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Hollis stirred as she awoke on the jet. The sky above the glass was dark and full of stars. She could see them reflected in the blackness of the ocean below her and the blacker blackness of the clouds that covered everything else. Her eyes turned to look across from her, And Milla, her teammate for yesterday's mission, was sleeping peacefully in her chair, Head pressed against a throw pillow.
She grabbed the bottle of water from her cupholder, taking a sip and parching her dry mouth. Hollis’s throat felt scratchy and her head ached. She closed her eyes, letting the water go down her throat. When she opened them again, she noticed that Milla's face scrunched up, her eyes twitching slightly under her eyeliids. Hollis looked her over. Her hands had started shaking when they had been still a bit before, and she tossed in her seat. "No... no, please..." She muttered. Hollis moved to stand at her side and reached out, touching her shoulder gently."Milla?" she said quietly. “Are you alright?" She shook her shoulder a little harder. "Milla." Milla started breathing heavily. A small whimper escaped from her lips.
Tears began to stream down her face. "No, No, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.." She muttered, her eyes clenched tightly. Her body was jerking around. "Please stop!" The words were barely a whisper but loud enough to be heard by Hollis. She pulled the throw blanket off of her head and curled into herself. "No..." Her body became rigid with tension. Her voice rose into a high pitched squeal. "No! No! No!" She began sobbing loudly.
Hollis didn't know what to do at this point. She may have been a neurologist before but comforting people wasn't her specialty, especially nightmares like this. "Milla, Wake up." She said firmly, grabbing her arm and shaking her. She kept repeating it, getting louder each time. After what seemed like forever, Milla finally woke. Her eyes flew open, wide with panic. She scrambled away from Hollis, kicking her directly in the stomach. Hollis fell backwards onto the floor with a thud. Milla's eyes locked with hers, then the tears continued streaming down her face. Her chest heaved with heavy breaths.
"Oh! Agent Foresythe!" Milla quickly dropped down next to Hollis. "I'm so sorry!" She wrapped her arms around Hollis, hugging her tightly. "I don't mean to hurt you, I just--" The rest of the sentence got stuck in her throat. "I thought I had my nightmares under control, I didn't mean- oh, I'm so sorry!" Milla sputtered quickly.
Hollis was wide eyed with shock, fully confused as to what just happened. "I'm... Alright, Agent Vodello. You missed all the..." She hissed at the pain slightly. "..important organs. Are you alright?" She said as calmly as possible while trying to catch her breath. The jet was silent except for the low hum of the engine. Milla nodded slowly, her breath hitching. "Yes... Yes, I'm fine. Just... had a small... nightmare." She took deep breaths, trying to calm down her rapid heartbeat. She wiped her eyes hastily with the sleeve of her dress.
They were silent once again, Milla trying to calm herself down and Hollis unable to figure out how to help her. Usually she'd ask Milla about something like this, but Milla was the one in distress right now. Not her. She didn't even know what to say anymore. She tried to think of something, anything to make the agent feel better, but she came up blank. "Um... Agent Vodello, if there's anything I can do to make you more comfortable..." She trailed off awkwardly.
Milla looked up at her with teary eyes. "Can you... Can you hug me?" She asked quietly. Hollis' eyes widened at the request. "I-I'm sorry! I- Pressure helps comfort me, and-and... Oh, no, that was inappropriate to ask, I'm sorry-" Milla sputtered off quickly. Hollis cautiously wrapped her in a hug, cutting her off. Milla suddenly went silent, going slightly limp in her arms. Milla rocked slightly, humming to herself as she closed her eyes.
She let herself relax into the hold, leaning against her chest. Hollis adjusted her hold to be tighter, And Milla seemed to simply stare straight ahead. Hollis rocked along with Milla's motions, letting the two of them relax. Tears fell from Milla's eyes and onto her suit, but Hollis only held her tighter, keeping a soothing hand on her back and the other on Milla's head. Eventually, Hollis' own eyes drooped closed, lulled by her teammates gentle humming and rhythmic rocking.
It was strange seeing someone as peppy as Milla so upset, but somehow, with how Milla held herself after a nightmare that seemed so violent from the outside, This was almost normal to her. Almost. She sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, and tightened her grip on Milla slightly. "Thank you, darling." Milla muttered, and Hollis felt her face turn pink. "You're welcome, Agent Vodello." She said as professionally as possible. "Call me Milla, please."
"Okay, Milla, Would you... like to talk about the dream you had?" Hollis suggested softly. There was silence for a moment. "Or not?" Milla's breathing hitched and Hollis wondered whether she should take the suggestion back. But she needed to do something, she couldn't just sit here, doing nothing and letting Milla deal with whatever was troubling her. "You don't have to if you don't want to..."
