With the way Winona was currently feeling, she really could go for a nap. The events of the past few days were really starting to take a toll on her. And it didn't help that she was still having trouble sleeping at night.

However, she decided to listen to Lorna and was currently looking for John. She didn't want to talk to him but she figured that the green haired girl was right. She also realized that she may have overreacted just a smidge when she accused him and everyone of using her. Lorna's words reassured her that that wasn't the case.

So alas, she was looking for yet another person in the very big building. Her eyes landed on Shatter and she made her way over to him. "Hey," she said as she approached him. "Hey Winona. What's up?" Shatter said. She came to a stop in front of him. "Have you seen John?" She asked him. Shatter thought for a moment. "I think I saw him last at the monitoring station," he replied.

"Thanks, Shatter," she said. "No problem," he replied with a nod. Winona turned away from him and headed toward where the monitors were set up. She made her way through the bars and into the caged area. She stopped abruptly when she saw John and Sonya kissing.

Her eyes widened and her breathing hitched. She backed up and bumped into a table, it's legs scraping against the ground. John and Sonya broke apart, their eyes turning to the source of the noise. John lightly pushed Sonya away from him and Sonya looked down at the ground.

"Sorry. I uh, didn't mean to interrupt. I-I'll just go now," Winona said. She quickly turned on her heel and walked out. She took large strides as she walked, and stopped walking when she was a fair distance away. "Winona." It was John. Winona sighed before turning to face him.

He gazed at her, his eyebrows furrowed. "Did you, uh, did you need something?" He asked. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" She asked back. He sighed before pursing his lips. "I just came to talk to you. But you're busy so, you can carry on with what you were doing," she said. John rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Winona rubbed her arms, which were crossed over her chest.

"Sorry that you had to see that. I know people aren't a fan of PDA and stuff," John trailed off. "You don't have to apologize. It's cool," she said. He nodded his head. "That wasn't what it looked like, by the way," John said after a moment. "Oh?" Winona replied, her eyebrows raised.

"Sonya and I, we aren't together or anything. The kiss, it just sort of happened," he said. "That's none of my business," Winona replied, shaking her head. "Yeah I know, I just, I don't know, I wanted you to know that," John said, squinting slightly. "Um, okay," she said. He nodded and she looked around awkwardly.

His cellphone began to ring and he pulled it out of his pocket. He began speaking to whoever was on the other end and walked back to the monitoring station. Winona felt a panging feeling in her chest and rolled her eyes in annoyance when she did. She began walking in the opposite direction.

It was in that moment that things began to click. Everything started to align and she understood. The way that she would get. The way that she felt. Lorna's stupid joke. Seeing John and Sonya just brought it all together. It finally made sense to her. She liked him. But he clearly didn't feel the same way.

····

Winona awkwardly stood next to Lorna as the two, along with Lauren, Caitlin, and John, stood around a table. She was, yet again, going over a plan that she would not partake in. She wasn't exactly sure why she was here, but Lorna asked her to come so she did. A map lay across the table in front of her and John was informing them all of what was happening. "They're heading straight into a police ambush. We think it'll happen here," John said, pointing to a spot on the map.

"Why can't they just go somewhere else?" Lauren asked. "There's no place to go. They're hemmed in," John replied. "How did this happen? I thought they got away. I-I thought that--" Lorna cut Caitlin off. "The cops stopped them on the way up there. They didn't find anything, but the driver said he was going to Denver, so when the tollway cameras in Baton Rouge spotted them--" This time, Caitlin cut Lorna off.

"Well, how do we get them out of there? We can't just leave them," the older blonde said. "Wes can help. You saw him at training. He can make illusions, mirages, if they need to get away from the police," Lauren proposed. "That could work. I'll go get him," Lorna said, turning to walk away. "I wanna go too," Lauren said causing Lorna to stop.

"If it doesn't work out, you'll need me," the blonde continued. Lorna looked at Caitlin expectantly. "Go. Go, before I change my mind," Caitlin said. The younger blonde and Lorna walked away. Winona turned to the two who remained. "Who the hell is Wes?"

····

When the others were safely back at the headquarters, Winona felt as though she could finally breathe properly. She was very worried about everyone's safety. She kept herself busy by continuing to help out around the Underground.

And even that wasn't enough to distract her from her thoughts. Now that everyone was safe, her mind was at ease. Well, almost everyone. She was beyond worried about Clarice. The green eyed girl just left without saying anything. No note, no way of contacting her. She was just gone.

Winona wasn't sure that she could do much to find her friend. She wasn't a strong enough telepath to be able to do some of the things that Renee had told her about. Not yet anyway. The only one who could help her find the girl was John. Winona still hadn't talked to him or Marcos yet. She wasn't even sure what to say to either of them.

Her mind kept wandering back to the thing she had witnessed between John and Sonya. And no amount of work could take her mind off of it. Right now, she was sat at a table. A plate of some kind of canned food was sat in front of her. She picked at it, lost in thought. She didn't notice John and Marcos approach her, even when they both pulled out chairs and sat down at the table with her.

The two men stared at her as she remained looking down at her food. Marcos cleared his throat. Winona lazily lifted her head up to look at them before looking back at her food. "Hey," she mumbled. "Uh, hi. Lorna said that you wanted to talk to us," Marcos said. Winona rolled her eyes. "Of course she did," she muttered.

