wrongkindofsith | Room 418, Sunday Morning

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Room 418, Sunday Morning

After she'd made her way back to her room the night before, the second thing Cara had done (the first being getting all the muck cleaned off 'Richard') had been to swap her leathers for the shirt the human-shaped Richard had managed to leave behind during Parent's Weekend and collapsed into a deep, but not dreamless sleep.

During the night, she'd burrowed under the covers and drawn up into a tight ball, her hands and feet tucked away where nothing could get at them. Apart from her rapid breathing, she made no sound as her eyes darted back and forth under closed lids.

You were always my favourite, Cara. That's why I chose you.

[For the puppy who is not actually named Richard.]

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The puppy had been very pleased to be cleaned up by the girl who was his. Refusing to be left behind in the cold air when there was warm snuggling to be had, he'd nosed his way under the covers to fulfill his role as protector.

And at some point in the morning, the furry paws and muzzle pressed against Cara's back had turned into strong arms that reflexively wrapped around her

Still tightly curled in on herself, Cara instinctively burrowed closer to the much larger source of warmth. By now the rapid breaths had progressed to full-blown whimpers and half-formed words.

The sounds stirred him from sleep. As elated as Clark was to see her there, alive and with him, hearing Cara sound so unhappy even in dreams broke his heart. Spooned against her, all Clark could do was kiss her hair and murmur soothing words.

Thank goodness he hadn't woke up floating over the bed again.

As always happened those times she had this particular dream Cara's eyes flew open right as Nathair handed her the agiel.

Even disorientated and gasping for air as she was, it didn't take particularly long to realise she was sharing a bed with a person instead of a puppy. "Clark?"

"Were you expecting someone else?" Clark asked teasingly, hugging her tighter and knowing that she'd figure out he had been the puppy without him saying it.

"I..." Cara still wasn't quite trusting the reality of the situation. "You were a puppy." After the last week, that was clearly the important thing.

"I'm really sorry about that, Cara," Clark told her, sorry he'd not been himself and blasting her out of whatever prison she'd been stuck in. What good was having heat vision and super strength if he couldn't save his girl? "I wanted so badly to find you and..." He'd fallen to puppy distractions.

Cara forced her limbs to uncurl and reached down to wrap her fingers around his hand. "It's all right," she said. "I didn't expect you to come for me."

Then she winced, bad enough it slipped out, but she didn't mean it to sound dismissive.

Like a meteor rock to his heart.

"What? Of course I tried to come for you!" Clark shouldn't be surprised she didn't believe him, but he was and he would prove it by keeping his arms around her and not distancing himself.

Cara wouldn't have blamed him if he had pushed her away. "I didn't mean it like that."

A smarter boy who wasn't in love with her might have. "So how did you mean it?"

Cara was grateful he was pressed against her back, it was easier to find the right words when she wasn't looking directly at him. "I know you'd want to." The same way she knew that Richard would stop for single every lost kitten up a tree no matter how much valuable time it wasted. "But I also know what happens when you believe that someone will come to rescue you and then they don't."

"But someone had to rescue you," Clark said, not having been at his peak mentally when Cara and company had shown up. "You're here, aren't you?"

If Cara wasn't, then this was one occasion she'd pick an illusion over reality. "This time someone came."

The way she said 'this time' worried Clark. He knew Cara had issues, that was obvious enough from how unwilling she'd been to accept that he believed in her. "What happens when they don't?"

The words came by rote. "Take away a person's hope and they're that much easier to break."

Clark gulped, "Did you have hope?" And he'd failed. Failed epically, really.

"I don't know." It mightn't have been a satisfying answer but it was an honest one. "It's complicated. But it's not the only thing that can keep you from breaking."

Clark had been used to people calling for him when things got rough and then he'd arrived in Fandom and all that was just...lost. "What else is there?"

"You can make places in your mind," Cara explained. "Fill them with thoughts of family, friends. You can go to these places." When the pain became too much even for a Mord'Sith.

"You can use them to remind you that even if they don't want you, you still have a duty to them, that you still want them."

The words to explain just how much he still needed and wanted her were not forthcoming, but hugs were. After saying that, Cara might need to remind Clark that people do need to breathe, because he just couldn't seem to hug her tightly enough.

Well, it wasn't the first time someone had choked Cara out of affection, even if she didn't know why they kept doing it. "Clark," she managed after longer than was perhaps wise. "Air."

"Oh!" Clark relaxed his arms immediately, leaning over her shoulder to see if he'd hurt her at all. "Sorry, sorry! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Shifting in his arms so she didn't have to twist her head to look at him, Cara reached up to stroke his face. "I don't blame you for not coming."

"I would have, you know," Clark told her, blue eyes saddened by his inability. "Usually nothing can stop me."

"I know that." And she really didn't know how that made her feel. "It wasn't that bad, considering."

She had a basis for comparison.

"No?" That made him feel maybe a hair better. "I remember you seeming sad when I finally found you." Feelings were really all he could remember.

"I didn't know you were the puppy." Which was as close as she was going to come to admitting it had hurt when it looked like he wasn't there when she got out.

"And still you brought me home and cleaned me up," Clark pointed out, like he believed somehow she had known.

"Because you were small and had no business being on your own." And were also adorable, but she wasn't going to mention that. "I was also going to name you Richard."

Clark smiled more brightly. "You must have really liked me."

That got something close to a smile. "Yes, I did."

Clark leaned in to press a kiss to her forehead. "I'm glad you're back. And not trapped in some freaky dream."

Cara pressed in closer against him, sliding an arm around his waist. "I'm glad you're here," she admitted.

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Room 418, Sunday Morning

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