My Chemical Romance - Sleep

The muffled sound of running water was the only sound Connor heard on the other side of the bathroom door. The television was on the news station, as per usual, and he was trying to follow the ongoing story of the android protests, but he was finding it hard to pay attention. Taylor was on the other side of that door, preparing for bed.

He could hear the occasional shuffling as well, and he was trying not to focus on the noises, but since he had agreed to stay with Taylor, he had become hyper aware of everything she did. Logically, he knew he had stayed in the same room with Taylor while she slept before. She had pointed out as much. Yet this time, somehow, it felt different.

The door clicked open. He'd become lost in his train of thought and not realized when the water cut off. Taylor stepped out of the bathroom clad in a matching camisole and short pajama set. Her cheeks were flushed a rosy pink, and she darted over to the bed to slide beneath the covers immediately.

He watched all of this with interest, unable to speak from the moment she appeared. She glanced over at him, her face still a bright shade of red, and raised her eyebrows. "You could at least take off your jacket, you know."

Her tone was tinged with amusement. He looked down at the jacket and tie he was still wearing. Conceding, he slid out of the coat and loosened his tie, crossing the room to hang both of them so they wouldn't wrinkle. Then he rolled his sleeves to the elbow and slid under the blankets with her.

She was watching him, her blue eyes dark in the dim lights. As he settled in across from her, she slid closer. Despite the warmth in her cheeks, her fingers were cold to the touch when she found his hand.

"Thanks for staying," she said softly. Connor nodded, unsure what to else to say. She stared at him for a moment before she said, "You can come closer. If you want."

He didn't realize he had wanted it until she said it, but he didn't hesitate to scoot against her. He released her hand, sliding his fingers along her arm and tucking his arm around her waist. She pressed closer still, nestling her head against his shoulder, her leg curled against his.

Tucked into the circle of his arms, lying side by side, he could appreciate how much smaller she was than him. Taylor was fairly tall, only a few inches shorter than him, but where he was broad, she was delicate. She fit against him, every soft curve molding into his frame. He would have been content to hold on to her forever.

"Is this okay?" She asked, uncertain. Her arm rested lightly around his middle, but she was tensed, ready to pull away again. Though he couldn't see her face, he could still read the rapid drumming of her heart in her chest.

"Yes." Connor wished he could make her understand the way he felt with her in his arms. He knew his thirium pump was pulsing faster than normal, like it was trying to keep time with her erratic human heart. She relaxed then, and he said, "Go to sleep."

She laughed softly against his chest, but she didn't say anything back. He could sense when her heart rate started to slow, her breathing even out. Exhaustion stole over her quickly and she fell into sleep.

He knew he should put himself into rest mode as well, but he was enjoying the feel of Taylor against him. He thought back to his first night as a deviant, after the destruction of Jericho, when she had fallen asleep in his lap, her breath warm against his neck, and the feeling of belonging he had felt.

He tried not to count the minutes passing by, focusing on the gentle rise and fall of her chest, the slow rhythm of her heart. Eventually, he gave in and let himself slide into low power mode, his consciousness fading.

Connor came to abruptly several hours later. Taylor was twisting in his arms, her jerking motions bringing him back to consciousness. His arms tightened reflexively as she flailed, which only made her struggle more. It only took a few seconds to realize she was still asleep. He called her name, over and over, trying to wake her.

She jerked away as her eyes finally opened, breathing hard, pushing at his arms and still trying to get further away. When he released her, she scrambled to the edge of the bed. Sitting up, he watched her hunch over, shoulders shaking. He hesitated, scanning the rapid rate of her heartbeat and breathing, wanting to reach for her.

"Taylor." She flinched when he spoke. Then she finally turned to face him, her hands pressed over her mouth, holding in her scream. She lowered them into her lap. The light from the television flickered across her face, her widened eyes.

"I'm sorry." He shook his head, reaching for her. She wavered, then slid against him, still shivering. "I'm sorry. I had a nightmare."

She was speaking into his shirt. He could feel her breathing, trying to slow it down, breathing in her nose. He slid his hands gently up and down her back. "It's okay."

Taylor shook her head, burrowing into his chest, still taking deep breaths in her nose. After a minute, she said, "I forgot you were here with me."

His hands stilled on her lower back. She didn't move, just kept her forehead pressed into him. He registered the time, that it had only been a couple of hours since she had fallen asleep. "What was your nightmare about?"

Her breathing hitched for a moment. Then she relaxed again and said, "I don't remember."

Even without seeing her expression, Connor had the sense that she was lying, but he didn't push it. She wasn't shaking anymore, so he pulled away enough to see her face. "You should try to sleep."

"Okay." She allowed him to pull her back down with him. When they were lying side by side, she rolled over onto her other side and scooted closer until her back was pressed against his chest. He tucked his arm around her, and she folded her arm over his.

Still, it was a long time before she fell back to sleep.

Taylor huddled into her coat as she wandered through the headstones. She'd managed to find a scarf and gloves, but even with them on she could barely feel her fingers. Tucking the bit of cloth up over her nose, she shoved her hands as deep into her pockets as they would go. Still, she didn't walk any faster.

She'd chosen the long way around, gazing up at the overcast sky and wondering if it was going to start snowing soon. There was a bite to the air that suggested it might, but thankfully no wind. Not yet.

Connor had gone back to Hank's early in the morning at her suggestion. They had arranged for his suits to be delivered there, she insisted, and he had to see them off before the two of them left for Washington. She was only going to be doing laundry. Those beautiful brown eyes had looked back at her, creased in worry, but he had eventually conceded.

