Rachel assumed it was the reverberation of the thunder that woke her up. She groaned a little, turning to glance at the clock before rolling back onto her side, eyes already closed again. She'd always liked the sound of the rain, and she was sure she'd be back in the land of dreams shortly with the pitter patter overhead. Her hand lazily wandered under the sheets to locate Chloe and seeing about some drowsy snuggles, when she realized she was alone.

Her eyes shot open, immediately confirming there was no Chloe in the bed. She sat up slowly, frowning as she searched the room. "Chloe?" she called quietly, glancing at the still-closed door to the hall. She knew Chloe hated closing the door when she went to the bathroom in the middle of the night - as she had put it once, she liked a "quick escape from people who also live here". Where did she run off to?

There was a bright flash through the window, quickly followed by another loud rumble. As the house shook, she heard a little whimper coming from inside her closet. After a moment of confusion, Rachel cautiously got out of bed, grabbing her phone as she went. She turned the flashlight on as she walked over to closet, slowly opening the door.

Sure enough, Chloe was sitting on the ground, arms curled around her head as it rested on her knees. She seemed to be rocking slightly, not bothering to look up as the light shone on her. Rachel crouched down beside her quickly, giving her a once over. "Chloe, are you okay?"

"St-storm," Chloe stuttered, face still hidden. Her arms seemed to curl tighter around her head in response to the light, or maybe from the gentle rumble still reverberating through the house.

Of all the things Rachel could have imagined Chloe could be scared of, storms were definitely not on the list. But here she was, the badass Chloe Price, cowering in Rachel's closet from a little bit of thunder and lightning.

Rachel had to swallow an impatient sigh as she turned off her phone's flashlight. She carefully wrapped a hand around Chloe's bicep, now able to feel her physically shaking. Man, she's really freaked out. "It's just thunder, okay? Come back to bed," she said soothingly, giving Chloe's arm a gentle tug.

Chloe was shaking her head, withdrawing her arm as Rachel stood up and wrapping it back around her head. "N-no."

Rachel watched her for a moment, brain churning, before walking back over to the bedside table to grab the flashlight sitting there, constellations still attached. She carefully climbed into the closet across from Chloe, pulling the door closed carefully to fully enclose them in darkness. She was sitting on at least one pair of shoes, and had to push aside some shirts that were attacking her face, but there wasn't a ton of room to work with - their knees were knocking together as Rachel settled in.

Carefully, Rachel set the flashlight between their feet and turned it on. It wasn't as big of a display as it would have been out in the room, but the effect was still there. She looked around at the constellations, a sigh slipping out as she tried to get more comfortable. Fortunately for her, another loud crack had rumbled overhead, masking the noise. It drew another whimper out of Chloe, though, a sound that ripped at her in ways she couldn't have ever imagined.

It felt like it had been years since Chloe put together this little constellation flashlight, that night Rachel learned about her family's secrets. In reality, it had been a whole five months. But in those five months, she'd found herself utterly grateful for skipping school one day with the infamous Chloe Price. Through it all, Chloe almost refused to leave her side, always there to try to help Rachel feel better about herself.

Now, if only Rachel could figure out how to return the favor.

After a few more minutes of hiding in her arms, Chloe finally looked up at her. The light coming through the constellation was off-colored and not particularly bright, but she could still see Chloe's furrowed brows, although her eyes were lost in the darkness.

"My dad and I, we used to hide in the upstairs closet during storms," Chloe finally said, voice strained. "Well, I'd hide, and he'd come find me," she added with a little strained laugh as she rested her head on top of her knees again.

Rachel gently tapped her knee against Chloe's, a little smile playing at the corner of her mouth as she heard the girl talk. "Yeah?"

Chloe nodded, sitting up and resting her head against the wall of the closet. She wiped at her nose with the back of her hand before sniffing loudly. "And we'd just sit in there until the storm passed. Or until I fell asleep, and he'd carry me back to bed."

Slowly, Rachel shifted so she could rest her hand on Chloe's knee. She could feel Chloe's body relax a little under the contact, followed by a satisfied sigh. "What'd you do, while you waited?"

Chloe shrugged, presumably looking around at the constellations now. Her eyes were still impossible to make out, just dark shadows embedded in her skull. "We'd just talk. He'd tell me stories, sometimes."

"Like what? Fairy tales?"

"More like pirate tales." Another roll of thunder caused Chloe to jump, a startled hiss escaping her. "I miss him, Rachel," she said quietly as the thunder died down, her words almost getting drowned out in the rumble.

Rachel didn't have a good response to that. After a moment of consideration, she carefully turned so she was facing the closet door, shoving more clothes aside and leaning back into the wall opposite the door. "C'mere," she murmured, arms reaching out for Chloe. The other girl quickly shifted as requested, allowing Rachel to wrap both arms around her. Over the next few minutes (and one particularly loud burst of thunder, which caused Chloe's foot to kick the flashlight over), Chloe gradually sunk into her embrace, head resting on Rachel's shoulder. "How's this?" Rachel asked quietly.

Chloe gave a loud sigh of relief, relaxing further into Rachel's grasp. "It'll do," Chloe responded, a joking lilt in her voice. More than anything, Rachel thought she sounded sleepy, the way she usually did when she had just woken up and was about to roll over and fall back asleep.

"Just so we're clear, I don't think I can carry you back to bed if you fall asleep," Rachel shot back, resting her head on top of Chloe's. Chloe only gave an acknowledging hum, shifting so one of her arms wound around Rachel's waist. She is seriously going to fall asleep like this, isn't she? "Chloe, I'm serious."

"S'okay, it's comfy here," she mumbled, breath warm against Rachel's neck. Even with the footwear poking at her legs, Rachel found herself nodding in agreement. When the next roll of thunder shook the house, Chloe only snuggled in closer, seemingly unbothered.

As she felt her own eyes starting to flutter shut, Rachel couldn't help but smile in the darkness. I wouldn't trade this for the world.