A Random Act of Kindness!

Chapter Twenty-One "Sleepless in Dallas."

I peered around in the darkness trying to figure out what had woken me up. "Help me, please help me I can't move." I heard through the darkness of the unfamiliar bedroom.

It took a moment in my groggy state to realize that MJ was still sleeping. "The fire, please I can't move." He moaned in his sleep.

He sounded so scared, and he was crying in his sleep. I slowly climbed out of my bed, and I made my way over to where he slept. In the dim moonlight coming through the window, I could see him thrashing around on his bed. His face was twisted in pain. "Oh god its burning." He called out, and I could see the agony written all over his dream laced face.

MJ looked so helpless, and it broke my heart to witness him like that. I didn't know what happened in his past to cause him to relive it nightly in his dreams, but I hated that he had to go through it over, and over.

Without thinking it through I climbed into his bed, and in an instant, I laid next to him. I scooped MJ up into my arms, and I wrapped him up in a tight embrace. I softly hummed to him, and I stroked his short fluffy hair in a calming manner I hoped.

"Shh it's okay MJ." I whispered, while I gently rocking him back and forth in my arms, hoping to calm him. "Please love, you are safe now."

He stopped mumbling in his sleep, but he was now whimpering in my arm's, and my heart broke even further at that sound. "Shh MJ, please wake up, everything is going to be okay."

I felt him begin to shiver in my arms, so I pulled him closer, fearing that he was cold. What could have possibly happened to him that would give him these horrible dreams? Whatever it was must have been so traumatic that he relived it nightly.

It seemed like I held him in my arms for hours before he stopped crying. I was so lost in thought when I heard his gravelly voice call out. "I'm sorry Luke." He whispered.

I brought his tear-stained face out of my chest, "Shh don't say that love. You have nothing to be sorry for." I said wiping underneath his eyes with my thumbs.

"I'm a mess Luke." He began to tell me, and I watched as a fresh wave of tears began falling from his eyes again. "I'm sorry I woke you up." The way he was acting was ripping my heart out of my chest.

I knew in that instant that I never wanted to see this boy in any kind of pain ever again. I also knew that I wanted to have him in my life for a long time to come, and I didn't care in what context that may be.

"You are not a mess MJ." I said hugging him tighter. "You've gone through something terrible that changed you both physically, and mentality."

I began to wipe the rest of his tears away from his cheeks. "I know that we have just met, but I'm here." I said. "And I'll be here for you as long as you want me around."

I knew he couldn't see the sincerity in my eyes, but I hoped he could hear it in my voice. "You don't have to tell me about it until you are ready love, but when you do, I'll be here to listen."

"Thanks Luke." He shifted in my arms and looked up at me so innocently. "I just feel so bad that I woke you up." He said, and I could tell he was feeling a mixture of embarrassment and pain at the same time.

"Think nothing of it love." He smiled for the first time since he woke from his nightmare, and I loved seeing it on his lovely face. "What is it?" I asked.

He shook his head and shrugged. "You keep calling me love, and I kind of like it."

I smiled, because even though I told him before that it was a force of habit, I knew it wasn't, and that I liked it also that I called him love a lot. "Do I?" I questioned.

MJ must have been reading my mind with his next statement. "I know you said it was a force of habit, but somehow I don't think it is."

He was right because I didn't just call anyone else love, it was just him. "You might be right." I admitted. I know I called him love, and I don't know it just felt right when it left my lips.

MJ began to straighten up, and I took that as my cue to get up and let him get some rest. "I should let you get some sleep, are you going to be all right?"

I wasn't expecting him to latch onto me so tightly. It was almost like he was holding onto me for dear life. "Don't go." He shouted. MJ looked so frightened for a moment, he looked so lost, and it broke my heart once again.

I smiled to myself because he needed me, and I liked that feeling. I laid us both flat against his mattress, and I wrapped my arms around him pulling MJ close to my chest. He tensed up at first, but moments later his body relaxed into my hold, and I felt him snake his arm around my waist.

"Are you comfortable love?" I asked in a hushed tone.

I could hear the concern in his voice when he answered me. "Is this all-right Luke?" He shuddered and I felt it run down his body. "I don't know what came over me, I'll be fine." He started to pull away from me. "You don't have to stay up here with me, I'll be okay."

Before he could get out of my grip, I pulled him back to my chest. "I want to be here; I want to hold you tonight."

He laid his head back on my chest, as we both got comfortable again. "Thanks Luke." He whispered after accepting the fact that I wasn't going to let him go.

I liked being the one here to protect him. I liked the feeling of being the one MJ needed tonight, and I was happy to have my arms around him right now. I smiled to myself, because I was letting my heart open up to the thought of MJ as mine.

"Good night, MJ, sleep well love." I softly said, hearing him begin to lightly snore with his head upon my chest.

Yes, it was a fact I thought to myself, I was a goner for MJ Horton, and I didn't care anymore, because I knew we would both sleep easy in each other's arms.

I just prayed that with my presence here next to him, that he would sleep the rest of the night without another nightmare.