Sleep; a naturally recurring state of mind characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles, and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but is more easily reversed than the state of hibernation or of being comatose.
If the day moved any slower, she might just have to murder the clock. Every time she glanced at it, the tiny second hand was barely doing its job causing her to slack on doing hers. She had been hunkered over the same case file for hours now, unable to concentrate for longer than a millisecond in trying to determine the files accuracy while simultaneously awaiting the end of her shift. The file contained the same old stuff, "blood spatter, cast off, blah blah" the words eventually blurred together causing a small stabbing pain in her skull which she wanted to immediately remedy less it interfere with her plans for the weekend.
Though she knew she was good at her job, she currently despised Russell for handing this case off to her at the last minute. He knew she had plans, yet he seemed hell bent on ruining them. She had even switched shifts today in preparation for the weekend. Instead of a graveyard shift, she took a day's shift which dragged on like some boring court presentation. With several last ticks on clock, four o'clock chimed and she was free at last. She flipped the case file over with jest before carefully securing it back in the locked file folder. She meandered happily down the hall to her locker to gather her things, punching out her time card with great enthusiasm when she passed it, then waving smugly to Hodges and Henry who were just coming on their shifts. When she reached the lobby of the lab, nothing stood between her and her weekend now except a few short steps out the door and into her car.
Or so she thought. She passed Morgan in the lobby who was also coming in for her shift tonight but Morgan's silly grin was suspicious to her and made her pause, turn to her friend and ask "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," Morgan said still grinning madly as she passed Julie.
Her co workers were so weird sometimes, Julie couldn't help but think as she turned back towards the exit, the double doors were illuminated in the pre dusk sunlight, as was Nick who had appeared so suddenly it was as if he materialized out of thin air.
Julie couldn't help but shriek both in surprise and protest when she saw him. Their plan had been to meet at the airport in San Diego when she got off her flight in a few hours yet here he was, doing what he always did, surprising her, making her heart skip beats and every ounce of her soul melt in adoration. She wasted not a second more away from him. She took a running leap, careening into his open arms, letting him pick her up like always and cradle her. Picking her up was his favorite thing in the world, he marveled, of her light weight and endless affections.
"You liar," she hissed playfully in his ear while they embraced "I'll pick you up at the airport, my ass."
She mocked his words from the last few days' conversation in arranging their weekend plans.
"Careful," he whispered back in an equally playful tone "attitude like that will get you in trouble."
He pinched her side now, making her shriek in surprise again, squirming out of his embrace as she grabbed wildly at his hand to make him stop. He lowered her back to standing on her own, but still hugged her tight, his hand resting on her side making her shiver despite the sun warming up the lobby.
"Ready to go?" he asked he now swaying with her.
"Did you take Sam to Greg's?" she asked.
"He's all set for the weekend," Nick assured her.
"Did you bring him his favorite toys and kiss him goodbye before you left?" she asked now, pouting.
"Yes ma'am," he confirmed, loving how much she loved Sam.
"Good, then I'm ready," she concluded, excited to spend quality time with him and forget everything work had thrown at her this week.
They landed in San Diego less than an hour later and all her worries melted away when she spotted the palm trees swaying in the warm breeze and could smell the salty ocean air as they drove back to the condo. She was itching to get on that beach as soon as possible but she knew this late in the day it would be too crowded. Waiting until tomorrow would be best, they both knew that, even so, she couldn't help but stand on her toes on the back porch of his condo, eyeing the beach with longing. He had to coax her inside with the lure of dinner and wine.
While they ate, they discussed plans for the weekend aside from time on the beach, they planned on going into town, shopping, strolling up and down the boardwalk watching the boats come and go and maybe, just maybe, taking a ride on one. They cleaned up the dirty dishes and leftover food together before shuffling tiredly into the master bedroom. There, Julie "unpacked" her travel bags by promptly dumping the contents onto the chair in the corner and sorting it in what she deemed was an organized fashion; messy piles of unfolded items. He smirked, watching her sort through articles of clothing in search of something comfortable to wear, eventually deciding on her usual Seattle shirt, throwing it on over her running shorts but they didn't make much of a difference in her outfit choice since the shirt fell to her knees anyways.
They both continued to get ready for bed at their own paces. He finished before her and got into bed to await her return. When she exited the bathroom a minute later, tossing her dirty clothes into the hamper in the corner, she noticed he had gotten into bed without waiting for her. Smirking, she took a running leap and dove onto the bed, landing on top of him, forcing him to catch her.
