Kane snapped awake, jerking slightly. Gabrielle, who was curled up next to him, mumbled in her sleep. He looked at the bedside clock: 3:45 am. He turned back to Gabrielle and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek, then got out of bed and went to the restroom. When he was done, instead of getting back in bed, he went to the chair and sat down.

He wasn't sleepy anymore, not after the nightmare that had awakened him. Thankfully he couldn't remember it all, but the one detail he wished he could block out entirely was still at the forefront of his mind.

Gabrielle had died. He didn't know how, or where, but she had died in his dream. And somehow his brother was involved.

Kane sat in the nearly complete darkness of their hotel room, despair washing over him. He didn't know how to stop the Undertaker from tearing Gabrielle away from him; he didn't know how to stop him from destroying them all if Gabrielle couldn't be swayed back to his side. He had hoped to hear from his father to see if Bearer had found something useful, but his phone remained silent.

He sighed, looking over at the bed. Gabrielle was deep under the covers, only a sheaf of white hair visible. There, in that bed, lay his salvation...and, he feared, his undoing. She had saved him from the loneliness that had plagued him for so long, as well as from his own black rage. He had honestly thought he would never find a woman who would just love him, and love him she did.

He was so scared.

He couldn't lose her.

Gabrielle rolled over on her back and moaned deep in her throat. It set the hair on the backs of his arms on end; there was nothing but pure fear in that sound. Then there was a sharp intake of air, and she sat up as if shocked.

"Kane!" she nearly screamed, and he scrambled back to the bed. He slipped his arms around her and felt her body trembling. "What's wrong? I'm here, it's okay..."

She slumped into his embrace. "Oh Kane...god I thought you were gone..." He could feel her heart beating rapidly and put a hand on her breast as if to calm it.

"No, I'm here. What happened? Bad dream?"

"Horrible...horrible...all I could see was blood...and you were gone...I couldn't find you..." He held her silently for a moment, trying to calm her. Finally he felt the trembling stop, and she rested her head against his bare chest.

"Better now?" he asked.

"Yes...yes..." She slipped her arms around his neck and brought her lips to his collarbone. He shivered at her touch." Make love to me, Kane", she whispered, kissing along his collarbone and making him almost painfully hard. "Please...make love to me...I just want to forget the darkness..."

Kane brought her head up to his and kissed her, feeling her tongue dance with his. All she wore was one of his tshirts and a pair of panties; he laid her down and stripped her efficiently, kissing his way down her body. Gabrielle moaned his name as they came together.

"I love you...god how I love you..." she whispered.

"I love you, Gabrielle...you're mine, all mine..."

Afterwards, lying together, they slept, the darkness having become a little friendlier...

Not a very long chapter, I know, but just something those two told me to do :)