BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

People fought for their lives no matter what side they favored. There was always something going on somewhere and, quite literally, no rest for the weary. Even after spending a large part of the evening fighting off horrific, unnatural beasts or other people who opposed her ideals, Gwen still found the beeping of her alarm to be the greatest enemy of all. Sleep was becoming a wayward friend. One she saw for only short periods and infrequently. There had been several nights where sleep eluded her all together, forcing the ginger to continue on without it’s sweet embrace. Life as a knight was tough. Tack onto the fact that her daily life wasn’t all that exciting and was somewhat stressful...well... yea, Gwen was feeling the strain.

A hand reached out from the mound of blankets while a groan, muffled by pillows, announced the woman’s disdain for the piece of machinery. Fumbling around, refusing to open her eyes just yet, she eventually caught the edge of the clock and pushed the snooze. The ear piercing sound halted, giving her sweet bliss for another ten minutes.

Retreating her arm back to the heavy warmth of her covers, Gwen rolled away from the nightstand while pulling the blankets up over her head. The offending sunlight was already beginning to peek into the room and with the seasons changing the ball of light in the sky was getting stronger each day. Normally, Gwen enjoyed the glare of the sun, but not in the morning. Not when she was reminded of how little sleep she had gotten.

Laying on her side, half awake and half dozing, she let her mind wander to what it willed. And, in typical fashion, she found herself staring at her mind’s image of Isaiah. She curled in on herself, knees moving to her abdomen as she snatched an extra pillow, one that had been occupying what had been Isaiah’s side of the bed, and clutched it to herself, closing off the blankets once again to put her in relative darkness.

It had been a few days, a week?, since the distress call had gone out. Days since she’d heard anything from him since walking him home. Gwen had no idea how he was doing. Was he still in pain? Were there any side effects he was dealing with? Was he still safe?

Instantly a vision of seeing him slump forward as his starseed was pulled, practically dead and she sucked in a breath, eye’s opening in response to free herself from the image. She clutched the pillow just a bit tighter as if it would stave off the memories she didn’t want to deal with. But, as seemed the case more often than not anymore, her mind had other things in store as she began thinking about the senshi, Scylla as she fought for Scholomance, stuck by his side, spoke soft, gentle words as she lay on the ground unmoving... kissed his hand.

“Dammit.” She cursed as she threw the covers off of herself. She was not going to ruminate on this! After all, she had agreed. Agreed to an open relationship. Gwen had promised to give it a shot. She just hadn’t realized how difficult it would be for her to cope with.

That she wasn’t good enough.

That she was being replaced...

Rubbing at her eyes, she crawled out of bed. Her entire body still aching from all the exertion she was giving out each and every day without the proper amount of rest. But, she didn’t have the time. There was too much to do, and though she wanted to curl up and just sleep the entire day away life was not going to give her that opportunity. Despite what happened, she needed to get to work, continue her daily life.

Life didn’t stop for anyone. Not until they were dead, and even then continued on without a care.

Depositing her nightgown in the hamper, Gwen grabbed on of the bath towels stored away in her closet and padded out to the bathroom, giving Reilly a quick morning belly rub before closing the door behind her. She spent her shower time working to rid herself of the negative memories and thoughts. Letting hot water ease tense and aching muscles. So, when she finally emerged from the now steamy room, she felt a bit more optimistic about the day.

Towel wrapped around herself she walked into the kitchen to start a kettle of water and to make sure Reilly had food and water before returning to the bedroom.

No sooner had she entered the room did the familiar ding of a text message alert her. Stopping midway to her closet, she walked around the bed to the nightstand to snatch up the phone, unplugging it from the wall.

It was from Isaiah.

Unconsciously she chewed her lip before opening the message. It wasn’t long. Just telling her he wanted to talk and to meet him at Shore’s Bridge. It was an odd place to meet. Normally he opted for more public locations anymore.

Her heart sank a bit at the message. Instantly her mind began buzzing about what could possibly be going on. Why there? Was that other woman going to be there too? Perhaps he was done and over dealing with Gwen and wanted end it?

No. Stop it Gwen. Just stop. She mentally chided herself. She needed to remain calm. Just because she imagined it was for the worst didn’t mean it was so. Perhaps they were finally going to chat things out, smooth it all over, reconnect and get back to being themselves again. That was also a possibility!

Taking in a deep breath and slowly letting it out she typed up a quick affirmative that she’d meet him. Sending the message off she immediately got up. Gwen couldn’t let herself just sit there or else she’d continue to turn over idea after idea and she couldn’t afford that. Especially with the clock blaring the time at her in bright red numbers.

“s**t!” She had wasted too much time and needed to be out the door in ten minutes. In haste she grabbed her gym bag and shoved the closest, clean gym clothes she could find inside along with another fresh towel before hurrying to her closet to change and pick out clothing to meet Isaiah in. She’d need to shower and change at the gym after work if she was going to look half presentable and be on time.

With only a minute or two to spare, Gwen grabbed her keys, slung her purse and gym bag over her shoulder and hurried out the door. Another packed day ahead of her with and likely a near sleepless night as well.

Such was her life.

WC: 1140