Hi guys, this was floating around in my head at 4am not letting me sleep so I wrote it down. It's just a bit of fluff really but I kind of like it all the same.
I actually own the book mentioned and it was written especially for me by another student. I still read it when I get horrible dreams.
As always I hope you enjoy and I apologise for any typos.
ElfinRose x
I woke up, heart racing from yet another nightmare. This one had involved car chases and had ended with my boys being thrown from a Jeep as it collided with a telephone pole. I looked over at Victor, sleeping soundly next to me and watched as a small smile crossed his face. The butterflies that seemed to be permanent residents in my stomach roused themselves a little at his beautiful sleeping face. I couldn't wake him, the boys had all been so tired lately, between the job at Ashley Waters and getting called in to help with other teams at all hours they were wearing themselves pretty thin. I briefly considered calling North, he'd told me to talk to him whenever I had a bad dream but I didn't want to disturb him either. He would only worry more, watch the cameras more. I decided that letting one slide would be OK.
It was still dark outside, I checked my phone, covering the screen with my hand to stop the glow waking Victor. The numbers read 3:38AM I winced, I should try to get more sleep, if I tried really hard I would probably be able to get in another hour or two maybe before school. I tucked my phone back into my top and closed my eyes, determined to fall asleep again. I started to drift off but as I did the nightmare came flooding back and jolted me awake again. Victor mumbled something incoherent and tried to pull me closer to him."I'm just using the bathroom Victor, go back to sleep." I said softly, climbing slowly, silently out of bed.
I didn't want to wake Nathan in the next room either. I thought about writing in my journal, but since telling North all my dreams it had lost its appeal. I headed to the bathroom, not wanting to lie to Victor, even if he was pretty much asleep when I said it.
I stared at myself in the mirror. Yep still the same plain ol' Sang. The Charleston summer had given me a few faint freckles along the bridge of my nose but I still looked the same to me. Dirty blonde hair, green eyes, small nose. I had put on a bit of weight since fainting in gym, the boys watched me like a hawk at mealtimes and made sure I had my three square meals a day. Though it wasn't enough that Gabriel would have to take me shopping again any time soon. Standing there, staring at myself gave me a flashback to the sleepover at Kota's, of him telling me to brush my teeth and somehow knowing that would help me calm down. It couldn't hurt to try it now. A couple of minutes later I was clean and minty fresh but no calmer, the visions of the boys lying bloody and broken on the ground were still swirling around my head. Maybe a glass of water would help...
I padded silently, or as silently as I could, through to Nathan's kitchen and pulled a glass from the cabinet. It was my favourite, one of the boys had gotten it for me after a mission that had for some reason ended up with them posing as a Disney store employee. It had all the Winnie the Pooh characters on it and tiny pink flowers around the rim. I smiled and half filled the glass, holding it against my mouth for a few seconds before taking a sip. I finished the water but still couldn't shake the images from my brain. I thought about all the times I had woken up like this before I'd met the boys, what did I do then? My brain snagged on something. I would read! One book in particular.
I searched the shelf the boys had put into the living room to hold my books when I had moved into Nathan's house. I hoped I still had it and it hadn't gotten lost or ruined in the move. It was an old book, one I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of now - the cover having fallen off years ago. It was special, unique, because it had been written just for me. My school had done a partnership thing with another school, pen pals and such, when I was seven. My teacher had told us that we were going to be practising writing stories and letters at the same time, we would write to the students at this other school telling them what we would like them to write in a story and they would do the same. We would then exchange the books at the end of term. It was supposed to be a group project but I was shy and preferred to work by myself even back then. My teacher had let me keep the book at the end of it as a reward for doing so well.
Aha! there it was, I pulled it off the shelf and ran my fingers over it still able to feel the indents on the page from the rough pencil draft under the carefully written pen. It was shaped like a squirrel's head and the points of the ears were getting a bit dog eared. I curled up in my bean bag chair, that the boys had thoughtfully carried over from my attic space, and started reading. It wasn't anything exciting really, I mean, it was written by seven year olds so it was hardly Shakespeare but it was familiar and soothing and it helped to clear my head. I read it twice more before nodding off mid page.
