ALBA's POV
Jack suddenly wakes up and sits up abruptly with a heavy gasp. He quickly goes from 0 to 1000, panting and trying to catch his breath.
"Hey, you ok?" I sit up to ask him. He shakes his head.
"I...." He tries to squeak out.
"Hey, you're ok." I say. I turn on the lamp beside me before turning back to him. I rest my hand on his back but he flinches away from me.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"I..." He keeps wheezing. What's going on? Why isn't he breathing? Is he ok?
"Babe what's going on? What's wrong??" I ask.
"I.... I-" He can't breathe. I don't know what to do. How do I help him?
"Jack, hey, how can I help?" I try asking again. He doesn't answer. He seems like he's in a different world. With every little noise or movement he reacts sharply.
"Jack, babe, please.... how can I help?" I can feel my heart dropping and my eyes start welling with tears. I don't know how to help him and I hate it.
"Please, just tell me how to help you!"
"I don't know!" He yells, his wheezing getting even worse to where he's now hyperventilating.
"Ok ok... let's just... slow down, try to breathe."
"I can't!!" He cries.
"Please babe, if you don't breathe you're gonna pass out." I reach to rub his back again but remember what happened last time I tried, so I retract my hand. Jack's eyes start welling with tears, when he starts crying out of panic. I hate it, and yet I don't know how to help. He covers his eyes and face with his hands and flops down into my lap. He practically curled up into a ball beside me, laying only his head on my lap. I take a chance and start running my fingers softly through his hair. I do it sometimes when he's had a bad day, so I take the chance that it'll help and go for it. To say that I'm surprised when he lets me do it would be an understatement.
"Let's just... calm you down baby. You're ok. Everything's ok."
"I-I'm s-sorry!" He mumbles out through his tears and wheezes.
"Don't be sorry! Shhhh, don't be sorry. You're ok, you're just fine. I've got ya." I notice that he still isn't calming down or breathing well for that matter, and I decide to start singing. I think I suck at it, but Jack and Ryan have used my voice for little things here and there so I decided to go for it. Even though Karma was in the earlier stages of production, I've heard the melody a bunch so I kinda know it by heart. I take that as my best bet and start singing softly. I didn't stop running my fingers through his hair as he finally relaxes and at least tries to gain his breathing back. By the end of the song, I notice that he's fallen asleep.
Yay. I thought. He's ok.
I lean down to give him a soft kiss on his temple before turning off the light beside me and laying down to go back to sleep.
(A/N- this story was inspired by @loveajrand21pilots! Thank you for the cool inspiration!)