Angst Bingo - Nightmares
Jul. 21st, 2011 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theroadhouseTitle: For Now
Author:telaryn
Word Count: 731
Fandom: Leverage
Characters: Nate/Sophie
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Amnesia
Disclaimer: No ownership implied, no profit obtained.
Summary: Sophie confronts Nate's inability to deal with the fallout of a particularly unusual vampire attack.
Author's Note: Written forangst_bingo, for the prompt "nightmares". This story is set in The Ties That Bind Job 'Verse, in the aftermath of The End of Days Job. For those not familiar with the 'verse, the basic premise is that Faith the Vampire Slayer is Nathan Ford's biological daughter, fathered when he was a teenager. The relationship is a recent discovery for both of them.
In The End of Days Job, during a battle with Lindsey McDonald and Wolfram & Hart, Nate was captured and mind-raped by the vampire Drusilla. The fallout from this experience was alluded to in the epilogue of The End of Days Job, but is only starting to be explored in this story.
Be in my eyes. Be in me.
They were the last things he remembered as the strange vampire had lured him out of his home and away from his family. That and her eyes – her strange, fathomless eyes.
“Faith says you haven't been sleeping.”
Nate met the accusation in Sophie's gaze without flinching, taking a careful sip of his coffee. “Neither has she.”
Be in my eyes. Be in me. It was the way all his nightmares started. Every night since they'd defeated Wolfram & Hart, until he gave up on the idea of sleep. He would come downstairs and Faith would be here waiting for him.
Except for tonight. Tonight Sophie had met him at the foot of the staircase. Faith had chosen to stay with Eliot.
She moved to the opposite side of the counter. “We all know she has good reason,” she countered. “You don't even know what your reason is.”
Nate laughed bitterly. “I was taken hostage and bartered like a piece of meat so my daughter and one of my best friends could be forced into a situation that nearly destroyed them. Why wouldn't I have trouble dealing with that?”
Her expression was so sad. He knew it would have been easier if she'd cried for him, if she'd screamed at him – anything but this horrible, bottomless pity. “You wake up screaming, Nate,” she said, finally. “Every night. This isn't your guilt. This is the fact that you don't have the slightest idea what that bitch did to you while you were a hostage!”
Nate only realized he was shaking when a couple drops of coffee splashed on his hand. Swearing under his breath, he put the mug down and tried to bring himself back under control. He closed his eyes when Sophie wrapped her hand around his, but managed not to pull away.
“Nate.”
Exhaling softly, he looked at her again.
“How big is the hole in your memory?”
He shrugged. “Twelve hours, give or take. And it's not a total blackout.” He shuddered involuntarily. “I get...flashes. Images that feel too real to be hallucinations, but otherwise don't make any sense.”
A past lost to time and chance and his own stupid stubbornness. Faith as a little girl – his little girl. Tea parties and dolls...“Daddy can I?” and “Daddy watch me?”...a whole lifetime neither of them had ever known.
He'd been a prisoner in his own head, and he'd been happy to be there.
That doesn't explain why you wake up screaming.
Sophie's voice was low and soothing. “I'm guessing it's not the stuff you can remember that's giving you the nightmares.”
Nate studied their joined hands. “No,” he whispered. The shadowy images that plagued his dreams, and the utter blankness that tortured his waking moments were a constant reminder that his mind was no longer entirely his own. No matter how ugly it got at times, Nate had always felt secure in his own head. The vampire attack had changed all that forever.
Sophie touched his cheek with her free hand. “Have you given any more thought to the hypnotist Hardison recommended?”
He smiled. Nate understood the logic behind his hacker's suggestion – and it had been a good one. “It gives another stranger access to my mind, Sophie. Somebody else sifting through my thoughts.” He shuddered again. “I can't. Not right now. It's too soon.”
“Okay.” Sophie nodded as though a decision had been reached. “Then I'm moving in for the time being.”
“What?” Nate blinked, startled at the turn the conversation had taken. “Sophie, really – that's not necessary. Faith...”
She waved him down. “All you and Faith are doing at this point is feeding off each other's nightmares. And even you have to admit that it's extremely inappropriate for her to stay in your bed at night to help see you through these things.”
Nate couldn't argue that point at all. Still...”You're going to stay in my bed?”
“Strictly platonic,” Sophie countered, smiling at him. “For now. That way you're not alone, and if you happen to remember anything, or say anything in your sleep...”
“You'll be there to hear it,” Nate finished. It was a solution he could live with.
