Resurrected this story which is somewhat off the beaten path taking place in different timelines. Don't know if anyone's reading it but I thought it'd be fun to update it! Hope you enjoy it!

She woke up screaming because she thought she'd still been back there, in the past inside another house in Texas. When she woke up drenched in a deep sweat, she realized that she was back in that town but years had passed.

Oh yeah, she had been dragged back here on charges related to a murder that took place just over a decade ago. She expected to see him in the room with her, she'd just been fighting with him trying to get away from him…then she woke up raising her body up against the darkness, everything still around her. Then she felt something move next to her and saw Matt open his eyes and sit up too. She'd fallen asleep nestled against his body, wrapped up in his arms. Feeling so secure, so safe and so loved by the man who'd been the mainstay in her life…Every other person who'd been there had died or left her except for him and his family. His father had given her the guidance she lacked from her uncle and she'd grown especially close to Roy even after he'd become estranged with his brother.

"What is it?"

Matt's voice betrayed urgency under the sleepiness. They'd both been up so late talking about her case and whether or not Nadine had been honest with them. C.J. knew otherwise based on her past with the woman but Matt wanted to investigate a lead or two that came from his ex-girlfriend.

She just sighed, her heart racing in her chest and her night shirt clinging to her. He swept her in his embrace without her needing to ask and held her tightly against him.

"God…it must have been some nightmare huh?"

He knew that because he'd been there so many times himself. Back when he'd been suffering PTSD and guilt after the loss of his cousin in a war zone…which had merely triggered the repressed memories of his childhood kidnapping. He had told her if he hadn't gotten counseling, he'd been lost forever. It had taken him a couple benders to decide he wanted to save himself. Of course C.J. had read him the riot act more than once saying she didn't want to bury his ass in a grave next to the memorial for his cousin.

Will of course turned out to be alive though he'd left them to deal with some business with the Department of Veteran Affairs that had hired him to do a research study. Both Matt and C.J. knew that this was a pivotal piece of getting his life back after surrendering nearly a decade of it to a ruthless warlord in Afghanistan.

C.J. burrowed her head against him and that's when he knew that she'd really been terrified in her sleep, so much so it had jarred her awake. Only a part of her had still been there until he took her in his arms and soothed her with words he didn't remember. She'd done it for him enough when she hadn't been kicking his ass to get him to reclaim his own life.

"I don't know Houston…I was back..God…he had come into my house…"

"Who came in your house?"

But she fell silent on that part and he knew she didn't want him to know. He had his own ideas but he didn't want to push her on that. It had everything to do with Dylan and maybe…even Jack. He remembered that when they'd gone on their road trip, she'd done it to get away from her boss Jack. She'd gone back and quit her job and they hadn't parted on good terms…maybe that's why his office came after her so vigorously now on flimsy evidence…a few rounds of here say, accusations levied by another prime suspect and her necklace that had turned up with Dylan's body in his makeshift grave.

"C.J….?"

She just rested her body against him as he laid them back on the bed together. She relaxed somewhat and her breathing became quieter.

"Houston…it's nothing…really."

"Nothing…C.J. you just had a nightmare and I know what that's like."

She sighed and he knew she remembered those times too.

"But this is different…it's just the case that's all…being charged with murder."

He paused for a long moment.

"Are you sure it's not Dylan?"

She moved against his chest.

"He's dead Houston…he can't hurt anyone anymore."

His body tensed…he didn't like her word choice at all. Who had Dylan hurt? Oh he had a pretty good idea it had been C.J. but if she wouldn't open up to him, how could he help her?

"Someone killed him and I know it wasn't you… but that person's still out there…"

She leaned up to look at him in the face.

"He's no major loss…whoever did it…they prevented more pain Houston…"

"For you…?"

"No, not just me…Nadine…"

He knew she was starting to feel sleepy again and her defenses were lowered enough so that she did talk to him.

"What about her?"

She sighed against him again.

"He…he's an angry man Houston…quick to act…"

Matt thought quickly.

"You mean he hurt her?"

She didn't respond right away and he thought she might have fallen asleep again.

"He…the hospital..There are records…"

Meaning that at some point Nadine must have gone to the hospital after her husband beat her up.

"I tried…"

"Tried what C.J…?"

"Tried to….but…"

She didn't say anything after that when he waited for her to finish and when he felt her body go limp against him fully trusting him to keep her safe…from what? He'd have to figure out how to find out even if she didn't tell him.

He'd have to go check on the information she'd just given him.

Matt lay awake for a long time after that. He remembered back to the time she'd been even more closed off than she'd been right now. He'd been on and off with Christina as they were growing further and further apart and he'd been to town to drop on his Uncle Roy mostly because he felt responsible for what happened to Will. His Aunt Flo had been hospitalized due to exhaustion, which came from keeping a lot of grief inside her until it broke out of her like a dam failing to hold back water. Roy had still worked for the mysterious entity that sent him out on missions but he'd spent more and more time on the ranch as he grew older. Memories of Will back to childhood had tied him to Texas and back then, there'd been no hope he'd ever see his son again.

Matt had tried to fill in the huge void that Will's death had caused but the times he'd come back when C.J. had been staying with Roy, she just was like some other person…except for the time in the barn when she'd opened up herself in ways to him that she hadn't in years…but something lay behind it that he didn't understand. He'd been a man who's wanted the woman in front of him more than he could ever admit and when she'd offered herself to him…he'd taken and the experience had etched itself so deeply in his heart that he'd carried it with him always.

It had driven a wedge between him and Christina and probably led to their final breakup in ways he didn't understand back then. Even afterward up to his latest fiancée Elizabeth, C.J. had somehow become the benchmark which he compared all his women too…and of course they fell short.

But something haunted her now that had reemerged when she returned to Texas years later and he didn't understand it. He just knew that she needed him even beyond helping to clear her of the murder charges.

He had to find a way to help her and if that meant uncovering her secrets, he would do that.

Morning broke over the valley and Roy's ranch and when C.J. woke up, she gazed down on Matt who lay asleep next to her. She felt refreshed though she remembered somewhat waking up suddenly last night and him holding her close to his body. But what it had been about…she didn't remember. She climbed out of bed careful not to stir him.

She showered and changed into some jeans and a chambray shirt knowing she had to meet with Rusty over that ridiculous discovery motion to be filed against the DA. Jack was being such an ass withholding information but she knew that Rusty would find a way to hammer him for it in front of the judge. So far the judge had seemed to give Jack's office a huge benefit of the doubt but that would just have to stop when Rusty and she made it clear that he was willfully defying the discovery request. So far there was no status on any DNA test results.

If any showed up on him that wasn't his, it wouldn't be hers either. Would it be Nadine's? Would it be Jack's or one of his henchmen? She had no idea at this point but it could prove pivotal in her case. Until the results came back, she had to work hard to find a way to get the charges dropped…while not having to delve too deeply in her past.

There were things she didn't want to…couldn't share with anyone…she just felt that what would happen wasn't worth it. So far she'd managed to keep Matt at bay but she knew he'd press harder if only to help secure her freedom and because he knew her better than anyone…that something ate away deep inside of her. In a place she'd allowed so few people to ever see.

She heard footsteps and knew that he'd woken up and that he'd remember last night even if she didn't…what would he say to her and how would she respond?

Another day as a murder suspect had begun.