WHO: Joseph Bell & Betty Braithwaite. WHAT: Joe tries to comfort Betty. WHEN: 27 March, late night/28 March early morning. WHERE: Betty's flat. WARNINGS: Spoilers for this and this.
It was almost 2am when Joe woke up, his body jolting from his freefall experience of his dream. He realised where he was, and drew in a deep breath, trying to convince himself to go back to bed as waking up in the morning and the following day would be a pain if he couldn't sleep again. Thus, he tossed and turned, but to no avail.
Next time he checked the clock, it was almost 3am. This time, he was still and let thoughts of random things take over his mind. As it was prone to do at this time of night, they turned dark rather quickly and Joe gulped, trying to not let it affect him.
When the sleeping figure next to him stirred a bit, he took it upon himself as cue to let his arm wrap around her, pulling her into a cuddle, and press his lips, momentarily, against her cheek. She might've needed that extra cuddle right now, Joe assessed. She'd had a long day.
Betty wished she hadn't been able to sleep. If she hadn't been able to sleep, then she wouldn't have had those dreams. Not nightmares, genuine dreams that seemed so pleasant to be in until the moment that she woke up and remembered what had happened. At least she wasn't alone in that waking moment of horror.
She nestled her head against his, not daring to open her eyes. “I dreamed we were at school,” she mumbled softly against the pillow. “I remember it all so well.”
"Yeah?" Joe asked, figuring he might as well try to get Betty to engage in a conversation. He squeezed her body gently and pecked her cheek again, before letting his lips hover over her ear. "Want to tell me about it?"
She exhaled slowly, trying to not sound as shaken as she was. “Flick and I always did the same thing. Nowadays it's share a bottle of wine and gossip, before it was wine it was a pack of sweets or hot chocolate. Even if we were in different classes, we'd sit together and make time to talk about everyone and everything.” It had always been a tradition, even if she hadn't noticed the pattern until now. “I was remembering that, and it all seemed so real in the dream.” Betty couldn't conceal the sob in her voice.
Joe's heart ached for Betty, and he couldn't imagine what it must be like to be in her shoes — to lose her best friend. He would have been devastated if it had been Hestia, and a dark thought crossed his mind again.
"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," Joe whispered quietly, not sure what else he could say that would make any of it even a little bit better. There wasn't really anything else. A poor woman had lost her life because of Death Eaters and there was nothing he could say or do to make that better. "I am so, so sorry," he repeated.
Betty shifted closer to him, craving that physical comfort, and didn't answer straight away. “I can't stop thinking about poor Luca, either,” she confessed.
Joe remained silent, but he nodded, letting himself think about that poor kid. It was hard enough to not have parents be together, but now to lose one? He sighed, letting his hand catch hers, fingers intertwining with Betty's. "He'll be with Jasper, won't he?" Not that that was particularly a cheerful thought, not with Jasper having been fired from the DMLE.
“I assume so,” Betty murmured. “He was with Jasper’s sister, Flick couldn't leave with them because they banned her from travel.” She sounded hesitant, hating herself inwardly for even thinking of Flick in past tense terms. If she hadn't tried to do something illegal before — but it shouldn't have been illegal. She tensed slightly in his arms, before relaxing again.
She clasped his hand a little tighter, and brought her other hand to touch his cheek gently. “Thank you for being here.”
"Of course I'll be here," Joe assured her at once, leaning forward just enough to peck his lips against hers and he managed a smile, as he pulled back a little. "And I'll be here for as long as you're not sick of me," he replied again, chuckling for a brief moment, hoping it'll make Betty smile, even if just for a quick second.
"I love you, Betty."
She shook her head. “I could never get sick of you,” Betty insisted softly, leaning in to kiss him. “I love you too.” She'd told Flick about that, how she was envisioning their future. Betty had entertained so many wild dreams of their happiness, and Flick had been in all of them too. The unfairness of it all dug at her gut, she closed her eyes and tried to not dwell on the fact that her friend hadn't got her happiness. “I want to think about the good times, the good things. She knew you were a good thing for me.”
Joe couldn't help but chuckle for a moment, silently glad that this was apparently a thing between his girlfriend and her best friend. Or had been, he supposed.
He flinched, and cleared his throat. "She was wise, then." He smiled again, letting his thumb stroke the back of her hand gently. "I'll be here for you no matter what, okay? Or whatever you want me to do. Or not want me to do. Or whatever it is that you want. Okay?"
She smiled, very slightly, and even that felt difficult. “You're babbling, love,” Betty whispered to him. “But okay.” She kissed his lips slowly. “I want you here.”
"Then here is where I'll be," Joe mumbled against her lips, before kissing her softly. He held the kiss for a little bit longer, his free hand coming to her chin and cupping it affectionately. Joe pulled back from the kiss and let his forehead rest against hers, his eyes closed. His thoughts were swimming again, but he settled on one thing, which he wanted to propose out loud: "Maybe I could be here more permanently."
She watched him in silence, wondering about what he'd said.
And then, she nodded. “I'd like that.” Her hand covered his, and she turned her face a little to kiss the palm of his hand. “And we can be here for each other.”
"And Drogon and Lola can literally be best friends now," Joe replied, smiling, before he opened his eyes just in time to catch her kiss his hand. "It'll be nice." His stomach squirmed just a little, at feeling something akin to happiness when someone they knew was dead, but he exhaled loudly. They deserved to be happy, even if only for a moment.
“We can talk about it properly in the morning,” Betty told him, gently nudging at his hand with her nose. “You need your sleep.”
"Nah, I'm okay," Joe insisted, now that he was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, even though he would absolutely pay for this later. It didn't matter. He could suffer a day of being sleepy around the DMLE (which might be a welcome change considering how much he hated being there nowadays to begin with).
Which, of course, brought up a different idea altogether: "Do you think I should leave the Ministry?"
Betty was a little taken aback, but didn't show it. “That's a lot of life decisions for one sleepless night, love,” she commented quietly. “Have you been thinking about it much?”
"Not really, but it seems like it's something I should be thinking about, what with the Death Eater at the helm and everything," Joe replied breathlessly, as he wrinkled his nose. "But no, you're right, I shouldn't be making that decision just yet."
She pressed her hand gently against his chest. “Do what feels right, right there,” she told him, her fingers resting against his skin. “I know you'll make the right decision. You always do.” Her faith in him was as unshakeable as ever. “I support you.”
Joe considered her response and nodded; she was right, he sussed. He needed to do what his heart told him to do, except his heart told him a lot of things while his brain told him to stop being an idiot, so there were a lot of things he needed to think about when he wasn't thinking about other things first.
A lot of thinking. Thinking, thinking, thinking.
"You're a pretty great cheerleader, you know that?" Joe mumbled quietly, his voice teetering on teasing just a tad.
“I just know if I were a betting person I'd put everything on you,” Betty responded, shifting slightly to rest her head on his chest. “You're worth cheering on.”
"As long as you think so," Joe mumbled back, closing his eyes and breathing in and out slowly.
She made a soft noise of assent, curling an arm around his and staying quiet to listen to his slow and steady breathing. Betty was still a little afraid to sleep again, hesitant to welcome more painful dreams or maybe even the nightmares she'd been scared of. Flick was still at the front of her thoughts, even after the distraction of comfort. Knowing that she wasn't alone, however, made some bit of difference. “Love you,” she mumbled, closing her eyes once again.