Save Me

I Need To Know

Peter heard his door creak open softly. He was almost asleep, in that place where dreams meet reality and right before your mind takes on that fuzzy calmness. But he cracked an eye with great effort and found Cass tip toeing inside. The corner of his mouth tugged up even though his eye lid dropped closed.

The idea of having her in his bed wasn’t enough to make him wake up all the way. Even though he wanted to. Somehow she made her way through the darkness of the room and crawled into bed on the other side. She snuggled up close to him, her body molding so much to match his he thought she’d become a part of himself.

She slipped her one arm around him, pressing even closer to his back. Her other hand was curled up between them but palm down on his back.

“Goodnight Peter.”

He could feel her lips brush his skin as she said it. But he was so close to sleep that it didn’t stir much. Peter barely remembered lifting her hand up to kiss her fingertips or saying goodnight back.

All he clearly remembered was the dream after.

And even then, when he woke up, he barely remembered that.

They were no longer laying so Cass was pressed up against his back. In fact, Cass wasn’t even there. When Peter opened his eyes, she was gone, the blanket on her side of the bed folded back showing where she’d climbed out.

He scrambled out of bed in a blind panic and flung open the door. He checked her room, finding it empty and dark. She hadn’t been there.

Laughter drifted down the hall and he looked in the direction of the living room. A big sigh of relief flowed through him as he heard her voice exclaiming, “I love it!”

He walked slowly down the hall, really hoping they had coffee waiting. Or anything with caffeine.

“Hey, sleepyhead.”

She smiled at him, looking up just as he entered the room. Her location skills were getting better. Fitz wasn’t there but everyone else was gathered on the couches, a mound of unopened presents on the floor surrounding her feet. The opened ones were spread out across the couch to her right.

“Hey.” He ran his hand through his hair as everyone glanced at him. “What are we doing?”

“What’s it look like?” Gwen said. “Cass is opening her birthday presents.”

“Birthday?” Cass’s eyes widened. “You can’t be serious.”

“No,” Gwen said laughing. “Your Christmas presents are still under the tree.”

Poor Cass. She looked so freaked out. He told Gwen she went overboard but she kept giving the excuse that when they found Cass, she didn’t want her to think they’d forgotten her. Only an enormous pile of presents would keep that from happening apparently.

As if they’d anticipated his arrival, there was a spot clear next to her. Now that he knew where she was, the adrenaline dried up and he was tired again. He plopped down next to her and propped his head up on her thigh since she was sitting Indian style.

“Hey.” She brushed hair back from his face. He really needed to cut it. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah. Let’s just ignore the ghost next time he pops in in the middle of the night.”

Peter wrapped his arm around her knee and handed her a random present.

“Here.”

“You are such a prince charming,” Gwen said. “Maybe you should just go to bed earlier. Has that crossed your mind?”