a/n- okay everyone, this is it! Part two of Different Shades of suffering! I just wanted to let everyone know that chapters will be slow this time around. I'm back in school now and things are a little intense at the moment. But bear with me, I will finish the story even if it kills me!
Road to Happiness
Chapter One: Healing Wounds Beneath the Surface
Jack's eyes fluttered open and it took him a few seconds to remember all that had happened in the past few hours. He glanced down at a head of black hair on his chest and for the first time in four weeks, he didn't regret waking up. Lily was still sleeping peacefully in his arms and he didn't want to wake her up to go see where everyone else was and what they were doing. He stayed where he was and about an hour later his mother came in to check on them.
"How is she this morning?" she whispered setting down a tray of food.
"I don't know. She hasn't woken up yet. What time is it?" he asked looking out the window and noticing how high the sun was in the sky.
"It's just after noon. Everyone else just woke up as well. I brought you both something to eat. Don't be alarmed if she doesn't eat very much at first. She clearly hasn't been eating properly and it may upset her stomach if she eats too much."
"Where are Andrew, Kyle, Brandon, and Joe?"
"Professor McGonagall offered to keep an eye on them at Hogwarts, so we sent them there. School is going to be starting soon," Hermione reached over and felt Lily's forehead. After a few seconds she smiled and returned her gaze to Jack. "Well it looks like your good medicine. Her fever seems to be gone. I am surprised however that she is able to stand putting the much pressure on her broken ribs by lying on her side like that. Most people have difficulty breathing when their ribs are broken."
Jack placed a hand on the back of Lily's head lovingly. "She says she feels better when I'm with her. She told me last night that when I'm around her pain is not so bad. Is that possible?"
"You two have been known to do miraculous things in the past. This may be connected to the power that flows between you. I better go check on the others. Let her sleep as long as possible, I put a spell on the dishes so they will stay warm," she kissed her son's forehead and then Lily's before she left the room.
Once his mother had left, Jack looked down at Lily's hand resting on his chest and noticed the mark left from the rope had faded since the night before. It was peculiar that it had healed that fast overnight.
Lily's eyes snapped open suddenly about forty minutes later. She seemed startled about something and Jack tightened his grip on her body to let her know he was still there. "Lil are you okay? What is it?"
"N…nothing," she said unconvincingly.
"Come on, what is it? Did you have another dream?" he asked turning her face up towards him looking worried somewhat.
"No…not like before. But it was a dream," she said sitting up holding her rib cage and closing her eyes in pain.
"Well, what was it about then?"
She gave him a funny smile and looked away, "It…it was…it was a dream about a wedding."
"Oh well I guess that's better than the dreams you usually have," Jack said sounding relieved. He got out of bed and brought over the tray his mother had brought in earlier.
"It was our wedding," she said almost too quiet to be heard.
"What did you say?" he asked, blinking his eyes at an alarming rate.
"I said I had a dream about our wedding."
He slowly lowered himself back onto the bed next to her and put an arm around her, "Do you think it was like a premonition or something. Have you had one in the form of a dream before?"
"Yes," she replied looking cautiously up at him.
He smiled and kissed her forehead. "I bet you were beautiful," he whispered in her ear. She turned her head and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.
"You looked good yourself," she said with a devilish smile.
"You know what I missed most while you were gone," he asked casually.
"No…what?"
"I missed waking up with you in my arms every morning," he said pulling her closer, "I never want to wake up without you there again."
She laughed at the sincerity of his statement. "You don't think they'll have a problem with that at school?" She teased.
"I don't really care what they say. All I know is that I want to spend the rest of my life waking up next to you," he leaned forward and kissed her properly for the first time since she got back. She responded by bringing her hands up around his neck and kissing him back. He broke their kiss abruptly and the look on his face was almost puzzling. "Hey you're supposed to be eating here, and I'm distracting you. I'll go tell your father you're awake while you try and eat something, okay love."
