Jacob awoke from his nightmare finally with great exertion. "Renee! Buford! No!"
Buford and Renee both startled. Buford had been trying to wake Jacob, for he had noticed Jacob was having a nightmare, shaking and muttering as he was.
"Jacob, it's okay! Whatever you were dreaming about isn't real," soothed Buford, a hand on Jacob's trembling shoulder. Jacob leaned into the touch, glad of its comfort. In the darkness of their tent, they could not see each other. Renee felt Jacob's hand scrabbling in the dark for her, and she grabbed his hand in hers, squeezing reassuringly.
"Jake, what deed you dream of?" gently asked Renee.
"These gnomes chased us…" muttered Jacob, in a tiny voice. "They cornered us in your tree, Buford. And they- they-" Jacob took a deep breath. "A giant gnome, as big as a car, ate you, Buford, and then you, Renee- And I couldn't stop him, and I couldn't wake up! Not until he ate me too!" Renee saw that Jacob was upset his voice was shaking.
She rubbed his back with her free hand, still gripping his hand firmly in her other. "Eet's okay, Jake, we all 'ave bad dreams. What matters is that we are 'ere to 'elp you when you wake up!"
"Yeah. I dreamt I got a giant candy bar in the mail and couldn't eat all of it. Of course, I tried, but got sick less than halfway through! I puked it all up. I tried to eat more after that, seeing as my stomach was empty, but my mom told me not to."
Jacob laughed, a small laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. He threw his arms around his companions and pulled them closer to him. "I'm glad I have you two. I'm glad I have you two!"
They hugged him back. They each kissed one of his cheeks, which reddened.
"We're glad too, Jake."