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Ever since that first night where Allison was 355's "sandbag", keeping her from getting up and walking around as she slept, the two found themself in that same position every night. They didn't talk about it outside of the nightly exchange of Allison asking if the position was okay and 355 continuing to surprise herself by realizing that it was okay. Despite her constant state of being on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop... She let her guard down when Allison lied with her.
The years of training and trauma didn't go away, of course. There was still that voice in the back of her mind telling her to stay alert. Telling her that the closeness and the vulnerability of sleep left her open to attack. Some nights were harder than others, trusting both Allison and herself enough to sleep peacefully. But she always found herself drifting off with the geneticist lying against her.
One particular night after a stressful set of days, the covert found herself in a nightmare. She was no stranger to bad dreams, having had her fair share of traumatic incidents throughout her lifetime, but that didn't make them any easier. Allison had quickly been awoken by the other woman's shifting, assuming it was a sleepwalking thing, but quickly realized otherwise when she heard a very uncharacteristic whimper of fear from her.
The scientist sat up, looking down at her with concern. She knew 355 would probably not take super well to being shaken awake in this stat, but she wasn't sure what else to do, so she made sure there were no weapons within reach and began to shake the other woman, repeatedly saying "Wake up" until 355 eventually shot up, breathing heavily as she forcefully shoved Dr. Mann off of her.
Allison just seemed vaguely annoyed as she tumbled off the mattress with a slight groan before getting back up. "355, you had a nightmare"
"I'm fine" the taller of the two deflected as she shakily stood up and walked to the corner of the room to catch her breath. She flicked her hands up and down in an attempt to soothe her sudden nerves, hoping that Allison wouldn't comment on it (she didn't, of course. It was one of the things they shared in common). The geneticist just rolled her eyes, walking over to the other woman but being careful not to touch her, knowing that might make her state worse.
"You know, it wouldn't hurt to let me or Yorick help you every now and then"
"I'm not a burden like that" 355 replied flatly, not looking at her... Friend. "And I don't need help"
"Sure" Allison replied, not feeling like unpacking that at three-ish in the fucking AM. "Do you want to talk about what your nightmare was about?"
"No"
"Okay... Do you want to lie back down?" Dr. Mann asked, feeling a slight sense of relief as 355 managed a weak smile, finally looking over at her with a nod.
Allison returned the smile, leading the both of them back to bed.