I'm not dead. Just have had a lot of things going on and adult life sucks. But, here's a new chapter. I hope everyone enjoys.

Thalia heard the screaming before she ever heard the scratching at the door. Her eyes snapped open, and she darted into a sitting position. Her hands flew into her signature kung fu pose. It would not fend off a home intruder, but she had totally won two fights with it before.

Her eyes darted around as her heart raced in her chest. She took a few moments to find her bearings and figure out what the hell was going on. Thalia was in her house. She remembered that. But she was wearing all of her clothes, so she wasn't sleeping alone. Which meant...

"Shit," Thalia hissed as she looked at Reyna. That was right. Reyna had been kicked out of her house by her mother. Well, her mother was going to kick her out because she paid for the lease or whatever. That had been two days ago. Reyna stayed with her older sister the night before, and Thalia offered for her to stay a night at her place. Dogs included.

This, though. This was not supposed to be included.

Thalia could see that Reyna was thrashing around, trapped under the covers. And she had been the one that screamed. Maybe.

"Hey, Reyna. Hey, it's okay," Thalia said as she turned toward her girlfriend. A scratching noise caused her head to turn, but more thrashing made her look back at Reyna. "Okay. Okay. It's fine. Hey. Hey."

Thalia had dealt with her friends waking up screaming before. Annabeth used to do that sometimes. At least when the stress got too much. She tossed and turned in her sleep as well. But this felt different somehow.

"Reyna," Thalia continued. Her girlfriend was thrashing around. Her face was scrunched up in either pain or fear. Or terror. "Just breathe. Focus on your breathing."

Thalia didn't know what to do. She didn't want Reyna to hurt herself. Thalia cursed and moved to hover over Reyna. She placed both hands to Reyna's good shoulder and tried to pin her down. Just to keep her from thrashing around and hurting her shoulder even more.

"Get off!"

The terror in Reyna's voice made Thalia freeze. Reyna's eyes were still screwed shut. She was still twisting and turning. Thalia placed her hand back to her girlfriend's good shoulder and the other hand to her chest.

"Reyna, wake up. Reyna, just wake-"

A fist flew free of the blanket and slammed right into Thalia's nose. Her eyes instantly watered as she fell back. Thalia scrambled out of the bed as Reyna continued to thrash around. A bark caused her to jump, and she cursed.

Thalia slowly took a few steps back. Her nose throbbed, and her heart was racing even more. Thalia took a few more steps back until she hit the wall. She opened the door behind her. Both of the dogs ran into the room and jumped on the bed, seemingly smothering Reyna.

The thrashing stopped a few moments later. Thalia took another step back and out of the room. Then another. Thalia turned away and walked into her kitchen. Her hand numbly reached out to grab the freezer, and she opened it. Ice was grabbed and place to her throbbing nose.

Thalia took a few breaths to calm her heart. She slowly ran her mind through what had happened. Reyna screamed because of her nightmare, but she didn't wake despite Thalia's best effort. This wasn't a normal nightmare. Not at all.

"Okay," Thalia whispered to herself. She walked toward the couch where her laptop was. Thalia opened it and turned it on. Her phone was still in the room. There was no more screaming at least. As the laptop started, she opened a web browser.

"Night terrors," Thalia whispered as she typed. She chewed on her lower lip. Thalia knew how to deal with nightmares. She had plenty experience over the years. Night terrors? That was a new beast. Her eyes looked over the web results, and she clicked on the first link.

As her eyes skimmed over the article, she backed out and went into another page. There wasn't much to learn. Other than night terrors being a nightmare on steroids. And that she should have just let Reyna thrash around and possibly hurt herself instead of trying to wake her.

Thalia winced and pulled the ice away. She stared at the blood that was on it. Thalia cursed and manipulated the screen to look at her bruised and slightly bloody nose. That had been a strong punch. Thalia closed her laptop and stood. She walked back toward her room.

"Reyna," Thalia whispered as she stepped into the room. A small part of her. Well, no. A large part of her wanted Reyna to still be asleep. Hoped that she was still asleep. It seemed like her prayers were answered as her girlfriend didn't react to her talking.

