Groot thinks 12% is better than 11% (i_am_groot_) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-07-25 21:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | groot, nina pickering |
Who: Nina and Gabe (Groot)
When: End of June
Where: Nina’s
What: Nina dreams about her death. Gabe runs over to comfort, cuddle and talk.
Rating/Warnings: Medium - mentions of bruising from dreams, and a violent dream death
Status: Complete
Nina’s dreams came fairly regularly but she didn’t often talk about them. Her life there and life in reality were so different that she didn’t often let them affect her. She was lucky she supposed, that she was able to do so. But here while she had known Annie briefly nobody else from her dream had appeared and she was so happy with Gabe and her friends that it felt like watching someone else.
Or it had until that night anyway. But when she had dreamed of her death she had woken up gasping in agony and feeling like her bones really had been shattered by the baseball bat wielding vampires. Laying on her bed curled in on herself she felt the tears falling down her cheeks as she winced through calling her boyfriend. Because it was the irony of fate that she would dream this event on a rare night when they were apart.
Gabe usually slept like a log, but he always remembered to leave his cell phone on during the night in case an emergency with Nina or any of their friends arose. So far he’d not gotten any late night calls, but tonight was different. The ringtone, set to a decent volume, sounded as blaring as a concert speaker on full blast as it rang out Marc Anthony’s “Dimelo”, the Spanish version of the popular “I Need to Know”.
Gabe shot up in bed, startled out of his deep slumber and looked about a moment before realizing it was his phone. Squinting in the darkness of his room he reached over to the singing device, the only point of light in the room besides what little moonlight filtered in through the closed curtains.
“ ‘Hullo?” he said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and not even checking to see who was calling.
“Were you asleep?” Nina asked him, voice wavering as she sniffed and closed her eyes so she could focus on his voice and not the memories of her dream, “I just need to hear your voice”
“Yeah.” he said, his voice a bit hoarse from sleep. “What time is it? What’s wrong, Nina? Are you okay?” Alarm at her tone seized him and he was quickly more alert. She’d been crying, that much was obvious.
“Uh like two or something” she said, taking a shaky deep breath, “I had a pretty bad dream. It seems like death dreams are going around at the moment” she tried to joke but it fell flat. “Could you...is it too selfish to ask you to come over?”
“No I’ll be right over.” Holy crap, she’d had a death dream too, just a while after he’d had his. Gabe scrambled out of bed, kicking the sheets aside wildly that tried to tangle his legs. “Oh babe, I’m so sorry.” He pinched the phone between his shoulder and ear as he struggled into sweatpants. “What happened?” He grabbed a tank top from the top drawer of his dresser, not even needing the light to guide him, going by muscle memory. But finding his shoes and his keys was another thing. He hit the light switch and nearly hissed as he went momentarily light-blind. Jogging over he scooped up the keys, shoved bare feet into sneakers and rushed out of the house, barely remembering to lock the door on the way out.
“Thank you” she said with a tired smile into the phone, “I love you” Even hearing his voice was helping her and she sat up on the bed, her body throbbing. Moving to the bathroom she spoke softly, “Vampires, they followed me when I went out. They had baseball bats” she lifted her shirt in the mirror and discovered her body covered in purple and yellow bruises. Great, she’d have to use the xray machine at the hospital to make sure there were no internal injuries though it didn’t feel like there was. Maybe bruised ribs.
“I love you too, baby.” Gabe said, already in the car and peeling out of the driveway in his pickup truck. As Nina relayed her dream he nearly lost focus, the car swerving slightly.
“What?! Vampires? Oh god...that’s a horrible way to go.” his voice was pained for her. He could only imagine how traumatizing a dream like that could be. Any death dream carried its weight of trauma, but that was a slow and very painful way to die, not to mention the uber violent method involved. He hoped the injuries hadn’t crossed over, he knew some of the posts on Valar relayed as much. “I am never complaining about my dream death ever again.” and that joke fell a bit flat as well, but it was also the truth.
He was at Nina’s within five minutes - which meant he’d been speeding the whole way but managed not to get caught. He’d kept her on the line the whole time, not wanting to break that contact. He sprinted across the lawn and rushed up to her door, fumbling with the key to get the door open. Gabe managed it at last, cursing himself, before entering the dark house and making a beeline for her bedroom. “Nina?” he called, having hung up the phone and tossed it onto the kitchen table without even looking. “Nina I’m here!”
The moment that Nina heard Gabe she rushed from the bathroom adjoining the bedroom and ran straight into his arms, ignoring the pain that shot through her as her bruised body impacted with his. Right now all she cared about was being with him and being held by him. “I’m so glad you’re here” she whispered as she closed her eyes and held onto him. His presence was comforting and she always felt safer when he was around.
Gabe wrapped his large arms around her, easing the hug a bit as he felt a reflexive momentary tension in her body. Now he was certain the injuries had crossed over.
“Babe, I’m so sorry.” he whispered into her hair. He pulled back to look her over, but all the lights were off besides nightlights, leaving him only able to see the anguished look on her face and the tear tracks running down her cheeks.
