Asleep (Sweet Dreams Are…)

A/N: So the movie Sucker Punch. I liked it, not everyone did, but I did. And I like to steal the music and think about how that applies to my characters.

White Rabbit, Where is my Mind, Alseep, and Sweet Dreams are Made of This are my favorite songs from it.

I recommend listening to Asleep while reading this fict. Also yes it's another Zelfé fict.

It's at times like these she forgot they fought. When they did "normal couple" things-going to movies, eating out, sleeping in the same room…the usual. Now, as they got ready for bed, after a day of just doing things—handholding, reading, talking—it seemed like they were finally getting this relationship stuff.

"Comment…?" Zeng asked, as he came out of the bathroom. She was sitting on the bed, reading a book while waiting for him. She looked up and nodded, as if giving him permission to continue. "I think you wear more clothes to bed then you do during the day…"

Elfé blinked and looked down at herself before chuckling. He only noticed because she was wearing one of his old shirts. A sight that would have been considered seductive by most had she not been wearing one of his old shirts over two other layers of various sleeping attire.

"I think you're right." She got so cold when she slept though. She closed her book and set it on the night stand as he got into bed next to her. "Night then." She kissed him gently. A different place every night. This time, it was the tip of his ear.

Zeng didn't seem to mind that the comment was brushed off so easily. That was the way Elfé was sometimes. He just returned the kiss (middle of her eyes, his favorite place) and turned off the lamp on the night stand. Elfé turned off hers, and then snuggled down next to him.

The room plunged into darkness, save the green illumination of the numbers on the digital clock on Zeng's bedside table. The only sounds came from the night filtering in from the open window, and the steady breathing from the room's two occupants.

3:15

Elfé was still awake. Had been since the lights went out. Waiting, listening. Thinking. She turned her head and looked at Zeng's back. He was deeply asleep, but would be awake at a moment's notice, should there be trouble.

"Sometime I have nightmares where I wake up and you're dead." Her voice is low and light, like the lull of the wind. She's careful not to say his name. "Or that you're gone, moved on to something else. Petty troubles." She reaches out, as if to touch him, but does not allow herself the pleasure. "Or that I've killed you."

Zeng sighs in his sleep and Elfé waits, watching silently for him to settle back into whatever ex-Turks dream about (maybe its kittens) before continuing.

"Othertimes, I see us with a family. Or as grandparents. Proud, old lovers who sit together looking at photo albums and memories…" Her voice actually shakes. "Those hurt worse."

She retracts her hand and shift to lie on the bed again, staring at the ceiling. She's just listening to the sound of him breathing, a short comfort.

"I never dream about anything happy." The confession seems to take more out of her than she realized, as she shudders back a sob and works to steel herself again.

The silence sets in before she speaks again.

"Myami told me that dreams are deceptions. They trick us into happiness or fear…and although not all deceptions are bad…" A deep breath. "I just wish to sleep beside you, devoid of dreams …" Her eyes traveled to his back again. "Because nothing has convinced me this isn't one as well…"

She lets herself cry, then. While he's asleep and the room is dark and no one can see her there. It's become an almost nightly ritual. To speak to him in his sleep and let out everything she can't say to him while he's awake. She knows, as long as she doesn't scream or say his name, he'll stay asleep.

"Just…" her voice is calm, even as tears run down her face. "Don't go until you absolutely have to, alright…"

She wipes her face with her sleeve (his sleeve, his shirt) and carefully inches her way back to him. Wrapping her arms around his middle, she buries her face into his back and whispers, ever so softly:

"I love you."

Silence returns to the room as she slips into sleep herself. A smile on her face, her grip loose but comforting.

It is only then that Zeng turns in her arms and holds her close, whispering in the lull of the wind

"I promise."