Daddy Issues

58. The Question

The rest of the day went by fine, no other mishaps or flashbacks disturbed me, and Lucius was sure to be extra gentle with me for the remainder of the day. His owl came later into the evening to let him know when his appointment is to get his divorce finalized, as well as to tell us that Narcissa was officially imprisoned and away for good. It felt like a huge weight lifted off of my chest from the information of the letter sent by the minister, like most of my worries vanished. Of course, I'm sure I'll always have some sort of paranoia surrounding her now.

The day slowly came to an end, but it felt so refreshing to spend it all with just Lucius. No cares about getting caught anymore, no tension, no third parties. Just us and our happy feelings for each other. We both decided to go to sleep a little earlier than usual tonight since he has to be up fairly early to get all of his legal issues sorted away. He also mentioned that I would have a busy day tomorrow as well, but refused to tell me why until morning.

I had some trouble falling asleep, though, and I couldn't quite pinpoint why. Some feelings of random excitement resided within me all night and kept me awake. It had to have been around two or three in the morning when Lucius started to thrash in his sleep, accompanied by heavy and uneven breathing. He seemed to be having a nightmare and it threw me off a bit because it's never happened before.

"Lucius," I whispered gently and shook his arm, attempting to wake him from whatever dream he was having.

He stayed sleeping and started groaning, almost like he was in pain. I made sure to turn the lights on before trying to wake him again.

"My love," I said a little bit louder, shaking him just a bit harder, not wanting to startle him.

Still nothing. Just more thrashing and heavy breathing. Within moments, he gasped loudly and shot up in bed, clutching his heart and frantically looking around the room.

"Lucius? What happened?" I asked, full of concern.

An expression of relief filled his face the second he looked at me, and with a shaky hand, he reached out to pull me into him.

"Are you okay, Y/N?" his voice was unsteady and he sounded so disturbed.

"Yes, my love. I'm fine," I assured, "Are you okay?"

"I think I dreamt that I wasn't there in time to save you," he said quietly, holding me tightly in his arms and resting his chin on my shoulder, "I was there in that cellar but I couldn't see properly. You were shaded by this dark figure. Then the figure took off a black cloak and it appeared to be Narcissa, but she was covered in blood. When she saw me she started laughing in a maniacal way. She stepped aside and revealed you— well, what was left of you. Your head...it was— never mind that."

My stomach twisted at his words and I wrapped my hands around his arms, delicately caressing them as he spoke.

"I'm so sorry, Lucius. I'm here and I'm safe, nothing's gonna happen to me anymore."

He let out a breathy sigh and nuzzled his face in the crook of my neck, tickling my skin with his stubble.

"I know, my love. I don't know what came over me. I think we should get back to sleep."

"Are you sure? I'm more than okay with staying up and talking."

"All my worries left the second I saw you, darling. I'm okay now," he lightly chuckled, "I can handle a silly dream. Plus, we've both got a busy day tomorrow. It's better to get rested up now because I know how you get when you're tired."

"You still haven't told me why my day will be busy," I turned to face him.

"Patience, love. You'll figure it out in a few hours. Now, back to bed."