Salamander's Eyes

Part seven

Tina woke up because she heard a loud moan. Finding herself in darkness, she needed some time to find out where she was. The shed in Newt's case. Memories from the previous evening came to her mind. They had chatted a very long time about this and that, enjoying the company of the other, feeling valued while just being themselves. The last thing she could remember was lying in the mooncalves habitat beside Newt, looking at the night sky above. She must have fallen asleep and Newt had carried her into the shed, leaving the bed to her while he slept on the settee. That was where she spotted him, tossing and turning in his sleep. He moaned again and it sounded terrible to her. Tina got up immediately, crossed the room and kneeled down beside him, worrying as she saw the tensed expression on his face. She put her hand on his forehead and felt that it was covered in cold sweat. She wanted to wake him up, to release him from his obvious pain, but her mother had always told her that it was dangerous to stir someone from a bad dream. Therefore, she just put one hand on his arm and stroked his hair with the other, hoping that feeling her presence would comfort him. After a few minutes, she finally heard him talk in his sleep.

"No...no, please", he muttered.

"Don't...Don't take her away...Please, no, I-I can't-" Tina was desperate to help him, but she didn't know how.

"Don't leave me alone...please.." She couldn't stand it any longer, so she lowered her head and whispered words of comfort to him, hoping that he would notice.

"Please, Tina, don't-" She was startled by the sound of her own name.

"Don't leave me, Tina, please...you mustn't go with him....I love you."

Tina sat by his side, motionless, too many thoughts rushing through her head to focus on any of them. Newt kept turning restlessly, causing her to recover from her shock.

"It's alright", she whispered in his ear, "I'm here. I'm here with you and I'm not going anywhere. Everything's fine.." She kept talking like this, stroking his hair as she did, until he finally began to calm down and fell into a deep calm sleep, sighing contently as he leaned into her touch.

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The next time Tina woke up, the first thing she noticed was her aching back. She lifted her head from...well, from what? As her sleepiness slowly faded away, she was shocked to discover that she had fallen asleep on the floor next to Newt's settee, both of her hands on his arm and her head resting on his chest. She thanked god that Newt was still asleep- apparently, he hadn't noticed Tina's presence all night. She quickly got up and flitted back to her bed -well, Newt's bed actually - where she lay down and waited. It didn't take long until she heard Newt moving on the settee. She sat up and watched him as he stretched to drive away his stiffness. As he turned his head towards Tina, she smiled at him.

"Good morning", Tina said as Newt stood up and crossed the room to sit down on the bed.

"Morning, Tina", he replied. She could still see the signs of his restless night - His eyes were a little red, his hair even more dishevelled than usually and his whole body seemed to radiate exhaustion. However, he smiled as he sat down and looked at her.

"You didn't sleep very well last night, did you?", Tina dared to ask, although she already knew the answer.

"Actually, I didn't...how do you know?", Newt wondered, apparently unaware of his current appearance and the events of the night.

"Well, I heard you...last night..", Tina admitted shyly, remembering what exactly she had heard.

"Oh I'm sorry, I hope I didn't keep you awake..?", he asked concerned.

"Don't worry about that, it's just..-" Tina stopped, she somehow wanted to hell him what she had heard, but was unsure how to start, worried what he might say.

"What?" Uncertainty spread across his face. What could he have done that made Tina so obviously nervous?

"It's just that...did you know that you talk in your sleep?", she answered evasively.

This question surprised him and his mind immediately started to imagine the most dreadful possibilities of what he might have said, what she might have heard.

"No, I-I didn't know...what did you-...?", Newt replied, unable to form a full sentence.

"Oh you..were just muttering..couldn't understand everything, but...there was one thing..-I'm sorry, I'm not sure how to-", she said, searching for a way to broach the subject.

"Just say it, please, otherwise I'm beginning to get worried", he joked, trying to ease the tensed atmosphere.

"You said that you loved me."

He certainly hadn't been expecting that. Shocked, he opened his mouth a couple of times as if to say something, but then closed it again without doing so.

"I-I...I said...", he managed to get out, his head completely empty, as if every thought had been swept away.

"Oh Newt, please, don't worry", she said hurriedly.
"I'm very well aware of the fact that you were asleep when you said it. And we all say things in our sleep that actually aren't..-I-I mean..you obviously didn't-...Well, you were almost unconscious after all, so..."

"No, no, Tina....Tina stop, please", Newt interrupted her.
"I-I was asleep, yes, but...that doesn't mean that I didn't...well, o-obviously I didn't know what I was saying...No. Wait. That's not correct. I didn't know that I said it, but now that I did say it..I-I don't want you to think that I didn't mean it...because...I did. And do...", he murmured, head bowed, only just loud enough for her to understand.

She could only stare at him, unable to think clearly except for He loves me, he really says that he loves me. Tina's whole body was suddenly filled by an incredible feeling of happiness and lightness, she felt a smile appearing on her face and tears forming in her eyes, but she didn't care as they began to pour down her cheeks when Newt spoke again.

"But...that doesn't mean that I expect you to...reciprocate..I mean, how could you? Look at us, you're this...amazing, talented, beautiful..", he stuttered, blushing, "..and I'm..I'm just..-me.."

She wanted to say something, to release him by telling him how much she did return his affections, but he continued hastily before she had the chance to.

"So, really..em, you can just pretend that I didn't say it...in fact, let's just forget that I even said anything.."

He hadn't been able to look at her during his speech, but now he raised his eyes as he heard a noise that sounded like a sob. And yes, tears were streaming down her face, but at the same time, she smiled at him, the most wonderful smile he had ever seen.

"You can be such a stupid idiot sometimes, you know?", she said, her voice something between laughing and crying.

He didn't know what to say.

"But...the thing is..", she continued, stepping closer, "you're my stupid idiot, and I love you for it."

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Thank you so much for reading my little story.

I wrote and updated quite a lot the last three days, but I'll be on a seminar until next friday, so I won't be able to publish a new chapter during this time.

I'm thinking about writing while I'm away however, so I'd be glad if you'd let me know if there's interest in me keeping this story going or not.

Thanks again:)