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It's a quarter to three, Ethan is still rolling in bed. He's been staring at the digital clock on the nightstand on and off since laying down. Rose is on the other bed, surrounded by pillows in a makeshift crib. Ethan would prefer to keep her within arms reach, but he knows she wouldn't be able to sleep next to him in his current state, she’s barely even out now. She's shifting and fussing every few minutes in her sleep, which could be blamed on the traumatic events of the past few days, but he knows it's at least partially because he's so tense himself. Kids are intuitive like that, and Rose has been ill at ease ever since Miranda came into their lives masquerading as Mia, he just hadn't realized it. Ethan feels guilty that his own inability to calm down and rest is keeping Rose from doing the same, though that's probably only making things worse.
Ethan sits up on the bed, setting his booted feet down on the floor and leans forward on his knees. He still has his jacket and jeans on. The bed creaks as he moves, but Rose doesn't seem to notice. Ethan takes this moment to review his surroundings one more time, the door is locked with a chair propped under the handle, like that's gonna do them much good if the B.S.A.A. shows up with a battering ram. He's positioned himself between Rose and the door, his gun is in the top drawer of the nightstand, safety's on. His knife is in it's holster tucked under his pillow. And now he's sitting in the dark, staring at the closed door, waiting for something to come crashing through. There's not much more he can do.
He rubs the back of his neck and takes as deep a breath as he can. Holds it for a few seconds, and lets it out in a heavy sigh. The room feels dead silent, all he can hear is Rose's shaking breaths, it seems like she's having a bad dream. Ethan contemplates picking her up, but decides it would probably just upset her further. His body grows heavier at the thought, at his own inability to comfort his child when she's clearly in distress. He hangs his head, listening closely to Roses uneven breathing in the quiet of the motel room, until he hears a sound that nearly makes him jump out of his skin
It sounded like someone knocking on the door, but who could be looking for them at this time of night? or at all for that matter? Ethan instinctively pulls his knife from under the pillow and looks around the darkened room, breathing heavily, his heart pounding in his chest, until . . .
*knock knock knock*
The sound repeats, it's just a soft thudding, like it was barely meant to be heard. Ethan’s eyes land on the sliver of light coming from under the door and he realizes that the sound isn't coming from the front door, it's the door to the adjoining room. Ethan takes another deep breath and tries to settle his nerves, he had all but forgotten that the door was even there. It hadn't occurred to him to worry about it as he surveyed all the potential threats and points of entry just a few moments ago. He stares at that sliver of light under the door, he can see the shadow of the man on the other side, he's not moving and he's already knocked twice, so it seems unlikely that he's just going to go away. But what could he possibly want at this hour?
Groaning mentally, Ethan stands up slowly from the bed in an attempt to minimize mattress creaking and walks quietly to the door. He considers for a moment before clicking on the lamp on the far side of the room, Rose has never had trouble sleeping with the lights on before so it should be fine. Still, he gently unlatches the door and opens it slowly.
Karl Heisenberg stands on the opposite side leaning casually on the doorframe as he waits, like Ethan he only has the clothes he was wearing when they left the village, though he's looking far more put together now. The smell of overly scented hotel soaps and shampoo along with the errant air dried curls and waves of his hair give away the fact that he's freshly showered. Ethan was a little caught off guard by the sight, Heisenberg's hat and trenchcoat were conspicuously absent, his unkempt hair and relaxed stance seemed so humanizing, almost endearing.
Ethan was so taken aback by the sight that for a second he failed to notice that the Lord was eyeing him over the rim of his glasses with a raised brow.
"Are you trying to outmaneuver a lycan or a small child? because I'm pretty sure her hearing isn't nearly as sensitive as mine"
Heisenberg spoke with an expressive yet soft voice.
If Ethan hadn't been paying attention, he might not have noticed he was being insulted. Still, he looked over to where Rose was to check on her, but she didn't seem bothered by the other mans voice at all. So, he sighed inwardly and decided not to press the issue.
"it's late Heisenberg, what do you want?"
Ethan's words lack venom he was hoping for and betray his state of exhaustion as he speaks.
"I'm here to offer some respite"
the Lord states matter of factly.
"what?"
Ethan was far too tired to decipher Heisenberg's usual incessant stream of eccentrics and riddles.
"The past three nights you've been awake, either pacing the room or tossing back and forth on the bed, not to mention the kid starts screaming every few hours, so, I know you're exhausted. Because you're making be exhausted."
Ethan scoffed.
"Well, if my daughter and I are so disruptive them maybe you should ask for a different room so you won't have to listen to the lasting effects of an infants psychological trauma."
Ethan knew his response was overly harsh as soon as it came out of his mouth. Heisenberg was paying for their current lodgings with the small fortunes worth of crystals he'd had in his truck when they'd made their escape, and now Ethan was lashing out at him for pointing out things that he already knew. Ethan shook his head and opened his mouth to apologize but Heisenberg spoke before he got the chance.
"I didn't come here to complain, I came to offer my help, it's been over a week since the crash and the most you've slept since was when you passed out from bloodloss. You must be tired."
"I'm always tired, it's just a habit at this point."
Ethan’s head and shoulders hung heavy with that admission
"But, I can't sleep, not with everything I know now. Besides, who knows if I even need sleep to function anymore anyways."
Heisenberg placed his hand gently on Ethan's shoulder
"You do, I can tell by how bitchy you are without it."
Ethan looked back up from the ground to meet Heisenberg's eyes, he smiled and Ethan had to fight the urge to either laugh or cry, though he didn't know which.
"This is your idea of 'helping'?"
