The One And Only True Love (Completed)

Chapter 18

Ash's POV:

As Mand rushes into my arms, sobbing almost to the point of hysteria, I pick her up delicately and walk to her room. Setting her on the bed, I gently start to let her go, but she latches onto me.

"Please don't leave." She whimpers, clutching onto my shirt.

"Mand, you know that I would never leave you. I was just getting up to get our pajamas so that we could go to bed. We can even watch The Lion King before going to bed, if you want. But I promise to never leave you." I respond, quickly noticing that Mand's tears are coming down harder.

I approach her slowly, trying not to startle her. She looks at me, before launching herself into my arms and sobbing uncontrollably into my neck. I carry her into the closet, grabbing our pajamas before walking into the bathroom. I set her down on the toilet, before turning around and changing into my pajamas, which consist of black sweatpants and a blue tanktop. I turn to face Mand and slowly help her to get undressed and redress into her favorite footie pajamas. I smile at her softly, before picking her up and laying her in the bed. I quickly slide the blankets over her and climb in beside her. Grabbing her waist gently, I pull her to my chest and wrap my arms around her waist protectively. I kiss her hair, feeling exhaustion take over her body as she relaxes into me and her breathing starts to even out. Soon after I know she's asleep, I slowly follow after her, succumbing to the darkness of the dream world.

//Asher's Dream//

I look around, and notice that I'm standing in the middle of a dense forest. I start to walk in one direction, trying to find my way out of the darkness of the forest. As I continue to walk, something, or should I say someone jumps out at me, successfully scaring the crap out of me. I back away as the figure walks towards me. I start to recognize the person as Mand, and I step towards her cautiously.

"Mand, are you okay?"

"Of course I'm not! How could I be when you blatantly hurt my child in front of my very eyes! How dare you ask me that when you had put Kaci in a coma?!" She snarls at me.

"And what exactly is that I even did in the first place?" I question, thoroughly confused as to why I would do such a thing at all. "I would never hurt him."

"Well isn't that just a joke, because you did indeed hurt him, and I don't believe that you are the least bit sorry about it!"

I take notice that she has a butcher knife in her hand.

"Mand, why do you have a knife?" I ask, cautiously backing myself up against a tree.

"To do something I should have done a long time ago." She states before launching herself at me, knife outstretched towards my heart.

//End of Asher's Dream//

"AAAAHHHHHH!" I scream, jolting awake and hurrying into the corner of the room and curling myself into a ball.

My scream must have woken up Mand because she sits up, looking around for me.

"Ash?" She calls, not yet seeing where I am in the dark.

I whimper in response, images of my dream replaying on my mind again and again. She slowly makes her way towards me with her hands up in a surrender position. I try to move away from her, but to no avail since I'm already in the corner. Tears start to surface as I realize that I'm trapped in a corner, my own self at fault for that. She gets the point as she slowly backs away from me.

"What's wrong Ash?"

"I-I had a n-night-nightmare." I stutter, hugging my knees tightly to my chest.

"What was it about?" Mand questions, sitting herself neatly on the floor in the middle of the room.

"Y-You..you were going to hurt me because I had somehow hurt Kaci. But I know for a fact that I would never do anything like that to hurt your child." I answer, my eyes suddenly finding the floor in front of me very interesting.

Mand creeps towards me, keeping in mind the fact that she was the main character in my recent nightmare. When she gets close enough to me, and I don't make a move to cower or flinch away from her, she pulls me into her lap and hugs me tightly.

"Ash, I know that you would never do a thing to hurt Kaci, you treat him as though he was your own son. It breaks my heart to know that you had dreamed of me hurting you because you hurt him. I love you, and I love him, but that doesn't mean that I love him more than I love you. Now, can we go to bed, I'm really tired."

I hug her tightly and she squeals, not expecting that from me. Her squeal must have woken Kaci up as he starts to cry. I get up to go and comfort him, while telling Mand to get in bed awhile and that I'll be right back. As I walk into Kaci's room, I see him standing up on his crib, internally debating whether to climb over the wall or not. I walk over to him and put him on my hip, before rocking him to sleep. He nuzzles his face in my neck as his breathing starts to even out. I smile and go into Mand's bedroom, setting Kac on the bed in the middle, trying not to wake him up.

"What are you doing?" Mand whispers, an eyebrow raised at me.

"He's probably scared of sleeping in his room alone, it is his first night in this new place and sleeping without you might of frightened him even more. So I brought him in here, at least for now to sleep until he gets comfortable with living here." I explain, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

She hums a response before laying down and pulling Kaci into her arms. I smile and pull the both of them into my arms, kissing Mand's forehead in the process. Her breathing starts to even out as exhaustion starts to take over her body and a smile is apparent on her beautiful pink lips. Not soon after, I fall asleep to the sound of their even breathing.