His heart does something funny when she takes his hand, and he tries to remember what Furiosa told him: have fun, enjoy this. It's hard to do that when he knows how heartbroken she is right now, but she's close, and she trusts him, and it means more to him than even he himself can properly express.
He wraps an arm around her shoulders and squeezes her once before replying, guiding her through the door and to the bed first.
"No one else is using it. It's not my room, and it's only taking up space otherwise. Eh? C'mon, I wouldn't offer if I minded."
She nods after a moment, unable to ignore the logic of that. If he didn't want her there he'd have let her leave when she thought he was telling her to, he wouldn't have brought her up here. He wouldn't be leading her in, insisting, and she reaches out a hand to run along the bedspread once she's close enough.
It's nicer than anything she's ever seen before, soft when she presses down, and it looks like it's going to be more than warm enough to chase the chill away that seems to be settling in on her again. If she's going to be sleeping she'll need to be comfortable, so she lifts a hand up to the back of her head to start pulling the ties from her hair.
"D'you want me to go?" He asks it, honestly, because he feels like he should but he knows that he wouldn't have wanted her to leave so shortly after a panic attack. It's a battle between wanting to give her privacy and needing to know if she's alright, and he might as well give her the choice.
"No," she admits, glancing up at him as she frees her hair. It's an odd thing to be fine saying, but it's true. It's easier to say than she would have expected, too, but after everything she really doesn't want him to go anywhere.
She wouldn't have minded the lack of privacy, doesn't even realize he's trying to give it to her now by turning the bed down. It's just hair, and once it's down she starts on her belt, works it off and lays it over a chair. The wraps that cross her chest come off too, and just like that she looks exactly how she did the day he came to tell her he'd felt every single thing she had in the Enclosure.
When she rejoins him, she puts her hand on his wrist lightly.
It startles him, and he looks at her with eyes that seem suddenly a little innocent, bright and blue and honest. For some reason that soft gesture, when she's dressed down and looks less like a warrior than normal, makes something shoot through him.
"You're welcome," he says, seeming a little confused as to what she's thinking him for. "I have the space, it's alright."
"Ah." He lets the breath escape from him in a soft sigh before he averts his eyes again and pulls away. There's a chair next to the bed that he sits on, not wanting her to be alone but feeling like it's presumptuous to get into the bed with her.
For a moment she looks at the bed again, unsure what she's doing here, but the pull of it is far too strong. She sits, but there's still the matter of her boots. She bends down to see to those now, repeating what he says in her head.
He wants her to be safe. Maybe, when it all comes down to it, that's why her feet had brought her here when her mind had stopped working with her.
Normally, he'd light a cigarette in this moment, and he badly wants to: but for some reason he's grouped her in with Furiosa and Max, who he pointedly doesn't smoke around anymore, and so he doesn't at this moment. He wants her to feel safe, and that's part of it.
Instead he settles into the chair and lets her take her time.
When she finally lays down, the bed is like nothing she's ever experienced before. She's too used to the flat, thin mats that serve as mattresses on star ships, too used to a hammock or the sand, and it feels like she's sinking into a cloud, floating and falling all at once.
It's... nice, but very strange. Once she's settled she looks over at him.
"If I... in the night, if-" she searches his face, prays he knows she's talking about the possibility of nightmares. "Just ignore it. It'll stop."
He doesn't have to say it out loud to fill in the blanks: he understands, probably better than she knows, and he won't make her say it.
He also won't ignore it, because he doesn't think he could listen to her have a nightmare and ignore it. But he nods, looking at her in the soft bed, underneath all those blankets, and feels a little better. At least he was able to do this for her. At least there is that.
She believes him. Han will death toll, but he'll be fine in time. She slipped, did something she shouldn't have, but she didn't fall. In time, everything will be fine. Right now, she can lay her head down and close her eyes and sleep.
Or at least, she thought she could. It's only a few moments before she sees the flash of red stabbing through Han, the way he tumbles from the path over a pit, tumbles over the side of a ship, and her eyes open back up quickly.
"That story," she says abruptly, and she knows her voice is strained but if he knows why she finds doesn't mind. "You could finish it. If there was more."
He smiles, even if his heart is clenching with the knowledge that she can't sleep because she's afraid, because her friend died and she's scared.
So he tells the story about him getting in trouble with his grandfather, what Arthur had tried to get him out of it, how it hadn't worked. He softens his voice the further Rey seems to slip away, and finally he trails off when he's sure she's asleep.
He's happy to sit like this, thinking with his chin propped up on his palm-- looking at her, yes, but sometimes it feels like he's almost looking through her. And it does honestly soothe him to see her peacefully asleep.
Peacefully, until two hours in when she starts tossing, and moaning, and her face scrunches up into a painful expression. He leans forward out of his chair, ready to intervene or back down-- and then she starts crying again, and he's immediately beside her, not touching her but calling out her name.