"No, my idea was for you to let me watch the kid for a few hours while you get some shut eye, then hopefully you'll be in a better mood when you wake up."
Ethan shakes his head again, he's feeling more exhausted by the second since the start of this conversation
"I get that you want to help, but I can't just leave my daughter alone with someone I barely know."
Heisenberg mulls the fathers words over for a moment before he responds
"fine."
he shrugs and pushes past Ethan into the room without another word.
Ethan is swung aside as easily as a door on its hinge and he isn't quite sure what's happening.
"What are you doing?"
Heisenberg walks past the beds and over to the table, pulls out one of the chairs and spins it around.
"If you need to watch me while I watch her then fine"
He straddles the chair backwards sitting at the foot of Rose's bed with his arms folded on the backrest.
"I can keep an eye on her from right here."
Ethan stands in the middle of the room, he tries to find his words but nothing is coming out.
Heisenberg leans forward a little more
"Get some rest papa, who knows, tomorrow might be the day that everything goes to shit all over again, and when that happens you won't be much good to any of us in the state you're in now. So, just let me stand guard for a while."
Ethan can feel his fatigue gripping his bones now, yet there's still that screaming in his head that keeps telling him not to let his guard down, even for a second.
"Every time I close my eyes I see all the things that have already tried to come and take her from me, and just as may more that haven't tried yet."
The words come tumbling out of his mouth before he’s even stopped to think about what he's saying. He feels the silence of the room pressing down on him in the very next moment.
"Do you even know how eyes lie?"
Ethan perked up immediately at the sound of the other mans voice, he hadn't been expecting a response to his musings.
"I spent my entire life surrounded by monsters that most sane people couldn't even fathom, and yet every night when I tried to sleep I'd be convinced that something far worse was coming for me."
Ethan stared at Heisenberg after he spoke, he's not certain of how long, but it seemed to be long enough to make him regret sharing.
The Lord rolled his eyes and flicked his wrist with a dismissive showmanship
"Which is to say that you're not special, you just have the luxury of knowing you're not completely paranoid. Since people and creatures like that are in fact out to get you."
Ethan smiles and a soft laugh escapes him. It's short and weak but, as the sound reverberates through him he starts to realize just how deep this full body ache has sunk in. He takes a seat on the foot of his bed, too tired to stand anymore. He leans forward on his knees again weighing his options.
"Okay."
"But no smoking around Rose, if you want to light up then go outside."
Heisenberg nods.
"Noted. But I'm not going anywhere"
Ethan falls back onto the bed as quietly as he can muster and doesn't bother trying to move from that spot. A sigh escapes him as he sinks down into the mattress
"Night Heisenberg"
He mumbles as he quickly begins to drift off.
"Good night Winters"
Ethan is woken a few hours later to the sound of Rose fussing, it's still dark with the single dim lamp in the corner serving as the only light source. It's a slow process to dredge his consciousness out of the deep dreamless slumber he'd fallen into. He sees movement in the room as he starts to crack his eyes open, for a man his size, Heisenberg can move in complete silence when he wants to.
Ethan watches through heavily lidded eyes, lying perfectly still as the man moves from his chair to Rosemary's bedside and sits down beside her.
He looks at her pensively and starts to reach with both hands like he's going to pick her up, but seems to think better of it. He sits and watches Rose as she starts to sniffle and wine louder and after a moment he starts to rub his hands together. Slowly at first, his gloves making a muffled scrubbing sound, then they speed up as he leans down over Rose's fortress of pillows.
He reaches out again slowly and presses the palm of his gloved hand down gently on her chest. He waits a moment for her to react and then starts to rub slow circles on her chest. He hums softly as he does and Rose's fussing seems to taper off back into silence
Ethan wonders to himself how Heisenberg could have known or guessed that this gesture would work. But as the soft rumble of Heisenberg's voice drifts into his thoughts he drifts off again.
Ethan doesn't wake again until a streak of sunlight from the crack between the curtains reaches his eyes. He stretches out on the bed and feels the soreness in his muscles, it's still there, but a little less now. He looks at the clock and sees its past noon. He can't remember the last time he slept this long, let alone without being woken by nightmares, either his or Rose's.
Wait, where's Rose then?
Ethan pushed himself up on the bed and looks around the room, he feels an unexpected rush of relief wash over him at the sight of the scruffy, rough and tumble Lord stationed at his daughter's bedside.
Heisenberg was asleep, leaning back in his chair with his feet up on the bed, his glasses hung on the neck of his shirt. Apparently at some point in the night he'd moved his seat to position himself between where Rose slept and the door.
Ethan was surprised to see that Heisenberg was still here after at least nine and a half hours, it certainly wasn't the kind of timetable they'd agreed to last night, and who knows how much of that the Lord had actually stayed awake for. Ethan certainly wasn't expecting to sleep for this long, though it wasn't uncommon for Rose, in fact she might sleep another couple of hours if she can.
Which was also surprising, even before the events of their recent history, Rose normally only slept this soundly when someone was holding her. As Ethan peels himself up off the bed and turns to face them he realizes why.
Heisenberg's arm is rested on the mattress, one of his leather clad fingers gripped tightly in Rose's little hand.
Ethan feels the corner or his mouth twitch at the sight. The two seemed content the lie. He looks back at the clock, it's only noon, Heisenberg usually slept half the day away anyway. Ethan gets up and walks around to the far side of the bed, he pulls his gun out of the nightstand and checks one more time that its loaded and that the safety is still on. He walks back down to the foot of the bed and situates himself between the two of them and the door.
For now they can rest, Ethan can keep watch until they're ready to get up, and he can thank Heisenberg when he wakes. But for now, he'll wait, he'll make sure their both safe.