Once Upon A Time In Wonderland: Buffet #4, "Alive"
Title: Serenely Sleepless
Author: salmon_pink
Fandom: Once Upon A Time In Wonderland
Pairing: Alice/Cyrus
Table: Buffet #4, prompt "alive"
Rating: PG-13
Words: 493
Notes: Set during And They Lived...
Alice wakes with a start, eyes instantly alert, heart thudding in her chest. The nightmares don’t come as often now, although she’s not sure she’ll ever be free of them. They’ve followed her for too long, a constant in her life when everything else was turned upside-down. But these days she has a remedy to push them away, instead of letting them haunt her for the rest of the night.
She rolls over into the crook of Cyrus’s outstretched arm, watching the way he breathes steadily, his eyes closed. Real and solid and here, and the images from her dreams begin to fade, the memory of him tumbling into the boiling sea overshadowed by the sight of his hair falling over his forehead so untidily, the mark in his cheek from a crease in the pillow.
The chill of all the pain they went through can’t compete with the fond flush of heat she feels when one eye cracks open and Cyrus smiles at her, sleepy but content.
“Bad dream?” he asks, voice a little scratchy.
“Nothing to worry about,” Alice assures him, and he slides an arm around her as she burrows closer. He kisses the top of her head, and Alice presses her face to his neck, enjoying the way his skin is so warm from the bedclothes. She brushes her lips there, following the curve of his throat to his shoulder and back, chasing the shadows over his collarbone, and his fingers curl in her nightgown, a soft sound escaping him.
“I should let you sleep,” she murmurs, fingertips skimming over his arm.
Cyrus laughs quietly, his hand moving against her back. “I don’t think I could get back to sleep now, even if I wanted to.”
“Sorry,” Alice whispers, her inner thigh sliding up to rest against his hip, toes curling against his calf.
“I don’t believe you’re sorry for a moment,” he accuses playfully, and Alice has to bite her lip when he rolls them over to keep herself from giggling. His weight presses her down against the mattress, and she wraps her legs around him, trying to muffle her moan at the way their hips rock together.
It wouldn’t do to wake the rest of the house, after all. Not when she and Cyrus finally have a home, back in England, in the safety of her father’s estate. Not sleeping wherever they can find shelter, not clutching weapons close as they doze.
They’re here, they’re together, Cyrus is alive, and sometimes that still shakes Alice right down to her core, to remember that she lost him once. But then he’s kissing her deeply, stealing her breath with his passion, and she won’t let the past spoil her enjoyment of the present.
Their bodies move together, familiar and wonderful, and Alice lets the nightmare dissolve from her mind completely. She has everything she’s ever wanted - her bad dreams are just ghosts now, never to hurt her again.
Author: salmon_pink
Fandom: Once Upon A Time In Wonderland
Pairing: Alice/Cyrus
Table: Buffet #4, prompt "alive"
Rating: PG-13
Words: 493
Notes: Set during And They Lived...
Alice wakes with a start, eyes instantly alert, heart thudding in her chest. The nightmares don’t come as often now, although she’s not sure she’ll ever be free of them. They’ve followed her for too long, a constant in her life when everything else was turned upside-down. But these days she has a remedy to push them away, instead of letting them haunt her for the rest of the night.
She rolls over into the crook of Cyrus’s outstretched arm, watching the way he breathes steadily, his eyes closed. Real and solid and here, and the images from her dreams begin to fade, the memory of him tumbling into the boiling sea overshadowed by the sight of his hair falling over his forehead so untidily, the mark in his cheek from a crease in the pillow.
The chill of all the pain they went through can’t compete with the fond flush of heat she feels when one eye cracks open and Cyrus smiles at her, sleepy but content.
“Bad dream?” he asks, voice a little scratchy.
“Nothing to worry about,” Alice assures him, and he slides an arm around her as she burrows closer. He kisses the top of her head, and Alice presses her face to his neck, enjoying the way his skin is so warm from the bedclothes. She brushes her lips there, following the curve of his throat to his shoulder and back, chasing the shadows over his collarbone, and his fingers curl in her nightgown, a soft sound escaping him.
“I should let you sleep,” she murmurs, fingertips skimming over his arm.
Cyrus laughs quietly, his hand moving against her back. “I don’t think I could get back to sleep now, even if I wanted to.”
“Sorry,” Alice whispers, her inner thigh sliding up to rest against his hip, toes curling against his calf.
“I don’t believe you’re sorry for a moment,” he accuses playfully, and Alice has to bite her lip when he rolls them over to keep herself from giggling. His weight presses her down against the mattress, and she wraps her legs around him, trying to muffle her moan at the way their hips rock together.
It wouldn’t do to wake the rest of the house, after all. Not when she and Cyrus finally have a home, back in England, in the safety of her father’s estate. Not sleeping wherever they can find shelter, not clutching weapons close as they doze.
They’re here, they’re together, Cyrus is alive, and sometimes that still shakes Alice right down to her core, to remember that she lost him once. But then he’s kissing her deeply, stealing her breath with his passion, and she won’t let the past spoil her enjoyment of the present.
Their bodies move together, familiar and wonderful, and Alice lets the nightmare dissolve from her mind completely. She has everything she’s ever wanted - her bad dreams are just ghosts now, never to hurt her again.