Work Text:
Let’s go to sleep
There is a dream
We can share
Chase hears the familiar melody as he makes his way through the hallway of the underground mansion they had found weeks ago. He stops in his tracks to see the door to Gert’s room wide open. Most of the lights were off, save for a table lamp that gave her a soft amber glow. She’s sitting on the bed with Molly, who was fast asleep with her head on Gert’s lap.
He walks towards them and leans on the doorframe, listening intently. She looks up at him, smiling at his presence.
Just you and me
In a floating sea
In the air
When Chase was 12, he and the rest of the gang had a sleepover at Alex’s house. Things had gotten really with his father, which resulted in the bruise that had marred the skin covering his right rib. It happened just a day before the sleepover. He remembers dreaming about being lost in the woods, running around endlessly, chased by his own father. He calls for his mom, his friends--anybody--only to be swallowed by the darkness, his father’s furious voice looming over him.
He was woken up by Gert, already a sweaty, panting mess.
He remembers seeing her crouch over him, all dressed up in what used to be her favorite pastel purple and pink striped pajamas (he knows this because she would always talk about it on random occasions), eyes filled not with worry or even worse--pity, but reassurance. He remembers it clearly.
“It’s okay. It was just a dream,” she had said. He nodded, but his heart continued to race in fear. “Hold on.” She stood up before dragging her sleeping bag from the other side of the room and placed it right in the gap between Alex’s and his own sleeping bag. She slips inside it, lying next to him.
“I’m right here,” she assured him. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Everything is okay. It was all a dream. I’m okay, he repeated the words over and over in his head.
Just as the memory of his father grabbing the lacrosse stick stricken him, Gert began to sing to him, voice soft and soothing.
What's left below
I'll never know
He turned to his side, facing her. Her hair shone under the moonlight seeping through the windows and her lips curled into a small smile.
You are the moon
In a quiet night
Terrified
His eyelids began to flutter, but he forced himself to stay up. He doesn’t want to sleep. Not yet.
Reach for the cloud
I will be around
And by your side
It soothed him, even more, when she reached out to him and gently ran her thumb across the back of his palm. Her voice eventually brought him to sleep, and all the bad memories that had haunted him were forgotten throughout the night. He woke up with his hand still in hers the next day; he was so happy about it. It was the moment he had realized he liked her.
And now here he is, 4 years later, standing in front of that same girl and finally listening to the song once again.
What's left below
We'll never know
But you should go
They look at each other, soft smiles still evident on their faces. He knows that she remembers, too.
“Good night, Chase.”
“Good night, Gert.”