Thorns And Roses

Chapter Nineteen

Theo stared at the papers lying on his desk, his eyes scanning the words but his brain not comprehending them. He finally gave up after he reread the same paragraph over three times. He had a migraine that wouldn't go away, not since he woke up with Demi a week ago. He didn't even help the Omega with his heat that month, practically throwing the suppressants at him.

He kept getting flashes of...something. Theo didn't know what they were. Just little snippets of a boy being abused and hurt. He didn't want to take them for memories because that would just be fucking awful. He usually got them in the middle of the night as nightmares or when he did something that triggered them.

Theo hasn't been in the field since he aimed a gun at someone's head and the man he was going to shoot, became someone else entirely. The monster straight from his nightmares. The guy ultimately got away. Quinn banished him to his office until he believes that Theo can come back. It sucked being stuck with desk work as his men went off doing God knows what.

"Theo? You okay?" He lifted his head to see Demi standing in front of his desk his hands face down pressing into the hardwood as he leaned into Theo's space. His face was filled with nothing but concern and worry for his dragon. Theo hadn't even heard him knock.

"Yeah, I'm fine. When did you get here?" Theo rubbed at his head and winced in pain at the pressure. He listened to Demi as he dug around in his desk and found his migraine pills.

"I haven't been here for long. We had a lunch date remember?" Shit. Theo forgot about that. He popped the lid off of the bottle of pills he had and took two dry.

"Fuck. Sorry, I forgot. I'm being buried alive in paperwork." And it was the truth. When Demi was taken, Theo ignored everything else.

"Then let's get out of here. You skipped breakfast so I imagine that you would be hungry." But he wasn't. That was the thing. Theo has barely eaten since that first nightmare. He may take a few bites here and there but that's it. He knew he was worrying everyone around him with his strange eating habits. It would be okay if the unsettling feeling in his gut would just go away.

"I think I need a break anyways." He stood up from his chair and stretched, groaning as his back popped in several places.

"Old man." Theo gasped and faked being hurt as he rounded his desk to stand in front of Demi. He kissed him and then gently bit at the Omega's bottom lip. He pulled away, smirking at the blush that covered Demi's cheeks.

"I'm not old. I'm only two years older than you, baby." Demi smiled at him before giving him his kiss and then locked their hands together. The touch made Theo feel at ease. He always felt that way with him.

Theo didn't spend Demi's heat with him because he didn't know what it would do to the nightmares and the tightness in his gut. He also didn't want to cause trouble for his mate. He's already been in enough trouble as it was.

"So what do you want to eat?"

~~~~

They decided to have lunch at a local bakery on the South side of town. It wasn't much but it was something. Theo didn't feel like eating and he knew Demi could tell. It may not be written on his face but Theo could see the worry in his glacier-blue eyes.

"Do you want one of my strawberries?" Theo shook his head at Demi and stared out the bakery window. Rain clouds could be seen in the distance and he could smell the storm coming in. He glanced back over at his Omega.

Demi had picked a monstrosity of a desert. It was a Nutella crepe. One look at the sickening sweet desert had all of Theo's teeth hurting. How Demi ate it, Theo would never know.

"At least eat a few pieces of your muffin. You can't live off of coffee alone." He could tell that Demi was fed up with him by that point, so Theo started picking at his blueberry muffin. He didn't even eat half of it before that unsettling feeling he's had since they left his office grew to be too much for him to handle anything else. He heard Demi sigh but he didn't take his eyes off the people walking by the window.

Theo searched every face in the crowd as if he was looking for a specific person. He didn't even know who he was looking for. When he has a flash of that little boy being hurt, it's always by the same person. A teenager with shaggy chocolate hair and muddy ugly brown eyes. They always wore an evil smile that sent shivers down Theo's spine. Even now.

"Theo?" Theo tore his eyes from the window to look at Demi. The Omega was done with his desert and has been watching Theo this whole time.

"You're a little bit pale baby and you're shaking. You should eat something and drink less coffee." But it wasn't a caffeine high that Theo had. No, it wasn't that at all. He thought he saw someone that looked like that teenager walking down the sidewalk before Demi called his name. It made him sick and a little disturbed.

"C-Can we leave? Please?" Theo didn't mean to stutter but he was too shaken up to care. He saw Demi get even more worried and he pulled out his phone to call Quinn to pick them up. Quinn was there in fifteen minutes, Demi pushing Theo into the car. Once they were inside, the Omega gathered Theo into his arms and whispered sweet nothings in his ear.

Theo was trembling and he tried not to break down right there in Demi's arms as those flashes hit him hard and fast. They were never the same ones, always new and they made his migraine worse. He pushed them back so he was able to breathe through the pain.

"We'll be home soon baby." Theo latched onto Demi's voice as he tried not to pass out from the pain in his head. It wasn't working. His lack of food intake and all of the caffeine was finally catching up to him. It didn't help that his head pounded with the thrum of his heartbeat.

Theo involuntarily closed his eyes and allowed the black spider webs in his vision to take over.

~~~~

When Theo woke up he was lying in his bed. He looked around the room and searched for his mate. Demi wasn't in there with him. Theo sat up and ran his hands through his hair. Something caught on the back of his hand and he puzzled at the IV line in his vein. Why was he hooked up to an IV? Then he heard voices on the other side of his bedroom door. He zeroed in on the sounds and could faintly hear Demi talking to someone.

"D-Demi?" He called out loud enough that his mate would hear him. Demi was inside the room in less than five seconds and walked toward Theo with a worried look on his face. Demi took the side of Theo's face in the palm of his hand, leaned down, and kissed him on his forehead. Theo leaned into the touch and softly gripped the hand holding his cheek.

"Fuck you scared me, Theo." Theo bit at his lip and felt guilty for worrying Demi as he has been.

"I'm sorry, Demi. I didn't mean to scare you." Demi ran a hand through his hair and Theo sighed in contentment at the nails that lightly scratched at his head.

"Don't ever do that again. I told you to eat and drink some fucking water. Fuck, can't you listen to me for one God damn minute, Theo?" Theo winced at Demi's hard tone of voice and didn't say anything back. He really should have listened to Demi. Then maybe he wouldn't be in this situation right now.

"Sorry. I'm sorry." He whined. He felt bad and sick all around. Theo just wanted Demi to hold him. Lay down in bed with him and pull Theo into his arms. Demi could tell that's what he wanted.

"I will once you talk to the doctor, baby. Even if he tells you the same thing I just did." When Demi went to pull away from him to bring the doctor in, Theo nearly screamed. Nearly begged him to come back. To not leave him like everyone else. He didn't do that though.

Demi got the doctor and he did tell Theo the same thing that the Omega did. Eat more food and drink more water. He said that that could be why Theo was having migraines too. He took out the IV and then left. Demi stuck a bandaid on his hand and laid down beside him.

"Come here and I'll hold you." That's all it took for Theo to crawl closer to his Omega and snuggle into his arms. He felt so much better than he did before.