I was woken by the sound of footsteps "Peanut?" I sat up rubbing my eyes groggily.
"Hmm? Is it morning Honey?" I asked sleepily. Nathan grinned and made his way over to me.
"What are you doing in here? Was Victor's snoring and ugly mug finally too much to bear?" His blue eyes glinted with mischief and I tried to stifle a giggle.
"I heard that, and I don't snore!" Victor called from the bathroom. Nathan grinned again "Shows how much you know dude!" he called back. I giggled again and Victor emerged, wearing his school trousers and a white under shirt that clung to his slim frame. I couldn't help but stare and a blush crept over my cheeks as I realised he had noticed.
"Morning princess. What were you doing in here?" Victor came and crouched down next to me, his elegant fingers picking up the book still on my lap.
"Huh. What's this princess?" he asked flipping through it. My cheeks flamed with embarrassment because the book was so childish.
"Uhmm, I couldn't sleep and didn't want to bother you so I thought I'd come sit in here and read, that always helped me sleep when I was little." I said pointing at the book, now in Nathan's hands.
His expression clouded over a little and I wondered what was wrong. Had I said something to upset him?
"Does this look familiar to you Vic?" He asked holding the book up again. Victor shrugged and made his way over to the fridge "Dunno why? Want a coffee princess?" I nodded and turned my attention back to Nathan. He was flipping through it slowly, a slight frown creasing his forehead.
"Where did you get this Peanut?" He looked down at me, something between concern and confusion on his face.
"Uh, my school did this pen pal thing when I was in second grade where we wrote letters and stories to another school." I said slowly "Why?" Nathan shook his head and handed the book back to me.
"Nothing, why don't you show that to Kota when he comes over later though." I nodded, but didn't quite understand.
"You should go get ready for school princess, I have to go pick up Gabe so I'll see you later OK?" Victor pulled me in for a hug and dropped a quick kiss to the top of my head.
I hurried to the bathroom to have a quick bath and got myself dressed in one my Meanie's pre-approved outfit combinations. I wanted to pull my hair up with a clip but between him and Luke I had none left.
Kota was waiting with Nathan when I came out of the bathroom and handed me the bottle of coffee with a smile.
"Morning Sang. Ready to go?" he said picking up my book bag. Nathan raised an eyebrow at me behind his back and motioned reading a book. I sighed.
"One second, I wondered if you could look at a book for me quickly before we go?" I asked quietly, I wondered why Nathan was making such a fuss over this. It wasn't like it was written by anyone famous, it was just a sappy story written by a group of kids.
Kota gave me a questioning look but nodded anyway and I grabbed the book off the shelf and handed it to him. He looked at it intently and Nathan peered over his shoulder.
"Looks familiar doesn't it?" He asked, when Kota looked at the book then at me then the book again. Something passed between Nathan and Kota that I didn't understand.
"Sang... Where... Where did you get this?" he asked seriously.
"My school did a pen pal exchange in second grade and we wrote each other stories." I said with a sigh, was Nathan going to make me repeat this to everyone?
"What did you write back?" He asked surprising me.
"Uh, I think it had aliens? Or maybe monsters I'm not sure. There were a group of boys as heroes that saved the day though..." I said, slowly, pieces clicking together in my brain.
I snatched the book from Kota's hands and looked at the handwriting again. It was Victor's I was sure of it. Now that I thought about it the illustrations looked a lot like Gabriel's style. I remember the boys telling me that they had been friends at that age.
"You?" I asked incredulously. It was typical, these boys, my boys had been helping me, comforting me before we even knew one another existed. I looked up at them smiling and they nodded.
"Yeah, it was before we met North or Silas" Kota said
"Or before we'd met Mr B or the Doc." Nathan added. I hugged them both tight.
"Thank you guys, really. It seems silly but this book helped me when nothing else did. Just like you all do now I guess."
They hugged me back then Nathan ran off to his room. He returned grinning from ear to ear waving something that looked awfully familiar...
"It was monsters." Nathan said, hugging me again. He whispered in my ear.
"And it was awesome."