He couldn't help but smile. He also couldn't help but drift easily into sleep with her warmth beside him and her voice soft in his ear.

He needed her. It was strange, having lived nearly his entire life without her and now finding how much he needed her.

Waking would be good. Waking would mean he could tell her exactly that. Waking first needed sleep, of course, but waking would bring him back to her side.

As it happened, for better or worse, waking also came some hours later with a stormy dream. The stillness of his sleep began to crash down into twisting and twitching and gasping for breath.