The two looked at each other before looking back at her. "Did you not want to talk to us?" John asked in confusion. "I mean, not really but I probably should," she replied. She then looked up from her food and sat up straight, looking between the two. She thought about her words, trying to pull her thoughts together to formulate what she was going to say. "I'm very angry at the both of you. For many reasons," Winona began.

"We know. And we're sorr--" Winona held up a hand, cutting Marcos off. "And although I might be mad at you two, I've realized that being mad won't do anything. In fact, it'll just drive us all apart. And we all need to stick together now more than ever," she continued before pausing for a moment.

She looked the two over and they stared at her expectantly. "With that being said, I've decided to be less angry at you two and somewhat forgive you," Winona said. A small smile made its way onto John's face and Marcos let out a sigh of relief. "However, I don't trust either of you at the moment. And if you want my trust, then you'll have to earn it back," she said.

The two nodded their heads. Marcos was smiling widely. "I don't know why you're smiling like that. I haven't fully forgiven you," Winona said. "Yeah well, you're giving me a second chance. Now I can have my friend back," Marcos replied. Winona narrowed her eyes at him. "We're not friends again yet. I am still mad at you. I already made that clear," she said.

She then turned to John. "I'm mad at you too," she said and he nodded. "Believe me, I know," he replied. She sighed and looked down, intertwining her fingers together in her lap. "If you're gonna make a promise to someone, make sure it's one that you can keep," she said quietly. "I thought I would be able to keep it," Marcos said.

"We both did. And we both wanted to. I still want to," John said. She looked up at him. "I'm sorry, Winona," John said. "We're sorry," Marcos corrected. "Look, I won't promise that we'll find a way to find and help your sister. But I can promise that we will try," John said. His eyes held sincerity and she nodded.

"So, are we good?" Marcos asked hopefully. Winona shrugged. "I mean, I guess," she responded. Marcos grinned. "Now go away, I wanna eat in peace," Winona said, using her hands to shoo the two away. John looked down at her plate and then up at her. "It doesn't look like you've been doing too much eating," he said, his eyes flitting back to her plate and then up at her.

"I will, once I'm alone," Winona said, giving the two a pointed look. "But you've been alone all this time and it doesn't look like you've eaten much," Marcos said. "I'm pacing myself," Winona deadpanned. Marcos nodded slowly before carefully standing up. "I'll leave you to it then," he said, sending her a wave and walking away.

Winona looked at John and raised her eyebrows expectantly. "You were supposed to leave too," she said. "I want to make sure you actually eat," John said. "I don't need you to do that. I'll eat," she said. He narrowed his eyes at her. "You okay?" He asked. She didn't feel like lying so she shook her head.

"I'm worried about Clarice. She just left and I don't know where she is or how to find her. Unless you want to help," Winona said. "I, uh, I don't know. I don't think she even wants to be found," John replied. "That doesn't mean I won't try to go after her," Winona retorted. John sighed and so did she.

"Look, you don't have to help me if you don't want to," Winona said. She stood from her seat at the table and grabbed her plate. "I'll just go finish this somewhere else," she said, lifting up the plate. "Wait!" He said, holding up a hand to stop her. She stopped in her tracks and turned to him, eyebrows lifting. He sighed and looked up at her. "Well?" She questioned impatiently.

"Look, it's not that I don't want to help you. It's just that, maybe it's not such a bad thing that she's gone," he said. Winona looked at him in surprise. "I'm gonna pretend that I didn't hear you say that," she said, stepping away from the table. John stood and halted her motion, holding both arms out. "That came out wrong. I meant, look, Clarice said that she had some issues to sort out and people to find. So that's what she's doing. She went out to find her people and maybe that's what she needs," he tried to explain.

"So what you're saying is, I should go out there on my own and find Clarice and Elaine? All right then that's what I'll do," she said, moving past him. He took ahold of her upper arm and stopped her. An annoyed groan left her lips. "That's not what I'm saying. How did you even come to that conclusion?" He said, shaking his head. "What the hell are you saying then?" She asked. He looked down at the ground in thought. "I, I don't know--" Winona cut off any other words that might have come out of his mouth.

"Well I know that my friend is out there somewhere and it's not safe. So no matter what you say, I will go out there too and find her. Maybe even help her look for whoever she's looking for," Winona said. "You said it yourself, it's not safe," John protested. "I don't give a shit, John," she snapped. He sighed and looked away from her.

"What the hell is your problem? You really want to leave Clarice out there by herself?" She questioned incredulously. "Of course not!" He replied. "Could've fooled me," she muttered. "I want to find her just as much as you do, all right? I do," he began. "So what's the problem?" She asked him. He doesn't respond.

"Well, I'm gonna try and find her. With or without you is your decision. And if I die then oh well," she said. "Really? You're gonna joke and be nonchalant about something like that?" He asked. "I'm not joking. Whatever happens, happens. But I'm going to find Clarice," Winona said. She pulled her arm from his grasp. "See you later," she added before finally walking away from him.

He watched her walk away and sighed. He shook his head and turned to walk in the opposite direction.

°°°°

The three musketeers are back together again. Kinda. So, Winona forgave Marcos and John. But you know the saying, "I'll forgive but I won't forget." That's kinda how she is right now. Now we're gonna get into her trying to find her bestie Clarice because Winona refuses to let her girl be out in a hateful world all by herself. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Stay tuned for the next one.