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He hadn’t been sleeping much since becoming watch commander but Tim was extra restless tonight.
It was late and Lucy lay on her side, barely conscious, woken up by Tim, who had detached from her grip in his sleep, tossing and turning behind her.
She turns to him, intending to pull him back into her arms to bring him some ease when she notices how uneven his breathing is. How sweat forms on his forehead despite it being quite chilly tonight. How his body is jerking as opposed to adjusting.
Her suspicions are confirmed when Tim lets out a sound halfway between a groan and a sob before his body violently spasms.
Lucy sits up immediately, arranging herself next to him, sitting on her haunches, looking at him. She reaches out her hands, one taking his and one running over his face, contorted in pain.
She leans down and whispers, “Tim baby, I need you to wake up,” before dropping a kiss on his lips.
Another one.
Another one.
Tim’s eyes fly open.
They dart around, scanning for the danger he was just in the middle of before they land on Lucy.
When they do, confusion flashes in his eyes before it’s replaced with potent relief.
His whole body relaxes and he lets out a sigh, closing his eyes and squeezing her hand.
Lucy moves, sitting against the headboard and tugging at his hand.
“Let me hold you, baby,” she whispers gently.
Tim composes himself a little with a few deep breaths before pushing himself up to sit next to her, melting into her and she wraps her arms around him, dropping kisses on him wherever she can reach.
His arms circle her and hold her so tight, as if at any given moment, she’ll try to leave him.
As his breathing evens out, Lucy rubs Tim’s back, drawing little shapes and running her other hand through his hair.
After a few minutes, he pulls away, looking her in the eye.
He looks better than he did 5 minutes ago. Calmer but still troubled.
Lucy puts her hands on either side of his face, kisses him and gently as she can, strokes his cheeks with her thumbs.
“You’re okay, baby. I’ve got you,” she croons, dropping kisses on his nose, forehead, cheeks until he loosens his grip on her, calming down even more.
This time, he looks at her with nothing but love in his eyes.
“Thank you, Luce. I’m sorry for-“
“No, Tim. You’re not sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong. I won’t let you be sorry,” she says gently.
“Do you want to talk about it?” She questions.
He thinks on it for a second.
“Military nightmares are probably the worst ones. Well, after the ones about you,” he says, voice barely above a whisper.
Lucy’s heart aches.
His arms tighten around her again, Tim’s head nuzzling as deep into her chest as possible.
Then a little more.
“What do you need baby?” She asks softly. “Tell me and I’ll do it. Tell me how I can help”
Tim is silent for a minute.
Then, “Your voice. I just want to hear your voice.”
Lucy smiles a little, running her nails across the nape of his neck, pushing his head further into her chest.
“Well take your pick. I have a story about me and Celina meeting someone who thought he was a horse. I can tell you about Miles being ‘cursed’. I can…” she trails off, her eyes landing on an object resting atop table.
“I could read to you. The book I got you. If you want me to.”
Tim hesitates for a beat.
Then he looks up at her, a look of such acute gratitude in his eyes, it takes her back a little.
“I would like that a lot, Luce,” he whispers.
He shifts off Lucy so she can get up, padding across the room to pick up the book, switching the lap on as low as she can before getting back into bed.
Her arms open up like an invitation and accepts, resting his head on her chest again, lower this time so she can hold the book.
His arms go tight around her, squeezing her like she might run.
And as her soft, sweet voice reads out the words that have been comforting him his whole life, something in his very brain chemistry changes.
She gets two pages in and his eyes are already fluttering as he nuzzles closer.
Two more and he’s asleep.
Out cold on top of her.
She looks down at him fondly, putting the book on her nightstand so she can run her hands through his hair and rub his back.
The man lying on her chest wasn’t Sergeant Bradford let alone even slightly resembling T.O Bradford.
He could be those people with everyone else.
Right now, with Lucy, he was Tim.
He was a little scared.
And that was okay.
She’s got him.