Quick oneshot I came up with when instead I should have been doing homework. UGH. Was gonna post up on April 1st but then I remembered that last year I rick rolled everyone and uh... yeah don't want to piss people off this year besides the obvious failure at updating. So not doing that. No LostMermaidDragon chapter ready sorry.

This will make somewhat sense if you are or have been reading my other fic Lost Mermaid and Her Dragon. This is set in the assumption that at some point Lance and Misty escape the island and get home... but not without some mild repercussions, of course.

Sometime in the middle of the night he snaps out of a nightmare composed of screaming, ocean water, and blood. There's a layer of sweat over his skin that make his tank top and sweats stick uncomfortably to his legs and chest. Lance's mind is still racing with images, and he almost mistakes the chill in the air for the chill of ocean water.

Conveniently, his pokegear, one of the new models with navy blue and yellow accents, suddenly pierces the air with a ring and he jumps. Lance snatches it from the bed stand next to him, clicks a button to let it unfold itself from standby to active, and answers the late night call.

"Lance?" He recognizes Misty's voice, but more importantly recognizes the tension and underlying currents of fear in her tone. He wipes away sweat from his brow.

"What's wrong?" he asks, pushing aside the lingering ghosts of his dreams from his mind.

"I...uhm… I had a dream…" is about all she can get herself to say. In the span of a heartbeat Lance kicks off the covers from his body and starts the search for quick clothes.

"You're home, right?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm coming. I'll be there in ten or so minutes." he tells her seriously, trying to steady his voice into something comforting and sincere. He rushes, with some ungraceful stumbling, to get dressed somewhat decently and grabs one of his pokeballs and runs out of his bedroom and out of the League building. He's not much more dressed up than pants over his sweats, and a coat to cover his bare arms but it'd do. He takes a shortcut to a balcony close by. Once there, Lance releases Dragonite, hops onto his back, and they take off into the skies for Cerulean.

Dragonite flies like there's a demon on his tail, and they reach Cerulean City in record time, though to him it seemed like they couldn't get there fast enough. He and Dragonite land right in front of the Waterflower residence, a few blocks from the gym itself. It's homely, with four bedrooms and two stories. There's a light on in one of the bedrooms and in another one lit up in the living room where a window lets the sisters see outside right next to the front door.

Misty, in thin cotton pajama bottoms and a loose tank top and a light robe draped on her arms, opens the door for him a second after he knocks. He notices the slight damp sheen of sweat still on her own skin, and the excess moisture in her eyes. The door is closed and not a moment after he pulls her into his arms. Her arms wrap around him along the upper range of his back while his rest lower, but still encompassing her body.

"I'm sorry," she says into his ear, "I know you have a hard time as is getting sleep but I-"

"Shh, it's alright." he says hushed, lifting one of his hands from her back and smoothing through her hair and cradling right at the back of her head. Her head tucks itself into the juncture of his neck, and he leans himself into her. "I function on coffee and over-the-top acts of heroism anyway, remember?" he jokes into her ear.

Misty chuckles at that, making his own lips quirk upward. Lance listens to her breathe, ill at ease by the shake in her breathing and in her body's shivering. She inhales to speak, though he thinks he also hears the sound of her tongue peeping out to wet her lips.

"I dreamed that we were back… there." she begin, "But it was always storming, and we couldn't find anywhere to get shelter from it. It was so hard to run or hide, because the wind was blowing so hard, and rain so thick I thought I was drowning. But then we got pulled away from each other, and I got sucked into the water. I tried swimming, and I tried screaming but I just kept falling further in, someone or something was pulling me down, and I could still hear you over the water but you couldn't get to me and…..I just…"

She stops, unable to go any further and shivers, and he tightens his hold to try to pull her closer inward.

"It's okay, Misty." he whispers to her, while tears from her eyes created spots of moisture on his clothes that seeped into his skin, and her shoulders shook with sobs. "It's okay, I'm right here, and we're far away from that place." he says soothingly, rubbing circles into her back through the soft material of her own pajamas.

"I know, I just wish my stupid brain knew that." she says with a tired, angry growl.

"Mine too." he sighed bitterly to himself. His hands slid away slowly from her back and released her from their embrace. Then, his hand searched out for one of hers and their fingers locked together, while the other tucked a particular strand of hair behind her ear, gently caressing her cheek. Lance began leading her back up the stairway and to her bedroom, his thumb tracing a pattern into her hand while he led.

Inside her room, he shut the door and watched her shuffle around the bed, trying to space out the pillows and covers. While she did so, he stripped off his pants and coat and placed Dragonite's pokeball and his pokegear on the table near a window situated to her bed's right, where the moonlight filtered in

Misty and Lance climbed into her bed. The bed was a little small to be holding them both, but the issue of space was easily managed with some body-tangling. Their legs intertwined while both of their arms looped over the other's back or waist and brought them close. Her other arm simply folded in between them, the tips of her fingers lingering over the spot on his chest where his heart was, and where a few scars laid. His accompanying arm looped under the pillows as another support for her to use on her head, but it was still bent and close enough that he could idly touch the strands of her hair. They were close enough that breath was practically shared.

"Thank you, Lance." she whispered to him, snuggling her face into his neck again. He answered her with a grunt and he pulled back before she could nestle in her face there. Lance tipped her chin upward just a bit, and kissed her softly, but firmly. Her own lips moved against him briefly, and then they parted and closed their eyes. Misty nuzzled her way back into the crook of his neck while he kissed her hair by her ear.

"Go to sleep, Misty. We can chase each other's nightmares away."

"Stupid dreams won't know what hit them." she comments, and he can feel the small smile on her lips against his throat.

"Damn right."

Now excuse me while I lament my inability to get shit done and fangirl over pairings that I have no clue how I get myself roped into (for the curious: it's SteveDarcy from Avengers)

Feel free to drop a review, tell me what you think.

-KO13