Jina made it back in time for Last Rounds, pretending to be asleep. As soon as the door was closed and locked and it was silent for a moment, Jina was back on the floor. This time she had managed to convince Aris to come, they were going to the door where the floating beeping beds rolled through.

Hey...Thomas?

Jina called out to him hesitantly. She knew this was very invasive. Even Aris got nervous about calling to her in her mind. Despite her being completely comfortable with him calling her. She just found out about this, and it seemed to be new for Thomas too, so she didn't want to scare him or weird him out. Her stomach twisted nervously. She felt his presence almost immediately. It made her stomach flutter.

I thought it was Tommy?

Did she detect a hint of amusement? Her face heated up slightly in a blush and she was glad Aris was behind her and he couldn't see. She would never live it down.

I can use Tommy if you want... She really hoped she didn't sound like one of those ditsy gossip girls from the cafeteria. Or sound like a finchface. I just...we kinda just re-met. Don't wanna like...over step or something...ya know?

Well everyone calls me Thomas. Except Newt. He calls me Tommy. But I think that's a British thing. I...I liked when you call me Tommy.

Jina was pretty sure she died a little when he said that. Her heart beat faster and her stomach did a full backflip.

Well..Tommy, we're on our way.

We?

Aris and I. We need to show you something.

Oh Okay. Was he disappointed Aris was with them? No, she was reading too much into this...but she did detect slight disappointment. That was a weird thing about the mind link. Anyone could feel the emotions in whoever they were talking to. Well I'm ready. The others are all asleep, and out hard, even Minho. He was worried you were gonna get caught out of bed. But everyone is out, it's been a long few days.

I understand. But... you're not tired?

Exhausted. But I won't be able to sleep, I'm too wired. There was some weird stuff that happened recently.

Tommy, you can say the big boy words, Newt can't sold you in your head. Jina teased and she could feel him chuckle a bit.

Fine. There was a lot of weird shit that went down the last few days. Doubt I'll sleep for a while.

Jina felt the amusement slip from both of them. Ya...when we were taken from the maze there was a lot of blood and guts and horrible shit. I still don't sleep properly and that was...well I don't sleep much.

I'm really sorry Ji, you had to go through that.

She could feel his sadness. Jina pulled her self from the vent and taped the bed frame. The bed shifted and then a head leaned over. Jina saw Thomas's upside down face. She smiled and waved. His face broke into a wide grin.

"Come on. And hurry. We don't have a lot of time." She whispered.

He was already wiggling through the vent after her. They met Aris at the intersection.

"Tommy this is Aris. Aris this is Thomas." Jina whispered. The guys nodded at each other. And Jina's head was buzzing instantly with Thomas's presence.

So he was the Teresa of your maze?

Umm, I guess. She the only girl?

Ya. I was only there for two weeks. Teresa came the day after me and was in some kind of weird coma  for most of it, only awake for maybe a week before we escaped. What about him?

Rachel and Aris came up together a month before we were pulled. Aris was only out for a few hours because he slammed his head on the Cage.

Oh?

Ya. Rachel was a Mapper with me. Aris...kind of did most of the maze word solving... We made quite a lot of progress. But then we were pulled.

Ya? Why do you think you guys were pulled? And not allowed to figure out the end? I mean I'm glad, 'cause it was shucken awful. But why do you think?

Jina led the way through the vents while her and Thomas talked. Their conversation flowed easily. And the longer she chatted with him, the more settled she was becoming, the more comfortable.

Umm... Well...would you believe me if I told you that you spoke to me once while I was inside the maze?

What? Me? What did I say?

Well...my best guess it was you. I don't know how many Thomas's that can speak in my head...

Oh, great deductive reasoning! What did I say?

Ummm...

Jina wasn't sure if she should tell him everything. Probably not. He lost his memories and to tell him exactly what he said would probably scare the klank out of him.

Ji? Did I...did I say something I shouldn't have?

