Summary: If somebody asked me what's one thing I would change about my little Alice, my wife, I would say it's her deep fear... her phobia. It consumes her. It takes hold of her and gets deep inside. It makes me feel so helpless.

Word count: 1,343

Rating: T

Disclaimer: All copyrights go to Ms. Meyer.

Alice gagged and retched into the porcelain bowl as another flash of lightening filled the room followed by a boom of thunder that shook the house. Living in a region that was known for its big thunderstorms is not the best thing to do for Ali's health.

If somebody asked me what's one thing I would change about my little Alice, my wife, I would say it's her deep fear... phobia. It consumes her. It takes hold of her and gets deep inside. It makes me feel so helpless.

A small cry from her tiny quivering form drew me from my musing.

"Shh, honey. It's okay. Nothing will happen. I'm here," I leaned in closely as she fell back into my lap on the floor. She gripped my t-shirt like her life depended on it. "Think we can go to the bedroom?" I suggested while stroking her sweaty forehead. She looked up at me with puffy red rimmed eyes and gave one mute nod. Kissing the crown of her head I stood up with her in my arms easily as if she weighed nothing, which she basically did compared to me.

Her thin arms wrapped around my neck as she weaved her fingers though my curls at the base of my neck, resting her head on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry Em. I- I... the storm," she stuttered out while climbing under the covers but still keeping her death grip on my shirt, tugging me with her. I happily obliged and curved my large body around her petite one while rubbing my hand up and down her back in calming patterns, as she tried to take deeper breaths instead of her fast, ragged ones.

When an adult says they are afraid of thunderstorms they'd be told off. "Grow up," or "C'mon," would be the first things they say. It's an irrational fear even though every once in a while people do die from being struck by lightning.

She's always been trying to avoid it. She doesn't like to think she has Astraphobia. But when a storm hits, the fear hits hard. I've tried to talk her into going to talk to someone about it or try hypnosis but she just won't. It makes me so fucking angry but I can't force her.

Of course her dickhead, neglecting, parents always brushed off her fear with a scoff. They just ignored her screams, which caused her fear to manifest into a phobia, when she was just a baby as a storm shook their home. Ha! Home is a place where you feel safe, a place of nurture and love. Where Ali had to grow up is not home, it was a cold, distant house. Where we live together, husband and wife, for better or worse, in sickness and in health will always be home.

"I'm sorry," Ali's raspy whisper, pulled me from my thoughts. Pulling back from her body and looking over her face I found a look of shame shinning in her teary eyes. Sighing, I closed my eyes and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

Whispering against her forehead I voiced my previous thoughts to her, "Al, you know you have nothing to be ashamed of or to be sorry for. Two years ago we both took vows. Vows to love each other for better or worse and in sickness and in health. That is never going to change. You will always have my heart and trust, I love you," pulling away from her forehead I looked back into her eyes and saw that the shame had dissolved into love. I leaned back down and gently kissed her lips, cheeks, eye-lids, the tip of her nose, any bit of exposed skin I could find.

"I love you too Em, I know I'm not -" suddenly a flash of lightening lit up the bedroom cutting her off mid-sentence as she squeezed her eyes shut. A clash of thunder followed causing her to cry out and tighten her hold on me. She pulled herself closer to me, if it were even possible. I wrapped my arms around her and sat us both up with her on my lap, facing me. Her tight grip on my hair made pain prickle at the base of my neck, she needed me. Reaching up and pulling her hands out of my hair I linked our fingers together and rubbed my thumbs against the back of her smooth hands.

"Ali, Ali I need you to look at me honey," her breathing escalated to almost panting – I needed to do something, quickly. I let go of her hands and they fell limply into my lap. I placed both my calloused hands on either side of her face and rubbed my thumbs over the drying tear tracks on her face, "Alison McCarty, look at me. You need to calm down honey. I'm not going anywhere. Look at me!" Her deep brown eyes, full of panic and urgency, flashed open as she continued to struggle for breath.

She frantically looked out the window at the worsening weather as her mouth moved in a stuttering plea, "I- I-... need Ati- At-!" – her Ativan!

I tapped the side of her face with my hand to gain her attention, "Alice? Is that what you need? Do you need the Ativan?" her eyes connected to mine and she gave a jerky nod, her body in desperate need of oxygen.

I wrapped an arm around her waist and roughly dragged her with me towards the bedside locker. Weak and worn out but still panting for breath she fell limply onto me for support. If it wasn't for my arm wrapped tightly around her tiny torso she would have fallen off my lap and onto the floor. The storm still raged on outside causing Ali to whimper and tense through her trembling.

Nearly ripping the handle of the drawer off in my haste, I spotted the small orange pill bottle on the top of the other contents of the unorganised drawer and grabbed it. With the lid between my teeth I twisted the bottle until it opened and awkwardly tipped the tiny white pills into the hand that was wrapped around Ali. Spilling most of them on the floor I caught one between fingers and swung Ali's tiny form to face me. Her face seemed translucent, it was lacking that much colour, her eyes were closed but tears still streamed out of the corners, a sheen of sweat clung to her forehead causing her hair to stick to it and her mouth was open in a small 'O' taking in ragged breaths.

"Ali I have it here, come on honey, take it," I placed the sugar coated pill to her lips not having time to get water. She opened her mouth just enough for me to place the pill on her tongue and then push her chin up to shut her mouth. I watched as she struggled to swallow the tiny pill in her parched mouth. Signing in relief when she finally got it down, I gently cradled her still trembling body to me and shuffled back to the center of the bed. Pulling us under the covers I lay facing her now calmer looking face, she still had tears rolling from her closed eyes and over the tip of her red button nose but not as frequent as before.

Her eyes opened, when I placed my hand on her cheek, revealing them to be drowsy, swollen and red. Giving her a small sorrowful smile I moved forward to give her a light kiss on the forehead and told her to go asleep. Obliging to my command her eyes drooped shut as she took my hand, intertwined her small fingers with my bigger ones and gave it a weak squeeze. Wind still shook the house and rain pelted the windows but it seemed like the storm was moving further away.

" ... 've you,"

"I love you too, baby." I promised her and closed my eyes. "I love you too."

To be concluded...

A/N:

I am positive that there are spelling and grammar mistakes that I missed, so if you saw any please let me know and I will edit it.

As it says above I will conclude this little story. With school and family and plain laziness it took me years (exaggeration) to write this tiny chapter so for all I know it could be another year for the next.

Send me a review and let me know what you thought. Even if you hated it, let me know!