"Leon…Leon…Leon." Leon really wanted to keep sleeping. But by the third hiss of his name he knew there was no way Jesse was leaving until he got up. Rolling over in his blankets, he squinted his eyes at the light shining behind his cousin in the doorway. He swore he'd only gone to bed like an hour ago. Only gotten back about an hour ago. Crashing in the basement next to Vince's room was supposed to let him sleep in, since nine times out of ten Jesse made his way up to Leon's room in the attic about two minutes after he woke up.

He didn't know what he'd been thinking. Of course Jesse found him.

"What's up, Jesse? You okay?" Jesse hemmed and hawed, shifting anxiously in the doorway, and Leon pushed himself up on one elbow and scrubbed at his eyes, because obviously 'no' was the answer there.

"Brian's having a nightmare. I tried, yelled his name and shit, but I can't wake him up." Jesse's hands had moved to play with the bottom of the old tank top he was wearing, pulling at the fabric, a sure sign that he was more upset than he wanted to show.

Remembering Dom saying it was bad if they couldn't wake up Brian, Leon pushed himself up from the floor and snagged the jeans he'd tossed to the side last night, tugging them on and hurrying out the doorway with Jesse following behind him.

When he got to the top of the stairs and saw that the sun was coming through the windows, bright and strong, he relaxed a little. Leon only knew anything about concussions because he'd had one too many himself, but he was pretty sure it had been long enough that unless everybody'd forgotten to wake Brian during the night he was okay.

Heading past the couch that could probably use a deep clean, even if it had had a cover on it, Leon knocked on the half open door of the small storage room that had become Brian's. Before the kid had either been crashing on the couch or heading back to a shithole of a room in the back of The Racer's Edge, but when Dom had picked him up for an early shift at the garage and found Brian shivering his ass off under a ratty sheet that hadn't lasted. No answer, and Jesse hovering at his back urging him forward, so Leon pushed the door the rest of the way open and went in.

At first he thought either the nightmare had passed or that Jesse was being paranoid. Brian was just laying on his back in bed, snoring, one arm flung out towards shelves that were still mostly full of cans.

Only…he was stiff, too stiff, and in the next second he'd twisted sharply, lashing out at something only he could see. Then…then he whimpered. And shit, his lily white skin wasn't the only reason Hector and his crew called Brian 'Snowman', the kid kept things under wraps, kept himself in check except when him and Vince were going at it. Last night and now this, it was kinda weird to see.

"Brian, hey, it's okay. Wake up, dude." Walking closer to the mattress and box springs, Leon crouched down as Brian continued to alternate between laying stiff and still and lashing out at whatever his brain thought he was fighting. Leon didn't want to touch him, scare him worse or maybe get himself punched in the nose. "Wake up, you're fine, man. C'mon Bri, nothing here that's gonna hurt you. You're home, in your bed."

No change, except maybe Brian getting a little stiffer…wait, had the kid just moved his head towards him? "Just me and Jesse here, nobody scary, nothing bad's gonna happen. Wake up and you'll see. Everything's okay."

"Leon…" Leon looked over his shoulder at Jesse, who was sort of wrapped around the door frame, half in and half out of Brian's room. Kid looked like he was about to climb out of his own skin.

"It's okay, Jesse. Nightmares suck, but they aren't gonna hurt him." Jesse nodded, reluctantly and looking like he didn't really believe him, but he nodded.

At which point Brian sat up and scooted into the wall behind his bed so quick he definitely didn't help his bruises any-maybe gave himself a couple new ones. "No, get off him!"

What? Leon blinked, sliding back a little until he realized Brian was pretty much still asleep. Shit. "Hey, Brian, calm down. No one's doing anything to anybody. We're all fine. You're okay."

Brian blinked at him, face still screwed up in a scared scowl, but slowly he realized he wasn't stuck in whatever shit memory that had been, grunting and running a hand over his face a couple times. "Yeah. Fuck. Sorry, man, was I being loud or something?"

"No, you're good. Even if you had been, nothing wrong with that." Leon looked Brian up and down again. The nightmare or maybe the concussion had him sweating, it wasn't that hot in here. Could concussions do that? "You want us to clear out, let you go back to sleep?"

Brian started to shake his head and then winced, like it hurt him. "Nah, I'm awake now. Might as well get up."

"Cool." Leon stood and held out a hand for Brian. He made a face, but instead of arguing he slapped his hand into Leon's and let him haul him to his feet. Even moving slowly it was clear it was hurting him, the bruises stiffening him up. It took a few seconds for him to find his balance once he was up, Leon watching in case he had to keep Brian from hitting the floor.

"Wanna eat cereal and watch cartoons?" Jesse's voice was quieter than normal, especially for that question.

Brian shrugged carefully, "cartoons sound good." He looked better now that he was standing, though Leon wasn't sure how much of that was Brian trying to look better. That he'd left the cereal out of his agreement said something, considering the kid would eat anything. Leon had literally never seen him turn down food. And…

"The doc said watching TV, reading, wasn't a good idea with a concussion. Listening to music or something should be fine." Brian scowled at him for that, but whatever. "It's your head, man, but I wouldn't recommend it."

"Fine…"

It took some time, Leon wishing Brian weren't so proud, but the three of them wound up in the kitchen. Jesse piled four different boxes of cereal on the table and got out the milk, going double time and then shouting, "Breakfast is ready!" out the kitchen door.

"Everybody else is still passed out from the late night, think we're on our own for a little while." Leon smirked after he said it, Jesse shrugging a little sheepishly before he threw himself into the nearest chair.

Then looked at the table. And hopped up like a Jack in the Box. "Bowls and spoons, gotta get those. Oh, glasses-anybody want orange juice?" Brian had his eyes mostly closed, resting his head on one hand, but he started smiling at Jesse's commentary as the kid used his nervous energy to zoom around the kitchen.

"I could go for some juice."

Leon didn't know what all they were going to learn today. Dom definitely had some theories beyond the basic 'the cops went after Brian, possibly for info on the truck jobs' that it didn't take a genius to hazard out, but he hadn't been sharing last night.

But whatever it was, he thought they could probably handle it okay.

&.&.&.&.&

A/N: I'd love to know what people think!