The Two Flames

I don't own anything but my OC's.

Summary: Jack has his own method of recovering from a nightmare.

Rated: K

Genre: Family/Hurt/Comfort

Spoilers for: Cobwebs Tend to Make Friends on Halloween and Cobwebs Tend to Vanish on Halloween.

Takes place: After Cobwebs Tend to Vanish on Halloween.

Inspired by the moment in the one-shot 'The Truth', where Jack mentions he climbs into bed with Maverick after having a nightmare.

Method

Jack shot up in bed, covered in cold sweat. Another nightmare. He'd been having nightmares a lot recently. Jack knew this was one that wouldn't allow him to go back to sleep. Jack lowered his head in thought. His skull snapped back up when he remembered how he usually recovered from a nightmare. He threw the blankets off of himself and gently opened the door to his bedroom. Tiptoeing, he made his way toward his grandfather's bedroom, gently opening the door and peering inside.

Maverick lay in his bed, right arm hanging off the bed. Earlier, Maverick hadn't mastered sleeping; just laying still in bed without movement. Now that he had mastered sleeping, he moved around; turning and twisting and mumbling things in his sleep. Well, it beat just sitting in the dark, watching his grandson or pupil sleep.

"Maverick?" Jack whispered. "Are you sleeping?"

The sorcerer's snoring answered his question.

Jack sighed and glanced back into the hall, checking to see if Zero had followed him. Carefully, Jack walked into Maverick's room, shutting the door and walking over to his grandfather's bed. Slowly, he pulled the blanket off of Maverick and pushed him onto his back. The skeleton climbed into bed next to his grandfather and placed the blanket back over themselves. Sighing through his nose, he tried to get comfortable. This was silly. He was a grown man and yet he had to get into bed and cuddle his grandfather to stop the nightmares from shaking him any further. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Maverick shifted onto his side, his hand on Jack's side. Slowly, Maverick's arm snaked around Jack, pulling him to his chest in his sleep. "Don't worry, Ed…" Maverick mumbled. "Daddy's…Daddy's here now…"

Jack smiled and hugged his grandfather back, not that Maverick knew who it really was. "Close, but not quite. My name is Jack not Edwin and you're not my daddy, you're my granddaddy."

Slowly, Jack's eyelids drooped and he fell into a comforting sleep.

…

Jack's eye sockets flickered open and he looked over his shoulder at the clock on Maverick's bedside table. 5:55am. Jack sighed and lifted the blanket off of himself, getting out of his grandfather's bed. He took one more glance at Maverick before pulling open the door to his grandfather's bedroom. Just before he closed the door, he heard Maverick mutter Jack's name and roll over. Jack smiled and whispered: "Thank you, Maverick" before closing the door and walking back to his bedroom.

…

"Jack, wake up."

Jack's eye socket opened. Truthfully, he wasn't asleep. He was just pretending because he knew his grandfather would come and wake him up. Maverick was sitting by Jack's bed, like a dog might, with his face close to Jack's. "Wake up, Jack. Breakfast time."

"You made breakfast?" Jack asked, sitting up. Well, that was something he didn't hear everyday.

"What? Heck, no. I wanted you to make my breakfast. Not the other way around, stupid." Maverick replied like it was obvious. "By the way, I had a really nice dream about Edwin. It was about him having a nightmare and coming into my room…It was nice…"

Jack smiled knowingly. "Hm…Thought so…"

"What?"

"Oh…Nothing…"

…

Author's note:

Because cuddling a relative you argue with frequently is the best way to get rid of a nightmare. It's true.