All I Ask of You

Chapter Twenty-Five

 It was almost the same thing every night since Tina had died. And it had only been worsened by her dumb decisions right after that had occurred. Sometimes it was the fire and not being able to breathe and Tina dying. Other times Annie was stuck in that burning building but she was constantly falling and she was being choked by the smoke the whole time until she had to wake up. Every once in awhile, it would be Darren trying to kill her and then she would kill him instead.

All of those things that she tried to avoid thinking about would suddenly hit her in the middle of the night. Some nights were better than others, and there had been one night where she simply hadn't remembered what she had dreamed about. Still, that didn't take away what repeating those moments did to her.

When she woke up in a cold sweat, the red numbers on the digital clock on the nightstand showed it was just after three. There was a small chance of getting back to bed. And if she didn't quite make it, that wasn't a big deal either. No one would question her going to sleep on a car ride. Still, she wanted to sleep, but she knew that laying in that hotel bed wasn't going to do the trick.

So she got up from the bed, putting on some slippers and grabbed her key. Annie quietly opened the door and shut it. The last thing she needed was to wake Harper up. This was something that she needed to take care of. She just needed some of that lemon chamomile tea that was complimentary to the hotel and relax for a bit longer.

What she hadn't counted on was someone else being awake and in the lobby at the same time. Not the hotel staff, she figured some poor soul was going to be stuck cleaning or doing some odd task during the earliest parts of the morning.

However, when she noticed Peter in the lobby, staring at the different teas, Annie almost contemplated going back. What if he tried to make her talk about it? Sure, maybe she was supposed to talk about what happened, but she didn't want to. She wasn't ready yet. There was a chance that she would never be ready to talk about it.

At the same time, he was her boyfriend. Well, that was what she figured. If they were supposed to be together, she knew that it would make more sense to talk to him. There wasn't any reason for her to turn back and go to her room. Maybe she didn't want to talk about everything, but that didn't mean he didn't need to talk.

There wasn't any reason for him to be up so late, or maybe they were both up early, either way.

"You shouldn't go with green tea. I know you love that stuff, but it has caffeine," Annie said, coming up from behind him.

She laced her fingers between his, giving a gentle squeeze.

Peter looked at her, "You look exhausted, you should go back to sleep."

"I could say the same to you," she replied, leaning her head on his shoulder.

It was true, Peter had slight bags under his eyes. Sure, he hadn't been doing so great on the car ride over, but she knew it was more than that. She didn't need to be a mind-reader to know that there was something bothering him. It was obvious from the way his eyes kept looking around and the way that his grip on her hand was tightening.

"Anyways, what're you doing up?" he asked, letting go as he picked out a tea bag and got some hot water.

She shrugged, "Bad dream, kinda normal, but it's really not. So I guess I just can't sleep. Um... what about you?"

"Just couldn't get to sleep, the blankets here don't really trap heat very well. I've been freezing all night," he replied, stepping to the side.

Annie looked over at Peter. As she got her tea, she couldn't help wondering if that was the truth or not. It was hard to tell. On one hand, she knew he got cold a lot, but at the same time it felt like something to cover up something bothering him.