Missing You (Sequel to Somewhere In Neverland)

Holly (Would You Turn Me On)

Marina's POV:

I heard shuffles and muffled, breathless screaming. I woke up in panic. I sat up and rubbed my hands over the bed to check for children. Okay, so none of the kids had crawled in and were screaming. It must have been Alex. I shook him a little and turned on the bedside lamp. Ironically, it was made out of stuffed deer legs. Very cute for the log cabin.

"Peter?" He asked, eyes shooting open. He saw that it was me. He sat up quickly. "We need to go check on the kids."

I was sure they were fine, but to make him feel better, I followed him into the basement. He peered down to see them all fine, asleep in their sweet little dreamlands, teddy bears and other stuffies in arms. Alex took an exhale. I followed him back up the stairs, into our bedroom. He left the door open a little bit. He sat on the bed. I stood between his legs, facing him. 

"Hey, what happened? You were screaming in your sleep." I started to scratch his scalp.

He took another deep breath and buried his head into my chest. He wrapped his arms around me. "I had a Tom nightmare. But it wasn't Tom. It was Peter." He said. I could feel a bit of wetness seep through my cotton shirt. Alex was shaking with fright.

I began to rock him back and forth. "That will never, ever happy baby. I promise you. Don't be scared. We'll never let it get that bad. Do you wanna lie down again?"

"What's the point? I won't go back to sleep." He said.

"I'll stay up with you. I told you I'll never leave you alone." I said.

"Okay." He lied back down. 

I curled into him, hearing his heartbeat. We didn't get to sleep like this that often anymore because the kids would come in and sleep between us, or I would get up to check on Jimmy. I scratched Alex's scalp a little more. "Let's talk about anything else. I could tell you the entire biography of Alexander Hamilton."

"Marina," he laughed. "No. I've heard it too many times before."

"I could tell you some fun facts about Disney Movies."

"Okay. How about....hmm...Treasure Planet."

"Well, it was based after a book called Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. It was just put into a sci-fi atmosphere. Jim Hawkins is voiced by Joseph Gordon Leavitt. It was the first Disney movie to use this certain type of computer animation."

"I'm sorry, Marina. I can't focus. Maybe we should talk about it. What if it happens to one of the kids? My parents tried helping Tom as much as they could, but there's only so much a parent can do. What if the kids are teenagers and they don't tell us what's going on? There's nothing we can do if we don't know. God Marina, I'm terrified. I don't ever want to bury my children. No one deserves that pain. No one." he teared up again.

"We won't have to, Alex. I can't imagine that much stress in their lives, ever. We won't ever put them in a situation where they feel that alone. I promise you with all I have. Do you trust me?" I asked.

He looked back at me. It was like it clicked in his mind. I was not going to let that happen to any of our babies. Not Peter, Brian, Stella, or Jimmy. None. "Okay. I trust you."

__________________________________________________________

He magically managed to fall asleep again, and in a few hours, I crawled out of bed. I felt his arms grab me. "No. Not yet."

"Yes, Alex. I gotta go make the kids some food before they get all grumpy." I said.

"They're not even up yet. Just snuggle a little longer. They can have cereal." He said.