Alexander Smith

Even when it was Christmas Eve, it didn't stop Luke from curling up in front of Daphne's bed for the night.

She still slept with a hand buried in his fur, her breathing hitching sometimes. Every time he wondered if it were nightmares, listening for her to wake up.

She didn't do it often, sometimes she did, her hand tightening in his fur and she turned towards him, gently petting his head.

His presence seemed to give her some sort of peace and Luke was very willing to give her that. He would do anything if it would help her.

And sleeping in front of her bed, really wasn't a high order.

She even always made sure that there was a blanket for him to sleep on and on some occasion she even covered him with one, something that amused him to no end. He ended up pushing that from his body as soon as she was asleep again, his fur more than enough isolation to sleep comfortably in her room.

That night though, she jolted him awake, when her hand tightened nearly painfully in his fur, a soft cry coming from her. He was up and on all four paws in seconds, shoving his snout against her arm, trying to get her to wake.

She didn't.

If anything she continued to cry, her hands now fisting the bedding obviously still caged in her nightmares.

"Luke," Caroline's voice came from the doorway as she slipped in the room.

They must have made a sight, Luke knew that. A huge black wolf, desperately shoving at the girl on the bed that was still crying, her sobs sounding through the dark and quiet room.

"Daphne!" Caroline said sharply, grabbing his girlfriend at her arms, resulting in Luke whining in protest.

No reaction from Daphne other than her head throwing from side to side.

"Honey, wake up," Caroline said sharply then, gently shaking her, and he watched how Daphne came awake with a start, scrambling away from her aunt and towards him nearly immediately.

She hit the floor on her knees and he could smell blood coming from her, obviously having managed to hurt herself somehow.

She continued scrambling backward until her back hit the wall with a resounding thud, falling to her knees as she hid in that corner, rocking back and forth.

It was horrifying to watch.

The only light came from the hallway, casting long shadows in the room, making Daphne look terrifying with dark blood pouring from her mouth where she had probably managed to bite either her lip or her tongue.

And it also looked absolutely heartbreaking.

She looked like a child. A child so often left alone that by now it was starting to rock herself back to sleep. The flannel pajamas she wore clearly didn't help, not when the pajamas were oversized on her slight frame, the sleeves needed to be folded over a few times to make her hands poke out.

Caroline didn't move and for a moment neither did Luke, wracking his brain what was the best thing he could do at that moment.

He shifted closer to, waiting for her to scramble away from him as well, but she didn't.

Carefully he padded closer to her, finally sitting down on the wooden floor a few steps away from her and laying down, not wanting to scare her with the sheer size of him.

He remembered nearly 2 months ago when his presence had been the thing that had given her comfort.

This time she didn't reach out. This time it was him snuffling close to her, pushing his head against her legs as she still shook with tremors of whatever she had dreamt off.

"Luke, maybe you should shift," Caroline gently suggested. "I think Matthew needs to take a look at her mouth...Hopefully she hasn't knocked a tooth loose."

That wasn't good. While werewolves healed faster than humans, even they couldn't heal when it was a tooth that was knocked out of their mouth. They weren't crocodiles after all.

He stood up carefully, not wanting to leave her alone when her sobs were the only thing he could hear in the room.

Shifting in the bathroom, he pulled on the shirt and jeans he had worn that day. Matthew was lingering outside the door, giving him a grim smile.

Luke headed back to Daphne's side, watching Caroline, who had inched a bit closer to Daphne, resulting in Daphne pressing herself even more in the corner of her room, but Luke had enough of that.

"Daphne," he said sharply, her head snapping up at the tone of his voice that was an unmistaken order in there. She was still shaking like a leaf but she was looking at him, violet eyes huge and filled with tears.

"Come here, sweetheart," he whispered, kneeling down next to her. He hadn't expected her to literally throw herself at him, her hands grasping him with all her strength. It was going to leave bruises, he was sure of that, but Luke couldn't care less at that moment.

