He woke later to feel her squirming against him, he came awake as suddenly as if he'd been drenched in cold water "Becca? Becca are you ok?" She mumbled something incoherent, drowned out by the duvet and he threw it back impatiently. She was having a nightmare, threshing around and muttering. He shook her gently, then harder as she seemed impervious to his efforts. Her eyes fluttered and she opened them, she was shaking, drenched in sweat and confused "Jake?" she whispered in terror, "It's me Becca" he shook her arm "Justin! You're safe! I'm here, I'm here" he held her close and soothed her as a child, repeating the words over and over again. Gradually she became calmer and he felt, ready to tell him the cause of her nightmare. He suspected the truth but it was one of things she refused to discuss, the sorry mess of them going public. "What was it?" he asked "what were you dreaming about?" "I don't remember" she replied. No longer willing to hear the lie, he pressed her "You must remember something, you called out for Jake" bitterness in his voice. "Not for him!" she replied without thinking. "Tell me" he persisted gently, she looked at him and he felt her body relax against him "I was in the flat, I wouldn't tell him who, he had me pinned to the wall and was going to..." she shuddered at the memory. Justin held her tighter, "He's never going to do that again, I promise, he'll have to go through me first!" She looked at his face determined and angry, for her and sighed. "He's never going to be that angry with me again Justin, there's no need to defend me" He shushed her with a kiss and stroked her hair; he ran his hand down following the contours of her body swollen with the child, their child he thought proprietarily. He'd never felt this way about it before, that he had a family to defend, his feelings suddenly felt crystallised, it was no longer The Bump, it was a son or daughter, a real person, helpless. He realised she was looking at him puzzled thinking him still angry over Jake, "I'm going to take such good care of you both" She smiled "I know" she said.
4
