Someone To Run To

19

Alan was the first one to open his eyes. He woke at his usual time, which was somewhere between 6 and 9 am. It took him a minute to realize he wasn't in the comfort of his bed. He was somewhere much warmer.

Suddenly the events of the previous night came flooding back to him. He instantly felt guilty all over again. He never lost his temper. Gina had stared at him so strangely, like he ripped her heart out. It was the worst thing in the world to think he might have hurt her with nothing but his words. He shouldn't have said anything at all. Now, because of the outburst, he knew the question would be coming. He had revealed he knew how it felt to kill someone. Now she would want to know who, how, and why. He didn't know if it was something he was ready to tell her just yet.

Alan glanced down at her. Her eyes were still closed, which meant she was still sleeping peacefully. It surprised him neither of them had moved for the duration of the night, not even to go to the bathroom. He smiled. If he could hold her when he slept every night, he would never have any problems resting again. He knew pretty well it wasn't going to happen though. The only reason it happened last night was that she had asked him to stay with her. Now if she asked him to, he would not hesitate. He liked the feeling of her body next to his. It felt natural. Safe.

Without realizing what he was doing, Alan began to stroke her face lightly with the back of his hand, brushing hair that had fallen into her face back out of the way. His touch must have startled her because her eyes slowly fluttered open.

Gina blinked a couple of times. She felt toasty and secure. For a minute, she forgot where she was, but then her blurry vision came into focus and Alan's hazel eyes were staring at her. She smiled at him.

"Morning, love," he whispered.

She stretched a little and yawned. "Morning."

"How did you sleep?"

"Great. Better than I have in a long, long time. Well, since the last time I was here."

He grinned. "Me too. You don't think we could sleep this way every night do you?"

Gina raised her eyebrows at him and then laughed. Her words were still slightly slurred from sleep. "I don't think so."

"Can't blame a bloke for trying can you?"

"No. I guess not."

Alan moved his arms from around her. He wasn't even stiff like he figured he would be. Gina got up from the couch and stretched even farther, which allowed Alan to be able to sit up and give her room to sit down. She sat down beside him after she stretched as far as she could. The smell of breakfast filled her nostrils.

"Is Giles already cooking?" she asked.

Alan nodded. "He starts at 6 am because the staff is usually up by then. I am up as well. Sometimes I sleep in a little past 7 am though."

"Wow. That is so early. What time is it now?"

He pointed to the clock upon the mantle right above the fireplace. "It's way past 9 am. Almost 10. But it's okay. Everybody has already been down and ate I'm sure. They're hard at work by now."

Gina's cheeks reddened sheepishly. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"Oh, you have nothing to apologize for, dear. After what you went through the past few days, you deserve to sleep in."

"How long have you been up?"

"Just a few minutes. I suppose I was a tad bit more tired than I realized."