The missing piece

Chapter 9

Joe's pov

I woke up like usual at 5:30. I always have an hour till Matt and Rowan wake up. I do my usual routine, go to the bathroom, take a shower and get dressed for the day. Sometimes when I feel like it I make breakfast and today I felt like it.

I was walking down the hall thinking about what I was going to cook, when I heard something from Alexander's room. Just to make sure it was nothing serious, I slowly cracked open the door to check on him. That's when I saw tears steaming down his face, my heart broke, he looked terrified.
When I walked closer to calm him down I heard what he was mumbling.

"Please stop... p-please!"
I gently put my hands on his shoulders and tried to wake him up. "Alexander, baby wake up. It's just a dream. Your safe." His eyes sprung open, blinded by fear he started kicking and scratching me. It caught me off guard and I stumbled back a little.
"No please! Go away!" He was still kicking and punching.

"Alexander it's me Joseph. I'm not going to hurt you." I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible and I wrapped my arm around him and tried to calm him down but it seemed like he still couldn't see me.
"Alexander look at me. It's okay." He started to calm down and realized where he was. I don't know how I got him in my lap during this, I'm just glad he started to calm down.

I leaned my forehead against his to calm him a little more. Then I spoke softly, not to scare him.
"Are you okay?"
"I-I think s-so." His voice sounded so fragile and soft, I barely heard what he said. "W-What happened?" That's when I removed my forehead from his to look in his beautiful green orbs to explain, but he wasn't looking at me he was looking at his hands.

I put my index finger under his chin and lifted his head so I could look at him. Once our eyes met he gasped.
"Oh my god?! D-Did I do that to you?" I didn't know what he was talking about so I looked up at the mirror that was across from the bed. I had scratches on my face and neck. One on my cheek even drew blood. I bet some of these were going to bruise but I didn't care, all I cared about was that the boy in my arms was ok.

My attention was drawn back to the beautiful boy when a shaky hand touched my cheek."I-I'm so sorry." A tear slipped down his face which I wiped away with my thumb.

"You don't have to be sorry. You were scared. Anyone would react like that."
"No it's not ok. You're bleeding." All the fear in his eyes were washed away and replaced with concern. Either way those were two emotions I never want to see on my soulmates.
I put both my hands on his cheeks and made him look me in the eyes so he knew I was being serious.

"Baby you don't have to worry. I've been through worse. Just by your reaction I know you would never hurt me on purpose, so it's ok, I'm fine. I'm more worried about you." I still had my hands on his cheeks when he tried to look away.
"You don't have to tell me what the dream was about but just know you can always come to me, Rowan or Matt if you ever feel this way or for anything for that matter, ok?"

He nodded but I needed to hear him say it, I needed to know that he understood. "Words baby." The blush didn't go unnoticed, it was one of the cutest things I've ever seen.
"O-Ok"

In that moment I wanted to kiss him so bad. Make him forget about everything that was worrying him but I knew he wanted to take things slow, so I slowly lifted him off my lap.
"I was just about to make breakfast. So why don't you hop in the shower then meet me downstairs?" He nodded, got up and went to the bathroom. And I went to clean up my face.

I was downstairs making scrambled eggs, french toast and bacon. I know Matt loves fruit so I cut some up and put it in a bowl.
I was just about done with the scrambled eggs when I heard someone coming down the stairs. When I turned around I was surprised to see Rowan, usually he doesn't wake up until six thirty.

"What are you doing up?"
"What do you mean? It's 6:30, I'm always up at this time." I turned around and looked up at the clock, he was right it was six thirty. I guess I was in Alexander's room longer than I thought.
I don't know why, but I like to be done with cooking before they come downstairs, so they don't have to wait for me to be done, I guess it's just a habit.

Rowan wrapped his arms around my waist while I cooked. "It smells great in here, angel." I turned my head to the side and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."
"Matt should be down in a few, he's just taking a shower."
"Oh yeah Alexander too." Rowan turned me around by my hips and gave me a look as if saying 'How do you know'.

"Don't give me that look. I didn't do anything."
"Than how do you know he's awake and showering?" This man only thinks dirty doesn't he.

"I was walking by his room and I heard some noise, so I checked inside and I saw tears running down his face."
"He was crying? Why?" Rowan dropped his hands from my waist and went into protective mode.
"He was having a nightmare. But I don't think it was just a nightmare." I paused for a second. Just remembering how scared he looked made me want to go upstairs and hold him in my arms.

"I think he was having a flashback."
"Did he tell you what it was about?"
"No, I didn't want to push him but I did tell him he could always come to us if he wanted to talk." Rowan ran a hand through his hair and looked back at me. He was looking at me funny.

"What? Did I do something wrong?"
"No not at all you handelt it perfectly but what happened to your face?" He gripped my chin and started to examine my face. I totally forgot that he scratched me, I mean the scratches weren't that big so I didn't feel much pain.

"When I tried to wake Alexander up he was so scared that he tried to get away so he started kicking and punching me."
"He was that frightened?" I didn't answer I just nodded.

We were both deep in thought, thinking what we could do to help. My solution would be for him to stay here but I know for a fact that's not going to happen. I just hope sometime soon he'll trust us enough to let us help.

I was ripped out of my thoughts when I heard Matt's voice and saw a blushing Alexander in his arms.

He probably saw the looks on mine and Rowan's faces because he started to explain.
"I was walking out of the room when I accidentally bumped into him, and because I felt bad for knocking him down, I offered to carry him down the stairs." Yeah and I will bet he didn't wait for an answer and just picked him up.

Me and Rowan were still laughing when we all sat at the table to eat. And seeing how much Alexander is blushing, I bet today is going to be interesting.