FTRS One-Shots

Nightmares

Gilly POV:

It was Friday night, and Gilly was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, when a knock was heard on the door.

"Gilly?" The voice was soft and familiar.

"Yeah, come on in." She sat up and turned to the door. When the door opened, Jax walked in and leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "We need to talk, thief."

Gilly tilted her head lightly and frowned, confused. "Talk about what?"

"About why it's Friday and you're sitting here alone when you could be doing basically anything else?" Jax questioned. Gilly knew his tone was friendly, but she could tell there was something hidden within the question.

"I'm just tired, I suppose. Classes were kind of heavy this week." Gilly replied bluntly.

"Liar, I know something's up with you, and you aren't telling me." Jax spoke carefully, not wanting to start an argument. He knew Gilly, and he knew she didn't like to talk about herself.

"What do you mean?" Gilly's face was blank, and she tried to think of what to say next. She'd done the best she could to hide from her friends what she was going through. It worked on the others though, but not on Jax. It never worked on Jax; he knew her to well and could read her when no one else could.

"You know, Thief, you've gotten real good these past years, at hiding stuff. Not good enough for me, though. You know that, don't you?" Jax was studying her, as if he wasn't already 100% convinced something was up with Gilly.

Gilly, however, stayed quiet. She looked down at the floor, knowing that looking at Jax would just make her tell him everything. She was doing so good, she couldn't mess up her facade now. "I'm not hiding anything. Why would you think that?"

"Because I know you, Gilly. I've known you these past four years and I know that the way you're acting right now is not you."

"Jax, I swear, nothing's going on. Plus, I wouldn't lie to you. We don't do the to each other." Gilly felt guilty saying it, knowing it was all, as Jax suspected, a lie. An act.

Jax stared at her, eyebrow slightly raised, not believing a word that had just come out of her mouth. GIlly couldn't blame him, though. As he said, he knew her. "Oh, yeah. I have plenty of evidence that can tell me otherwise."

"Yeah?" Gilly replied, knowing she'd lost this battle.

"Mhm. You've been avoiding everyone, and we barely see you after class. Every time we want to do something, you're always busy, when we all know you aren't. You aren't sleeping enough, I can tell. And you barely eat during meals, which I know hasn't always been the easiest thing for you, but-"

She couldn't take it anymore, she had to tell him. "I'm having nightmares again."

Jax got quiet and looked her in the eyes. "What?"

Gilly took a deep breath and finally decided to let out everything she had been bottling up inside. She didn't know if she could say it all without crying, but she was going to try. "About the war with Stiltskin and Alva. I've been having g nightmares, and somehow they're worse than before. I didn't even know nightmares could be worse than what they were those years ago! Plus, don't even know why I'm having them if the war was 4 years ago, and I fucking hate it. I can't sleep and I'm so tired. And I didn't tell you because I didn't want to worry you cause I know you already have so much stuff going on in your life, with you being a prince and all. Telling you would just put more stuff on your plate, and I can't do that to you." Gilly's voice was breaking now, and on the verge of crying. She hated it, but she knew it would happen. "And I know you're going to tell me that I should've told you either way, but I just didn't know how to, and-and...I'm sorry." Gilly was crying now; she could feel the first tears running down her face.

A few seconds passed and all she could hear was the wind from outside; Jax hadn't said a word. Deciding to face what would come, Gilly looked up with teary eyes. She expected to receive a lecture, but instead she was met with Jax staring at her with those all-familiar violet eyes she'd grown to adore in the past four years. He looked at her as if everything she had just told him caused him the same pain and struggles it was causing her. It made Gilly want to cry even more.

"Aren't you gonna say something?" Gilly asked desperately. After her confession, every second of silence seemed to suffocate her.

"How long all did they start? The nightmares, I mean." Jax asked softly, carefully choosing his words.

"Like two weeks ago," GIlly admitted, looking down.

"And you didn't tell anyone?" Jax questioned, sounding a bit hurt that Gilly didn't confide in him. They always told each other everything.

"I thought they would go away on their own!" Gilly exclaimed, but lowered her voice one she realized that it was late at night and the dorm walls weren't that thick. "I thought the nightmares were just a one-night thing, not that they would go on every night for the past two weeks. And I still don't get why I'm having them. The nightmares were supposed to be gone. The war was so long ago! Things were supposed to be better...I was supposed to be better." Gilly was full on crying now, and her breathing was getting heavy.

Jax rushed forward and nudged Gilly's chin, forcing her to look up at him. There was nothing Jax hated more than seeing Gilly crying, it broke his heart. "Hey, hey, hey, it's ok. Thief, look at me."

Gilly looked up at him, eyes wet and nose stuffy.

"Listen to me, Gilly." Jax started, looking Gilly right into her eyes. "What we went through-what you went through-is not something one can forget easily. It takes times; it takes a long time. You can't force it to go away just because you want it to, okay. It's normal to get nightmares, no matter how long has passed. But that doesn't mean you aren't getting better. Trust me, you are. Up to this point, you've been doing everything you can, perfectly. Don't let some nightmares tell otherwise." Gilly was already starting to calm down, being around Jax helped a lot. "That doesn't mean you should deal with them by yourself, though. You've got a lot of people who love you and who you can talk to, like...I don't know...me." The brunette let out a small chuckle at that, she could always count on Jax to cheer her up.

"You hear me?" Gilly nodded as Jax wiped her tears with his thumb. "Good. Now, come here." Jax pulled her in and tightly wrapped his arms around her. Gilly couldn't help but hug him back.

They stayed like that for a while as Gilly finished calming down and Jax rubbing circles on her back. When Gilly finally pulled back, she looked up at Jax and smiled softly. "Thanks for getting me to talk, and for making me feel better, and I'm sorry for crying on you."

"It's okay. As long as you feel better." Jax smiled at her. "Now, how about we watch a movie, you know, to scare those nightmares away?"

Gilly laughed. "Yeah, okay. What do we watch?"

"What do you want to watch?" Jax asked as he grabbed Gilly's laptop from her desk and laid it on top of the bed.

Gilly sat down on her bed, with her head resting against the headboard, and Jax followed suit. "Umm...how about Parent Trap?"

Jax chuckled. "Alright then." Everyone in the crew knew that Gilly had the best taste in movies. If it weren't for her, Jax probably wouldn't know why you throw spilt salt over your left shoulder, how to make two divorced people meet again and have them re-fall in love, and he definitely wouldn't know that all a girl wants is to be kissed in the rain, no matter how cliché it sounds.

As the night grew on, both teenagers watched one of the most timeless movies ever made, laughing at the right times and adding their own commentary when necessary.

Jax had his arm around Gilly, and she had her head on his chest. About 3/4 into the movie, Gilly was finally able to fall into the first dreamless sleep in a fortnight. And no, it didn't have anything to do with the violet-eyed boy who was running his hands through her hair.

A/N

Heyyy!!! I'm sorry it's been so long!! School's been stressful.

As always, I hoped you guys liked this chapter and please comment any ideas you'd like me to do.

Love always,

Cami