“Are you hurt? Did anything cross over?”
Nina nodded, “A little. Bruised ribs at most I think. Nothing feels broken. I'll stick myself in the X-ray at work” she added to ease his concerns, “I'll be okay. Especially now you're here”
That wasn’t good enough for Gabe. He knew how bad bruised ribs felt like, he’d gotten into a particularly nasty fight once as a teen and it was not something he ever wanted to go through again. “Let me see,” he said gently, and guided her back to the bedroom, turning the light on. He sat down on the bed next to her and gingerly lifted her shirt. The colored bruises were shocking and tears filled his eyes at the sight of them.
“Oh my god, Nina.” he breathed. Fingers tentatively touched her skin. He looked into her eyes, moving to hold her face with his hands. “What the hell. This is so not right.” Kissing her forehead he laid her head against his chest, afraid to let the rest of her make contact with him without causing further pain. He was angry and frustrated that there was nothing he could have done to protect her from this. The dreams were unpredictable, and often unfair in abusing the dreamers like so. “Should you wrap them until you can get to an x-ray?” He then added. “You still have some of the werewolf cannabis, right? That should ease some of the pain.”
“At least I woke up” she once again tried to joke but it missed the mark. Though there was some truth in it, it could have gone much worse. She closed her eyes as she leaned on Gabe's chest, this already felt better.
“Yeah I do, that's a good idea. Something to take the edge of would be good” she admitted, because she knew rest wouldn't come while she felt so sore.
Gabe rose to get the medicine, but paused at the doorway. “I’ll help you wrap those ribs okay?” He then disappeared into the house, heading into the kitchen and straight to the top cupboard where he knew she kept the stash he grew specifically for her. Long arms reached to the back and procured the ziploc and papers, and deftly dumping out the leaves onto paper he expertly rolled it. They could have made a tea instead, he realized, but it would have taken longer to get into her system. He found the matches in a kitchen drawer and struck one, momentarily lighting the kitchen with the warm glow of firelight. Blowing on it to snuff the flame he tossed the match into the sink, ran the water (he was always careful around fire) and returned with the now slowly burning blunt. “This is probably gonna be strong, but that’s a good thing this time.” He smiled weakly and handed it to her. Unlike a joint, which was smaller, the blunt would get more into her system, alleviating more pain. And while the mix was meant for the werewolf change she underwent once a month, with those injuries, he knew it’d help just as much.
Nina nodded, grateful for his help. She was beyond glad he was there, she had hated waking up alone after that. She smiled and took the joint from him to inhale, “Thank you” she told him, “You really are the very best boyfriend in the world”
He smiled at the compliment and kissed the top of her head. “Love you.” He went into the bathroom and hunted down bandages in a first aid kit. Walking back into the bedroom he smirked a little and said, “Time to strip, gorgeous.” He teased. Big hands helped her slowly and gingerly lift off her night shirt. He tenderly looked over the extent of the damage back and front, fingers gently grazing over her skin to test sensitivity. She was nothing but bruises, he could hardly find a patch of clear skin. “Baby,” he whispered sadly, and looked at her, reaching up to hold her face with his free hand.
“Love you too” Nina said with a smile, he was being so sweet and good to her. She knew she’d found a good guy, one of the very best. She even managed a little chuckle when he told her to strip and found it was much easier to do so with his help, the drugs were taking effect helping her bruised muscles to relax and the pain to ease. “Not very attractive right now huh?” she said trying to make light of it.
He wanted to chuckle at the joke but it wouldn't rise to his throat. A mixture of anger and pain threatened to instead. What was with vampires and werewolves hating each other? He’d seen it in movies but didn't know much about how it worked in Nina’s dreams. He never pushed for details that weren't given, knowing how sensitive some of the dreams were for her. But the questions were on his lips and he couldn't help but ask.
“Why’d they do this? When did this happen in the dreams?” He proceeded to start to wrap her ribs, going slow.
“Revenge. George killed an important vampire so they decided to get back at him. I was out shopping when they attacked, about a week after giving birth. My werewolf healing wasn’t strong enough to save me and they made sure I was dead” she told him, taking careful breaths as he wrapped up her ribs.
He paused midway, looking up at her. “A week after...that means the baby...?” His expression looked pained for her; on top of an extremely traumatic way to go now Nina would be bereft of knowing what would happen to her infant daughter. It was a strange thing to worry over his girlfriend's dream baby that wasn't even theirs, but Gabe was empathetic like that.
“The baby was at home, I don’t know what happened. We hadn’t even named her yet” Nina said a little sadly, she had been a cute baby even if she wasn’t technically ‘real’ in the sense that she didn’t exist here.
“I'm sorry, Nina.” he said quietly, continuing to bandage her up. “I'm sure George will make sure she's protected.” Guessing was the only consolation he could give. Finishing his work he leaned back and said, “How does that feel?” He reached out with a hand and pushed his fingers repeatedly through her sleep tousled hair in a gentle, soothing gesture.
