Guarding Her (Traveler x Angel)

Lana shook her head, "No please don't." She blushed and covered her face with her hands. "You'd probably think them too sappy." She said in embarrassment, "Their just cheesy romance novels and I can tell you the ending of every single one of them, the guy gets the girl." She mumbled as she shook her head and pulled her face away from her hands. Lana's cheeks blushed a darker shade of pink as his eyes held hers catching the possible innuendo but not sure if he meant it that way. So instead she gave him an answer that could go either way as well, "I'll learn anything you'd be willing to teach me, I'm pretty... clueless about a lot of things." She let out a dry laugh as she blushed and looked down at her food.

Taking a couple bites as she listened to him, she smiled and nodded, "Do you like your job?" She asked curiously as she finished up her chicken and broccoli and moved on to her salad.

He laughed. "Okay, if that's the case, then okay. I guess there is no such thing as a tragic romance any longer? I always liked the twists in stories." He considered her comment about being willing to learn anything he cared to teach her. That both made him pleased, and also a bit uncomfortable. Was she saying that she'd learn any living skill he wanted to teach her? Or... was it an invitation.

Abe continued to eat his dinner and thought about his job. Did he like it? That was... a subjective question, but he decided that it was fair. She would want to know about the person who was living in her house. She had a right to know, actually.

"I find that I can like anything I'm doing." He nodded. "I spent fourteen years learning how to kill people and then learning how to put the pieces back together. This world... is very different." He looked at her and his blue eyes seemed to waver slightly. "It's been a bit of an adjustment, but I do like it. I enjoy taking care of people, making them safe. It's something good to do while I wait for what's next."

He noticed her glass was getting low and offered to pour her another. "I suppose you take care of people too - you make them feel happy and give them a reprieve from the world with your books."

Lana smiled but shook her head, she wasn't a big drinker she may have a glass now and then but not often and not much. "I'm fine, thank you though." She said with a gentle smile. "Yes I suppose you're right, you help them face it, I help them escape it." She chuckled. "I think yours is much more helpful, I should know too." she said as she reached over and lightly placed her hand over his, "I just... Thank you, I know I'm paying you do protect me and it's your job... But your going above and beyond what I ever expected, so thank you. I know I'm a mess but trust me, without you here... I would never have left my house. I just want to thank you for caring." She said genuinely as she look up into his big blue eyes.

Abe corked her bottle, his forearms tensing for just a moment as he pressed the cork back into the narrow hole with his thumbs. It was a tough fit. But he thought that she wouldn't have any more for the night, and letting it breath too long was as bad as not at all. He set the bottle aside and then was surprised when she put her hands over his. Her hands were feminine and small, but there seemed to be a strength to them that was not visible.

"You're welcome, Ms Johnson. This is working out well, overall. I... not many of the others wanted a live-in situation, and I had no home, so it was perfect." He smiled. "Besides, I believe that people are put where they need to be. And right now, I need to be here. With you." He smiled.

Lana grinned up at him, "Well I'm glade you took the offer." She said as she pulled her hand away and picked up both their empty plates and brought them to this sink to be washed....

((I'm just going to time skip to tonight, I hope that's ok))


Lana yawned, closed her laptop and set it aside. "I think I'll go to bed now." She said as she stood up and stretched she arms up over her head causing her shirt to ride up revealing a flat soft white stomach before her shirt came back down hiding it once more. "So here is what we can do. You can sleep on the floor or you can drag your mattress into my room. I would choose the mattress, but its up to you." She said with a smile as she headed up the stairs to her room to get changed. Once she had her PJ's on she opened her door to let him know it was safe to come in, then she headed to her bathroom, leaving that door open as well as she brushed her teeth and combed her hair letting it fall down past her shoulders in pretty little waves.

((Perfectly fine!))

Abe looked up from the table where he had spread out all the mementos left by her stalker. Pictures of her, love poems, letters, cards... it looked like the things a lover might have sent her. A very demented, obsessive lover. "I'll be there soon," he answered, not really liking the idea of sleeping on the floor or the mattress. He glanced around the room and decided that he could use her office hair to sleep on. He could prop his feet, be off the ground, and able to see the door, the window, the entrance to her bathroom, and her bed, at any time.

Once he had looked through enough to see the pattern of increasing aggression and a tone of entitlement to her life he set the things aside. The stalker, 'sweet' as he might have started off being, was dangerous. At first the notes were harmless. "I liked the way you described Helena's lips" or "Jodie's expression when she lost her virginity was perfect". Then the notes became more personal. "Have you ever wanted to be tied down and taken like Rebecca was?" - "I bet you look pretty when you cum".

