3 Weeks Later

"That's not it."

"It is."

"It isn't."

"I think of all people I'd know best and I'm telling you that's not it."

"And I'm telling you that it is."

"Fine, why don't we let her tell us then."

"Fine."

We both faced forward, waiting for the girl in question to give us our answer.

A few seconds passed and then...

"My favorite part of the day was when we climbed the big red hill and once we got to the top it turned out to be the big red chicken!"

I spun around and punched Archer in the shoulder. "Ha! I told you that was going to be her favorite part!"

Yes, we were watching Dora The Explorer.

It may or may not have become our thing after Archer had given me the nickname while we were lost down there.

It had been a little over three weeks since the incident on the subway and I was sitting in the living room of Archer's freakishly large house, dressed in a pair of gray sweats, a tank top, and a pair of hot pink fuzzy socks watching Dora The Explorer with Archer while both our parents cooked in the kitchen.

I never thought I'd see the day that my parents and I would be having dinner with Archer and his parents.

The first few days after the incident were chaotic to say the least. At the hospital it was revealed that I had a few bruised ribs, one dislocated rib, a minor concussion, and other minor cuts and bruises. My parents refused to leave my side.

The day I was released and went home I had just wanted to relax and be alone so I went to my room to watch some mindless tv. The only problem was that when I turned on my tv the first person I saw was Rose and the man and woman I saw hugging her before I was taken to the hospital.

They were talking about how traumatic the whole experience was for them to some reporter. It turned out that the man and woman were her real parents and Rose had actually been reported missing over a month ago.

That little bit of information ruined my whole day. I spent the whole day wondering, if those were Rose's real parents then how did she get mixed up with Dox? Did he kidnap her? And why did she call him Daddy then? What had he done to her?

To make things even worse, Dylan and his family were trying to sue mine.

Yes, Dylan was alive and apparently he had made the whole thing out to be my fault. He blamed me for all of his injuries and claimed that I tried to lead him to his death because I grew infatuated with him while we were down there and he didn't feel the same way. Those were his exact words.

On a more positive note, the remaining guy who had been with Dox had been captured not long after the incident.

Unfortunately that still left one that was unaccounted for but I didn't try to think about that.

The ending theme music to Dora cut on and I jumped up and down yelling "I was right!" until I felt satisfied with myself and slumped back down on the couch with a smile on my face.

"Yeah, real mature." Archer teased before sticking his tongue out at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah, and you're definitely the mature one in this relationship."

"I am." Archer crossed his arms and pouted.

I crawled over so I was right next to him and pinched one of his cheeks.

"Aww, is the baby upset?"

Archer smacked my hand away and narrowed his eyes at me but I could see he was fighting off a smile.

"Don't be such a baby. Eventually you'll learn to live with the fact that I'm always right, even when I'm wrong."

Archer gave me a flat look and continued to say nothing.

"Are you really going to sit there and say nothing?" I asked after a full minute of nothing but silence.

Still no answer.

Fine.

Two could play this game.

I sighed dramatically and stood up so I was standing right in front of him.

"I guess I'll just go get in the hot tub then and try on that new bikini I bought while you sit here and pout." I stood up and started toward the hall that would lead me to the indoor pool which also held the hot tub (once I found out that Archer had a hot tub in his house it was hard to tear me away from it for long periods of time) but before I could make it to the hall I felt Archer wrap his arms around my waist and pull me back into his chest.

"I'm done pouting now. I'll be a good boy." Archer whispered in my ear.

I laughed and spun around before placing my hands on his chest.

"Hmm, I don't know. I don't think I can take your word for it. You'll have to convince me."

Archer's signature smirk spread across his lips.

"I think I can do that."

Archer leaned down and his lips had just brushed against mine when a familiar voice called out.

"Move one more inch and I'll feed you to the dog."

Archer stepped away from me so fast you would've thought I'd slapped him.

I watched as Archer rubbed the back of his neck nervously and looked down at the ground before mumbling a quick, "Um, hi Mr. Conners."

I sighed and turned to face my dad.

"Dad we don't even have a dog." I pointed out.

"Yes but I can buy one."

"But you're allergic."

"Then I'll buy a lion."

My dad pointed two of his fingers to his eyes before pointing to Archer, doing the "I'm watching you" gesture before he spun around and headed back to the kitchen.

"Your dad is going to kill me." Archer deadpanned.

I shook my head. "You should be more worried about my mom."