She's woken up like this before, tears on her cheeks and breathless from fear, but she's never sat bolt upright in bed and almost crashed directly into someone else because they've stayed with her, protected her, while she was sleeping. She's breathing quickly fast and harsh from the dream, but when she sees Tommy she remembers where she is, why she's there.
She reaches out, puts her hand on the center of his chest like she has to check that he's real, solid and real and she didn't just go from one dream to another.
His heart breaks for her like this, but he doesn't show it in his face: instead he puts his hand over hers, and then reaches out to cup the back of her head, pulling her in.
It's so easy now to let him do that, to just lean right up against him and press her face against his chest, wrap both her arms around his waist and just close her eyes and let his calmness bring her out of her nightmares. She's still shaking a little but it only takes a few moments for the crying to stop.
"You were supposed to ignore me," she whispers once she trusts herself to talk.
There's an entirely fresh wave of gratitude that crashes over her when he says that and she huffs out a sound that could be a laugh if she hadn't just woken up crying.
"As long as you don't let go I don't care where you do it from."
That's more vulnerable than she'd ever let herself be in any other situation, but he's just seen her wake up from a nightmare after holding her through more than one panic attack and she just doesn't have the energy to pretend she doesn't need exactly what he's giving her.
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(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 08:41 am (UTC)He wraps an arm around her shoulders and squeezes her once before replying, guiding her through the door and to the bed first.
"No one else is using it. It's not my room, and it's only taking up space otherwise. Eh? C'mon, I wouldn't offer if I minded."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 08:47 am (UTC)It's nicer than anything she's ever seen before, soft when she presses down, and it looks like it's going to be more than warm enough to chase the chill away that seems to be settling in on her again. If she's going to be sleeping she'll need to be comfortable, so she lifts a hand up to the back of her head to start pulling the ties from her hair.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 08:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 08:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 08:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 09:07 am (UTC)When she rejoins him, she puts her hand on his wrist lightly.
"Thank you."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 09:13 am (UTC)"You're welcome," he says, seeming a little confused as to what she's thinking him for. "I have the space, it's alright."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 09:16 am (UTC)"Not for that. For not leaving."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 09:19 am (UTC)"I want you to be safe, and if this helps..."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 09:23 am (UTC)He wants her to be safe. Maybe, when it all comes down to it, that's why her feet had brought her here when her mind had stopped working with her.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 09:26 am (UTC)Instead he settles into the chair and lets her take her time.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 09:32 am (UTC)It's... nice, but very strange. Once she's settled she looks over at him.
"If I... in the night, if-" she searches his face, prays he knows she's talking about the possibility of nightmares. "Just ignore it. It'll stop."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 09:43 am (UTC)He also won't ignore it, because he doesn't think he could listen to her have a nightmare and ignore it. But he nods, looking at her in the soft bed, underneath all those blankets, and feels a little better. At least he was able to do this for her. At least there is that.
"It'll be okay," he promises her.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 09:55 am (UTC)Or at least, she thought she could. It's only a few moments before she sees the flash of red stabbing through Han, the way he tumbles from the path over a pit, tumbles over the side of a ship, and her eyes open back up quickly.
"That story," she says abruptly, and she knows her voice is strained but if he knows why she finds doesn't mind. "You could finish it. If there was more."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 01:45 pm (UTC)So he tells the story about him getting in trouble with his grandfather, what Arthur had tried to get him out of it, how it hadn't worked. He softens his voice the further Rey seems to slip away, and finally he trails off when he's sure she's asleep.
He's happy to sit like this, thinking with his chin propped up on his palm-- looking at her, yes, but sometimes it feels like he's almost looking through her. And it does honestly soothe him to see her peacefully asleep.
Peacefully, until two hours in when she starts tossing, and moaning, and her face scrunches up into a painful expression. He leans forward out of his chair, ready to intervene or back down-- and then she starts crying again, and he's immediately beside her, not touching her but calling out her name.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 06:04 pm (UTC)She reaches out, puts her hand on the center of his chest like she has to check that he's real, solid and real and she didn't just go from one dream to another.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 07:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-03 07:17 pm (UTC)"You were supposed to ignore me," she whispers once she trusts herself to talk.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-04 08:13 am (UTC)"I'm absolutely ignoring you."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-04 08:29 am (UTC)"Good. Don't stop doing that."
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-04 10:12 am (UTC)"How about I ignore you from here, then?"
(no subject)
Date: 2016-05-04 04:36 pm (UTC)That's more vulnerable than she'd ever let herself be in any other situation, but he's just seen her wake up from a nightmare after holding her through more than one panic attack and she just doesn't have the energy to pretend she doesn't need exactly what he's giving her.