No! No, sorry Tommy. I was just thinking. You told me I was on the right track, with the maze being a code and that help was coming.

Oh.

There was silence for a minute.

"Hey, Jina?" Thomas asked out loud and she flinched at the sudden loud noise.

"Ya Tommy?" She whispered back, and glanced over her shoulder. She had a fleeting thought cross her mind and she was horrified- Thomas was right behind her as they crawled through the vents. He had a great view of her ass. She turned back around, her face beat red and suddenly very warm.

"Umm...what are we doing exactly?" Thomas asked. His voice was loud in the metal vents even though he was whispering.

"Come here." Jina whispered even quieter.

They had arrived at their destination. She had stopped crawling and stopped above the vent. Thomas and Aris crowded around the vent. She was very aware of how close Thomas was to her. His body almost touching hers. He was so close she could feel his heat and smell his soapy musky Tommy smell, her stomach fluttered- more than once. She swallowed hard and looked up. Thomas was already looking, there wasn't a lot of space and he was so close his breath fluttered the hair on her face. If she wasn't careful she could get lost in his eyes and his smell was really intoxicating.

"Watch." She mouthed and pressed a finger to her lips. And then pointed down. Thomas looked briefly at her lips and then down through the vent. Aris caught her eye and smirked at her.

Smooth. Aris teased.

Shut up! You were drooling over him earlier.

Shut up! You win. He scowled at her. Jina mentally stuck her tongue out at him. And he rolled his eyes.

A minute later, the row of beds, all with beeping monitors and tubes came rolling past. A guard Jina recognized, but didn't know the name of, swiped his pass. Which was just in his pocket, he punched in the same code as every day and the door hissed open and the bed boxes were rolled in. And then the door slid shut.

"What the hell was that?" Thomas hissed, looking up at them. His eyes were wide, but she couldn't detect his emotion, fear, worry, anger, concern? Most likely all of the above.

"They bring in new ones every night, like clockwork." Aris spoke. He was staring at the door like he could x-ray it and see right through. "Jina and I have been watching it for as long as we've been here.

"You know what they do with them?" Thomas asked, looking back and forth between Jina and Aris, his eyebrows pulled together and he was frowning. Jina could see how his eyes glazed over and became distant and his jaw muscles clenched as he thought. Her cheeks flushed, he was kinda cute when he was trying to work out a puzzle.

"We don't know." Aris's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "This is as far as we've ever gotten. The vents don't even go into that section. But once they go through that door, they don't come back out."

"Tommy," Jina said quietly. His eyes flicked to hers and intently focused on her face. "Aris and I don't think anybody ever really leaves this place."

"What? Seriously?" He gasped. 

Jina nodded. "We came with a friend-"

"Ya you said...uhh sorry can't remember her name. She was called a day or two ago?"

Jina nodded, her eyes stinging with tears. She blinked a few times and took a slow deep breath. "Ya. Flossie. We told her it was going to be okay, despite what we'd seen and heard." Jina took another shaking breath before going on. "But. Every other day, we noticed, there's a bed short compared to the names Janson listed. Now we're not saying it's the same kids...but something is sketchy-"

"But why is one bed always missing every other day?" Thomas interrupted.

Jina peered at him, he was clearly eating up what they said, she could see him putting pieces together and she could see- she hoped- that he believed them. "Well. We think, there are a few people who are smuggling kids out." Jina said plainly.

"What? Seriously?" Thomas looked shocked. "I...I thought this group fought against WICKED?"

Jina raised an eyebrow. "Do you honestly believe that?"

"No." He whispered immediately, shaking his head, making his hair fall into his face.

"No." Jina agreed.

"Exactly." Aris nodded. "Come on. We've gotta go before somebody notices we're gone."

"Why did you guys show me this?" Thomas asked, looking back and forth between Jina and Aris.

