Safe & Sound

24

Amena still didn't want to answer Cyfrin when he called the third time, but when he immediately called back a fourth, she knew she had to.

"What's going on, Amena?" he asked immediately in a no nonsense tone. She didn't know Cyfrin could even be angry. She wasn't scared of him; she never could be. She understood why he would be upset. She had been avoiding him.

"Nothing," she said simply. "I have been working all day. How did your presentation go?"

He sighed. "I thought after all this time, you would be able to tell me what's on your mind."

"You have this big presentation," she whispered.

"Nothing in my life matters more than you," he said back. "Please."

She sat on her bed, gripping her favorite blanket.

"I had a nightmare," she admitted. "I don't like the dark, and the house makes all these funny sounds that I never even noticed before."

"Poor baby," he said, softening his tone into something sweet that had her wanting to melt into a puddle. "There's a drawer in the kitchen that has some odds and ends in it. I think there's a night light. Why don't you plug that up?"

She hummed, leaving her room and going down to the kitchen, turning on every light as she went.

"What did you have a nightmare about, honey?" he asked.

"I don't remember," she admitted, shuffling through and finding two night lights. She was going to put one in her bathroom.

"Did you find some?"

"Yeah," she said. "Thank you."

"You can try to put on a show or a movie to fall asleep to," he added.

"I just-" she frowned. "I miss you."

"I miss you, and I love you," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" she said. "You weren't supposed to be back for another two days."

"I've done my presentation, and James can't wrap everything up."

"No, Cyfrin," Amena protested. "This is why I didn't want to bother you with this."

"You're not a bother," he said back firmly. "I just want to be home with you. I was always planning on coming back tomorrow if I could get everything I needed to do done."

She knew he was just saying that, but she also knew that getting him to change his mind was impossible.

"Try to get some sleep, baby. You can call me even if it's the middle of the night."

"Love you," Amena said.

"Love you more."

---

The nightlight did help, and she played a movie on her phone, but sleep still didn't find her. She really didn't want to sleep.

It was really early, almost time for the sun to come up, when she heard the garage door open. Cyfrin was the only one with an opener, but he was out of town.

Amena's heart began to pound her chest as she sat up, trying to listen for footsteps, but unable to focus.

Her bedroom door opened and she gasped, only to realize it was, in fact, Cyfrin.

"You scared me," she protested.

"I'm sorry. I thought you would be asleep," he said apologetically.

She stood up, going over to him. He dropped his bags, pulling her close. She gripped his jacket, dropping her head exhaustively onto his chest.

"I've got you," he whispered, kissing her forehead. "I caught the first flight home."

"There has to be something wrong with me, Cyfrin," Amena whispered. "I'm not even capable of being on my own."

"That's not fair," he whispered, cupping her cheeks and brushing the hair away from her face. "We've been together almost every day since you've lived with me. Not once were you alone like this, certainly not at night. This was a major adjustment, and it's okay that it didn't work. It wasn't great for me, either. Next time, we'll try something different."

"I don't want to keep you from doing things," she said. He leaned down for a kiss.

"I was coming home on this flight even before I knew you weren't sleeping. I missed you way too much."

He kissed her gently.

"How about I get ready for bed and we both catch some much needed sleep?"

Amena nodded.

It didn't take long for Cyfrin to come back to her freshly showered and in nothing but a pair of pajama pants.

"Where's your shirt?" she asked curiously, looking up from the book in her lap.

"Don't need it," he said, giving her a cute grin. He took the book from her, inspecting the cover.

She protested, but he waved her off. "I had to make sure you weren't reading our book without me." He handed it back, still on the exact page.

"I shouldn't have avoided your calls earlier," Amena said after a moment.

"I understand why you did, but I didn't like it. I was worried. I was about to send Emma or Xav over."

She put her book away, curling into him.

"You are my everything, Amena," Cyfrin said. "You come before any job, any other person. You're my priority. Don't forget that."

She kissed his chest where her face was resting. He gathered her hair away from her neck.

"You look like a zombie, a cute zombie of course," he teased, trailing his finger over her eyelids, coaxing her to close them.

The motion soothed her, and before she realized, she was fast asleep.