The sun had set on the Adams Foster home and the family started to settle down into bed. Stef was in her bathroom, holding a pill bottle in her hands. Not long after the hit-and-run, she began having vivid nightmares surrounding the accident. She couldn't sleep through the night without waking up soaked in sweat from fear. She hadn't told Lena that she got a prescription for sleeping pills; she didn't want her wife to worry. The pills had initially done wonders. She slept without dreaming and she woke up well rested, ready to start the day. But that only lasted about a week before the nightmares came back. She didn't wake up from them like she used to, instead having the nightmare unfold with no ability to end it.
She held the pill bottle in her hand, contemplating whether she should even bother taking it when Lena knocked on the door. Stef panicked and threw them into the trash. "Will you be long?" Lena asked through the door.
"No." She said turning the faucet on to wash her hands and face. "Almost done. You can come in." Lena opened the door just as Stef turned off the water. "All yours." Stef quickly made her way to bed. She knew that she wouldn't sleep well, so she did her best to fall asleep right away.
By the time Lena had finished in the bathroom, Stef had fallen asleep. Lena frowned at her wife. She needed this time at night with her partner to talk about the day, away from the kids. Lena lay next to Stef and fell into slumber, upset about the lack of communication that night.
"Why haven't you said anything?" Callie asked Mariana as they both lay in their beds. "If this were me having sex, you would not let it go until I gave you absolutely every detail. So dish."
Mariana fidgeted underneath her blanket. "There isn't anything to say." She couldn't tell Callie the truth. If Callie found out about her and Wyatt, Mariana knew Callie would never forgive her. "Besides, Mat and I aren't together anymore. He chose the tour over me, which is fine, maybe we will reconnect in the fall. But I just don't want to think about him right now.
Callie tried not to press further, but failed. "Was it good at least?"
If she separated who Wyatt was from the experience, it was amazing. Wyatt was passionate. He responded to her. He made her feel wanted. With him, she climaxed for the first time and the waves of pleasure she had felt, even in memory, were toe curling. Mariana sighed. "I can't imagine a better first time." Except maybe if it had been with Mat. She thought.
Callie smiled. "Well if you're not gonna give me the gory details, at least you enjoyed it." Callie turned toward the wall.
"Well what about you?" Mariana asked.
"What do you mean?" Callie asked, turning back over to face her sister.
Mariana flashed a sly smile. "I've seen the way A.J. looks at you. He's into you."
Callie scoffed. "No."
"You can't deny it. So...what are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing. He's a foster kid here, that's not..."
Mariana interrupted. "But he's Mike's foster kid. That makes it okay then."
"I don't want, or need for that matter, a boyfriend or anything like that. Since Wyatt and Brandon, I just want to take a break from the whole idea of dating. I need to focus on graduating. My independent study and my job have to come first. No distractions." Callie said.
Mariana turned over and curled up into her blanket. "We'll see how long that lasts."
"What?" Callie asked.
"Nothing." Mariana replied. "Goodnight."
"Night."
Stef woke up suddenly. She again revisited the scene of the accident, more gruesome than before. Mariana's body lay motionless on the asphalt, while Jesus' was pinned between the cars. Stef looked to her partner, who was sound asleep. Deciding she couldn't go back to sleep, she quietly crawled out of bed and headed downstairs.
"I can't believe that you talked me into sneaking out again." Jude said as he met with Connor, Taylor and Daria.
"You don't have to be here." Daria responded.
Connor frowned. "Yes he does." He grabbed for Jude's hand. "I want him here."
Daria sighed. "Fine. Don't worry Jude. It won't be like last time. Taylor's dad isn't going to shoot anybody."
Taylor pushed Daria. "Shut up. It was an accident. Connor's fine now, right."
He shrugged. "Mostly. Don't look at me like that; I was shot in the foot. It still hurts to walk a little."
"Is there a plan or are we just out here for nothing?" Jude asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Come on, bro. We're just having fun." Connor said.
Jude raised an eyebrow. "Bro?" He giggled a little. "I'm your boyfriend, not your bro."
"My brofriend?"
Jude contorted his face. "Gross. No." They both laughed and shared a quick kiss.
"I didn't come out here to watch you two make out." Daria said.
"You don't have to be here." Jude said, echoing her earlier words.
Daria started to walk away in a huff. Taylor and Connor followed her. Connor stopped when he noticed Jude wasn't following them. "Jude?"
"This was stupid." Jude said turning toward his house. "I'm going home."
Connor ran up to him. "Jude, what's wrong?" He put his hand on Jude's shoulder to stop him, but it was shrugged off. "Jude?!"