He tucked her head against his shoulder, pressing a kiss against her forehead, even when the salty smell of blood was still assaulting his nose.

"Why don't we let Matthew take a look," he whispered softly, hauling her up from the floor and up on the bed, sitting on his lap.

She didn't fight him, trying to hide against his chest and he rubbed over her back, trying to make her feel safe.

Matthew stepped into the room, careful not to put her even more on edge than she already was and pulled her desk chair so that he could sit down in front of them.

"There you are, Daphne," he said gently when she was still hiding her face against Luke's shoulder. She twisted around slightly though, facing her uncle.

He pulled on latex gloves, his eyes already cataloging how Daphne had managed to injure herself this time.

"Can you open your mouth for me?" He asked her gently and Daphne did as he asked, blood still smeared around her mouth.

"No biting," he told Daphne drily and Luke was unable not to chuckle at that. Matthew used one gloved finger to run it over her teeth, Daphne only flinching when he touched her lip.

"Seems like you managed to get your teeth in there pretty good," Matthew summed it up, pulling back his hand. "Nothing that needs stitches, however."

"I'm sorry," Daphne whispered, the first words she had said since she was awake, her voice shaky and timid and Luke just held her a little bit tighter.

"Oh honey, you don't need to apologize," Caroline told her softly, kneeling down in front of Daphne for a moment, reaching out to touch her cheek. "It's okay, I promise. Try to get some more sleep alright? It's still early."

They left them alone and Luke knew that the only reason they did that was that they knew exactly that if Daphne would talk to anybody about that nightmare...then he probably would have the best chance to get something out of her.

"Want me to shift back?" He asked her idly, still gently rubbing her back. He would if she wanted him to. Sometimes it seemed easier for her to accept intimacy if it was his wolf that she could touch. She didn't seem as hesitant to touch him then as she was when she was human when she let him touch her all he wanted but her own hands tended to clutch his back.

"No," she disagreed immediately, her voice sharper than she had intended and she shivered again, even when he didn't say anything to it. "Will...Will you hold me? Please?" She begged. She would never need to beg for him to hold her.

"Of course," he agreed, pressing a kiss to her head. "Let's get you comfortable first," Luke suggested, gently dropping her on the bed and pulling back the duvet so that he could pull it tightly around her.

He ducked into the bathroom quickly to get her a towel to clean up the blood that was still smeared around her mouth and a glass of water, both of which she took thankfully.

As much as he wanted to be the one carefully cleaning the blood away, he somehow doubted that that would go over well.

"I am sorry, I woke you," she apologized to him as she cleaned up her face, her tongue carefully probing around her mouth to see where her lips had split and Luke just shook his head. God.

"Sweetheart, that's the last thing I care about," he told her drily. He cared about her pain, about her nightmare...but not that she woke him. Actually, he was quite happy about that.

He sat down on the bed next to her and she seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"Is this comfortable for you?" She finally asked him, not meeting his eyes and he needed a moment until he recognized that she probably meant the jeans he was wearing.

"Do you want me to lose the jeans?" He asked her and she nodded, still not meeting his eyes.

He did as she had told him, slipping underneath the covers next to him and she crawled closer, draping herself all over him. With her half on top of him, there was no problem with the duvet not covering both of him, and he could steal her pillow as she bedded her head on his chest.

He needed to remind himself that this isn't like that though, because Daphne's hand drawing lines on his chest, made him think about something else indeed.

He held her tighter, catching her hands in his and pressing it lightly as he shut the light off, leaving them alone in the dark room.

"What did you dream about?" He asked her idly, drawing his own patterns on her back. He was gently doing that, not wanting to hurt her scars. But she seemed to like it if anything. Her breathing deepened and she relaxed against him.

"Christmas," she finally admitted to him.

"What did you do last year?" He asked her, wondering what Daphne normally did on Christmas.

Luke and his family tended to go to Church on Christmas Eve and while Christmas Day was spent in the smaller family section come afternoon, the Schuyler house would be absolutely filled with all their cousins and aunts and uncles. And Luke adored that.