"Sure," she said looking to the bowl of clear broth in front of her. He handed the bowl to her before heading out the door.
The day went by at the Weasley house and all seemed to be getting back to normal. The news of Lily's escape was leaked to the press and they had been camped outside the front door ever since. All the blinds and drapes in the house were drawn shut to keep them from spying and taking pictures.
Jack and Lily spent most of their time reading and finishing their summer homework. They were given extra advanced assignments from the teachers of all the various subjects. They were also working with Ron and Harry as well as the new head of the auror department, Dennis O'Connor, trying to track down Malfoy and Luis who seemed to have both dropped off the face of the planet. O'Connor had been the only other person who had been told of Harry's existence, until that too made its way to the press. They suspected that one of Malfoy's men had allowed the news to slip, hoping to discover where Harry was. Harry however had decided it was time for people to know about him, and he hoped perhaps that would take the pressure off Lily. Aurors were stationed all around the house helping to protect everyone inside.
Hogwarts letters arrived on the second day of Lily's return. They were all sitting in the living room, except for Lily, when an owl flew in through the open window. It flew over to Jack, who untied the letters from it's leg. The owl ruffled its feathers importantly and soared out the window.
"It's from Hogwarts. They only sent us mine and Lily's," Jack observed.
"Well your brothers are at Hogwarts right now so. I'll have them send me their book lists and we'll go to London in a few days," Hermione said noticing how thick both the letters were.
"I'll go give Lily her letter," Jack said standing up.
As if on cue Lily hobbled into the room, "I'm right here." She took a deep breath holding her ribcage. Jack saw the distress in her face and helped her sit down next to him. She was still in a great amount of pain, but she was beginning to heal.
Jack was immediately concerned. "You were supposed to be asleep," Jack teased her, "That's how I left you. You should have tried to come down here on your own. Why didn't you call for me?"
"Oh, I'm fine Jack! Now are you going to give me my letter or do I have to fight you for it?" She leaned towards him and gave him the most threatening look she could muster, which was much because she was still very weak.
"No way am I fighting you! Here you go," he said laughing and handing over the letter with her name on it. They each opened their letters and read them in silence. After reading the usual letter telling them to be on the Hogwarts express on September 1st, they came to another letter behind it.
"Is that what I think it is," Hermione said from her seat next to Ron.
A badge with the letters HB fell out from Jack's pile of letters. He leaned over to Lily and saw she had one reading HG.
"You guys are Head Boy and Head Girl. Congratulations you certainly have done enough to deserve it," Ron said happily walking over and taking a look at their letters.
"Did you know about this?" Jack asked his mother.
"Professor McGonagall asked for my opinion but her mind was already made up. Don't tell me you two didn't see this coming," Hermione asked laughing slightly.
"Well, no I didn't," Lily said smiling oddly.
"Neither did I," Jack agreed, "I mean we're hardly going to be at Hogwarts this year because of all the auror stuff we've got going on. I guess I just thought they would pick somebody who had less going on than we do."
"Hermione and I were Head Boy and Girl in our year you know," Harry said grinning from ear to ear.
"I was Head Girl in my year too," Ginny reminded them all.
"Yeah I know. I just never pictured myself as Head Girl. Especially not after all that's happened. I mean people thought I was dead a few days ago and now I'm Head Girl!" Lily looked over at Jack who took her hand. "What if I'm a lousy at it," she confessed.
Jack couldn't help but crack up at her confession. "Lily you've never been lousy at a single thing you've done in your entire life," Jack said between fits of laughter.
"Oh I can think of a few things I've been lousy at," she said seriously.
"Like what," Jack asked growing serious as well. Hermione stood up and left the room, motioning for Harry, Ginny, and Ron to follow.
Lily answered once they were alone. "Like this whole incident that just happened. I should never have gone on that mission when I knew in my gut something was wrong."
"There was no way you could have known for sure that something like that was going to happen. You can't blame yourself for what Luis did. Why do you keep blaming yourself for things like this? There was nothing you could do."
