I am on a role right now! I know that I haven't posted anything for my Narnia and I just want to let those who are fans that it is on Hiatus at the moment. I haven't a clue what to do with it.

Anyway I hope you guys like Chapter 3!

Chapter 3 - Nightmares

March 4th 2020 - 12:00am

The first time Analia had a nightmare was the day after her family had been killed in the third Kaiju attack. She remembered closing her eyes and seeing their dead bodies on the ground at her feet. She remembered them screaming at her to run for her life and get to safety. But she hadn't, she had just stood there too scared to move and as a result her brother had died saving her. For years she had dealt with the nightmares where her brother would ask her why she didn't run. Every night until recently she would have nightmares that would keep her up late at night. However, over the years Analia had learned how to deal with her nightmares. She knew how to suppress them once she was awake, how to let them go, and over time they had stopped. It was if the nightmares had been a bully, the less she reacted to them and thought about them the further away they would go. She had figured out the she had to stop fueling the thoughts that created the nightmares.

So when she woke up at midnight to Raleigh's shouting she wasn't surprised. She had been waiting for this to happen. The first shout sent her sitting straight up in bed disoriented and it took her several moments to remember where she was. She rubbed her eyes to rid her vision of its sleepy haze before looking over to Raleigh. He was drenched in sweat, moaning and calling out for his brother. She stood up from the bed, crouched beside the bed and took his hand in hers. For a moment she just watched him, not knowing exactly what to do. There was several things she could do; wake him and hope that he doesn't attack her, leave him alone or climb in next him and hold him which was something her mother used to do for her when she had nightmares.

She decided that waking him would be the best option. Carefully she shook his shoulder and whispered his name. No response. She tried again but a little harder. Still no response. With a sigh she grabbed his shoulder hard and called out to him loudly. It did the trick. His eyes flashed open and he sat up. Unfortunately his mind was still in the dream and the next thing she knew they were both on the ground with her practically sitting in his lap as he held her in a choke hold. Her first instinct was to fight back but she knew that he would snap out of it once he realized what he was doing so she just let her body go limp. Despite knowing he would let go of her, it did nothing to calm her racing heart as her air was being cut off. Not soon enough he let her go and all but pushed her away as he cowered against his bed trying to get as far away from her as possible.

"Raleigh?" She choked out, massaging her neck. "Raleigh, it's okay. You're safe now. It was just a dream." He looked up at her with wide eyes, filled with tears.

"I am so sorry. I didn't...I...I...I didn't mean to." He stammered, she moved towards him and he backed away from her but he had nowhere to go as she got closer.

"It's okay. I'm alright." She pulled him into her arms and let him hold on to her for dear life as he let his brain process what had happened.

They stayed like that until Raleigh tired himself out and fell back to sleep. She didn't care that they were still on the floor, but she shifted so his head rested in her lap and she reached up to grab a pillow that she put under his head and blanket to wrap around her shoulders. Looking down at him all she could think was that he resembled a small child that had lost everything and her maternal instinct was to shelter him from it. So she stayed awake, watching over him, making sure he didn't wake from another nightmare. She found herself combing her fingers through his hair like she had when they had been in this same position the first time in the bed of the truck. He didn't even stir for the rest of the night and by the time the sun came up she found herself drifting off.

March 4th 2020 - 11:00am

When she woke up the second time it was because George had come into the room with breakfast. She hadn't even heard him come in and when she felt a hand on her shoulder she inhaled deeply as she was pulled from sleep. She looked around at the room and with the light shining through the window she could see that Raleigh's bed was empty. For a moment she sat there confused, wondering where he would be but then she remembered last night and she looked down at her lap where Raleigh was still sound asleep. Looking up to George she motioned for him to set the tray on her bed and mouthed a thank you as he left her to wake the injured soldier. She smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder to gently shake him awake.

"Raleigh. Hey George brought us breakfast." For a moment he didn't respond but she gave him a couple of seconds and he eventually turned his head upwards to look at her.

"Why am I on the floor?" He mumbled rubbing his eyes like a small child.