His mother would have spent far too much time baking and cooking and the table would be laden with dozens of different side and main dishes.

The Hyde's were also always invited, with Ollie and Grace mated, and this year it meant that Daphne would be there as well, singing Christmas carols and generally having a good time.

He was hoping he would be able to talk her into a snowball fight with his cousins as he very much doubted that she had had that kind of fun before.

"I got between Michelle and her Whiskey Bottles," Daphne told him drily and he was harshly reminded that her past Christmas experiences probably hadn't been a lot of fo fun for her.

"Sweetheart," he breathed out, not sure if he wanted to know what had happened afterward.

"She forgot to pay rent again so the money I had put away for groceries went towards that...I remember that the only thing in the house that night had been two oranges and the last packet of ramen." There was a hollow laugh coming from her and he wondered how any of that was possible amusing to her.

Alone the thought of that...of her not even having enough to eat to not be hungry anymore was making him want to become a homicidal maniac, his wolf growling in agreement and then starting to consider to bring her some more rabbits again.

"Did...You were hungry," he said, not a question. She didn't react for a moment before she finally answered.

"Did you know that hunger is the worst pain?" She asked him, her voice near painfully soft. "The rest...the slaps...the belt...You get used to it after a while...the pain isn't that bad. But hunger...it drives you insane. And it ."

He needed to close his eyes, trying to stop his brain from supplying him with pictures. She had been waifishly thin when she had first arrived in Fairbury. Had it been even worse through the years?

Still, she didn't eat even nearly enough for his liking and he wondered if she was even able to. Or if her body had gotten so used to never having enough food that it was unable to handle a normal amount.

"That won't ever happen again," he whispered, pressing a kiss against her forehead. It wouldn't. That was something he would take care of.

He wanted her to shift only so that he could take her hunting. He wanted to bring down a deer for her, wanting to provide her with food. And he could do that. Even if something happened and he would be unable to do so in his human form...the wolf would always be able to hunt for her.

He just somehow doubted that Daphne would react well to that when he remembered the rabbit murder episode at the beginning of their relationship.

"Have...Have you talked with Caroline and Matthew about that, Daphne?" Luke asked her. Mostly because he needed to know if they were aware of that. Did it still hurt her? Did she need something so that her body wouldn't get sick?

"No, I can't," she answered immediately. "I can't, Luke."

"Sweetheart," he protested but Daphne already interrupted him before he could go on.

"Michelle was her sister, Luke. I don't want to... I don't want to destroy all of Caroline's good memories of her," Daphne brought out, her voice sounding pained at only the thought of that."I...I don't want to take that from her."

"Daphne," he whispered her name, forcing her to look at him. "Caroline saw the scars. We all did. I think that damage is already done."

He could see when that realization set in, when she curled up even tighter near him, her hands fisting in his shirt.

"Please, talk to them. Please, sweetheart." He wasn't above begging if it made his mate agree.

"If you think I need to..." she was still timid but she nodded her agreement. Thank god for small mercies.

"I do. Thank you, sweetheart," he whispered, pulling her up so that he could brush a kiss against her forehead.

"I never ate Gingerbread before...until a few weeks ago, when Caroline let Ollie and me help her decorate her gingerbread men," Daphne whispered absentmindedly, tucking her head against his chest as she yawned.

"Did you like them?" He asked her and she nodded her agreement, obviously tired.

"Go to sleep, Daphne," he told her gently, rubbing her back. "I'll listen. Whenever you want to talk about it, I'll listen," he promised her then, hoping that at least these words would be believed by her.

He wasn't sure if she heard them, not when her breathing already evened out slowly and her hands continued to fist in his shirt.

She stayed curled up on top of him and he stayed holding here still considering his vigil at her side.

***

Luke slipped out of the bed early in the morning and she turned her head towards him.

