A Momentary Lapse Of Reason

Antiques

Summary: Carlos tries projection again, the team attempt to deal with the antiques and Natalia and Ellie consider visiting the Erikas.

"N-no..." Natalia murmured as she twitched in her sleep. "No smile...."

Her face was screwed up in discomfort as Ellie held her in her arms, stroking her black and coloured hair gently.

"Ssshhhh....it's okay, I'm here." Ellie said softly as Natalia began to visibly relax. Ellie continued to run her fingers delicately through Natalia's hair with a concerned expression as they lay together in their bed. The biochemist was worried. She'd thought that the nightmares would have stopped by now. Natalia wouldn't go into any vast amount of detail when it came to what StrexCorp did to her to make her to comply as she 'didn't want to worry them' all. Which meant it had been bad. 

"Ell..." Natalia muttered, her eyes opening blearily to look up at her girlfriend holding her in her arms, before sighing. "Was I talking again?"

"Yeah." Ellie said. "It sounded creepy, man."

"Good job I can't remember it then." Natalia settled herself against Ellie's chest and wrapped her arms around the blonde's waist.

Ellie chewed on her bottom lip for a while before looking down at her again. "You were talking about smiling again."

"...oh." Natalia was silent for a few seconds before wriggling herself out of Ellie's arms and lying back onto the pillows. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, hey, don't be sorry." Ellie said softly. "Look, we all have issues after being in this place for so long. I still get the occasional nightmare about falling into the subway and never coming out. I'm pretty sure everyone in this town has bad memories. It just so happens yours are from an encounter with an evil capitalist corporation."

Ellie's lighthearted approach to the rather depressing subject made Natalia, oddly, feel slightly better. Her girlfriend never seemed to be really upset about anything and always found something positive in dire situations. At least, that was the case usually. Brent had pulled her aside shortly after she escaped from StrexCorp and told her that Ellie had been rather reclusive whilst she had been captured by Strex. He didn't go into details but Natalia could tell from the expression on his face that it had been bad.

"You always look on the bright side." Natalia smiled warmly and pulled Ellie down for a kiss. "But you need to stop biting your lip, you drew blood."

"Oops." Ellie laughed and flicked her tongue over her lip until the blood stopped flowing. "Better?"

"Much." Natalia murmured and brought her lips back to Ellie's again, which she enthusiastically responded to. That is, until Ellie paused to speak.

"We'll go and ask Josie if she has any herbal remedies so you can sleep better later-wha?" She gasped as Natalia began to tug up Ellie's top and begin kissing down her stomach.

"Isn't it a bit early for this?" Ellie said weakly, trying to hide the fact she was gripping the bed sheets. "Also I feel like you're avoiding a conversation here."

"Do you really want me to stop?" Natalia arched an eyebrow playfully and a blush settled over the freckles on the blonde's face.

"....nope, absolutely not."

"Good."

"We're still going to Josie's."

"I promise I'm fine."

"You're n- ah!" Ellie scowled. "We're going, you teasing witch."

"Love you too, hobgoblin."

"You're mean to me."