Dani's P.O.V
The rest of the day Aimee and I spent watching over the monitors like hawks. Thankfully, both Gally and Alby took my heeds and were preparing the camp to defend themselves and by the time the sun was setting only a few of them had stopped to eat dinner.
~~~~~
Aimee left around an hour or so ago to get dinner with Teresa. Neither of us wanted to leave the monitors but we knew if neither of us went out for dinner then Teresa would suspect something, and she can't know about this until tomorrow. We also knew the girl would ask questions about where Thomas and I were so Aimee said she was going to tell her that something was happening in The Glade and we needed to stay and continue 'reporting'.
Since then, nothing had really happened in The Glade. Alby had finally ordered everyone to stop fighting and get some dinner and now most of them were making their ways back to the homestead for the night. Of course, due to the surprising arrival of Thomas and the short stay he was having in The Glade, he didn't have anywhere to properly sleep. Until Newt stepped up and told him to sleep in his hammock seeming as he hadn't used it in the past couple of months.
~~~~~
I lean back in my chair and play with the frays in my dress, before a loud sound from outside the door startles me. The door is pushed open quickly as Aimee rushes in and slam it shut behind her, placing her back against it as she burst out in laughter, panting furiously.
"I'm so stupid!" She cries, clutching her stomach in pain from the laughter. "What did you do?!" I ask, a small smile of confusion setting on my face. "I just tripped over my own feet running here." She howls, falling onto her knees to laugh even more. I cackle at her stupidity until the tears form in my eyes, the two of us being too caught up in our laughter to even want to act like normal people.
It was infectious, the laughter. Like one second you were so upset and the next you couldn't stop the waves of silly laughter filling your body. It was a nice feeling...
Aimee stands herself up and wipes away the last of her tears, walking over to me and plopping herself down in the chair beside me. Once both of our laughter had trailed off, we both watched the screens quietly, embracing the silence like an old friend.
"Did Teresa question much?" I ask after a while. "Not really. She bought that you two were in here watching over whatever was happening and after that she didn't really press any more on the matter. I knew she didn't buy the lie, but it was like something inside of her actually 'knew' the real reason why you were still in here." Aimee answers, leaning back in boredom.
"Ah, she probably thinks he is talking to me. She knew something was up with him this morning, that's why she wanted to talk to me after breakfast. She said for me to try and find out what it was if I could, and that's probably why she left it." I respond, scanning my eyes over the monitors to see what was happening. But nothing was. It was all still...
"Hey, what's the time actually?" I ask, realising that it must be late now. Aimee glances at her watch before frowning. "It's getting close to 11. If I were you I'd go and see Melissa now." She tells me and I nod my head. "That's what I was thinking."
She nods to me as I get up and grab my empty bag from under the desks. "I'll be back soon. Then you are more than welcome to go to bed." I tell her, remembering I did pull her out of bed pretty early this morning and she is probably hanging. "Thanks." She whispers, and I leave the room.
I make my way down the empty hallways as quickly as I can, wanting to get in and out of here quickly so that I can make sure Newt doesn't do anything stupid. He shouldn't, because he knows that I'm alive now, but Newt has never been one to be too optimistic. He might still think there is no hope and that the plan will fail. I just hope he holds out long enough to try and see the plan through...
Soon enough I find myself outside the doors to the cantine, which was now completely empty. I slowly enter just in case, and after a quick survey to make sure it definitely empty, I dart my way over to the kitchens where Melissa was waiting for me.
As I open the door, the smell of dinner hits me full on and I sigh, the blood-sugar now getting to me. Melissa smiles as I make my way further into the kitchen and perch myself on one of the stools that were by a small counter in the corner.
"Give me two seconds sweetheart. I've just got to grab everything." She says sweetly to me, walking to the back room of the kitchen before re-emerging a few minutes later.
She makes her way over to the counter I was sat at and places the packets and tubs full of bread and other food in front of me, then pulls the other stool at the table so it was closer to me. She takes my hand in hers gently and squeezes it, meeting my eyes with sympathy.
"Alright, we've got a good 10 or so minutes before you will have to go, so talk to me. Why are you so afraid of being pregnant?" She asks me softly, placing her other hand over our conjoined ones so she can rub the skin gently.
"I- I'm not sure..." I breathe out, really not wanting to have to think about my situation but then a small little voice at the back of my head tells me that I'm going to need to talk about it at some point. And I may not have anyone close enough to me that is an actual adult to talk to for possibly the rest of my life. Or at least until after I've had this baby.
"I think it's because of everything that has happened since we got here, to the facility. The fact that my mother has barely acted like my mother except for when she wants something from me and how I know if she finds out about the baby that she will take it from me because it could hold the cure for the world... And then there is the haunting thought that because my mum hasn't shown me what it's like to be a good mum that I'm going to be a horrible one too..."
