WHOLE

The sudden awakening made Lea's heartbeat go crazy for a few moments and the woman became aware of her boyfriend hyperventilating and panting right next to her. She quickly turned on the light so that she could assess the situation better. Shaun was covered in sweat and trying hard to catch his breath.
It was not the first time something like that happened since they got back living together, exactly two months after the earthquake. It was not nearly the first time. PTSD was something all of them had learnt to live with for quite some time. They endured a lot, experiencing anxiety, fear, and loss. Thank God the earthquake had not brought bad things only, Lea mused. Without it her and Shaun would never have gotten together as a couple and they probably would never have recovered their friendship either. That one was a very dreadful thought indeed. Shaun was without any doubts one of the best things that ever happened to her in life. Lea was sure of that much. And becoming Shaun's girlfriend brought with it so much more as a bonus. She had never believed it possible for Glassy to really become fond of her, but it happened. Lea was convinced that he would never forgive her for hurting Shaun even if, to tell the truth, they had actually hurt each other. But the only thing that really mattered to Glassy was to be sure that she was serious about it. That she was not going to toy with Shaun's feelings. And once she had managed to convince him of that, every piece had suddenly fallen into place. Of course they kept bickering back and forth over stupid things, but it was just for fun. Working at the Clinic, Lea also had the opportunity to get to know Debbie better, and the two of them magically clicked. It was incredible the number of things they had in common, and Lea could not help wondering how it was possible that Glassman fell for Debbie, while he could not stand Lea, at least in the beginning. And she also wondered how could have happened that both Shaun and Glassy fell in love with two women so different from themselves. Life worked in mysterious ways. However, she and Debbie became friends in no time and started to hang out together for breakfasts, lunches, hairdresser's appointments, even a car racing once. And subsequently the four of them began to spend a lot of free time together as well. Typically they had lunch at Glassy's on Sundays. Every Sunday. Lea had not experienced a family Sunday lunch since childhood and it had felt strange in the beginning the sensation of having a family again. She did not even know that she longed for it. She did not understand that the messed up life she lived was only a way to hide her loneliness and her fear to trust.
She owed Shaun the ability to trust again, and she owed Shaun the better person she was now.
But nothing really worthwhile in life comes without a cost. And they all paid their toll to the earthquake in the form of nightmares, night terrors, anxiety attacks, and so on.
So there they were again. Fortunately it did not happen as often as it used to. They were healing. Slowly.
Lea turned to her boyfriend, carefully avoiding to touch him until she was sure he was aware of her presence beside him.
"Shaun, look at me" she pleaded him to focus on her. "It's okay. It's all right. Everything's fine. Calm down".
She went on repeating herself until the man's labored breathing began to normalize. "It was only a dream, Shaun. Everything's okay".
She had been having nightmares too. Usually they were about Shaun trapped in the basement of the brewery, or about them never getting together, or about him drowning. So she knew perfectly well how debilitating those dreams could be. She had nothing but sympathy for what her boyfriend had just endured.
Meanwhile Shaun's panic was slowly subsiding. Lea was successful in talking him out of it.
The young man took three more breaths, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.
"Are you okay?" Lea asked.
"Yes" Shaun answered. "I'm okay". But as soon as he finished the sentence he reached out for his cell phone on the nightstand.
"Wait, who are you calling, Shaun?"
"Dr. Glassman" he replied.
"It's four in the morning" the woman pointed out, with only a hint of exasperation in her voice.
"I need to…check on him" was Shaun's brief explanation.
He did not need to say anything else for Lea to be able to connect the dots. Now she knew exactly what his dream was about and she also knew it was a futile effort to try and stop Shaun when had already made up his mind about something like that.
Just a few seconds later Lea heard Glassy's sleepy voice through Shaun's phone. She knew for a fact that he would not got angry. The man was incapable of really getting upset with Shaun for more than ten minutes, as a general rule. Furthermore Lea knew that Glassman had a couple of very bad nightmares too as a result of the stressful situation he found himself in, during the earthquake. The man had spent the night in the OR, performing one surgery after another without pause, and he had to witness helplessly the loss of a dear friend and former protégé. All of that while feeling scared as hell for Shaun, without knowing what was going on at the brewery site and if the young man he considered a Son, was going to make it or not.
It had been very hard for him too and Lea knew it. Glassy was not one to talk about those kind of things, but Debbie was and she told Lea.
Dr. Glassman heard his cell phone ringing immediately, even if the ringtone was set to minimum for the night. He urgently grabbed the phone and got up from the bed.
"Hello? Shaun, what's wrong?" he asked worried.
"Are you okay?" Shaun's familiar voice asked after the briefest hesitation.
Glassman sighed, calming down himself.
"I'm okay, Shaun. I was just sleeping in my bed". He then exited the bedroom trying not to wake Debbie up.
"I…I'm sorry I woke you" the young man quickly apologized. "I had a nightmare" he explained. And after another brief pause he added "I needed to…hear your voice".
Aaron weakened at that.
"I'm sorry, Shaun. Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes, Lea helped me calm down. I'm okay" he assured his mentor.
"Good" the older man said. "Then I suggest that we both go back to sleep for another couple of hours".
"Yes" Shaun agreed. "It sounds reasonable".
"Wanna have breakfast tomorrow?" I mean…later? You could tell me about the dream. It would make you feel better about it".
"Okay" the young man replied. "7 a.m. at the cafeteria?"
"Deal" Glassman concluded. "Night, Smurph". He laughed a little.
"Night, Glassy" Shaun said, before hanging up.
"Everything's all right?" Lea asked to reassure her further.
"Everything's all right" Shaun confirmed in a lighter tone of voice.
The woman switched off the lamp and snuggled closer to her boyfriend. Shaun hugged her tightly.
"Are you having breakfast with Glassy?" she asked.
The man nodded and kissed the top of her head.
"Good" she said. "I'm having lunch with Debbie".
There were bad moments in their lives, she thought. But they were brief, and then the good ones came as well.
"Love you" Lea said, closing her eyes.
"I love you too" Shaun replied.
And they fell asleep hugging. They were in love, they were happy, and even if their lives had been literally hardly shaken, they were slowly beginning to feel whole.