What if....Max and Lucas grew ever closer together while the others searched for them? (Fluff and Smut and light Angst) (Continues after chapter forty one)

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"Are we sure we are suppose to be even doing this?" Steve questions.

All of them stand around a small circle table, all of them pretty much having their arms crossed while they look at the map.

"Max wouldn't just leave, we have to look for her." Nancy says.

"She cares for Lucas, so we have to find them both." Eleven says. "She left for him, so we have to make sure we bring back the reason why she left, we have to bring back him."

"Okay but...yeah we are close to finding a remedy or a cure but there is no guarantee that it will work." Mike says.

"We hope it will." Dustin says.

"We are checking probabilities, things are checking out...a little." Suzie says the last part to herself.

"I already talked to Gil and Herbert they are already at the North gate ready to let us out." Eleven mentions. "We find them and we bring them back."

"What if...they don't want to come back?" Jonathan questions. "Like what if they planned to leave the city?"

"Max wouldn't just leave without telling us something." Nancy says while she shakes her head. "But if that is the case...if you are right then we have to be sure."

"It has already been months." Eleven says while shaking her head. "She might need help."

"Yeah." Steve says. "We might get kicked off the GuardRunners team but...family comes first."

"Family comes first." They all say in union.

"Okay we don't make a scene." Jonathan says. "We all leave one at a time and go different paths to the gate, we don't want to be seen leaving."

"Got it."

"Dustin and Suzie you all stay here and keep working on that cure with the doctors, something tells me that Lucas doesn't have much time." Eleven says.

"Got it."

"Okay let's go."

All of them go to leave one at a time out of the room, all of them making sure to wait a few minutes before they next one leaves. They all go down their designated paths until they all get to the gate, Gil and Herbert nodding at them before they open the gate, all of them going to leave out of the gate with their backpacks and things in hand.

"We keep quiet, and someone always takes watch." Eleven whispers. "This is new territory for us, so we have to be careful."

"Understood."

"Yeah."

All of them begin to walk aways, them going through the bushes and woods more to avoid being seen by any infected, them being sure as well to not step on any branches.

"Guys!" Steve whisper yells, him standing by a thick tree that has writing on it. All of them look at him before they all go to the tree, all of them looking at the writing on it.

Four cases.

"What does that mean?" Jonathan questions.

Nancy scrunches up her eyebrows a little bit. "Wait wait wait...." She starts while lightly waving her hand. "How much medicine went missing a few months ago?"

Eleven slowly turns to look at her. "Four cases worth."

"Exactly." Nancy nods. "Four cases for one person I'd say last about....six months."

"And it's already been four..." Mike trails off.

"So....that means...." Will trails off.

Eleven sighs a little bit, her looking at the others before she says her next words.

"It means we have two more months to find them."

~

Lucas grunts a little as he chops wood, him finding another axe this morning when they went scavenging, him bringing it up and chopping all of the wood, him having on a jacket along with his shirt because of the cooler weather.

Max stands in the room of the house, her marking another day off of the little calendar she made for herself, her taking a little breath as she does. As the days pass by the more a pit in her stomach begins to be felt even more, the more it just gets deeper and deeper, like a black hole sucking in all of the peaceful feelings and it being replaced with anxiety and fear.

Max tells herself to ignore it, that things should be fine. She looks back out at Lucas, seeing how he goes to take off his jacket, him chopping up some more logs and woods before he goes to take off his shirt.

It has been a few days, a few days since Max and Lucas has had their moment. She admits things are a little awkward between them but not as awkward as it was before. They are no longer arguing, they hashed things out and shared their thoughts and feelings about the whole situation on Lucas leaving, but ever since they slept together they haven't really talked much about it, because it was something so unexpected that happened.

Emotions were high Max definitely knows that, and she knows she was the one that started it all which makes it even more awkward for her to break the ice, but she knows she is going to have to do it sooner or later, otherwise she is going to drive herself more crazy then she already is.

