Frost & Flames | Soulmate AU 2 |

Fourteen

Sunlight streaming in through the windows of Jacob's bedroom is what wakes me up, the light angled perfectly to hit me directly in the face. I scrunch up my face, rolling onto my other side. I crack open my eyes to see if Rowan's awake yet, and he's not, so I get the rare chance to indulge in staring at his face like a creepy person. He's normally awake before me, running Bella to daycare early in the morning. He usually slides back into bed once he's dropped her off for a couple more hours of precious sleep or, you know, other extracurricular activities. He's also confessed to staring at my face when he's woken up before me, though, so I don't feel bad about doing it anymore.

He's on his back, mouth cracked open slightly as he continues breathing slow and even breathes. I truly lucked out by falling in love with a man who doesn't snore. I'm a little surprised with how much we've shifted overnight. I fell sleep tucked close into him and we somehow managed to sprawl apart. That normally doesn't happen.

I shift closer so I can lay my head on his chest, listening closely for the steady beat of his heart under my ear. His hand comes up to rest in my hair a few minutes later.

"Good morning," he says, his voice all deep and downright rude considering we're in some other guy's bed in a relatively small apartment considering the amount of people it's currently housing.

"Hi," I say back.

"You okay?" he says, concern clouding his tone.

"Uh, yeah? Why?"

"You had a nightmare last night," he says. "You were kinda thrashing a bit, but I woke you up before you could fall off the bed. You don't remember?"

"Um, no," I reply, dropping my eyes away from his. "Sorry."

"What? Don't be sorry," he replies. "You seriously gotta stop being sorry for stuff that isn't your fault, baby."

"Yeah, just like you and everybody else keeps telling me," I reply, a little more snippy that I mean to be. "It's not that easy. It's not going to just happen."

"I know that, Lake, I just want you to know, okay?" he soothes, which deflates the anger right out of me. He's just trying to be supportive. I'm being a serious asshole these days.

"Okay," I murmur. "Thank you." He hums back, winding his arms around me to hold me close.

Someone bangs on the door to the bedroom a little while later. Rowan calls out, asking what they want, and the door opens without a reply. It's JD standing there, eyes wide and panicked.

"Max just got a call from a captain in Baltimore," he rushes out. "Scofield's still alive."

JD heads back down the hallway, leaving Rowan and I absolutely dumbfounded. This is good news, but I don't understand how it could be true. I suppose I should just give anybody who dies a certain grace period before I believe they're truly dead at this point. My mother just up and wrecked my life this time life last year even though she had supposedly died in a car accident when I was still in high school, so anything seems to be possible.

"I'm gonna try to take a shower on my own," Rowan says, very carefully untangling himself from me. "Test if the Bond will freak out again."

"Okay," I reply, not entirely thrilled about how that means I have to shower on my own now. I can totally do it, I'm a big boy, but I'd prefer to take it with him. It's kind of hard to wash my hair with my broken arm, but I don't really need to wash it again so soon, anyway. Nick lectured me for hours when she found out I wash my hair every day, and with two-in-one shampoo no less, a couple of months ago. She's peer pressured me into only washing it every other day, but I still use the shampoo. Old habits don't rest easy.