Never Stop . . . Never Stop Fighting (A Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction)

Chapter Twelve

It's my third night here and I think this is the first time that she hasn't woken up in the midst of a nightmare, Tom thought to himself as he looked down at a sleeping Ann, which had made herself comfortable with her head laying on his stomach. It had taken her a whole day to warm up to the idea, but he'd gotten her to agree to them sharing her bed for the time that he'd be staying with her. It was completely platonic and it really seemed to help her with her sleep.

He looked back to the book he was reading and found the sentence that he'd left off on, only to be distracted by Ann as she curled herself tighter against him and absently grabbed onto his shirt.

"Ann?" He called quietly. Maybe he had been wrong in his thoughts. He watched her as her body tightened, becoming rigid. Tom placed his book down beside him and put his hand on her back. "Ann, darling... can you wake up for me?" He asked quietly.

Ann grumbled in her sleep as the vision of John standing over her with a belt in his hand slowly disappeared and the sound of Tom's voice brought her back to consciousness. She tilted her head back to see his blue eyes locked on her, a concerned look on his face.

"There you are," he said sweetly, "Another nightmare?" He asked.

She nodded. "It was John... standing over me..."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She shifted next to him and kept the grip she had on his shirt as she began. "It started out normal, like always. We were having fun at some event. It wasn't until we got back home that he suddenly pushed me to the ground and unbuckled his belt and began to threaten me with it."

Tom continued to run his hand up and down her back at a leisurely pace. "Was that a normal thing?"

"My dreams tend to change, but it's always something that he's threatening me with. Whether it's a belt or his fist."

Tom took a long, deep breath. "Well, at least you're improving on your night's sleep." He looked over at the clock to see that it was two in the morning, before he sat up, which made Ann sit up too. "Try and go back to sleep, I'm going to use the bathroom, but I'll be right back."

Ann nodded and held back a yawn. "Alright."

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When Tom returned back to Ann's bedroom, he found her sound asleep, hugging onto the pillow that he'd been propped up on. It made him smile, but it also made him worry. I'm only going to be here a few more days, I really hope that she'll be alright when I go to Detroit, he thought with a sigh.

He walked over to the side of the bed and turned off the lamp before he walked back around to the other side and laid down on top of the blanket, using a throw blanket from the living room to cover up with. It was a while until he finally fell asleep, with the future on his mind.

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The sound of the shower running made Tom wake up once more. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he sat up and looked at the clock. It was almost ten in the morning. He stood and stretched before he silently walked through the home and into the kitchen to see that coffee had already been made and was being kept warm, which made him smile.

Tom took a seat at the kitchen table with his coffee in hand and opened his laptop so he could check his emails, glad that he'd thought to bring it along with him. "Hmm," he said aloud as he took a sip of the soothing liquid, "Got a meeting about the movie today, a virtual conference with Luke and Tilda."

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Ann stood in the shower, completely beneath the water's hot spray. The heat helped her relax as well as the sound that reverberated around her. Her mind stayed focused on one thing though, which happened to be the man that was currently staying at her home. Tom has been nothing but sweet towards me and solely focused on helping me through my anxieties. I still cannot believe how attentive he's been through all of this. Hell, he hasn't known me for that long! I have never met a man so nice as him... ever.