Disclaimer: Not mine

She felt it coming, a horrible weight on her chest. It was just beyond the edge of her vision, just quiet enough that she couldn't hear.

But, traveled back to her dorm alone now, the room dimly lit by a candle's flickering light and filled with dancing shadows, it was coming.

She tossed and turned violently as the figure came in, as he always came in. Confusion welled in her younger self, reality as much as memory, as she stared up at her step-father. Reflexes dulled with trust, her scream was muffled by his hand while his other yanked at thin sleeping clothes.

She struggled, fought, and was easily over powered. Tears burned her eyes and ran over her pale cheeks.

Stop! Stop, please! What are you doing?!

The door opened with a slam and a beam of light sent the man crashing into the far wall.

Remus.

His arms encircled her, holding her tightly until she calmed. She looked up into his eyes, into the reflection of a scene that brought another scream from her.

Dochas, her darling Dochas, the result of her rape, being forced upon in her place.

"Annie!" She jerked in her sleep. Arms held her as she fought. "Annie! Wake up! Come back to me!" Her struggles slowly ceased. She clung to him now, battled to stay above the nightmare, not to sink in again. "Shh. It's okay. It's over. You're safe now, my pet. You're safe. He won't hurt you again."

"Remus." She buried her face into the chest of the man who'd once saved her from horrors that she was afraid to imagine, who'd seen her through pregnancy, who she'd moved in with after graduation.

Who loved her in spite of everything.

"It's okay, pet. It's okay now."

"He had Dochas. Oh, God, he had Dochas."

"Shh. She's safe. Dochas is safe. He can't get to her."

She shuddered and her breath escaped as a whimper. He pulled her closer and laid back, cradling her against him.

Though fear clutched at her still racing heart, she knew then, in his arms, that she was safe. She held tightly to him as she allowed herself to give into the mental exhaustion that came with the nightmares.

Sleep's iron grip wasn't broken until the power that could only be a small child pounced onto her. She yelped and jumped slightly, eyes flying open to stare at her tiny, blonde daughter. Remus sat down on the edge of the bed next to them, chuckling lightly as she shifted slightly to sit up a bit herself.

"Well, isn't this a lovely wakening?" she asked, kissing Dochas on the head.

The delighted two year old squealed happily and curled herself up again Remus's stomach as he started to tickle her sides. "Daddy!"

He and Annie both froze. While he'd easily been the closest to a father figure in Doachas' life, the term was unspokenly never used. Composing himself from the shock, he reached over and pulled a small box from the drawer next to the bed.

"I suppose that that's up to your mum…" he murmured, opening the ring box as his and Annie's eyes met.