The pictures were the most disturbing, though. At first it was a picture snapped at Starbucks or crossing the street, then it became telephoto pictures of her at her kitchen sink, or of her beginning to undress in her room. Then there was one that showed her face, close up - her fingers were tracing the line of her bottom lip and her expression was almost erotic. He could see the background of the picture; she had been sitting at her computer, writing.

Abe had never met the stalker, but already he hated him. He put the pictures away and went to change; simple sleep pants and a t-shirt. He carried the office chair to her room, setting it at the foot of her bed. And then set his gun and a flashlight nearby. He would lean back on the chair, his feet propped up on the foot of her bed and a blanket over his legs. It was much better than some of the places he had slept, and it was just until the locks were changed. Temporary. He could put up with anything for a short period of time.

Lana finished washing her face and came back into the room to see he had brought up her office chair. She frowned, imagining it couldn't be to comfortable. "Are you sure you will be ok sleeping there?" She asked as she pulled back her covers and climbed into her bed. "Do you want a pillow or anything?" She asked looking concerned. As she grabbed one of the many pillows off her bed and handed it to him.

Letting out a big yawn she pulled her covers around her as she lay on her side hugging a pillow to her chest. She sighed, Lana knew she had to tell him about her nightmares. There was no way around it, she couldn't just let him wake up in the middle of the night to her screams. Taking a deep breath and hugging the pillow closer she spoke, "So... I just thought I should warn you but um... most nights I wake up screaming." She closed her eyes in embarrassment, "I know it's childish but I still have nightmare and sometimes its just restless sleep and other times it waking up screaming." She explained, "So if that happens, just don't worry, their just... yeah I just wanted to warn you." She mumbled as she shoved her face into her pillow with embarrassment.

"I'm fine," he said regarding the pillows, but when she handed him one of hers he smiled and thanked her, taking the pillow and tucking it next to him. It had a distinctly feminine scent to it. He was acutely aware that this pillow had laid underneath her head, or perhaps been hugged to her bosom, and it felt very intimate to have it next to him now. It seemed... too personal of an article to share.

He stretched on the chair and was beginning to settle in and sleep when she told him about her nightmares. "Ah... so, are these nightmares recent? And what do you want me to do if I notice that you're having a bad dream? Should I wake you up?" He peered across the covers at her. He saw her with her face shoved into a pillow like a little girl and it brought a soft smile to his lips. "Ms Johnson, if I wake you up in the middle of a nightmare are you going to punch me?"

Lana shook her head, "No I've had them off and since I was a child, but I haven't had them for years until the notes started coming. But their not so much bad dreams as they are memories of... childhood incidents." She chose her words very carefully not wanting to burden him with her history. "Anyway, if I'm annoying you or keeping you up, feel free to wake me up... When I hired you I didn't anticipate us sleeping in the same room so I wasn't worried about this. I've never been woken up from a nightmare by someone so I don't really know how I'll react, but I don't think I'll punch you. I've never hit anyone before so I don't think that will be my first reaction because its not my first reaction anyway." Lana said as she thought about it. "But if it's not bothering you, you don't have to do anything, I'll eventually wake up on my own." She told him, not wanting to be troublesome as she curled into a ball around her pillow fighting to keep her eyes open.

He was quiet for a few moments as he thought about what she had said. "If... you'd be more comfortable," he said, pulling his feet in and putting them on the ground so that he could get up, "I can move to the other room. I simply assumed that you'd feel more secure if I was in here, considering that they stalker had broken into your house today."

Abe began to fold up his blanket. "What exactly happened when you were a child, if I may ask?"

Lana quickly sat up and shook her head, "No please don't, I do want you in here, I just... I know I'm paying you to be here, but I guess I'm just not used to... depending on people, I think its just second nature for me to keep things to myself so I'm not a bother to someone else. So having you here, not as a guest, is difficult because I have to stop hiding the things that I normally would from a guest... like the nightmares, or the fact that I can't cook, or about a dozen other things."

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair as she heard him ask about her childhood. "No its fine..." She licked her lips trying to think of a good way to summarize it. "I wasn't an easy child... or that's what I was told, so I never got adopted like most babies. So I got passed from foster home to foster home, some better than others, some... horrific. One of the worst gave me this..." She said as she lifted her shirt up under her chest to show a long jagged scar that ran from the right corner of her stomach down to the left. Pulling her shirt back down she folded her hands in her lap not wanting to make eye contact. "I'm sure there are some good foster homes out there... I guess I just always got the bad ones. I have a lot of emotional scars, but I think that's enough for today... We've only just met and a lady can't tell all her secrets on the first day." She said with a dry laugh trying to lighten the mood.