"Hi," she giggled when he wrapped his arms around her.
"Hi sweetness," he replied as if he had not seen her all day.
"You didn't wait for me," she complained of him getting in bed before her, pouting.
He shrugged, unable to give her an answer back; instead, he started to pull back the covers so she could crawl under them too. Delighted, she wriggled her way out of his embrace and under the blankets, squirming continuously to get comfortable. He could tell she was restless, most likely from the flight and having to sit still during it, but also playful. He put the TV on, once she got settled, flipping through the channels in search of something to watch, shutting off the lights on the nightstand, throwing them into semi darkness. Only the flickering TV lights illuminated the bedroom.
They were both silent as they watched TV, some random cooking show, until she spoke.
"I saw a preview for a show that was kinda like Elite Chef, remember?" she asked him.
"Yeah that case," he recalled though he had only worked it briefly before being pulled off to work another one.
"I might watch it when it starts," she said "Hodges said he'd binge watch it with me at the house so Sam won't be alone."
"Sounds fun," he told her "just don't burn the house down."
She nudged him, annoyed at the insinuation but recalled numerous close calls with Hodges and their love for trying to cook meals like they saw on TV that usually ended up burnt or worse.
As the show turned into a commercial, one selling a bizarre product "not sold in stores", she asked "Wouldn't that be funny for the living room?" and again when they saw a dog food commercial "Oh I bet Sam would love that."
Nearly everything that popped up on the screen, she chatted about with interest. He loved her curiosity and interest but was exhausted from work and was hoping to have fallen asleep by now. But every time she asked a question, he was jolted back awake. She didn't even seem to notice that she was keeping him awake with her chattiness and he didn't have the heart to crush her spirit at getting to spend time together. So he toughed it out for her, answering her questions and agreeing with her with casual nods, all the while holding her, hoping to soothe her to sleep.
"Henry set up these experiments and filmed Hodges doing them for YouTube, they want to become viral or internet famous or whatever it's called" Also Russell is taking Barbara to Seattle to see Maya and Katie in a few weeks and they invited us to come, I really want to go but if you can't make it that's ok" Do you think aliens are real? I watched this thing on TV the other day about Area 51 and it's so close to Vegas I think they might really exist"
"Babe," Nick whispered to her when she had paused to take breath during her rapid fire chatting. "it's kinda late, we really need to get some sleep."
"But I'm not tired," she complained, turning over in bed to face him.
That was an odd change for her, seeing as she was normally exhausted by late evening ever since the coma and her recovery.
"Yeah but if you don't get some rest, you'll be exhausted for the beach tomorrow," he reminded her gently hoping that would motivate her to settle.
"I know," she complained, squirming restlessly, tugging at the covers. "But I can't help it"
"All right," he sighed tiredly "just try and relax o.k? And don't be surprised if I fall asleep first."
She watched him close his eyes but still keep his arm around her protectively. She hated being full of energy while he was exhausted but this was what happened when they were on different schedules and workloads. After a few silent minutes, she knew he was asleep but she felt thirsty so she crawled out of bed carefully, trying not to disturb him before sneaking out to the kitchen for something to drink.
There was something annoying about being awake when everyone else was lucky enough to be sleeping, Julie thought as she sipped on some juice while pacing in the kitchen. She snooped around the work desk Nick had in the corner between the living room and kitchen, loving that the framed picture of her and Sam she had gotten him for Christmas was front and center on it. Bored with wandering and snooping, she flopped down on the couch and turned on the TV.
She flipped through the channels lazily, hoping to find something interesting to watch. Nothing piqued her interest and she gave up, reaching instead for a book she had left here last time that still remained on the coffee table. It had been so long since she last picked it up; she forgot the story and was bored within minutes of trying to read. Instead she opted to just lay there on the couch, blanket draped over her, staring at the ceiling. She got too warm under the covers so she kicked at them, annoyed, letting one leg stick out which she quickly withdrew for fear of some unknown force attacking her in the dark.
A glance at the clock on the wall told her it was after midnight now; how could it be tomorrow already? She started humming a song she had heard earlier in the airport terminal but couldn't remember all of the lyrics. She fished around for her phone which was still in her purse on the arm chair to Google search the lyrics. An advertisement popped up for a recipe for homemade chocolate chip cookies which she eagerly bookmarked before closing her phone. Now that the matter of song lyrics had been settled, she let her mind wander back to her case file from earlier. She began to imagine the blood spatter patterns on the semi dark ceiling above her. Had she correctly labeled everything before she left? What if someone else read the file before she proofread it? Her head began to ache again just thinking about the scene and the blood but how could she get it to stop invading her thoughts? Another glance at the clock told her an hour had passed. Frustrated, on the verge of tears, she shuffled back to the bedroom hoping she had somehow made herself tired enough to sleep.
