Gally carried me so gently. He picked me up like I was nothing, and held me close. At first I froze, this was not something I was expecting, but I felt safe. He made me so angry. All the time. But... He had shown his softer side again. Shuck.

The voice in my head's words came back to me..."It's just Noradrenaline, Dopamine and Phenylethylamine. The Chemicals in your brain causing this"

I wasn't sure what that meant, but it gave me a warm butterfly feeling and I sighed. Gally's heart beat was strong and steady, his arms were strong and secure. I cautiously layed my head on his chest. I hadn't been sleeping great, those voices were in repeat.

Gally nudged the bedroom door open.

"What the shuck? Charlie? Are you okay? Gally what happened?" Newt yelped.

I opened my eyes and saw Newt spring from his bed. I smiled at him.

"I'm fine Newt, relax." I waved a hand at him.

Newt froze and looked between me and Gally, his eyebrows shot up.

"She walked into something solid. Her ribs are sore." Gally grumbled.

I tried to hide a giggle. Something solid. I walked right into Gally. Gally gently layed me down on the bed, but I sucked in a sharp breath and winced when he pulled his hand out from under me.

"Shuck. Sorry Charlie. I'll go get you some ice. Be right back." He said quietly, only for Charlie to hear

He spun and left without another world or a glance at Newt. I lay on the bed, my hands holding tight to my throbbing ribs. I could feel my face heating up, and I felt Newt's eyes drilling holes into me.

"What the blood hell is going on here?" Newt asked.

I sighed and peeked an eye open at him. He stood in the middle of our room, his arms crossed a hip stuck out and a knowing smirk on his face.

"Whatever do you mean Newton?" I asked as innocently as I could.

"Come on, Love. Spill."

I sighed and ran a hand through my tangled hair.

"I'm waiting." Newt insisted.

"Then you can wait a bit longer!" I snapped.

He threw his hands into the air.

"Look, Newt, I don't know! I seriously don't! I walked into him and he was-"

There was a knock on the door and it opened, Gally came in holding some ice and some cloth strips.

"Okay, here ya go." He said quietly, almost awkwardly, he wouldn't quite meet my eyes now.

"Gally, I needed to talk to Alby right now aboutm... something... Gally, I'm sure you can help Charlie. Get her situated."

He gave Gally a very pointed look. As he passed by the end of my bed he winked at me and sauntered out if the room, closing the door behind me.

Gally stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, his presence taking up most of the room. Gally was in my room, Newt purposely left...

I took a deep breath trying to get my racing heart under control and I knew now without a doubt my cheeks were red with a blush. I turned my head slightly to look at him. He was standing stone still, rubbing the back of his neck staring at the floor.

"Wanna pass that ice here? It's not doing much in your hands." I pointed at the ice pack.

His head snapped up.

"Oh! Oh, yeah. Here ya go, pipsqueak." He gave me a shy smile.

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Pipsqueak?"

He shrugged and gave me a small lopsided smile, "your just really light. Teeny tiny little Glader."

I could hear the tease in his voice. It was light hearted, his eyes had the gentle twinkle in them. I rolled my eyes. Apparently I have all sorts of nicknames. He hadn't moved, still standing in the middle of the bedroom.

"So...about that ice...?" I said again, and pointed to the ice pack.

"Oh! Shuck! Yeah ..yeah here."

He took two long strides and was over to my bedside. He handed me the pack. With my face heating up again, I rolled the bottom of my shirt up exposing my stomach and ribs. I saw Gally flinch.

"Not so pretty now. The green yellow and brown. Last week was sweet!" I frowned, picking head off the pillow, trying to see the bruising.

"Oh yeah?" He asked raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah! It was like a solid black in the middle, and changed to blue to purple. If I wasn't in so much pain it would have been kinda pretty." I chuckled.

"Oh that's nothing! This one time, some idiot though my hand was a piece of wood! Almost took my hand off! The stitches and bruising! It was nasty!"

As he talked, I placed the ice pack around my ribs and Gally took the cloth strips and gently slid his hand under my back to wrap the cloth around to hold it in place.

I chuckled.

"I don't remember any other crazy accidents, but apparently I have this scar!"

I raised my arm, on the underside on my arm, from my armpit all the way down to my elbow was a long thin white scare.

"Wholly Shuck Char! That's crazy! I wonder what you did?!

His eyes were wide, he gently ran his finger tips down the scar, it made me break out in goosebumps, and I shivered. I blame the ice

"You were clutz before the Maze?" His deep voice rumbled with amusement.

"Pfft. No! I'm as graceful as shuck! Thank-you!"

He held his hands up in defeat.

"Whatever you say Pipsqueak!" He chuckled.

He sat down on the side on my bed, and lifted his shirt, exposing his solid muscular side. Running up and down was a long jagged scar.

"Before we had Jeff or Clint, we had no MedJacks, Newt did his best." Gally chuckled.

"Looks painful." I said quietly, gently running a finger over it. I looked up at him, his eyes had glazed over for a second.

"Wasn't too bad. I was in shock, and by the time they had me patched up I passed out. That also had some pretty cool bruising."

I gave him a smile. His eyes lost their sparkle and he frowned.

"The most painful, left me with the smallest scare...but the most...painful aftermath..." He said quietly.

"Gally..." I whispered.

He shifted so his back was to me and slowly lifted the left side of his shirt, at the bottom near his hip was a small white circle, so tiny it could be a freckle.

I reached out and touched his back. Fire exploded through my fingers. He dropped his shirt and turned back towards me, his eyes intense, full of sadness.

"I don't talk about it. It...I...I still.." he stumbled over his words. I could see fear rising in his eyes, they slowly were dilating, and I felt a tremor in his hand that was resting beside my hand.