For now.
Author:
telarynWord Count: 731
Fandom: Leverage
Characters: Nate/Sophie
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Amnesia
Disclaimer: No ownership implied, no profit obtained.
Summary: Sophie confronts Nate's inability to deal with the fallout of a particularly unusual vampire attack.
Author's Note: Written for
angst_bingo, for the prompt "nightmares". This story is set in The Ties That Bind Job 'Verse, in the aftermath of The End of Days Job. For those not familiar with the 'verse, the basic premise is that Faith the Vampire Slayer is Nathan Ford's biological daughter, fathered when he was a teenager. The relationship is a recent discovery for both of them.In The End of Days Job, during a battle with Lindsey McDonald and Wolfram & Hart, Nate was captured and mind-raped by the vampire Drusilla. The fallout from this experience was alluded to in the epilogue of The End of Days Job, but is only starting to be explored in this story.
Be in my eyes. Be in me.
They were the last things he remembered as the strange vampire had lured him out of his home and away from his family. That and her eyes – her strange, fathomless eyes.
“Faith says you haven't been sleeping.”
Nate met the accusation in Sophie's gaze without flinching, taking a careful sip of his coffee. “Neither has she.”
Be in my eyes. Be in me. It was the way all his nightmares started. Every night since they'd defeated Wolfram & Hart, until he gave up on the idea of sleep. He would come downstairs and Faith would be here waiting for him.
Except for tonight. Tonight Sophie had met him at the foot of the staircase. Faith had chosen to stay with Eliot.
She moved to the opposite side of the counter. “We all know she has good reason,” she countered. “You don't even know what your reason is.”
Nate laughed bitterly. “I was taken hostage and bartered like a piece of meat so my daughter and one of my best friends could be forced into a situation that nearly destroyed them. Why wouldn't I have trouble dealing with that?”
Her expression was so sad. He knew it would have been easier if she'd cried for him, if she'd screamed at him – anything but this horrible, bottomless pity. “You wake up screaming, Nate,” she said, finally. “Every night. This isn't your guilt. This is the fact that you don't have the slightest idea what that bitch did to you while you were a hostage!”
Nate only realized he was shaking when a couple drops of coffee splashed on his hand. Swearing under his breath, he put the mug down and tried to bring himself back under control. He closed his eyes when Sophie wrapped her hand around his, but managed not to pull away.
“Nate.”
Exhaling softly, he looked at her again.
“How big is the hole in your memory?”
He shrugged. “Twelve hours, give or take. And it's not a total blackout.” He shuddered involuntarily. “I get...flashes. Images that feel too real to be hallucinations, but otherwise don't make any sense.”
A past lost to time and chance and his own stupid stubbornness. Faith as a little girl – his little girl. Tea parties and dolls...“Daddy can I?” and “Daddy watch me?”...a whole lifetime neither of them had ever known.
He'd been a prisoner in his own head, and he'd been happy to be there.
That doesn't explain why you wake up screaming.
Sophie's voice was low and soothing. “I'm guessing it's not the stuff you can remember that's giving you the nightmares.”
Nate studied their joined hands. “No,” he whispered. The shadowy images that plagued his dreams, and the utter blankness that tortured his waking moments were a constant reminder that his mind was no longer entirely his own. No matter how ugly it got at times, Nate had always felt secure in his own head. The vampire attack had changed all that forever.
Sophie touched his cheek with her free hand. “Have you given any more thought to the hypnotist Hardison recommended?”
He smiled. Nate understood the logic behind his hacker's suggestion – and it had been a good one. “It gives another stranger access to my mind, Sophie. Somebody else sifting through my thoughts.” He shuddered again. “I can't. Not right now. It's too soon.”
“Okay.” Sophie nodded as though a decision had been reached. “Then I'm moving in for the time being.”
“What?” Nate blinked, startled at the turn the conversation had taken. “Sophie, really – that's not necessary. Faith...”
She waved him down. “All you and Faith are doing at this point is feeding off each other's nightmares. And even you have to admit that it's extremely inappropriate for her to stay in your bed at night to help see you through these things.”
Nate couldn't argue that point at all. Still...”You're going to stay in my bed?”
“Strictly platonic,” Sophie countered, smiling at him. “For now. That way you're not alone, and if you happen to remember anything, or say anything in your sleep...”
“You'll be there to hear it,” Nate finished. It was a solution he could live with.
For now.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-09 05:48 pm (UTC)