Ugh. This might be a little incoherent near the end because my head is stuffed full of gunk (yay colds), I'm warning you now.

You will see many italicized words at the beginning of the story. This is a playlist specifically for this chapter (and the possible upcoming companion that I can't get out of my head thanks to Tori) and I recommend you listen to it as you read, preferably in the order written. They add a lot to the story.

I don't own, and enjoy!

O-o-O

herons – balmorhea; swallowed in the sea – coldplay; i will follow you into the dark – death cab for cutie; noble maiden fair (a mhaighdean bhan uasal) – emma thompson & peigi barker; transatlanticism – death cab for cutie; baleen morning – balmorhea

*#*#*

Zia was glad that the view over Heliopolis was decent, because she'd be seeing a lot of it, since she wasn't going to be sleeping anytime soon.

She rested her head against the window frame, chewing on her lip, tapping her fingers against her forearms, tracing patterns on the floor with her toes. She was never this jumpy unless something was seriously wrong.

She flinched when she heard the door creak open. A pair of feet shuffled across the floor, and there was a loud creak as someone flopped unceremoniously onto the bed. There were another few squeaks as a body shifted, and then Carter let out a familiar groan.

"At least take your shoes off before you pass out," she said without turning around.

There were two soft thuds—she'd only been guessing that he was still wearing shoes, but she supposed he'd slid his sneakers off.

"You should get some sleep," he said, his voice slurred.

"Can't." Her fingernails dug into her skin.

"Zia." She turned around, and he held an arm out. "C'mere."

She walked across the room and sat next to him, and while he rested his head in her lap she hung her own head back, gods she was tired, but she couldn't fall asleep; her limbs ached with the need to run and fight and scream. Her lips turned up at the corners in a not-quite-smile when Carter surreptitiously slid his fingers around her wrist and checked her pulse.

"You're freaking out," he finally said, and rubbed little circles on her wrist with his thumb.

"Uh-huh." She bounced her foot on the floor. She needed a nice, long run. Or maybe an oxygen mask. She wasn't sure whether her lungs or legs hurt more.

Slowly, he sat up and swung his legs off the bed. He pulled her to her feet and with one hand he reached out and pressed a button on the alarm clock/mp3 dock that she could never get to work, and as he lead her back to the window soft music started playing and swelled until it filled the whole room.

"Sneaky," she mumbled, and held back a yawn, because there was a draft blowing in and the cold always made her sleepy, and because the music really did make her want to lay down and not move for the next decade.

"I try." He wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

She tried to take a deep breath, but her lungs refused to function properly, and the best she could manage was a strangled little puff, and when she closed her eyes that little puff of air condensed into little silver bubbles that spiraled upward into the water pressing on her lungs, the water that was drowning her—

"Zia," he said. "Tell me where you are."

She opened her eyes and tried to remember. "Egypt."

"Not good enough." He kissed her forehead. "Where are you?"

She shook her head. She was too many places. She was drowning, she was burning, she was dying—

"Zia, you're safe. You're home. Do you believe me when I tell you that?"

She nodded.

"Listen. You are in your bedroom, in the First Nome, and you're with me, and we both need sleep. Can you sleep?"

That was a good question. She thought about it, for several minutes, and Carter rubbed her back and her shoulders and wound up playing with her hair before she finally said "Yes."

He kissed her forehead again, and guided her back to the bed, and as the music faded out and the song changed a sudden wave of exhaustion overtook her, and the ache drained from her limbs and they couldn't hold her up. She and Carter literally fell on the covers, across the width of the mattress, and she curled her feet up and yawned.

She could sleep. She didn't know if she'd stay asleep, or just how restful it would be.

But she could sleep.

O-o-O

I swear, married!Zarter is literally my favorite thing to write ever. Ugh. Cuties.

Anyway, this will probably have a companion, but it won't be the next chapter posted because I actually overcame my tendency to procrastinate and I have a Valentine's Day chapter written and ready to go. Author's notes and everything. So that'll get posted on the fourteenth, and then I have this oneshot that I really want to write thanks to Marvel- Tolkein Fangirl, and then that companion thingy. These projects will be squeezed in between practices for things and actual original stories that need to be written for things. And essays for things. I have a lot of things.

Constructive crit is appreciated!