[ Vasquez retires to his usual spot in the common room that night with a little more ease and much less heavy exhaustion. That he and Emma seemed to have reached some kind of understanding about what it means to keep him around has lifted a weight off of his shoulders that he hadn't realized he'd been carrying.
But without bone-deep weariness to drag him down, Vasquez sleeps lighter, and even all this time within Emma's walls couldn't break that habit. Her cries of alarm punch through his consciousness like a bullet and he sits bolt upright, gun in his hand.
He's heard Emma's nightmares before, and though he's a little disoriented when he first wakes, it quickly catches up to him that he's hearing one now. It seems to be worse than the others, because usually Emma will shake herself awake or pull away from the dream, settle into quieter noises until sleep claims her again. She cries out a second time, and Vasquez decides that he can't bear to leave her to suffer any longer.
Quietly, he pushes his way past the bedroom door and moves to the edge of her bed. She's thrashing and crying, hair flying every which way, blankets in a kicked up mess. ]
Emma.
[ He's hesitant to touch her, for fear of scaring her, but he lightly perches on the edge of the bed. ]
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But without bone-deep weariness to drag him down, Vasquez sleeps lighter, and even all this time within Emma's walls couldn't break that habit. Her cries of alarm punch through his consciousness like a bullet and he sits bolt upright, gun in his hand.
He's heard Emma's nightmares before, and though he's a little disoriented when he first wakes, it quickly catches up to him that he's hearing one now. It seems to be worse than the others, because usually Emma will shake herself awake or pull away from the dream, settle into quieter noises until sleep claims her again. She cries out a second time, and Vasquez decides that he can't bear to leave her to suffer any longer.
Quietly, he pushes his way past the bedroom door and moves to the edge of her bed. She's thrashing and crying, hair flying every which way, blankets in a kicked up mess. ]
Emma.
[ He's hesitant to touch her, for fear of scaring her, but he lightly perches on the edge of the bed. ]
Emma. Querida, please.