ELLA'S POV
The pungent scent of sweat hits me first.
As the voices fade in and the rocking brings me to consciousness I come to one terrifying conclusion: this isn't my cell.
My eyes shoot open allowing the hazy room to come into focus just as monitors around the circular space turn on. The image is jumpy but the voice that accompanies it is nothing short of recognizable.
"Prisoners of the ark, here me now." Jaha's voice bounces off the metal walls, loud enough to be heard over the number of obscenities thrown in his holographic direction.
Out of nervous habit I spin the ring on my finger before clutching my hand into a fist, viciously clinging to what remains of my life. Finn was right, something big is happening.
They're sending us to the ground.
"Good you're awake." Finn's voice breaks my focus, causing my head to snap in his direction. The worry starts to subside from his features, eyes soften, jaw loosens, muscles relax. "I was starting to worry."
"Where's Luca." I ask, surprised at how rasp my voice sounds.
"I haven't seen him." He realizes, craning his neck to look behind us. "There is another level of this thing though, he might be down there."
"Finn." I start to panic.
"Hold on, I have an idea." He says slightly too enthusiastic for the situation. Before I know it he's unclasping the straps of his seat and his body lifts due to the lack of gravity.
"Finn!" I scold but it's too late, he's gone, and while part of his motives were pure, the two boys who follow don't share them.
I drown out the cheers, Jaha and arguing coming from a voice that's so familiar but I can't place. Instead, I clutch the straps on my own seat and close my eyes.
Deep breaths. Deep breaths.
Something jolts the drop ship and even behind my tightly closed eyelids I notice the lights black out and brighter emergency lights kick on. I can't tell if it's the cabin shaking or just me but I hold onto the straps like a life line.
Parachutes snap causing my head to bang against the seat behind me and a moment later everything goes quiet. And I mean everything. At first I'm listening to my surroundings to ground me but it quickly becomes fear driven when I realize there's nothing. No machine hum, no mechanical whine. Nothing.
The buckles release throughout the room and everyone begins jumping up. I finally open my eyes to the commotion around me, then stand on shaky legs. The group of teenagers shuffles toward the ladder, just like back on the ark, only there's something different in the air. Excitement.
I follow and accept the hand of a boy who helps me climb onto the ladder to the first floor of the ship. When I make it to the bottom my eyes scan every face surrounding me as I weave through the crowd. I almost yell when a hand circles my wrist and tugs but when I turn I find a friendly face.
"Johnny, thank god." I sigh pulling him in for a hug, feeling his body shake with laughter.
"Who'd you think it was?"
"Hey!" Finn's voice rings through the crowd and I detach from my best friend just long enough to be enveloped in a new embrace.
"Can't - breathe - Finn." I choke out in his bone crushing strength. He let's go and drags a shorter companion from behind him. "Luca!" I nearly break down in tears as I drop to his level and pull him close. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He sniffs. Pulling back I notice the tears on his cheeks and quickly wipe them away. Weakness. He nods to me understanding. Not around these people.
Placing a kiss to his forehead I stand back up and grab his shoulders, moving him in front of me and keeping a firm grip.
It's now I realize we're all standing in the front of the crowd, looking at the large door that leads to what remains of earth.
"Just back it up guys." His deep voice booms over the swarm. A voice I recognize so well. He raises his hands to stall the approaching herd. When his eyes meet mine we both still. Those eyes.
"Stop!" Clarke calls, now I can finally place her voice. She's been in solitary so long I almost forgot how annoying her nagging was. "The air could be toxic." She pleads pushing her way to the front of the group. Luca's small hands that rest on my own tighten from fear.
"If the airs toxic we're all dead anyway." He dismisses before turning to look for a lever to open the door.
"Bellamy?" Octavia asks earning every eye in the room. Except mine of course, I'd know my cell mate's voice anywhere.
"God, look how big you are." He says, a smile on his face. She hugs him tightly but as soon as she pulls back there's hint of disgust on her features.
"A guards uniform?" She spits pulling at the suit he wears.
"I borrowed it to get on the drop ship." He explains. "Someone's got to keep an eye on you."
"Where's your wrist band?" Clarke interrupts earning a glare from the younger Blake.
"Do you mind?" She snaps stepping towards her. "I haven't seen my brother in a year."
