A Leap in Time ~ An Infernal Devices Fic

Confused Much?

"Tess?" A soft voice at the door; she looked up and saw Will there, silhouetted in the light from the corridor."

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It had been two Saturdays ago when Charlotte had woken up in a sweat, having dreamt that she'd cut off a demon's head with a sword. She'd woken up, feeling boiling hot and terrified, and unreasonably thought Henry's bare arms were tentacles trying to choke her. She'd screamed.

Henry was usually a fairly heavy sleeper, being known to snore in Charlotte's ear occasionally, but she really didn't mind. Having him next to her made her feel, unreasonably, that she had a wall between her and whatever bad that could happen. Nothing could hurt her if he was there, though again, this was a bit unreasonable. He was a heavy sleeper, but her scream was too much for anyone and he snapped straight up, blankets falling off his bare chest, blinking at her in shock.

"Lottie? Are you alright? What's wrong?" He blinked, rubbing his eyes with a fist.

"I- It's nothing," she whispered, feeling suddenly like the world's biggest idiot for screaming about a dream.

He did not do as usual, falling back asleep with out a simple nod, but surprised her. "Nothing? You wouldn't scream about nothing," he said sleepily, reaching out a hand, and rubbing her cheek gently. "What's wrong?"

She felt herself unwind, and, moved closer to him in the bed, pressing her face to his chest and wrapping her arms around him. "Oh, Henry!"

He made a noise, sounding utterly bewildered and for good reason. Charlotte rarely showed physical displays of emotion at all, even though they'd been married for years, so her sudden embrace must have been a bit of a shock.

He took it well. He stroked her hair with a hand, tilting her face up with the other to look at him. "What's wrong?" he asked, eyes worried. "Did something hurt you? I've had Charley horses in my sleep before and while they're uncomfortable I wouldn't think-"

"It was just a dream," she whispered, feeling a vague burn of embarrassment.

He looked at her slightly strangely, before surprising her by leaning down and kissing her forehead.

She fought back the twist of emotion in her. "It's okay, Lottie," he whispered more gently than she would've thought possible. "It can't hurt you."

It wasn't condescending as it would've sounded coming from anyone else's mouth. It was the most reassuring thing he could've said.

In that moment, really what she wanted was to kiss him, but she didn't want to push it. So instead of tilting his face down to hers,  she turned herself around again, moving to her side of the bed, and curled up to sleep once more. 

She hadn't seen the look on his face, but if she had, she would've known her husband wouldn't be scared away by anything, especially not a kiss.

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It was silent for what must've been a solid minute. Will didn't breathe. Tessa Gray was sitting there, in a chair beside Jem's bed, wearing a sweater and jeans, looking like he was the one who was abnormal in this situation.

As if he was the strange one.

"What are you doing here?"

She looked taken aback at the accusation, noticeably moving her chair back a few inches from Jem's bed. Will felt something harden in his chest. "You're the boy-" she stared, looking dazed. "The one who got-"

But he never got to find out what he got (though he could guess) because at that moment Jem interrupted with a cough. "Will, come in all the way, please."