AN: This is my first attempt at trying to write anything outside of TWD. It's not great, but it's something I needed to write because I have so many feelings about these two.
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor profit in any way from anything having to do with "The Haunting of Hill House."
"I want to wake up so badly."
"Wake up! Olivia, wake up!"
Olivia startled awake in her bed, trembling, cold, skin clammy to the touch.
"Wha- What's that? Hugh?"
"Olivia, sweetheart, you were dreaming."
She reaches out in the inky night, seeking Hugh's comfort in the darkness shrouding their bed. Her hand grazes his face, smooth, warm, and familiar.
"Hold me. Please," Olivia rasps urgently, "Hold me tight."
Hugh enfolds her in his arms, stroking his hand down the center of her back, fingers sliding through the folds of her silky nightdress.
"It's okay, love, just a dream. Just a dream." Hugh murmurs soft nonsensical words into her hair—words meant to comfort, words meant to calm, soothe.
"So much darkness, so much darkness," Olivia weeps, sniffling and muffling her cries in the worn cotton of Hugh's pajamas. "The kids? Are they okay? The kids?"
"Shhh, shhh, shhh," Hugh whispers. "The kids are safe. They're sleeping. They're fine."
"No! They can't be sleeping! They have to wake up! I have to wake them up, it's a horrible dream! Horrible."
She struggles to get loose from the blankets tangled around their bodies, the flailing during her nightmare having caused the sheets to wind their way around her ankles.
Hugh grasps her wrist gently, halting her movement with a word.
"Liv."
She turns to him, her muscles quivering, limbs shaking as the waves of adrenaline begin to crash.
"Trust me, love. Trust me. The kids are safe. The kids are fine. No one's having bad dreams. Shirl is talking in her sleep, same as always—pandas hate macaroni. Luke is with Nell. Theo and Steve are sleeping. It's just us. And everyone's fine."
She wilts back down into the bed, her voice weak and small when she asks, "Are you sure?"
"Yes Liv. It's okay. Come here, I'll hold you."
He waits while she shifts towards him once more, and wraps her up in his warm embrace.
"Tomorrow, when the sun is up and everything is brighter, how about we all go see Janet? I think we all need a break. And to be honest," Hugh says, nuzzling into the crook of her neck, "I'd miss you too much to be away from you that long."
"You'll be with me?" She asks.
"Always." He promises.
And he is.
Thanks for reading!
xoxoxo