"No one has a brother." Someone calls from behind me causing Finn and I to share a look. No one knows except Murphy and Luca. Would it make a difference? We don't look the same.
"What are the chances?" Murphy asks leaning between Finn and I.
"We could be dead already." I say optimistically. They both nod their heads as Luca clings to my arm.
When Bellamy pulls the lever down the door in front of us falls and smoke from the landing gusts by. But when it clears - it's beautiful.
Trees line my vision. Real trees. Trees and sunlight. I'm nearly blinded, I don't think I've ever seen something so bright before.
Octavia Blake is the first to ease down the ramp, a huge smile on her face. She takes a deep breath and while I'm almost expecting some giant bird to snatch her up like in old movies i've seen, I feel happy for her. The second her feet hit the ground she throws her arms up and starts yelling. Everyone follows, including Murphy who flashes me a smirk before he goes.
Finn is grinning beside me and I glance to him, nodding towards the opening in the drop ship. He kisses my cheek before he takes off running down the ramp.
"Elle?" Luca's voice is small and unsure. I look down at him and smile.
"You want to see it up close?" I ask gently; he hesitates before nodding. "Okay." I say before moving next to him and taking his hand in mine. Bellamy still stands next to the door, eyes moving from Luca and I to the delinquents running wild on the supposed radioactive soil.
As much as I want to stop and ask him a million questions Luca begins pulling me down the ramp. His excitement gaining wind the closer he walks to the earth. When my feet hit the plush ground I stop short. The air is clean and it moves, stirs around me.
"Elle." Luca says drawing me from my daze. "Can I go find Finn?"
I glance behind me to see Bellamy still standing alone before looking at the boy in front of me. "Go ahead." I encourage, watching him run off in the direction of my brother.
"Yours?" Bellamy's deep voice startles me, attempting a joke, but my eyes don't leave Luca's retreating figure.
"Might as well be." I answer him, trying to ignore how he's standing so close and how I can feel the heat of his body radiating towards my own. "His dad was never around until he got locked up. Mom died during childbirth."
"What was he in for?" He asks meeting my gaze.
"Stealing food." I say, aware of how cold my tone becomes. "Dad was never around." He nods. "Why did you bring me here?"
Hesitating, he looks over my face softly. "Shumway wanted you dead."
My legs go slack. Me, dead. Shumway wanted me dead. "Why."
"To get to your father." He states simply. "He wanted me to kill you and he promised to get me on the drop ship with my sister if I did."
"But you didn't."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I wasn't about to kill the only girl who would spare a glance at a janitor." He admits bringing a blush to my face. "Besides." He retracts. "He won't know you're alive. Seemed like a waste of a bullet." He leaves after that and I stand stunned. The blush is gone, replaced with confusion and what the hell. I think I may have gotten whiplash from that zero to douchebag comment.
"Elles!" Finn calls running up, pint sized prisoner in tow. "We have a slight problem."
"No supplies is not a slight problem." Clarke glares at him as she pushes past me to lay out a map on the abandoned ramp of the drop ship. "Hey Ella."
"Clarke." I nod. "Long time, no see."
"We've got a problem." A new voice confirms approaching. I turn to find another old friend from my council kid clan and smile brightly.
"Wells!"
"Hey Ella!" He returns wrapping me in a hug.
"What are you doing here?" I ask shocked.
"What's the problem." Clarke asks harshly, never taking her eyes from the map.
"The communication system is down." Wells says shifting back to the matter at hand but growing smaller in his shoes. "I went to the roof, a dozen panels are missing. Heat fried the wires."
Clarke continues to study the map just as I realize my brother's absence. "Where's Finn?" I ask Luca who stands close to my side. He shrugs.
"All that matters right now is getting to Mount Weather." Clarke observes pointing to the map. "See look. This is us. This is where we need to get to if we want to survive."
"Ah cool." A boy wearing goggles says from behind me. "A map. Is there a bar in town, I'll buy you a beer."
"You mind?" Wells says grabbing his arm and pushing him back.
"Wells." I scold, pulling Luca backwards with me incase of a fight.
"Hey, hey hey." Murphy's voice chimes in. When I look up though I see an altered version of my best friend. He has a pack of boys behind him and a deep scowl on his face. I push Luca behind me, turn my head and mumble.
"Go find Finn."
