Jace & Emery

08.

"How are you feeling?" Meredith asked Toby. They were sitting at his kitchen table eating breakfast that she had her mom bring over for them. Toby hadn't been talking much and he was barely eating.

"I had a dream about Zoey last night," he said quietly. Meredith moved to sit next to him.

"You wanna talk about it?" she asked. He laid his head on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Not right now, Mere. I feel really tired. Can we get back in bed?" he asked.

"Is that gonna make you feel better or worse?" she asked.

"Probably worse. Can we go for a drive then?" he asked.

"I can work with that," she said.

"Thank you for staying with me," he said.

"I'm not going anywhere. I love you," she said. "Let's go get dressed." He sat up and kissed her cheek. They went to his bedroom and got dressed.

"Where do you wanna go? Or do you just want to ride around and listen to music?" Meredith asked as she put on her shoes.

"Can we go to Jace's house?" Toby asked.

"Sure. Let me call him," she said and took out her phone to call Jace.

"Hey, Jace. Are you home?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah. What's up?" he asked, his voice giving away that he just woke up.

"Toby wants to come over to your house," she said.

"That's fine. Is it cool if we don't get out of bed and you just come in here?" he asked.

"Yeah. That's totally fine. See you in a bit," sh said.

"Kay. Bye, Mere," he said and hung up.

"Let's go, baby," she said and grabbed his hand.

                   **********

"Wake up, princess. Toby and Mere are coming over," Jace said to Madison who had her head on his chest and her arms and legs wrapped around him.

"I don't wanna," Madison groaned. He chuckled at her then kissed her forehead.

"That's fine. Stay asleep, baby," he said.

"JADIN!" he yelled to his little brother. He came running into the room.

"Why are you yelling?" he asked.

"Toby and Meredith are coming in a few minutes. Can you open the door for them and send them up here?" Jace asked him.

"Why can't you do it?" Jadin asked.

"Because Madison won't let go of me," he said, gesturing to his sleeping girlfriend.

"Ugh, fine. Did you guys do it last night?" he asked.

"No. Can you just go downstairs?" he said, annoyed. He heard the doorbell ring. Jadin ran downstairs to open the door. He heard him and Meredith greet each other then the couple came into his room.

"Good morning, guys," Jace said, shifting slightly, trying not to wake Madison.

"Hey. Mads still sleeping?" Meredith asked.

"Yeah. She didn't wanna wake up," he said looking down at her.

"Um. Can I talk to you alone, Jace?" Toby asked, his voice just above a whisper.

"Sure, man," he said. He removed himself from Madison then threw on a shirt.

"We'll be in the backyard, Mere. In case you need anything,"  Jace said as he and Toby left his room.

                   *outside*

"What's going on, buddy?" Jace asked. He and Toby were sitting at a picnic table in his backyard.

"My mind is all over the place since yesterday, Jace," he said, looking down at his hands.

"Tell me about it. What happened?" Jace asked.

"I told Meredith about when I got raped by Zoey. And now I can't get that night out of my mind. I had a dream about it last night. I woke up crying in the middle of the night, but Mere didn't notice," Toby said, tears forming in his eyes.

"How has Mere been taking care of you since yesterday?" Jace asked.

"She's so good to me, man. She lets me have my space, she lets me be sad, she calms me down, she rubs my back, she lets me cuddle her, and she lets me cry. I could never thank her more for that," he said, a small smile on his face.

"I'm glad to hear that," Jace said.

"Yeah. Can I tell you my dream?" he asked.

"Go ahead, man," Jace said.

"Well. It was the night that she made me this really nice dinner that had drugs in it. And like when she was undressing me, Mere came in and saved me from her. She took me to the hospital and got them to look at me to make sure I was alright. She took care of me. The dream scared me so much," Toby said.

"Why?" Jace asked.

"Because I know Mere would do that in real life. It made me realize how strong our relationship actually is. I love her with everything I have, man. I know she loves me just as much. It's scaring me man. I've never loved someone this much before," Toby said.

"That's great. I'm happy for you. I'm glad you found a girl that makes you so happy and knows how to treat you," Jace said.

"I'm so glad I could get that off my chest," Toby sighed in relief.

"I'm proud of you, man," Jace said.

"Thanks, Jace. Let's go back inside now," he said. They walked back into the house and went straight up to Jace's room.

"Hey, baby. You left me in bed," Madison said. Jace got back into bed beside her.

"I went to talk to Toby," he said as she cuddled up to him.

"What do you wanna do now, sweetie?" Meredith asked Toby.

"I wanna go home and watch super hero movies," he said.

"Okay. We can do that. We'll see you guys later," Meredith said, standing up from her chair.

"I'll call you later, Meredith," Madison said as the couple left the room.

"What do you wanna do today, baby?" Madison asked.

"Nothing. I'm off today. I just wanna spend my day with my beautiful girlfriend, so we can do whatever you want," Jace said.

"Well, I wanna stay in bed all day with you, babe," she said and kissed his cheek.

"That's fine with me," he said and kissed her forehead.