A New Leader

Part Thirty Five: Dreaming

I slept with my back facing Jack, it had been at least ten hours since I was finished and now he was going to be comatose for a while. He was still alive, not doubt about that, but I was growing nervous. Part of me knew that this was the right thing to do, but the other part of me knew that there was something morally wrong with what I've done.

I kept reminding myself that this is what he wanted, that he wanted this to be his fate. After a long reign of power and evil, he finally wanted to do some good before he ages. I shifted my body to face him, his head tilted back against the pillow and sleeping with his mouth wide open. I remembered that his mask was still off as I slowly moved my finger along the scar, now really knowing how he got it.

I watched his mouth twitch as I was nearly done tracing the arc, his hand slowly reaching up toward mine and pulling it away. He was awake, his eye slowly creasing open and looking at me, his other eye trying to focus. His good eye darted around for a moment before landing back on me.

He pulled me back into his arms and held me there, his body trembling as his grip only grew tighter.

"I had the worst dream." He stated, his words just as shaky as his body.

"You want to talk about it?" I asked, knowing exactly what it was.

"I-I don't know... they felt so real that it just hurts to even think about it."

"Alright, well I'm here so don't worry." I whispered, trying my best to rub his back.

I had a strong feeling his bad dream was all of the memories that I had erased, he nuzzled his head further into my chest and still held me there.

"Am I a bad man?" He asked cautiously, looking at me deeply.

"No," I didn't hesitate, "not at all."

"Oh thank goodness." He sighed.

"I'm guessing your dream consisted of that?"

"Yeah, I had done horrible things to people and I was killing the planet, I even hurt you so much... I thought it was real." He held onto his shirt and breathed heavily.

"Jack, if it hurts to talk about it then maybe you should calm down." I spoke, trying to calm him down myself.

"I know... I just can't get over how real it felt." He looked down at my arms, trying to collect his thoughts. "Birde, what happened to your wrist." He grabbed it and examined it closely.

"Work related accident, it doesn't hurt as bad as it looks." I shrugged my shoulders, lying to him.

"How in the hell would the president get a giant gash in her wrist?" He still seemed very concerned.

"I'm a very hands on person," I stated, "you know that."

"Are you going to get it patched up?"

"At some point."

I looked away from him, my thoughts taking me back towards my guilt. He seemed a little overrun by his thoughts as well, probably going over the "dream" he had last night. I sighed, playing with the hem of his sweater as it stuck out with the rest of it tucked into his pants. I heard him laugh a bit, I looked at him confused.

"I can't believe I went to bed in my clothes last night... I also can believe how ridiculous I look." He laughed as he began to remove his coat.

"Jack, what are you talking about?"

"This coat, button up shirt with a tail? And this silly pocket watch." He removed the device and threw it on the bed, I quickly grabbed it and pulled it close to my chest. "I look like some steampunk reject."

He removed his sweater, continuing to undress himself in front of me without a care in the world. I watched him very closely as he had trouble removing his sneakers, he looked towards the bedroom door to see a pair of mine sitting perfectly.

"I need some shoes like that, I just need some new duds in general." He sat down on the bed in just an undershirt and his underwear.

"Would you like me to pick you up some clothes when I get back to work later?" I asked, fiddling around with the watch.

"That would be lovely, you do have some pretty nice taste after all... I mean come on, you're engaged to me." He pressed his hand against his chest.

I looked down at the ring on my finger once again, forgetting that it was there. I brought my gaze back towards Jack as he leaned closer, his face still exposed to the air as his mask was somewhere else.

"Yeah," I smiled, "I don't have some pretty good taste." I grabbed his face with both of my hands and pulled him closer to me, kissing his real lips.

"Now," he reached over to the table and grabbed his mask, "time to cover up this ugly mug."

"No no... I mean we're gunna still lay in bed for a little while, right?"

"Of course we are, but I need to look good kitten."

"You do look good." I took the mask from his hands and placed it on the other table.

"Sometimes I wonder how I ended up with someone like you."

"I feel the same way." I replied, looking away from him once again to feel the guilt over flow my body.

"Sheer luck." He pulled my body over towards his and sat me on his lap.

I brought my hand up towards his face, tracing around the tan line of where his mask would be. He lightly played with my hair and kept a strong gaze on me, seemingly finding peace in our silence.

Maybe I did do the right thing, I smiled as I twirled part of his hair that hung over his forehead. He rubbed his nose against mine and pulled me closer to his body, landing his back against the bed and pulling me on top of him.

"You know I love you, right?" He asked, kissing the tip of my nose.

"Yes, of course I do." I smiled.

"And you know I'd never hurt you either, right?"

"Of course." I nodded my head.

"Good." He stated before kissing me once again.