Clawen • What comes next

|| CHAPTER 5 ||

Taking off her pants hurt. Bending over hurt. At the moment, everything hurt. Her leg wasn't doing as great as she had thought. Claire didn't want to panic tho, so she just sucked it up and stepped into the shower. Maybe the warm water would help. 

Claire couldn't describe how she felt, getting rid of all the grease covering her body. It was a long-awaited feeling. Trying to clean her leg without hurting it, was a difficult task that she eventually gave up on.

Stepping out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her, she felt as clean as can be, after what they had been through. She had to lean against the sink while getting dressed. She dried her hair a little more in the towel and decided to let it be. Not that she thought Owen had a hairdryer, but she certainly wasn't going to start looking for one. 

She exited the bathroom and found Owen and Maisie where she left them. Except Maisie had fallen asleep and it looked like Owen had made her a pretty sweet makeshift bed. He was sitting at the end of Maisie's body, by her legs. Looking up when Claire entered, he smiled and got up. When he noticed she was limping slightly, he hurried to her side. "Did you hurt yourself? Is the leg that bad?" He asked while holding on to her arms and looking her up and down. With a stressful look on his face and fear in his eyes. He picked Claire up bridal style, to take her to the bedroom. 

Claire yelped in surprise. She did not expect that and for a second she was afraid she had woken up Maisie. But looking behind them while Owen walked to the bedroom, she saw the girl was still sound asleep.

Owen sat her down on the bed, her side of the bed, she thought. He knelt before Claire and while looking her in the eyes he asked. "Is it bad?" Claire shook her head and gave him a smile. "Claire I was in the navy, I know a little about this. They taught us more than first aid. Can I at least have a look at the cut?" He asked the gorgeous woman before him. She sighed and nodded before taking off the bandage and carefully stroking his fingers by the edge of the cut. 

After careful consideration, Owen decided she was as good as can be expected. "You'll live" He said as he straightened himself up. "Well thank you doctor" Claire said. Hands placed in her lap, looking up at Owen, she wanted to reach up and pull him towards her. She wanted him. Needed him close. 

"Can we go to sleep?" Claire asked innocently, followed by a yawn. Owen nodded and walked to the other side of the bed, his side. He sat down and swung his legs unto the bed and laid down before turning to look at Claire. "Hey" He whispered. She turned and went to lay down herself. "Hi" She whispered back. Without thinking, Claire moved closer to Owen and he subconsciously pulled his arm around her and snuggled her closer.

They both relaxed instantly and let out a sigh each. Claire got herself as close to Owen as physically possible and quickly felt sleep taking over. Not before Owen kissed her goodnight in her hair and whispered. "I love you".

Claire almost jumped out of bed, hearing those words. Sure they had said them before. countless times but hearing them after so long, from the same man she let go. It was different. Better. She pursed her lips and let a small smile slip before kissing whatever bare skin was near her mouth and whispered back " I love you too".

"Please wake up, Owen please" Claire said desperately, trying to shake Owen awake. She had woken up to him moving around in the bed violently and letting out small screams of distress. She kept shaking him, trying to get him to open his eyes. Of course, he was having a nightmare, she thought. Claire was quite surprised she hadn't woken up by one of her own. But the night was still young. Maybe, she didn't actually know, hadn't looked at the clock. She had just hurried to get Owen out of whatever hell he was in.

"Please, baby please" She whispered out of frustration. Whispering wouldn't help at all, Claire knew that but she was honest to god losing it. "Please" She whispered again and kissed him on the lips, hoping the feeling would wake him up and suddenly Owen shot up into a sitting position, almost pushing Claire off the bed. 

"What" Owen asked shocked. What was he doing here? In his van? He just saw Claire getting ripped apart by a massive dinosaur, that he didn't know the name of and now she was sitting next to him, very much alive. Looking at him as if he had been the one getting ripped apart. He was breathing heavily, looking over at Claire and around the room, then back to Claire. She put a hand on his cheek and another on his thigh. "I think you were having a nightmare" Claire said, close to being a whisper in case his screams hadn't woken Maisie up. She leaned her forehead against his and closed her eyes. Owen let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, before snuggling into Claire. She put his arms around him and nuzzled his head against her chest. "It's okay, baby it's okay" Claire calmly whispered into his ear and left a kiss in his hair.

Suddenly a small figure appeared in the doorway. Claire didn't notice until Owen looked up which made her look up as well. Maisie was standing there hugging herself, looking scared. She had a hard time looking them in the eyes and it was quite obvious that she was trying to avoid it all costs. "Sweetie hey, did we wake you up?" Claire asked as she gestured with her hand, for Maisie to come closer. She took a few steps towards the bed and said. "I heard someone screaming and I got scared so I came in here". Claire smiled at the girl and patted the bed. "Come here" Claire said with a smile on her face and tilted her head slightly. 

"Maisie it's okay, I had bad dream, I'm sorry I woke you up" Owen said after Maisie had sat down at the foot of the bed. She nodded as she understood the reason for her waking up. She didn't blame him at all. She just felt lucky that she hadn't woken up from a nightmare of her own. 

Maisie sat on the bed awkwardly, not knowing what to do next but it only took a couple of seconds before Claire asked if she wanted to stay in the bed with them. Claire could have sworn she saw fear in Maisie's eyes and it broke her heart a little. "It's okay sweetie, come here" Claire said as she made room between her and Owen. Thinking that it would be for the best if she was between them. That she would feel better with that arrangement. Maisie said okay and made her way in between the two adults. 

Maisie turned her front towards Claire and slightly snuggled into her side without seeming too obvious and in need of comfort. It didn't take more than a second for Claire to realize that Maisie wanted, to be held. Needed to be held. She put her arms around the girl and looked at Owen who was still sitting up. He smiled down at them and lowered himself. After Owen put an arm around both girls, all three of them fell asleep.

This took some time and it's a little shorter than I had expected but it felt right to leave it there.

Hope you liked it and tell me if I need to add more fluff - I'm really trying because I know the feeling of needing fluff. :D