"Yeah I know. But I should have listened to what my heart was telling me," she said as she lied down on the couch carefully and wincing pain slightly. She rested her head in his lap and he smiled down at her gesture.
"Let's not talk about this okay. There's nothing either of us can do to change what happened," he said as he stroked her hair absentmindedly with one hand.
"So what do you think Mr. Head Boy? Think we can pull this one off," she asked smiling lightheartedly.
"Sure we can! We'll be the best god damn Head Boy and Girl that school has ever seen," he said loudly.
About two and a half weeks before the start of term, Jack woke up in the middle of the night. He looked over to the clock on his nightstand which read 3:24 A.M. and sighed deeply wondering what had caused him to wake up. He rolled over expecting to find Lily still asleep next to him, only he found she was not there. Panicking a little bit, he sat straight up in bed and looked around the room frantically, but she was no where to be seen.
Standing up to go outside the room to look, he then noticed the bathroom door was pulled shut but there was no light on. He listened at the door for a second before he heard muffled sniffles coming from inside. Gently he pushed the door open and found her sitting on the cold floor with her knees up to her chest and her forehead resting on top of them. She was sobbing almost silently. She had not heard him come in.
He kneeled down in front of her, still unnoticed, until he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Lily, what is it?"
She looked up at him startled and through bloodshot eyes. "Oh Jack I'm sorry, did I wake you?"
"No, of course not…I woke up on my own and I was worried when I you weren't in bed next to me," he said reaching up to her face and caressing her cheek. Her cheeks were saturated with tears and her eyes looked puffy even in the pale moonlight cascading down on her from the bathroom window.
"I'm sorry…I didn't mean to frighten you," she said not meeting his intense gaze.
"Lily, tell me why you're crying," he softly demanded.
She let out a singe sob and told him the truth. "I couldn't sleep. I can't stop thinking about what happened. I can't get the images out of my head. Every time I close my eyes I see it. I see his face," she stated as she began to sob again, "I can't stop reliving the whole thing. And now things that never used to faze me end up terrifying me. Like when I wake up in the morning and your not there. Or if I think I hear something in the hallway at night. I'm jumpy all day, and I'm scared of everything. All I want is for things to be the way they used to be before all this happened."
He pulled her to his chest and then stood up guiding her to her feet and returning to the bedroom. He sat down on the bed with her still in his arms. "Tell me what I can do to help you through this. I'll do anything. All you have to do is ask."
She took a shuddering breath and hesitated before speaking. "Look at me the way you used to," she finally said quietly. He pulled away from her and she looked up to meet his eyes with more tears streaming down her face.
"What are you talking about?" He asked looking confused.
"Jack, I see the way you look at me, the way you touch me, even the way you kiss me. It's like you're walking on egg shells whenever we're together."
"I didn't want to do anything that would scare you or make you remember something about being raped by Malfoy. I want you to feel safe," he said wiping a tear from her chin with the pad of his thumb. He took her hand but still didn't take her back into his arms.
"But I do feel safe when I'm with you. There is nothing about being with you that reminds me of Malfoy. I'm not broken because I was raped by a man we both disgust," she said as her green eyes pieced through his very soul.
"I don't think you're broken, love," he said admirably.
Lily looked away form him down into her lap. "It would be okay if you did think so…sometimes I'm not even sure that I'm not broken."
A tear of his own fell from his eye. "You know I love you more than anything. And I would make love to you in a second if I knew you were ready," he said with honesty written all over his face.
"I am ready. I need to know that nothing has changed between us. I'm still the same girl I was before I was taken into that cell. I'm still the same girl who fell hopelessly in love with her best friend. My whole life's happiness has always been wrapped up in you," she glanced down to take his other hand and then looked at him again, "Make love to me Jack," she pleaded as a single tear fell once more.
