"Who is that?! WHO'S IN THERE?!"

"...I'll KILL you, you motherfucker!"

The sounds of Adam's panicked shouts into his darkened, cluttered apartment plagued Amanda's sleeping subconscious, as the images from that day were starting to come into too clear a view.

A flash from his camera, as he tried to light his way through the outage, shone in her face, followed by black…..and his screams.

His horrible, blood curdling screams that she shouldn't have been able to hear still, even if they were muffled, after John shut that door, echoed through her mind.

...only this time, they weren't muffled…

This time, Amanda could hear them ear piercingly and as clear as day…..

..and they didn't stop when she was jolted awake, in a cold sweat.

—

As she sat up, catching her breath, she could hear Adam's…..albeit, muffled by the walls, shouts from another room, accompanied by Roxy's barking.

"Adam?!"

She followed the screams out into the living room, where she found him on the couch, tossing and thrashing in his sleep half covered by that blanket she'd brought in from her car, while he continued to shout.

She raced over to him and began trying to shake him awake.

"Adam! ADAM! Shh, shh! Wake up, it's okay, it's okay!"

Her voice was raised, but gentle, as she tried this a couple more times before he jolted awake and began to frantically check his surroundings.

"I know…" Her voice lowered slightly, as she continued to try and reassure him. "...you're okay now, it was just a dream….you're safe."

She still had a hand, lovingly, over his shoulder when he looked up at her and let out a sigh of relief and muttered to himself. "Jesus…"

She smiled sympathetically back at him. "..Are you okay, now?"

"Yeah…" He sighed, starting to sit up more, as he used a hand to rub his eyes. "Yeah, I-I will be…" He sighed again. "I'm sorry, I should've told you that's been happening."

"You don't need to apologize." She reassured him.

"Well, I do if I woke you up." He sighed.

"You don't…" She repeated. "...and, you didn't anyway. I already wasn't sleeping all that well, to begin with."

"Well, I beg to differ on the former, but...thanks." He wore a weak smile.

She smiled back at him, giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder that her hand had previously been on.

"...so, what happened to sleeping in my so-called fancy guest room?" She teased, offering a chance to change the subject.

"Oh….right." He chuckled. "Well, that was an accident. Roxy got on my lap over here after you turned in for the night, and I don't know, I guess I just passed out."

"Well, you did have a long day."

"Yeah…" He sighed, still half smiling.

Amanda, who was kneeling by the couch, gradually looked down, at the sensation of Roxy's wiry fur brushing against her legs.

Adam smiled even more, as he too, looked down to see her.

The shy little terrier was standing just close enough that she could see if Adam was okay, her tail slowly starting to wag, as she began to feel more at ease.

"Hey…" He chuckled. "Hey, Sweetie. It's okay….it's okay, come here."

Her little tail began to wag even more, as Adam patted a spot next to him on the couch, and she eagerly jumped up and started kissing him, earning even more laughs from him and a smile from Amanda, aimed at the both of them, as well.

"That's my girl." He praised her, meeting her licks with head scratches.

Amanda smiled even more, as she reached out to pet her and was also met with some eager kisses. Kisses that were short lived, however, as the terrier's clear priority was Adam.

Adam, of course, was happy to oblige.

After another few, albeit slightly less, restless hours, Amanda eventually decided to get back up and put some coffee on and fix some breakfast.

She was careful not to disturb Adam, who had fallen back asleep on the couch, alongside Roxy.

Roxy of course, however, wouldn't stay there for very much longer, as the smell of eggs cooking over the stove eventually drew her over to Amanda's side.

She chuckled softly, as the hopeful terrier was now standing up on her hind legs, with her paws up on the front of the oven and whining for some scraps.

"Shhh! Here.."

Roxy, just as eagerly, followed Amanda over to the fridge, where she took a couple slices of that roast beef that Roxy had loved so much, and tore some pieces off for her, so that she could get back to tending to her breakfast.

Roxy's tail wagged a mile a minute, as she quickly scarfed down the scraps in front of her, before trotting over to wash it down with some water from her dish.

Amanda giggled quietly to herself over the interaction, only briefly becoming distracted and looking up when she overheard Adam start to stir a little on the couch and mutter something incoherent in his sleep.

Relief washed over her again, once he was quiet again and she was able to just brush it off as normal tossing and turning.

She sighed to herself, trying to shake the incident earlier back from her mind and return to what she was doing.

It wasn't until she was almost done with her second cup of coffee that Adam would be up, for the day, and join her at her little dining table.

"You're up early." He greeted, inadvertently making Amanda jump a little from behind.

She chuckled to herself over it and shot him a little smirk, as she took another sip from her coffee. "So are you."

"Yeah, but I assume you've been up a while longer." He returned the smirk, as he eyed the mug that sat in front of her.

Meanwhile, Roxy was trotting over from her corner of the room to return to Adam's side.

"...or did you purposely fill your cup up that low?"

"Smartass." She teased.

The smirk on his face only grew, clearly proud of his little remark.

"I didn't keep you from going back to sleep, did I?"

"Don't flatter yourself." She teased, finishing her cup off and getting up to take it to the sink. "...I already told you, I wasn't sleeping any better before that."

"If you say so…" Though, he clearly wasn't buying it.

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I made some eggs when I got up, so there's some in the fridge, if you wanna heat them up."

He smiled and nodded at the offer, as he patted around his pockets and took a small cigarette box from one of them. "Thanks, I might take you up on that in a bit. In the meantime, you don't happen to have a lighter I could borrow, do you?"

"I might." She answered with a little smirk, as she dug it out of her pocket. "Trade you for a cigarette?"

"Deal." He agreed with a grin, putting his in his mouth, while he took one out to toss to her.

"Thanks." She took a second to light her own before tossing the lighter to him.

"Mmm.." He nodded, as he took his turn with it before tossing it back to her.

"Thought I might take this out with me, while I take Roxy out for a little walk, if you wanna join us."

Her face lit up at the offer. "Love to."

He grinned, turning around briefly to Roxy, as they started to walk out the door.

He patted the side of his leg. "You comin or what?"

It was with that, that Roxy let out an eager little yap, as she quickly trotted along behind them, as they headed out the door.