Deep Kiss of Winter.

[Hikari_Mamo]

Marie smiled and pulled back from Alyson's body. Blood had dripped from her nose and mouth. She stood. "My work is done Conrad. Good luck." She smiled under her hood, her features still unknown. She took Clara's hand and lead her out of the room, the house.

Conrad was worried the whole time. The blood was tempting, but not enough to attack. And his Instinct told him that she would help Alyson. When the women were gone, Conrad returned to Alyson's side, her colour returning was heartening. And he was happy for this. It meant that she was healing. He stayed by her side never budging.  

[chibi_blue_mouse]

True to her word, five minutes after Marie left, Alyson did indeed wake up. And the first words out of her mouth were: "Fiv' mo' minutes . . ." she grumbled as she rolled over onto her side, pulling the blankets up to her chin. In the back of her mind, she knew something had happened, but she was having a hard time remembering what exactly it was that had happened. She did, however, feel rather sore all over and that just made her want to go back to sleep to try and avoid the pain.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Conrad smiled. "Of course." He whispered stroking hair from her face. "You can have as many minutes as you like." He chuckled making her comfortable in the bed.  

[chibi_blue_mouse]

Alyson smiled. "Conrad . . . I missed you." she whispered sleepily. "I had a bad dream . . ." she mumbled, frowning a bit. She had caught his hand was it brushed over her face.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Conrad frowned softly and kissed her forehead. "You had a bad dream?" He asked gently holding her hand. "Well that's no good." He replied, his voice soft. "Do you know what you do when you have a bad dream?" He asked.  

[chibi_blue_mouse]

Alyson squirmed a bit, feeling rather uncomfortable and sore for reasons she couldn't really remember all that well. "Um . . . I change my pillows." she giggled after a moment and pulled at the hand until she had his arm and situated that under her head, giggling rather a lot. She wasn't sure why but . . . she felt a lot more comfortable with Conrad than she had been . . .  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Conrad chuckled and moved closer to her to be comfortable. "Well yes, but there is also something else. When you wake up, you tell yourself five things that make you smile and say: Ha, take that bad dream, you'll never ruin my mood."  

[chibi_blue_mouse]

Alyson sighed. "Well . . . I'm alive . . . I have my house . . . I have you . . ." she trailed off sleepily. "I'm sore though . . . all over . . . not just my legs . . . I feel like I should know why but . . . I don't remember . . ." she murmured, rubbing at her eyes, trying to wipe the sleep away.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Conrad nodded. "Then sleep." He said to her. "I'll make you something to eat for when you wake." He promised. "You rest. You look as though you need it."  

[chibi_blue_mouse]

Alyson made a small noise of protest. "But I want you to stay with me . . . You're my new pillow, remember?" she grumbled, giving his hand a squeeze.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Conrad gave a soft chuckle. "All right. I'll stay with you. Would you like to cuddle the pillow too?" He asked. "Or just the arm part?"  

[chibi_blue_mouse]

Alyson giggled a little and then rolled over and cuddled Conrad rather happily. She felt . . . safe with him there. Like the nightmare wouldn't return if he was there to protect her from that.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Conrad smiled and climbed into the bed so she could hug him and he was more comfortable. "Full cuddle it is." He chuckled softly. He kept her close, safe, in his arms. He hummed a lullaby he remembered his mother singing to him as a boy hoping that it would be as soothing to Alyson as it had been for him.  

[chibi_blue_mouse]

Alyson actually wound up sleeping for another two hours once she did fall back to sleep, but it was a natural, restive, restorative sleep that she had been needing since she first came back to life.
When she woke, she was feeling much better than she had felt in a very long time. She wanted to stretch, but . . . being cuddled was keeping her from really being able to do that. So she poked Conrad. "Are you awake?" she asked in a whisper.  

[Hikari_Mamo]

Conrad had taken a nap around half an hour into her last leg of sleep. He jolted a little awake and smiled. "Yeah, just taking a nap. How are you feeling?" He asked pulling back a little to get a good look at her. as if to inspect her for injuries or anything unusual.