I walked back over to the couch and fell back against the cushions.

Archer followed and sat down next to me.

"Do you think you're ready for tomorrow?" he suddenly asked.

I sighed heavily before dropping my head on his shoulder.

Tomorrow was the day that I'd be heading back to school. After the subway situation Archer and I were allowed two weeks off from school to "recover" but my parents were convinced I needed an extra week of recovery before I was ready to head back to school.

Megan came by my house every other day with all the work I missed in class so I wouldn't fall behind after demanding to know every little detail of what happened while I was down there. The funny thing was that she wasn't talking about the whole hostage situation. She wanted to know about me and Archer, after she found out that I was okay of course.

I kept telling her I would tell her at school so that I'd have time to adjust to things myself, but the truth was, I wasn't sure if I was ready to go back to school just yet and I wasn't just saying that because I hated school in general. After what happened on the subway I had begun to have nightmares and school being number two on my list of top places to sleep, I was scared that I might start having them there.

"I don't know." I answered and started messing with the hem of my shirt.

"Gemma."

I picked up the remote and began randomly flicking through the channels on tv.

"Yeah?" I answered, pretending to be interested in my channel surfing.

Archer took the remote out of my hand so I was forced to look at him.

"You're not ready to go back." It wasn't a question.

I hugged my knees to my chest and shook my head.

"I'm starting to have nightmares, almost every night now." I say quietly.

I was afraid to look up and see Archer's face.

"I'm starting to think that I might be going crazy or something. I keep reliving what happened down there and nothing is helping. I've been to the doctor about a million times in the last few weeks and the stupid sleeping pills aren't working and I don't know what to do. I can't even go outside without thinking some creep is going to kidnap me. I have to hide it from my parents now because I don't want to worry them anymore than I already have but I- I can't keep—"

Archer pulled me to him and wrapped his arms tightly around me.

I buried my head in the front of his shirt and shut my eyes tight.

I could feel myself shaking and my breathing had increased.

Was I having a panic attack?

"I have them too." Archer said quietly.

I waited for the shaking to stop before I looked up at him.

"What?"

"The nightmares, I have them too. They started the same night we made it out. It was only one or two every few days but now I'm starting to have more of them."

"Do your parents know?" I asked.

Archer shook his head.

"No one knows. Well, no one except you now."

I leaned forward and laid my head on his chest again.

Archer rested his chin on top of my head and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "We'll get through this Gemma."

We sat like this, Archer's arms wrapped around me, and me resting my head on his chest until Archer's mom called us for dinner.

Later That Night

It was a little after midnight and I was laying in my bed, staring up at the ceiling. After dinner at Archer's house my parents and I headed home and I instantly retreated to my room.

I was exhausted but I refused to go to sleep because I knew what happened when I did.

My vision had actually started to blur from staring at the ceiling for so long when a sharp tapping sound came from outside my window.

My heart started pounding furiously against my chest as I quickly sat up and threw the covers off before instantly looking around my room for a weapon.

The closest thing was my math book which sat on my desk so I grabbed it and silently crept over to my window.

With one hand gripping the math book I used the other to pull the curtains back a little to try and see outside but it was too dark to see anything.

I took a deep breath and mentally counted down.

One...

Two...

Three...

I threw the curtains back and yanked the window up in a flash and to my surprise Archer stood there, or rather he lay there. I had opened the window so fast that he fell straight into my room and landed on the floor.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" I whisper yelled, mindful of my parents.

Archer grunted and stood up.

"Why, were you expecting someone else tonight?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"Yeah actually I was. Jace Wayland should be here any minute now."

Archer frowned at that. "Who the hell is Jace Wayland?"

I simply shook my head at him. It was then that Archer noticed the math book in my hand.

"Let's say it hadn't been me outside your window. What did you plan on doing? Boring somebody to death?"

"Oh ha ha. You're hilarious." I mumbled before tossing the book on my bed then sitting on the edge myself.

"What are you doing here anyway?" I asked.

Archer closed my window before he came and laid down on his back next to me.

"Couldn't sleep." He said simply.

I crossed my legs and stared at him.

"So you decided to drive to my house in the middle of the night because you couldn't sleep? You do know we have school tomorrow right?"

"Yep, nice pajamas by the way."

I looked down at what I was wearing and felt my face heat up.

I wasn't expecting anyone to come crashing through my bedroom window at midnight so I was only dressed in a white cami and a pair of pink tweety bird pajama shorts.

