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Dreams—Chapter 1
Seth turned in his bed with a moan. Beads of sweat trailed his face. His fists were doubled up around handfuls of the cover. He moaned again.
"Mama...Mama..." He shook his head in a negative gesture. He looked almost in pain.
Whitney placed a cool cloth over his forehead, then sat back down on the chair she'd pulled to the bed. It was nearly four in the morning. He'd been at this for nearly an hour now, and it wasn't the first time.
It had been about a week since Seth and his group had appeared on her door, saying they had orders from her father to protect her. She hadn't liked it at all, but she had soon discovered that Seth was immovable. Why he would want to put up with her was anyone's guess, but he did. She'd had a hard time with making him be her friend, too. He almost seemed annoyed with her when she tried. She didn't blame him, not everyone wanted to be her friend. But she didn't care. After the adolescence she had suffered, a problem like Seth O'Malley was not going to stop her from keeping her childhood promise: friends were important to her, and she was not going to let anyone who could be a friend slip through her fingers.
Seth bolted up right. His hand shot out and grasped her neck in a choking grip. Her hands instinctively flew to his hand. His eyes opened slowly, revealing the left over pain from his nightmare. He stared at her with unseeing eyes for a long moment, his strong hand slowly constricting her air supply. Her head felt light and dizzy by the time he realized what he was doing. His eyes quickly lost their coldness and darted around to assess the situation.
He suddenly let go.
She dragged in a long breath, trying not to cough. She did anyway. Seth only stared at her until she had recovered. He was still breathing rapidly. His eyes searched her face as if he didn't recognize her.
"Seth?"
"...I'm sorry... I didn't..."
"It's okay." she said softly. "Do you... want to talk about it?"
He shook his head. "No." the word was so final. "I'm fine," he said as his head dropped and his chin touched his bare chest.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm fine," He looked at the clock on the headboard. It said 4:28 am. "Go back to bed, Whitney."
She put a hand on his chest and gently pushed him back to the pillow. She took the cover and pulled it back around his shoulders and kissed his forehead as she took the cloth that had fallen from his head. Her hand slid slowly off his cheek.
He thought she would say something, anything, but she didn't. And the click the door made was the final sound before the night's lullaby returned.
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The smell of bacon and eggs and coffee filled the air as Seth trudged down the stairs from his bedroom. The sound of something sizzling filled the air and flowed with the enticing smells toward him, beckoning him to the kitchen. Whitney's house was an old farm house, and huge, really. He was still amazed that she lived in it by herself most of the time. Sure, her two farm hands, Yuri and Wind, lived in the house, but they were serious workers and neither was good company, especially for someone as...what was the word... innocent? outgoing? as Whitney.
Seth rounded the corner and found Whitney with her back turned to him as she fiddled with things on the stovetop and counters. There were four plates laid out on the table, each having eggs and bacon already.
She turned abruptly, smiling as she saw him. "Good morning,"
"Morning," he said. She walked to the table, maybe eight steps from the stove and dished out biscuits, two for each plate from her cookie sheet.
"You hungry?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Take your pick," she indicated the plates. "Milk is in the fridge and the sausages are almost finished."
Seth poured two glasses full of the milk and brought them both to the table as she dished out the sausage to each plate. Whitney turned her back once more and Seth wondered what he had forgotten. She produced a jug of orange juice from the fridge. Holding it up, she asked silently if he wanted any. Seth shook his head no. She brought a small glass of the orange liquid to the table and he sat down beside her.
Seth picked up his fork and prepared to attack the delicious looking food when Whintey caught his wrist.
"Blessing first," she said sweetly.
Seth lost the shred of happiness he had found when he had woken. The unexpected peace he had felt, despite what had happened the night before, was gone.
"Well, close your eyes and fold your hands."
"I'm not one for praying."
"Close your eyes," she commanded as she folded his hands in front of him. He scowled at her as she proceeded to say the blessing, her head bowed and her hands covering his. He never closed his eyes.
"...Amen," she looked up at him, her eyes smiling, waiting for him to comply. A long minute stretched into another. Whitney removed her hands and picked up her fork. It was several minutes before Seth remembered his hunger and followed her lead.
Not 10 minutes after they had started, Yuri and Wind came to join them.
"Have you talked to your father about all this security?" Yuri asked. He shot a glance at Seth, making his position known.
"Yes." Whitney said. "He says it's for my own good."
"Shouldn't you be the judge of that?" Yuri asked.
"You would think so, huh? But he won't withdrawal them." she said with a sigh. "There's really nothing I can do... he is my father, after all."
Yuri refrained from arguing any more. He and Wind left some 20 minutes after they had arrived, cleaning their plates in the dish water, drying them and putting them away.
Whitney stood to take care of the little remaining work in the kitchen; she had the two of them trained well. Seth picked up his plate and took it to the water to wash it. As she put things away and he dried, their elbows bumped. Whitney spared a brief glance at their elbows, still close, and then at his face, before she turned back to what she was doing. Seth put his plate down swiftly and caught her elbow. She turned back and looked questioningly at him.
"I'm sorry about last night," he said. He had seen during breakfast that he'd bruised her neck. It was why she was wearing a shirt with a collar; something he gathered she disliked.
She shook her head. "It's alright."
"Not really," he said as he reached out to her and tucked the collar down to expose a mild bruise. He gulped; he couldn't remember ever hurting anyone who had just tried to help him.
"I'm fine, Seth,"
He made a silent promise to make it up to her. Why he didn't tell her he would, he didn't know. But he gave a hard, slow nod and went back to what he had been doing.
Whitney had 2 points over him now: the mere sight of her made him feel funny and the bruise.
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goblz: thank you for your review. I added another sibling because Dee Henderson very efficiently ended the epics of the other siblings in the series. I think that's also why there are so few O'Malley fan fictions. As far as an intro to Seth, I'll update the Prologue chapter with it.
I would also greatly appreciate any ideas you may have as far as the course for this story.
potostfbeyeluvr: Thank you very much for your review. I am updating the Prologue with an introduction to Seth.I would greatly appreciate it if any of you would let me know that the profile for Seth is sufficient. As always, I welcome comments and enjoy ideas for the story.