He does as he's told while Murphy makes his way to my side, slinging an arm around my shoulder and nodding towards the boy with the goggles. "He's with us."
"Relax." Wells says raising his hands. "We're just trying to figure out where we are."
"We're on the ground." Bellamy says as he approaches. "Not good enough for you?" He asks, both the Blake siblings starting towards Wells with looks of distaste.
I do not want to be here. In fact, I want to be far away from here. Bellamy walks with a new stance, one that exudes a dangerous amount of power. Murphy's arm on my shoulder feels different - wrong. Even Wells has an expression foreign to his features. These boys that I knew, or aboard the ark are changed - and it unnerves me.
Wells hesitates. "We need to find Mount Weather. You heard my father's message, that has to be our first priority."
I cringe at the mention of Jaha. Not here, Wells.
"Screw your father." Octavia hisses confirming the nagging fear at the back of my mind since I awoke on that drop ship. Wells. Clarke. Me. We are council children. The children of the people who locked everyone one of these kids up. We may have escaped the oxygen crisis on the ark, but we are no where near safe. "What do you think you're in charge here? You and your little princess?"
"Do you think we care who's in charge?" Clarke asks before Octavia can begin to think about my place in this mess. "We need to get to Mount Weather. Not because the chancellor said so but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we will get and the harder this will be. How long do you think we will last without these supplies? We're looking at a twenty mile trek, so if we want to get there before dark we need to leave now."
"I got a better idea." Bellamy says without missing a beat and quickly looking between the three of us. When his eyes land on me however they also rise to Murphy. My best friend keeps a firm hold on me and tilts his head in the slightest of motions. No. Bellamy nods slightly in return before looking back to Wells and Clarke. "You two go." He says excluding me. "Find if for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change."
The crowd around us agrees as I sink further toward Murphy. Whatever understanding he and Bellamy seem to have is the only thing keeping me from being outnumbered right now.
"You're not listening." Wells yells over the crowd. "We all need to go."
Murphy leaves my side and I slink back from the group, hanging behind as not to be noticed. "Look at this everybody!" He yells sarcastically. "The chancellor of earth!" In one quick movement be pushes Wells and I flinch.
"You think that's funny?" Wells shoots back just before Murphy kicks his leg out from under him. I can hear his body land from here and it takes everything in me not to run forward.
Luckily I don't have to seeing as my brother drops from literally nowhere silencing the crowd. "Kids got one leg." Finn challenges. "How about you wait until it's a fair fight."
They size each other up. My best friend from the cells, and my brother. They never liked each other back on the ark but they were civil. For me. For the rules.
But now I don't think there are any more rules.
"Hey, space walker." Octavia steps forward with a flirty smirk. "Rescue me next."
I gag.
The group starts to disperse and I head towards Finn. "Luca?"
"I told him I stay in the drop ship incase things got ugly." He informs me wrapping an arm around my shoulder. This time I don't flinch or cringe. This time I feel comfort. "So." Finn shifts his attention to Clarke who sits checking Wells' leg. "Mount Weather, when do we leave?"
"Right now." Clarke says standing up and turning to Wells. "We'll be back tomorrow with food."
"How are the two of you going to carry enough food for the hundred?" He asks. Finn turns around and grabs the two boys behind us. One being the boy with the goggles. When he pulls them into our little group he looks between me and them.
"Five of us." He nods. "Can we go now?"
"Sounds like a party." Octavia says walking up to us. "Make it six."
"Hey." Bellamy says coming up behind her and scolding. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Going for a walk?" She says casually.
"Make it five again."
"Ella." Finn protests my decision by playing big brother. "I'm not leaving you here."
"I'll be fine. I want to stay with Luca." I insist. "I don't want him out there until we know what's out there."
He looks at me for a minute, weighing the decision in his mind. "Okay." He huffs out finally.
"Hey." Clarke says starting forward, holding up Finn's wrist and studying his bracelet. "Were you trying to take this off?"
"Yeah?" He asks. "So?"
"So, this wristband transmits your vital signs to the ark. Take it off and they'll think your dead." Clarke seethes.
"Should I care?"
"Well, I don't know." Clarke shoots back. "Do you want the people you love to think you're dead?"
