Chapter Six: On Eagles' Wings

Jacob

Nessie lay sleeping curled against me, one hand resting on my cheek. I had discovered within days of our marriage that if I fell asleep with her hand on my face, I could get into her dreams.

And it was one of the weirdest things I'd ever experienced. I saw everything through Nessie's eyes, heard her thoughts almost as if I was thinking them — and yet still had my own thoughts. Sometimes I could even feel my own body, as well as Nessie's — though she didn't respond to anything I said to her. If she was dreaming about me, I would see myself; I wasn't sure which was stranger, that, or half feeling that I was Nessie while my own dream had her walking toward me. My mind added things to the dream; while the main plot was Nessie's, only if she reacted to something could I be sure it had originated in her mind and not mine.

Of course, to Nessie they were just normal dreams; I wasn't even completely sure why she liked sleeping with her hand on my face.

Tonight she lay on her stomach on the back of a giant eagle. She rested her chin on her hands, her elbows buried in feathers, not seeming to care about holding on as the eagle soared high above the earth. And in that odd way of dreams, I somehow knew that the eagle was supposed to be me.

O-kaay. I'm a werewolf, Ness, not a were-eagle! But I had to admit that this was better than watching myself fall to my death night after night; pulling myself to wakefulness so I could wake Nessie and cradle her sobbing against my chest. I had yet to decide if I actually liked sharing her dreams, but for the past three weeks, at least, it had been necessary.

The eagle must have spotted some prey on the ground; without warning it folded its wings and dove.

Nessie screamed, wrapping her arms as far around its neck as she could and clinging to handfuls of feathers.

But she wasn't afraid. She loved it; her scream was pure excitement. If she was scared at all, it was the delicious terror of riding a roller coaster.

The eagle's feet touched the ground, and suddenly it was me standing there in front of Nessie.

I was never gonna get used to this; standing in Nessie's body looking at myself; hearing myself talk but being unable to control what "I" said. A lot of times I knew what it would be; Nessie had me down pretty well. But sometimes the dream-Jake answered the way Nessie wanted him to. And hearing Nessie's thoughts, you'd think I'd've known what that was — but I was coming to believe Bella had been right when she told Edward that reading minds wasn't everything.

Well, one thing was sure; if Nessie ever gave the dream-Jake more than a peck on the cheek, I was outta there. Kissing another man was sick enough; the idea of kissing myself was so twisted I couldn't stomach it.

Nessie reached almost shyly to touch his face. Thank you for saving me, Jake.

It was the first time she'd acknowledged that I had.

"Hey, that's my job, Ness."

She laughed a bit shakily. Just promise me, Jake… She faltered and was about to let her hand drop, but the dream-Jake captured it and held it to his face. "Promise you what, Ness?" he asked huskily.

Of course, I already knew what she was gonna say. Promise you won't…leave me. She softened the word, but I'd'a known what she meant even if I hadn't "been" her.

"'Course not, Ness! Who'd be your guard dog if I left?"

"Promise!" she insisted, blinking back tears.

"I promise," he breathed, turning his head to kiss her hand.

I growled mentally; angry with the dream-Jake for making promises I wouldn't be able to keep. Still…I wouldn't retract it unless Nessie asked me about it; it was something I wished I could promise her; it would comfort her, without binding me…though I wondered sometimes if Nessie thought I could control what my dream-self did.

She smiled. "Thank you." Standing on her tiptoes, she reached her face toward the dream-Jake; he was starting to bend down… Right. Jake's outta here.

For over three weeks, night after night, I had pulled myself awake; it was easy now, no longer taking more than the first instant of decision. But this time, I didn't have to wake Nessie; gently I removed her hand from my cheek and tucked it under her chin. I smiled tenderly and stroked the side of her cheek with one finger, brushing back a stray strand of hair. "Sleep well, baby," I whispered. "I'll stick around to protect you as long as I can. I promise."

I brushed a kiss across her forehead and then drifted back to sleep with my Nessie cradled in my arms. I knew I didn't have to watch her dreams; the nightmare was gone forever.

The End

* Illustration for this scene can be found on my DeviantArt account.

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