"Because maybe the others will listen to you." Jina whispered. "I made a promise to Minho a long time ago; that'd I'd get him out. I can't do it alone...Janson wants us together for some reason. There have been kids who have shown up in the morning and are called that evening...Aris and I? We've been here waiting for the guys from A. Which is you. Now that you're here? I don't know what's going to happen. A few others think something else is going down too. So...we need to find out what's going on and get the hell outta here."

"There's something weird going on here. And we know you think so too." Aris agreed.

"Now to get in there," Jina gestured to the door from their aerial view of the hall. "We need a pass card. I know the code already. If we can somehow get our hands on a card... we can go in there and check it out-"

"I can get the card." Thomas said immediately. His brown eyes fixed on Jina, and he said it with such conviction Jina believed him.

"Really? How?" Jina asked, surprised at his immediate agreement.

"No idea." He shrugged. "I'll figure it out."

"If David or Tim are on duty, that would be better..."

"Who are they and why is that good?"

"Remember when I said there were a few people working to smuggle kids out?" Jina asked, grinning mischievously at him. Thomas slowly nodded.

"Pretty sure Captain David and Tim in surveillance and Doctor Diana Crawford are three such people."

"Ahh. Got it." Thomas nodded. "Wait. How do you know?"

Jina smiled mischievously at him and winked. "A story for another time, Tommy."

Jina saw the small smile twitch at the corner of his lip. Before Jina lost all self control, she kept talking.

"They won't hand over their swipe cards but maybe they wouldn't struggle if we...made a scene or something and just happened to take it." She paused thinking. She felt Thomas eyes on her and her face became warm again. She cleared her throat and rushed on. Her own voice sounded breathy and she hated it. "But, Tommy, if you trust me about the weirdness around here, trust me that I know those three will help."

"Okay." He nodded, his big whiskey brown eyes glued to her. He had hardly not been staring at her, and she was having a hard time not staring back and staying on task.

"I believe you." He whispered, it was so soft and gentle but so honest and firm Jina's heart stopped for a split second.

They were awfully close, there really wasn't a lot of space in the vents, and they only had a few inches between their bodies and faces. There was only a few inches when they started, but somehow they ended up closer, their shoulders brushed and their knees just grazed. He shifted to look down through the vent and she felt something brush against her hand. She tried to swallow, her mouth had gone very dry. She tried to ignore it, but she didn't move. One of Thomas's fingers slowly but deliberately wrap around her pinky. Jina wanted to melt into the floor. She swallowed hard and forced herself to whisper, praying her voice didn't sound as high pitched and squeaky as she thought.

"They keep their passes in their left pockets. How are your pick-pocket skills?"

"Don't worry about that. I'll get it."

Jina grinned. Maybe now they could get some real answers.

"Okay. Sounds good. And now we really do need to leave and get back to bed." Aris whispered urgently. Thomas let go of her finger and didn't acknowledge it at all. Thomas nodded and then followed Aris back to his vent. He hesitated at the crossroads.

"Thanks for showing me..."

"No problem. Come on Jina, we gotta go." Aris nodded at Thomas. Then turned and crawled away.

Jina hesitated, she could feel Thomas's eyes on her. She slowly flicked her eyes up at him, she felt a small shy smile form on her lips.

Good night Boss Lady. Thomas said quietly in her mind. She felt a stab of pain, making her wince. She frowned and pulled her eyebrows together trying to figure out why she knew that name.

I know that name.

I don't really remember it or the contex...but...I remember working closely with a few people. Clearly it was you and Aris, and uhh.. Rachel... I don't think I'd call Aris Boss Lady. And I don't remember Rachel at all. And I'd never give that name to Teresa. It feels...right to call you that.

Jina felt a swarm of butterflies take flight in her stomach. They swooped and fluttered. Her cheeks went pink as she smiled shyly at him.

Well...I'll take it. Good night Tommy.

Good night Ji. See you at breakfast?

She didn't want to read too much into it, but she swore he was feeling shy and kind of hopeful when he asked.

Absolutely, Super Spy.

Thomas grinned back.

Jina! Where are you come on! Flirt later! Aris hissed in her head. She could definitely detect his annoyance. Jina sighed.

