Chapter 4 Night Terrors

Abby stared at him for a few minutes.

'What?' she asked her voice squeaky. She saw Stephen's crestfallen expression.

'Never mind...' he turned back to the couch. Abby stood in indecision, she needed time to think over what he'd asked, but she knew she didn't have a lot of it. She went back to the kitchen, turning the heat back on to reheat dinner. Did she want to be with Stephen? That answer was obvious: yes she did, she had for months now. The main question that was nagging at her was whether she could be with him. She been burnt in the past, badly, by all of the men she'd had relationships with. She tasted the sauce to see if it was warm enough yet, turning off the heat and taking the pans off of the cooker. How much did she know about him? If Abby was truthful with herself she knew little about him outside what they'd experienced together, and it was this that was making her hold back. Especially after the revelation that he'd had an affair with Helen. Abby groaned as she looked down at the pair of food filled plates.

'Make up your bloody mind, Abby,' she muttered to herself as she picked up the plates.

Dinner was a quiet affair, both were lost in their own thoughts and by the time dinner was over they decided to head straight to bed. Abby collected some things from her room while Stephen was in the bathroom; she caught sight of herself in the mirror.

'You don't deserve him,' she told her reflection, 'Even though you want to be with him more than anything.'

She sighed, Stephen Hart was driving her mad, the fact that she was talking to her own reflection was evidence enough. She walked back down the stairs, looking over at the little Coelurosauravus that was currently being entertained by Stephen, the man dangling a branch with a few leaves on it for the lizard to swat with his feet. He looked up as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

'See you tomorrow, Abby,' he said, smiling slightly before walking past her and up the stairs.

'Night,' she said, watching him go and feeling her heart sinking through the floor beneath her. She sighed and dropped onto the couch after turning out all the lights, pulling the spare duvet over her and facing the back of the couch as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Stop crying and just accept the fact that you brought this on yourself, she scolded herself silently, you didn't want to get hurt and just ended up hurting yourself more in the process.

Abby silently cried herself to sleep, curling up against the back of the sofa and burying her face in the pillow beneath her head.

& & & & & & &

She looked down at the ghostly white face of the man in the hospital bed in front of her, his injury from the Arthropleura bleeding freely. His body shaking from convulsions as it tried to fight the poison in his veins. Suddenly the shaking stopped and his body went deadly still. The hospital staff ran around her, trying to resuscitate him, and all the time she could hear the sound of her own sobbing. She called out his name but he didn't answer. Just lying on the bed.Motionless, silent. She covered her face with her hands and wept.

When she pulled her hands from her face he was standing in front of her, alive and well. She wanted to run to him, wrap her arms around him and never let go; bury her face in his shoulder and tell him how much he meant to her. She made to take a step forward but a Gorgonopsid entered the clearing from the trees surrounding them, giving out a deafening roar. She opened her mouth to warn him but he turned to face the Gorgonopsid, taking one of the automatic guns and facing it down. She screamed for him to run but he ignored her. The last thing she saw was him being thrown through the air to land with a sickening crunch on the ground near her, his neck at an odd angle and his eyes lifelessly staring at her. She made to run to his body but someone grabbed her around the waist and dragged her away, all the time she was screaming his name, her throat sore from the overuse Then everything went black, the only thing she could sense was the roar of the Gorgonopsid.

He was with her again; alive again. She was still crying she started to walk to him, wanting to beg him not to leave her. He was getting ready to get into a boat to find the anomaly at the reservoir. She saw a dark shape moving in the water, moving towards the boat. She called out a warning to everyone in the boat; begging them to get out and get onto land. None of them heard her; it was as if she was a ghost. She could only watch, sobbing and calling out, as the giant marine predator came out of the water to crash into the boat, taking everyone into the water with it. She could only stand and watch helplessly as it swallowed each of them whole.

When her vision cleared of tears she was standing on a golfing green. He was standing about a hundred metres down the hole, looking away from her. She started to run but her legs didn't want to move fast enough. She looked behind her as she heard the sound of beating wings; the small flying predators were flocking behind her, moving steadily towards him. She screamed for him to hear her, to turn around and head for the trees but he just turned to look at the approaching flying dinosaurs. Her legs stopped moving of their own accord as the dinosaurs over took her and dived onto him. All the time he just stood and stared at her as the dinosaurs methodically tore him to shreds. Her screaming echoed in the darkness that took over once more as she sank to her knees, fresh tears mingling with the old.

She knew what would happen as her vision came back and she was stood in the observation tunnel again; he had her pressed against the wall as he looked down the corridor at the future predator.

'Run!' she managed to choke out, her throat sore from all her previous screaming.

'No,' he replied, 'I won't leave you.'

'You need to get out, please, just run,' she begged, knowing the tears were falling without feeling them.

