the pressure on my leg lessens.
“Where oh where do you think you were taking my beautiful little doll?” a man says.
I’m confused and realize his words aren’t making sense, but he’s here and he’s helping us.
“I can’t get out,” I say as I reach for him and he catches my hand in his.
“I’m here for you. I’m sorry this happened. I didn’t mean for it to happen like this, but I’m here for you,” he says as he frees my leg before pulling me out. And the last thing I remember is slumping against this man who was here to save us.
MARCUS
The moment Finn jerks back, I’m awake.
“Finn?” I ask as I reach for him. His body tells me he’s still asleep, but the way he’s moving and reacting tells me something’s wrong. Is he having another nightmare? He hasn’t had one in a while, but it makes sense with what happened today.
“Finn, babe, wake up,” I say as gently as I can. I use light, soothing touches to get him to react without jarring him out of the dream in a panic.
He jerks awake anyway, eyes wide, hand reaching out for me, so I take it.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m right here,” I say as I sit up and pull him into my arms. “I’m right here.”
“Fuck,” he whispers as he tightly clutches me.
It’s only times like this where he truly grabs onto me without his prostheses, completely forgetting about his arm and leg just to be close to me. And while I love that he’s now comfortable enough around me to hold on to me, I hate why he’s holding on. I hate him having to go through this.
“Are you okay?” I ask. I’m glad I was able to wake up and pull him out of it, but who knows how long he suffered, wrapped up in that nightmare?
He nods as he digs his fingers into me and just holds on like I’ll save him from it all. And god, how I wish I could. How I wish I could push away all his pain and keep that man from ever looking at him again.
He sinks until he’s sitting fully on my lap and takes a deep breath. “Sorry for waking you, it was just a dream.”
I let my fingers run in circles on his bare skin as Hela and Artemus try to figure out what has made the love of their lives upset. Hela whines, so I reach down and give her a pat. “Don’t ever apologize for waking me,” I say as he tucks his head against my shoulder and lets go of me long enough to give each dog a little scratch. “You can always wake me up for anything. Never hesitate.”
“God, I woke up and worried everyone,” he says as he looks at the dogs. “Y’all get worried too much, it was just a stupid dream.”
He’s trying to act like it’s not bothering him, but I can feel the light tremble to his fingers. I want to ask him why he’s trying to hide it from me or if he still doesn’t trust me enough, but I know he’s going through enough at this moment, so I just squeeze him and give him a kiss.
He leans back and smiles at me. “Could you get me a drink of water? I don’t want to put my leg and everything on to go down the stairs.”
“Of course. Are you alright here?”
“Yeah, I have plenty to keep me company,” he says as he grabs Artemus and pulls the dog against him as he slides off my lap.
“Okay, I’ll be right back,” I say as I get out of bed and grab my sweats that I pull on.
When I reach the door, I look back to see him ruffling Artemus’s ears as Hela rolls around on her back. Then I slip through the doorway and rush down the stairs, determined to return to him quickly. When I reach the kitchen, I realize I’m not alone as I find Orin sitting at the breakfast table, head lying on it. He opens his eyes when he sees me, but I don’t think he was asleep.
“Can’t sleep?” he asks.
I wave to the fridge. “I’m getting Finn some water.”
“Nightmare?” he guesses.
“I take it this isn’t a new thing.”
He sits up and shakes his head. “It’s weird… not being the one to reach him first.”
“You mean because I’m here?” I ask.
He nods and I can’t tell if it upsets him.
I hadn’t thought about how