You rolled over, looking at the small alarm clock by your bed. It read 2:33. Noticing it was still quite dark out, you frowned. What had woken you up? Then you heard a knocking at the door. "Who'zzere?" You called with a yawn. Then you heard it. The faint pounding of rain outside, accompanied by the occasional flash of lightning, and roar of thunder.

"S'me… c-can I come in...p-please?" A Bostonian-accented voice asked from outside the door. You stood up, adjusting your tank top and pajama bottoms, then opened the door.

Scout stood there looking shaken up and frightened. "What is it, Scout?" You asked quietly.

He swore under his breath. "Y'know… n-never mind, this was a b-bad idea...sorry t'wake you up…" He turned, and tried to head back down the hall, but you put a hand on his shoulder, keeping him in place. You could feel his body trembling slightly, and frowned.

"Scout, come on in… tell me what's the matter…" you whispered, leading him into your room, where the both of you sat down on the edge of your bed.

Lightning flashed outside the small window, followed shortly after by a loud roar of thunder. Scout jumped, making a small squealing sound.

"Shhh…" You shushed him, scooting next to the terrified boy. "S'okay… s'just thunder… it can't hurt you…"

"I-I know… I'm a frickin' baby… c-can't even handle a few f-frickin-" He was cut off by another roar of thunder, and he shivered.

"No… you're not a baby, everyone's afraid of something… even Heavy…"

"Y-yeah right… he ain't afraid of nothin'..." Scout said with a small shake of his head.

"He's afraid of something, Scout. Everyone is!"

"Yeah, but n-not of frickin' th-thunder…"

"Shhh…" you whispered, scooting closer and wrapping your arms around him in a hug. His shaking lessened, and you could tell he was less afraid. He leaned against you, letting your body press against his. "Thank you…" He whispered to you, smiling softly.

"No problem… just sleep now…"

He closed his eyes, and soon fell into a deep sleep. You laid down on the bed, bringing the sleeping boy next to you, wrapping one arm around his torso and using the other to cover the two of you with a blanket.

After a short while, you fell asleep as well, still cuddling the sleeping Scout.

In your dream, you stood in a white field of snow. The stuff was falling gently from the sky, covering the grass and the trees. A few young boys were playing a few feet away, running around a small snowman. The snowman had a carrot nose, two small rocks for eyes, and wore a Seattle Mariners baseball cap.

The smallest of the four boys was sitting on the ground, rolling snow into throwable spheres. "Ryaaaan!" He called. "I've made enough!"

One of the older boys, presumably Ryan, walked over, inspecting the snowballs. "Good job, bruddah!"

The youngest boy blushed, beaming with pride.

"Hey, Mikey, why don't we do us versus Andrew and Antonio?" Ryan asked the young boy. Mikey nodded happily. "Yeah! We'll crush 'em!"

The two other boys, both blonde twins, grinned. "In your dreams, Mikey!"

"It's on!"

Soon, a fun snowball fight ensued between the two teams.

When they were exhausted, each boy flopped to the snow, face, hair, and clothes covered with the white fluff.

"We totally crushed you guys!" Mikey chirped.

"Nah, little bro, we completely killed you two!" One of the twins said.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Ya-huh!" The other twin replied.

"Nooooo!"

"Yeah!"

"Ey, both of you, shuddup! It was a tie!" Ryan said, exhausted.

"Fine."

You realized then that you were in Scout's dream, watching him and his brothers play. As you smiled, the scene faded, and a voice broke through the darkness.

"Hey… (F/N)... wake up…"

"Noo…. Mom, I don't wanna go to school…" You mumbled, still half asleep.

You heard a chuckle, and opened your eyes. Scout stood over you i his pajamas, hand on your shoulder. "Oh… hi…" you said sheepishly, blushing a bit.

"Good morning, sweetcheeks… ready for your second day at the 'Fort?" He asked with a smile.

You yawned. "Think so…"

"Sleep well?"

"Mmmhmm, you?"

"Yeah… dreamed of home… n'my brothers…" He replied, smiling softly again.

"Good dream?" you asked, already mostly knowing the answer.

"Yeap…"

You stood up, stretching.

"Hey, uh, (F/N)?" Scout asked.

"Yeah?"

"Uh…" he blushed slightly. "Thanks for last night… Thunder's th'only thing I'm real scared of…"

"Hey, don't worry about it… I'm here for ya, okay?" You smiled at him.

He glanced over at your clock, and noticed the time. "Ah, crap, I gotta go get ready… we've got a battle in an hour…"

"Alright, good luck…" you wished him luck as he left your room, closing the door softly behind himself.