though his voice sounded strained, "Just…need a few moments to myself."

She swallowed hard, caught between wanting to offer help and knowing to give him space. She backed away from the door and got Audrey's brains out of the fridge. She held the white container in her hands, knowing what a new dose could do to her.

Setting down the container on the table, she picked up one of Audrey's notebooks and flipped through some pages as more interviewees gave their account on the news.

"Blaine—

I'm sorry. You showed me your darkness and I could not accept it. Your light was so easy to love that I thought that's all you'd ever be. I let you down. I used to think you let me down. But maybe—maybe we let each other down. Maybe we had to fall apart and then find our way back to each other. I wanted to find you. But I feared your rejection. Would you turn me away? Would you look differently and I would still not know how to accept you, despite wanting to? My heart wants you so badly that it burns, but my mind cannot get past what has become of you. What kind of love is this? I never wanted to love someone like this…so much that I don't feel like myself without you. Where are you, Blaine? Why didn't you come back and make us whole again?"

Liv's eyes teared up. She felt these words…lived them even. She held onto him…his memory…for so long. How did she manage?

She flipped to a few more entries, and she was itching to write as well. She wanted to put into black and white words how that kiss made her feel. She was so conflicted inside—she knew that she should feel repulsed that she did it, Audrey brains or not. But…she couldn't find a single bit of her that was upset she did it. It was like holding her breath for years and years, and finally being able to release everything.

Liv picked up a pen and began writing.

"Blaine—

I can't seem to escape you, even in death. In fact, I think it might be even worse. I'm right in front of you, but you don't see me anymore. I watch your conflict, your pain, your darkness, but I am an emptiness that can't ease you into comfort. You look past me and don't want what I can offer. No—you can't accept it. If you only open your eyes, my heart and mind will be yours. I'm finally ready to be my whole self with you."

She jumped when there was a knock on the hotel door, the pizza delivery guy announcing himself. She paid of it and placed the pizza on the table, again knocking on the bathroom door, "Blaine, pizza's here."

"Thanks."

She waited for more, but he said nothing else. She fixed her plate in the meantime, placing some bits of brain in the microwave before putting them meticulously on her slices, so she had at least two bits per piece. Before she could start eating, the bathroom door finally opened and Blaine walked out in only a towel around his waist.

This is how smut stories begin…She heard her mind saying. She shook her head to rid the thought.

"Smells like reheated brain in here. With a side of pizza," he commented, sitting in a chair opposite her. He stared at her plate. "So…going in for more, I see?"

For the first time since she made the decision to eat more of Audrey's brains, Liv felt a real panic, "Oh…oh, god, Blaine…I didn't even ask you if you were okay if I did…?"

"You're a free woman, I can't stop you from eating whatever brains you want," he tried to make it sound like he didn't care, a wave off, but she couldn't help but sense something else. But before she could say anything, he continued, "I don't think you're going to get anything new on her case, though. We already know all about Ben, and my guys are on his trail now."

"True…" Liv agreed, staring down at her brain pizza. She swallowed hard before asking, "Would you rather I eat the other brain in the fridge…?"

He sighed and rubbed his temple, "It's just a little…difficult…knowing that you're…her."

Hearing it made her heart plummet. She was hoping she had just been misreading his signs. But now that he was opening up to her about it…

"I think I'm beginning to realize why Audrey still loved you after all these years," Liv started slowly, not sure why she was saying this, "Because to let you go…to unlove you…it feels very formidable and scary. To release these kind of feelings from my mind seems like torture. It's like my brain is fighting to hold on to you because it'll be lost otherwise."

Blaine dropped his hand in his lap and met her gaze, "Those are her words…not yours."

"Not to counter that argument, but they're our words. When I eat brains, I take on the talents, the obsessions, the feelings…this is part of me right now and—."

"Right now," He echoed, "As soon as you get off her brains, you'll go back to being Liv and feeling how Liv feels and thinking how Liv thinks. And Liv has Major waiting back at home for her. How do you think he'll feel if he knows we're playing house?"

