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The crack of thunder startled Dana awake.
She sat bolt upright in bed, her heart hammering. It took a few seconds for her mind to catch up with her body. The storm rolling over Pittsburgh. The rain that had started as a drizzle that morning and steadily grown heavier, louder, now drumming against the window.
The room was temporarily lit by a flash of lightning. Blue curtains, still open. The soft armchair tucked in the corner, her scrubs from the day laid across it. The wardrobe with the mirrored doors. She was in bed, safe. The storm was outside, passing over them.
She settled back down onto her pillow, letting the quiet of the room wash over her as her heartbeat slowly returned to normal. A quick glance at the clock on the nightstand told her it was 2:47 a.m. She had to be up in less than three hours. Of course.
Dana groaned and rolled over, turning away from the rain-streaked window and the accusing glow of the bright red numbers on the clock face. Another flare of lightning illuminated Robby beside her, tucked beneath the duvet pulled practically up to his nose. His face was unguarded in sleep, the lines of worry smoothed from his forehead, his eyelids twitching slightly as he dreamt. The storm raging outside did not seem to disturb him at all.
Dana’s heart clenched pathetically at the sight of him, a wave of tenderness blooming from somewhere deep in her chest. It reminded her of when her girls were babies, and she would watch them sleep for hours, studying their little faces and hands and feet, committing every tiny detail of them to memory. It reminded her a little more of the early days with Benji, when they were young and stupid and in love, before the demands of real life wore them down. Most of all, it reminded her of the way she and Robby had always been — watching out for each other, checking in without needing to ask, the ability to know what the other was feeling from a single glance.
Unable to resist the sudden swell of affection, Dana pushed herself up on her elbow and leaned over, brushing her lips gently against Robby’s temple. She let herself hold there for a moment, breathing him in.
Robby stirred a little below her, a sleepy “Hmpf?” escaping him, his eyes still closed.
“Shh,” Dana murmured, pulling away. “Go back to sleep.”
“Mmm,” he replied, already drifting away again. He shifted closer to her beneath the duvet, and fell quiet once more.
Dana lay back down, smiling.
Just as the last threads of wakefulness began to slip away, Robby’s hand found hers beneath the duvet. She wasn’t sure if he was awake enough to know he’d done it, or if he was simply reaching for her out of instinct. Either way, she laced their fingers together and closed her eyes.
Outside, the rain continued to fall relentlessly, the storm moving through the city one rumble at a time. But it would pass. Robby was beside her. Inside their room, there was quiet. And for these few precious hours, everything was exactly where it was supposed to be.