"I'll be fine," Venus insisted to Cas, after they had come back from breakfast.  Since Cas was part of the technical tent, she had to report to it and help collect all the security systems that were around the perimeter of the camp and pack everything up.

"It's just a lot to do on your own," Cas said glancing at the fully erected tent.

"It's not that much, besides, it's the only thing I really have to take care of today."

She went and checked on Gaven before coming back to the tent.  He had already started to recover marvelously, thanks to his MB system.  Venus wasn't only confident that he was going to be just fine, but that he would be alright to move as well.

Cas sighed, "Fine, but if it gets to be too much I want you to hunt me down, alright?"

"I will," she promised.

Reluctantly left Venus to her work and headed to the technical tent to get her orders.

Venus started inside my rolling up their blankets, and breaking down the cots.  Everything in the camp was designed to break down or fold up to were it was small enough to carry.  Even the blankets, though paper-thin, were made of conductive material that used a person's body heat to keep them warm.

Venus folded the blankets up as small as she could and stuffed them into the pack that they were provided when they first got there.  Once everything inside the tent was packed up she moved to the outside.  The heating system had already been shut down to cool and the fabric pipes connecting the tents were already cool.  She disconnected the pipes from her neighbors' tents and moved to dislodging the stakes from the ground.

This part proved difficult for Venus.  She squatted down and grasped the stake with bold hands, but no matter how much she pulled it didn't seem to budge.

Venus tried over and over again, exhausting herself completely, she had thought about asking someone for help but knew everyone was busy with their own tasks.

Again she pulled but her hands slipped off the stake and she ended up landing on her rear end sending a sharp pain up her spine.  She hissed and rubbed her backside.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw stalking up to her.  She turned to see that it was Mars.  He has a long forked bar and a rock in his hand.  She wasn't sure what he was doing until he came right up next to her.  He placed the rock in front of the stake and forked it with the bar.  Using the rock and rod as a lever he popped the stake out of the ground embarrassingly easy.

"Thank you," Venus mumbled.

"Next time ask for help," he ordered, "you're going to hurt yourself."

Venus's heart fluttered.  Did he come over there because he was worried about her?

"Or worse," he continued, "you could hurt the babies."

What hope she had was snuffed.  He didn't really care about her anymore.  Just the babies.  Not that she wasn't grateful for that.  She wanted him to care about the babies.

"Sorry," she replied.

Mars moved on to the next three stakes and dislodged them from their home.  Once he was done, Venus started pulling the tent off its frame to fold it up.  Mars quickly took it from her hands and started doing her job.

"I can get this part, Mars," she told him as she tried to grab the material back.

He pulled away from her causing her heart to twist in pain.  Could he not even stand the thought of touching her anymore.

"I think you should rest," he simply said.

This enraged her.  Everyone was treating her like she was fragile.  She wasn't fragile, just pregnant, and didn't want him, of all people, ordering her around.

With clenched teeth she jerked the tent from his hands, "I'm fine."

Mars scowled and started walking away.

"Why are you so mad at me?" Venus asked spinning around to face him.  She couldn't take it any longer.  She just didn't understand why.  She saved his life and as a reward lost his friendship.

He paused for a long moment before turning around to face her.

"Why didn't you trust me enough to talk to me?  You asked a complete stranger for help before even telling me what was going on.  You didn't trust me!"

Venus looked at him surprised.  After all the time that had passed, he was still angry about that?

"I did trust you," she said, "I didn't trust Danielson.  I knew he would be watching the two of us.  I didn't want to risk getting caught.  He would have killed you if he even got an inkling of what I was planning.  Can't you understand that?"

"No," he flatly replied, "I would have told you what was going on."

"Fine," Venus conceded and went back to folding up the tent.

"You're so selfish," Mars quietly growled stomping up to her again.

"Selfish?!" she exclaimed looking up at him shocked, "You can't be serious?"

She searched his face but his expression didn't change.

"That night," he started to say as his cheeks grew pink, "that night you kissed me.  Why?  I was fine just being friends.  I had convinced you never wanted to be more than friends and I told myself that as long as I was near you it would be enough.  Then...then...you had to go and kiss me."

Her gut wrenched thinking about that night in the breeding pod.  Everything about that night seemed wonderful at the time.  She was so happy that night but then it went so wrong the next day.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"Then after that... you were so cold to me."

"I had to be," she told him.  "I told you, Danielson would have killed you."

"It would have worth it, V!  To be with you.  It would have been worth dying for."

"Not to me!" she yelled.

Silence fell all around them.  Several bystanders looked their way but neither of them seemed to notice.

"You selfish prick," she laughed as a single tear slid down her cheek.  She quickly brushed it to the side. "Losing you wouldn't have been worth it to me.  I would have never been able to survive that place without you.  Don't you get that?  Danielson wouldn't have killed me and I would have been in that hell hole all alone."

Mars's anger seemed to melt away and sympathy softened the edges of his once scowling eyes.  He reached out to touch her but she quickly brushed his hand away.

"Just go back to your friends...and Bridget," she said spitting out bitterness on the last few syllables.

A/N:

I can't believe we are already seven chapters into the story!  That's crazy.  I also can't believe the crazy amount of support you guys are giving me.  It truly brings tears to my eyes.  I've got the BEST READERS EVER!  Love you guys.

Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far.  Thank you so much for reading.  The story is at 3.8k views which is just insane, can't even comprehend it, and growing.  I also want to thank you for all your feedback it really does fuel me and helps me keep writing.

Love,

Reading_Mermaid08