Pen and Ink week day 4: Nightmare
After the events of SOS part 2, Gordon goes to stay with Penelope. He's mostly recovered physically, but not mentally.
Penelope was abruptly woken up when she felt movement beside her. Her eyes flew open, but she could barely see as it was still the middle of the night.
There was a brief moment of panic when she thought she was sleeping alone, as she usually did, so she didn't know what else would be in her bed. But after she quickly reached over to switch on the bedside lamp, the light that greeted her reminded her that tonight was a night where she wasn't alone.
Gordon was sleeping next to her on the bed, and she quickly realised what had woken her up.
His eyes were closed, but they were squeezed tightly shut and his brow was creased. His fists were clenched where they laid next to him on the pillow, and every few moments his limbs would jerk.
"Gordon?" Penelope reached over and gently shook his shoulder.
A small noise emitted past his lips, but that was all.
"Gordon." Another shake. "You need to wake up."
Gordon still didn't wake, and instead continued to jerk next to her.
"Gordon!" Her voice was louder, and her touch was firmer now that she knew a softer approach would not suffice.
It worked, and his eyes shot open a second later.
His breathing was erratic, and his gaze darted around the room. Penelope moved closer so she was in his line of sight, and so he knew he wasn't alone.
"Hey. Hey, Gordon?" Penelope coaxed, and put one hand on his cheek to get him to look at her. "It's alright, I'm here. It was just a nightmare."
His eyes finally settled on hers and his breathing started to even out as she sent him a comforting smile. Once his breath was back, he gave her a shaky nod and closed his eyes again.
"Just a nightmare," he mumbled, and Penelope felt her heart ache.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked once Gordon's eyes were open again, but he just shook his head.
So instead, she settled back into the pillows and pulled him closer to her. Gordon gladly nestled into her, and Penelope moved his head so that it was on her chest, right over her heart where she knew he liked to be. She planted a kiss to the top of his head.
She could feel him shaking and she wrapped her arms around him to hold him tighter.
It took a while, but soon the shaking settled, and she could hear his breath even out as he fell back to sleep. However, she found that she couldn't, and instead stayed awake until the sun started to rise.