“I’m sure he will too” Nina said, and really it’s not like she could do anything about it now anyway. She wasn’t about to let it play on her mind too much. “Much better, thank you” she said leaning into his touch and it wasn’t a lie. She was feeling better thanks to his proximity and the drugs in her system.
Gabe wanted to hold her desperately but knew even with the drugs it probably wasn't the best idea. They still had no idea if any internal damage had occurred though right now Nina seemed to be doing better. After a few minutes silence of him simply stroking her hair and watching her take puffs of the weed, he finally said with hesitation (as he wasn't the medical professional after all) “Are you sure you can't do X-Rays or an MRI or something now? How do you know if there isn't internal bleeding?” Renewed concern was written all over his face, kind brown eyes narrowed by furrowed brows.
“I’m pretty sure there isn’t” Nina said, “Believe it or not this actually feels way better than in the dreams” It wasn’t even a fifth of the pain she had felt there. “But we can go to the hospital now if you want” She could see he was worried and while she didn’t want to keep him up so late she had a feeling he’d probably just worry anyway. It did make sense to get things checked now, it was probably partly her Brit stubbornness coming through.
It had been more painful in the dreams? Gabe couldn't even fathom it. “How would we get away with it though?” he asked. “You're not on duty. Wouldn't someone notice? Or is it better this way, with the night shift?” It was possible now was better in a number of ways - who after all, would be using the MRI or X-Ray machines at two in the morning?
“It should only be emergency cases at this time” she told him, “So I think it’ll be fine, I’ll probably know the nurse in charge there. They’re used to seeing me come and go all the time” she gave him a little smile.
“I'll have to wait in the car,” he said, more of a statement than a question. “It'll look weird if I'm with you.” Even though he wanted to be. He didn't want to let Nina out of his sight at the moment. He squeezed her hand a little. “Let's get you dressed.”
“Are you sure? I feel bad that I’ve already disturbed your night” Nina said, though it was a much better idea than waiting for the morning and it would reassure them both.
“Positive.” and he was already hunting for clothes for her in dressers. “There's no way I can go back to sleep now anyway.”
“I’m sorry” Nina said, moving carefully to help him though he pretty much already picked out some great clothing for her. He knew her well and had thought about her injuries too.
Gabe paused and placed a hand on hers, lifting it to kiss her knuckles. “Don't be sorry. This wasn't your fault. You know I'm always here for you, babe.” And he kissed her lips before realizing something. He took the blunt from her saying, “Don’t need you smelling like weed before you go in.” He nudged her gently to the bathroom while he went to the kitchen to put out the blunt.
“I love you” Nina said returning the kiss gently, before smiling “Yeah might not be the best impression to give my coworkers” she said, moving towards the bathroom to get ready slowly so they could head to the hospital.
After Gabe had put out the blunt and Nina had gotten dressed, he drove them to the hospital, holding her hand with one of his and driving down the dark, empty streets carefully. Dropping her off at the entrance he gave her a quick kiss. “Gimme a call when you're done.”
“Will do, I shouldn’t be long” she promised him before going into the hospital. She was actually quite lucky as it was super quiet and didn’t take her long at all. It was as she thought, bruised ribs but no damaging internal injuries. Thanking the nurses, she called Gabe and waited by the entrance. “Legal painkillers” she told him as she got into the car and shook the bag she had in her hand, “And just bruising, no other injuries”
“Thank god,” he breathed a big sigh of relief. But as he looked at the bag, he frowned a little. “How’d you explain to them what happened? I hope they didn’t get the wrong idea.” He’d assumed Nina had managed to work out the machines and everything alone. He didn’t expect her to come back with meds. The last thing Gabe needed was her coworkers suddenly thinking he was responsible for the massive bruising.
“No, of course not. They know you wouldn’t do anything and that I’d never let you” Nina said, laying a hand over his in reassurance. “I told them it was from the dreams, they understood”
Ah. Those nurses. The ones that understood the whole dream business. Well that was good. Reassured fully, Gabe sighed again and smiled over at his girlfriend. “Okay, so, you want me to stay with you?” He figured the answer was yes, but it never hurt to ask. He’d insist if she said no. “Or do you wanna come over to my place? We can always watch some Netflix or something if you don’t want to go back to sleep.”
It was definitely handy to know those who accepted the dreams and those who didn't. “Happy for either, wherever you'll get more rest” Nina said, she doubted she'd sleep much but wanted Gabe to be able to rest.
“Don’t worry about me, babe.” he kissed her hand again. “How about we go back to yours, you finish that blunt, and we can just curl up and watch whatever.” Truth be told the edge of adrenaline was starting to wear off, and Gabe knew odds were good at some point during the cuddling he’d pass out. But hopefully not for a long while. He didn’t want Nina to eventually go back to her room alone where the hellish dreams had occurred and thought perhaps replacing any trace emotions with careful snuggling and TV would be a good distraction.
As long as Nina had Gabe close she knew the dreams wouldn’t bother her much, not even the memory of them. He always made her feel safe, no matter the situation. “I think that sounds perfect” she said, lifting their hands to kiss his in a thank you. She really was a lucky girl to have such a wonderful boyfriend.