Bombs. Screams. Gun fire. Men down. Best friends falling before their buddies' eyes.
Danny rolled to his back, trying to get the nightmare out of his head. It had been more than a decade since his tours in Fallujah, but every now and then, he was cursed with a nightmare.
He yanked his pillow out from under his head and put it over his face. Danny groaned mentally as he plopped his arms over the pillow. He wished this nightmare would go away, and he hoped he didn't wake up his wife.
Danny could clearly see himself trying to save his best friend's life, only to have him die in his arms.
Ugh! If this doesn't go away, I'm gonna work it off...
So far, Danny had successfully kept his wife asleep, but that didn't last long. Soon he felt a delicate hand on his chest, followed by a tiny kiss.
"Fallujah?" Linda wondered.
Danny took his pillow off his face, and sighed, "Yes."
Snaking her arm around her husband, she inquired, "Wanna talk about it?"
"No. But I have a feeling neither of us will get any sleep unless I do."
"Start talking."
Danny sighed; he knew there was no way he was getting out of this. "Every so often, I have dreams about my tours. And they come back to haunt me. Do you know what it's like to watch your best friends die right in front of you?"
"No."
"It's awful. Watching them fall like that, and not being able to do anything cause you're trying not to die."
Linda hugged Danny tighter as she heard his voice crack. She listened with pity; she had heard versions of this nightmare many times before, but this time it had harder to listen to for some reason. Maybe it was because it was happening more often. Maybe it was because of the way Danny's voice cracked; she didn't know.
Danny planted a kiss on Linda's head, and hugged her tight. "Thanks."
"Your welcome," she moved her head and kissed his lips. "Feel better?"
"Yeah. How'd you know that I needed to talk about it?"
"Danny, I know these things. 'I'm'-"
"You're a woman! Sheesh, you and Laura Petrie." Danny smiled, remembering the first time Linda had told him "I know. I'm a woman!"; she hadn't even noticed she was quoting Laura Petrie. "I love you."
"I love you more."
"I love you most." He hugged his wife tightly, and they fell asleep in each other's arms.
A/n
I hope I wrote the war nightmares well. I've never been in a war, so I wouldn't know! Once again, every so often, we need a break from Tough Danny so we can have Soft Danny.
Happy reading!
