Set Me Free

'They were going to break free'

"My nightmares are usually about losing you. I'm okay once I realize you're here."

Daniels POV

Her whole body convulsed, her eyes rolled to the back of her head. She wasn't breathing, couldn't breath as she gasped for the air around her.

He shook her, pleaded with her, begged her in fact to be okay, to come back, to breath again. She wasn't responding, wasn't hearing him and he felt useless. He was used to feeling powerless, out of control, but this was something different. He couldn't make her okay, all he could do was try.

He pulled her onto his lap, tucked her head onto his shoulder and stroked her hair. He whispered to her the wonders of the world, things he thought she might enjoy, like clear blue skies and warm winter fires.

She continued to convulse.

He placed his lips onto her neck, just where it meets her collar bone.

She took in a sharp breathe.

It filled her lungs, and she coughed at the action of it. Her convulses slowed down until she was only twitching and she clung onto him as if he was the only thing keeping afloat.

She was okay. She was okay because of him.

Not many things had made Daniel feel proud in his pathetic life, but he felt a surge of delight, of happiness at what he had achieved. She stopped panicking all because of him. He had done that.

"Are you okay?" He whispers against her neck, not quite feeling ready to move them from the spot just yet.

She meekly nods, her arms still tightly locked around his waist, her head fitting comfortably against his shoulder.

"I've never had a panic attack before," she whispers quietly, so quietly that if the room wasn't as silent as it was now and they weren't wrapped together in a mess of limbs, he never would have heard those words leave her lips.

He didn't know what to reply, even if he was supposed to reply. He knew that they were the reason she had this, what set off the panic to cause the attack. Her being here was the whole reason behind her first, and what he hoped was her last, panic attack. The knowledge of that made him want to gag. He was apart of this, apart of her pain.

He pulls away gently at the thought of this. He wasn't the cure, he was the disease.

She whimpers slightly as he moves, her arms tightening around his waist as he tried to move. She wasn't letting him go, was refusing to move from the cocoon he had created for her. He wanted to cling onto her, hold her tightly and never let her go. In the few days that he had known her, he had grown fond of her. She was sweet, funny and braver than anyone he had ever met. He wanted to believe that she was safe as long as she was in his arms, but deep down he knew this wasn't true.

He wasn't her safety net, he couldn't be her protection. He was the apart of the problem and nothing could change that.

"You're okay," he whispers to her as he pulls back enough to look in her eyes. It felt too good to have her resting in his arms, too real. He couldn't let himself get attached to her like that, it would only cause pain to the both of them.

Her eyes were filled with unshed tears and red from the ones that had fell. Her nose was dripping, her cheeks blotchy, and yet he had never seen someone look so beautiful. She was real, and raw and nothing but natural at that moment and her beauty shon through.

He had to get away, get out. He would only hurt her, cause her more pain and he knew she couldn't take much more. She had already suffered through more pain than most ever experience in a lifetime. He couldn't add to that.

"I'll go get you a drink," he offered, anything to get him out of that room, away from the feeling he could feel building inside of him.

Her face changes as he says this, shifts into panic once again. Her arms tighten even more, something he didn't think was possible. Soon it would be him with the breathing problems.

"Please," she pleads, "don't leave me." The sincerity in her words hit him in his gut. No one had ever asked him to stay. Many people in his life had asked him, no begged him, to leave, but no one had ever asked him to stay with them.

He couldn't ignore her, couldn't walk away now.

With much reluctance, he pulls her head back down to his shoulder and once again places his lips on her collar bone. She relaxes against him, her arms loosening a little around his waist. He felt comfortable here, warm, weird.

His family was never big on affection, he didn't think his father had ever hugged him in his whole life. Physical contact wasn't something that came easily to him, understandable since he spent much of his life desperately trying to keep people at a distance. However, he didn't think twice about taking Elizabeth into his arms, didn't even stop to question his need to hold her. All he knew was that he needed to do it, needed her in his arms.

"Thank you," she whispers against him. That foreign feeling of pride settled over him once again. She was thanking him, Daniel, for what he had done for her. No one had ever really thanked him. He was used to being blamed, hated, despised, but never thanked.

He could get used to feeling like this.

After today, he knew there was no going back. He couldn't let them inflict the harm on her that he knew they had planned. For years Daniel had seen people come into this building, very few walked out. He knew that if they didn't get what they wanted, she wouldn't be one of the lucky ones. Her ransom was high, the odds weren't in her favour, but she had something that all the others that had come before her didn't.

She had him on her side.

Together, one way or another, they were getting out of here.

For years Daniel had dreamt of walking away from this life, came close to it a couple of times too. However, something always pulled him back. The feeling that there was more to his father than his childhood had taught him always convinced him to stay, the idea that maybe, just maybe there was someone human in there was enough to make him carry on with the life he despised.

Then one day he gave up on this fantasy. There was no humanity in the man that had given him life, there was no compassion, no love. And so, he had been ready to leave, ready to walk away from it all.

Bags packed, escape plan drawn out, he had planned to leave next week.

And then she walked in.

A mess of blonde hair, eyes wide with innocence and fear, he took one look at her and knew he wasn't going anywhere. As long as she was here, he would be too.

Soon, that would all change. He didn't know how and he didn't know when but they were executing the escape plan he had spent so long planning.

They were going to break free.