"You had a nightmare last night that I woke you up from." She told him, holding back the urge to massage her neck. 'I hope it isn't bruised.'

"Oh god I attacked you. Are you okay?" He asked sitting up suddenly. He turned enough so he could face her, grabbed her chin and turned her head up so he could see her neck.

"Is it bruised?" She asked softly. She wasn't mad but she knew that he would feel immensely guilty when he realized that he had attacked her in the middle of the night because of a nightmare.

"Yes." He gritted his teeth and released her chin.

"Raleigh, it's fine. I'm sure I'll return the favor one night. you're not the only one who has nightmares. First time I stayed here with George, I had a nightmare and being my grandfather figure he came rushing in to see what was wrong. Unfortunately, when he shook me awake my first response was to punch whatever had touched me. I broke his nose." She explained with a fond smile on her face. "We laugh about it now." Her short story didn't seem to help the guilt that was pooling in his eyes so she dropped it and let him simmer for the time being. Instead she grabbed the tray of food and placed it on her lap. Two plates sat next to one another filled with eggs and apple slices. It wasn't much but it was food. She handed Raleigh his food but he wouldn't take it. He looked up at her and shook his head in rejection. She rolled her eyes and placed the plate with the fork on his lap. His eyes followed her movements until he was staring at the plate the was sitting on his lap.

"I'm not hungry." He told her, staring at the plate. Not three seconds after he had said that his stomach let out a loud growl in protest and she could have sworn she saw him glaring at his abdomen.

"Your stomach says bullshit." She told him and his head snapped up to fix her with a weird look. "You need to eat Raleigh."

They ate their breakfast in silence and she sat there until he had finished eating the entire plate of food. Once she was satisfied with the amount food he had consumed she got up and went into the bathroom to shower. She didn't take long but as she got out of the shower she realized her mistake. She hadn't grabbed any clothes. Usually she would just go into her room in her towel to grab her clothes, but that was when she had her room to herself. Now she had a roommate of the opposite sex. She slapped her palm to her forehead in irritation. 'Of course I would forget to grab clothes. Way to go Ana.' With a deep breath she opened the door and quickly walked out to the closet where her scrubs were. She had to be at work in about an hour and she didn't want to be late. 'There is nothing to be embarrassed about Ana, it's nothing he hasn't seen before.' She told herself as she pulled her bra and underwear out of the drawers in the closet. Once she had what she needed she shuffled back into the bathroom and put her back against the door once it was closed. She let out a deep breath and shook her head. 'Time to get to work.'

It took her about twenty minutes to get dressed in her scrubs, her teeth brushed, and her hair dried enough to braid. When she walked out of the bathroom Raleigh was sitting at the desk reading her book. She smiled, hoping that the reading would do him some good. During her stages of depressions she had used books as an escape from the cruel reality of the world. It had worked for the most part.

"I'm going to head to work Raleigh. I'm picking up some more clothes for you on the way home as well as toiletries and a set of crutches from the hospital. " she told him. He didn't look up or say anything or even acknowledge that she had said anything at all. Just as she was about to step out of the room she noticed that he had goosebumps on his arms, a sign that he was cold. Knowing he wouldn't do anything to make himself warm she went downstairs to make a cup of coffee for him. He was still in the same spot as he was before she left the room. She placed the coffee in front of him and grabbed a blanket to wrap around his shoulders. She noticed him shift towards the heat she was giving off and she instinctively wrapped her arms around his shoulder in a hug.

"You'll get through this. I promise Raleigh. Even if it's the last thing I do." She whispered in his ear before standing up straight and leaving the room before he could say anything. By leaving so quick she had missed the fact that he had grabbed the coffee to take a sip only to smile at it and pull the blanket closer to himself for warmth.

March 4th 2020 - 12pm

Upon her arrival at the hospital she was immediately bombarded with tasks. Her first was to check on a child who had broken his arm the night before and had received his cast. When she saw the boy she couldn't help but give him a sympathetic smile and help him get out of the office as fast as possible. The next was inventory. She had been placed on inventory for the past week and she already hated it. Repetition killed her and this task was doing the same thing over and over again. Lucky she didn't have to do it alone today. It would seem one of her friends had been sent to help her because she wasn't doing it fast enough.

