The nightmares began again like they always did. She struggled against the bonds that held her, thrashing in her sleep.
Jake sat up in his own bed wide awake watching Sherry for a moment in the dark. He could see her outline thrashing in the tiny amount of light that came in through the window. He could also feel his hatred for Albert Wesker building up. He climbed out of bed and moved to hers when she grew louder.
"Sherry," he whispered, "hey super girl, I'm here." He said grabbing her thrashing arms when she started calling out for him. He'd brought his blanket with him this time and slipped over onto the top cover making sure to keep a blanket securely between them. No sense in startling her a second time, he thought. His voice brought her calm.
"Jake," She whispered, "Where were you?" She threw an arm over his chest again and turned into him. But she didn't wake up. It was at that moment that he decided they were going to have to discuss this in the morning. She knew where he'd been, stuck in the same lab building with her for six months but never seeing her. But the nightmares…that was something different.
He tried pulling away from her to go back to his own bed but her arm tightened around him when he moved away. Shit, he thought. I can't do every night. He yawned and noted this episode lasted only ten minutes. He promised Wesker that he'd pay dearly for the pain inflicted on Sherry.
Five minutes later, he was asleep himself, Sherry had turned over and he'd thrown an arm protectively over her waist in his sleep and pulled her close to him again, neither one of them waking up.
There was no place for them to go the next day so they'd slept in. Jake had woken up first. Sherry was curled into his chest and he still had an arm thrown over her waist. Too comfortable, he thought pulling away. He realized she was still asleep and climbed out of bed, removing his blanket and tossing it over onto his side. He had no idea where they were going to start only a resolve that they needed to take the fight to Wesker himself.
The cat and mouse bull shit was over.
Sherry stirred an hour later and stretched. Jake was sitting in the only chair in the room watching her. He was wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans with his black boots sticking out from under the jeans. His elbows rested on the arms of the chair and his hands were under his chin
"What time is it?" she asked sitting up quickly and glancing down at her lap. His stare was still disconcerting.
"It's only 9am," he said quietly. "Relax, there's nowhere we've got to run just yet."
"Oh…" He was still staring at her. "Do we have a plan?"
"Not yet…" He gave her a piercing look. "Tell me about the dreams."
Sherry was horrified. "The dreams? Did I? I mean, did you….?"
"Yeah I did." He confirmed. "It calms you down. Me snuggling up to you like that. Not that I minded." He looked away from her realizing how that might sound. "But I want to know what's going on." He arched an eyebrow at her. "Why you are having them?"
He looked so different at the moment that for a second she couldn't respond. He knew what had happened to her, but she didn't know that he knew. He thought it would help her if she got it off her chest.
And he desperately wanted to know why she kept calling for him.
"Can I get dressed first?" She was hoping to put him off. Even an army of J'Avo would have been preferable to this.
"Quit stalling Sherry," he said. He leaned forward. "I'm trying to help Super Girl. Trying to understand."
She took a deep breath. Just say it. "In China…they cut me…I mean…more than just sliced into me. More than the shrapnel you pulled out of my back." He grimaced when she mentioned that. "They also told me, you'd escaped without me. I believed them…I couldn't believe you'd just leave but I had hoped you did. I mean you owed me nothing and…"
"You didn't know I was still there being a lab rat myself…" He looked down at his hands while she was talking.
"Jake, I've been nearly sawed in half…had my throat cut multiple times. I should have died…" She drew her hands up to her throat with the memory. "And the pain, you would never believe it. I wanted to die."
The gasping she had done as her throat knit back together. She had wanted to die, anything was better than choking on your own blood repeatedly. "But I kept coming back together, and they kept making deeper…." She drew her breathe in slowly suddenly feeling nauseated. Without warning she pitched forward and vomited over the side of the bed.
"Shit!" Jake jumped back away from the vomit and then went for a paper towel and a small cup of water, which he handed to her. There wasn't much vomit as she hadn't eaten anything yet. She took the cup gratefully and he came and sat down next to her.
"I'm sorry Super girl," he whispered. She had begun to cry softly and he didn't know what to do. He put a hand on her back and patted it awkwardly and she leaned into him. They sat like that for a while until she stopped shaking.
"You thought I left you." He said softly.
"Yes. But like I said, it's ok. You didn't owe me anything."
His arm tightened around her. "Sherry I owe you everything."
There was a moment of awkward silence. "Why don't you get dressed and we can blow this place." He added. Neither one of them moved for a while.
"Jake I want to take the fight to them."
"What?" He glanced down at the top of her head.
"What they did…" She shuddered. "I want to take the fight to them."
He grimaced. His heart ached for her. "You know I'm not going anywhere again." He said finally. "At least not by choice."
She nodded. "But we're not hiding are we."
When he looked at her this time he was smiling and there was a dangerous look in his eyes. "No, we're not super girl."