A little update. I don't have a lot of time to write at the moment and I'm also trying to slowly wrap the story up, so bear with me :P

Thank for guys for still reading and the R&R! :)

Thoughts in the night

Much later that night, Ellie was awaken by something moving in the bed next to her. She turned around, squinting sleepily though the darkness. Brutus was twisting in his sleep, mumbling words she couldn't understand.

He's standing in the execution room. Everyone is waiting for him to say it...

Brutus, ya have to say it... Ya have to give the order...

She pushed herself up on one elbow. "Brutus?"

The person in the chair is crying... A guard, he can't see his face, steps forward and pulls the hut of the condemned man... It's Paul...

Brutus, ya have to say it! Say it!

He writhed and his arms had been entangled in the blankets. Ellie tried to pull him free, but he clung to the covers.

The lights flashes... Now it's Dean in the chair... It's Harry... It's Ellie... She's looking at him, imploringly and deeply frightened, tears gleaming on her cheeks...

Say it, Brutus! Give the order!

"No... please... don't..." he groaned, his voice desperate and hoarse.

"Brutus? Brutus – wake up."

SAY IT!

She patted him on the shoulder and he bolted upright with a sharp gasp.

"It's okay - it was only a dream," she whispered.

She could hear him breathing hard. It was too dark to see his face properly, but it took a moment or two before the silhouette of his shoulder drop, when he realised where he was.

"Sorry," he breathed out and slumped back in the pillows again next to her "Nightmare."

Ellie touched his chest. He was covered in cold sweat and when he reached out for her and pulled her towards him, she could feel his heart thundering as though he had been running all night.

"It sounded bad," she said softly.

"I can hardly remember," he muttered. "It didn't make any sense."

But the way he held her, like he was afraid she was going to be abducted if he let go of her, gave Ellie a feeling that something was troubling him.

"You sure?" she asked. "I can't practically feel your heart racing..."

"Hun, I'm fine. Go back to sleep. I'm sorry I woke you up."

You're lyting, she thought, but she hold her tongue. The next time she woke up, he was gone.

oOo

His side of the bed weren't cold yet, so he hasn't been away for long. Ellie sat up and listened. It was still dark outside, just at the edge of dawn, and the house was quiet. Perhaps he had gone to the loo? Ellie waited a couple of minutes, but when nothing happened, she got out of bed, wrapped the blanket around her and crept downstairs.

Every room she walked past were empty. No lights were turned on, not a sound broke the uncanny silence. She couldn't even find Bear anywhere. She called his name, but no one responded. Panic had just started to rise in her, when she decided to go outside to see if his car was still there and she found him in the last place she had considered looking: Sitting on the old porch swing, staring emptily into the night with Bear curled up at his feet.

"Are you okay?" Ellie asked him timidly; she faltered in the doorway, not sure whether he wanted to be left alone or not.

"I'm fine," Brutus responded quietly. "I couldn't sleep."

"Because of John?"

He hesitated, then said, "no," but he didn't sound too sure.

"Brutus, he wanted to go," Ellie said softly. "You guys did the right thing."

Brutus didn't say anything and Ellie walked out on the porch and sat down next to him on the swing.

"Are you sure everything's all right?"

Brutus didn't answer her question; instead he looked at her, as though he suddenly realised she was there.

"Ellie, you shouldn't be out here, it's freezing."

"Don't be daft - I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong and further more, I'm not the one sitting outside in nothing but pyjamas pants. Here..." She wriggled out of the blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. "So tell me: Are we going to sit out here all night or are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

"He wants a transfer."

It wasn't exactly what Ellie had expected. "Who?"

Brutus sighed. "Dean. He wanna to get out'a E-block. I heard him talk to Paul after Coffey's execution. He doesn't want to be a part of it anymore."

"Part of...?"

"The killings."

"Brutus, you're not killing people."

"You execute murderers," Brutus said. "You kill innocent people. That's we had said to Paul."

"You're acting on the Governors orders. It's your j..."

"Job?" Brutus finished bitterly. "That's exactly what I told Dean too. I also told him to get a hold of himself and stop whining just because we were going to execute an innocent man."

Ellie got up from the swing and crouched down in front of him, taking his hands.

"Brutus, listen to me," she said firmly. "John Coffey weren't innocent, when you executed him. He killed William Wharton and he took Percy's mind and life away from him. Was it a fair act? Did they deserve it? Hell yes, but that's doesn't make him innocent. Think of Arlen Bitterbuck: He never meant to kill that man, but he still served his sentence. And so would Alice has done, if her heart hadn't beat us to it. They were never bad people, but they still had to make up for what they had done."

She paused.

"I think that's why Coffey got Percy to shoot Wharton," she continued. "He didn't have too; Wharton was going to die anyway and Coffey knew that. He just had to make things right with you guys. I think he shot William Wharton, so you could no longer see him as the victim. When his time would come, he would have a life on his conscience, just like every single one of the men that has passed through E-block throughout the years and you would be able to execute him like he deserved according to the law."

Brutus looked down at their hand, but he didn't say anything. Ellie could tell there were a million things going on in his head, but that he couldn't find the beginning or the end to it all. She caressed his palm.

"Are you thinking about quitting, too?" Ellie asked him quietly, when the silence dragged out.

"I don't know," Brutus croaked.

"It would be a true loss for E-block," Ellie said. "You guys are able to turn Cold Mountain's most grievous and darkest building, into a place where you can still find kindness and daylight, if you look for it."

"You're speaking as though we should all be proud of what we do," Brutus said heavily.

"Brutus, I don't love you despise of what you do," Ellie said softly. "I love you because you put your whole heart into it and you doesn't even have to think twice about it: You're treating these men like human beings, not like the outcast the rest of the world think they are, and you're doing it because you want to. Because you think it's the right thing to do. Imagine what E-block would be like, if it were run by people like Percy. You don't have to make to world any darker, than it already is."

She gazed up at him.

"But whatever you decide, I will support you," Ellie said. "I know your heart will get you through this, just like it's been doing up until now."

"My heart is not the reason, why I'm still here," Brutus said silently, finally looking at her. "You are. I don't know what I should have done without you."

He pulled her to her feet and wrapped the blanket around them both, holding her close. They went silence, there was no need for anything else right now. Brutus watched the horizon turn golden, like heated metal. He had to be back at work in a matter of hours.

"You know what," Ellie said after a while. "I think we all just need time now. Time to adjust to the fact that's it all over. And then we can move on."

"As long as we do it together, it's fine by me."