| Isabella |

I flinched suddenly in my sleep, feeling Nathan jerk next to me. I ignored it at first until he moved again, twisting in bed. My eyes flip open, still half asleep, and the dark room doesn't help me understand what's happening. He jerks again, a faint 'no' echoing from his lips.

As my eyes adjust and I wake up, I realize that he must be having a bad dream. I sit up slowly in bed and in the dim lighting from the open windows I see him lying flat on his back, the bed sheets twisted around his middle. His face is neutral but his body is tense. However, I don't react fully until he's shouting.

"No!" His voice is hoarse and scratchy. He sounds terrified- of what, I'm not sure.

I shake him, trying to wake him up.

"Nathan." I say gently. "It's okay, you're just dreaming." I shake him again, and grab his hand in mine, tugging on it. He shifts and I see his eyes flutter as he wakes up suddenly, sitting up so fast that he almost hits his forehead on mine. He breathes roughly, trying to calm down.

"Sorry . . . I'm sorry." He mutters, shaking his head slightly and running a hand over his face. He remains with his head down, resting against his palms as he recovers from waking up so suddenly.

"It's okay." I say gently and he tries to take deep breaths, but doesn't succeed. Instead he sounds like he's hyperventilating. "Hey." I take his hand and scoot closer again, pulling him against me. His head falls to my shoulder. "Breathe with me." I whisper, exaggerating the slow rise and fall of my chest.

We remain like this for a few minutes and I run my fingers through his hair, tugging a little at the ends. Eventually he's breathing normally again, soft puffs of air pushing past his lips.

"Thank you." He murmurs, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me with him to lay down again the pillows. "I get nightmares sometimes."

"It's okay." I say. "I've had them too."

"I just . . . it always feels so fucking real. Only now I know better so I'm stuck in the worst situations of my life still with no power to change it." He says and I hug him tighter, trying to comfort him. I didn't know exactly what he was talking about but I knew it must have something to do with his past.

"What did you dream about?" I ask and he's silent, hesitating to tell me the truth.

"My mom." he says, so quietly I almost don't hear him. "And in my dream, she's dying again and I can't stop it."

"Could you have stopped it in real life?" I ask and he sighs.

"No." he says. "But . . . I think it's always going to torture me. The thought that maybe, in a different life, I could have prevented her death."

"How did she die?" I ask slowly, wondering if he'd tell me. I didn't want to push him too far and I didn't want to make him feel like he had to tell me. I respected the fact that he didn't like to talk about it but that didn't stop me from being curious. It didn't stop me from wanting him to trust me.

"She was shot." he mutters and I breathe in sharply, not expecting his response. I don't say anything at first because what do you say in response to something like that? I didn't know how to tell him it was okay- especially because he probably already knew it. He doesn't explain further and I don't ask or expect him to.

"I'm sorry." I whisper and he shifts in bed, rolling over so that he's on his side facing me.

"Don't be." he answers, looking at me with a small smile on his face. I felt like I could almost cry over everything he'd told me about his childhood and I knew I was barely at the tip of the ice berg.

I love you. I think, but I don't say it, even though I know it would be the perfect time to tell him. Right now he's at his most vulnerable and I am afraid if I tell him I'm in love with him, he'll run away scared. I know he has commitment issues and I don't want to mess anything up for us while things are so good. Especially if he doesn't feel the same way.

So instead I lean up and kiss him, enjoying the sparks that fly between us. His lips are gently on mine, moving slowly as his hands travel the length of my body. I reach up around his neck and pull him closer, hugging him to me. He returns the pressure, kissing me deeper as I gasp a little, enjoying his sudden need.

His lips move to my neck, running over the skin there to my sweet spot.

"Tell me a funny story." he whispers, pulling back and hovering above me.

"Right now?" I ask, confused and honestly a little disappointed that he doesn't continue his movements.

"Yes." he says, grinning and kissing me one more time before rolling off me and pulling me against his side. "I need something to change my mood."

"Okay." I say, up to the challenge. I rest my head against his chest, my arms moving to hug him around his torso. I try to think of any funny stories I had stored away in my mind for just such an occasion. Finally, I come up with something.

"Well, in senior year of high school, there was this guy, Trevor Mathews, who was obsessed with Rachael and I." I say and he laughs a little. "So, he'd kind-of follow us around and do things he thought we'd find funny, but none of it ever was."

"One day, Rachael told him I loved being spoken to in Japanese, which was random and not true but she thought it was funny." I say, he's silent, just listening. "And he came up to me the next day, grabbed me and started speaking fluently in Japanese to me."

He laughs slightly and I do too. "I was confused and I didn't have the reaction he'd hoped for, so he was upset. He had physics with Rachael so in class that day, he came up to her and said 'you screwed me over'. She thought he was joking but then he started to follow us all over school, never letting her forget how he'd ruined his chances of love with either one of us." I giggle. "It's stupid but to this day Rachael and I still laugh over it."

"No, no it's funny." he says and I just giggle again, realizing there were probably better stories that I could have told but also knowing that I just didn't think of them in the moment.

"Do you feel better now?" I ask and I look up to see him nod.

"Much better." he adds. "You always help me feel better."

He wraps his arms fully around me, cuddling me against me and I sighed, loving just how comfortable he was with me now. Before, he never would have held me this close or let me hold his hand. Now that he did I knew I breaking through his protective outer layer to see the real person he was beneath his cold stare. And the more I learned about him, the more I loved.

Hey Everyone!

Thank you for reading this chapter, it's a bit shorter and kind-of just a filler chapter to show their romance growing. I will be posting again by Thursday or sooner. Tell me what you thought in the comments!

XX,

- Keara Rose