"We shouldn't be out this late. If moms find out that I snuck out again, or if your dad does, we're going to get into so much trouble. I'm going home before they notice I'm gone." Jude said continuing on his way home.
"I came out to spend time with you." Connor said.
Jude stopped. Connor walked in front of him. "Then why did we have to meet with them?"
Connor shrugged. "They're our friends too."
"Daria doesn't like me." Jude said. "She thinks I took you from her."
"She'll get over it." Connor said.
"I just...I don't think I will. She got to say she was yours before me. It feels weird to spend time with her."
"I did what I had to do so I could be with you. My dad didn't worry about us when I was with her. We were able to hang out." Connor said.
"But we're together now. You don't need her." Jude said.
"She's still a friend. If you don't want me to hang out with her anymore, I won't." Connor said.
Jude frowned. "No, that isn't fair, is it?" Jude sighed. "She can be your friend; I just don't want to be hers. So if you want to hang out with her, I won't stop you, but we can spend time together another time." Jude walked away. "Goodnight."
Connor turned his head to where Daria and Taylor ran off to, and back to Jude. "I want to spend time with you though." Connor ran to Jude and turned him away from the street. He was shaking slightly. Jude's face flashed with concern. "I-I can't describe the feeling I get when I'm with you, it feels like my body fills with warmth. I'm just so overcome with happiness when you look at me. When you smile. When you speak." Jude blushed. "When you blush."
Connor started to turn red too. When my dad kept us apart, knowing I couldn't be with you. It was so painful. All the stupid things I said to you." Connor started to cry. "I wasn't always the best friend. Thinking of the times I know I hurt you, it kills me."
"It's okay, Connor. It was the past. It doesn't matter anymore. What matters is now." He wiped the tears from Connor's face. "We have so much time to be together. If you want to hang out with Taylor and Daria, you don't have to feel bad about it."
"I know. I just want to be with you. All the time." Connor looked down. "Jude, I love you." He muttered.
Jude smiled then bit his lip. "Wait, what did you say?" He couldn't hold in a big grin.
Connor took a deep breath and looked into Jude's eyes. "I love you." He couldn't help but smile at Jude's beaming face, and tears trickled down his face.
"Connor, I..." His words were cut off as the peeling of wheels came down the street. From the car speeding past them came a deafening bang as a gun went off. The bullet hit Connor in the chest and a splattering of blood covered Jude. "Connor!" He lunged at him to keep him from falling. "No no no. Help!" He screamed as he held the body, drained of life. "Somebody help!" He screamed for help in between sobs until the words were choked and he was just crying and screaming.
Lena's dreams had of late been revolving around Frankie. Some time had passed since the loss of her unborn daughter, but her dreams would not subsist. This night's dream had taken a different turn, however. She wasn't holding Frankie this time, but she was in a hospital bed, holding the small baby she just delivered. It was a boy.
"You did great." Came a voice from her side. "I'm so proud of you."
"He's precious. I'm so happy to finally be holding my child. Our son." Lena said. "I was thinking Porter. Porter Stewart Adams."
"I think it's perfect." Monte said, leaning in to kiss Lena's forehead. "I think this is perfect."
Lena smiled, but was soon filled with dread as an impossible blood-curling scream came from the baby. "What's happening?" Lena was pulled from the hospital bed as her eyes opened to reveal her bedroom. Her mind was spinning from the dream, but she was too worried to react. The screaming persisted beyond the dream and she sprang out of bed and ran into the hallway where she saw Stef running up the stairs towards Jude's bedroom.
Lena was embarrassed to see her wife after her dream, but was more concerned as to what was happening to Jude. She followed behind Stef into Jude's room. A.J. was there trying to calm Jude down. "He just started screaming and crying and I tried helping, but he's not responding to me."
"Could you go get Callie?" Stef asked him as she and Lena went over to try to comfort him. "Shh baby. It's okay. You just had a bad dream. " The two of them held him in an attempt to console him.
Callie came into the room in front of A.J. and quickly went to her brother. "Jude. Jude. Breathe. You need to breathe." Callie started to demonstrate deep breaths. "Listen, Jude. Whatever you saw. It's not real. You were having a nightmare. Just a bad dream. Breathe for me."
Jude started to stifle his screams and followed Callie's breathing. He was still sobbing and shaking. Slowly he started to calm as he wore himself out. "I-I-I need C-Connor. Phone. Call. I need t-to know he-he's ok-kay. P-please." Callie grabbed Jude's phone and handed it to him.
Jude couldn't stop shaking enough to operate it, so Callie took it back and found Connor's contact. She smiled at the little heart emoji next to his name. "Jude?" Connor said half-asleep. "It's two in the morning, why are you calling?" Jude started to cry hard all over again as he heard the annoyance in Connor's voice. "Jude? Are you okay?"