I look down at my own wrist, the heavy metal like a weight on my arm. It's the only thing telling my father I'm alive. The only way I'll see him again. I look up to see Bellamy watching me closely. This bracelet wasn't on my wrist when Shumway transferred me to him and it wasn't on my wrist when I passed out. Bellamy put this on me himself.
"Alright, let's go." Clarke says finally after arguing with Wells. Finn kisses my forehead before he starts walking behind her, the two boys following as Octavia looks at her brother with puppy eyes.
"Go on." He nods before she smiles brightly and places a kiss on his cheek. He watches as she goes before turning to me. Once everyone is gone I meet his gaze.
"Thank you." I say still messing with the bracelet. He nods before walking off.
THIRD PERSON POV
Marcus Kane has very, very few weaknesses. In fact, when it comes down to the things he would die without only one comes to mind. His daughter.
It's no surprise when he bursts into the room holding numerous monitors of the hundred sent to earth. His eyes scan every screen, every name until he finds the one he's looking for.
KANE, ELEANORE.
"Thank god." He sighs to himself.
"Sir." Shumway's voice breaks his brief moment of relief. "I have something to tell you, your daughter-" He stops short, finding the name in question on the screen. Status: alive. "She made it to earth." He retracts quickly offering the smallest smile, more like a grimace.
"She did." Kane sighs too relieved to notice Shumway's behavior. "How's the chancellor?"
"In surgery."
"Any idea who shot him?" Kane asks the man at his side.
"Bellamy Blake." Shumway says, happily lifting the tablet in hand and showing him the young man's picture. The man who blatantly disobeyed him. "He's the only one not accounted for."
"Bellamy Blake." Kane mumbles. "That sounds familiar."
"He's a nobody sir." Shumway continues. "Just a janitor. We think he snuck onto the drop ship."
"Well, he better stay away from my daughter." Kane says looking back to the screen, anxiety dripping from every word.
Shumway nods his head in agreement. "He better." He says, but mentally adds a not.
ELLA'S POV
I knew earth had rivers, but I hadn't expected them to be so beautiful.
The surfaces sparkles with the sun, rays catching on the ripples caused by strong currents. I dip my hands in repeatedly and run the cool water over my bare shoulders. My jackets been discarded, turned into a pillow for Luca who sleeps soundly a few feet away.
It feels so serine here. I can hear the waves rush by me as I close my eyes and let the sun dry my skin.
"Looks peaceful." A voice says from behind me. I turn quickly to see a welcome sight.
"Atom?" I ask in shock when he sits beside me. He smirks to himself, watching the river before looking over to me.
"Miss me?" He asks with that easy charm and slight drawl.
"It's been months." I say with furrowed brows. "Atom, I haven't seen you in months."
"When a girl breaks your heart you tend to not want to be around said girl." He jokes lightly as my face falls. He notices and laughs gently. "I'm messing with you." He nudges my shoulder. "I started hanging out with Miller, stuck to the north side of the cafeteria." He takes in our surrounding more before his eyes find Luca. "How's the kid?"
"Fine." I say looking over at his sleeping figure. "Considering."
"Too much excitement for one day?"
"Definitely." I laugh studying Luca's childish features. I know by the way his brows furrow that he's on the verge of another nightmare. "I'm worried about him being here. I'm worried everyone's going to see him as a liability."
"They won't notice him." Atom tries to comfort me. "Kids are off limits, even for the worst of them."
"Everything seems different down here though." I admit. "The rules, the tension - Murphy."
"Yeah, I saw his little show earlier." He says looking down at his hands. "He's been angry for a long time, Ella. The only thing that kept it at bay for a while was you."
"But I'm still here." I argue. "And yet he's changed so much in the matter of a day."
"Not where you're concerned." He shakes his head. "Earlier I heard him and Bellamy make a deal. Murphy's condition was that you stay out of whatever happens with Wells and Clarke. He still cares about you. In fact, I think you're the only thing he cares about."
"It felt so wrong standing next to him earlier." I bite my lip in frustration. "Everything feels wrong."
"Is that the reason for the quick bath." He asks, not as a joke, but as sincere as possible. I nod.
"I want this whole day off of me." I whisper. "I want to go to sleep and wake up in my cell and have this whole thing be a dream."
"Ella." He begs placing his hand on my own. The familiarity of it sending comfort through my body. "Now you have a chance to live. Longer than another couple months."
