Set during the bus scene in The Awakening, when Derek and Chloe just fought the two werewolves, Liam and Ramon. They are on their way to Andrew's house. I really felt something more should've happened, but maybe that's just me…

Disclaimer: I do not own Kelley Armstrong and her amazing books. I just wish I did.

Chapter 1

Derek's POV

She was running through the trees, looking over her shoulder at something behind her. Her eyes were wide with fright, and her she was yelling at someone to go away. I thought it was someone behind me, so I looked behind me as well, still managing to follow Chloe and NOT trip or swerve. No one there. I looked back at Chloe in question. She was still running and screaming, but this time, I realized, all of it was directed towards…me. "Chloe," I started, "wait a …", then I looked over her shoulder, and saw the cliff just steps away. My heart was in my throat. "CHLOE!" I yelled, trying to get her to stop. She didn't stop. As I watched her go over the cliff, I dived for her hand, but was too late. I heard her screaming all the way down, and I crawled over to where she dropped off. I tried listening for her scream, but realized that it stopped. I peeked over the edge. "Chloe?" I whispered, mostly to myself. The moment I saw her broken, bloody body sprawled on the rocks below, my stomach clenched painfully. My breaths came in short gasps, and my heart sunk past ribs. Life, without Chloe? It couldn't be done. I heard a low wail, starting softly and getting louder with every passing second. I realized it was me. I felt like it was coming out of my soul, out of the bottom of my deep, monstrous soul. I screamed for Chloe, for what I was, for what I had done, and for anything and everything else that had happened because of me. My tears flowed relentlessly as I remembered Chloe in the Lyle House, her perfect blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes, always giving me an understanding look…until moments ago. My tears were now consuming me, entering my mouth and nose, choking me till I couldn't breathe. Chloe's broken body was imprinted in my brain as my tears engulfed me. I tried calling out to someone, anyone, to help me, but I was drowning on my own tears. What was even worse, I heard Chloe's soft voice calling to me.

"Derek…"

"Derek!"

"DEREK!"

I jerked awake, eyes opening to Chloe's concerned face looking into my face. I looked around. We were still on the bus, but besides the bus driver and a man passed out drunk, we were alone. I quickly pressed both hands over my face, trying to push my tears back into my eyes.

It was all so real.

"Derek? Hey shh it's okay, you're okay…" Chloe whispered to me softly, rubbing circles on the arm that, moments ago, she was resting comfortably on.

"Damn dreams" I stated, trying to get myself under control. Where was my self-control when I needed it?

Chloe continued to rub circles on my arm, slowly moving to my shoulder and neck area. The rhythmic movements were just what I needed to grasp a little bit of control. At least my tears had stopped coming.

I looked down at Chloe, who was looking into my eyes, trying to get a glimpse of my dream. She hadn't asked what my dream was about, and didn't look like she was going to, for which I was grateful. I didn't want to relive that nightmare again till I was ready.

"Thanks" I mouthed to her, not trusting my voice at the moment.

Chloe smiled. "Nothing illegal about bad dreams, or so I've been told".

I smiled slightly, then quickly ducked my head, picking at an invisible thread on my pant leg, not wanting Chloe to see me like this.

"You can go back to sleep if you want. I'm fine now" I said to Chloe (or the pants, really). "I'm over it".

Chloe pulled out a piece of toilet paper from her jacket pocket.

"Make-shift tissues. Great invention," she said, handing it to me. I wiped my face down, pocketed the "tissue", and stared out the window, not really looking at anything.

"Derek," Chloe said softly, nudging my shoulder with hers. "Can you please look at me?"

I turned my head and looked at her, eyes still glazed with unshed tears.

"Yeah?" I asked gruffly, unable to look away from her stare.

She put her hand on mine. "You're gonna be okay, you know. You know how I know?"

"How?"

"Because," she said, trailing her thumb of her other hand down the side of my face, "you're strong, brave, and loyal. You've escaped a nut house, saved my life multiple times, and fought two full-grown werewolves. I'd trust you with my life, so I trust you're going to get past a dream".

My heart thumped irregularly as my eyes met hers, starting to fill with pride.

"Yeah" I repeated, this time with a certainty.

She smiled, squeezed my hand, and rested her head in the curve of my shoulder and neck. She was out within minutes, unconsciously moving her small thumb over my knuckles with a regular timing. I looked at her face, wondering how someone so angelic could be so nice to someone like me, someone who could make a person run away in fear with one glance. She was perfect; just thinking about my dream made me involuntarily shudder at the horror of losing her. She had perfect eyes, a perfect face, and a perfect heart. How can I show my appreciation towards her for dealing with all my crap? I looked down at her sleeping figure leaning against mine, kissed the top of her head gently, and laid my head down on top of hers, drinking in her presence.

Maybe a couple minutes of rest would be good…I thought, drifting off to sleep, my head on Chloe's head, and our hands intertwined.

Chapter 2

Chloe's POV

A rough bump in the road woke me up, along with the fact that a heavy figure was starting to lean on me, causing me to lean into the aisle. Very uncomfortable.

"Derek! Hey, move over big guy. You're gonna kill me," I said as I used both hands to push his body off of mine. He woke up when his head made contact with the cold window.

"What the…" he started, looked around, shook his head, and rested his gaze on me before turning back to the window. "Sorry," he stated roughly. "…for…everything". He wasn't looking at me.

Did he mean the dream thing? I wondered to myself. Why would he be apologizing? I decided to let it go. No point in bringing up bad memories again, anyway.

We sat in silence, both staring in the opposite directions…until I heard Derek's stomach start to growl. It was like a volcano, earthquake and a tsunami all together, causing mass destruction to everything in its path. I couldn't help it. I giggled.

"Hungry, big guy?" I asked, looking up into his face.

He cracked a smile. "No," he said sarcastically "that's just a noise I make when I'm happy". I laughed, and laughed harder when my stomach started following suit. It wasn't as loud as the wolf man next to me, but it would definitely become competition if we didn't get anything to eat in the next hour or so. Derek must've been thinking the same thing, because he asked, "Do you know what sounds really good right now?"

I pretended to ponder the question, crinkling my nose and tapping my finger on my chin. "Well…" I started, "maybe a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce and breadsticks on the side. Oh, and then add a slice of cheese pizza and a green apple, plus bacon wrapped anything. Add a jug of lemonade and I'm set till dinner time."

Derek laughed and playfully nudged my shoulder with his. "I was thinking that times three, plus onion rings. I really like onion rings."

"Well, I promise to get you a thing of onion rings once we find a place that sells them" I said with a smile.

Derek nodded contently, pleased with that arrangement. He still looked like something was bugging him, though. Maybe this is bothering him more than I thought. I took a deep breath and started.

"So, do you wanna talk about it? Because you can, if you want you know. I wouldn't mind".

He didn't even look down at me before he started relaying the dream. Just like that. No, "well, I don't think I can tell it to you" or "maybe later". While he was explaining his seeing me on the rocks below, I took his hand in mine and squeezed. It was then that he looked down. He looked…sad. Very sad. After conveying my death scene, he stopped talking and continued to look at me. "Are you okay?" I whispered, squeezing his hand again. He returned the squeeze. "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks again".

I looked at our hands, intertwined and resting between our legs on the bus seat.

"No problem, Derek. No problem at all."

Hehehehe I suck at endings. Any suggestions? Did you like? No like? Review