Concealed

/kənˈsēld/

adjective

keep secret; hidden

"Luke!" I yelled after him, slipping through the crowd of people going all directions of the blue buses that were set to take the boys to the towers.

He kept ignoring me, walking straight through the people and not looking back at me once.

"Lucas!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I lunged towards his hand, successfully grabbing a hold of it. "Look at me!" The crowd kept roaring, but I was only concentrated on one thing, getting Luke turned around to look at me.

The muscles in his back tensed when he realized my hand was holding his. He slowly turned around to me on his heel. I didn't get a chance to take in his appearance before he was dragging me to the supply closet in the hanger. When we reached the inside, he turned the light on as he closed the door to trap us in our own little bubble. The first thing I noticed when I caught a glimpse at his face were the tears streaming freely down his face and dripping down to his shirt.

"Baby," I whispered sympathetically, pulling him in toward me.

He never showed weakness unless he was crumbling, which was only on a handful of occasions. This was scaring him to death, as it was me.

"I can't promise I'll be back from this one," he said gently, his voice threatening to crack as he couldn't even look into my eyes. "I know I said I was the best but I'm not and last time I got shot and-" His voice stopped mid-sentence, not wanting to continue and show more weakness.

I choked back my sob and nodded at his statement, knowing that the plan was to originally only go in three times and this was the fourth time our teams were going into the buildings. My eyes blinked and held acceptance, signaling he can go on with what he was saying.

"I want you to promise me something," he began, bringing me closer to him and my hands to his lips, placing gentle kisses on my knuckles. "I want you to promise me that you will move on."

I took a step back in shock, shaking my head at him. He couldn't expect me to do that. The thought of living without him tore me apart, let alone living with another man.

How could he expect me to move on from him? He knew that he was the only person I had ever loved and here he was telling me that he wanted me to move on if he didn't return. My stomach turned at the thought of another man seeing me in the vulnerable state that Luke saw me in only the few nights before, or another man touching me as he had.

My heart caved in at the thought of him never returning to me, the thought never crossing my mind before due to all the reassurance I had from Calum and Michael that they had been specially trained. His words worried me to a new extent than anything ever before had.

"I can't promise you that," I whispered to him, tears slipping down my cheeks.

"I need you to baby," he mumbled, pulling me into a hug and placing kisses in my hair. "I need to know that you won't end up like I did when Cynthia died. I need to know you will be okay."

He had never done this before, despite the other raid's risks, he had never wanted me to promise him this. My brain protested in all ways as I looked up at him, not bothering to stop the tears from falling down the sides of my cheeks.

"I need to know you'll be okay if I'm gone," he repeated the reason behind his request, tears still sweeping down his cheek.

I was silent for a few seconds before pulling away from his grasp with his arms still embracing me in a hug.

"I can't promise you that," I told him again. "If you did die," I choked on my words before continuing, "I would never be okay. And I couldn't live with myself if I saw another man after you. I would never love him, and I would always imagine him to be you." I admitted.

His lips collided with mine in a passionate kiss. My hands came up to cup his face and pull him as close as possible. This was not our last kiss, I had to remind myself. But despite that fact, fire exploded in my stomach, and it felt like I was going to die and come back to life with happiness.

His hands lowered, around my thighs and lifted me up to close the gap between us. Our lips detached and foreheads stayed against each other, breathing heavily from the breath that the kiss had taken away from us.

"This is just like the movies," I commented softly, slightly laughing at the irony.

"What?" Luke asked me incredulously, pulling his head slightly away from mine.

"We are kissing in the janitor's closet," I explained, giggling under my breath. My mind needed a distraction from the thought of never holding him against myself again. I needed something to remind me that all those months of us not admitting our feelings weren't wasted because we would have our whole lives together.

"You're one of a kind Melissa Jennings," he said under his breath, pulling me in for one last hug.

"And don't you forget that Luke Hemmings." I stifled a sob that was threatening to release from my throat as we pulled away.

"C'mon," he said, pulling my hand towards the exit and opening the door.

We were in the middle of all the commotion as we began taking fast steps toward Luke's assigned bus. You know those movies where it shows a wife or girlfriend standing there holding the man's hand as long as they could before the distance separated the two of them. That was how Luke and I were. His long digits were intertwined with mine, and he held on tightly, making me think I would lose my fingers, until he had to let go.

The saddest part though was when he turned back before being forced into the small, compacted space to wave. I had never been one for sappy love stories, but that small gesture was enough to make my insides explode with butterflies.

Before I knew it, my feet were taking me away from the barricaded off area, and leading me to Ashton's bus. The security was less strict over here since all the tech team's equipment had to be loaded. I crouched down behind a wheeling table holding computers as it went onto the bus, and, thankfully, no one noticed me.

When I got in, I made no sound as I found a seat up front next to where Ashton would be. No one ever checked the front seats because they never thought anyone would go through such great lengths to go on a raid. And even if the person did, that just proved why they should have been chosen to go. If they could get through all the security up front, there would be no reason for them not to be able to go on a raid.

I sat back in the cloth chair as I heard the rolling of carts cease and human voices filled the silence's void. Quiet 'love you's and 'miss you's were exchanged before the crew entered in with nothing but the bare minimum supplies held in black backpacks.

