~Jane~
That night she wakes to screaming and Garrus' hands holding her arms down and to her sides, only realizing as her vision clears that the shrieks are emanating from her own lips. The images of her nightmare rush upon her like a tidal wave as he looks down to her in concern, a soft purring the only sound from him.
She had dreamt of Akuze again, only this time it was just as bad at the first night she had slept at Garrus' apartment. The entire experience played through her head the same, only now, the dead would personally chance her, hold her down, and inflict their own pains upon her flesh. She must have also been thrashing violently if the disheveled state of the bed were any indication.
She feels his grip loosen and the purring stop when she moves to sit up and, feeling more exhausted than when she had gone to sleep - not even two hours ago, his desk clock states - she finds she needs his hand on her back for support. Already ashamed for waking him and not wanting to feel like she has to be coddled, she pulls her knees up and uses them to lean her head and weight on, but his hand remains light as an altogether sign of support. Neither speak during the seemingly endless moments as she collects her breath, slows her frantic heart, and clears her racing thoughts.
"Shit, Garrus," she finally manages, running her hand through her tangled hair. "I don't know what happened. I thought I was getting over this crap." She waves her hand to include the state of the bed and herself, sighing dejectedly.
Removing his hand from her back and nodding to the bed in a silent question, to which she nods, he moves to sit next to her on the bed. Any other times someone would sit as close to her directly after waking from an intense nightmare would leave her feeling caged in and it should be the same with him, but, if anything, she finds herself relaxing slightly. The images from her dreams are still vivid but his presence calms her enough to understand and think clearly when he starts to speak.
"You were clawing and scratching at yourself, so I figured you'd be safer punching me in the face than tearing your skin off." He looks to her and she now notices the red welts across her arms and neck, some even bleeding slightly.
She rubs some of the more tender places and sighs. "Damn it, these dreams were supposed to be getting better, not worse." The past few nights were almost completely without the nightmares of Thresher Maws, acid, and death, and she couldn't understand what would be bringing them back with such a vengeance.
He shrugs and looks off into the distance. "Maybe for you to get better it has to get worse. If humans dream anything like Turians, then that's what it is." He sighs, looks to her, and places his hand on her shoulder. "Maybe you should talk to someone about this." She jerks her head up to him to protest when he raises a hand to keep her from interrupting and continues, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want me to know, but I think you would be able to start sleeping better if you find someone to confide in."
Sighing with exhaustion, she drops her head and rubs at the headache starting to build above her brow. "I don't have anyone, and even if I did, I'm not going to just drop my problems on someone. I'm not some prissy princess who needs someone to brush my hair and tell me everything is going to be okay. I can take care of this myself."
When she raises her head she finds him with an unreadable look in his eyes. His steady gaze doesn't falter as he seems to study her and she almost says something when his Omni-Tool chimes with an incoming message. He looks down at it and reads quickly, then sighs and concedes, "That's from work, they want me to come in and help out with some operation." He looks back with that look she can't place and stands. "You know where to find me whenever you change your mind. I'm here if you need me."
He leaves her to rub Medigel on her wounds and think over the fact that he hadn't said ifshe ever felt like talking but when she felt like it and though she wants to be angered by his arrogant confidence of what she would do, she can only wonder how she managed to gain his support.