In Her Sleep

Going Off Book

"I love you, damn it!"

Caleb's fists reconnect with his punching bag harder than before. Layla's words keep ringing in his ears and he is torn between shutting them down completely just because they remind him of his failure to protect her or to keep replaying them simply because they are some of the most treasured words to leave his girl's lips. 

It doesn't matter that she blurted them out over the phone. All he cares about is knowing that she loves him. Knowing that the girl that has his heart beating so beautifully loves him.

He packs more punches in the bag as sweat keeps trickling down his body. He's exerting himself more than he should but he doesn't care. It's the only thing keeping him almost sane. 

His early morning run wasn't doing it for him and he opted for something more intense. But as intense as this workout is, its equally not working the way he wants it to. 
Instead of calming down after each punch, his frustration levels have kept souring. And Layla's confession is not helping him one bit. 

"She loves me and I still left her." The thought keeps hitting him like a tidal wave and each time it feels higher and heavier than the last.

That was the hardest thing he has ever done. Leaving his distraught girl in the hands of a monster and no matter how justified that move was he can't help but think himself a monster too. And the look in her eyes has been haunting him like crazy. She may have agreed to wait for him and was even brave about it in the end, but he could see how hard going back with Simon was.

He packs a few more punches into the punching bag trying to get all this tension out of his system. His knuckles are burning and his muscles are aching, but he doesn't care. Anything to numb the pain in his heart that's tearing him apart.

"How can I ask her to marry him?"
His chest tightens. It's an insane plan, that he has to make damn sure works and the clock is ticking. And even he can't wait to have her back with him. He can't wait to get her from Simon's clutches before she says 'I do'.

And damn she makes the most perfect bride he has ever seen. She didn't know it, but he was literally shaking when he saw her in that wedding gown. He had to fight the urge to damn the whole plan to hell and scoop her up and take her out of there. She was everything, beautiful, angelic, lovely and every bit sexy. 

"Damn!" His punches land quicker and harder on the bag.
He hated that Simon chose that dress for her. He hated Simon's hungry eyes going all over Layla's body in the bridal shop. Layla didn't even know it but Simon made sure that Caleb saw it. He even taunted him with it.
"I will kill you!" Caleb is like an animal when thoughts of Simon's hands on his girl plague his mind. He swears to end him if he so much as dares to touch her.

"Easy there man." Darren comes in front of him and gets hold of the punching bag. "You need those to hold her when we do get her back." His best friend teases him looking at his inflamed knuckles but he is not in the mood for his jokes either. 

"Did you find them?" He asks impatiently.

"I'm sure she knows that it's not your fault man." Darren says instead of answering his question and that pisses him off even more. 
While he understands Darren's intention to keep him positive and distracted from the pain, he hates his friend playing doctor on him. He knows how all of this works and he doesn't want to be comforted in any way. As long as she's not here with him, he wants all that pain to consume his every being.

"Yes." Darren looks at him defeated when he refuses to indulge in his joke.

"Get me V." Caleb demands as he abandons the punching bag for his large bedroom. Finally some good news. Finally he can execute his plan after that unfortunate glitch that gave them a major setback and him going all crazy when his hope for saving his girl seemed to be slipping out of his hands.

"I'm sure you mean Titus and not V, right?" Darren walks into his bedroom right after in panic.

"I need V for this, no one else." Caleb growls. He's going off book and nothing will stop him. 

"But you can't--"

"Don't tell me what I can or can't do." Caleb hisses in Darren's face.
They may be best friends but he doesn't appreciate him questioning his decisions right now or asking him not to do anything. He is done playing nice with anyone who dares to cross him, especially Simon.

"Let's think about this for a bit man." Darren begs him but he just walks away from his best friend and voice of reason.

"I'm done thinking." 
With his sweat still dripping he walks deep into his closet leaving Darren to get him the army he needs to do this.

His stop is a compartment he thought he wouldn't be reopening so soon.

"Damn man!" Darren looks at him shocked. "You really are doing this?" His best friend eyes the two pieces of equipment in his hands.

"You didn't see her face. You wouldn't understand." He drops the guns on the bed before walking back into his closet and getting more gear. It's going to be a real battle and a real war zone and he intends to prepare for it. And he intends to win at all costs. Which is ironic for a doctor who's taken an oath to save lives instead of taking them.

"What are you saying?" A hint of hurt laces Darren's words.  "Of course I do. To be honest, if it was Janice I would have gone insane already. And since I can't keep your butt from going in, I will go in with you. Just like old times." Darren's excitement stops him in his tracks. 

"I can't let you do that." He states, not leaving any room for discussion.

"Like hell you can't!" Darren protests instantly but Caleb simply can't let him join this operation. 

"That's final." Caleb says flatly but as always Darren refuses to be sidelined so easily. But Caleb just can't. He's got a family to think about. Caleb knows he can't risk leaving those two princesses without a father and Janice without her lover. He doesn't know what he would do if the one person that helps him hold everything together wasn't there anymore.

"It's not your decision to make." Darren challenges him.  

"You are a father to two little girls with one more on the way for crying out loud." Caleb yells out of frustration. 

"Wait, wait, wait! What did you just say?" Darren looks at him with wide eyes.

"You heard me. I wouldn't know what to tell Janice or how to comfort her if anything happened to you." 

"Caleb!" Darren comes right up in his face asking him to repeat what he just said.

"That you are a father to two little girls?" Caleb answers wondering what has gotten Darren looking so shocked.

"No. The bit after that."

"One more on...Oh damn! Tell me you knew about that." Caleb curses his mouth for letting that slip.

"Is she?" Darren moves back and crushes on his bed. "Oh damn, we've been trying for so long I thought it might never happen." His friend runs his hands through his hair, looking overwhelmed. 

"Hey, its good news." He pats Darren on the back while he himself feels a little emotional too.

"And that means I have to make damn sure you get back alive so that you explain to Janice as to why in the world my reaction to her announcement won't be filled with awe and surprise." Darren smirks, letting him know not even the news of baby number three will keep him away.

"I guess congratulations are in order then?" Caleb holds out his hand for a shake.

"I'm going to be a dad again?!" Darren jumps at him like he was a teen all over again making this moment the their breath of fresh air he needed before the gory happens.

Caleb is happy for him but he can't ignore the tiny seeds of jealousy bubbling within him too. He would like to know that feeling too. After meeting Layla he has wanted to know that feeling so badly. And he prays that everything goes well tonight, then maybe he can grin like a fool sometime in the future just like his best friend is now.

"I'm happy for you man." They hug like the brothers they are, before facing one more hurdle in their lives together.

"Let's go get your girl."