For now she just takes a moment to admire him, his sweaty skin as he is chopping up the wood, him deciding to get as much as he can chopped for the day to get ready for the colder days that way he doesn't have to worry about doing it then, and that they can be warm in the room. Ever since they did sleep together Max has just told him to sleep up on the bed, because she doesn't want for him to get sick because he does most of the handy work.

Plus he is warm.

And muscular.

And large.

And handsome.

And just....

Him.

Max quickly pretends to be looking at something else outside and turns off a little when Lucas turns around and catches her gaze, her going to close her eyes in a scolding manner, her back being turned to him. "Jesus Christ Max." She scolds herself quietly, walking away from the window.

Lucas smiles small, him going back to chopping up the wood, him humming along to the music that plays on the radio that they found as well. After a few minutes of chopping he goes to put down his axe, him going to stretch his back a little bit.

"Need a break old man?"

Lucas looks over at Max, seeing her making her way out of the door holding a cup, going to give it to him. "Thanks." He says before going to down the water, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Did you just call me a old man?"

"Sure did, you are popping your back like one." She tells him.

"It's hard work." Lucas says with a smile.

"Mhm." She hums. "I'm sure it's not that bad."

"Try it out then." He says.

"Gladly." Max says, going to pick up the axe.

Lucas watches her as she begins to chop the logs and wood, her putting her foot on the wood as she takes the axe out of it. "So umm....about a few days ago...when we...."

Max stops her motions for a minute, her going to put down the axe and look at him. "Yeah."

Lucas moves his mouth a little awkwardly. "So umm...." He tries, him going to scratch the back of his neck.

"Look Lucas I know I...initiated contact." Max starts. "And I meant what I said I don't regret what happened, maybe the way it happened since we were both mad and emotions were high, I'm not the type of girl to just screw someone because I'm mad I don't view you like that."

"No no I know I'm not that guy either." Lucas says in response. "I haven't actually...even been with anyone...so...."

Max's eyes widen a little. "Wait...so I was your first?"

Lucas puts his hands in his pockets a little. "Yeah...yeah you were."

Max nods her head a little bit in surprise, her eyebrows being raised in surprise as well. "Wow..."

"Is that...a bad thing?" Lucas questions.

"No not at all just...." Max trails off a little bit. "I guess I'm just surprised."

"About what?" Lucas lightly chuckles.

"Oh come on Lucas look at you." Max motions. "Plus it...I don't know it seemed like you knew what you were doing."

Lucas smiles wider. "Yeah I guess it just comes to you."

"Hell I guess it does." Max shrugs, Lucas laughing more. "Okay don't get a big head."

"My head definitely grew a little bit from that." Lucas says.

"Whatever." She rolls her eyes, him laughing in response. "Look Lucas can we just stop being awkward please? I honestly miss the way things were with us, I just want things to be...you know peaceful."

Lucas smiles softly at her while he nods. "Yeah me too Max, me too."

Max smiles at him with a nod, her smile lightly dropping from her face and getting replaced with a worried expression when he grunts a little while his hand goes to his forearm, him clenching and unclenching his hand a little when the veins begin to pop out of his arms a little bit. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...yeah I'm good." He says in between a light breath. "I just need to take my next dose, I'll be right back."

"Okay." Max says, watching him go back in the house. Max sighs a little bit, her going back to chopping the wood.

"Please hurry up guys."

~

Eleven and the others all walk down the path, them occasionally taking out the zombies that get in the way. Nancy takes a long drink out of her canteen, Steve lightly wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

"Guys..." Will starts while he crouches down, going to pick up a piece of dried up wheat bread, him going to observe it.

"Who the hell would waste food?" Steve questions while crouching down.

"Max would waste this type of food." Nancy says while she crouches down, her going to walk slowly on down the path, seeing little trails of wheat bread. "Max hates wheat bread."

"She's leaving us a trail." Eleven says while standing up. "Which means we are going the right way."

"Okay but why would Max leave with him only to ask us to come and follow her to bring them back?" Jonathan questions when they begin walking again.

"Well for one Max cannot drag a full blown man back to the city." Nancy says.