"Merry Christmas, Daphne," he whispered, pressing a soft kiss to her lips and she was unable not to smile at him.

"Merry Christmas," she replied, reaching out to run her fingers through his short hair, scratching a bit with her nails. Regardless if she had a black wolf at her side or her boyfriend, both of them did enjoy that.

He shifted in her bedroom and she put on the fluffy green robe that Caroline had brought along from a Target run a few weeks ago, because "You don't have one and it's getting cold here." Daphne wore it every morning and evening, unable to keep herself from petting the soft and cuddly fabric. Caroline had been right, the nearer they came to Christmas the colder it became in Fairbury but that wasn't the only reason why Daphne adored it.

It was the thought behind it. The thought that Caroline had picked it out for her because she remembered that Daphne could get cold and bought it for her.

A big black wolf padded out of her bathroom and she was unable not to smile at Luke, as she opened the door to bring him downstairs.

They would see each other again for the afternoon but for the morning they would both spend time with family.

She sent him off through the backdoors, pressing a kiss to the forehead of the huge wolf before he scampered off towards the forest, and then she got started on Breakfast.

Caroline had already prepared pancake batter for the morning and so Daphne got started on that, switching on the lights on the Christmas tree that was decorated in white this year. She was unable not to flinch when she heard the door open a few minutes later, Ollie entering the room, surprised to see her already.

"Merry Christmas," her cousin said to her, hugging her. "Did you already throw the parents out of the bed?" He joked but Daphne just snorted in amusement.

"No, Luke woke me when he went back home," Daphne told him with a grin.

"What happened to your mouth?" Ollie asked her suddenly. "Your lower lip is all swollen."

"I had a nightmare...bit on it. Doesn't hurt anymore though...And it's nearly healed. Which is weird, doesn't go that fast normally," Daphne waved him off. It was nothing.

"Do you want to talk about that nightmare?" Ollie asked her gently but she shook her head, smiling at him. It was sweet that he asked but she would much prefer it to be Luke that she talked with.

"Thank you, but..." she answered unable to find the right words.

"Okay," Ollie agreed easily. "But please, at least talk to Luke, alright?" She nodded her agreement with that. Luke wouldn't let her get out of talking with him, and Really, Daphne couldn't find a fault in that.

"Oh, we really trained them well, Caroline," Matthew's voice came from the doorway, obviously joking. "Making breakfast on Christmas Morning. And not even ripping into their presents."

"Hey, we can be all grown up when the need arises," Ollie protested loudly, ducking away when his father ruffled his hair and Caroline laughed at that.

"Too old for presents then?" Caroline asked her son amused and Ollie started to protest immediately, leaving Daphne unable not to laugh as well.

They opened presents over breakfast, Daphne having spent the last few weeks feverishly working on hers for Matthew and Caroline, next to finishing up the illustrations for her book.

She had made it to fit in the upper hallway as Caroline had mentioned absentmindedly because she wanted a new art piece there. And because they were living on Maine's coastline and Daphne did love the sound of waves lapping at the shore, it was a watercolor of just that.

Daphne's Christmas gift from her aunt and uncle was a new tablet because she had needed to borrow Oliver's or Caroline's laptop for most of her book work. It also came with a stencil, which meant that Daphne also made her first foray into Digital Painting that morning.

Ollie bought her a Christmas sweater with a penguin on the front which Daphne pulled over her head immediately.

There were some more clothes for her as well, some books and hot chocolate.

Thoroughly spoiled, she and Ollie threw wrapping paper at each other, laughing when a bright green bow god stuck on her cousin's head. Daphne never had gotten that many things at the same time and when there was finally a new pair of Converse that Caroline gave her...cherry red this time, she needed to swallow back the tears that wanted to fall over her cheeks.

She still had the old ones, by now as full of holes as a piece of Swiss cheese, but now...now she had a new pair.

They went over to the Schuyler's around midday, and Daphne was pulled right into building a snowman with Luke, while Kiana bossed them both around much to their amusement.