Wait For Me To Come Home

Chapter 38

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We're officially at the half of this story. So far it's been an amazing journey for me, how about you guys? Thanks for all the reads, comments and votes. I can feel the love 🥰🥰

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Lauren was pulled from sleep by a startled shout. Instantly wide awake, she turned to Camila, whose chest was rising and falling rapidly as she sat with her head in her hands. Hesitantly, Lauren put her hand on Camila's shoulder, and Camila covered it with her own, giving it a reassuring pat.

"I'm fine," Camila mumbled, letting go of Lauren's hand and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She sat with her back to Lauren for a few moments.

"Camila-" Lauren whispered.

"Go back to sleep, Lauren," Camila said, standing up in one fluid motion and crossing the room to her door. She slipped out silently, leaving Lauren staring at the door with a helpless expression on her face. After Lauren unfroze, she quickly scrambled out of bed and followed after her.

Camila was gone by the time Lauren made it downstairs, and Athena was gone too, leaving Lauren to assume that she'd taken her outside. Grabbing her coat, and slipping on the first pair of shoes she found, Lauren opened the front door and slipped outside. It was still dark outside, and the sky was only just starting to lighten on the horizon as she looked around. Lauren squinted as she tried to make out Camila in the dim light, but she could only make out still dark shadows.

Lauren couldn't find her, so she sat down on the porch swing, tightly hugging her coat to herself as her breath came out in clouds before her. She sat there shivering as she waited for Camila to come back, her stubbornness kicking in as she refused to wait inside in the warmth. She sat outside for almost an hour before Camila came back, watching the sky lighten as she sat huddled up on the swing, but eventually Camila came into view, with Athena padding along beside her with a stick in her mouth.

"Oh! What're you doing out here?" Camila asked wearily climbing the steps and frowning as she spotted Lauren.

"I was waiting for you to come home," Lauren stammered as her teeth chattered together. Camila walked over and sat down next to her, picking up Lauren's hands in her own and grimacing at how cold they were.

"You're freezing," Camila murmured, raising Lauren's hands to her mouth and blowing and rubbing them to warm them up. "You should've waited inside."

"Where did you go?" Lauren asked, taking in Camila's slightly flushed cheeks and the locks of sweat-soaked hair stuck to her cheeks.

Camila shrugged halfheartedly. "I just went for a jog to clear my head."

They were both silent for a moment, and Lauren stared down at their hands, watching Camila gently rub the warmth back into them. "Camila ... I just-, tell me how I can help you, please," Lauren whispered.

"You can't," Camila sighed, letting go of Lauren's hands so she could cup her cheek. Leaning in, she gave Lauren a quick kiss. "I'm fine, I promise."

"This is the second time you've woken up yelling," Lauren said, frowning in concern. "I can't know what it's like, and I don't want to push you but ..."

"It's like this whenever I come home. It's like everything catches up with me, like I have time to think about everything that happened over there," Camila whispered, surprising Lauren by her reply. "Over there I don't really think about everything; I'm always too busy doing my job, and then when I finish for the night I talk to you and then I go to bed and I'm so tired that I don't even remember dreaming half of the time. And then I come home, and there's nothing to do and I'm not exhausted when I go to bed so I dream. And I dream about the bad things, and I see the faces of the soldiers that I've seen die, and I can hear the explosions."