For a moment Will was confused and didn't know what had woken him up. The room was dark and the time on the alarm clock, the numbers blinking aggressively, showed him that it was only 3:36 a.m. He was just about to close his eyes again when he heard a pained moan next to him and felt the mattress move.

Immediately turning on the light on his nightstand he turned around and saw his wife fidgeting in her sleep, her face contorted in pain. Putting his hand on her shoulder he carefully shook her. „Mac! Mac, wake up! What's going on?"

After a moment Mac's eyelids fluttered. „Billy? What's the ma..." Her drowsy voice suddenly turned into a sharp hiss. „Fuck...! Charley horse, charley horse!"

She instinctively drew up her left leg, but Will was up on his knees already, pulled away her cover and carefully stretched the leg again, pushing her toes towards her shin at the same time to loosen the effected muscle. „Shh... It's gonna get better, just a second, Hon..."

Putting more of his weight behind her foot he slowly increased the pressure on the calf muscle and watched as Mac started to relax. „Fuck... Why does this keep happening to me?"

Will had moved on to gently massage her calf, the foot pressed against his body. Letting his hands run up and down her lower leg, putting very welcome pressure on the muscle, he looked up. „Did you take your prenatal vitamins tonight?"

„Yes, of course." She closed her eyes and sighed in relief. „That feels good...Thanks, Billy."

Will's only response was a humming noise and he continued to work on her, softly kneading her muscles. Finally he put her leg down and moved to the foot of the bed to get up. „Hang on a second." With these words he disappeared into the bathroom, where Mac could here him rummage through a drawer. Feeling a little better she pulled herself up into a sitting position and leaned back against the headboard before reaching for her laptop. When Will came back he noticed the device she had placed on her belly and shook his head. „What are you doing with that?"

Without waiting for her answer he sat down next to her and lifted her leg into his lap again. Then he opened the little tube he had retrieved from the bathroom and squeezed a generous amount of muscle pain relief cream into his hand before putting it aside. Gently massaging the balm into her skin he repeated his question when he didn't get a reply. „Mac? What are you doing with that thing in the middle of the night?"

„Hmm?" Turning her eyes at him she gave him a sheepish smile. „Oh, sorry... I'm just looking something up."

„What's that?" While speaking he firmly let his hand run up and down her calf and shin. „Is this okay?"

„It feels wonderful, thank you..." Biting her lower lip Mac went on. „I'd been dreaming when you woke me up and just wanted to check what it could mean..."

Will lifted his eyes from her leg and then shook his head again. „What did you dream about?"

„Nah, you will only think I'm stupid..." She stopped, but when her husband just kept looking at her she sighed. „It was actually pretty weird... I was sitting in a board meeting, but instead of listening to the person speaking I suddenly took my briefcase, pulled out a clarinet and started to play." Seeing Will's raised eyebrows and a grin spreading over his face she scowled and stuck out her tongue at him. „I have you know that I was good!"

„Oh, I don't doubt that, after all it was a dream... Ouch!" Having his groin make painful contact with Mac's foot when she kicked at him quickly made him stop teasing her. „Alright then, why a clarinet?"

„I don't have any idea. That's why I've been looking it up."

„Better?" Having finished his massage of Mac's calf Will looked up again. Seeing her nod deep in thought he quickly went to the bathroom to wash his hands before crawling back into bed, pulling up both of their covers and getting as close as possible to her to look at the computer screen. „You've been researching the meaning of a clarinet in a dream?"

„Uh-huh..."

„Okay, then tell me about it." Getting comfortable he leaned his head against her shoulder and placed his hand below the laptop on her stomach, where she had started to show impressively a while ago.

With a smile Mac placed a kiss on the top of his head and then cleared her voice. „It says here that there are different meanings for a clarinet appearing in a dream. First of all it can mean your sensitive about being noticed never to do anything wrong and feel that you are expected to always be nice and perfectly responsible, make others feel safe. On the other hand it can represent your fear of disappointing others with unexpected, unsafe behaviour and feeling pressured by it. And last but not least, playing the clarinet at a concert or in an orchestra could reflect you trying to prove that you are a responsible, reliable person who wants to impress others by doing exactly what you are supposed to do and act all grown-up... I guess the last one would fit my dream, don't you think?"

A confused frown showed on Will's face. „What do you mean?"

With a sigh Mac lifted one of her hands to let her fingers run through his hair. „I still have to prove myself to the 44th floor, Billy... I knew it wouldn't be easy to follow in Charlie's footsteps, but the headwind I'm getting from Pruit's people is spicing the whole situation up even more... You know that..."

Will let his hand roam over her stomach and pressed a kiss to the swell of her breast where his head was resting. „Pruit's an ass and everybody knows that. You are doing a terrific job, let alone doing it while being six months pregnant. Charlie would be so proud of you, Honey... As am I."

„Well, I'm not. I know I could do much better if they'd just let me. And why would I dream of a clarinet otherwise?"

Successfully trying to hide his grin at this completely unlogic question he moved his head a little to be able to look at her. „Mac, Honey, I think it's good that you are doubting yourself and don't take anything for granted, but is it possible that you are overthinking this? Maybe your dream was just coincidence. Or if it did have a meaning, what if it said that you are simply perfect?"

„Well, it doesn't." Mac pouted, fully prepared for an argument, now that the idea of interpreting her dream had started to put down roots in her mind.

„How do you know? You are perfect to me!" Will sighed, seeing any chance of more sleep quickly fading if he didn't manage to distract her from her dream soon. „I knew I shouldn't have let you eat that third plate of asparagus last night. Apart from the fact that's it out of season you always have a bad night after giving into that particular addiction..."

„Don't be silly..." Mac grinned at him, indeed forgetting her worries for now. „It's the Hollandaise, not the asparagus..."

„Okay, if you say so..." Will indulged her and leaned in for a tender kiss. „Can we go to sleep again now?"

„In a minute, thanks to all your talk of asparagus I now have to go to the loo..." Closing the laptop she put it back on the nightstand, and after climbing out of bed, as always a little ponderously these days, she disappeared into the bathroom, leaving the door open and calling out to him. „Can we have asparagus again tomorrow night?"

Will snorted and moved back into his normal sleeping position. „No more for you until the baby is here. Your pregnancy hormones even seem to amplify the effect it already has on you during normal times..."

He didn't get an answer to that, but when Mac heaved herself back into bed he stretched out his arm to blanket her shoulder so she could snuggle up against his chest. „So you think I am not entitled to pregnancy cravings but just a pain in your backside and should just shut up about dreams and food?"

„No, of course not. I just told you that you're perfect, didn't I?" Though yawning Will couldn't hide the smile in his voice at her playful tone, but then he turned serious. „I'm happy that you're talking to me about your thoughts and feelings. I just think that in this particular case you are letting a silly dream rattle you. You are definitely worrying too much; it's not just me and the Newsnight team who think you are doing really well; I have heard it from many others as well..." He shifted a little to pull his wife even closer. „So now, you're feeling better? Your leg is okay and little Charlotte is sleeping?"

Humming affirmatively Mac squeezed his hand and placed a grateful kiss to Will's jaw. „Thanks for taking care of me, Billy."

„Anytime, Love. I didn't do it for much too long, but that's not going to happen again..." Closing his eyes and already half asleep he pressed another kiss into her hair before mumbling. „So, I guess it's asparagus again tomorrow?"

The 3 things were:

A charley horse
Asparagus
A clarinet