DAR

I get up in the morning, my bed still empty. Apparently, Tommy made it through the night without another nightmare, which is a plus considering I honestly wasn't certain how well that whole situation would go over. Perhaps if I give him something chocolate before bed, it might soothe him enough to let him sleep. Either that or I could try to get him drunk enough to make him pass out. I might bank that idea for later. I dress and head for the kitchen to get the coffee started. Maybe I'll help him work on the tower this morning. If we can hurry and get it done, that'll leave him more time to work on other things that would interest him more - like researching.

I enter the kitchen and stop short at the sight of the former Ranger sitting at the counter. His head is resting on his arm on the counter, one hand wrapped around a cup of coffee. As I cross the room, I pass my hand over the cup. I can feel the warmth rising from it, meaning that he hasn't poured it all that long ago, so at the very least he hasn't been down here all night. "Brat?"

"Yeah, I'm awake." Wow, does he sound tired.

"Didn't make it?"

"I was fine until about an hour ago. Then I got treated to an all new nightmare."

"A new one?" I take a breath pouring myself a cup of coffee and trying to be as casual as I can. "What about?"

It takes him a while but finally he says, "Look, it's nothing personal and when I'm awake I know it wouldn't be like this especially since I've seen how much you value and try to protect Zedd." This isn't going to be good.

"I do indeed hold your mate in rather high priority, pretty much the only one over him is Pina."

Nodding in understanding he heaves a sigh. "I know, which is why I'm not sure why I dreamed this, but…I dreamed that Zedd was being beaten and tortured and I couldn't go to him and when I tried to convince you to check things out, you said that I was mistaken and nothing was wrong because you knew that Pina was all right."

Not as bad as when he dreamed that Zedd was a rapist, but still… Suddenly a tad worried as I really think on this, I check on Pina through our bond, feeling that she's all right even if it's difficult from the distance between us now to tell fully. "What is the bond telling you right now?"

"That he's fine, a little tired I think, but I don't feel like he's in any trouble. I might not be able to feel him as strongly as when he's here, but I'm sure I'd know if he was hurt or something was wrong and logically I know that, but-"

Suddenly, I think that there's more to it than that, by the way he's squirming. "What else?"

"The nightmare really didn't end there. I don't remember how we got to the next morning but the next thing I knew Zedd got free and got home and found me sleeping in your bed and jumped to a bad conclusion and- and he tried to beat me to death." He sighs. "I know that wouldn't happen, but-"

"You can't help what you dream."

"I know and I'd really rather Zedd didn't find out that I had another nightmare making him a villain again. He's so concerned about how I'll see him when he has to change how he looks to use his magic all the way, and he worries so much about what he's done in the past it'd hurt his feelings to know my subconscious keeps casting him in that role of bad guy."

"I can understand that." Hopefully, he'll take that to mean that I won't say anything, in spite of the fact that I probably will. After all, Zedd needs to know that the boy is still having nightmares and I know that he'll want to know what about. Even if it will upset him, it'd be better if he had a clue that something was still troubling his mate so he could try and find a solution rather than just let it fester and get worse.

I realize just how tired Tommy is when he doesn't actually press me for my word. Lately he's been able to match my ability to catch loopholes, but this one seems to go right by him. "Thanks."

"You know Zedd wouldn't be upset though if you had to sleep in my room. Even though I'm not exactly ecstatic about the idea, I do know he'd be more upset to know you haven't slept and what sleep you have gotten has been troubled at best."

"I know."

"Then you should also know it's not you who's going to have a physical fight with him if this keeps up and you don't allow me to help. He purposely asked me to watch out for you and make certain you were well. You sitting up at all hours drinking coffee and eating caffeine laced foods is not exactly doing that and he's going to know it as soon as he gets one look at you. It's also going to make him much more reluctant to leave and help someone in trouble the next time."

"I'll come to your room if I have another bad night, but I'm not sure that's going to solve anything." Almost certain he's going to try to just stay awake, I make up my mind to check on him during the night, realizing he's very likely as hardheaded as Pina would be in such a situation.

"All right. What do you want to do this morning, since you're already up?"

He sighs again and straightens up to take a drink from his coffee before he says, "I'll get started on the tower soon."

"I'll help you. If what Zedd says is true about how much you got done, we might be able to finish it today or tomorrow and then you can move on to other things." This seems to wake him up a little more. I turn toward the fridge. "Let's get some breakfast and see what we can get done."