Characters: Spencer and Toby (and a miniscule amount of Ian)
The sight of Toby standing on the other side of the door made Spencer's face light up.
"What took you so long?" she asked him jokingly.
"Sorry. Just had to drop in for tea with the Queen of England. You know how those Royals can be. So demanding. Not at all like my beautiful girlfriend." He leaned in, silencing her pert reply with a passionate kiss on the lips.
After a while, Spencer pulled away smiling.
"I suppose I can forgive you just this once," she mumbled.
"Excellent," he replied. He held up a bag of Danishes. "Because I come bearing gifts. Well, study snacks anyway."
"Right this way then," she answered, leading him up the stairs to her room.
As he passed the living room, Toby tried to ignore the angry glare from Melissa, who was sitting bundled in blankets on the couch.
When they had entered her bedroom Spencer firmly shut the door behind them. Toby plonked himself down on the bed and picked up one of the books there.
"Latin via Ovid?" he read aloud from the cover.
"Oh it's just something for an extra credit course I'm doing," Spencer replied dismissively. Busily she was moving everything off the bed, making room for the two of them to study.
Toby watched her smiling. Suddenly he noticed how tired she looked.
"Spence, have you been getting any sleep at all?" he asked her seriously.
"Yeah sure," she replied, arranging some books on her shelf.
"Really? Because you look exhausted. Doing all this work isn't any use if you can't think straight from exhaustion you know."
Sighing she turned to face him, leaning heavily against the desk and tiredly passing a hand over her eyes.
"It's not the work. I can manage that," she said, waving absently at the piles of books.
Toby jumped up from the bed and walked over to her. As he wrapped his arms around her she leant in against his chest, sighing happily.
"This is perfect," she whispered, barely audible.
"So what keeps you awake?" he asked her gently.
She pulled back from their embrace and glanced down at her hands. Nervously she fiddled with the zip on his jacket.
Toby gently touched her chin, raising her eyes to his. "Spence, what's wrong?" he asked, worried.
"Every time I close my eyes I see him," she murmured.
Toby didn't need her to expand on who him was. Ian.
He felt his jaw clench in involuntary anger at the thought of that man.
Spencer was watching him with worried eyes. Toby dragged himself away from his angry thoughts and smiled at her.
"I have a solution to this problem," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the bed.
She laughed lightly but let him lead her. "Toby, I don't have time to sleep. Do you know how much work I have to do?"
"It can wait," was all he said.
She let him pull her onto the bed and wrap his arms around her.
"Alright but I don't have long," she told him, knowing as she said it that she felt far too comfortable to move of her own accord.
Almost immediately she felt her eyes begin to get heavy. She supposed it had been a long time since she had had more than a few hours sleep.
"See? I told you so," Toby mumbled as she began to drift off to sleep.
Spencer went to give him a cheeky reply but found she didn't have the energy. A minute later she was already asleep.
Sometime in the night Spencer mumbled something in her sleep. Whimpering slightly she instinctively burrowed in closer to Toby. He wrapped his arms tighter around her and began to whisper comforting words.
"Shhh...It's okay...shhh"
Gently stroking her hair he bent his head to whisper in her ear.
"It's alright. I'm here. I'll always be here."
In the morning Spencer woke feeling surprisingly rested. In that moment between sleep and true waking she remembered with a warm rush that she was nestled in Toby's arms. The feel of his chest rhythmically rising and falling with each breath was a comfort. If she moved her head slightly she could hear his heart beating. Smiling she closed her eyes again and wriggled in closer. Not since she was a little girl when she had actually believed her father could rid the world of her monsters had she felt so comfortable and safe. No where would she ever feel safer than right here in his arms.