Liv stood up quickly, feeling fury overtake her, "I'm helping you take down Ben by being here!"

"You're reminding me that I never got over Audrey!" Blaine shot back, standing up as well, but swearing instantly and sitting back down. He had momentarily forgotten about his injured leg.

She shut her mouth instantly at his words. He seemed to regret saying them. He started eating his pizza, telling her to do the same.

When she only stared at him, he said "I took a couple pain meds, it's the drugs talking."

"No, it's not," she disagreed, "It's just that…I'm starting to see how Audrey saw you and I can't—."

"You're seeing who I used to be through her. I'm still the same Blaine I've been since you and I first met. It was amusing to see you on Audrey's brain at first, but it's getting to be…"

"Getting to be…?" She urged him, sitting back down in her seat to seem less intimidating.

He chuckled, shaking his head, "Just like her—to know the answer but still push for me to say it."

Liv scoffed, "That was me talking; maybe I just want you to open up to me."

Blaine pointed at her, "See, that's definitely not you, when have you as Liv ever wanted me to open up to you?"

"I didn't know any better before."

He stared at her with a blank face for a few seconds before a smirk curved his lips (and she felt the flip in her tummy), "Why are you even arguing with me on this? I'm telling you that you should stop eating Audrey's brains so you won't have to stay in love with me, and yet you're going against all of that."

She had the same thoughts in her head and she hated that he decided to say it out loud. To show that she was done arguing, and to ignore the sane part of her mind, she took two large bites out of her brain pizza.

"Fine," he said pointedly, "if you're looking to switch subjects…I have a request."

"Go for it," she said with a mouth full of pizza.

"I want you to turn me back into a zombie."

Liv nearly choked on her pizza, her hand going over her mouth to catch any food that may come flying out. She managed a muffled, "What?"

"I'll be more useful when we're fighting them. And if we ran into two other guys with Ben today, who knows how many other guys he's working with."

She finally swallowed her pizza, "Yeah, but don't you think we got through the worst already at the warehouse? That seemed like their base. Now it's just two of them running around who knows where. And I held my own against them, do you really think it's necessary to take such a drastic action?"

"I thought about it the whole time we were in that vent. We could have gone after them if I didn't get hurt, and this would all be over by now."

Liv looked down at their food, "I don't know…"

"It's not your decision to make. You can turn me, or I'll turn another way," his tone sounded like a stubborn child's and it made her want to slap him, "I just figured it would be easiest for you to do it since you're here."

She bit her lip and picked at her pizza, "Maybe…maybe you should sleep on it first."

"If I was a zombie, I wouldn't need to sleep."

She started eating her pizza again, the zombie in her really needing to eat. She felt the zangry (zombie angry) coming on.

He watched her momentarily, "And if you were just Liv, you wouldn't have to question your feelings."

"Don't lecture me."

"Just returning the favor."

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Blaine smirked at her over his pizza, causing her to raise her shoulders in question.

"You really were a badass today," he complimented, the usual mischievous gleam in his eyes returning.

Liv dusted the crumbs on her hands over her plate, "Which reminds me: we agreed that whoever was saved by the other first was the sidekick," she mimicked his smirk and nodded slowly, "Pretty sure I'm the one that saved your ass first."

"Perhaps…but you're forgetting…" he leaned forward, causing her to do the same, "I killed for you."

Liv sat back quickly, feeling a strange mixture of resentment over Blaine feeling proud of that, and of flattery. She felt the familiar zing as a vision hit her, her lungs sucking in all the air around her.

"Why are you even dating my son?"

Audrey shook her head, blinking multiple times, seemingly in confusion, "I don't know what you—."

"He's garbage. A worthless piece of shit that's going nowhere in life. You stay with him, he'll be skidding you along the pavement with him," there was a disgust in his eyes that should never belong when a parent is talking about their child.

"You're wrong! Blaine is smart and just because he doesn't want to be like you…"

"You'll be sorry."