"If things go how I expect them to," I begin sadly, "life won't be about living anymore. It will be about surviving."
THIRD PERSON POV
Finn's mind has been a wreck since the moment he agreed to leave his sister behind at the crash site.
What was he thinking? Leaving her there with those criminals. He knows what some of them are capable of. He knows the things they used to say about Ella back on the ark. The threats they would make.
He knew it would be futile to even attempt to convince her to leave camp without Luca. Now he's beginning to wish he had dragged them both out by his own hands.
He's supposed to protect her. After all he is twenty minutes older. It's not that he doubts her survival skills, but she is outnumbered. Not to mention it's obvious what - who her greatest weakness is, and Finn knows she would do anything to protect him.
The more he thinks the more the clean air becomes suffocating and the faster his feet move. They need to make it to Mount Weather and back, and they need to do it soon.
She was a miracle the day she was born and now, he thinks to himself, it will be a miracle if she makes it out of this alive.
What was he thinking.
ELLA'S POV
It isn't Atom who wakes me up, it's Wells.
The first thing I do is look towards Luca, still sound asleep next to me, then to my friend.
"Whats wrong?" I ask seeing the alarm on his face.
"There's something going on back at the drop ship." He explains as a roar of cheers erupts through the trees. "I sent Atom back, I think he's with them. I didn't want him to hear what I have to say to you."
"You're scaring me, Wells."
"You should be scared, Ella." He warns me, fear in his eyes. "I've already heard your name being thrown around camp. Luca's too." I tense at the mention of him and Wells notices. "We both know we can fight better than any of the people here, but we're outnumbered."
I turn away from him, as if maybe looking to the water flowing nearby can calm the surely approaching panic attack I feel coming on. But it doesn't.
Instead, it only begs the impossible. I would do anything to steal what little supplies we have, leave Finn a secret message to follow and take off across this river, to the furthest mountain I can reach.
It's too much of a risk.
If - when the rest of the ark comes down we could be too far to communicate and then I'd never see my father again.
"Ella." Wells says gently. "I don't care how you do it, but you need to make everyone know they'll be sorry if they so much as look at you wrong. For his sake." He nods to Luca.
"I don't know how." I confess, still watching the waves roll by lazily, taunting me. "I don't want to get into a fight with someone, that's too risky. Like you said, we're outnumbered."
"You'll figure something out." He assures me with a soft smile.
Another loud cheer rings through my ears and finally I know it's time to see what's going on back at the drop ship. Wells and I both know we're not safe if we don't know what's going on.
I gently wake Luca and the three of us head back. Before the fire comes into view I can smell the smoke and see the shadows it casts. It's beautiful - and terrifying. If not contained this flame could burn the entire forest down. Like the crowd surrounding it.
I move slowly through the group until I have a clear view of what's in front of me. Murphy kneels next to a girl with a piece of metal in his hands, prying the band on her wrist. A small clang and dying mechanical whine signals the worst. It's dead.
I shouldn't be surprised. Of course these kids would do whatever Jaha told them not to, but this is just reckless. The newfound freedom rushing to their brains and replacing any sense of logic.
"Who's next!" Bellamy yells, stepping around the fire with a major sense of authority. His eyes catch mine, his carefree expression faltering slightly.
"What the hell are you doing?" Wells yells limping forward on his injured leg, making himself look less like the warrior I know he could be and more like prey.
"We're liberating ourselves." Bellamy answers after tearing his gaze from mine. I shiver at the tone in his voice. This isn't the same man who promised me I wasn't going to die. It can't be. "What does it look like?"
"It looks like you're trying to get us all killed." Wells nearly pleads. "The communication system is dead. These wristbands are all we've got. Take them off and the ark will think we're dying, that it's not safe to follow."
"That's the point - chancellor." Bellamy taunts. "We can take care of ourselves. Can't we!"
Agreeing hollers confirm what I already knew; his leadership over the delinquents that surround me.
"You think this is a game?" Wells asks dumbfounded. "Those aren't just our friends and parents up there, they're our farmers, our doctors, our engineers. I don't care what he tells you." He begs the anxious crowd. "We won't survive on our own. And besides if it really is safe, how could you not want the rest of our people to come down?"
"My people." Bellamy begins angrily. "Already are down. Those people locked my people up. Those people killed my mother for the crime of having a second child. Your father did that."