She had done laundry. She couldn't lie to him, after all, and to try was pointless. She'd checked in with Alex for the day, went out for her run, then for breakfast. All of her errands compacted into a couple of hours, until she took a taxi here.

Her feet had taken her in a circle around the perimeter of the cemetery three times now, down several rows that were far away from her real destination. The muscles in her legs were still sore from her run, screaming in protest with every step. All she could think of was crawling back into a taxi and riding back to the hotel to soak in a hot bath.

Not another soul around, she drew to a stop in the middle of a row of gravestones, turning her head. Soaking in the silence, she closed her eyes, a deep sigh filling her chest. Then she reopened them and set off across the rows in a straight line toward her parents' graves.

The sight of the headstone was not what she expected. It looked normal, the Kolbeck name at the top, her mother and father's names and the dates they died. Side by side. Someone had been here, had taken care of the site, had even left flowers recently. She wondered if it was Jake or Hayley.

The emotions she expected didn't come. The scarf had slid down from her nose, small clouds of breath pillowing in front of her face in the cold, and she just stared. After a while, her legs still protesting, she eased herself down to the ground and sat across from the graves, waiting. She didn't know what for.

The hush of the cemetery pressed in, not even permeated by the usual Detroit traffic thanks to the evacuation. Sitting cross-legged in the quiet, her insides scraped hollow, she could have been the only person in the world. Her fingers, clenched inside her coat pockets, were numb, her nose like an icicle hanging from her face.

Taylor didn't know how much time had passed before her phone started ringing. The abrupt noise was an explosion in the silence, making her physically jump. She had silenced her phone to everyone but Alex, because she had promised, so she scrambled with her clumsily frozen fingers to answer before the call diverted to voicemail.

"Hello?"

"Where are you?" The question threw her off and she tried to gauge his tone. He didn't sound angry, or worried, but there was a recognizable tension in his voice that made her feel like she was in trouble.

"In Detroit still?" She answered uncertainly. He made a frustrated noise. The vague sound of him juggling the phone from ear to ear came over the receiver and she wondered, guiltily, if she was interrupting his family time again.

"Where at in Detroit? Connor just called me because he cannot find you. Apparently, you were supposed to be at the hotel. Markus has been trying to get in touch with you. He checked with Jake and then he tried me because he thought you would answer my call."

"Well, he was right." She tried to make it sound light, like a joke, but she had pulled the phone away from her ear to count the number of missed calls. Inside her head she was cursing.

"Taylor, you told me you were going to do better. This feels a lot like being reckless." He sighed into the earpiece. She could still hear him moving around, and then Emily started to cry in the background.

"I'm at the cemetery." She said in a small voice. The dread that had built up in her chest drained away into guilt. The time on her phone told her that she had been sitting here for longer than she realized. Hours. Staring into nothing. "I just wanted to be alone. For a little while."

The first snowflake swirled into her vision, drifting down to land on her sleeve, where it quickly melted away. Alex was silent on the line for what felt like an eternity, Emily's cries permeating the call, before he said, "I'm going to tell Connor where you are. Please, just stay there. I'll call you later."

"Okay." The call ended as well as the soft infant crying in her ear. She shoved her hand, phone and all, back in her pocket. A shiver rippled up her spine, but she couldn't feel the cold, just her numb hands and face, her teeth chattering. Hunching her shoulders, she settled in to wait.

Connor arrived in record time. She had expected nothing less, but it wasn't hard to appreciate his arrival in the quiet that surrounded her. When she looked up, he was fast approaching through the rows of headstones. He had changed, she realized, out of his CyberLife uniform, into one of the new suits. It was the only thought that registered before he was upon her.

He knelt, his hands on her upper arms, his face leaning close to hers, scanning her. There was snow already clinging to the soft brown of his hair, his eyelashes as they fluttered with his eyes jumping over her. That little furrow appeared between his eyebrows, his hands sliding up to her shoulders, and every touch, every look was fire burning through the cold.

"Are you okay?" His LED was flashing red, but outwardly he seemed calm, tilting his head slightly as he asked the question. She attempted to smile for him, but it felt wrong, and it only deepened the look of concern he was giving her.

"I'm fine. I lost track of time." His gaze shifted to the headstone for the briefest of seconds before he stood, holding his hands out to her to help her up. She stared at them for a moment, and he hesitated.

"You're very cold." She placed her hand in his, and she could feel the warmth even through the thick knit of her gloves. He tugged her to her feet, and she stumbled forward into his chest, her legs completely numb. He supported her weight effortlessly while she shifted on her feet, trying to gain her bearings as pins and needles crawled up her calves.

"I'm sorry I made you worry." She couldn't look at him when she said it. Connor reached up and touched her face, drawing her eyes back to his.

"You told me you were going to be at the hotel. I wasn't worried at first, but Markus contacted me and said he had been trying to call you." He leaned in and pressed his forehead against hers. "Jake hadn't heard from you either. Of course I was worried."

She reached up and circled her arms around his neck. His LED had flickered back to yellow; he must have decided she was alright. He slid his arms around her waist, encompassing her in warmth.

"Do you want to stay longer?" His voice was gentle when he spoke.

"No." She sighed softly. "Did Markus tell you what he wanted?"

"He wanted you to come to CyberLife. There's something he needed to show you." Connor frowned, his brow creasing again. She pulled him down and placed a kiss at the corner of his mouth, lingering for just a few seconds.

"Let's go," she said, pulling away just as he was tightening his hold.