At first, Simon thought he was dreaming. The whole night he'd had fragments of nightmares, pieces of dreams of how things should be, shreds of memory, things real, things made up. His mind was buzzing, and so his sleep was restless, making him forget that his sister was, indeed, here.
So when she woke up and called to him, her voice sounded distant to him, echoing through the fog clouding his slowly waking mind. But then came the hand to his face, and his eyes shot open. "River--"
He let her speak, placing his hands on her shoulders, a silent assurance that he was here for her, as he had been and would be. And when she cried, he held her close, whispering, "It's okay. We're safe for now." Oh, what a relief to know she was all right. He'd felt so lost all day yesterday, not knowing where she was. The tension in his shoulders lifted, even if only for now.