Chapter Two: Rick and Jonathan

The next morning Rick woke up and went to the bathroom just across from the bed. Evy was still asleep. Rick knew that she would sleep for a while longer because ever since she started having these dreams, she would always sleep in, and head into work later. She never got yelled at by her boss for being late, since she now owned her own library.

Rick figured that Jonathan and Jenny would already be awake. Well, Jenny would anyway. Jonathan was probably sleeping off another hangover, as usual. And Alex was probably still sleeping. After he came out of the bathroom, he went downstairs and looked for them. And as he predicted, Jenny was already sitting at the table in the kitchen, drinking her morning tea and reading the paper.

"Morning, Jenny." Rick said sleepily.

"Morning." she replied. Jenny was just a little shorter than Jonathan and she had short, blonde hair. "How are you? You sound more tired than usual."

"Evy was having dreams last night and woke me up. Do you know when Jonathan will be up?" he asked, as he walked over to the counter and poured some tea for himself.

"He should be up anytime now, why?" she asked, very curious to why Rick actually wanted to talk to Jonathan.

"No reason." he lied.

"You're lying." she said in kind of a sing-song voice.

"I just had a question for him."

"Right."

"Who do you have a question for?" Evy asked as she walked into the kitchen. Rick thought for a quick escape.

"I was gonna ask my boss when I'm gonna get my raise. We were supposed to get them over a week ago." he quickly lied.

"Oh." she said, not sure if she wanted to believe him. But she did. She walked passed Rick to the tea and poured herself some, waking her up a little before she took a shower and left for work.

Evy soon left for the library and had taken Alex with her. He loved going to the library. He would read the whole day while they were there. Jonathan was now awake. He had sent Jenny in to town to buy some more drinks, since he had drank all of what they had last night. Now was Rick's chance to talk to Jonathan about Evy.

"Hey, Jonathan. How ya doin'?" he asked, coming over to sit next to Jonathan on the couch.

"Um, fine." he said, confused.

"Good, good." Rick said as he patted Jonathan on the back.

"Are you ok?" Jonathan asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a question about Evy."

"Oh, ok. What is it?" he asked, not concerned, thinking Rick just wanted to know something about what to get her for a present again. He liked to get Evy things for no reason, but sometimes didn't know what the perfect thing would be, so he would ask Jonathan.

"Well, I was wondering if something happened to her before we met that would make her have nightmares every night." Jonathan froze. He knew exactly what it was, but didn't know if he should tell Rick. He knew that Evy didn't intend for Rick to find out.

"Um…uh…hmm. Let me think on that one." He acted as if he was thinking really hard. Rick just rolled his eyes.

"Jonathan, I know you know, ok? And I need to know so I can try to help her."

"Know what?" Jonathan said, playing dumb.

"Jonathan! I'm not in the mood for your stupid act ok? Now just tell me already!" Rick was getting very impatient.

"Ok, ok. Calm down ol' chap." Rick just glared at him. Jonathan knew that he would end up telling him sooner or later, so, why wait? It would probably only lead to pain of some kind. "The reason she's having nightmares is because of Jack." he started to explain.

"Who's Jack?" Rick asked quickly.

"Are you gonna let me tell the story, or keep interrupting?" Jonathan snapped.

"Sorry."

"Now, as I was saying, she has nightmares because of Jack. Jack was her American boyfriend from high school through college and a while after she graduated. It would have been over before they got out of high school if it weren't for him being so…the way he was. It's hard to explain. Um, he wouldn't let her go. That's the best way to put it. He made sure that she would never leave him. Well, he tried to. Obviously, that didn't work. She eventually ran away, and we haven't seen him since." 'Ok...so I told him most of the truth. Just the ending was a small lie.' Jonathan thought. They had in fact seen him once since she ran out on him.

"Ok. So she dreams that she's still with him?"

"I guess."

"So when she yells, she's yelling at him?"

"I suppose." Jonathan said.

"And that's it? That's all you'll tell me?"

"Yes. I figure Evy should tell you the rest."

"Oh, so there is more. You and I both know that she won't say anything. She's too stubborn."

"Yeah, but when she finds out that I've already started telling you, she'll figure that she might as well tell you the rest. After she gets done killing me that is."

"Don't worry; I've got your back on that."

"Really!" Jonathan asked, surprised.

"Well, I'll try." Rick said smiling slightly.