"Gally you don't need to explain anything. Okay? Don't force it. I'm here if you want to talk, but if you don't that's okay too."

I flipped my hand and grabbed his hand, holding it tight.

"I won't tell you I understand what your going through, but...I know your struggling still." I said quiet.

As soon as those words were out of my I felt a wave of guilt. I closed my days and looked away.

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

"Why?"

"Because...you were right. I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to Grievers. And I'm sorry." I said so quietly he had to lean closer to hear.

He hummed. And squeezed my hand. I opened my eyes.

"Looks like we're both shucked and stubborn."

I chuckled.

"Damn straight. And if you say otherwise I'll slug ya. Again!" I grinned checkily at him.

He grinned down at me. I could see his dilated pupils slowly go back to there regular size.

"Maybe that's what you gotta do with those slint heads.." he said quietly.

I hummed in response.

Gally sat beside me, he was quiet, still holding my hand, his rough calloused thumb gently rubbed the back of my hand. It was soothing. I felt safe. And I felt exhausted. My eyes started to slide shut. Whatever tomorrow brings I was content right now. Gally's kind gentle side was out, and it made my heart flutter and my stomach exploded with butterflies.

I felt Gally's gaze on me, but I was tired, my mind buzzing with what Minho had told me in the Map Room. My eyes were getting heavier. I gave into the heaviness.  I was almost taken away into the world if darkness and dreams, when I felt a gentle hand sweep some hair from my forhead. A small barley there smile formed on my mouth. I felt something warm gently swept over my forehead.

I sighed quietly and contently. Even though I was on the brink of sleep, I felt my stomach explode with butterflies. My consciousness was more alert now, Gally had quite possibly kissed my forehead.

The bed groaned. And I heard footsteps and the door squeaked open. There were quiet murmured voices.

The door closed again and I heard the light uneven footsteps of Newt.

"That shank actually listened to my advice."

I heard him mutter in amazement. I couldn't hold on any longer and I was pulled into deep sleep.

_____________________________

I woke up full of energy and excitement. It was like my mind was working while I was sleeping, waking up with a fully formed plan. I got up and raced out into the dinning area as fast as my ribs would allow me. I found Minho and Ben at the counter just grabbing breakfast.

"Guys!" I called and carefully jogged towards them.

"Good morning Tiger! Someone looks well rested." Minho smirked at me.

I frowned at him, not sure what he was getting at, but I shook my head and waved a dismissive hand.

"Okay I have an idea!" To  make sure no one was listening, I pulled them away from the crowd and glanced around. They looked at me with a beamused look.

"What's this all about?" Ben asked.

"About the maps and stuff!" I said quickly.

"Listening." Minho nodded.

"Okay, know how I said yesterday, it's hard to see the whole maze and keep track of everything?"

Both boy's nodded. I was excited, I really think this idea would be beneficial to the Runners, especially with mapping and still exploring new areas!

"Okay, well..." I paused for dramatic effect.

"Man, she's as dramatic as you are!" Ben rolled his eyes, bumping Minho's shoulder with his own. Minho just rolled his eyes.

"Get on with it, will ya Tiger? I got breakfast to eat!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, why don't we make a mini model of the maze. As we map it, build it, so its all there, easy to see easy to visualize, if you have to explain it to someone, you can use the little model!"

They were both quiet, blinking a few times. They didn't say anything, and my excitement started to fizzle.

"I know it would help me...I'm a visual person..." I said quietly.

Minho cocked his head, looking at me with an expressionless face.

"Sorry. If it's a dumb idea, scrap it. Never mind."

"What? Are you kidding? Tiger! That's the shucken best idea anyone has had in this shucken place! I love it! I'm going to leave you in charge of that! I'll get Devon and Jonny to help you! They are out of the rotation today! Good that?"

I smiled so wildly it actually hurt my face. And to make it even bigger, Gally had just strolled into the Dinning area. My body stopped functioning. I stood rooted to the spot in the corner, my eyes on Gally and I could feel a stupid grin on my face.

Ben followed my gaze and sniggered, elbowing Minho and indicating with his head. Minho got a mischievous twinkle in his dark eyes.

"I'd hug ya Tiger, but I don't want to get throwin' into the Slammer."

"Nah, I'd flaten ya first. I beat you once I can beat you again." I snapped my eyes still on Gally, who was now grabbing breakfast.

The words from the voice floated to the surface..."It's just Noradrenaline, Dopamine and Phenylethylamine. The Chemicals in your brain causing this"

I dropped my smile and my eyes went wide in shock, fear and surprise. I felt all the blood drain from my face. The sudden drop in my blood pressure made me dizzy. I must have scared Minho because he grabbed my arm a frown on his face.

"You all right? You don't look so good."

I opened and closed my mouth a few times. No, no I was not alright. Those weird words finally made sense. My brain was absolutely working over time last night. It was like when I remembered my name, it was just there, like it was never taken. A voice of a girl reading from a science textbook:

"The initial happy feelings of being in love is stimulated by 3 chemicals in the brain: noradrenaline that stimulates adrenaline production causing that racing heart and sweaty palms; dopamine, the feel-good chemical; and phenylethylamine that is released when we're near our crush, giving us butterflies in our tummies."

Shuck no. There was no way. No. Nope. I've been here less then a month. And in that time we've had all of a handful of conversations where we aren't yelling and ready to strangle each other.

No shucken way I could be in love with Gally.

Just as I thought that Gally turned to find a table and caught me staring at him. His steel blue eyes lit up, I could see it from here. But his eyebrows pulled together in a frown of concern. I felt another wave of dizziness hit and my stomach exploded with butterflies.

My head vibrated and the voice whispered.

You know it's true Charlie.

The ground came out of no where and my world went dark.

_____________________________________________

**Gasp!**
**Gentle Gally is what I live for!**