A/N: Okies, here's the second "Nightmare" snapshot, again, these are not related. This is also set at the safe house during The Awakening and in my head, this happened after Derek and Chloe had an argument about something, not sure what, though so you can fill in the blanks. :)

Disclaimer: "The time has come," the Walrus said, "to talk of many things", like how I don't own Darkest Powers...

I brushed my teeth in a state of extreme irritation and closed my bedroom door a bit harder than I needed to.

"Idiot," I muttered furiously, yanking off my t-shirt and jeans and replacing them with my dry pyjamas as I crawled into bed to fume some more. "Stupid man!"

Suddenly exhausted, I curled up on my side and let myself drift, pointedly telling my brain to shut up when it kept going back to D- HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED.

I had hoped for pleasanter dreams once we were safe, but as soon as I fell asleep, it became apparent that that wasn't going to happen. My dreams took me straight back to the Edison Group lab, and to Dr. Davidoff, who carefully buckled a straightjacket around me. "You're a danger, Chloe," he told me kindly. "You'll be safer here." He lifted me and I saw the coffin that he was carrying me towards. Dread filled me to bursting and I started to struggle against the buckles that pinned my arms to my body. I fought to get free, but Dr. Davidoff just laid me into the coffin and closed the lid. I screamed so loudly that it was nearly soundless and thrashed as the last little bit of light was sealed away.

"Chloe! Chloe!" My dream became my reality as I realized that I couldn't move.

"No," I whimpered, twisting frantically. "No, no, no!"

"Chloe, stop!" I felt someone grabbing at me and my panic went through the roof. I twisted so hard that I fell right off the bed and landed painfully on the throw rug. The impact drove the breath from my chest and forced my eyes open. I wasn't in a coffin, or a straightjacket, or even in the Edison Group's lab. I was on the floor, gasping and sadly tangled in my sheet and Derek was coming around the bed, frowning. My body relaxed. If Derek was mad, everything was fine.

I tried to push myself up, but I was really knotted in. After watching me struggle for a few seconds, he lifted me with an impatient sigh. One sweep of his hand and the sheet fell harmlessly to the floor.

"Thanks," I whispered shakily, crawling back onto the bed.

"What happened?" He stayed next to the bed, staring fixedly just to the left of me, his face closed and hard.

"Nightmare." I shivered and pulled the old quilt up to my chin. The hot tears that were burning to be shed wouldn't spill out. They wouldn't... I swiped at them roughly with the cuff of my pyjama top. Damn.

Derek looked like a deer caught in headlights, which I'm pretty sure is the standard hardwired male response to female tears. He shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

I hiccupped and looked at him. "How'd you end up here? You didn't go to bed?"

He looked pained. "No, I was just coming up and I heard you crying."

Hypersensitive hearing strikes again. As was becoming a routine, Derek had had to come running to my rescue. He'd told me he was tired of looking out for me, and here he was, stuck with me again. The lines in his forehead deepened as I continued to sniffle. And he really didn't need to stand here and watch me cry. Which, of course, made it even harder to stop. As I wiped my face for what I hoped would be the last time, I heard Derek's footsteps on the floor and I waited for the sound of the door closing as he escaped. The door clicked, but seconds after, my bed dipped and he settled back against the headboard next to me. I looked up at him through watery eyes.

"What are you doing?" It sounded interesting coming through my blocked nose.

He toed off his shoes. Thump. "Go back to sleep. I'll stay here." Thump.

"You don't have to."

"I mean it, Chloe." Derek's typical grumpy response made me smile, but I still felt guilty. "What's wrong now?" he asked testily when I sniffled again.

"I'm sorry." The irony of me using his favourite words was not lost on me. I picked at a thread on the quilt. "You're always stuck taking care of me." I grabbed a Kleenex from the box on the bedside table and wiped my eyes and then my nose. Thank God it was dark. I am one of those people who are really ugly when they cry. "I used to get along just fine without you, if you can believe that."

He made a disbelieving sound and grabbed a frilly sham pillow to prop behind his back. He muttered to himself, and I caught something about Simon.

"You really don't have to stay with me if you don't want to," I said quietly, but I was still a little rattled from the nightmare and I didn't want to be alone. He shot me a look from under his lashes, and even in the dark, I was startled by the intensity behind his gaze.

"Chloe, for God's sake, go to sleep."

"Fine. But just for the record," I said as I traded my sweat-soaked pillow for a dry one and curled up on my side again, "if I wanted Simon here instead of you, I'd go and get him." Before he could argue, I closed my eyes. "Shh, I'm sleeping." I felt the bed tremble with a silent laugh and I smiled into the fluffy pillow.

The dark wasn't so threatening anymore and Derek radiated heat, and I fell back to sleep much faster than I had hoped.

Waking up without sweat streaming into my eyes and screams echoing in my head was amazing. I slitted my eyes and saw Derek's outline against the headboard in the murky dawn light. He had drawn up his knees and his forearms were balanced on them, his head resting back. I wondered if he was asleep, but I saw his head turn as my breathing changed. I didn't open my eyes and I kept my breathing as regular as I could, and after a moment of watching me, he must have decided I was still asleep and relaxed.

After a moment, he reached out tentatively like he was expecting to have his hand slapped away, and shifted some of my hair that had fallen across my face. His warm fingers lingered on my cheek for a second longer than they had to. He looked different in that moment. Slowly, his face changed, the contentment fading into a familiar shuttered expression.

Derek wasn't even old enough to vote yet, and already he had been exposed to more cruelty than most people face in their entire lives. He knew, as I was coming to understand, that we'd never be truly accepted by the supernatural community. Even among them we were abominations, genetically modified teenagers with powers we didn't know if we could ever control. His life hadn't been easy, but he was lucky enough to have a family to go back to after all this was over.

I pushed that unwelcome though aside and waited until he was distracted, then I yawned and rubbed sleepily at my eyes, blinking at the alarm clock to bring it into focus. "Hey."

He grunted, stretching his shoulders.

"Thanks for staying." I was so grateful for those few hours of precious and un-terrorized sleep. He made some noises that could have been a "you're welcome", swung his legs off the bed and headed for the door.

"Derek?" He paused with his hand on the doorknob, but he didn't turn around.

"Yeah?"

I shifted around until I got my feet on the ground and I ran over to him and threw my arms around him from behind. He stiffened but didn't pull away. "Thank you," I mumbled against his back, unable to express how much I appreciated what he had done.

He turned gingerly in my embrace and awkwardly patted me on the back. I think he was afraid I'd get all emotional again.

"You're welcome." And with that, he slipped out the door.