Author's Note: This one is less about Abby, and more about Naj. I do love him, he's adorable. =) Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you like the next chapters. I love it when people read my fics, but it really makes my day when people review too. I welcome constructive reviews with open arms, I could always use some advice.

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Survivors Fanfic - "Nightmares and Naivety" Part II

"Chicken Army"

Abby eased herself into the driver's seat of her hardy green jeep and took a deep breath. As she let it out slowly and calmly, Abby felt immediately grateful to be by herself right now. It was only a few minutes before dawn, but Abby knew that it was going to be an emotionally draining day. Her son, Peter, was twelve years old today, December 2nd. He was now officially on the brink between boyhood and impending maturity, but still young. Before even putting the car in gear, Abby paused and let her mind reflect back to the past...scenes from the day she found out she was pregnant, to the day he was born alive six weeks early to everyone's surprise, to the day she proudly held him for the first time, his first steps, his first word, and onwards flooded into view...

Abby was suddenly hit with an unexpected rush of emotion and wept inconsolably due to the fact that she was not there to wish her little boy a happy birthday, let alone hold him close to her and tell him he meant more to her than anything in the whole world. When she looked up to see Greg standing by the house with a questioning look on his face, she did not even try to smile to ease his concern. She merely wiped her tears away hotly with the sleeve of her shirt and drove off in no particular direction.

****

The chickens had escaped again. Najid stealthily crept up behind the unnamed chicken, who was busy preening his feathers, completely oblivious to the fact that he was being stalked. Hmm, Diva, Madonna, Prince, King, Majesty, Duke would all be suitable names for this chicken...Quick as a flash, Naj, gently but firmly scooped the usually evasive chicken up in his arms, and carried him downstairs.

Anya grinned at Naj, she couldn't help it; he held the chicken as if it was the most precious thing in the world to him. "Hey Naj, did you sleep okay?" she asked, plopping a golden piece of toast upon the plates around the table.

Naj smiled at Anya politely without a word, and turned to the newly repaired chicken habitat where two very stupid chickens had just wandered back into. He set the chicken he was holding down gently, and decided that his name was going to be Prince, due to the way he held himself: poised, prim, as if he owned the world, unaware of the obstacle that he was only a chicken.

Anya nodded grimly to herself. She knew Naj well enough to know that he had not replied because he didn't want to lie (it was a sin) and tell her that he slept well when he clearly didn't. But Anya wouldn't press him. If he wanted to tell her what was bothering him, she wanted him to tell her himself, not because he knew that she had suspected something because she'd heard him scream out in the night.

Naj sat at his usual seat which was across from Anya and beside Al, who absolutely had to sit in the chair with the largest cushion, which just happened to be across from Sarah and the furthest away from Tom. Naj looked up at Anya with a trace of admission and defeat in his eyes.

"Well, actually, Anya..."

"Mm-hm?"

"I've been having these nightmares lately. They're nothing really to worry about, but I wake up at night a lot." Naj assured her, earnestly.

Anya nodded sincerely, and felt a rush of concern for the boy. "I'm sorry to hear about that, Naj...Have you been talking to someone about them?" Anya's therapeutic doctor mode was poised to strike, depending on Naj's answer.

Naj nodded, and Anya relaxed. He explained briefly what they were about. The boy had actually wanted to tell Anya a long time ago, when they first started, right after the virus. He was pretty sure she could hear him screaming at night, and didn't want her to worry to the extent that Abby already did. He also worried Anya would think he was a baby, but if she'd known already...

"Now, it's only you and Abby that know. I would tell Al, but he's preoccupied with his own nightmares. You know, the one where he's lined up for caviar, dressed in rags, and then he gets to the end and realizes he doesn't have enough money."

Anya laughed. "Poor Al. It's good that he can at least confide in you."

Naj snorted. "It's not really confiding if he's been telling everyone that will listen. He hasn't told you?"

Anya shook her head. "Nope."

Naj shrugged. "Poor Al's scared out of his mind, of Tom, his nightmares, and 'cause he's realized he's become one of the common people. Having to leave his hundred grand car behind and all nearly killed him. Now he's decided the world's out to get him. If he were a true Muslim, he would know that God is always good, and knows exactly what he's doing."

