Don't fret precious I'm here, step away from the window
Go back to sleep
Lay your head down child
I won't let the boogeyman come
"Father!" Integral sat up and clutched the thin sheet around her, her heart ready to beat its way out of her chest. She looked up anxiously and scrambled to put on her glasses when the door opened. She relaxed to see Walter enter. At least someone had heard her cry out.
He silently crossed the room and sat next to her on the bed. "Another nightmare, Integra?"
She took one of his hands in hers. She knew that Walter was one of her father's top agents, but he always came home to them and took care of the house and her little family as though it were the most important task on earth.
If her father was unavailable, which he was in more ways than one, Walter was always there for her.
"Fire. Vampires." She shivered and allowed Walter to pull the sheet and duvet up to cover her.
"Don't fret, Integra, I'm here." He took her glasses from her and put them back on the bedside table. "Go back to sleep."
He fluffed her pillow and pulled the blanket up to her chin before tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear and giving her a quick peck on the forehead.
"I won't let the vampires come."
Counting bodies like sheep
To the rhythm of the war drums
Integral closed her eyes and tried to sleep. Every time, though, the blackness behind her lids was populated with grisly images of men hanging from poles – some still screaming in agony. There were so many of them. They seemed to stretch to the horizon – so much death, so much blood.
She couldn't get them out of her head. Instead, to dull the horror, she began counting poles, drowsing even as she argued with herself about whether a pole should count if it didn't have a body on it.
"Countess…"
She snapped her eyes open and searched the room. No one there. Of course, there was no one there. Why was she so scared, then?
Pay no mind what other voices say
They don't care about you, like I do, like I do
Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils,
See, they don't give a fuck about you, like I do.
Integral sat quietly while Walter brushed her hair out. They did this every morning. He'd finish soon and put a ribbon in her hair before she began her day.
She'd asked him once why he took the time to take care of her. His only answer had been that it was his pleasure to serve.
"Walter?"
"Yes, Integra?" His long fingers teased the last tangle out of her sleep-mussed hair.
"Why doesn't Father take care of me like you do?" He never seemed to be around. She couldn't even seem to catch him when she made an appointment lately – he was always being called away for one emergency or another.
Her nightmares had started at about the same time. She wished her mother… Her eyes filled with tears that she blinked back as quickly as they came. She wasn't a crybaby.
"Your father is a very busy man," Walter said, handing her a handkerchief. He returned to pulling her hair back to be tied with a ribbon the color of her eyes.
Integral took the white square and wiped away the tears that had escaped her control. Only Walter could know she was crying when she made no sound or motion, and without being able to see her face.
At least she had him.
I'll be the one to protect you from
Your enemies and all your demons
"Walter!" Integral pushed up against the headboard of her bed, eyes open but seeing something other than her murkily lit bedroom. "Walter!"
The door opened almost immediately to admit the butler, who crossed the room and snapped his fingers in front of her face.
"Integra." Walter spoke firmly and calmly. "You're dreaming."
"Walter!" Integral still focused on something only she could see.
"I'm here." He put an arm around her shoulders and felt her relax against him.
I'll be the one to protect you from
A will to survive and a voice of reason
"Walter…" Her voice was calmer, but still strained.
"Yes? I'm here." He pushed sweat-dampened hair off of her forehead with a gentle touch.
"I had a dream."
"I assumed so," he answered gently. "You don't usually scream for me otherwise." He smiled reassuringly at her. "You're a strong young woman, Integra."
"I dreamed you weren't human and you worked for someone else…"
"It was a dream." Walter picked one of Integra's pillows up off the floor, brushing it off and fluffing it before returning it to her bed.
"A dream." Her words lacked Walter's certainty.
"Of course, it was a dream." He smiled at her indulgently and tucked the blankets around her before holding his hand out. "Your glasses, please?"
I'll be the one to protect you from
Your enemies and your choices child
They're one and the same
I must isolate you
Isolate and save you from yourself
"I don't want you to go."
"It's alright, Integra. I'll always be here when you need me." Walter stood silhouetted against the light of the hallway.
"But the dreams…" Integra stopped and shook her head. "Are just dreams. You're right. I'll be fine."
Except that she wasn't fine. She could almost never remember anything except waking from dreams to have Walter comfort her or snippets of time spent with him.
It was starting to feel as though she was the center of a very small universe and Walter was the only thing caught in her orbit.
Swayin to the rhythm of the new world order and
Count the bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums
The boogeymen are coming
The boogeymen are coming
Voices woke her, but Integral lay still, straining to understand what was being said.
"She is ready for other teachers."
She did not recognize the voice, but she recognized Walter's when he responded, "The nightmares are lessening in frequency, but they're becoming more detailed. I think…"
"You are Butler, not Doctor. She is ready for continued education." The voices suddenly dropped to an unintelligible murmur.
A change in air pressure told her that someone was there. Opening her eyes, Integral squinted at the white-clad figure before he picked up her arm. She registered the prick of a needle and closed her eyes in a long blink.
When Integral opened her eyes, the white form that she remembered holding her arm was not white, but Walter's familiar dark figure. He handed her glasses to her and sat down next to her on the bed.
"Another nightmare?"
Integral blinked her eyes into focus and frowned. She'd been having so many, but they'd all been of vampires and war and even betrayal by Walter, but this had been… what? The details were escaping her even as she reached for them.
"Just a dream, Walter."
"That's right, Integra. Just a dream." He smiled at her and leaned forward as though sharing a secret, "Tomorrow you will have a new teacher. That will be great fun, won't it?"
Stay with me
Safe and ignorant
Just stay with me
Hold you and protect you from the other ones
The evil ones
Don't love you child,
Go back to sleep
Integral closed her eyes when Walter put his arms around her and held her while she fell asleep again.
He would take care of her. Keep her safe, and help her grow. He would be her father.
AN: The lyrics are from "Pet" by A Perfect Circle.