Liv released her breath, a heavy ache in her heart causing her to clutch at her chest.

"See anything useful?" Blaine asked, eating his pizza as though everything was normal.

She didn't know how to respond. She didn't want to tell him what she just witnessed between Audrey and his father—she knew the bare minimum when it came to how close Blaine and his father were, and she didn't want to ruin his mood again.

Her desire to hold him and never let go caused her to get up from her seat suddenly and rush to the bathroom, closing the door and clicking the lock. She stared into her own concerned eyes in the mirror, and she hardly recognized herself. She gripped the sides of the sink when she felt another vision hitting her already.

Audrey was staring at herself in a bathroom mirror, questioning, tilting her head from side to side as if just now seeing the world through her own colorblind eyes.

"This is real."

Blaine walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. His teal eyes shone more brightly than anything around them. He kissed his way up her neck until his lips reached her ear.

"I love you."

Liv exhaled sharply, goose bumps appearing all over her skin. She ran a shaky hand through her hair, never having experienced a vision quite like that before; where she was looking into the eyes of the person she was impersonating—where that person seemed to feel like someone else and was trying to convince themselves that they were not…well, possessed, for lack of better word.

And Liv felt like Audrey wasn't just in her head; she was in her heart and body, and Blaine was right outside the door, and all the love she felt for him was raging inside her. She felt that if she didn't release this feeling, it would start to bubble into a bitter darkness that would consume her heart. Being so close to the one she was in love with and not doing anything about it was driving her toward insanity.

She quickly opened the door. Blaine was standing at the edge of his bed gazing down at the wrapped wound on his leg, still in that damn towel. He looked up when she walked three long strides towards him; she placed both hands on his face, their eyes only searching curiously for one second before she pulled him down to her and kissed him.

It was completely different than the kiss from earlier. This one was strong and desperate, and even when his fingers wrapped around her wrists to push her back slightly, she felt his desire radiating from him.

"Liv…"

She shook her head to stop him, "I want to make up for all the time we lost." She kissed him again and pressed against him just enough to sit him on the bed, where she then straddled his lap, "I want to show you what you mean to me." She pushed him onto his back and slipped her shirt over her head.

He tried to say her name again, but it was swallowed in her mouth. The taste of him filled her senses and for the first time in so, so long, she felt a sense of relief. His hands were on her shoulders as he pushed her away again. Liv opened her love-fogged eyes, and swore she saw the teal in his own light up the room.

Before he could say anything, she ran her knuckles down the side of his face, and her heart felt like it would absolutely burst when he leaned in to her.

"It's me," she said simply.

They stared at each other for who knew how long, and she wanted to ask him what he was thinking, but he was kissing her before she could, and she welcomed the taste of his tongue against hers and the feel of his fingers on her bare back.

Before she knew it, her jeans were sliding off her legs and his fingertips were digging into thighs, then slipping to her backside to push her closer to him. They moaned in unison when she grinded against him. She became short of breath when he gazed at her bare chest, and felt full of breath and life when he slid inside of her body, the electricity crackling between their eyes, a force that kept contact the whole time, and she was sure she never felt such a complete connection to anyone else in her whole life.

Her heart glided when she watched the release on his face, and her brain was a mixture of bursts of flashbacks just like this and what she was currently experiencing, and the rush flew down to her chest and abdomen until she felt that pulsing sensation that she had been craving.

And then they were breathing heavily on their backs beside one another. Liv closed her eyes, the burning in the retinas causing a drowsy-high sensation—she was sure she didn't blink once the whole time.

She never wanted to come down from this feeling.

"Hey, Liv? I just wanted to say…"

She smiled.

"Thanks for turning me into a zombie."

Her eyes snapped open. F-. She had been so caught up in the memories and feelings and moments that she had completely forgotten about…well, everything that she should definitely have not forgotten about.

She looked over to him with wide eyes, but he still looked very satisfied with that smirk of his.

"Guess we both got what we wanted."