The driver's door opened, revealing a very freaked out Ashton. He shook his head, closing his eyes as if I wasn't there. But when he opened his eyes again and saw I was there still, his eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice incredibly low. I knew he would be mad that I snuck into his van, but I never imagined him to be this livid. His face was the color of a tomato due to the anger boiling inside of him.

"I wanted to go on the raid," I stated simply, smiling at him in hopes he wouldn't get as mad at me; however, it didn't work.

His usually calm demeanor diminished in a few seconds as I said that. One of his hands passed through his curly locks in part annoyance and in part disquietude. His bottom lip had been bitten by his teeth, trying to hold back his anger and keep from yelling at me. The look covering his face was one I had become accustomed to since he would always be like this when Riley would misbehave or do something dangerous.

"Luke is going to kill me," he grumbled under his breath while turning on the van and putting it in gear to leave.

"You're letting me go?" I asked in astonishment.

"What else am I supposed to do? Knowing you, you'll hitchhike your way to the headquarters just to prove your point to Luke," he said, speeding out of the hangar and heading towards the tree line.

He was right in saying that. I would probably do that out of pure stubbornness, but I had never expected anyone to willingly allow me to go on a raid I wasn't supposed to be on; especially Ashton.

His hand kept running through his hair as he thought of plans to keep me safe most likely. Sighs emitted from his mouth every few minutes as he grew frustrated with our predicament.

"Why couldn't you stay behind like Luke asked of you?" he asked, his voice full of aggravation. "What could you be missing here anyway?"

"He can't control me," I stated simply; crossing my arms and looking over at him as I silently challenged him to go against what I had just said.

Silence filled the driver compartment that was separated from the back by a sliding window. Another sigh came from his mouth as his hand moved toward the walkie talkie embedded into the radio of the van.

"Luke?" he asked, pressing the button as he talked and releasing it soon after he speaks. "Luke, this is important," he said, repeating his action with the walkie talkie while speeding through the camera filled woods I had only seen a few times since I came here for the first time.

"What's up Ashton?" Luke's voice filled the line. Fear erupted in my stomach as I realized what Ashton is telling him and how badly Luke will freak.

I looked over at him, silently pleading for him to keep quiet as to my whereabouts. His head moved side to side, causing my stomach to fall and palms to sweat, awaiting Luke's reaction.

"I have your girlfriend beside me right now. I couldn't make her stay back at the colony. What are your orders?" he asked in a slightly bland tone.

"Sorry Ashton, I think I misheard you. Did you just say that my girlfriend is on this raid?" Luke's voice boomed over the speaker.

I silently prayed that he wouldn't kill me when this raid was over as I kept my eyes on my lap, not even bothering to make eye contact with Ashton. Another sigh came from Ashton as he held down the button to speak.

"You heard correctly, Luke. Melissa's next to me," he repeated. I tensed at Luke's following words that came out as a yell before he calmed down.

"Put her on," he growled, finally somewhat under control.

My shaky hands took the walkie talkie from Ashton's hand. "Hello?" I squeaked out, still scared of Luke's reaction.

"I'll ask this once, why are you in that bus?" he spat. Based on the sound of his voice, I could tell that I would be scared if I saw him right now. I could only imagine how red his face was from the vexation running through his bloodstream, not to mention his vein that was probably popping of his neck as he yelled into the walkie talkie. The thought made me feel bad for the person next to him.

"I wanted to come on the raid," I explained, blushing sheepishly despite the fact he couldn't see me right then. I felt like a child getting reprimanded back at the lab, except now the stakes were much higher. They were life and death.

"When we get back, I am going to be so mad at you," he said in a tone much lower than his usual voice, increasing my anxiety to about double as much as before I had gotten in the van.

The van came to a halt about a block from the towers. My heart rate accelerated, knowing I was one way or another going into that building.

"I know we are both getting back to the colony, but we promised," I said almost inaudibly over the line. It took a few seconds, but when what I said clicked, Luke began to flip out.

"Melissa, don't you dare-" he began.

We were pulling up to the towers and Ashton was putting the van into park before I could process what was going on.

"I love you Lucas. Stay safe," I rushed out quickly before throwing the walkie talkie over my shoulder as I exited the vehicle and rushed up to the tech crew, leaving a screaming Ashton and Luke in the van.

When I finally caught up to them, they were about to open the door. I pushed through the crowd to reach the leader of them, forcing some of the younger, scared boys out of my way.

"Hey," I started when I gained his attention. The Mexican boy looked down at me with a confused expression taking over his face. "I'm Melissa Jennings."

"Luke's girl?" he asked, recognition and relief flooding over his face as he realized I was a Raider.

"Yea," I slightly blushed at everyone knowing me as his. Not that I was ashamed, it was just something I wasn't quite used to yet. "Anyway, you're going to need every man possible backing up those computers in their lab. So, how about I go into the security center alone? You take everything, and contact when everyone is out so I get out last," I explained to him.

His face lit up as if he had been needing an answer to that question.

"Yes!" he responded immediately. "I've been needing to find a way to handle the security."

I nodded my head, a feeling of excitement filling me as it occurred to me the raid was starting. "Can you contact the other leaders? Tell them they need to inform me when their quadrants are out?" I asked him.

"Absolutely," he said, his accent slightly coming out as he spoke as quickly as possible.

As soon as our conversation was over, the door was open and people were filing in, making their way to the computer lab to collect all the intelligence they could as I ran for the security center to stop the alarms from warning the people and guards in the building.

Edited: 14 January 2017