Lizzie Bennet Diaries one-shots

Dreams

Lydia and Milo are happily married, but every once in a while Lydia still finds herself in a difficult situation.

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I was woken up by my wife mumbling in her sleep. "No, I don't want-" She was very tense, her arms wrapped around a pillow.
"Lydia?" I asked, putting my hand on her shoulder. She didn't respond.
I sighed, and came closer, wrapping my arms around her. "It's okay," I whispered, "You're safe, I'm here. I've got you, ok? No one can hurt you now." I kept repeating those words, hoping they'd somehow slip into the subconscious of her mind and she'd calm down. No response. She pushed me away and crawled to the furthest side of the bed.
After a while, she looked at me and saw me looking back. "Did I wake you?" she asked softly.
"No," I answered, "I couldn't sleep."
She smiled softly in the dim light and my heart skipped a beat as I saw how the light of the stars reflected in her eyes. "Me neither."
"I guess that makes us insomnia buddies," I said, sticking out my tongue to her.
She chuckled and kissed my nose. "What do you say, insomnia buddy, should we try to get some sleep?"
I yawned. "Good plan."
She curled up to me, her head resting on my chest. It always surprised me how small she could make herself when she wanted to.
"Lydia?" I asked. It came out much more insecure than I wanted to.
"Hm?"
"Are you alright?"
She looked up at me. "I did wake you up, didn't I?"
"Yes," I confessed.
"Why didn't you just say so?"
"I didn't want to worry you," I said, "or make you feel guilty."
She sighed. "I love you very much. You know that, right?"
"I love you too, Squirrel."
She smiled at the nickname. "Next time just be honest with me, okay?"
"I will," I said, "but then you're going to have to be honest too."
An expression of surprise washed over her face. "Who says I'm not being honest?"
"Well, for starters, you haven't answered my question. Are you alright?"
Lydia buried her face in my chest. "Mmmno."
"What is wrong?" I asked, softly stroking her head.
"Work."
"What about work?"
Now she looked up at me. "You know I'm not allowed to share any personal information of my clients."
I nodded but started to understand what was bothering her. "You know you can always redirect a client to someone else if it becomes too difficult to separate work and life."
She sighed. "I know. I just- I just thought I'd be able to handle this by now. I really want to help her, you know?"
"Lydia!" I turned her face so that she looked at me. "You can't help everyone. Help her if you can, I will support you, but don't if it's too much. I don't know what is best for you, only you know that. Just please take care of yourself. Will you promise me that?"
"I will," she answered firmly, "I'm pretty sure I can handle this. It's been a bit much lately, but it'll get better. I've survived many worse things, I've got this."
I smiled. "Good."
She looked over my shoulder at the alarm clock. "5 AM, so that means my alarm goes off in an hour. I'm not going to sleep anymore, you?"
I felt tired but very awake. "Me neither."
A smile spread over her face: "Wanna go bake snickerdoodles together?"
I laughed, caught off-guard by the sudden change of subject. "What, why?"
"I'm doing morning shift at the centre tomorrow - or, today, I guess. Wouldn't it be nice to bring them some cookies?"
"You're too nice!" I poked her.
She laughed and pushed me off the bed. "No such thing as too nice! I learned that from my sister."
I got up. "Your sister is right. C'mon, let's go bake some cookies."