Chapter 11: Keraunophobia

Keraunophobia- the fear of thunderstorms

They had arrived at Toby's apartment and Happy had immediately settled in. Her jacket and shoes were in a messy black leather pile beside where she set on the corner of his bed.

It was unusually cool in Los Angeles today. The weather was always predictable. Hot and dry. Not today. Toby noticed it had started to softly rain while he was staring out the window waiting for the popcorn to finish popping. He was really hoping that it didn't turn into a major thunderstorm because Sylvester is deathly afraid and he absolutely cannot be alone after the first crack of thunder.

By the time the microwave beeped and he got all the rest of the movie essentials, the rain had poured harder and louder, and the sky had rapidly darkened. You didn't have to see the rain, you could hear it over anything. He sat down next to Happy and gave her the popcorn. There was a small rumble of thunder and Toby felt Happy tense up beside him. His first instinct was to call and check on Sylvester, but Happy's reaction was surprising enough to win out.

"You ok, Hap?"

She immediately composed herself and the walls were back up.

"I'm fine."

She grabbed a handful of popcorn.

"Ok… I'm going to call Sly. Make sure he's not losing his mind."

Their movie date meant a lot to him, and for him to leave just to call Sylvester was really thoughtful.

He came back in the room five minutes later.

"He's at the hospital with Megan. That means I am officially not the doctor on call. Let's do this."

He clapped his hands together loudly and Happy jumped.

"Whoa. Are you okay?"

She composed herself instantaneously again.

"I'm fine. Put a movie in."

She was snarky, but still jumpy.

Toby knew something was up, but he didn't want to press the issue. Not yet at least.

"Ok then."

He searched through the shelf, went past the surgery documentaries, and grabbed Men in Black 3.

He put it in the Blu-Ray player and when the intro started playing, Happy finally relaxed a little.

"I haven't even seen the first two. Why are we watching this?"

"You don't really have to see the first two. You're a smart cookie so I'm sure you'll figure it out. This is the best one so its worth skipping."

They stayed over a foot apart on the bed for a few more minutes until there was another clap of thunder, this one louder than the rest. Toby stood up and opened the curtain to look out the window.

"Its getting pretty bad out here Happy."

She stayed silent, eyes trained on the movie.

"Talk."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Toby really wasn't in the mood for games like this tonight. Something was really bothering her and he needed to fix it immediately.

"Happy. Something is bothering you. You are scared, and its scaring me. You are the strongest person I know, and you acting like this is terrifying. It has to be pretty deep seeded for you to be this upset. So talk to me. Please. I want to fix everything for you."

She wouldn't meet his eyes.

She pressed her hands together in her lap and took a deep breath.

"I'm scared of thunderstorms."

She still wouldn't look up at him and he knew that was nowhere near the end of the story.

"This isn't just a phobia. There is a reason storms terrify you, and a reason that you can't work through it. Your mind is so analytical that it should be able to work through the minimal statistical chance of being struck by lightning and it should be able to rationalize that thunder is a sound that cannot possibly hurt you. This is something more than an irrational fear."

She looked up at the ceiling, trying to weigh the consequences and rewards of telling him in her mind.

She took yet another deep, strengthening breath.

"The day my dad dropped me off at the hospital it was storming. I remember looking out the truck window and seeing the flash of lightning. Then that entire night thunder was all I heard and lightning was all I could see. I had never been that scared before, and I haven't since. It's been 25 years and storms still scare me. I don't think they will ever not scare me."

Toby knew it was something deep seeded and incredibly emotional, but he wasn't expecting that. It was a textbook mental health issue though, and he knew both the friend way to fix it and the psychiatrist way to fix it.

He gently lifted her chin up and forced her to look at him.

"Happy, you are terrified of the memories storms bring back, not the storms themselves. If you create a new memory that is as calming as the old was was traumatic, storms won't seem so scary."

It seemed like a good idea in theory, but Happy wasn't convinced.

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Hold on."

He got up from the bed and tossed a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants at her.

"Step one, put those on because its going to rain all night and I'm not letting you go home and be scared and alone."

Toby left the room while she changed and came back with two mugs of tea.

The shirt came down to almost her knees and she wasn't wearing the pants.

He looked at her bare legs and raised an eyebrow.

"You could fit four of me in those pants."

"I wish I had four of you." He muttered under his breath.

They drank the tea slowly while watching the movie until there was a long rumble of thunder that was the loudest yet. Happy tensed up and grabbed a pillow. Toby looked out the window again.

"This is a lot worse than I thought. We might lose power. You could probably fix it if we did anyway."

There was an insanely bright flash of lightning while Toby stilled had the curtains open. Suddenly the pillow she was holding onto for dear life wasn't good enough.

"Come back here."

Her voice was so small and scared that he couldn't help but race back to the bed and wrap his arms around her. They slowly got under the covers and by the time the next clap of thunder sounded, Happy was tucked neatly under Toby's arm and their legs were tangled together. She still jumped a little at the noise, but overall she was much calmer since they had cut off the movie and just been lying in bed listening to the rain. Toby started running his fingers through her hair, like she had done to him at their last movie date, and her eyes were about to droop shut when she spoke up.

"What if this doesn't work?"

Her voice was stronger than before, but nowhere close to the deep and powerful tone it usually was.

"It doesn't really matter if it works or not, because I'm never letting you be alone during a thunderstorm again. As long as you are calm now, you will be during every storm as long as I'm alive."

She moved closer to him and wrapped her arm around his waist.

"Thank you, Toby."

He kissed her forehead.

"Anytime princess."

There was another flash of lightning just before her eyes closed, but she didn't even flinch.

When she woke up the next morning it was still storming, and she found that she liked the way that lightning illuminated Toby's face.

She was about to roll over and go back to sleep when Toby's arm tightened around her and he pressed his face into the crook of her neck.

"Can it storm every night?"

;)

fluffyfluffyfluffylfuff

Thanks for reading! I love each of you who read this so much you couldn't possibly know. Thanks so much for the messages and reviews! :)

Next chapter: Lockup