Paranoia or Reality

Paranoia or Reality Chapter 1

a/n: This was written after the finale of Season 9 and before the start of Season 10. I've added in some detail from the show to make it more current since we've lost and gained characters, but the rest of the events are AU to continue my story from Lines Crossed and Poisk.

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Fear for his children's safety held root for Stephen—it exceeded the usual concerns that most parents had. And it was no surprise after all he'd been through. His family was his life, his everything.

"Mom! Dad!" Alice cried out from her bed.

Stephen and Thea rushed into the bedroom, expecting the worst.

"What is it, Sweetheart?" Thea sat on the edge of the bed, while Stephen turned on the lamp and crouched low to his daughter's height in her bed.

"I saw someone in my room." Her hazel eyes were wide with fear.

Thea pulled her in for a hug. "There's no one in here, Sweetheart. Look around your bedroom."

Alice wrapped herself into a tight ball and shook her head. "Not looking under the bed. You look."

At seven years of age, she was experiencing nightmares five nights in a row. It was the same thing every night. Someone was in her bedroom. A man standing in the corner of her bedroom, staring at her. Her heart raced each time, and it scared her.

Stephen looked under the bed. "Nothing."

He walked over to her closet and showed Alice there was no one in there either.

"I saw him. He had a bit of a beard with dark blue eyes and longer hair to his shoulders. He was wearing a long grey coat."

"It's springtime, no one is wearing a coat this time of year." Thea tried to reason. But no matter what Stephen and Thea tried to soothe her, it ended in the same way.

"Can I sleep with you?" It shattered Stephen's heart every time he saw his daughter frightened.

"How about I lie on the floor for a while until you fall back to sleep?" He was accustomed to sleeping on the floor from the years when he had no furniture.

Alice nodded. She shuffled back under the covers while Thea kissed her gently on the temple.

"Sleep tight, Alice. Love you."

"Love you too, Mom." Her cherub lips pressed together to kiss her mom back.

Thea kissed her husband and she wandered back along the hallway to check on Tristan and Hudson, before falling back to sleep. She didn't know why the nightmares had started for their daughter, and she wondered if she needed to take Alice to see a therapist to help her talk her worries over. She would discuss the matter with Stephen later when he returned to bed. Tristan and Hudson slept soundly in their bedroom, and she left them quietly. Pulling the covers over her, Thea rested her head onto the pillow and drifted off into a deep sleep.

The sound of glass smashing woke Stephen up with a start. He looked over to Alice who had drifted off to sleep, holding her giraffe close to her chest. He silently crept out of her bedroom and listened out for any further sounds. He furrowed his brow. He couldn't hear anything other than the humming of his blood pounding inside his head. Maybe he was imagining it. He checked the windows of the house near the front door and then to the back, and was satisfied all was safe. He walked back to Alice's bedroom and checked on her before heading for bed. Satisfied she was still where he left her, he checked on the boys and entered the master bedroom.

Climbing into bed, he snuggled up to his wife and drifted off to sleep for the rest of the night. He must have imagined the sound, he mused. There hadn't been any evidence of broken glass anywhere in their house. All windows were secure, and he went through the checklist one more time before he was pulled under into unconsciousness.