"And she probably already tried talking to him into staying." Eleven adds in. "He probably wasn't listening."

"Okay so what I'm hearing is that we are probably going to have to kidnap the guy if he doesn't want to leave." Mike says.

"But...what if this cure doesn't work?" Will questions. "What if all he wants is to go in peace and we ruin that for him if bringing him back is what Max wants?"

All of them grow a little silent, all of them going to look at each other for a little bit.

"But what if the cure does work? And he ends up turning for no reason?" Eleven says back.

"Yeah that's a possibility but...I think we all know that...that's least likely to happen." Mike says.

"It isn't just about him it is about the rest of the people infected in the city, we have to help them too." Eleven says.

Steve sighs a little bit. "I honestly hope it does work. Because if it doesn't then....we might all be doomed, having infected in the city is risking us for a city that is almost infected free."

"We have to try." Eleven says.

All of them continuing to walk.

~

Lucas slowly begins to open his eyes, the fire in the room in the little fireplace he made still going, warming up the room. He looks to his side to not see Max there, him yawning a little bit as he takes the covers off of him.

He looks out of the window, seeing Max sitting on one of the chairs he made, her back being turned to him. The past month has been good, them talking to one another more normally like they have been doing before, finding things to do to get rid of their boredom, and them growing more close to one another.

Lucas goes to put on one of his shirts before he goes to leave out of the room.

Max looks at the calendar she made, x-ing off yet another day, her rocking her knee a little bit while she takes a little breath, her hair softly blowing in the cool wind, her wearing a coat and a shirt with her boots and combat pants.

"Come on." Max says to herself, honestly feeling her heart thump more faster and faster.

"You alright?"

"Jesus." Max quickly turns around, seeing Lucas going to sit besides her at the other chair. "You walk very quiet."

"A talent of mine." Lucas smiles, him looking down at her calendar and giving a confused expression.

Max follows his gaze, her going to put away the calendar. "Sorry I just...this is recently around the time my parents...you know...got infected." She tells the half truth. "But because of that I don't want to forget them, I always want to remember them so I...I count down the days."

Lucas nods his head in understanding. "I see."

"And you? Your parents?" Max looks over at him.

Lucas goes to his pocket to take out a picture and hand it to Max, Max taking the picture and going to look at it. "That's my Dad Charles, my mom Sue and my sister Erica."

Max smiles while she looks at the picture. "You look more like your mother."

Lucas smiles more. "Yeah."

"Tell me about them." She says.

"My mom was the best, always caring for me, always there." Lucas mentions. "My Dad was always there too, his heart was more made of stone but that never stopped him from being a great Dad. And honestly Erica reminds me a lot about you because she was the most sassiest person ever."

Max laughs. "Yeah she looks like it."

"Yeah she was." He laughs, it grows quiet for a moment, them able to hear the distance of snarls of the infected through the fences Lucas made around their area and through the fire.

"Must be a lot of them down there, might have to pick a little of them off." Max says.

"Yeah we can sometime later, not like they can get up here anyways." Lucas mentions.

Max nods her head, her looking over at him to see him looking aimlessly ahead of him with a blank expression. "You still there?"

"Yeah." Lucas nods. "I just...Max I hear those snarls, those people who don't even know who they are anymore, how they got lost to the darkness...." He starts. "I really don't want that happening to me, I really don't want to feel that feeling, you get that right?"

Max swallows a little bit while she looks ahead of her. "I..I do." She mentions, something coming to mind for her and her going to close her eyes briefly.

"I just want to go in peace, not like that." Lucas shakes his head.

Max looks over at him. "How about I make you a deal."

Lucas looks over at her. "A deal?"

"No one likes the easy way out, well I guess for the weak ones and....you know that is what suicide is." Max says with a little shrug. "You are to strong to take the easy way out."

Lucas furrows his eyebrows a little bit. "So....what are you saying?"

Max gives a little shaky sigh. "Transformation always seems to occur it seems like twelve hours after infection, unless you don't have medicine or run out so....when you run out...then I'll make the choice, to make sure I do everything I can that way you can have a peaceful life Lucas. I promise you that."

