Tommy woke a few hours later. He blinked a few times in the darkness, at first unsure as to why he was sleeping on his sofa. Then he heard a whimper and immediately sat up. Fumbling in the darkness Tommy made his way across the room and switched on his bedside lamp. Rini was tangled up in his covers, a frown upon her childlike face as another terrified whimper escaped her lips.

"Rini," Tommy shook her shoulder gently trying to wake her up, "Rini, come on, wake up."

"No... No, No!" The words fell out of Rini's trembling mouth, "Kip! Kip!"

"I'm right here, Rini. It's just a bad dream. Wake up." Tommy stroked her hair out of her clammy face and shook her shoulder a little harder, "It's okay Rini, everything's okay now."

The fearful mismatched eyes snapped open with a sudden gasp and she found herself bundled in Tommy's arms. The young girl didn't cry but her breath came out in short, shuddering gasps as she clung to Tommy. The teenager rocked her gently from side to side and eventually her breathing became less ragged and uneven. Tommy smiled down at Rini softly.

"You alright Rin?"

Rini nodded slowly and sniffed.

"You wanna talk about it?"

Rini shook her head this time and sniffed again.

"You sure? I always feel better when I can tell someone about a bad dream."

Rini worried her bottom lip as she thought before speaking, "There, there was a bad man."

"Did the bad man try to hurt you?"

"Yes," Rini said very quietly, "He took me away from you Kip. And, and I has only just found you!"

Tommy's face grew quite serious, "Rini. I promise that I will always do my very best to keep you safe. I won't let anyone hurt you."

"Promise?"

Tommy smiled gently, "I promise."

Rini held out one of her small hands, "Shake on it?"

A quiet laugh escaped the teenagers lips as he extended his hand to shake her own. As their palms touched it felt a bit like there was a pin prick and Tommy winced before pulling his hand away and examining his palm. There was nothing there, at least, not that he could see. He looked quizzically at Rini who was now snuggled against his chest and yawning widely.

"Come on. Let's get you back to bed."

Rini turned fearful and grabbed at fistfuls of Tommy's top. Tommy sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Alright, scoot over."

A few minutes later Rini was curled up asleep against Tommy's chest, still clutching a tiny fistful of his top. Tommy yawned, one hand behind his head mulling over the days events. He glanced down at Rini and smiled before settling down and nodding off once more.

The next time Tommy awoke it would be to the sound of his mum knocking on his door.

"Tommy! You need to get up or you'll be late to school"

Tommy groaned, screwing his eyes shut and started to roll over but stopped suddenly. His eyes flicked open and he stared at Rini.

"Ah, don't come in mum!"

Too late... The door opened and Tommy's mother stood silhouetted against the morning sun.

"I can't believe you slept through your alarm -again-" she chided her son, walking in and picking his dirty clothes off the floor, inadvertently picking up Rini's smock as well, "I swear you could sleep through anyth-"

She stopped mid sentence, her eyes falling on Rini.

"Oh man..." Tommy cringed.


Uh-oh! Looks like Tommy has some explaining to do! Please tell me what you think but no flaming, this is just a small hobby of mine that gives me a small amount of pleasure and satisfaction. Plus I love Tommy being all sweet and protective .