A light in the darkness is restored.

The two of you continue to sit in silence, looking at each other, you smiling, Lexie staying with a straight face. After many long moments as you continue to caress her hand, she finally brings her other hand over and places it on the top of yours. Now both of you are holding each others hands as the sun and torchlight from the outside slowly begin to brighten the room. It feels like the longest time went by as the two of you just sit there in silence, holding each others hands in one another. It was such a perfect moment even though you didn't know how it was going to turn out. You were hoping Lexie would forgive you and you could get back to normal, you were hoping everything would be fine and you both could carry on and enjoy the next few days in the Syndicate before war.

"Darien..." she softly mumbles out, breaking the silence in the room "I'm still mad at you." she pauses, looking at you, "And you were quite the asshole.." she smirks at you, that little bit of the normal Lexie poking through before she steadies her emotions once more, staying quiet for a few seconds before letting out a deep breath, she rubs your hands back, her soft smooth fingertips working magic on the backside of your hand.

"I'm sorry..." you whisper out once more...your eyes looking down on the table top.

Lexie continues to massage the back of your hand with hers, "Darien..." it causes you to look into her eyes "I forgive you..." you can't help but smile bright at her as you see the corner of her lip curl up to form a smirk "Even though you're a piece of shit for what you said." the other side curls up, forming a smile at you.

That sense of relief fills your body as you feel like you want to explode with joy "Thank you Lexie. Thank you so much." you grip her tighter, showing your happiness "As long as I get to spend the remaining days before the war with you, I'll be happy. That's all I want." you continue to let out "And if you want to sleep, rest, or just sit around and cuddle in bed, I"m okay with that. I don't care if the Sunriders dislike me. I don't care if the Syndicate thinks I'm some Rathkin piece of trash. I only care about what you think...there are only three days left until we head south and I want to spend those three days with you by my side." you continue to smile in her direction "Then, when it's time to head south, I want you by my side! The entire way down to Rathkin, you and me."

You see Lexie get a little flustered as she swallows, her eyes disconnect from yours as she looks down at your interlocked hands "About that..." she slowly lets out.

"Something wrong?"

""I uhh, I don't think I can go to Rathkin with you..."

"Huh...why?!" your voice spikes up a bit "what do you mean?"

"Well..." you can tell she is being hesitant "I umm.." she's stumbling over her words.

"Lexie, are you okay?"

"Well, it's just...you know I haven't been feeling that great lately..."

"I mean, yea, but when you're sick you need to rest, so your body can recover. You have three days, should be plenty of time to recover..." you try to show her the good side of the situation.

"I didn't want to bring this up...I didn't want to make you worry about anything before you left for war." you can sense something important is about to come up "You have too much on your plate already, too many people to worry about, too many plans to discuss, too many lives at risk..."

"Lexie..." you rub her hand a little more "No matter what you say, know this, you're the best thing that has ever happened to me since I got the Syndicate...Hell, probably the only good thing that has happened..."

"Don't say that." she replies quickly and without thought, "getting to see your sister again was far more important" you notice an ounce of sadness in her voice "But I'm okay with being the second most important...nothing should ever be more important than family."

"Lexie..." you grip her hands even firmer, holding her tight "You have no idea how much you truly mean to me..."

"And speaking of family..." she cuts you off, a tear begins to form in her beautiful brown eyes as she struggles to find the following words, she swallows hard as her eyes drift off into the window once more, the glistening droplets of moisture coating them making them sparkle in the beautiful rising sun. "Ummm..." she gulps down once more before pausing for a few seconds, tilting her head slightly to the side. Her hands grip down a little harder on yours applying slight pressure but also rubbing the backside of your palm, "Darien..." her eyes slowly move up and lock into your gaze "I'm pregnant..."

Your mouth drops open as you stare longingly into Lexie's eyes. You grip her hands even tighter as the biggest smile you've ever had washes over your face. The happiness extruding from your body is washing away all the negativity as you can't believe what you just heard. For the longest time, you only fought for one thing...to get your sister back, to be with her, to protect her, to avenge her... But now, as you sit there, looking at Lexie's somewhat stagnate face, you continue to beam the biggest smile ever, your body starting to shake with excitement...

And just like that, at that precious moment in time, the light that was stolen from you when Claire was taken, is finally restored...