She woke because of the shuddering.
It was a minor thing, especially because he was curled at the other end of the bed and tucked so much into himself that she would need to stretch out her arm to reach him, but it was enough. Enough to have her blinking still drowsy eyes before turning, almost without thinking, to reach out to his far away form.
His back was cold to her touch, and he flinched away from her with a low groan and half formed words that ended on almost sobs.
It broke her heart to hear them.
She didn't let that deter her, instead she set about rousing herself enough to crawl across the empty space between them and wrap her arms around his almost thrashing form. He fought against her, some unseen demon telling him that her presence was wrong, but she kept her grip and murmured wordless sounds of soothing into his ear.
Eventually he seemed to snap awake, his back going ramrod straight against her front, and she waited for the inevitable apologies. When they came, she shushed him, giving voice to reminders that she loved him, that he was not alone, that this too would pass into nothing but distant memory.
He didn't believe her, he never did, and when he offered to move to his own room she pulled him to face her and wrapped her top leg around his waist.
He would not face this alone.
He would not wake up to nothing but dark words and an empty room.
Eventually he drifted back to sleep, her hand making lazy circles over his back, and her lips moving slowly over his neck as she told some nonsense story of when she was small.
When she felt his breath even out she pulled him tighter, promises falling from her lips that were lost to the empty air.
She would watch over him.
She would protect him.
If she could take this pain and terror away she would.
With those thoughts on her mind, she finally let herself drift to sleep.
