A/N: So. Clearly I am diseased. Or insane. It's the only reason for me to be starting yet ANOTHER fic. This will be the third one I have on the go, the other two being: Rarely Pure and Never Simple and Scarred Hearts Never Break, which I am co-writing with Hart.
So here it is, finally! The sequel to Four Years. Thanks to Pyro for stalking me until I posted this and Bandbi for coming up with the title. I suck at titles, just ask Hart. Hope you enjoy!
He jerked awake, feeling a sharp stab in his back. He rolled over and found her thrashing, her arms and legs flailing everywhere.
"Temperance." He said, trying to shake her. "Temperance."
She continued to toss and turn, her face glistening with sweat and tears. Her mouth was turned down into a frown and incoherent words tumbled from her lips as she continued to fight off her invisible attackers.
"Temperance." He tried again to no avail. He knew about the panic attacks but he didn't know about this, how she came face to face with her kidnapping in the night. His heart pounded out of his chest and he shook her again and tried to wake her. A feeling of helplessness washed over him.
"Please." He pleaded. "Please." He gathered her into his arms, ignoring the kicks and punches she made to his body. Holding her and rocking her, he begged for her to wake up.
"No, No." he heard her mumble into his chest. "Please no."
Suddenly she shot up, screaming.
"Temperance!" he said, sitting up and pulling her into his arms. She turned to look at him, her red rimmed eyes swirling with confusion.
"It's me, Seeley." He said, cupping her cheeks with his hands. "It's me."
A tear rolled down her cheek and she nodded in comprehension. He pulled her to him and she let out sob after sob, her hot tears running down his chest. She was shaking furiously and found himself getting angry at the thought of her having to deal with this all by herself.
"It's okay." He said, rubbing her back slowly. "It's okay." Her tears subsided but she was still shaking, her hands firmly clutched onto him as if she would never let him go.
He heard crying again and realized it wasn't coming from Temperance. Immediately, he let go of her and jumped out of bed and out the door. Standing in the hallway was Chris, looking very frightened, tears on her face.
"What's wrong, Princess?" he said, scooping her up.
"Someone was yelling." Chris sniffled. "It scared me."
"Oh." He said, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to calm down. "Tempe was just having a bad dream. Let's go into the kitchen and get some milk okay?"
Chris nodded and with a furtive glance towards the bedroom, he headed off to the kitchen. He put Chris down and grabbed some milk out of the fridge.
"Can I have it warm, Daddy?" she asked.
"Of course." He replied. He grabbed a cup and put it into the microwave for a few seconds. Warm milk always made Chris go back to sleep. The microwave beeped and he turned around to give her the milk when he realized she wasn't there.
He heard low voices coming from the bedroom and moved towards it. Reaching the door, he opened it slightly and peeked in. Temperance was lying on her side, having already fixed the covers that had been thrown off the bed. Directly opposite her was Chris and they were staring at each other.
"This is Mr. Franks." Chris said softly to Brennan. "He's my favouritist dog in the world. Do you want to hug him?"
Brennan nodded slightly and Chris held out the small dog for her to hug. She took the dog and pressed it close to her chest, her gaze never faltering from the small girl in front of her.
"Mr. Franks helps me when I get scared." Chris chattered on. "But Daddy gives the best hugs. Does Daddy hug you?"
She nodded again and couldn't stop a tear from falling.
"Don't cry Dr. Tempe. Daddy will come and make it all better." Chris said assuredly. "He's making warm milk to help me fall asleep. He will make you some too."
She reached out and stroked her daughter's cheek, causing Chris to let out a yawn and snuggle deeper into the covers.
"Thanks for playing tea party with me, Dr. Tempe." Chris said sleepily.
"Anytime." She whispered back, watching Chris slowly close her eyes and succumb to sleep. It was only then that she noticed the figure in the doorway.
"Hey." She said softly.
"Hey." He replied, moving towards the bed. "Are you okay?"
"Yes. Thank you." She said.
"I didn't know it was like that." He stammered. "Why didn't you.."
"Please." She interrupted. "Can we talk about this later?"
He nodded and pulling back the covers, slipped into bed facing her, their daughter in between.
He reached over and brushed a hair out of her face, his hand then tracing her forehead, her eyes, down the bridge of her nose and finally her lips as if he wanted to remind her with his touch that she was his.
"I love you Temperance. You know that right?" he said quietly.
She nodded and he watched as her eyes slowly closed, finally succumbing to sleep. He pulled the covers up and closed his eyes. As he drifted off to sleep he heard her whisper, so soft he wasn't sure if it was real.
"Love you too."