Forbidden | Carol Danvers

Chapter 25: Homesick

I shot up straight in bed, wide awake now. My dreams were haunted with nightmares again. Little flashes from Atera, my family dying. The events from yesterday must have triggered something in my brain, making me relive the worst day of my life. 

My heart was pounding and I was really sweaty, my breathing fast and hands trembling. Taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart down, the pictures kept playing in my mind. I buried my face in my hands, trying to push them out somehow.

I was disoriented and had forgotten where I was, so I jumped out of my skin when a quiet voice suddenly whispered in the dark room. 'Hey, are you okay?' It sounded very sleepy and for a second I was confused. I had never slept with someone through the night, I always woke up alone. 

My mind was racing with a million thoughts and I still didn't understand where I was, making me shy back from the hand that suddenly touched my back. 'Hey, it's me, you're okay.' The woman next to me sat up and removed my hands from my face, forcing me to look at her. 

She didn't need to ask what I had dreamed about. They were always the same. Seeing the emotions on my face, she pulled me into a tight hug as a way to calm me down. I didn't cry. I used to after I had nightmares, but now the tears never came anymore. Like my body was used to the horror. 

Carol whispered reassuring words in my ear and stroked my hair. Slowly, my heartrate went down and breathing became a little easier. 'Do you want to talk about it?', ducking her head a little to catch my gaze. I shook my head as an answer, which was all I had to do to make her let the subject go. This was one of the things she knew not to push me on. 'Okay', she smiled kindly. 'You want to try and get some more sleep? We still have..' she looked over at the alarm clock, 'two hours left.'

This time, I nodded, so she pulled me down, hugged me close and placed another kiss on my forehead. She knew exactly how to comfort me and my heart grew ten sizes.

This position was how we woke up two hours later, to the annoying sound of the alarm. I groaned, still tired, like the sleep hadn't had helped me at all, even though no more nightmares had followed in the last two hours. 

Carol, also clearly woken up by the alarm, laughed at me and tried to move to turn the thing off. But I wouldn't let her, the warmth of the covers and her body was too nice. 'Maybe if we ignore it, it will shut up and we can pretend it didn't go off', I mumbled into her neck. 

This earned me more laughs. 'I'm afraid it doesn't work like that.' She pried my arms from her body, followed by more groans from me and more laughs from her, and turned the alarm off. 

'This is weird', I whispered with a hoarse voice after I had caught her in my prison of limbs again. 

'Weird?', she asked almost offended, although a chuckle followed.

Lifting my head a little so I could look at her, I said 'I have never woken up with you before, remember? I always left to sleep alone.'

'Right. You're right, it's nice to wake up with you. Feels... less lonely.'

'It does', I agreed. 

We listened to the rest of the house waking up. Hearing showers run and people walking. But what really made both of us finally leave the bed, was the sound of brewing coffee and the smell that followed it. 

We got ready for a hard, tiring day. Our different colored suits were pulled of the hangers and on our bodies. It was weird how much a color change had changed the way I felt about the outfit. It was almost like it had never been Kree in the first place. 

Maria had prepared a delicious breakfast and the hot coffee felt amazing in my body, waking up every muscle. I definitely drank too much, so at one point, Carol cut off my supply, afraid I was overdosing on caffeine. Which, to be honest, I totally was.