'I can't let it get you.'

'Don't...' a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye and he disappeared from her field of vision.She turned her head to see him being attacked by the future predator. Their eyes met for a brief second.

'Abby... run...'

'NO!' she screamed, ignoring the creature as it turned to look at her, his blood dripping from its teeth, 'STEPHEN! STEPHEN!'

'Abby!'

Abby's eyes snapped open and she looked up at Stephen, his blue eyes filled with concern. She could feel her whole body shaking and the tears that were falling down her cheeks.

'Stephen?' her voice cracked her throat was so sore. Had she been screaming in her sleep as well as in her dream? She buried her face in his shoulder, clinging to him with all her strength as sobs shook her body. She felt his arms go around her, holding her close; as her sobs got worse his arms tightened, his one hand rubbing her back, murmuring soothing words into her hair as he rocked her slowly.

Stephen could feel his heart breaking as the normally strong girl sobbed in his arms; he'd been woken by the sound of her screaming for him. He'd run downstairs without a single thought and found her thrashing around on the couch, tears cascading down her face as she dreamt. He'd tried to restrain her but she'd carried on thrashing, screaming in anguish and screaming his name. He'd tried to wake her up and eventually she had, sounding so broken as she'd spoken his name. He felt her shaking start to slow, and her sobs start to fade. Soon she was trembling slightly in his arms as he continued to rock her back and forth, rubbing her back comfortingly. The hands that held onto his shoulders as if she'd be lost if she let go started to relax.

'What happened, Abby?' he asked her, Abby sniffed and looked up at him.

'I couldn't stop it,' she replied, he saw fresh tears welling in her blood shot eyes. He brought her into his lap and leant back into the back of the couch, bringing her down onto his chest as he half sat, half lay back on the sofa, running his fingers comfortingly through her hair.

'What couldn't you stop?' he asked her. He felt Abby's hands on his shoulders tighten their hold.

'You dying,' she replied, 'You kept dying and you couldn't hear me when I tried to warn you.'

Whatever he'd been expecting it wasn't that.

'I was in the hospital after you were bitten by the Arthropleura and they didn't get the anti venom into you in time. You went so still and I called out to you but you didn't answer. Then we were back in the Forest of Dean with the Gorgonopsid. I tried to tell you to run but you tried to kill it and... it threw you into the air and when you landed you broke your neck... I tried to get to you but I was being dragged away. Then you, Cutter and the other divers were getting into the boat to find the anomaly in the reservoir and I saw the dinosaur swimming towards you and tried to warn you, but no one could hear me. I was screaming at all of you and you just ignored me as it broke the boat... it just swallowed all of you and no one noticed... no one tried to help and I couldn't move. Then you were standing in front of me again, we were back at the golfing hotel and the flying predators were flying towards us but you couldn't hear me again and they... they just flew down on you and you just stood and watched them. You didn't try to move and I couldn't do anything to help you...' Abby took a shuddering breath. 'Then we were back in the observation tunnel and- and I told you to run but you refused- you said you wouldn't leave me and no matter what I said you wouldn't move... and then- and then it attacked and you just told me to run... I- I couldn't- I-'

Abby dissolved into more tears, burying her face against his bare chest. Stephen was shocked; he honestly had no idea what to make of what she'd just told him and it took him a few minutes to recover and try to comfort the still crying girl, only pausing a split second to wonder how many more tears she could cry before she simply became too dehydrated to continue.

'It's alright,' he said quietly, still stroking her hair, 'I'm here and I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon.'

After a few minutes Abby pulled back, wiping at the tears with the back of her hand. 'Can you promise me something?'

At that moment Stephen would have promised her the world if it would have made her happy, 'Anything.'

'Don't leave me?'

He smiled at her, 'I'd already promised you that before tonight.'

Abby smiled at him and rested her head on his chest again, 'Stephen?'

'Hmm?'

'You know that question you asked me earlier?'

Stephen felt his heart rise into his throat, 'Yeah?'

She pulled back and looked into his eyes, 'The answer's always been yes.'

Before she could even draw breath Stephen had crushed his mouth against hers, kissing her so passionately that any breath she had left in her lungs was knocked out. His arms crushed her against his body, one hand going up to continue running through her hair as the other starting tracing circles on the bare skin of her waist where the strappy top she was wearing left a gap above her pants. Her trembles of fear turned to shivers of delight as his fingers ghosted over the nerves at the small of her back. Abby's hand went up to tangle itself in his hair, caressing his scalp with her fingertips, the other travelling over his chest, her fingers finding the puckered scar where the Arthropleura bit him. Her lips parted on a gasp as his tongue ran along her bottom lip; the kiss deepening as they explored each other. Questing, tasting, questioning, until they parted, the need to breathe properly becoming too great to ignore. Abby looked into Stephen's eyes before resting her head on his chest, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tightly. She sighed, smiling slightly as his fingers ran through her hair, his other arm wrapped tightly around her waist, holding her against his chest as he ran his fingers over her exposed stomach. Stephen winced as a spark of pain shot through his back from the puncture wound where the tree branch had stabbed him.

