38; CAROUSEL OF TORMENT (original episode, post season nine)
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NATURAL PROGRESSION WAS inevitable. No one person's suffering could disturb the Earth's rotation.
Through time, the air lost its icy bite and the sun reclaimed its rightful place above the horizon, casting a golden glow over those still roaming the earth - dead and alive. Reddened faces resumed their usual complexion. Verdant green buds bloomed over the bare trees, ready to burst after a glorious feast of long-awaited sunlight. Animals emerged from hibernation.
All was right again. Except. . . It wasn't.
Tariq was still dead, the only difference was that spending days cooped up in bed mourning him was no longer acceptable with a bright cerulean canvas overhead. The world around Freya no longer bore the same coldness her heart did. It had moved on, and social convention dictated that she should too.
Easier said than done.
As dawn settled over Alexandria, trickling rays of warmth into every nook and cranny with even the slightest rift, a scream of undiluted terror rippled through the Grimes house.
Freya jolted awake instantaneously, her body arching from the mattress. Her head whipped to the side and she heaved a knowing sigh, unsurprised to find that the body her arm was curled around was the source of the noise.
She propped herself up on the elbow of her maimed arm and pushed some sweat-soaked hair out of Siddiq's face, dropping her hand to his shoulder to gently shake him awake. It pained her to see him like this - plagued by his mind's depraved recollections of the worst day of his life.
Siddiq's eyes pinged open, his chest rising and falling alarmingly fast. "What-? Where-?"
"Hey, it's okay. You're home. You're safe. It was just a. . ." Freya let herself trail off. Just a bad dream. It was still resting on the tip of her tongue, a statement that mocked the haunting truth of his perturbed flashbacks.
He squeezed his eyes shut. It was a method of protection - he didn't want the ghosts pooling in his eyes to reflect in hers. She had more than enough of her own. He refused to be the reaper of any more suffering to her soul.
Freya's fingers lightly grazed over his bearded jaw in a repetitive back-and-forth motion. "I gotta take Lori outside. We're doin' some gardenin'. I don't have a clue what I'm doin', but I figured it'd keep her busy now that RJ's joinin' the rest of the kids at school."
Immediately noticing her attempt to divert the focus from his vulnerable state, a small smile tugged at Siddiq's lips. His eyes peeled open and he reached for the hand caressing his jaw, overlapping it with his own. "I can't believe he's school-age now, and Lori will be too this time next year."
"Oh, god. Please don't remind me." Freya's nose scrunched up at the mere thought. "In my mind, Judith's still her age. They grow up too damn fast. Cherish every moment with the baby when they're here, trust me - you'll regret it if you don't."