Callie responded. "Hey, it's Callie. Jude just had a bad dream. He just needed to know you were okay."
"Can you give the phone to him?" Connor asked, suddenly awake. Callie handed the phone to Jude, who put it to his ear. "What happened?"
"You-you got sh-shot again. You told me you loved me-me and bef-fore I could, you were shot and you d-d-died in my arms." At the end, he burst into tears again and buried his head into Callie's lap.
"It's Callie again, sorry we woke you, but he's pretty distraught."
"Yeah." Connor replied. "I know it's late, but my dad's business trip ran into tomorrow, maybe you could bring Jude over, or come get me, or I could bike over."
"Let me check, but you're definitely not biking anywhere this late." Callie responded. "Connor's home alone, he was wondering if he could come over."
"It's already so late." Stef said. Jude sniffled and Stef sighed. "But I know what bad dreams will do. It's a school night, so you all had better get to sleep when we get back." Stef left the room.
"Stef is going to pick you up, Connor. Make sure you have your school stuff. Bye." Callie set the phone on the nightstand. "Guess I'm not the only one being kept up by dreams." Her eyes darted to A.J., who was still standing near the door in silence.
"You are not." Lena said. "Tonight is going to be slumberless for a few of us, it seems. Do you want me to stay with you, Jude?"
"It's okay. As long as Callie stays." Lena kissed Jude on the forehead and said goodnight to the three.
"Dreams keeping you awake?" A.J. asked Callie flashing a smile.
Callie glared at him. "Not the time." She said between her teeth.
His smile got a bit cockier. "Well you just let me know when it is the time." He went over to Jesus' bed. "Night."
"Callie shook her head."Are you doing better, Jude?" He nodded his head in her lap. "Connor will be here soon." She glanced over to A.J. "He'll be here for you."
Lena sat awake in her bed, waiting for Stef's return. She could not get over the implications within her dream. Did she subconsciously want to be with Monte? All that they've really shared was a kiss, but much of their life histories before that. They had grown close, and Monte was always there to listen. Lena felt that Stef never really heard her anymore.
A few minutes later, Stef had entered the room. "Oh, I'm surprised you're still awake."
"Just waiting for you." Lena replied.
"I was thinking, it's kind of a double standard to let Jude's boyfriend stay the night, and in his room. We'd never let that happen with the others."
"I think tonight can be an exception. Definitely something to discuss with Jude, but I don't think they're going to be up to anything tonight. Jude's distraught, and A.J. is in the room. And it is different. Besides he's Jude's only friend, he's slept over plenty before, and they can't accidentally make a baby."
"Something to discuss. Just don't want Brandon or Mariana to try and cite precedent later on." She laughed. "I think we need to get some sleep now. It's been a long night."
Lena breathed in; she was ready to spill her guts. Monte's kiss. The dream. Everything she had been holding in, she needed to get it off her chest. "You're right. Goodnight."
"I'm sorry I made you come all the way over here." Jude said.
Connor sat up on the floor. "I'm not." Stef had laid out a blanket and pillow on the floor as she normally had done, but Connor wanted to be closer to Jude, so he crawled into bed next to him. They were face-to-face. "I didn't want you to worry."
"It was just a dream. I shouldn't be so stupid." Jude frowned.
"You are not stupid." Connor said. "With everything that's happened, I can't imagine what a dream where you died would do to me. Nothing in the dream was real. Well not nothing."
"What do you mean?" Jude asked.
"You said I told you I loved you. I do." Connor said.
Jude started to cry again. "You do?"
"Of course I do." Connor kissed Jude before drying his eyes. "You're my best friend. You're my boyfriend. You make me feel a way I've never felt before."
"I love you too." Jude said quickly. "Sorry." He laughed. "I didn't get a chance to say it in my dream; I wanted to make sure you got to hear it."
Connor kissed Jude again. A few quick pecks before a lingering kiss. "I am so happy to hear it."
"I'm so happy to say it." Jude smiled. "You know, we haven't really slept in the same bed before. How should we?"
"Turn around." Connor said, and Jude complied. "I'll be the big spoon. At least tonight. I want to keep you safe and hold you tight." He wrapped his arm around Jude's chest. "Protect you from the bad dreams.
Jude grasped Connor's hand. "I don't need to dream as long as you're here."
A/N: I wrote this awhile ago, so it's not exactly current, but I found it and I liked it. It is technically the beginning of a chaptered fic, but I think it works fine as a stand alone piece. So I don't know if I'll post more in it. Anyway, enjoy.