There seemed to be a little bit of confusion on the last chapter, so let me clarify: The part in Italics...

[Suddenly he felt different, like he couldn't breath.

"Is everything alright?" Catherine asked, her hand on his cheek. "What happened?" ]

...Was Bash's vision. That was it, there was no more. Putting [] around them from now on.

He couldn't shake what he'd seen, even though it wasn't much. Why was Catherine touching his face like that? Why was he feeling drawn to her that way?

"Well you are clearly bothered by whatever you saw. So it must have been something of note." she said.

"Really Catherine, it was nothing. I mean it was something, but there wasn't enough there to say what." he explained.

"Well tell me what was there and maybe I can help piece it together." she requested.

"I don't know!" he snapped.

"If it was nothing then why are you snapping at me again? And you wonder why I don't trust you." she said. She had a point. Why was he snapping?

"You're right. I'm sorry...It's just...it was...personal, okay. Nothing you need to worry about." he explained.

"Personal?" she asked, not believing him entirely.

"Yes." he said. She wasn't in he mood to play games so she just decided to let it go.

"Alright. Fine. It was personal...you would tell me if..." she began.

"Don't worry, if you need to know, you will." he assured. He desperately wanted to get off this track. "Look, you should get some rest if you're going to heal enough for me to get you home tomorrow." he laid down next to her on the blanket and pulled his cloak up over them like a blanket. Catherine furrowed her brow and looked up at him.

"What on earth are you doing?" she asked. He looked down at the cloak and realized what she meant.

"It is going to be cold as hell tonight. That combined with the amount of blood you lost, you'll freeze to death without some kind of heat." He explained. She didn't reply, she simply rolled over on her uninjured side and faced away from him. He remained on his back and put his arm behind his head. He glanced over at her and watched the rise and fall of her breathing. He thought about his vision again. He could feel her hand on his face. The way she'd touched him was almost as if...no...but it had felt so...he shook his head. What was he thinking?

"Is the remedy I gave you working?" he asked. There was no response. He leaned over her and he could see she had already fallen asleep. He had his answer. He laid back down and closed his eyes and soon drifted off himself, and soon the dreams came.

[He could feel the flames lick across his skin. He ran trying to find a way out. He came across his dead brothers splayed out on the ground. He panicked. They were already gone, he couldn't help them now. He had to find the others before they shared their fate. He heard Catherine's cries. He ran toward the sound. There she was on her knees, Mary and Claude fallen in front of her. One hand holding Marys, the other cupping Claude's cheek as she kissed her forehead. Wait...Mary? How? He called out to her but she didn't seem to hear him. Then he saw Narcisse run in behind her.

"Catherine come, we have to go before the whole castle goes down. Please, there's nothing you can do here, they're already gone." he urged as he tried to pull her away.

"If they are gone then so am I. I will not leave my family. Let the fire take me." she said through streaming tears.

"Catherine, this is madness." he said.

"Then I suppose I'm mad." she said, holding onto Claude tighter. Narcisse looked around at the fire and ran back out of the castle.

"Wait! Is that all you're going to do!? Are you just going to leave her!? Go back you son-of-a-bitch!...Catherine! Catherine get up!" Bash yelled, but no one could hear him.]

He shot up out of his sleep. Nothing had changed. He hadn't even saved Mary. It didn't make sense. What was she doing there? And Narcisse...he should kill him for leaving her there like that. How dare he? He looked over at Catherine. She was shaking, but still asleep. He touched her arm. She was ice cold. He pulled the cloak up more and put his arm over her, pulling her back up against his chest, careful not to hurt her. He laid his cheek on top of her head and snuggled in trying to get her warm. Her hair smelled like flowers and her golden curls felt soft against his face. It was oddly comfortable having her in his arms. So comfortable it took him hardly any time at all to fall asleep once more.

He hadn't noticed, but Catherine had actually been awake since the moment he'd touched her arm. She hadn't opened her eyes because she was truly freezing, and she thought if she'd let him know she was awake she would have been obligated to tell him to remove himself. His arms were warm and inviting and she was more at ease than she thought she could be. She desperately wished she could turn around so that her face and arms would be warmer, but she dare not even try for fear of alerting him to the fact that she was awake. So she snuggled in as best she could and closed her eyes, shortly joining him in slumber. As their consciousness slipped into a deeper sleep...Bash's visions returned...

[It came in choppy. Bits and pieces. Nothing fluid. Catherine's hand was on his face again. Then it was running down his arm. Her lips were on his. He slid the dress of her shoulder. He could feel their bodies hit the bed. He could feel it all, like a tidal wave, and then it calmed. She was in his arms again, only this time she wasn't wearing any clothes...]

and then she was...

He was waking up...

He felt flush as he cracked open his eyes. Catherine started to open hers as well, his arms still around her. It was morning. Time for him to rise. Except he already had. As he slowly came out of the fever of the vision, he realized just how deep into the dream he'd been...and so did Catherine. As she could feel his manhood pressing against the back of her thigh. He quickly pulled back when he realized.

"I...I...um, sssorry" he stuttered, his face red with embarrassment.

"Men." she said, rolling her eyes with sarcasm, figuring it was just the occasional morning stiffness every man gets from time to time. She would have laughed at his reaction if it wasn't for fact that all she could think about now was the size of the particular piece of anatomy that had woken her from her sleep. She rolled back over so he couldn't see her face and tried to cover with additional sarcasm. "If you need to take care of that, I think there was a rather large shrub just outside you can use for modesty."

The thought lingered in his mind a moment because he yearned for relief, but there was no way he was going to hide behind a bush and rub one out while she waited in the cave knowing exactly what he was doing.

"I don't need a bush." he lied, trying to hide his fib from her. That was enough to finally make her laugh at him. "I'm going to get breakfast." he added as he stood.

"Fine. Just make sure you wash your hands first." she added with a giggle, followed by a small finch, as it hurt her wound a bit to laugh. He left the cave with the body language that if there had been a door, he would have slammed it. This was going to be a long day.