He looked into her eyes and could see she was still scared, but it seemed to be a different kind of fear. Entering her mind, he realized she thought he didn't love her the way he used to. He was suddenly determined to prove her wrong. "Come here," he said pulling her towards him and kissing her forcefully but lovingly on the lips.
He leaned down on the bed taking her with him until he was on top of her completely. He ran his hands through her hair as he deepened their kiss. He sat up on his knees breaking their kiss to removing his shirt, then returning his body on top of hers.
Rain fell softly outside Jack's window the next morning. The day was off to a poor start and the rain and thick clouds held little promise of allowing the sun to shine. He sat in the armchair facing the bed where Lily Potter was lying asleep on her side facing him.
She began to stir and reached over to where his body would usually be found in the morning. She found he wasn't there and mumbled, "Jack," almost incoherently against her pillow.
"I'm right here love," he answered still mesmerized by her beauty.
"You're grinning, Jack Weasley. I can tell by the way you talk. Explain yourself," she said into her pillow once more with her eyes still closed.
"No reason in particular. Can't I grin in the morning," he asked sounding accused.
"No you can't, it's obnoxious to be so awake when others are groggy," she said sarcastically.
"Well, I've been up for a while now. I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep. Everyone else has already had breakfast. You're sleeping in yet again today," he teased.
"Why didn't you wake me up?"
"I didn't have the heart. Besides you still need to rest."
"Why are you just sitting there then," she said sounding more awake, "Couldn't find anything better to do?"
"I didn't want you to wake up alone," he said glancing down at his watch to check the time.
She looked at him and rubbed sleep out of her eyes, "What have you been doing all this time then?"
"Watching you sleep," he asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well you must be bored then because it couldn't have been too terribly exciting," she said reaching her hand out to him.
He took her hand and kissed the back of it, "You are the most beautiful creature when you're sleeping. Did you know that you never move in your sleep? In all the nights I've spent with you in this bed you have never moved an inch once you were sleeping."
"Really…I guess I never really thought about it. Though I know I thrash around a bit when I'm having a nightmare. But, I don't usually get them when I'm with you," she said sitting up while holding the covers up higher to cover her still unclothed body.
"Why cover up Potter? It's nothing I've never seen before," he asked with a devilish smirk.
"Don't get cocky Weasley! And I'm covering up because I'm cold. And the reason I'm cold is because someone left me alone in bed hours ago," she answered holding her head up high.
He stood up and took off his shirt and pants leaving him in only his boxers. "Well that I can help you with," he said as he climbed in bed her and pulled her against his body. She wasn't lying when she said she was cold. Her body shivered slightly and she had goose bumps all over. He leaned forward over the top of her and kissed her shoulders, navigating his way to her collarbone.
"Are you starting something again," she asked gazing up at him while still lying on her back. She ran her fingers down his back causing a tremor to travel up his spin. "Where is everyone?"
"They all went to get school supplies and spend the day in London. They said they may even stay overnight night to visit with Uncle George and Uncle Fred. It's just you and me here all alone for the entire day," he answered suggestively before returning to what he was preoccupied with moments before.
"And just what do you plan on us doing with all that free time," she said as she twirled a lock of his curly hair around her finger.
He kissed his way to her ear and whispered, "I plan on never allowing you to leave this bed!"
"Oh really," she teased.
He pulled away to look at her momentarily, "I love you more than anything. That fact never changed even when I thought you were dead. I never stopped loving you, or changed the way I love you."
"I know that now," she answered looking up at him seductively.
He smiled down at her and laughed, "Don't smile at me like that, Potter. You have no idea what it does to me."
"Oh really, what exactly does it do to you," she said smiling in the same way.
"I think we've done far too much talking already for my liking, so why don't I show you what it does to me and then you'll know for sure," he said not giving her the chance to answer because he covered her mouth with his.
"So what are your plans for today," Harry asked from across the dinning room table one morning two days before the start of term.
"We're going Diagon Alley to buy robes for next year," Jack replied with his mouth full of toast.