"Hello Ana." Her friend greeted as she entered the store room. The woman was about five inches taller than her with a curvy build. Her black hair reached her waist and her eyes hid behind thick rimmed glasses.

"Hey Grace." She greeted in return as she scanned her card and grabbed a clipboard. "How are your kids?"

"They are doing fine. How are Billy and George?" Grace asked her placing a box of medicine back on the shelf.

"They are fine. The was a castaway on the beach the other day. He was pretty badly injured so I fixed him up and he's just been staying with us." She explained.

"Is he ex military?" Grace inquired giving her a strange look. She knew Grace was looking at her neck but she tried to ignore it. As a nurse she couldn't wear a scarf to cover up the bruise.

"Of a sort yes." She replied nonchalantly.

"That explains the mark on your neck. PTSD nightmares?"

"Yes. Luckily I know how to handle those." She smiled at Grace, who returned it.

They lapsed into silence and she let her mind wander as she mindlessly took inventory. She had been a nurse since she was 18. At first it had started out as a part time job where she would take inventory, help with paperwork and take notes for a doctor. Then she managed to advance to an Orderly where she did the same job; the only difference was that she was getting paid. Because of the Kaiju attacks the Hospitals had become desperate for nurses. nursing was now an on the job learning experience. Before her family had died she had dreamed of attending the Jaeger academy but when her family died she had lost all hope for that wish. It wasn't until she had been hospitalized after an attack, that she realized that if she couldn't help the people by fighting the Kaiju then she would do it by saving the lives of those that had been injured. It was what kept her going. A purpose she was glad to have and over the years she had made a name for herself at the Anchorage Hospital. In five years she had gone from an Orderly to a Nurse Practitioner.

She was pulled from her thoughts when her pager went off. She was needed in the ER for a surgery. Without hesitation she threw her clipboard down on the nearest surface and ran out of the inventory stores. After years of practice she weaved in and out of the other workers. There had been a time when she would accidentally run into another nurse or a doctor and on more than one occasion she had caused them to drop a tray of medicine. She new the hospital like the back of her hand and she was at the ER in less than five minutes.

The patient was a young female, about eighteen or nineteen. From the looks of it she had been in a serious car accident. The EMT's had managed to set her bones and get her minor injuries under control but there were pieces of shrapnel in her abdomen and her job was to remove them. In the operating room she frantically searched for a pair of gloves to wear but it seemed they were out and after just coming out of the inventory stores she knew that they were out in there too. She groaned in frustration, rushing over to the wash station to get her hands as clean as she possibly could before the procedure. Her assistants already had the poor girl under when she finished. As she approached the girl she had to force herself to take a deep breath and calm down before she stepped up to the workstation and picked up her tools.

About an hour later, her hands were covered in blood and she was shaking. This was the part of her job that she hated the most. Having blood on her hands. It reminded her of the day her brother died and the blood that she had been covered in. But as a nurse she had to deal with it. As a way to deal with it she usually left it on her hands longer than necessary to get used to having it there. It was a way to show herself that as a nurse it would be a reoccurring thing and she had to learn how to not have a panic attack every time she finished a surgery.

The hours had ticked by and when she had calmed down and finally washed the blood off of her hands she realized that her shift had been over for an hour already. With a sigh she made her way out to her car with her things, saying goodbye to her co-workers as she left. The night had already fallen and she knew that George would have dinner ready when she got back. She prayed that Raleigh had decided to eat more food while she was gone. If he continued the way he was he would be skin and bones by the end of the month.

She still had one stop to make before heading home. Raleigh needed clothes. He couldn't keep wearing the clothes George had given him. So with a exasperated sigh she started her truck and pulled out of the hospital parking lot.

Hope you guys liked this. I wasn't sure where to end this but I knew that this chapter was supposed to give more background on her as well as where she has been for the past 10-15 years. Let me know what you think.