(no subject)

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly unlocks the door to her suite, frowning slightly.

"Mel must be over at Mike's," she says over her shoulder to Alain, before making a tired but determined beeline for her bedroom.

"God, I can't wait to change out of this shirt."

Comments

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

He can't wait for her to change out of that shirt, either. It has a lot of blood on it. It's a jolting reminder of his past and her wound, every time he glances at her.

He doesn't correct her about where Mel is. "Aye, we've the place to ourselves, I think." Mild and matter-of-fact. It's not innuendo.

[awesome_lilly]

Another time, Lilly would have called him on the mere possibility of innuendo. Tonight, not so much. The shirt is gone, tossed into the trash, and she's working somewhat unsuccessfully at the bandages.

"Hey, can you help me with these?"

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Well, another time it might have actually been innuendo.

"'Course."

Gently, he pushes her hands away, and takes over. He knows these knots, and knows the trick of untying them easily. When bandaging materials are scarce, you learn to make sure you can wash and reuse what you have, instead of slicing it off.

It helps that, for all the rust-brown blood soaked through them, there's no wound below. Just smooth scarless skin. Something in him relaxes to see it, even though he knew from the easy way she moved that the deep gash had to be healed.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly looks down when the bandages are gone, half-expecting to see another white scar despite Dream's healing. But there's nothing, and she smiles. It feels more over now.

"Thanks, Alain."

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

He smiles at her, as he moves away to drop the bandages in the trash with the shirt.

Returning, he bends to kiss her lightly, settling a hand on her hip.

"You want to get some sleep?"

Question and suggestion both.

[awesome_lilly]

"I probably should," Lilly agrees, stretching up to kiss him back. As tired as she is, though, she doesn't move any closer to the bed.

Not because she's a bit nervous about nightmares or anything like that, of course.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

"Want me to stay?"

[awesome_lilly]

"Yes, please."

He might have guessed her answer by the fact that she hasn't let go of him yet, but still. Nice of him to ask.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

A small smile, more in his eyes than anything, and another quick kiss.

"All right."

Gently, he begins to steer her towards the bed.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly lets him. It means she doesn't have to concentrate on where she's going, and also that she still doesn't have to let go of him. Not even when she's sitting on the bed, as it turns out.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

An assessing glance at the top of her head, and he decides that sleeping in clothes is just fine.

Alain toes out of his boots and unbuckles his gunbelts, keeping an arm around Lilly, and then shifts them both to lying down, slipping his arms around her again.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly leans her head on his shoulder, closes her eyes, and tries to relax. She's utterly exhausted, but there's a tenseness she can't seem to get rid of when she thinks about falling asleep.

About going back to the Dreaming.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Alain just might guess something of what she's thinking.

One arm is curled around her waist. The other hand strokes her back, gentle and rhythmic and soothing.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly keeps her eyes closed and tries to focus on Alain and the comfort of his touch and not... not on the memory of the wolf's howl.

It kinda works, and it kinda doesn't. Lilly sighs, and tells herself sternly to stop being silly about this, as she knows full well that Nyarlathotep is gone and she is Dream's again.

That doesn't really work either, but she's trying.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

His eyes have closed, though he's not dozing. He's doing what he can to send calm through the steady smoothing of his palm over her back.

"What's wrong?"

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly shrugs. Probably exactly what he's thinking.

"Can't sleep."

Can't sleep, wolf'll eat me.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

A kiss, pressed to the top of her head.

"Just rest, then?"

[awesome_lilly]

"'kay."

Alain holds her close, and eventually Lilly relaxes enough to fall asleep. It's not the most restful sleep ever, and she wakes up a few times, but there are no nightmares and that's more than good enough for her.