She lay there silently in the unfamiliar room, listening to his movements. She could hear the soft thuds of his footsteps as he got ready for bed and it soothed her, knowing that he was here for her. With that precious thought in mind, she was able to drift off peacefully, to dream fond memories her and Nathan had shared and think hopefully of what was to come.

Nathan was disturbed by the distressed calls of Audrey, screaming, crying, a murderous sob, forcing him to rush into her room to find her tossing and turning in sweat soaked sheets, writhing with a face filled with intense fear. He immediately ran to hold her down, she was only going to hurt herself with the way she was squirming.

"Hey! Hey Audrey it's me, I'm here, you're okay." Nathan cried, hands grasping her shoulders firmly, but she continued to thresh, her limbs thrashing and flailing violently.

"No! No! Stay away from him, don't hurt him! No!" The last exclamation came out as a high pitched scream, in effect waking herself up.

Nathan smoothed a hand over her damp forehead, wiping away the hair that was stuck to her face, "You're alright now Audrey, I'm here… I'm here." He spoke very softly to her.

Her mouth attempted to form words but all that came out was a strangled sob before she broke down into tears once more.

"Woah. Hey it's okay, you're okay now, nothing's going to hurt anymore." He told her, pulling her hunched form into his arms, wrapping them around her tiny frame.

"N-not me… You." He looked at her, confused, as she glanced up at him with swollen eyes, "They were… they were hurting you." She whimpered, "I thought I was losing you." Was all she got out before the water works began again and she buried her face into his pyjama shirt. He rested his cheek on top of her head while she cried, he knew what he was doing was wrong, but then again, wasn't he merely comforting a clearly distressed woman? It just felt so right, holding her there, almost like it were meant to be.

"You're not gonna lose me, I'm safe here, we both are."

"Nathan?" Audrey muffled into his shirt.

"Yeah?"

"Can you stay in here with me tonight? I-I don't mean uh in the… but just maybe if you could stay in the room or something? I mean if it's not t-too much…"

"Sure! I uh, would you um maybe mind if I lay on the bed? I'll just lie on top of the duvet, don't want to intrude, well you know." Nathan stuttered extremely nervously, and even though Audrey couldn't see his face in the darkness of the room she could tell he was blushing.

"It's fine… and thank you again, for everything."

Nathan positioned himself on the left side of the bed, and simply laid on his back staring up at the ceiling as Audrey got comfortable next to him under the covers. Now this, this was probably crossing the line, he couldn't bear to imagine what Marie would think if she came home and saw him like this now, but he couldn't leave Audrey in this state.

He heard Audrey sigh gently, and assumed she was drifting off slowly as she lay on her stomach, with her head facing towards him where he lay. Gingerly, he turned slightly and put a hand on top of hers, which was on top of her pillow and allowed himself to shut his eyes and try to sleep for the time that was left of the night before he had to go to work tomorrow, only to be disturbed by Audrey whispering to him quietly.

"I like having you here."

He thought about her statement for a second because with all his heart, he meant his next few words.

"I like being here."