Chapter Eight: The Softest Morning
Katherine stirred just past dawn, warm and cocooned beneath a blanket that smelled faintly of cedar and wildflowers. Her mind floated somewhere between sleep and waking for a moment, caught in that hazy place where time didn't exist and the world felt safe.
Her dark lashes fluttered open slowly.
And then it hit her.
She wasn't alone.
The realization didn't come with panic—just awareness. She lay still, letting it settle over her. One arm was tucked beneath her head, the other draped loosely over her stomach. Her legs were tangled in the sheets. The room was quiet, lit only by the soft blue-gray light filtering in through the snow-frosted window.
To her right, Rosalie sat propped up against the headboard, a book open in her lap. Her long golden hair shimmered in the early light, but her eyes weren't on the page—they were on Katherine. Calm. Steady. Watching.
To her left, Kate sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed, wearing the same gentle smile she always did when Katherine looked uncertain. Her posture was relaxed, but her gaze was focused. Warm.
They hadn't slept. Of course they hadn't. But they had stayed. All night.
Katherine blinked, throat dry. "Okay… slightly creepy," she muttered, voice hoarse with sleep. "The staring thing."
Rosalie smirked. "We weren't staring. We were… admiring."
"That's worse."
Kate chuckled. "You're cute when you sleep. Kind of growly, but cute."
Katherine let out a sleepy groan and rolled onto her side, burying her face into the pillow to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks. "This is so weird," she mumbled into the fabric.
Rosalie shifted beside her, still not touching, but close. "What is?"
"This," Katherine gestured vaguely, still not looking at them. "Waking up next to people who don't scare me. Who don't want something from me."
Kate's smile faded into something softer. She reached out, just brushing her fingers against Katherine's ankle under the blanket. Barely a touch—but it anchored the moment.
"We're not here to take anything from you," Kate said gently. "Just… be with you. However you'll let us."
Katherine peeked up at her through her lashes. There was no pressure in Kate's face, no expectation. Just hope. Quiet and constant.
Rosalie closed her book and set it aside. "You don't have to define this right now," she said. "But… it's okay to enjoy it. The quiet. The safety."
Katherine swallowed. Her throat felt tight. Her heart beat just a little too hard in her chest.
She'd woken up a hundred times in a hundred different beds. Most of those mornings had come with regret, or loneliness, or the hollow thrum of needing to leave before someone got too close.
But this?
This was different.
No one was asking her to run. No one was asking her to stay, either. They were just… here.
Her voice came out quieter than she meant. "Do you guys always do this? Sit and wait for people to figure out their lives while looking angelic and judgmental?"
Kate smiled and crawled up beside her, slipping under the blanket now, her cool hand brushing against Katherine's hip. "Only for the ones who matter."
Katherine exhaled a laugh, eyes slipping closed again for just a moment.
She didn't know what this was. Didn't know how it could possibly work.
But for the first time in forever, she didn't want to run.
She wanted to stay.
Just a little longer.
She drifted back into a calm sleep.