"You should have told your mother to pick you guys up some robes when we were in London. She went with your brother Kyle to get his robes."
Jack finished his last piece of toast and pushed his plate forward. "Well we both need a new pair of school robes. But we also need new auror robes and she's got to have healer robes because she'll be working at St. Mungos on Saturday and Sunday mornings."
"So I take it you guys won't be going on weekend missions like you did last year," Ginny wondered from her seat next to Harry.
"No we will be going on some isolated weekend missions. But they will be few and far between. And they canceled the mission they were going to send us on. It was going to be a month long mission to Africa. Things are a little too dangerous right now," Jack added awkwardly.
"He means things are a little too dangerous for me," said a grumpy Lily as she came into the room and plopped down in the chair beside Jack.
"What do you mean too dangerous for you," Harry wondered.
Jack and Lily exchanged a tense glance before she spoke up, "It means that I'm kind of on everyone's hit list right now. But don't worry Dad, it'll die down eventually. Things will cool off with time."
Harry opened his mouth to ask more questions but Jack beat him to it. "Well are you ready to go. We've got a lot to do today," he said standing up. "Bye Aunt Gin," he added as he left the group at the table.
"I was ready before you were," she teased as she too stood up and began to walk towards the door, "We aren't getting back until late Dad so don't wait up. We have a meeting at the auror department and I have a feeling it's going to take awhile."
"Okay just be careful," Harry said as he heard the door shut behind them.
"They'll be fine, Harry," Ginny said grasping his shoulder in a reassuring way.
"I hope so," he replied sounding as if his mind was somewhere else. Ginny stood up, kissed him on the forehead, and left him alone with his worry.
"They're all staring at me Jack," Lily said through clinched teeth not wanting anyone else to hear.
Jack tightened his grip on her hand and walked on ignoring all the strange looks and open jaws they were leaving in their wake. The streets of Diagon Alley were absolutely packed with students trying to buy all the things they would need for the upcoming term. They had seen some of their friends from school and stopped to say hi. But for the most part they kept to themselves. They had purchased their robes and books and were now heading back to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch before apparating to the ministry. They walked into the back entrance of the pub and took seats in a secluded area in hopes that no one would bother them.
Lily sat down first with the bags containing their robes at her feet and Jack sat down with the bags containing their books. He took her hand from across the table and looked at her warily. "You okay?"
"It's just weird that's all. People look at me differently now. I mean they always looked at me differently than everybody else because of my father. But now it's like they're afraid of me," she confessed looked distressed.
"To these people you somewhat of the walking dead. A lot of people were greatly affected by your death Lil. I don't think you understand what you meant to people; what you still mean to people now that you're alive."
"Yeah I know. Its just weird that's all."
"You should have seen all the sympathy cards I got," he said smiling sadly.
"You got sympathy cards?" she asked wrinkling her nose at the thought.
"Sure, I got hundreds of them. Everyone knew about us and our relationship. I mean come on I'm dating the famous Lily Potter, everyone knew! I guess they just felt sorry for me. I never even read most of them," he confessed.
"Why not," she was curious now. Why did he not want to read them, and why had people cared so much to send them.
He looked down and became extremely interested in the woodwork of the old table they would soon be eating on. "I guess it just hurt too much," he finally answered in a very deep voice not looking up to meet her eyes.
"I'm so sorry," she said squeezing his hand.
"It's not your fault. You had no control over what happened," he looked up and added, "But so help me God nothing like that is ever going to happen again."
"Is that a command," she asked jokingly trying anything to get him to crack a smile.
"Yes," he replied still serious, "I never want to loose you again. I almost went crazy the first time. I want to always keep you safe and here with me."
"Okay, we have a deal then! I promise that nothing like that will ever happen again. Should we shake on it?" she asked letting go of his hand and holding it out very professionally for him to shake.
He finally smiled and shook his head no in response. He leaned across the small table until his lips were inches from hers, "No, but I'll kiss you on it!"