Melissa gives me a sad smile and squeezes my hand again. "Danielle, you are the sweetest, kindest girl I know and I know for sure that you are going to be an amazing mother. You're terrified now, but I can still tell that you love that baby regardless of the situation and for how long you've known about it. And as for your mother, as long as you keep this secret between as little amount of people as you can until you are in the Resistance then she won't find out. I'm going to do everything I can from here to help you guys, no matter what the costs. So you do your best to get safe."
"What else scares you?" She asks, giving me a knowing smile like she still knew me inside out, which was probably only half of the case. I sigh and look down to our conjoined hands, a lump forming at the back of my throat. "Newt..."
Melissa looks at me confusedly, almost egging me to explain. "For more than one reason. First of all, the fact that before he knew I was alive he was ready to end it all. When we get out of these walls we are almost certainly going to face big challenges and I'm guessing we are not all going to make it through that. What if I'm one of the ones to not make it through? What if I die right in front of him? I've had someone die right in front of me and it was scarring enough, and we weren't overly close. Newt and I? We're too close. It would kill him. Literally. If he was ready to die when he didn't know if I was alive or not, what will he do when he knows for sure that I am dead?"
A small tear runs down my face, but I shake it away and continue. "And the second reason is, he doesn't know anything about the baby. I never told him what I was thinking before I left The Glade because I had only just started showing signs and my symptoms also co-incided with the symptoms of those in The Glade that had the flu at the time. He knows nothing about it, and I'm terrified that he will freak out about it and leave. We are so young, and for us to literally be getting a small taste of freedom and then having it ripped away from us with a somewhat bigger responsibility will be challenging. Unfair even... I just- I don't want to do this without him if I end up having this baby. I can't do it without him. He means too much to me..."
Melissa shushes me soothingly as the tears start rolling down my cheeks more fluidly, though it was only the tears that were there. No cries or sobs falling from my lips. Just the tears on my cheeks.
"Hey, you can't think like that for either of those reasons. If he knows you are dead for sure then maybe things will be different because he will at least have some closure knowing the truth. Before when he didn't know if you were still here it would have been so much worse because he was lost in the darkness. He was confused from being kept out of the full time plans and angry because he doesn't trust us, and for a good reason. WICKED threw him in there, so why should he listen? And for the fact of him not knowing yet, there is nothing you can do about the past. But what you can do is tell him as soon as you see an appropriate moment to. From there the ball is in his court and if you show and tell him how afraid you are of losing him then soon enough he'll come around. From what I can remember of the 16 year old version of him, he wouldn't just up and leave you completely. He might take some time to himself to process it, but he loves you too much to leave you altogether."
Somehow I find comfort in Melissa's words, and as her hands slip from mine to wipe away my tears, I give her a small smile of thanks.
"Alright then," She smiles sweetly, placing her hands on top of the pile of food and pills she had on the counter for me. "As long as you all ration appropriately, this should last you a month hopefully. I already know you have water, but here are a few more bottles as a fall back. You forget that you have these until you run out of water completely, because if you act like you have got this to fall back on you won't use what you have sparingly and you could all possibly die from dehydration before the resistance find you."
I nod my head and lift my bag up, carefully stacking everything in there as best as I can to fit it all. As I finish, Melissa places another tub on the table and places a fork on top of it, giving me a soft smile. "And this is for you for later. I noticed you weren't at dinner." She smirks, leaning back as she pushes herself onto her feet again.
"Oh, Melissa. Thankyou but I'm not hungry-" I try and tell her, but she raises her hand and turns her head away. "Hush my child, you might not be hungry but the small thing inside of you might be. And if you are going to be rationing from tomorrow onwards for a while you should at least get a good few proper meals first."
I beam at the woman and nod my head, swinging my bag over my shoulder as I stand up. I grab the extra tub and fork and move towards Melissa, engulfing her in a hug. "Thankyou..." I whisper into her ear as she rubs my back. "It's no problem, Danielle. You are more my child than you are your own mother's, and you know I would do absolutely anything for your safety. Now go, before someone comes in here to ask why I'm still here." She replies, letting me go as she tries to shoo me from the room.
I take a few steps backwards and smile at her again, unsure whether I should say the words that were playing in my head like a record player on repeat. I take a deep breath and give in. "Melissa?" I call, grabbing her attention again. "Love you, step-in mum." I grin, noticing her face light up too. "Love you too sweetheart. Now go, I mean it." She says softly, her voice turning stern for the last part so that I would take her heed.
I nod my head and turn on my heel, waltzing straight out of the cantine before breaking into a run towards the monitor room.