When she tiptoed quietly back into the bedroom, the air conditioning unit in the house kicked on and she could hear the low hum of it as she climbed back into bed. Cool air reached her as she was pulling up the blankets; these were ideal sleeping conditions, layers of blankets in a cool house.
Nick felt the bed move and knew she was trying desperately to sleep but obviously struggling. When he felt the covers moving, tugging in her direction, he raised his arm weakly to let her curl up beside him the way she liked, then lowered his arm around her, his hand coming to rest on her stomach, fingers lazily tracing the pattern on her shirt. She loved that affection, even if it tickled. She giggled and snuggled closer to him so he could continue that motion, feeling relaxed at last, letting that lull her to sleep.
Morning hit before he knew it. He opened his eyes to sunlight dancing through the curtains and spilling onto the bed. One glance to the right yielded him a lovely sight, Julie still asleep, buried under a mountain of blankets, finally at ease after her battle with insomnia. He was relieved that she had settled but felt slightly guilty for not being able to help her relax, exhaustion overtaking him quicker than her. As usual, he couldn't resist reaching out to brush her hair, waiting for the moment when she woke up so they could start their day. He thought of taking her to the beach, watching her run around, doing cartwheels in the sand, falling backwards if she stepped the wrong way but laughing hysterically at her mistake. He pictured her covered in sand as she dug for seashells, then her delighted expressions of joy when she discovered one or two or ten shells. His fantasy about their day was interrupted when his alarm clock went off, sending a shrill alert sound through the entire room. He cursed at it, forgetting that he had left it set as if he was getting up for work. Clumsily, he fumbled with the machine to get it to stop quickly, hitting more buttons than necessary before he finally got it to shut off.
Unfortunately it was too late for her, she had jumped, startled at the explosive sound, moving restlessly under the covers, annoyed. When Nick turned back over in bed to check on her, he felt terrible for accidentally waking her up.
"Easy," he soothed when she let out a whimper in anguish, burying her face into his shoulder when she noticed the sun was out.
"It's too early," she complained rubbing her eyes, irritated.
"I know," he soothed hugging her, letting her hide in his arms.
"What time did you come to bed?" he asked her now, smoothing her hair back continuously, brushing tangled strands away from her face.
"Like one," she mumbled "stupid insomnia, why does it hit me like that?"
"I don't know sweet pea," he sighed, knowing this was somehow an effect from her coma but was unsure why it persisted.
"I'm sorry, I'm ruining our weekend," she said feeling guilty.
"Nothing can ruin our weekends together," he assured her "besides, its beach day remember?" Beach day, beach day"
He teased her with her own happy chant of excitement on previous "beach days", reaching under the covers, pinching and tickling her sides playfully. That got her moving and giggling just like he wanted.
"Don't," she complained, squirming but grinning at how much fun they managed to have just lying in bed being goofy. There was nothing she loved more than his arms around her tight under the covers, his hands resting lazily on her sides, pre or post tickle fights, it didn't matter, she loved his affections. And in moments like this when something like insomnia rattled her, he was always there to remind her of better things, like beach days.
They were silent as she was lost in thoughts of him and all the ways they were absolutely, madly, crazy in love every second of the day. When he continued to stroke her hair, focusing on the tangled curls, he noticed the heavy gaze she held, trying to stay awake now that it was morning.
"Sleep it off," he soothed now, giving her hair one final sweep, his hand caressing her cheek, the lightest of touches making her shiver despite all the blankets she was wrapped in.
"What about the beach?" she asked worriedly.
"It's not going anywhere," he reminded her.
And with that as a final thought, she let herself go, consumed by exhaustion, comforted by the nest of blankets they were surrounded in, secure, content, but most importantly; calm.
A/N- I enjoy playing around with the ups and downs of moments in short stories. I like capturing Julie's energetic personality through her inability to sleep. As the story progresses, so does her level of calmness, going from hyper to relaxed at various stages with inanimate activities to soothe her. Ultimately it is motivation to be relaxed and enjoy her time with Nick that calms her. The opposite becomes true in the morning when she struggles to wake up and come back to reality even though she just left it hours ago. I think this captures the essence of her personality as well as the feeling of what it is like to have insomnia (you're awake when you don't need to be and want to sleep when you can't)