Will shivered, it was cold, so incredibly cold. It seeped into his bones and his mind turning the dark room in front of him into a black haze. His shaking breaths came out in haggard puffs and his hands fought against the rope they were tied with the chair legs creaking with small movement. Blood ran down the side of his face from a fresh cut that the kidnapper had opened a mere few minutes ago, before leaving the trainee to the depths of the darkness again. They had said that they were going to hurt them, hurt Halt, his father and the man he had come to look up to as a hero figure, hurt Horace, his best friend who's company he had gotten used to only over the past years or so, hurt Alyss, the girl he loved and would go to the ends of the earth for. Gilan, his friend who he had come to think of as a brother more than a colleague. Crowley, the sunny man worth much more to Will than just his commandment. The ones he loved the most injured and it was all his fault.

Will woke up in a cold sweat, heart pounding and blood racing as stray rays of moonlight fought their way through his curtains. The nightmares always left him drained, scared and vulnerable. Open to the dark thoughts that consumed him at this hour. He wiped his forehead and unconsciously swung his legs over the side of the bed shaking slightly as he made his way into the empty apartment. His hair stood on end as he burrowed his way through the cupboards, coffee, that's what he needed, to settle his nerves. He cursed as he nearly dropped his mug, his thoughts in a place far away from the present. He looked around the flat, what he was looking for or at, he wasn't sure.

Abandoning all ideas of a hot beverage, he felt unsettled in his home, the dark shadows playing with his mind and in his already shaken state, he had picked up his keys and was out the door before he knew where he was going. He looked back at the closed door to his apartment, a rusty 105 nailed on the cream door. He then looked two doors down from him, on the opposite side of the carpeted hallway where the numbers 110 were vaguely visible. He crossed the corridor quickly, shivering all the while, or shaking, he didn't really know. He knocked. From the window at the end of the hall he could hazard a guess that it was around 2 AM in the morning, but it didn't matter because Will couldn't go back to sleep, not in his flat. He knocked.

Halt cursed as he moved to answer whoever was at his door at 2 am in the morning, couldn't a man get some sleep these days? He swung open the door to find Will, still in his pyjamas his hair ruffled from sleep, shaking at his doorstep. "Halt I'm sorry, it's so late and I-" He sniffed and wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand. He put an arm around his adoptive son and walked him to the sofa, sitting down next to him. He looked into the warm, brown eyes, glazed with tears and his heart nearly broke at the sight. "C'mere," he opened his arms and allowed Will to curl up in them, his grip never loosening, only when his shoulders stopped shaking did Halt let go. He wiped a tear that was slowly making its way down his cheek and brushed a strand of Wills brown locks from his forehead, letting the hand fall down on his shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?" He searched for some sort of relenting in his eyes and to Halts surprise he finally found some, not much, but it was there. He sat waiting, safe in the knowledge that Will would speak in his own time.

"It was just so cold." He pulled the sleeves of his night shirt over his hands. "And Halt, he said he hurt you and Gil and Crowley and…" he started gasping for breath as tears flowed freely once again. Halt placed his hands in Will's, squeezing them reassuringly, waiting for him to continue. "And I know it's fake and it's all in my head, but it felt so real." His eyes took on a glazed and hurt look, the smaller hands gripping his like a lifeline. It wasn't the first time his son had come to him after a nightmare, and he was sure it wouldn't be the last, but as the seasons changed and the drop in temperatures was becoming more frequent, he knew the visits would become more regular. Usually the nightmare just ended with Will shivering at his doorstep, in where Halt would hold Will close to him and he would eventually fall asleep once there were no more tears to be shed or he had talked about whatever he wanted to say. At first it was hard to get Will to open up, he didn't want to trouble Halt being the kind soul that he is and he certainly didn't want to become a burden, but he would never be such a thing and over the years their relationship had grown stronger because of the late night talks. But that was probably the only upside.

Halt woke, scanning his surroundings for anything that could have pulled his out of his slumber, then he heard it. Muffled sobbing drifted through the open door. He rose from his bed and creeped out into the hallway, turning the corner to knock on Wills door. When there wasn't an answer he pushed it open anyway. Will sat in the corner of his bed, his knees curled into his shaking figure and even in the darkness Halt could see the tear tracks on his cheeks and the redness in his eyes. He perched on the edge of the bed and put his hand in between him and Will, being careful not to scare him.

"Halt?"

"Yea, it's me." He said in a soothing tone. "What's wrong Will? What happened?" He moved his hand to rest on the smaller boys knee.

"Nothing, it was just a nightmare." He sniffed and curled further in on himself.

"Just a nightmare?" He raised an eyebrow and pressed further. "I don't think you would be sitting here crying in the dark, in the middle of the night if it was just a nightmare." Will sighed.

"I was in the warehouse, and it was so dark and freezing and I could feel the ice spreading through me but I couldn't do anything." His hands were shaking now and tears were silently making their way down his cheeks. He started crying again, 'It's awful,' Halt thought, 'one second you're having a dream and the next you're too scared and tired to talk straight.'

"Shhhh," he sat next to Will and rubbed the back of his shoulder soothingly. Eventually he calmed down and shuffled closer him, shivering at the cold night and instinctively moving towards the small body heat Halt was radiating. In turn Halt held him close, hoping that the reassuring grip conveyed what he couldn't put into words.

Halt gathered a blabbering Will into his arms. It pained him to see his son so distraught and so sad, it made Halt want to throw the person who did this into a lake or better yet, into a cold dark jail cell. But that wouldn't help Will, and that was, and always would be his number one priority.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*LINE BREAK*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Will groggily sat up and opened his eyes against the bright sunlight coming in through the window, stretching his stiff limbs he walked the short distance from the sofa to the kitchen, where Halt was preparing coffee, pouring it into a takeaway cup on the counter. Will hoisted himself up so he was sitting on the marble worktop, his legs dangling in the air. "You're up early," he noticed

"Such a bright spark you are, it's a wonder they haven't given you a medal yet." Halt rolled his eyes but then turned serious. "Are you feeling better?" Will nodded his brown curls bouncing on his head,

"Yea, thank you."

"Anytime." Will yawned and rubbed his eyes, then his gaze fixed on the clock on the opposite wall.

"Halt I think your clock stopped." The hands on the clock read 7:45 but that couldn't be right, could it?

"No," Halt eyed him carefully, "That's the correct time, you just slept in late."

"No, no, no, no." He groaned and ran to the sofa where his keys were, frantically searching under the blankets for them.

"Whats wrong it's Friday aren't you at the shop?"

"Usually yes, but I'm covering a shift for Leander I owe him for something apparently, and now I am very very late." He could feel Halt's raised eyebrow burning into the back of his skull. He raised his keys triumphantly, "Thanks for last night, see you later!"

"Movies at Gil's tonight, don't be late." He called just before Will closed the door, "Young people," he sighed shaking his head and turning back to his coffee.