She closed the distance between them and they shared an innocent kiss as the waiter came up to take their order. They talked about the upcoming Qudditch season all the way through their meal, just happy to be able to enjoy each other's company once more.
At quarter past ten Lily can entered the house through the back door alone. Harry was sitting at the dinning room table going over some of his notes for the first day of class. He turned around to see her enter the room looking completely worn out. Even in the dim moonlight shining through the open window, she looked like she had been up for days.
"Hey there…Where's Jack?" Harry asked noticing he was not there.
"They asked him to stay behind and do some training with some spell. They talked about it but to tell you the truth I really don't remember what it was. I was a little tired. We spend the afternoon working out and dueling a little bit," she pulled up a chair and rested her elbows on the table.
"They had you training today," Harry said concerned. She was most certainly not ready to training, though he knew she would never admit it.
"Better sooner than later I guess. Jack should be home in about an hour."
"Well just don't push yourself too much in the beginning. You have been through a rough ordeal and your body is still not ready to return to all that training just yet," Harry warned.
She nodded her head in agreement, but Harry was unsure if she had understood his point. She changed the subject so he couldn't press the issue any further. "Dad, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah sure honey anything."
"What was Jack like when they told you guys I was dead?"
Rather off guard Harry wondered how to respond. He considered the question carefully before answering. "Jack was a mess. He didn't come back after he left to identify your body. He was gone for days. When he was here he didn't seem to really be living. He just merely existed for the sake of his parents."
"Kind of like the way you felt when Mom died?" she asked not really knowing if he would want to talk about this topic or not.
"Well yes and no," he said truthfully, "In all honesty I didn't know your mother as well as Jack knows you, and I certainly hadn't known her for half as long as you and Jack have known each other. She and I were never friends like you guys were before we started dating either, but I was completely devastated when she died to say the least."
"Why weren't you friends first?"
Harry chuckled to himself at the memories of how he and Melissa first met, "We were far too attracted to each other to be merely friends, even in the beginning."
"I wish I could have known her," Lily said regretfully looking down at her lap.
"I wish you could have too. She loved you so much."
"Why didn't you two get married?" Lily speculated.
"I guess things were just always so hectic. We thought there would be time for that later when everything settled down," Harry replied mournfully.
"Do you ever regret it?"
"I regret not marrying your mother everyday of my life. But I think in our hearts we had everything every other married couple has. We loved each other very much," He looked at his daughter who was smiling back at him. There was something sad in her smile however. "Jack told me you two have talked about getting married."
"When did he tell you that?"
"When he didn't think he'd get the chance," he said knowing she understood what he meant.
"Yeah we talked about it. We always said that we wanted to get married the summer after graduation."
Harry took a cleansing breath and gave her a little piece of advice, "If I were you I'd go ahead with your plans. You never know how things are going to turn out in the end."
"I'll have to talk to him about it and see what he thinks."
"I don't foresee him having a big problem with the idea," Harry assured her.
"So, um….what's going on with you and Ginny?" Lily asked uncertainly.
Harry shifted in his seat and took a breath before answering. "Ginny and I are just… we're just…trying to figure some things out. I care about her very much."
"Like you cared about mom?"
"No, I mean I cared about your mother a lot, Lil, don't ever think that I didn't. But its just different with Ginny." Harry looked away from her out of fear that he would see disappointment in her eyes. But it was her reassuring hand on his shoulder that brought him back to her.
"Dad, all that matters is that you're happy. If she makes you happy then go for it. The past is in the past, so leave it there," she added with a small smile.
"That's the best advice I've gotten in a long time. Thanks honey," he said as he kissed her forehead lovingly. "Why do you have to be so grown up all the time?"
She threw her head back and her blissful laughter filled the room for a few seconds. Harry decided that being able to see her laugh like that was worth everything he'd gone through up to that point. "Give me a day or two to figure that one out, and in the mean time I'm going up to bed. I'll see you in the morning Dad," she said standing up and bending over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before heading up the stairs slowly. Harry watched her every step and noticed how labored her movements were. It was almost like she was in pain.