Abe paused. He laid the blanket across the chair and then walked over to her bed and sat on the edge. "Ms Johnson, I am here for you. I work for you, and you don't have to worry about inconveniencing me or anything like that." He watched her expression as she briefly explained that she had had an emotionally scarring childhood, and when she showed him her stomach he paled slightly.

"I... okay. I'll be right there," he said, indicating his chair, "and once we get the locks changed I'll be able to give you your privacy again. I'm sorry, Ma'am. This isn't the kind of situation anyone wants to be in. But I promise you that I'll do everything I can to make this right."

He went back to his chair and laid down, smoothing the blanket over himself. He watched her until it looked like she was resting, then he finally would close his eyes and try to sleep.

Lana blushed and smiled, "Thanks." she said as she watched him climb back into his chair. "No, don't worry about it." Yawning she grabbed her pillow pulling it against her chest and curling around it she sighed and closed her eyes, quickly falling to sleep."

3:00 am

He was there leaning above she could feel and smell his foul breath against her cheek as he ground himself against her. Lana squirmed in her sleep at the memories that filled her dreams as nightmares. Her face was twisted in a look of pain and fear as a whimper escaped her lips. She didn't scream or thrash around she just whimpered as her head jerked as if trying to get away from something.

He heard a cry. A soft, whimpering cry, and it drove him out of the dream he was having. For a moment Abe laid stock-still as he oriented himself, then he heard the soft whimper again and he was on his feet and moving towards the bed. Lana was laying there, her body squirming gently and her face twisted in a look of horror.

Abe moved to the bed and sat down, one hand on her opposite shoulder and shaking her gently. "Ms Johnson... wake up. It's a dream, just a dream. Wake up, Ma'am. I'm here with you. It's okay." His face was close to hers and his voice was soft, barely more than a whisper. His other hand was braced near her shoulder to support him as he hovered over her, unaware that she was dreaming about someone in almost the same position.

Lana's eyes flew open as he gently shook her awake. A look of pure terror flashed across her face as her sleep ridden mind took in the man hovering above her. "Please, not again, I'll be good I promise." She whimpered and repeated over and over again as tears flooded her eyes and spilled down across her cheeks. Her nightmare was still flashing before her eyes though they were open. "Please don't hurt me." she whimpered as she brought an arm up trying to protect her face from the memories of the blows. She wasn't used to being woken up in the middle of a dream and so could only see Abe as her torturer.

Abe was horrified. She thought that he was the one in her dream, and the way she looked at him and tried to shield herself broke his heart. He could almost hear the little girl in her begging to be spared, promising to be good...He felt sick at the thought of what she must have gone through as a kid.

"Ms Johnson! Lana! It's ABE. It's okay... it's Abe Thane." He shook her a little harder. "Wake up!" His other hand went to her cheek, soothing her and trying to reassure her that her dream was over. "Please, Ma'am. Wake up. It's a dream!" He pulled her up and cradled her torso against his chest, wrapping an arm around her body despite her struggles. "Lana... Miss Lana... It's alright. I'm here with you... I won't let anyone hurt you."

Lana's eyes began to focus as he shook her harder bringing her back to the present. "Abe?" She whimpered into his chest as tears still leaked out of her eyes. "I'm sorry." She mumbled as she wrapped her arms around him. She sucked in a shaky breath, her nose filled with his musky scent having a calming effect. "I-I'm sorry I w-w-woke you." she stuttered as her arms held on tighter to him, not ready to release him and the safe feeling his arms brought her. Her breathing was still ragged but the tears had stopped coming now all she was to do was wait for her heard to stop pounding from her nightmare. Normally it took hours to calm down this much, but with Abe here the reality of the nightmare seemed to fade much quicker.

"Oh God, girl..." he held her tightly and rubbed her back. "Don't be sorry. That's what I'm here for." His arms were strong and calm around her, and he felt warm and solid; safe. He smelled clean and masculine but pleasant next to her.

"You... you sounded like you were reliving something that had happened to you. Do you remember what your dream was?" He had turned his face towards hers and his warm breath tickled at her ear and neck as he murmured into her hair. As he held her, he couldn't miss noticing how her arms held onto him like he was some kind of life preserver. It felt good to know that she felt comfortable enough around him to hold him like that; he liked feeling like his presence was needful.

