I woke up in the same position as the night before; I was lying on top of Newt, his arm was tightly wrapped around me, and one of his hands was in my hair. Daylight shined into the room, making me think it was already late.

'Newt!' I whisper-yelled. 'I need to run.'

He let out a few grunts and opened his eyes.

'I need to run.' I repeated.

At first, he frowned and blinked a few times, but eventually, he responded. 'No, you don't. We have a day off, remember love?'

'Oh, yeah.' I relaxed my body again.

'Do you want breakfast? It's already late. We slept in.' Newt said.

'Sure.' I replied. Newt removed his arm from my waist and I got off him. Quickly I put on some clothes and Newt put on the pants he wore the other day.

'Let's go.' Once we got dressed Newt grabbed my hand and lead me toward the kitchen.

'Morning, Fry.' Newt greeted.

'Hey, you guys. Slept in I see?' Frypan chuckled as he put food on our plates. I noticed we didn't have much food left. Was it because the Box didn't come back up?

'Thank you, Frypan.' I smiled when he handed us our food. I and Newt sat down at a table and started eating.

'Who's leading the Glade now? Alby doesn't talk yet.' I wondered.

'Logan told us not to worry about it.' Newt replied.

'What's this between you and him, huh?' I asked when I felt Newt tense up, again.

'Nothing.' Newt muttered.

I raised my eyebrows.

'I don't like how he protects you.' Newt explained. 'Not that I don't want you to be protected! No.' He quickly added. 'But just the way he does it. So... stern.' Newt tried to find the right words. 'He just grabs your wrist even when you said you don't want to show it. Are you even okay with that?'

'I'd rather not have him do that, yes. But he can't do much about it.' I sighed.

'What do you mean?'

I hesitated about telling Newt about Logan's anger. 'He gets angry fast and can't really control it.' I finally answered. 'If you might've noticed.'

'I think I did.' Newt responded.

In silence, we continued eating our food. It wasn't uncomfortable, it was nice actually.

'I haven't had a day off since... I don't even know.' Newt sighed and let out a chuckle.

'Why didn't you?' I wondered. 'You could've asked, right?'

'I'm the second-in-command and can't just take a day off. Even if I had to, I still wouldn't do it. I'm afraid things will get out of hand.'

'I'm glad you have a day off now.' I smiled lightly. 'To be honest, you seemed a little stressed.'

'Well, I am stressed. We have a lack of food so people are getting moody. I don't even know if there's a way out of the maze. You get me worried every time you go into the maze. Alby's not talking or doing anything. People are getting into fights. Gally's acting like a jerk and he takes others with him. Everything gets me bloody stressed.'

I was shocked by Newt's words. How didn't I notice all the things he was struggling with?

'But right now I'm fine. We have a day off so we should just relax instead of worrying about the Gladers.' Newt decided. When he saw I finished my food he got up and grabbed my hand. Without saying anything he lead me to the wooden tower and we started climbing. Once we were on top of it, we sat down.

The view was, just as always, beautiful. I could see everyone doing their job, the animals walking around in the Glade, and the ivy on the walls.

'What would you do once we get out of here?' I asked. The question just popped up in my mind.

'Look for my family.' Newt replied. A dark, odd feeling washed over me. He didn't know anything about his family. He didn't know they were dead. I felt guilty for not telling him. 'I must have them. Maybe even a sibling.'

I felt even worse but then realized his sister was alive. She had to. She was somewhere else. And I was going to tell Newt... someday. I would see when.

'And I would buy a house with you and then we go live there.' Newt said. 'With a dog.' He added. 'Minho, Thomas, Alby, and Chuck can live next to us. And Logan... Logan can sleep in the doghouse.'

'What?' I laughed. 'Logan sleeps in the doghouse?'

'Yes.' Newt decided.

'Would you really buy a house with me?' I asked, genuinely fluttered.

'Yes, I would. A real big one.' Newt smiled. 'What would you do?'

'I like your ideas.' I said. 'Except for the Logan part.' I added. 'I'd like to have a pet too.'

'Which one?'

'Hmm..' I paused. 'I'd like a newt.'

'Hey!' Newt smiled. 'You already have one.'

I chuckled. 'I guess I would try to find either my or Chuck's parents.' I told Newt.

'Would you live in a house with me?' Newt questioned.

'Yes, of course. I'd love that actually. Just like you said, a real big house. With a pool and big showers, a beautiful kitchen, and multiple bedrooms.'

'Multiple bedrooms?' Newt repeated. 'Why's that?'

'If anyone ever sleeps over.' I replied. Newt muttered something under his breath, which I couldn't understand. 'What did you say?'

'Nothing.' Newt quickly responded.

'Come on.' I looked at him.

Newt hesitated. 'I thought you meant something else with multiple bedrooms.' He lowered his voice.

'What'd you think?' I wondered.

'I don't know...' Newt paused. 'I thought you meant kids or something.' He mumbled quietly.

Newt's comment surprised me. 'Would you get kids?' I asked.

'Not right now.' Newt sighed. 'Maybe in a few years, but I don't know. It's not really something I think about every day.' He let out a small chuckle but seemed to be serious about the subject.

I smiled. 'I agree with you.'

'You do?' Newt looked up.

'Yes.' I moved closer to Newt and looked him in the eyes.

'Nora,' Newt started. 'Do you promise we'll stay together after we escaped?'

'I promise.' I smiled, not realizing what affect my promise would have in a few months...

Newt smiled too and we both stayed silent for a bit.

'Can I see your wrist?' Newt suddenly asked after a few seconds of silence.

Again, he surprised me. The way he said wasn't like he wanted to see if I did it again. 'Sure.' I mumbled and held out my arm. Just as always, I looked down. I felt Newt unwrapping the bandage and eventually, the cold air touched my wrist.

'They're looking better.' Newt commented. 'Do you want to see them?'

'No.'

'Why not?' The tone in Newt's voice was soft and worried.

'I don't want to see what I did to myself.' My voice cracked. 'But fine. I'll do it.' Slowly I moved my head up and looked at my wrist. Newt was right, the cuts looked better. They were still very visible and deeply carved into my skin, but they looked less awful.

'See?' Newt gently wrapped the bandage around them again. 'You know how proud I am of you, right?'

'I guess I do.' I smiled.

'Have you been wanting to cut lately?' Newt asked.

'Not in the last two days.' I replied.

'How did you manage to not do it when I didn't sleep next to you?'

'I slept with Chuck and Thomas.' I replied.

'What?' Newt's eyes opened wide. 'You slept with your cousin?! And Thomas?!'

'What? No! No, no, no. That's not what I meant.' I quickly said. 'I slept next to Chuck. Thomas wasn't next to me, he was next to Chuck on his other side.'

'He better. I'd bloody kill that shank if he did.' Newt grumbled.

I smiled at Newt's protectiveness. 'I would never sleep with Thomas.' I laughed.

'Good.' Newt smiled lightly.

~

Credits to these amazing people:

u4marie

Ariella12478

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