Anya considered this. "Did you tell that to him?"

Naj nodded fervently. "He said whatever God's plans are, he's keeping them to himself."

Anya stifled a laugh, and turned it into a cough. Naj was really religious, and she didn't want to offend him like Al had, even though what Al had said was kind of humourous.

There was a scuffle around the stairs, and Anya turned to smile brightly at Tom, and Greg, who followed a few moments later. They both took their respective seats, and looked around at the table.

It was not surprising that Al and Sarah were not at their usual places, for they were usually the last to rise. A little unsettling to the others was the absence of Abby, who usually made breakfast for everyone at the crack of dawn, though nobody knew that she got up after awakening from her own nightmares.

Naj was the one who asked the question out loud. "Anya, where's Abby?"

Anya shrugged and opened her mouth to answer just as Greg sighed in frustration. "Damn, I forgot." Putting down his fork and swallowing his toast, he rolled his eyes and continued, "she's gone. Probably something to do with her son. With Abby, it always is."

"Maybe she got sick of us, and left last night," suggested Sarah a bit too hopefully. She had just joined the dinner table with Al, who had a sheepish look on his face.

Naj gave her a withering stare. "She wouldn't just leave. And if she did, there's no way she'd leave without saying goodbye."

Al smeared butter on his toast, and decided to add his two cents. "Doesn't matter. She's already gone, and she's been gone for a while. Nasty people are out at this time of day. I reckon no one would mess with her."

"You mean you wouldn't mess with her," interjected Tom. "Still, she could get hurt, maybe worse."

Greg nodded grimly and cleared his dishes. "We should go look for her."

Tom swallowed and followed Greg to the sink. "Well that's nice. So you don't know why she left, or where she could be, and you're going to start looking anywhere you can think of, in the hopes that you'll magically bump into her in the process?"

"Well you don't have to be so cynical about it," chided Anya. "That's not going to help us find Abby."

"He's right though." Greg stated simply. "I haven't the faintest idea of where she might be, but she looked for me when she thought I was missing. Now, I wasn't, but she is. And since we're all we have left now, we've got to help each other. So Tom, you going to help me find Abby?"

Tom nodded and reluctantly followed Greg. "It's not like I have anything better to do," he explained. "Hey diva, hands off the doc or you're dead," he casually whispered to Al, on his way out.

"We'll come back at sundown. There's no point looking for her if we can't see anything."

Suddenly a scream resounded off the wall that could only have come from Sarah, who had not touched her now-cold toast or dealt with her plate. "NAJ!!!! Get this – this, THING away from me!!"

Al and Anya both stared at Naj, wondering what the topic of the latest Sarah emotional breakdown was, and what well-mannered Naj possibly had to do with it. He shrugged with a mischievous grin. "The chickens escaped." He got up from the table, whistling, and innocently cleared Sarah's dishes along with his own.

"Just a minute, Sarah, I've got something more important to do." Naj called up the stairs to a distressed Sarah. Winking at Anya, he picked up a hen that had been lurking under the table and carried her to the chicken enclosure. As he plopped her down in the grassy fence area, he murmured possible names for her. "Willow, Haven, Lily, Brisa..."

As soon as Naj had left, Al cleared his dishes and fled from the room, leaving Anya on her own. Little did Anya know, he was following Tom's instructions. She cleaned up her own dishes, and Abby's as well.

"Hey Naj, would you like to feed this toast to your chickens?" offered Anya, bringing it out to him.

Naj smiled and took the toast gratefully. There was one chicken, a rooster, who stood at attention once he saw the treat.

Anya grinned at the chicken and asked Naj, "Is it okay if I give the toast to the chicken? You haven't rescued Sarah yet."

Naj's eyes widened and he gave Anya the toast before he bounded into the house.

Anya smiled at the now curious rooster that was still sitting so stiffly in front of her. "Sarge," she declared, as she threw a piece of Abby's toast at him.

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Author's Note: Only one more chapter left! Hope you like it! =)