AN: I don't own and recognizable characters. They belong to JK Rowling
Alice woke with a start. She had the dream again. The one filled with flashing lights and a cackling laughter. The dream that left her shaking for the rest of the day. They were coming more and more often recently. In the silence of the ward she could still hear the faint cackling in her ears.
She pushed the blankets off of her and trudged her way across the narrow room to the other bed. She knew from experience that the bed was always warm, the man always welcoming. Just as he always did when she wandered to his bedside in the middle of the night, he moved to make room and opened his arms for her. She gave him a small smile before sliding in next to him, curling into his warmth.
With her head on his chest, she listened to the steady heart bead drive away the cackling. The man's hands ran warm rivers up and down her arms, slowly calming her down and stopping her shivers. She closed her eyes and breathed in his smell, efficiently chasing the nightmares far enough away for her to fall asleep.
In these moments she would be the first to fall back asleep instead of the man. It comforted her to know that when she fell back to sleep he was still awake and watching over her. Just before she drifted off she heard the man breath out, "lis" and she diluted her mind enough to think that he was saying her name. That he had found a way to chase away the nightmares and to bring back something she didn't know what she was missing.
Alice fell asleep that night with a smile on her face and forgot the name the man breathed out. She woke the next morning to find herself wrapped in the man's arms and carefully climbed out to eat the breakfast left on her nightstand.
AN: This was mainly just something to get me out of the block I am having on the uprising brand. That story should be updated by tomorrow. Have a Happy Christmas! or a Merry Kwanzaa! or a Happy Hanukkah! Just Happy Holidays in general to all of y'all!