AN: Apparently this is going to become a series of one shots with the theme of 'penny for your thoughts' intertwined throughout them all. This here is just a little short one that I wanted to post earlier since we didn't have an episode on Friday, but my laptop wasn't letting me connect to the internet. But anyway. In this fic, Duke has a nightmare and it's Jennifer's turn to give him some piece of mind.
When Duke awoke his heart was still racing. He sat up and took a deep breath, passing his hands through his hair. He looked down at Jennifer, eyes closed, breathing shallow, lightly snoring, still sleeping soundly next to him. He relaxed. She was still there and she was fine. He carefully settled back down next to her. He didn't want to wake her, but he needed to feel her against him to make sure she was real and his nightmare was just that. A nightmare.
Sometime during the night Jennifer had turned away from him. He slid closer to her until his body was flush against hers. He nuzzled his nose into the back of her head, closing his eyes while taking in the scent of her shampoo and the feeling of her messy bedhead tickling against his face. He tried to carefully wrap his arms around her waist without waking her.
He failed.
Jennifer's eyes slowly fluttered open as he pulled her body even closer to his. She turned her head towards him and smiled before wiggling around in his arms to face him. She dropped her head against his chest.
"What time is it?" she mumbled. Still half asleep.
"Early," Duke replied, pushing her hair out of her face.
She tilted her head up look up at him. With a wrinkled nose and furrowed eyebrows she asked, "Mmmm… Why?"
He had to laugh. Jennifer was not much of a morning person. "No reason. Go back to sleep."
She must have seen something in his eyes. He had expected her to just set her head back down on his chest and be asleep again in ten seconds flat, but instead she sat up a little more and examined his face. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he lied. "Just go back to sleep." His eyes flicked across her face and rested on the side of her neck. While the cut that Wade had inflicted on her there had mostly healed, a faint scar remained. You would never notice it if you weren't specifically looking for it, but to Duke it stood out like a trail of blood on otherwise undisturbed, crystal white snow. A permanent reminder of the time he had failed to protect her.
"You don't seem fine. What was it you said to me the other night? 'Penny for your thoughts'?"
He smiled down at her. "If I recall correctly, I actually gave you a penny for those."
"Well, I'm sorry I don't have pockets full of change in my pajamas. And I'm sure as hell not getting out of this warm, comfy bed to go find one. I guess I'll just have to owe you."
"I underpaid that night anyway."
"Then why don't you start making up for it by telling me what's bothering you. This trust thing goes both ways, you know."
He sighed. She was relentless and wasn't going to let him change the subject. And the journalist in her knew all the right things to say and questions to ask to get him talking. He did trust her.
He placed his hand on the side of her neck and stroked the scar. "I was having a dream. Wade was still alive and he attacked you. Just like before. Only this time I didn't get there in time to stop him. I couldn't protect you. I didn't mean to wake you up, but I needed to feel you close to me to make sure you were alright."
Jennifer wrapped her arms and legs around him and planted a light kiss on his chest, resting her hand over the one he had on her neck. "I'm right here. You did get there in time to keep Wade from doing whatever he might have done to me. And you've saved me many times since then as well."
"You still got hurt." His fingers continued to stroke the area of the injury.
"It was only a scratch."
"I don't like to see you hurt at all. I don't know what I'll do if you're ever in danger and I can't get there quick enough to keep you safe."
She pulled away from him and gave him and annoyed look. "What?! You think that I can't protect myself? That since I'm small and a girl I need a big, strong man to be constantly around to protect me from the evils of the world?"
He was shocked by her sudden outburst. "What? No! That's not what I was saying! Of course you can! What I meant was…"
Apparently she could no longer keep up the angry act in the face of his puzzlement, because at that moment she burst out laughing. "I'm kidding, Duke! I think it's sweet that you want to protect me. But you need to keep in mind that you're not the only one responsible for my safety. I am too. You had Wade locked up on the boat. I was the one who let him out, giving him the opportunity to attack me."
"You didn't know he was dangerous."
"Nevertheless, I should have questioned how he had managed to lock himself up more than I did. If I had paused for even a minute, you would have been back in time to stop me. That was on me. Not you."
"I just don't like thinking about how close he came to killing you, like he did with all the other troubled people."
"Then don't think about it. It's over now. And I'm fine. And I mean actually fine. Not the lying, I-don't-want-to-talk-to-my-girlfriend-about-my-feelings kind of fine."
Duke smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Sorry. I've never been good at this sharing thing."
"I know." Jennifer placed her head against his chest again and her eyes were beginning to close. Duke ran his fingers through her hair. "But the fact that you're trying means a lot." She nestled into him even further and closed her eyes completely.
He took another moment to just watch her as she drifted back to sleep. He knew she was right. Although it was still hard for him to fully expose himself to another person emotionally, he had never truly wanted to before she had entered his life. He may never understand how their connection had become so strong so quickly, but he does know that he would risk anything and everything to keep her safe and next to him.
Before she fell asleep, she said, "Come to think of it, I really don't have the best track record with staying out of danger in this town, do I? Between almost getting incinerated in a coffee shop, your brother, and strange black things in my head making me paranoid, it's pretty impressive I'm still in one piece. So while I can take care of myself, just don't go too far away, okay?"
He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I'm not going anywhere. I promise."
He kept his arms tightly around her, fingers entwined in her hair, as he too closed his eyes.