Lucas smiles softly at her, him nodding his head. "Thank you Max. That...that honestly means a lot." He says. "I guess my number one fear is feeling myself getting lost in transformation, loosing myself to this virus, I don't want to feel that feeling."

Max swallows a bit more, her nodding. "I'll...try and make sure that doesn't happen Lucas."

Lucas smiles softly at her, him nodding his head. "Thank you Max, truly."

Max smiles softly with a nod, her going to turn away and look aimlessly up, taking a quiet shaky breath. She just takes this moment to look up at the stars, so many of them being up in the sky.

"You know for someone so bold in the end you strike me as a shy type." Lucas says.

Max looks over at him with raised eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yeah, looks like your constellation is Cygnus." Lucas states.

"Say what now?" Max questions.

Lucas chuckles, him pointing up at the sky. "The swan, the Cygnus star constellation."

"Mhm." Max nods.

"So what's your Zodiac sign?" Lucas questions.

"Aries." Max answers.

"That explains a lot." Lucas smiles.

"Why what does it mean?" Max looks over at him.

"Aries are always so bold and aggressive." Lucas says.

"Hey I'm not aggressive!"

"Yes you are."

Max rolls her eyes. "What about you what's your Zebra sign?"

Lucas laughs out hard, Max just rolling her eyes with a smile. "It's Zodiac Max."

"Tomato tomato." Max states simply.

Lucas smiles while he looks up at the sky. "Capricorn."

"What about popcorn?" Max questions.

Lucas just continues to laugh while he shakes his head. Soon enough he just begins to laugh more, Max honestly smiling from his laugh.

"So what does that mean? Capricorn?" Max questions.

Lucas shrugs a little bit. "Ambitious, dedicated to achieving goals, helpful and committed."

Max nods while looking ahead of her. "Wow, the Zodiac thingies are on point."

Lucas looks over at her with a smile, Max smiling back at him. "Yeah I guess they are."

Max smiles softly at him, both of them just looking into each others eyes while sitting outside.

~

"Okay let's rest here for a moment." Eleven breaths a little, everyone going to sit down, Steve beginning to prepare a fire while some of them blow on their hands, rubbing them together. "We know we are going the right direction."

"Looks like they headed to the mountains." Will points.

"Yeah I can see some settlements." Mike says, him looking through his binoculars.

"So do we think Max loves this guy?" Steve questions while sitting down, putting his hands in front of the fire to warm them up. "I mean why else would she risk her life traveling new grounds?"

"Well I mean...she can handle herself I just think they have grown close but I wouldn't call it love. At least not yet." Jonathan says.

"She sees something in him." Eleven says while she holds her crossbow, going to shoot a zombie in the distance. "That's why she left."

"Yeah but I guess the thing is that why risk her life going out into uncharted territory and risk getting infected by a guy that is infected by a....you know a guy." Steve explains.

"Well...when you put it like that..." Will trails off.

"Exactly." Steve motions.

"I mean they do work well together." Nancy shrugs.

"And she is pretty much the only human being he really talks too." Mike says back.

"I don't know, I just know if this cure doesn't work then....that is going to be hard to let go if she does love him." Jonathan mentions.

"We just have to think positive guys." Eleven says, going to turn to them. "It is easy for us to think negative we aren't infected, we all know that if we were then that would make us more motivated."

"Yeah you're right." Steve says.

"So we need to be motivated not only for him but the rest of the people that are infected and just want to live." Eleven says. "It's not only adults it is children as well that are infected in the city, and they only have no much time too."

"Jesus why does life have to be so complicated?" Steve runs a hand through his hair.

"This is the world now." Mike shrugs. "Might as well get used to it." He says before sitting down.

Eleven goes to look at her watch. "We start back walking in half an hour okay?"

"Alright."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Looks like we are almost there, but we can't exhaust ourselves either." Eleven says.

"But at the same time we have to hurry, because we have a month to get him, bring him back to the city and try the cure." Nancy mentions.

Eleven nods her head.