MY DREAMS WERE FILLED WITH BLURRY TREES. Peering out a speeding car window, I couldn't see who was driving, but I had no control over where we were going. I couldn't talk. I could only watch the forest cascade past and wait for us to either arrive at our destination or crash. 

Ben's boots woke me as he crept to my side of the bed. I startled awake with a short gasp. After our chaotic day, Mr. Choi offered me their couch till Ben and Mr. Arnold got home. I declined. I didn't want to worry Lauren after I had reassured her that the stranger was nonviolent and just wanted to chat. She'd calmed down by the time she left with Mr. Choi. I didn't want to send her back into her shell after she had been doing so well.

"Annabeth? What's this doing here?" Ben flicked his lighter and held it to the candle wick beside my bed. The wavering glow revealed the shotgun propped up against the wall.

I rubbed the hair from my eyes and sat up, hooking my arms over my knees. "Just in case. After everything happened the other night."

I had already decided to leave out Andrew Good's visit till morning. I was too mentally exhausted and knew he would be wiped as well. It wasn't worth rehashing at midnight.

Ben sighed as he sank onto the bed. His white t-shirt was stained with soot. "I hate to say it, but I'm glad to see that you had it close. More drifters are moving into the area."

I bit my lip and shrugged. "Did you guys find a stove?"

"Actually yeah. It's a dated model, but Mr. Arnold thinks we might be able to jimmy rig it up with a good stove pipe. We also found some CO2 detectors at an abandoned Home Depot. Those were the last things people were looting apparently."

"Good. That's good."

He took my hand and ran a thumb over my knuckles. Studying my face, he leaned forward and gave me a brief kiss. Then he sat back and continued to look at me, his lips parted in hesitation.

"What is it?" I laughed, tucking a stand of hair behind my ear.

He gave a faint grin and dug into his pocket. "I found something else that made me think of you."

"What?"

When he pulled out the velvet case, my heart dropped a little. I had already told him that I didn't need a ring. It would feel odd wearing one even if times had changed. Besides, I felt bound to him in ways that went beyond a little piece of metal.

"What's this?" I gave a wary grin, furrowing my brow.

"Don't worry. It's nothing scary," he muttered with a self conscious chuckle, as though guessing my thoughts. "Go ahead."

He was holding his breath. I took the case and snapped it open.

"Oh!" I pulled out a circular locket, yellow gold with a rose embellished on the face. "Oh my god. Ben."

"What do you think?"

I cradled it, opening the vacant interior, candlelight catching the ovoid curve. "It's... it couldn't be more perfect."

He released his breath with a boyish smile that erased the exhaustion in his eyes. "Really? You like it?"

"I love it. Here, can you help..."

"Yeah, yeah."

I turned my back towards him and swept my hair over my shoulder as he hitched the chain's clasp around my neck. His fingers trailed down my spine. I looked down at it resting comfortably over my heart, above the Patriots emblem on my t-shirt. For some odd reason, I felt like crying but swallowed the impulse, knowing it might only distress him. 

"I wish there was a picture we could put in it for you," he commented as I turned towards him. He picked it up and clicked it open. "Do you have a picture of your mom?"

"Yes. I have my photo album. But..."

"But what?"

"I guess this feels like..." I heaved a breath, arms dropping to my sides. "It just feels like this is between you and me. It's an intimacy between us. It's about the present, not the past."

"Some days, I feel like I live only in the past."

"Me too. Which is why this is important. It's a marker for today, this very moment." I met his eyes. "It's moments like these that allow us to move forward towards something new."

He cocked his head to the side in thought, eyes dropping once more to the locket. "Then maybe it's better that it remains empty. So we always have something else to move forward towards."

Soon after Ben crawled into bed beside me, the rains began. They pattered the roof and the leaves of the wild garden next door, cooling the earth and air. Distant thunder from the east, over the ocean, echoed through the gently sloping hills and forests. I laid awake in his arms with the locket still around my neck. 

I fell asleep thinking about my mother, despite what I had said earlier. Perhaps moving forward would be a more painstaking process. After all, we weren't just grieving our loved ones. We were grieving the loss of everything that we had ever known. I forced myself to remember the moments when I could just live in the present and be satisfied. Those moments almost always included him.

Blankets tangled, I woke first to find that he had fallen asleep with his ear pressed to my heart. His brow furrowed and jaw clenched, the long planes of his hands were pressed up under my t-shirt to the bare skin of my back. He was holding on to me for dear life. Whatever he was dreaming, it wasn't pleasant. 

Hooking my thigh up against his hip, I tangled the tips of my fingers in his hair, unsure if I should wake him. Breath hissed through his nose as he stirred and blinked towards the window. It was almost morning. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and dug my fingers in his curls, holding him to me.

"Go back to sleep," I urged in the hush. "You should sleep."

He obeyed silently, snuggling into me. He didn't mention what it was that he dreamed of while listening to the steady throb of my heart. Not even after the rain began to fall again and he lazily made love to me in the haze of near sleep. I didn't dare ask. 

It was almost noon by the time I got around to admitting what happened the day before when he was out. 

"Did you start on that wood out there?"

"Actually, no."

He bit into a slice of tomato as he sat down at the booth that served as our table. "Annabeth."

"Yes, it was me." I smirked as I sat down across from him with my own plate.

"I didn't know you could split wood," he said.

"Hidden talent, I guess."

"Too bad the storm knocked over the pile."

The bite of canned ravioli cemented to the roof of my mouth. "Well. That's something else I need to tell you."

He paused after taking a drink and sat back, narrowing his eyes after hearing the hesitation in my voice. "What's up?"

I wet my lips and played with the locket. "We had guests yesterday."

"Guests."

"Yes. And I got the distinct impression they were of the unsavory sort."

"Okay..." He leaned against the table towards me till I met his eyes. "Why are you just saying this now?"

I opened my mouth to explain, but halted. A truck engine shattered the misty quiet of the day, the same abrasive roar I had heard the previous day. And it was headed our way.