I'm back???? Doing a few requests I found lurking in the comments sections.

For @locotrbl

The sun, wherever it may be, is unbearable. Frypan could fry up some eggs on the tin roof of the Homestead in weather like this.

I wipe some sweat off my face, flinging it to the ground. I stand propped up against my hoe, taking a few deep breaths.

"Everything alright, Caleah?" Newt asks, walking up to me.

I smile shortly at him, nodding. "Yeah. Just hot as all shuck out here."

He nods, flashing a white smile. "You got that right, C." He looks over towards the Homestead, my gaze following. "Medjacks already got Matt and Bryan laid up in the Homestead."

I look over back to him. "What? What happened?"

He looks back to me. "Heat got to 'em. Clint said they needed a little time in the shade. Cool off a little. Should be good by tomorrow."

"Shuck." I say, swiping my head again. "That sucks."

He nods in agreement. "Yeah." He says, huffing a laugh. We look back out to the Homestead, standing in silence. We seem to be the only two people out here right now.

I look back over to Newt, studying his face for a moment. He looks peaceful, for the first tine in a while, just watching, his eyes flicking over different things. I watch his mouth turn down, just for a moment as his eyes pass over The Box. No doubt from the horrid memories we all share of coming up in that thing, scared, dark, and all alone, not remembering a damn thing but our names, if we're lucky. Some don't remember that for days. It took me about a day and a half before remembering mine.

It's a funny story actually, now that I think about it.

My first night here was horrible. I was the only girl in a group of about nine or so boys. I didn't have to remember my name to know that the odds were not in my favor. I was very jumpy, wouldn't let anyone come near me. I sat on a log and watched the boys wrestle and drink some brown liquid out of jars and have fun. They were boys genuinely being boys.

At some point during the night, one of them, a tall, yet not the tallest, boy, Newt, wandered over to my little log. He sat down wordlessly, offering me a jar of that brown liquid. I stared at him for a moment, my eyes flicking between him and the jar. He offered it again, wordlessly, and I finally took it, taking a big swig of it. As soon as it touched my throat I started coughing. I spit it out, gagging at the taste. Newt laughed loudly as he watched. I turned, glaring at him and he calmed a little.

He sat back on the log and stared at me. I met his gaze and we sat like that for a while, wordless and unmoving. At some point, we fell asleep, and I awoke the next morning cuddled up next to this strange boy.

I flinched away, getting to my feet and walking towards a patch of woods near the walls of this place. It was still a little dark, the sun still having not risen yet. I walked into the patch of trees, my eyes grazing over the old wood and dead leaves that barely hung to them. I walked deeper and deeper, the trees growing older and older as I went.

I heard a branch snap behind me, and I turned, not seeing anything. I turned back, continuing on my way. I don't know where I was going, to the wall, I think, but I don't remember now. I took a few more steps and heard another branch snap and something fall to the ground behind me.

I jumped, spinning around and spotting some sort of mechanical bug lying on its back in the leaves. A quiet, "aww," left my lips. It was kinda cute looking. I reach a hand out to help it turn over when it suddenly sprouted claws, one catching my hand and slicing it and it flipped itself over.

I yelled, drawing my hand back and holding it to my chest as its red eyes focused on me, and it started to yell. Well, yell is a loose term. More like, it started blaring some noise.

My feet were running before I could tell them to. My hand throbbed something terrible, and it felt like the noise was following me as I ran through the woods back to the base camp they had going on.

The noise got closer to me, blaring loudly and I let out a scream. "Newt!" It was the only name I remembered from the boys that welcomed me. "Newt help me!"

I burst out of the tree line, my eyes unfocused and blurry from tears I didn't even know I had started to cry. Then I slammed into a solid form, hand grappling at my sides, but unable to catch me as I tumbled to the ground, my head smacking against the ungiving dirt.

It was then that I remembered my name. Like, the fall had unlodged it from some deep dark recess of my brain. "Caleah." I said, the pain in my hand forgotten for the moment.

Then I was lifted into someone's arms, the muscles rippling as they carried me. I focused my eyes to see it was Newt carrying me. I smiled up at him.

"Hey. You're gonna be okay, alright Greenie." He said, almost to himself.

I reached a hand up, my uncut hand, and touched his face. He looked down at me, breathing heavily. He stopped, looking down at me, surprise gracing his features.

"I'm no Greenie." I had said. "I'm a Caleah." He stared at me for a moment, then grinned a bit.

"Your name. It's Caleah?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yep." Then my head lolled to the side and Newt took off again, very concerned for my health. I don't remember much else about that day, but Newt said that I couldn't stop saying my name, as delirious as I was. My hand had needed a few stitches, and Newt had given me a fat concussion when he knocked me down, but other than that I was fine. Up and about in two days flat.

But the whole time, Newt stayed by my bedside, holding my uninjured hand in his, apologizing every chance he could get.

When I finally come back to the present, Newt stands directly in front of my face, snapping lightly.

"Caleah? Earth to Caleah?" He says, grinning softly. "Dear God, please don't tell me I've somehow given you another concussion."

I laugh softly, coming back to myself. "No. Of course not." I say, leaning forward and pecking him on the lips. He smiles softly at me, not quite pulling away.

"Wanna take a break?" He asks.

I nod, smiling at him. "Wouldn't mind it at all."

We drop our hoes and, hand in hand, walk off to the Deadheads, sitting together in silence in the cool the shade of the trees gives us.