"OW!"
"Stop moving!"
"Stop hurting me!"
"Babe, this will help keep it from getting infected, but you have to sit still!"
"Kinda hard to do that when it stings like hell!"
"Quit being a baby and hold still." Gia pushed down on Jake's shoulder with her elbow, keeping him seated on their hotel room desk chair while she cleaned out the cut on his arm with rubbing alcohol. "How exactly did you get this hurt from surfing?"
"Beats me" Jake shrugged, causing Gia to drip more of the rubbing alcohol onto his cut. "OW!"
"Stay! Still!" Gia commanded, dabbing at the wound. When she was done rubbing it, she got some bandages from the first aid kit her parents packed, in which she was grateful for. She knew the basics of first aid, which was enough to clean out Jake's cut. "This would've been done a lot sooner, you know" she told him. Jake sighed.
"It stings" he complained. Gia scoffed.
"Hey, I got repeatedly stung by a nest of yellow jackets when I was young. The entire time my mom cleaned me up, I didn't move or complain." Jake looked at her.
"When did this happen?" he asked. Gia smiled.
"Good ten years ago. You didn't see me complaining back then, I sure as hell shouldn't see you complaining today. About a mere scrape. From a rock." Gia scoffed again as she wrapped the bandage around his arm.
"I'm not the one going all out." Jake smirked. Gia sighed.
"You would think a first aid kit had normal bandages." she complained. She finished wrapping Jake's arm, and put the contents of the kit back in the box. Jake got up from the chair, stretched, and flopped down onto their bed. Seconds later, Gia joined him, and let out a long, winded breath.
"Rough day?" Jake smirked.
"Let's see" Gia smirked back. "I got a tattoo against my parent's wishes, I got a heart attack triggering ice cream sundae, we barely made it out alive from a fight with hundreds of monsters without our ranger suits or powers, I went and told my mom about our tattoos, I found out Noah got a date, and I spent nearly half an hour bandaging up your arm after mysteriously injuring yourself from surfing. In other words, yes. Yes it was a somewhat rough day." Gia finished her rant with a slight huff, while Jake chuckled and put his arm around her.
"Yeah, I guess we can say it wasn't one of our better days." he admitted. Nodding, Gia snuggled in closer to Jake, and shut her eyes. "You know it's only 7 right?" he asked. Gia opened one eye and looked right at him.
"So? I'm tired." Gia closed her eye and lowered her head back down onto the pillow. "Plus, I just said I had a slightly rough day."
"True." Jake agreed. Yawning, he set his phone onto the nightstand next to Gia's. If Gia was going to bed, Jake saw no point in staying up longer. Besides, he, too, had a pretty rough day. He hadn't really discussed the topic of the monster attack with Gia a lot, mainly due to the fact that she wanted to keep it a secret. However, Jake couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to come, and that what they faced earlier in the day was just the tip of the iceberg. He was drawn from thought when Gia muttered something that he couldn't quite hear. "Huh?" he asked her.
"Stop being worried" Gia muttered loud enough for Jake to hear. Jake smirked, and looked next to him, where Gia had buried her face into his side.
"How would you know I'm worried?"
"Your muscles are tensing up. Kinda hot, not gonna lie, but it usually means your worried."
"Well, you got me." Jake admitted.
"Then stop worrying" Gia repeated.
"I know, I know, it's just…" Jake let out a sigh as he figured he should tell Gia about his dream. After today, it was the best time to tell her. "I had a nightmare last night." He felt Gia shift in bed and, when he looked back over to her, he found her sitting upright in bed, looking at him with a worried expression.
"You...you too?" Gia asked in a worried tone. Jake looked at her, wide-eyed, as he sat up next to her.
"Wait...you had a nightmare?" Gia nodded.
"Last night." she muttered.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Why didn't you tell me about yours?"
"Honestly, probably for the same reason you didn't mention yours at all." Gia sighed and looked out the window, where the last of the light from the evening's sunset came through. She decided that she was going to tell Jake about her nightmare tonight. She was already in the hole anyhow.
"I didn't want to make you, or anyone else, worry. It's our vacation, and we're retired, and…" Gia trailed off, looking down. After a shaky breath, she continued. "I didn't want to tell you, mainly, because...you...you...died", she spoke softly. Jake admitted he was stunned, but the second he saw tears on Gia's face, he pulled her in for a hug. Gia kept in her tears for the most part, but, inevitably, some slipped through. "I had a nightmare that we were fighting a monster. One we never faced before, and who had excessive power. You tried to fight him off but…" Gia trailed off again, letting more tears flow, as Jake held her close to him.
"It's okay Gia, it was just a dream" he soothed.
"But what if it wasn't?" she sniffed. "When I woke up, I nearly had a heart attack because I thought you were gone. You don't know the overwhelming relief I felt when I saw you sound asleep in bed right next to me."
"Can I be honest?"
"Please do" Gia sniffed.
"I had the same nightmare. Well, not exactly the same, but very similar. Monster we never faced, very powerful. You tried to fend him off, but he was too powerful…" Jake took a breath as Gia just stared at him.
"This can't be a coincidence." Gia murmured. "It's not a coincidence. It's got to be a warning. A preview. Something!" Gia cried softly into Jake's shoulder as he continued to hold her.
"Gia, it's okay. It's okay." Jake rubbed her back as she cried. "We'll figure this out". He felt Gia nod in his shoulder as she pulled away, wiping her face. She looked at him with her now bloodshot eyes and red face.
"I just really hope it's nothing. I really hope we just had an unfortunate runin with the enemies of the next ranger team." she sighed. Jake nodded, pulled her in for a hug, and pulled them both down so they were laying in bed.
"Whatever comes out of this, we'll work through it. We're both in the dark as of now, but we'll find light soon. I promise you." Jake kissed Gia on the head as she snuggled into his chest once more. In a matter of minutes, she was out cold. Jake took a minute to look at her, and wondered to himself what in the world he did to deserve the love of someone like her. He felt that way at times. He felt like Gia deserved better. Everyday, when Gia wakes up to kiss him, her urge to be next to him everywhere, and just the fact that they share a bed, he is reminded that Gia loves him and only him. With that soothing thought playing in his head, Jake drifted off to sleep.
Any suggestions, throw em my way! Peace!
