Inferno

Chapter 5

=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)

Early Tuesday morning || Hollywood Hotel

"Stay away from Jessi. She didn't know any better. I should have told her it was against the rules. Don't hurt her, please, Daddy..." Nell wailed.

Callen looked over at the young woman. Though the lights were off, his night vision was good enough to see her struggling with her blankets, trying to push away someone who was there only in her nightmare.

He went over to her bed and tried shaking her shoulder to get her to wake. "Nell," he said softly, not wanting to startle her. "Nell," he said again, just a little bit louder.

She only started to struggle harder, this time against the hand he had on her. "Don't cut me again, Daddy. I'll be good. I'll obey all your rules."

"Callen grabbed both of her shoulders and shook her. He used the same voice as when he was commanding someone to drop their weapons. "Nell! Wake up! You are having a nightmare."

Nell woke up to see Callen looming over her, saying something about a nightmare. She was alarmed about it. It hadn't happened to her in the last five years. And now they were back? She didn't know if she could deal with them again.

"Were you able to understand what I was saying?" she asked.

"You seemed like you went back in time. You were telling your father to stay away from Jessi and begging him not to cut you, I take it that it was a flashback?" Callen asked.

"I haven't had that nightmare for years. And he was NOT my father! He made me call him that." she sat up and blurted out.

"Just lay back down and rest," he said to her quietly. "He's gone, and I'm here." He pushed her back down onto the bed, drew the covers up over her, and crawled behind her. Slowly running his hand up and down her arm, he tried to calm her down.

"Mmmm," she hummed in contentment, her voice fading out as she again fell asleep.

After a few minutes, he stopped and tried to go back to his own bed. Nell grabbed his hand and tightly held on to it, as she moaned her displeasure.

He used his other hand to disengage hers, as he whispered in her ear, "I'll be right back."

Grabbing a pillow and blanket off his own bed, he brought them over to hers, laid them down and again snuggled back up behind her.

Nell grabbed his arm again as he laid it over hers and pulled him close. She wiggled her backside and squirmed around until she was as close to him as she could be. She wished that he would have just crawled under the blanket with her, but was too sleepy to do anything more at the time. Both of them were asleep as soon as they closed their eyes.

. . . . .

Callen heard a female voice yelling "Damn. That's sore!" at the same time he felt something bang into his jaw. He opened his eyes to see Nell sitting up in bed, one hand holding his arm and the other rubbing the back of her head. The morning light was trying to poke around the drapes that covered the window. He looked at the clock and saw it was half past eight. How could he have slept so long?

Then he remembered Nell sitting next to him. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

"Um, yeah. I guess," was the answer she gave him.

Callen used his other hand to rub his jaw. "Why did you hit me?" he asked.

"I must have moved in my sleep. I think I hit my nipple with your arm. They are still so sensitive. I must have jumped back from the sting and hit your jaw with the back of my head. Sorry about that."