"My father didn't write the laws."
"No but he enforced them." He replies lowly. "But not anymore. Not here. Here, there are no laws." My heart stops at those words and I pull Luca close to me. "Here we do what we the hell we want, whenever the hell we want. Now you don't have to like it, Wells. You can even try to stop it, change it - kill me. You know why? Whatever the hell we want."
"Whatever the hell we want!" Murphy yells and soon the others join in. Panic sets in now, just as a boy from behind me leans desperately close to my ear and places his hand a little too low on my waist for comfort.
"Keep that in mind your highness." He threatens and my body begins to shake. He doesn't notice, but Luca does. He looks up at me as I pull him closer to my chest. His eyes scan back over the crowd nervously.
When I regain my ability to move any part of my body, I see Bellamy watching me closely. His eyes flick to the boy who was just leaning in and then back to my anxious gaze.
I'm about to walk away, away from his prying eyes that make me feel transparent, until a loud clap of thunder booms overhead and rain begins to fall.
I've never felt rain on my skin.
The experience is more amazing than the water from the river a few hours earlier. I can practically hear it sizzle as it hits my face, hot with terror. I wish I could enjoy it more, my first rainfall, but I'm too nervous.
The only thing I can think about it is how lucky that I have a way out.
THIRD PERSON POV
Bellamy searches the camp nervously.
He should've known Ella would slip away with the distraction of the rain. He should've been paying attention to her instead of his anger towards Wells.
He saw that boy put his hand on her. He saw him say something to her that caused such a look of fear. It was the same look she had when he led her to the drop ship bay on the ark.
Whatever that kid said - just the ideas running through his head make him anxious, make him angry. He promised her she wasn't going to die.
And that was not a promise he had any intention to break. Ever.
She held herself so strong. Despite the fear he saw there, which was only clear to him and the child at her side, she never let anyone else see. The trembling was slight, her breathing was steady, she didn't even flinch.
But Bellamy knew. Bellamy saw how deeply affected she was by his words, his threat. Bellamy knew he had to do something and fast.
That's why he's scouring the camp looking for her. He has to find a way to keep her safe. He has to find a way to let everyone know she is off limits.
The second he lays his eyes on her his pulse starts to slow. He's walked just a little outside of camp, near a small clearing in the brush where she sits with Luca. Bellamy watches her run her hand through the child's hair, lulling him to sleep gently. She's still on alert so she sees him almost instantly. Her expression softens at the sight of him. At least he thinks it does. Hopes it does.
"Hey." He says quietly as he approaches her. "You're too far from camp. There could be wild animals out there." He nods towards the trees.
"I'd risk my life with these animals over those." She says with disgust before looking away. "Your pack is unhinged."
He feels dread enter every vein in his body. "What did that kid say to you." He asks gaining her attention again at the change in his demeanor. He catches it himself and shakes his head before sitting on the ground across from her. "Did he threaten you?" He asks, trying and failing to keep the anger from his voice.
She can't tear her eyes away from his. Those eyes that hold so much warmth every time they look at her. Just like back on the ark. "Yes." She confesses softly. "He did."
Bellamy's jaw tightens as he nods. "I'll deal with him later."
"If you do it'll just make him hate me even more." She reminds him. "He'll be out for blood and according to you he can get it if he wants."
"Ella." He says causing her heart to swell as her name falls past his lips. "I didn't think-"
"No." She snaps. "You didn't." His stomach drops at her tone. He can't have her against him, not if he wants to protect her.
"Let me make it up to you." He begs, doing his best to talk to her as if she were anyone else to him; even though she's not. "Let me protect you."
"I don't even know if you can, Bellamy."
His breath catches at his name - the way she says it like a prayer. He nods his head. "I can. You saw them back there, they listen to me now. I can protect you. Both of you." He looks at Luca briefly, knowing she would never throw away a chance to keep him safe.
Wells' voice echos through her mind. I don't care how you do it.
"How." She asks finally and relief floods him.
"I don't know yet." He admits. "But stay in the drop ship with me tonight. That way no one can get to you before I figure this out."
Ella fights herself internally. Bellamy is the reason she's fair game right now, but there is a possibility that people seeing her near him could make her off limits. I don't care how you do it.
"Okay."