Disclaimer: I do not own Wolfblood.

Maddy, Rhydian and Tom were all sleeping over at Shannon's house; her parents were away for the night and the four friends were sleeping on Shannon's living room floor, all in separate sleeping bags.

Three of the friends were sleeping soundly and well. But Maddy's sleep was currently incredibly disturbed.
She was having a nightmare. A nightmare that felt so real that she was crying in the dream and almost crying in real life, too.

Her breathing increased rapidly as the nightmare's tenseness reached an all time high, and in one swift movement she had flipped over in bed, causing her to wake up from the movement and bolt upright.

Gasping for air, Maddy looked around the room frantically, her eyes wide and heart beating rapidly inside her chest.

She almost jumped when Rhydian stirred in the sleeping bag across the room from her. He sat up sleepily, rubbing his eyes and squinting as he looked over at Maddy.

"Mads?" He whispered, and Maddy's head flew around to look at him again. Just seeing his face seemed to calm her down somehow. "You OK?"

Maddy wanted to nod; she wanted to tell him that everything was fine and that he should just go back to sleep, but she couldn't nod because everything wasn't fine. That dream – nightmare, really – had been pretty terrifying and tears were threatening to fall any second now.

"What's wrong?" Rhydian asked, sitting up properly now and frowning at his best friend.

"H–How did you know I was awake?" Maddy whispered in return.

"You were breathing really heavily. And your heart was – is racing." He said, tuning his hearing in to her fast heartbeat once more.

Maddy placed a hand over her heart as if that would stop him from being able to hear it, and she blinked rapidly. She wasn't crying just yet, but her breathing was still just as heavy as it had been a few minutes ago and her small hands were shaking.

"I…," Maddy started shakily, her eyes falling down. She looked at her two still-sleeping friends and bit her lip guiltily before looking back up to Rhydian again without moving her head.
He was frowning at her, and when their eyes met, he seemed to sigh through his nose slightly. And then he jerked his head in the direction of the back door that led out of Shannon's living room and in to the garden, suggesting that they head outside.

For a small moment, Maddy hesitated, but then she saw how concerned Rhydian looked, and one of the bad parts of the dream came back to her, and she needed him right now. So then she nodded gently, pushing the sleeping bag away from her body.

Wordlessly, Rhydian came over to her side and offered her a hand which she took willingly as she stood up.

And then the pair headed out in to the cold air of the garden, careful to be quiet as they shut the sliding door behind them.
Rhydian sat down on the small garden wall and patted the space next to him. Silently, Maddy sat down, her hands in her lap.

"Mads," Rhydian said softly, breaking the silence. Their shadows were being cast on the ground beneath them, the only light coming from the bright moon that had recently been full. Without saying anything, Maddy looked up at Rhydian from under her dark eyelashes. Rhydian spoke again a few minutes later, "what's wrong? You looked like you were about to cry back there…"

"I probably was," Maddy said lightly, shrugging. "I…I had a nightmare."

"A nightmare?"

"Yeah, I know, it's stupid and I'm basically four years old, but—"

"Maddy, it's not stupid," Rhydian said gently. He reached out then and took her hand, threading their fingers together. "It's a nightmare. You can't help that. Do you wanna talk about it?"

Maddy drew in a deep breath. And when she let it out, she nodded shakily as some of the images from the nightmare came back to her. It all felt so real; like everything in the dream had actually happened in real life. Of course, they hadn't actually happened and, as she told it all to Rhydian, it all seemed to calm down in her head a little. He didn't laugh at her for having such a childish reaction to a bad dream; instead he just looked at her seriously as she explained, his forehead wrinkled sympathetically.

Maddy finished explaining the dream and let out a big sigh, giving his hands a squeeze. "Wow, okay, I didn't mean to ramble there." She chuckled nervously, letting go of his hands so she could scratch the back of her head.

"It's okay. I'm glad you told me about it. Do you feel better now?"

Maddy nodded. She wasn't looking at him. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Anytime."

And then she looked at him, and she smiled softly, watching as he smiled back.

"Ready to go back inside?" He asked gently.

"I don't know," Maddy replied, "I don't know if I really want to go back to sleep now."

Rhydian hesitated before he spoke again. He was looking her right in the eye. "You could...sleep next to me, if you want. If that'd make you feel better..."

Maddy's lips curled in to a tiny smile again and she nodded slightly, feeling her heartbeat increase - in a good way, this time - at the thought of sleeping next to Rhydian.

"Okay then," Rhydian said, standing up and dusting off his pyjama bottoms. He reached out for her hand and she took it willingly.

When they got inside, it felt a little awkward at first, knowing they'd be sleeping together (in the most innocent sense of the word). But, when Rhydian moved his sleeping bag over next to Maddy's and settled down next to her, Maddy's face broke out in to a little smile. He seemed confident about this—almost as if they'd always done it.

Maddy rolled on to her side, facing him. He was about a foot away, wrapped up in his own sleeping bag apart from one arm.

"You're scared to close your eyes, aren't you?" Rhydian asked after a few minutes.

She was lying there, eyes wide open, staring at nothing in particular. Biting her lip, she looked up at him and nodded sheepishly.

Rhydian sighed through his nose. "It's okay, Mads," he said. "You don't need to be scared. It was just a dream…and I'm here."

A small smile escaped Maddy's lips.

Rhydian continued, "close your eyes," he said softly. And then, slightly hesitantly, he reached forward with his arm and swung it over her waist, gently pulling on her to urge her to come closer. Willingly, she shuffled towards him more; and, a little reluctantly, she shut her eyes. "Breathe. You're safe, Mads. OK?"

Maddy nodded. She found herself burying her head in to his chest, and then felt Rhydian put his face in to her hair.

"Night, Mads." He whispered after a few moments, once they were both comfortable.

"Night."

A/N: A totally, 100% drabble, because this idea has been on my laptop for ages and I have writer's block trying to write anything else. Blah. I guess that's just life rn.

Hope you enjoyed it, nevertheless. Don't forget to review! :)

Love :* xxx