5 am, and all is not well.

[vicioussweetie]

Even the guardians of dreams have things they fear in the night, memories and nightmares that drive them from bed. One such has been plaguing Ali lately, and has again driven her from her much-needed rest. She retreated first from the bed to leave her spouses to their slumbers, then from the house altogether once she was dressed again. Pulling a

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[bitter_mercy]

There's someone there. Someone sitting quietly in the sand, a silhouette against the pre-dawn dusk, his bowed head crowned by stars beyond, his figure dark and his arms loosely around his knees. It isn't clear, immediately, who it might be.

[vicioussweetie]

She doesn't notice right away. When she does, she pauses for a moment, then continues on with a murmured "Good morning."

[bitter_mercy]

"I doubt it," answers a hushed but familiar voice. "I can see well enough through that."

[vicioussweetie]

She stops, turning to him. "Hello Sheo. Is something wrong?"

[bitter_mercy]

"For you, it seems. And so for me. Where are you going?"

[vicioussweetie]

"I was going to swim." She walks over to him, dropping onto the sand beside him and draping an arm around him. "There's nothing for you to worry about. Not with me, anyway. I just couldn't sleep. I had a bad dream, nothing more." Sh really wants to believe that.

[bitter_mercy]

He puts his arm around her, hand splayed flat between her shoulderblades.

"I meant it. It's a strange thing to mean, all of a sudden..."

[vicioussweetie]

She's tense, more tense than he's ever seen her before, and she doesn't relax into his touch like she usually does. She also looks very confused. "My mood changed yours? Is that what you mean?"

[bitter_mercy]

"No..."

Softly, his fingers pressing to relax her shoulders.

"I love you."

[vicioussweetie]

She lets out the breath she's been holding too long, trying to relax (not the easiest thing in the world, with this conversation). "Oh. I love you too. I'm sorry it's upsetting you."

[bitter_mercy]

"I mean it, Allie."

He looks at her with pleading, almost lost eyes.

[vicioussweetie]

"I know." Her other arm closes around him, pulling him against her. "I know you wouldn't lie about that."

Someday, somehow, she's going to find out what it is that makes her so cling-worthy for everyone.

[bitter_mercy]

His reason is likely not anyone else's.

He wraps his arms around her.

"Does it matter to you?" he asks conversationally.

[vicioussweetie]

She rests her forhead against his cheek. "That you feel that way, or whether you'd lie about it?"

The Narrator suspects his reason has something to do either with cheese, or an emu.

[bitter_mercy]

"Both," he answers, but means the first one.

And actually his reason for the present has to do with the sound of the sand where they sit right now, and the color of the water, and the warmth inside her...

[vicioussweetie]

"It matters to me in that it feels nice and makes me happy. It makes me feel less alone. But if you didn't I'd still feel the same way about you as I do now. It matters very much to me that you're honest. I don't like people who lie to me. I know I won't always understand you, but I'll always try to."