And Then She Was Gone

Patience

It was 3:30am, and Elizabeth had spent the last four hours tossing and turning in the bed, repeatedly shifting her body placement as well as flipping and fluffing the pillow beneath her head, as if she had not yet found the perfect combination that would allow her to sleep.

She rationalized her unrest to the excessive amount of sleeping she had done the night prior and then again in the better part of yesterday morning. She has been mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted when Mark had dropped her off, and her body made up for it by providing her a peaceful deep sleep allowing her to recuperate once she was in the security of the home.

She was unaware of the effect of Jason's strong scent of eucalyptus and mint, and how it was the direct cause for her unrest. He was several rooms down, and yet it was still potent. It's invisible presence trailed and travelled to her nose, almost like the way smoke would whip and curl into air, targeting her senses and keeping them alive and active, not allowing her to achieve any rest as it reached her from the owners distance.

She eventually gave up her current attempts meant to induce sleep, and decided that maybe she was in need of some warm tea to aid her efforts. The comforter was pushed off her form and she grabbed at her robe before she quietly began to tip toe down the hall, her feet stagnating outside the door where she knew he was sleeping. Her hand pressed to her forehead as the smell seemed to attack her, she was almost inclined to open the door, just to check and see if he was still asleep, but she decided against it not wanting to accidentally wake him and disrupt it in case he was, as it was evident earlier his clear need for it.

She resumed her tiptoeing down the stairs, and filled the tea kettle at the sink in the kitchen she had now familiarized herself with in her short stay. This environment reminded her of Uncle Dominicks and Aunt Shellys home back in Pennsylvania, however the personalities of the opposite sex were swapped with slight differences but still just as comforting nonetheless.

Her mind wandered to how both her aunt and uncle were doing, and she was hoping their home life resumed to the normal peaceful banter she took notice shared between Catherine and Adolphus. She was in clear distraction as she began to wonder how Alex was doing, her hand grabbing at the mug as she also hoped he was able to return to his playful demeanor and be able to live his life as he normally would.

She was so lost in thought that she almost dropped the mug before frantically scrambling and clutching it to her chest when she heard a familiar deep voice reach out to her from close behind filled with a groggy tone. "What are you doing up? It's still early. " Jason said as he was standing directly behind her as he ran a hand through his hair with heavy eyes.

She exhaled the breath taken from the heavy gasp induced by her startle, as she looked back over to him her eyes relaxing and finding it momentarily ironic that he had popped up on her like Alex so frequently did, as she thought about the blue eyed man from home.

"I couldn't sleep." She said her voice still a little breathless as she recovered from his unexpected arrival. "I wanted to make some tea, to see if it would help." Her voice returning to its normal tone but at a low volume to not disrupt the others still sleeping within the large home.

"Is it because I'm here?" He questioned, grabbing the now bubbling tea kettle before it could sound the alarms with an eruption of steam through its spout. His face holding a muted grimace as his mind knew she had slept easy the night before and now seemed to be restless with him present in the homes walls.

"N-no," she said quickly, with a shake of her head as she held the string of the tea bag to prevent its slipping into the cup while he poured the hot water in the mug placed on the counter. "I'm perfectly tired, and relaxed. My brain just doesn't seem to want to shut down. Why are you up? You should get more sleep, it'll only be a couple more hours before you have to go be an alpha and do whatever it is you do." She said with a gentle hand wave, clearly not knowing what he did day in and out everyday.