A Break In The Silence (Adopted by Lin-Manuel Miranda)

Chapter 4: Chris

3RD PERSON POV

After dinner is all cleaned up, Vanessa, Genesis and Lin sit on the couch to finish Forrest Gump; Lin and the middle, Vanessa to his left, Gen to his right. Her head is leaning back on the couch, but Lin thinks she doesn't look comfortable. He reaches over and places her head on his shoulder, and she chuckles slightly. When there's a little less than two hours left, Vanessa stands up, yawning.

"Alright, I'm pooped." She says. "I'm gonna head to bed. Goodnight you guys."

"Night." Lin says, and she leans down to give him a quick kiss.

"Night, Gen." She says, kissing the top of Gen's head. Gen smiles at this, and sits up and turns to bid her goodnight. Vanessa walks into her and Lin's bedroom and closes the door behind her.

"Vanessa's the sleepiest." Lin states when she's gone, and Gen smiles. "You can lean on me again, if you want." She nods and rests her head on his shoulder again. The movie continues, and Lin watches intently. Once it ends and the credits roll on the screen, he looks at Gen. She's fast asleep on his shoulder, and he doesn't have the heart to wake her. Carefully, he gets up and turns off the TV. Then he turns to Gen and picks her up off the couch. He carries her sleeping figure to the guest bedroom, and gently lays her down on the bed. He pulls the covers up over her, and kisses her forehead before walking out and shutting the door quietly and heading to his room.****

The sound of glass shattering in the kitchen wakes up Lin. He looks at Vanessa and sees she's still dead asleep. A glance at the clock tells him it's 3:15 in the morning, and he gets up and walks towards the sound. He gets into the kitchen and sees Genesis on the floor trying to sop up some water with paper towels.

"Gen?" He asks groggily, and she looks up and stands.

"Lin." She says, sounding panicked. "I'm sorry. I had a nightmare and I woke up so I went to get some water but the glass slipped and it broke and I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" He cuts her panicked rambling by shushing her.

"It's okay, Gen." He says softly. "Take a deep breath." She does this and he notices that it's difficult for her. "I can tell you're on the verge of a panic attack right now, come here." She steps around the broken glass and walks over to him, getting promptly pulled into a hug. "It's okay, don't freak out. I'm not mad, it was an accident. Don't worry about it." She nods into his chest, and he pulls away to look at her. "Are you okay? Did you get cut?" She shakes her head.

"No, I jumped back when it hit the ground." She replies, and he nods.

"I'm gonna clean this up." He tells her. "Go sit on the couch, I'll be there in a minute." She does as he tells her and walks back to the living room. After the water is dried and any remnants of the shattered glass are gone, he walks into the living room and sees her sitting on the couch.

"Sorry again." She says, and he waves it off.

"Don't be." He tells her. "It's fine. I've done it plenty of times myself." She nods at this as he sits down next to her. "You said you had a nightmare?" She nods. "Do you wanna talk about it?"