'What's wrong?' Abby asked, pulling away to look at him, a worried frown on her face.

'Nothing, just the puncture wound from the tree branch,' he replied; Abby sat up.

'Let me have a look,' she said, Stephen raised an eyebrow and smiled.

'Abby? Going to be a little difficult with you on my lap,' he pointed out; Abby rolled her eyes and stood up, immediately feeling the loss of the warmth of his body. Stephen sighed and sat forward on the edge of the couch so Abby could look at the injury on his back. She pulled the bandaging back and checked the wound; it was bleeding sluggishly and the bandage needed changing.

'Where did you put the dressings the hospital gave you?' she asked him.

'Abby it's fine-'

'Can you see your back now?' she asked, raising an eyebrow. Stephen sighed.

'It's in my bag,' he answered.

'Where is it?'

'Upstairs,' he replied, Abby nodded and walked over to the staircase, quickly running up into the bedroom. She saw his bag leaning against the far wall and went over, having a quick glance through to see if she could see the package.

'It's in the front pocket.'

Abby looked over her shoulder and saw Stephen leaning on the wall a few feet from her.

'What are you doing up here?' she asked him, 'You should be downstairs on the couch, you could make it start bleeding more-'

'Abby, I've got to come back up here to sleep anyway,' he reasoned, 'This way I don't have to come back up after you've replaced the bandage.'

Abby sighed but nodded, pulling out the new dressings and standing up.

'On the bed then,' she said, Stephen raised his eyebrows a small smile forming. Abby blushed and rolled her eyes.

'That didn't come out how it was supposed to,' she said, Stephen laughed and sat on the edge of the bed. Abby climbed onto the bed, kneeling down behind him and pulled the old dressing off completely. She put some antiseptic onto a piece of cotton and dapped at the wound; Stephen's back muscles tensed as the antiseptic stung.

'Sorry,' she murmured, becoming increasingly aware how close they were. She redressed the wound and started to pack away the dressings when she felt Stephen's hand rest on her thigh. She turned to look at him, his gaze catching hers.

'Stephen-'

'Abby stay up here for the rest of the night,' he told her, 'I don't want to have to go downstairs to get you if you have another nightmare. At least with you up here I can get to you quicker.'

'I'm fine,' she said, blushing at her stupidity for letting a dream affect her so much, 'Really.'

'Abby,' his tone left her in no doubt that he wasn't buying it. Abby met his gaze. She desperately wanted him to hold her as she slept, so she knew he was there and they were both safe; but she was scared about letting all her barriers down. Even if it was Stephen. One look in his eyes and she knew her own heart didn't give her a choice in this. She nodded, letting him pull her close as they leant back on the bed, the dressing pack going on the floor and the covers being pulled over them. She rested her head on his chest, hearing the steady beat of her heart and the slow sound of his breathing; strangely she found it started to lull her to sleep.

'Thank you,' she murmured sleepily, snuggling closer to the warmth of his body. Stephen's arms tightened around her, his chin resting on the top of her head.

'I'll be right here,' he told her, pressing a feather light kiss to her hair before he heard her breathing slip into the steady rhythm of sleep. He smiled and pulled her body flush against his side, his one arm wrapped protectively around her waist, the other running comfortingly along her arm.

'I love you,' he whispered, losing his eyes and letting sleep take him.

A/N: Hi everyone. I'm so sorry I haven't yet thanked everyone who has reviewed! I wrote the first three chapters literally before I posted the story and I didn't have time before I posted them to put any thank you messages on the end so here they are (better late than never I guess):

Minchen: Thank you so much for your reviews! I know what you mean about stories full of SPAG mistakes... it drives me nuts! I usually check through my chapters to make sure they're not full of them. Thank you so much for the reviews!

SnowFox3: Thank you for reviewing! I promise I won't burn it... not unless it gets really bad anyway.

Weezer42: Thank you for both of your reviews! I know the Stabby pairing is just meant to be! I really hope they get together in the next series!

Lov3is4lif3: Thank you for reviewing, it's really appreciated!

Janzz: Thanks for telling me about chapter 3! I was opening this chapter to carry on writing after I'd posted chapter 3 and I just clicked on chapter 4 by accident. Thanks for pointing it out!

Thank you so much to everyone and please R&R on this chapter! I haven't actually got any more chapters written yet so it might take me a bit longer to put up the next update. Thank you to everyone who has been reading this fic and thanks again to everyone whose reviewed!

Ciao for now

Starsword