Lana's hands clenched the back of his shirt as a shiver ran through her body caused by the brush of his warm breath against neck. She nodded her head against his chest. "I was 12 again." She sniffled as her body slowly began to relax against him but still held on to him as tight as she could not wanting him to let her go. "It was the first time... ItwasthefirsttimeIwasraped." She mumbled quickly as she buried her head into his shoulder and a shudder ran through her. "I hate sleeping. I hate it, I can't sleep with out nightmares. Every night I have to relive the horrors of my childhood. I just want to sleep, I just want to feel safe." She whimpered, "Please, don't leave me." She begged as she clung to him desperately.

"I'm so sorry," he said quietly as he continued to hold her. He couldn't imagine how horrible she must have felt, or how harsh her youth had been, but he was here now to protect her. Abe kept his hands flat against her back and then smoothed her hair down, the way a parent might to his child. "It will be alright," he assured her, "and I won't leave unless you want me to." He felt the rapid beat of her heart against his chest, like the flutterings of a bird. Her trembling breaths were calming more, but she still had a tenseness to her limbs that testified that she was not yet over her nightmare.

"Why don't you try to lie down... I'll sit her next to you and hold your hand." He smiled to her in the darkness. "Fear is nothing to be ashamed of, Ms Johnson." He rubbed her back with one hand again as he tried to encourage her to lay back in her bed. "I'm here to stand between you and anything or anyone who might try to hurt you." His green eyes flicked over her face and found her own frightened eyes. She looked so fragile there, like a broken porcelain angel. He wanted to make her smile and give her a place of safety where she could be confident again.

Abe supposed that it was no wonder that she would make her fortune writing romances. She was making up for the lack of affection, true affection, that she had as a child. He wondered what her entire story was, details and all, but he knew that it wasn't his place to push her for answers.

Lana began relaxing her grip as he stroked her hair and gently talked to her. Her eyes felt heavy from the sleep she so desperately needed and the tears she had cried. "Thank you." She whispered as her arms slowly loosened their grip on him, with him she felt like a small child being calmed and comforted in a way she had never been when she was young. Slipping one of her hands down his arm and into his she gripped it tightly. Slowly she began leaning back into her pillows, her eyes taking on a slight look of fear. Using her other hand she pulled her blankets around her. She stared at him as she sat on her bed, then feeling slightly guilty she scooted over to the other side of her large bed so as to make room for him to lie down. She patted the space she had made. "You can lie down if you want. I trust you, just don't let go of my hand." She whispered as a slight blush graced her cheeks. "

"You want me to..." He nodded towards the chair. "Okay, but I need to let go of your hand for just a moment, okay?" He patted the back of her hand reassuringly. "Just... to get my gun." He retrieved his pistol and flash light and set it by the side of the bed, then stood there for a moment and looked at her. She really wanted him to lay down with her?

She trusted him... that made him feel more responsible for her than before. He slid into bed and felt her hand on the blanket. Taking her little hand in his, he laid there for a moment. "This isn't working," he said.

After a moment he explained. "Why don't you move over here, Ms Johnson? You can put your head on my shoulder; I think you'll be more comfortable that way, and you won't have to feel alone."

Lana bit her lip but nodded, crawling over to his side of the bed she very cautiously rested her cheek against his shoulder. She lay stiffly on her side cradled between his chest and his arm. It was a very intimate position one that made her slightly hesitant but she wanted to be close to him, he made her feel safe and the closer he was the safer she felt. Gradually she relaxed, her arm resting gently on his chest she could feel it rise and fall as he breathed. Tucked under her blankets and into his side she began to feel safe once again. Slowly her eyes began to droop, the slow rise and fall of his breath lulling her into a peaceful sleep.

He held her close, listening to her breathing and just watching the ceiling until he was sure that she was asleep. Abe smiled softly as he held her. She was just a client... but she was a special girl. He could tell, already, that there was something special about her, and he enjoyed being close to her, even if it was because of a breech in the security.

Eventually Abe fell asleep, and if there were no more disturbances that night he would sleep until the morning.

Lana slept in late that morning for the first time in months. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, her head still resting gently on Abe's chest. A slow smile stretched across her face as she realized how well rested she felt. Tilting her head up just a bit she looked up at Abe seeing him peacefully sleeping. Slowly and quietly she slipped out from under his arm and off the bed. Grabbing her towel she made her way to the bathroom where she made sure to quietly close the door before turning on the water.

Once she was thoroughly washed, she stepped out of the shower dripping wet. Reaching for her towel she patted herself dry before turning and reaching for her clothes but come up with nothing. A quick glance around made her realize she had failed to bring a fresh change of clothes into the bathroom. Pulling her towel tightly around her she cracked the door open and poked her head out, seeing Abe in the same position she left him she made a quick dash for her drawers. Her towel reached just below her butt and was just barely long enough to fully reach around her.