9032 Crescent Drive, 2:30 a.m.
It wasn't the sound that woke him, it was the wetness he felt on his skin. She lay close against him, on her side with her face pressed against his shoulder, one hand curled around his bicep. One of the small blessings that reassured him that he hadn't damaged them beyond repair.
It wasn't until he felt the tears that Mike noticed the whimpering. The full moon that flooded in through the sliders gave him enough light to see Bonnie's sad frown. He'd felt that first, too, against his skin. He rolled onto his side to face her.
"Hey there, mamadillo..." he murmured.
"Wha..." she slurred as Mike neatly caught the hand that reflexively shot out to smack him away. It was a little dance they did when he woke her unexpectedly, an instinct born of intimacy, another undamaged part of them on his list of blessings.
"Bad dream?" God knows he'd given her the right to plenty of those, even if she seemed like things were getting back to normal in the daylight. In fact she'd told him more than once to relax, it's gonna be okay. And he believed her, but he also knew there were parts of her that remained hurt and bewildered that tended to hide until she went to sleep.
"Mmm, no, whatchoo mean?"
Bonnie was only half awake, and Mike was content to leave her that way, because he knew that waking up had a tendency to drown out what was happening inside of her. And he wanted to know, needed to, because if he didn't then he wouldn't know how to make it right again. He turned her wrist loose and stroked her cheek with light fingers, glad to see her sleepy frown flatten, then curl up a bit as it always did when he touched her like that. Another blessing, another thing undamaged.
"You were cryin' in your sleep, babe. What's happening?"
She always had told him before, about the other dreams that happened sometimes. Work dreams, uptight dreams, small things quickly chased away with a little gentleness and quiet talk. But these days the dreams were crafty, hiding even from her. The damage he'd done to her, to them, went a lot deeper than the marks she'd left on him. His were healed without even a scar; hers would take longer.
"Was not." Bonnie's faint smile turned scowlish, though softened with annoyed affection. Affection had remained another undamaged blessing. "Relax."
Mike chose not to debate the issue. If the dreams were still hiding, who was he to force them into the open? He leaned closer to scatter slow kisses along the damp trails on her cheeks, rewarded by the return of that soft drowsy smile.
"Sorry, darlin', my mistake. C'mere..." He wrapped an arm under her and rolled onto his back, shifting her to lie against his chest. He knew that listening to his heartbeat tended to keep the bad dreams from coming back too soon, because she'd told him that more than once. If it worked on the small dreams it might work on the secret ones, too. He cradled her back with one arm and continued to stroke her face with his other hand. "Dulce suenos, querida."
Before she fell back into sleep Mike was aware of one more blessing he'd managed not to damage. He felt it against his skin almost before he heard it.
"Te amo siempre, Nes. S'gonna be okay."
dulce suenos, querida: sweet dreams, darlin'
te amo siempre: love you always