"It's... fine." Milla said. "I... used to be a nurse. At an orphanage." Milla hesitated and Hollis could sense her struggling internally. She squeezed her arms lightly and waited patiently. Milla breathed in, and out, shakily releasing her tension as best she could. "I... was helping make dinner, and we ran out of some ingredients. And, in my stupid, selfish..." She closed her eyes holding back tears. "I-I accidentally left one of the stoves on, and- and-" Her emotions seemed to burst out of her like a tidal wave, making her sob harder than ever before. Hollis slowly realized what she meant.
"T-they'd still be alive if- if I hadn't been so forgetful-" She buried her face in Hollis' uniform, clinging to her tightly. Hollis was taken aback. "I-I heard them screaming for me- and- and- and I could hear their thoughts... I... could hear their pain... I-" She cried harder into her chest. "Hey, hey..." She gently brushed Milla's hair out of her face. She had never seen someone react quite like this in person. It was clear that this was a very painful memory to Milla.
"I- I'm a terrible person, Hollis..." She said between choked sobs. "No- No, Don't say that." Hollis insisted. "They're all gone because of me." She pushed herself away from Hollis, pulling her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "I made them die... they were my responsibility." She looked up, tears dripping down her face. "I'm a horrible person. They were just children, they didn't deserve to die like that." Milla sniffled as she rocked. "And here I am, trying to move on like nothing ever happened."
"Milla, you're not a terrible person." Hollis repeated firmly. Milla seemed to be having a hard time responding. Her gaze was unfocused and her eyebrows were drawn together. "I-I don't... I'm sorry...." Her hands shook as she went to cover her eyes. "I'm sorry..." She kept repeating. Hollis looked on helplessly as she sobbed, lost on what to do once again.
"Milla, don't apologize. It's... It's good to let out your emotions." Focus on one thing at a time. Good idea. Slowly, she placed her hand gently over one of Milla's trembling ones. She rubbed her thumb back and forth across the skin, calming her. "Do you want me to keep hugging you, or is that too much right-" It was Milla's turn to cut her off, quickly tightening her arms around Hollis' waist.
Hollis wrapped her arms around her as well, letting her cry into her shirt, barely even minding the makeup staining it. "I... I really thought I had my nightmares under control..." She muttered into Hollis' chest, gripping the fabric tightly and rocking back and forth again. "But I guess one of them must have escaped..." Hollis tightened her grip on Milla, stroking her hair. "If you ever need to talk about it, or anything else, please tell me."
Milla didn't respond immediately. Instead, she stayed silent until her cries faded, allowing her to breathe again. She took another shaky breath, and pulled away from Hollis. "I'm sorry, darling. It's probably a lot, huh? I shouldn't have dragged you into this mess. You don't need to worry about me, okay? I'll be fine." She flashed a weak smile at Hollis, trying to reassure her. Hollis frowned. "I'm serious. Whatever you're feeling, it's okay. If you're not ready to talk about it, that's perfectly fine with me. But I want to be here for you, if you need me."
Milla gave her a warm smile. "I appreciate that, darling." After that, she took a few deep breaths, gathering her wits about her. "Thank... thank you. For helping me. This kind of stuff can be... a lot." Milla's eyes were tired and there were streaks of mascara staining her puffy eyes and red cheeks. Hollis gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her heart hurting at how vulnerable she looked. "Of course." She replied, giving her a little smile in return.
Milla returned the smile, before letting her head fall into Hollis' chest. She rested her head comfortably against Hollis' collarbone. The agent blushed slightly, before resting her chin on top of Milla's head. She could feel Milla's heart beating quickly against her chest. "I'm... I shouldn't have dumped all that on you." Milla said quietly. "It's fine. Really." Hollis assured. "Do you want to go back to sleep?" She asked cautiously.
Milla took her arms off of Hollis' body. "That... would be a good idea." She stood up, dusting off her dress. "Again, I... I'm sorry, I tend to... talk a lot about the past when I'm stressed, and then that just triggers me more, it's..." She sighed. "Not... very pleasant." She mumbled, rubbing her arm. She sat back down on her chair, putting it back into recline. "That's understandable. That's why I'm here for you." She smiled. Milla gave her a small smile, reaching a hand towards her face. "...Thanks." She whispered. "It... it's what fri- coworke- I'm here for." She said quietly.
Milla stared blankly ahead for a moment. She bit her lip nervously. She looked like she wanted to say something, but laid down and turned over. "Good night darling. Thanks for putting up with me." Milla muttered, facing the wall as she pulled the blanket back over her shoulders. "Wait, what do you mean putting up wi-" Her sentence was cut short by Milla's yawning. "Goodnight, Hollis." She murmured sleepily as she rolled over and covered herself again, curling up into a ball.
Hollis watched for a moment, making sure Milla didn't go right back into her nightmare. After what happened tonight, she really had more questions than answers about her. But... that could wait until later. Right now, she had to get sleep. And the sooner she got sleep, the better. So, she grabbed Milla's hand, squeezing it lightly before letting go.