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Sheba was not unaccustomed to waking in the dead of night. In the past thirty odd years, Stan had had many restless nights where he awoke from nightmares screaming or crying and sometimes both. They had lessened some in the years but there were still bad nights where she would curl more tightly around him, surround him in her wings and rumble sweet nothings of comfort. So the dragoness was a bit surprised when she woke in the middle of the night to see Stan sleeping peacefully next to her, snoring away and looking as if he was having the best sleep of his life.
She lifted her head and swiveled her ears around, listening for any abnormality in the creaks and groans of the Shack. She found it in familiar heavy, clunking foot steps moving down the hallway right outside the bedroom door.
Her surprise shifted to slight confusion. What on earth could Ford be doing this late?
Careful not to wake Stan, she slid off the bed and nudged the door open, just in time to catch a glimpse of a shadow disappearing down the hall. Curiosity started to bled with her confusion as she padded down the hall after Ford.
She caught up to the human outside on the porch. She could almost smell the tension rolling off of Ford without having to see his stiff back and shoulders and she could hear the slight hitch n his breath.
‘Stanford?’ she rumbled.
The said human jumped and whirled around, “Sheba! Greetings! I didn’t realize you would be up at this time.”
‘You should not be up either,’ Sheba warbled softly in reply.
Ford chuckled slightly and gave her snout a quick pat, “I’m perfectly fine my good dragoness, just needed a bit of air, no need to worry. You should go on back to bed, I’m sure Stan misses you.”
‘Your not alright, what happened?’ Sheba nudged at his shoulder with her head.
Ford patted her once more before turning around again, “Really, I’m fine, no need for worry.”
Sheba snorted, ‘Stan really must teach you how to lie better.’ She lifted a foreleg and pulled Ford into her side.
The man yelped as the dragon dragged him over to the couch. She flopped onto the wore, brown piece of furniture and pulled Ford into her side, wrapping her tail around his middle and folding her wing over the rest of him to form a feathery blanket.
“Sheba, stop it. This is completely unnecessary,” Ford protested as he tried, in vain, to wiggle out of Sheba’s hold.
‘Yes it is. You are distressed and it is my job to comfort you,’ she huffed and laid her head on the arm of the couch.
“Sheba, let go,” the dragoness suspected that Ford had been going for a commanding tone but he sounded more like a disgruntled child.
Ford struggled for only a few more moments before he realized that Sheba was not going to let him up. He sighed and leaned back, folding his arms over his chest, “This is embarrassing.”
Sheba chuckled at that.
Silence hung in the air for a few minutes, with Ford doing all he could to look annoyed with the current situation while Sheba waited for him to either fall asleep or tell her what was bothering him.
It took awhile longer then Stan, but eventually, Ford sighed and turned more onto his side, burying a hand into the think gold fur along the top of Sheba’s neck, “I shouldn’t be having nightmares about…him.”
Sheba tensed. She knew what ‘him’ referred to, and even the thought of him made her blood boil with rage and freeze with terror simultaneously. ‘The thing you experienced at his hands is not something you ‘get over’.’ She rumbled and tightened her hold slightly.
Weather Ford understood her rumble or not, he didn’t give any indication, he just buried his face in her fur, “I did this at sea a lot. Stan was always there and I felt so guilty about waking him up with my stupid issues.”
‘There not stupid,’ Sheba protested even as Ford continued.
“He’s gone. He’s dead. He can’t hurt anyone ever again. I should still be so scared of Bill.”
She could feel moister on her fur as Ford’s breaths started to come in hiccupping gasps. She made low rumbling noises and curled more closely around the human, doing what she could to offer comfort.
Ford cried into her fur for quite some time before his hiccupping sobs evened and tempered down into the deep, heavy breaths of sleep. Sheba didn’t move to loosen her hold however, remaining curled around the human long after it was clear he had fallen asleep. Her own body kept Ford plenty warm so she didn’t need to worry about him being cold and Stan would be fine on his own for tonight.
So she stayed on the porch with Stanford, protecting him from his nightmares.
*-*-*-*-*
Poseidon blinked at the scene before him.
He had ventured out of Sheba’s cave and back towards the human den with the intention of asking her where he could find some fish. He was not expecting to see the she-dragon sleeping outside the den and curled up around Ford.
He stood there, unsure of how to react. Weather he should just turn around and find a hunting spot on his own or wake up Sheba.
His answer came in the form of Stan opening the door and stepping outside. He stared at the scene as well before a smile worked its way onto his face, “Good dragon.”
He looked at Poseidon, still smiling, “If you want breakfast you can wait for some Stan-cakes or you can try the lake for some fish.” He gestured in the direction the lake was.
Poseidon considered his options briefly. He had no clue what a ‘Stan-cake’ was and he honestly would have liked to go fishing but his injured wing would impair his hunting incredibly. With a huff, the blue dragon lumbered over so he was standing next to the den.
“Stan-cakes it is,” Stan grinned before going back inside the den, leaving Poseidon to listen to the deep breaths of the sleeping human and dragon.
‘You are an unusual dragoness,” he rumbled quietly.