"Aris is calling. I'll see you in the morning."

She turned around and crawled back to her room. Aris was already standing and waiting for her arms folded, tapping his foot on the ground and definitely a slight look of annoyance. She felt like a scolded child.

"What?" She asked, she could still feel the blush on her chest and face. And her tummy was still fluttering with butterflies.

His annoyance disappeared in a flash, replaced by a smirk. And an I-knew-it-look appeared on his face.

"Whaaaat?" Jina asked defensively, folding her own arms, mirroring his stance.

"Knew it. Thomas and you before the maze were totally a thing!"

"What?" Jina asked again. She felt her face flush even darker and hotter.

"Yep. Absolutely. I knew it, you and Thomas...were way more then some goofy school girl crush."

"How...how can you tell?"

Aris rolled his eyes. He grabbed her arm and pulled her down onto the bed. "Sometimes, you girls are so oblivious. Seriously." He huffed and rolled his eyes. "Okay. You said you came up the Cage with two other names. Clearly they were very important to you. And then some disembodied voice calls to you while your inside the maze. He calls himself a nickname...clearly there was more to it then just like friends or whatever. And now? One of the names is a brother. Makes sense. The other? Thomas gives you memory after shocks from the changing. And the lingering eye contact, the blushing and kill me now flirting..."

"Oh. Umm...ya.." Jina got up to pace the room, to give herself something to do.

"What aren't you telling me?"

Jina stopped and turned to him, feeling very bashful. "He...umm said some other stuff...the night he spoke to me..."

Aris gasped and jumped up. "What?! What did he say?"

"He doesn't even remember us. I hardly remember us! Aris, this is so stupid. It doesn't even matter anymore!" Jina cried, throwing her hands into the air. She tried to turn away, but Aris caught her and turned her back. His smug know it all smirk was gone. His face softened.

"What did he say, Ji?"

She swallowed around the lump in her throat. She looked away, glaring at the digital clock on the dresser, trying to ignore the sting of tears. "He said he was sorry for something they made him do. The hint about the maze, help was on the way. And then called me Hun. And umm...he- he said he loved me and to just hold on."

A single tear escaped where lashes and slid down her cheek.

"He doesn't even remember. I don't even remember." She whispered, after everything awful she had seen and been through over the last year, it was cruel to have something good just out of reach. The possibility of good memories, of something happy dangled just out of her grasp. It was very WICKED.

Aris stepped closer and gently cupped her cheek and looked down at her with his watery blue eyes and smiled. "Then make new memories. He's here now, Ji. And clearly there is still that base layer of trust and attraction. Start again. Not many people have that opertunity." Aris said gently.

"Ya...I guess. It's just...it seems so cruel."

"Ya. But that's the messed up world we live in. Are we tough enough to get through it? He's here. He's gonna help us. And once we're out, and free..? Who knows. But he's here and I can tell he's interested."

"How can you tell?" Jina looked up with a questioning look.

He rolled his eyes. "He couldn't rip his eyes off of you, he was eating up EVERYTHING you said, and I saw the little hand hold-"

"What?" Jina gasped, "you saw that?"

"Come ON, Ji!" Aris groaned.

"Oh.." she lowered her eyes and went bright red.

"But I've seen guys try hit on you, and some of them were pretty cute. This guy has your undevided attention. You remembered his name when everything else was stripped from you. Trust me Ji."

"Ya... you're right, I guess." Jina sighed. "A terrible long deja vu moment. Having to remet your boyfriend or whatever title we had"

"I'm always right, Ji. That's what a best friend is for. I'm your official wing man. Now it's time for some beauty sleep, so you can re-meet your boo." He pulled her head closer and kissed the top of her head before pulling her into a hug which Jina reciprocated.

"Please don't ever call him that again." Jina muttered against Aris's shoulder. She felt him chuckle.

She finally crawled into bed and closed her eyes and fell asleep with a small smile.

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