I grabbed my pillow and placed it on my lap to try and cover my shorts.

Archer laughed and then grinned at me.

"So, what were you up to?" he asked.

"Oh didn't you know? I'm into this new thing where I actually try and go to sleep in the middle of the night."

Archer gave me a flat look and said,

"Your sarcasm does not amuse me."

I grabbed another pillow from the head of my bed and threw it so it landed right on his face.

"Yeah well that amuses me." I said laughing.

Archer took the pillow from his face and sat up slowly and turned to face me.

I saw the mischievous glint in his eyes before I had time to get up.

Archer launched forward and grabbed me around the waist before we both fell backwards.

Archer grinned at me and then suddenly starting wiggling his fingers in my sides.

I couldn't help the burst of laughter that escaped as I started squirming around.

"Archer s-stop!" I said through fits of laughter.

"You're going to wake up my—"

My sentence was cut off as Archer started tickling me harder and I burst into another fit of laughter.

"Say you're sorry and I'll stop."

"Stop, you're going to make me pee!"

"I'm not stopping until you say sorry."

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry."

A self satisfied smirk came across Archer's face as he finally let go of my sides.

I took a deep breath and then glared up at him.

"You're lucky my parents didn't wake up." And then as an afterthought, I added "And you almost made me pee on myself."

"You shouldn't have threw the pillow at me."

"Jerk."

"You love me."

"I love my bed and food. Last time I checked you were neither of those."

Archer sighed dramatically and rolled off me so he was standing up now.

"Well I guess I'll just go back home while you sit here and pout then."

Was he using the hot tub trick on me?!

Archer started towards the window and I sat up and before I could stop myself I opened my mouth to stop him.

"Wait."

Archer turned around slowly, a cocky smile on his stupid good looking face.

"Hmm?"

I groaned and asked,

"Are you really going to make me say it?"

"You know I am."

I sighed heavily.

"Will you stay with me?"

"Hmm, I don't know. You'll have to convince me."

He was definitely getting back at me for the hot tub incident earlier, but surprisingly enough I found that I didn't mind.

I stood up and made my way over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist before looking up at him.

"Archer, will you stay with me? Please?" I asked, my voice soft.

All traces of that cocky smile disappeared off his face, replaced by something more intense as he stared down at me.

He swallowed once before nodding.

I gave him a small, appreciative smile.

"Thank you."

Archer stared down at me for a few more seconds before leaning down and bringing his lips to mine.

It felt like my first kiss with him all over again.

You know, minus the burning subway car.

I pressed my body up against his and his arms slowly slid around me. One hand was pressed against my lower back and the other was cupped behind my neck.

I slowly ran my fingers through his hair and was rewarded with a low groan from him.

Archer started trailing kisses down my jaw and then to my neck.

"Archer." I whispered breathlessly.

I wasn't really sure where this was headed and waking my parents was suddenly the last thing on my mind now.

His whispered named seemed to spur something in him because the next thing I knew he was gently pushing me back until my back met my bed and he was hovering over me.

Archer was staring at me with a small smile on his face.

"What?" I asked through a nervous laugh.

"You don't know how long I've thought about this."

"You've been thinking about breaking into my house in the middle of the night to make out with me? Should I be worried?" I asked teasingly.

Archer rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You know what I mean. I've always thought about being with you."

An unfamiliar feeling started in my chest and stomach.

Was I having a heart attack?

I hoped not.

I decided to ignore it for the moment and pulled his head back down to mine.

We were doing too much talking.

***

I laid in my bed with Archer right next to me with his arm draped across my side.

If you're wondering, the answer is no.

We kept it PG-13.

Mostly.

"You know if my parents catch you, you're dead." I said quietly but the truth was I really didn't care who walked in on us at the moment. This was the safest I'd felt in three weeks.

Archer leaned forward and kissed me lightly on forehead. "Yeah, but it'll be worth it."

And it was. That night, for the first night since the subway incident, I slept comfortably and without any nightmares or worrying about whether or not someone was after me.

Archer was right. We would get through this.

Together.

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That's it guys. The ending of The Subway but don't worry because yes, there will be a sequel. It's called A Deadly Trip and it's going to start off where The Subway left off. Obviously the main characters Gemma and Archer will be in it but you'll also see more of Megan, Cade (Archer's ex best friend), Avery (Archer's ex), and others. The sequel is already up and completed on my profile :)