Aftermath

Ch 49: Distractions

A/N: I was going to wait to post these next two installments until I got the third one finished, but then I got called out last night by @romillican. (That's probably a good thing, to be honest, though I fear I'm establishing a dangerous precedent.) Anyway, here's a twofer!

Sang

As I often did, I fell asleep on the ride back to Summerville. By the time I woke, we were almost all the way to Sunnyvale Court. I sat up straighter in the front passenger seat, surreptitiously--or so I hoped--checking to see if I had drooled. To my relief, I had not.

"Hey, Sang Baby. Glad to see you awake," North said, glancing over from the driver's seat.

"Hi, North Star," I murmured, still sounding sleepy. "I didn't mean to leave you alone for the whole drive."

His lips pulled into a slight smile. "You're cute when you're asleep."

"Where's your Jeep?" I hadn't asked earlier when North had picked us up in an unfamiliar black Cadillac SUV, but now I was curious.

"You don't like this?"

"Oh, I like it," I said, not wanting to make it sound as though I preferred this to his beloved vehicle, "but I like your Jeep too."

His eyes flicked to the rearview mirror, glancing at Kota, asleep in the backseat. "I thought he would be more comfortable riding in this." His Jeep was much louder than the Cadillac, and even if Kota had taken the front seat, it would have been more cramped and bumpier.

Touch that he had thought of making Kota's ride more palatable, I scooted over as close to North as I dared, though the seat belt and console kept me in place. "I've missed you." I had seen him at school, but it felt as though it had been forever since I had been alone with him.

"I've missed you too." He jerked his chin toward the rearview mirror. "But I can wait. I get that he needs you right now."

I hoped so. Sometimes I wasn't so sure. "I need both of you."

North frowned. "You haven't had any more nightmares, have you?"

"Not since the other night. I would have told you." It made me think of what Gabriel and Victor had admitted after Kota's nightmare. "Do you have nightmares too?"

He glanced at me, then back at the road. "Not in a while, but I have had them. They're a natural occurrence. You can't keep your worries bottled up; they'll come out somehow. That's why I want you to call me after these things."

Wow. Who had North told his nightmares to?

"Lately, I've had a different, more satisfying kind of dream." He squeezed my knee, leaving his hand on my thigh. "I'm sorry I wasn't there this morning for breakfast. I've been really busy the last few days."

I tried to focus on his words, but his hand on my bare thigh was distracting. "With family lead stuff?" I still wasn't exactly sure what that meant other than keeping peace and being the leader.

"Mostly. I don't think I ever knew there was all of this stuff to do." He paused to turn, picking his hand up from my thigh. "Or maybe I knew how much there was to do, but I didn't think about it because Kota's been doing all of it. We need to reevaluate once he is better; I don't think Dr. Green did all of this."

"You don't like it?" Now I was distracted by the absence of his hand. It was as though my brain couldn't process it.

He shook his head as he made another turn, this one onto Sunnyvale Court. "It's not a matter of liking any of it. It needs to be done." He glanced in the rearview mirror again before going on, his voice much softer than normal. "I don't like the way it keeps me from seeing you."