Disclaimer: The beautiful Angela still owns DEBS, as she should. "Safe and Sound" belongs to and is performed by Taylor Swift.
A/N: Still not the sequel I might be adding to the blueprint piece, but ah well. This includes references of three OCs jointly belonging to me and a friend. Stefan, Marcos, and Sophie are Lucy and Amy's three adorable little cuties. More references of them can be found in the "Flash Fiction Challenge!" under the "Lucy/Amy" forum on All Things DEBS (Google it). Hopefully their stories will be published soon enough, as will the situations also referenced in this flash fiction...
Safe, Sound, and Strong
Tonight, like every night, nightmares pierced her sleep. It didn't seem to matter if she was in our arms or not.
They'd find her.
Creep into her head and bring her down when she's most vulnerable.
Gone was her beautiful, smiling face. Tainted, instead, with the pinched features of fear.
Amy's thin, delicate fingers stroked sun-kissed curls back from gently whispering their presence across our four-year-old's cheek. Sophie curled deeper into her mother's embrace, a little hand clutching the center of her protector's shirt.
"Just close your eyes… the sun is going down. You'll be alright; no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound," Amy whispered out the tune, pressing soft kisses into our daughter's hair.
The grim line creasing my lips softened as Soph's features smoothed out peacefully under Amy's reassuring touch. Amy… My thoughts treacherously drifted to her kidnapping, my soft, involuntary growl flashing her eyes over to me momentarily. I offered a disarming smile, but knew as she returned her attention to Sophie that it wasn't accepted. Merely noticed and tolerated for the moment.
Another small, grim line replaced it. How would any of us have gotten through this without her?
I wouldn't have the strength to do all she does. Not now. Not with danger smirking on the doorstep – again.
She's my strength. To be the playful mother Stefan, Marcos, and Sophie need. The leader Scud looks up to. …The wife Amy leans on. But without her strength. Her smile. Her love…
…I am nothing.
I wouldn't have overcome the last Schaeffer. I wouldn't have overcome Vanessa.
I'd still be lost in my own icy, Reykjavik-centered world.
A gentle weight on my lap shook me from my thoughts, Amy's inquiry a soft one.
"Tell me."