Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Gangster

54. Night Terrors

Juliana Barba's dreams were always strange, even if they were realistic. That night, somehow, her dreams were far too strange, and far too realistic. And she couldn't move.

She was a small child, walking down the terrifying Romero Street as it rained down on her. Juliana was all alone in the world, until her brother Chris had arrived in the dream.
"Chris?!" she called out in fear.
"I'm here, J, you're safe," he promised. "And I brought your pops wit me too."
"Pops?" Juliana called desperately.
"Hey, baby," the man smiled.

Both of them had some sort of halo of light around their entire bodies, like angels.
"We gonna keep you safe now, baby," Juliana's father promised. "Remember; you're a Vasquez and a Price. Can't no one hurt you 'less you let em."

He said that to Juliana all the time when she was alive.
"You're lucky to have him, and that he's a good one, too," Chris's voice echoed. "My daddy just came to beat the sh*t outta me and Mama. Pops loves you. I love you too; you'll be safe."

Both men embraced Juliana warmly. Just then, tragedy struck. Juliana saw graphic mental images of her father being shanked in prison, and her brother being gunned down in the streets, right in front of her family. It was her fault. Then, just as Juliana began to literally drown in all the blood, the horrifying, mangled corpses sunk into the floor, never to be seen again. Then Juliana was in the hospital, beside Rafael, holding both of her children. Then, out of nowhere, there was only blood, and no one beside Juliana. Everyone else was gone, and she was alone, back walking the cold, dark, and rainy streets back in Rochester. It was horribly lonely, and then all the voices started calling. "You killed me! You were my sister!" Chris yelled. "It was all your fault I died!" her father cried. "Juliana, Juliana," she heard Rafael call desperately.
  "Juliana!"
  She woke with a start, in Rafael Barba's arms. "Rafi?"
  "It's okay now," he promised. "You're fine. It was just a dream," Rafael held her close.

Juliana then sobbed uncontrollably, remembering her dream. It was horrible.
  "Chris," she murmured. "Pops."
  "Don't worry," Rafael whispered. "They're just in a better place now, remember? Paradise, maybe?"

Juliana dug her fingers into his skin as she cried.
  "It was all just a dream," she nodded. "A really, really bad dream."
  "That's right, mi vida."
  "What happened? How'd you know to wake me?" she asked.
  "Well, I had to get up to go feed the kids again. I saw you sweating, and crying, and moving around a lot, baby," Rafael answered. "I figured it was a dream so I woke you up. But you're fine, everything's perfectly fine, see? You're here, I'm here, everyone's over there," he pointed to the entire squad plus Amaro sprawled out awkwardly in different places on the floor, the couches, and two air mattresses that had been brought out randomly.
  "What time is it?" Juliana asked.
  "It's almost two. Everyone's sleeping off the crazy ass hangovers."
  She gasped in pain, nodding. "Yeah, I'm starting to get that. God, I wanna go back to sleep."
  "Let's sleep," Rafael nodded.

He and Juliana were sleeping on the floor. Juliana rolled over, facing her body towards him, burying her face in his chest.
  "I love you," Juliana cooed tearfully, feeling the slight beating of his heart against her face.
  "I love you, Juliana," Rafael smiled. "Sleep tight."