Harry sat up for another hour waiting to see that Jack got home okay. He sat by the fire reading and was beginning to nod off when he heard the back door open and close.
Jack came into the room and saw him sitting there, "Did Lily get home," he asked looking around.
"Yes she got home at a while ago," Harry replied scratching his head and glancing at his watch.
"Was she okay?" he asked sounding grave.
Harry leaned forward now concerned himself, "She looked tired and maybe in a little bit of pain. Why did something happen?"
Jack took a seat with his hands on his knees, "Yes Harry something did happen. She asked me not to tell you because she doesn't want you to worry, but I think you need to know so this time I'm going to break my promise."
"What happened," Harry demanded kindly. He was grateful that Jack trusted him enough to tell him things even when Lily asked him not to.
"We were in a practice duel with one of the trainers earlier this afternoon just after we arrived. There was nothing really strenuous going on. She was more or less backing me up because I didn't want her to hurt herself or get worn out with school started in a few days. She was perfectly fine one moment and then the next I look over and she's lying on the floor curled up in a ball screaming in pain," Jack explained shaking his head, "I didn't know what to do. It was obvious she was under the Cruciatus Curse. But no one there was putting her under it. It was kind of like that dream she had the night when you showed up. Do you remember?"
Harry gave a sarcastic laugh, "How could I forget. Did she say anything this time? Last time she was yelling things."
"No she didn't say anything. She just screamed in pain. It lasted for nearly twenty minutes. They brought in two healers and no one could do anything. I wanted to take her to the hospital but no one would let me. When the curse was finally lifted she said she had been having visions about being back in the cell at Malfoy's manor."
Harry sat there in aw of a few moments. What were they going to do now? Malfoy had found a way to place curses on her when he was no where near her. What would he do next?
"Just promise me that when the auror department decides to take Draco Malfoy down, you let me know. I want to be there when it happens."
"You can bet it will. Just don't mention the talk we just had to Lily okay? I don't want her to know I talked to you about this. I just thought you should know," Jack stood up and walked up the stairs and out of sight.
Jack listened carefully at the door to his bedroom. He could hear someone crying on the other side, and something deep inside him began to ache. It did not sound like she was crying out of sorrow, but rather out of pain. He walked into the bedroom as quietly was he could and stood over the bed looking down at her. She had her back to him and was shaking, but not from her tears.
She turned around when she felt his presence and he saw the distress in her eyes. "Jack, I didn't hear you come in," she said through her tears trying desperately to sound upbeat.
He removed his robes and everything else besides his boxers before climbing into bed next to her. He pulled her onto his chest and rubbed her back, "Lily, you're trembling. Are you still hurting?"
He felt her tears fall onto his bare chest as she answered in a very shaky voice, "My whole body aches."
"Tell me what I can do," he pleaded sounding worried.
"You're doing it right now. I told you I feel better when you're here."
He held her as close as possible and ran his hands through her long black wavy hair. "What happened tonight?" he asked as casually as he could. He didn't want her getting upset.
"I have no idea," she said after a momentary pause. Something in the back of his mind told him she wasn't telling him the whole truth. But he didn't want to press the issue tonight.
"Your Dad was worried about you. He said you looked tired when you came home."
"Yeah I know. We talked for a while," she slipped her leg over his trying to get closer to his warmth. He kissed her forehead in response.
"Try and go to sleep. But clear your mind first. We don't want you having any nightmares again now do we," he joked sounding a lot more positive than he felt. She nodded her head and he looked down at her to find her eyes close. He breathed a sigh of relief and resolved to himself that he would not be getting any sleep tonight.
a/n- tell me what you think! I know this chapter may be a little disappointing, but I needed a transition. It gets better I promise! Thanks for taking the time to read it!