Dark as the Night

64

"Dessa! It's me. You're fine, you're safe, it's just me," a soft, low voice crooned in her ear. "It's just me, Dess," it chanted, cracking with emotion on the last word.

"Tai?" Odessa gasped. With her chest heaving and adrenaline rushing through her veins, she stopped struggling. She reached behind her to stroke Tai's face, recognizing the firm jaw and slight roughness of day-old stubble. She continued to pet his cheek as she gasped and shuddered in his hold.

"Yeah," he whispered, leaning into her palm. Odessa leaned back to look at him. His jaw was set in a hard line and his eyes were wide and panicked. He looked back and forth between her eyes, searching them to make sure she was fully awake.

Seeing her recognition, Tai buried his face in her neck and let out a relieved breath that tickled her sweat-slick skin. "You were having a nightmare," he murmured, his lips brushing against her neck, sending tingles down her spine even as it comforted her.

Tremors still racked her body, and tears still streamed down her face. She tried to reach up to wipe them away, but Tai's arms tightened around her. With trembling fingers, she grasped his hands instead, interlacing their fingers. Odessa rested back against his solid chest, hiccupping. She could hear his thundering heartbeat, and his stuttering, frantic breaths as he tried to calm himself down as much as her.

She let the feel and the sound and the scent of him begin to soothe her, bring her into the present. As she quieted and her own breathing began to slow, she heard him take in a long, measured breath. A shudder ran through him as he let it out, squeezing her tighter to him. "I was so worried," he rasped against her neck. His dry, soft lips brushed her skin just below her ear, in another almost-kiss that seemed like a subconscious reassurance to both of them that she was alright.

"How-" she croaked, swallowed, then continued in a shaky voice. "How did you get in here? And... why?"

Tai scooted back so he was reclining against the wall, then pulled her body flush against his and wove his fingers through hers. His voice was rough – spent and exhausted – when he spoke. "I came to check on you and heard you crying through the door. It was locked and I panicked so I came through the window instead."

The oddity of that statement, more than his soft and firm touches, brought Odessa fully into reality.

"Y-you... what?" she stammered and tried to turn to look at him, but he squeezed her gently, so she looked away, attempting to relax against him.

He tenderly stroked his thumb in a soothing rhythm over the back of her hand and explained, "If you're careful, you can walk on the roof outside our windows. So, when I couldn't get in your door and I didn't want to wake the neighbors by pounding on it, I ran back to my room, climbed out the window, and across the roof. Thankfully, your window was unlocked, so I climbed in."

Odessa felt her cheeks tilt upward in a tiny smile, and she let out a small giggle. It came out sounding forced and tremulous. "You broke into my room to give me a hug?" she teased, squeezing his arms to her.

"I broke into your room," Tai replied in a low voice, and Odessa felt his skin heat up against her back. "To make sure you were ok. You sounded really... distressed. I was worried." His voice was husky with emotion again, and he let go of one of her hands to gingerly, almost reverently, brush her tangled hair from her damp face and wipe her tears. He continued softly, "I still am. You've been distant and distracted the last couple days and," he paused to swallow thickly. "I don't know what to do to help you."