Thalia studied the two dogs that were laying on the bed. One of them was laying on Reyna's upper half and the other on her lower half. The weight kept Reyna from tossing and turning, and her breathing had evened out.

"Thalia."

"Yeah," Thalia began as she swallowed painfully.

"D...d...did I..."

"Yeah."

The room was silent for a few moments. Thalia flipped the light on but didn't walk forward. She slowly spoke, "So, um... yeah. Night terrors?"

"I'm sorry," Reyna said. One of her dogs got off of her chest, and Reyna slowly sat up. "I'm sorry."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Thalia asked after a moment.

"I don't know," Reyna began. She stared as Thalia felt more blood trickle from her nose. Thalia quickly wiped it away. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean to."

"I know," Thalia said. She took a shaky breath. "It's my fault for trying to pin you down."

Reyna put her good hand to her face and dug her nails into her skin. She slowly spoke, "I forgot to tell you not to close the door."

"So your dogs could get in?" Thalia asked. She felt her hands starting to clench, and a surge of rage shot through her chest.

"Yeah," Reyna said as she nodded. "They're therapy dogs. I should-"

"You should have told me," Thalia interrupted. "And if it was so fucking important, you shouldn't have forgotten!"

Reyna flinched as if the words were a physical blow. Thalia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She brought both hands to her face, "I have anger issues, okay? And I am so mad at you right now for something that isn't your fault."

"It is my fault," Reyna said after a moment. "I should have told you about the night terrors and my dogs. I just... I'm under a lot of stress, and I think I missed my meds. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry for yelling," Thalia said as she forced her hands to relax. She slowly walked toward Reyna. Her girlfriend was petting Aurum as she stared at Thalia.

"I'm so sorry about your nose," Reyna said. She looked down at her hand. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't mean to," Thalia said as she started to pet Argentum. The dog moved to settle his head into her lap. "You were literally asleep, so I can't blame you."

"You should," Reyna said as she sighed. Her hand moved to her shoulder.

"Did you hurt it?" Thalia asked. "I was trying to stop you from thrashing around and messing anything up."

"I don't know," Reyna admitted. "Probably not. How is your nose?"

"It'll heal," Thalia replied. She moved closer to sit next to Reyna. Her girlfriend leaned on her. "Remember how we talked about boundaries."

"You mentioned it, but we didn't have any at the time," Reyna whispered.

"Medicine is a boundary," Thalia stated.

"Medicine in a boundary," Reyna agreed as she averted her gaze.

"I'll do my best to remind you," Thalia said. She closed her eyes. They had brought up the discussion of boundaries a week after they started dating. Mostly just things they weren't comfortable with. Thalia didn't have much that she wasn't comfortable with. Reyna was the same.

But this was going to be number one on the list.

"I think I shut down for a moment," Thalia began as she took a deep breath. "After you hit me, I just..."

"I'm sorry," Reyna said as Thalia's words were unspoken. Thalia nodded.

"I know," Thalia whispered. She wrapped an arm around her girlfriend, being careful of her shoulder. Aurum bumped her leg, probably wanting more affection. "Does your shoulder hurt?"

"My whole body hurts," Reyna said after a moment. Thalia nodded and stared ahead again. She swallowed painfully.

"What happened?" Thalia asked. Reyna tensed under her arm. Then, she pulled away completely and stared ahead. A deep sigh left her.

"I can't talk about it."

"Then I won't push."

Thalia stood as well. She looked at Reyna, "I think I'm going to sleep on the couch."

A frown touched Reyna's face, "...Thalia."

Thalia turned away and started to walk. Reyna spoke, "Boundary. Honesty. Be honest to me about what I did wrong."

"I don't know," Thalia answered after a few moments. She looked back at Reyna. "I think I just need some space to decompress. Think about what happened. Not blow up on you because I really want to hit something right now."

Thalia turned and marched out of the room. She walked toward her couch and sat down. A deep breath left her as she turned on the television. Her hands squeezed on the remote as she changed the channel every few seconds. She didn't know why she was so angry, but at least she didn't yell. She didn't scream.

Thalia just stewed in her anger as the channel changing became slower and slower. Before she knew it, the remote was sliding out of her hand, and her head was drooping. As the remote hit the couch, her head did as well, and she fell into a restless, angry sleep.