Andrew's Apartment

Andrew woke at the sound of Chase's voice. He didn't even throw on his shirt which was located on the chair nearby and quickly ran into the living room. He sat down next to Chase and held onto her, feeling her tears falling onto him. "Chase," he said softly into her ear trying to sound consoling "it's alright, it was just a dream." He had no idea what she had dremt about, and figured that it was probably when her parents were being murdered. His heart beated against his chest, blood pumping furiously into his head.

He moved slightly away from her and looked into her eyes. "Chase," he said softly again "what happened?" He had meant so many different things when he asked her the question. He wondered what happened as she was dreaming, what happened to make her scream, what happened to everything. Yet he only need just that. To ask her everything that he wanted to know.

Chase curled against Andrew, her heart pounding in her chest, her whole body drenched in sweat. She lay shivering hard against him, tears pouring down her face. When he asked what happened, she was at a loss for words. "It's always the same nightmare..." She whispered against his shoulder, her body still shaking. "I was hoping it wouldn't happen when I was here.. it's always the same.." She was sobbing again, her mind trying to forget, but remembering all the same. "That day.." She whispered and moved closer to Andrew, trying to get as close as possible so she could feel his warmth and know he was there.

"That day was just like any other.. it had been raining a lot, so the servant's houses were flooding.. I let them go down to the houses to get their stuff up where it wouldn't get to wet, and offered to let them stay, and they all had just left.. when someone came to the door. Where my house is, we get a lot of muggles who get caught by storms like that one.. and I thought it was just that, a lost muggle who needed a place to stay that night, and I let him in, he pushed me against the door, said he needed to see my parents.. grabbed my hair, kissed my neck.." She shuddered hard and put her hands up on her neck as though he were trying to do it again.

"I managed to get ahold of my wand, and blasted him away from me, and then he became invisible.. just... disappeared, and I could hear his footsteps, and then he sighed.. right behind me, I went to turn around, but he had me around the shoulders, got my arms locked at my sides, and told me to call my parents.." She had tears falling down her face rapidly now, but once she started she couldn't stop, she had to get it out, she hadn't even told Sophia everything that had happened that night. "I called them, and they came downstairs, mom, then dad, and my siblings came shortly after that, they liked seeing muggles, it made them giggle a lot. Well.. the parents went into the den.. and.. I turned to look over my shoulder, and he kissed me.. right on the lips." She shuddered hard and curled up against his side tighter.

"He became visible, and walked into the den, and closed the door. Well.. I heard screaming, and I kept my siblings out, there was nothing I could do Andrew! Nothing! Then.. he walked out, and Clara, she ran in to help my mom.. who was laying on the ground.. and the door closed again, he sealed it.. and I confronted him, said he was going to pay for hurting my mom like that.. he.. he had raped her Andrew." She sobbed harder but kept going. "I managed to get him stuck to the spot.. immobilized him, and then Max was trying to get my attention.. he kept calling me, and when I finally answered.. the door burst open with water.. water everywhere, and it hit him, it hit Max! He flew across the room, right into a suit of armor.. I was thrown back against the front door, and so was the man.. my mom.. and dad, and Clara, all came out with the floor, and I passed out."

"When I woke up.. he was gone, and I was surrounded by them.. my family, they were all dead, mom, dad, and clara all drowned..." She was crying hard by now, her hands twisting her shirt like it was her safety rag. "He killed them all.. and I couldn't stop him! And now I just keep dreaming about it! Everytime I close my eyes I see my brother being blasted by the water.. all of that water bursting out of that door, and I see them sliding out, and the moonlight as it kept on raining." Chase was finally worn out, she couldn't talk any longer and succumbed to the tears, she put her arms around him and sobbed, unable to take it anymore, but somehow, she felt better, it was like a weight had been lifted off of that she hadn't even known existed. He was the first to know exactly what happened, and she felt her whole body relax as the tears finally slowed to a small trickle down her cheeks, and she was left hiccuping.

There were points where Andrew couldn't wish to see someone dead. This wasn't one of those times. He had met the strange man that Chase had told him about, and knew that someone was wrong with him from the start. But this made his blood boil. It made him want to think of revenge at the highest degree. It made him want to try and do anything he could to see the other man suffer. The man had tried to kill him and killed her entire family...plus raped her mother, which really set him off right there. Anger boiled in him, yet concealed it from Chase, knowing that it wouldn't be the right thing to do at that moment.

He held her, not as strong as her, but he held her, listening to her cry and sob onto him. He couldn't think of what to say about the genocide of her family, as he didn't know how it would feel. If he did, then his entire family would have to be dead in order to. But he knew how it felt to lose a realative. It had burned him on the inside when he found out the news, and now could tell she was feeling the same. He didn't want to say that he was going to hunt the man responsible down, because he knew the guy was dead. No point in that.

"Chase," he said softly moving slightly away so he could look into her eyes "I'm really sorry that all of that had happened to you. It should never have happened, and I wished I could've been there to have done something."

Chase looked up at him and stared with large brown eyes. She whimpered slightly and curled up against him, just wanting his warmth next to her. Her hand resting on his bare chest. She felt almost relieved to get it all out there, to let him know what went through her head, every single time she thought of her parent's death. Her hand went to her hair, and she ran her fingers through it, as though imagining that man grabbing her hair and forcing her to the ground. She ran her fingers over her neck, where he had kissed it. She whimpered again and forced her face against his bare side, as though simply through Andrew's scent could she forget everything that had happened. "And now Dragon is gone.." She whispered as though that were the final words of it.

All that she had known and loved, it was gone, stolen from her so quickly it was like a bandaid, only this pain continued to rack her body every day and night. Chase suddenly felt a large painful twinge in her back, and she gasped, pain exploding on every nerve that ran through her. Her back felt like it was on fire, and she yelled out, gripping her hand on his shoulder. The pain... it seemed to swallow her every thought process. Engulfing her mind, and leaving her weak. When the pain finally subsided, she collapsed against him, her whole body having gone rigid. "Ow.. ow.." She was whispering, fresh tears covering her face. "I haven't felt that pain in a long time.." She whispered and her hand touched her shoulder, where she could feel the scar as it wrapped over it slightly, and could feel that it was tender to the touch, and it felt much more alive then a scar should. "My scar.." She whispered and passed out against his chest.

He really wished that he would be able to help Chase more. Therapy might be useful, but didn't know if she would accept it or not. Most likely not, but maybe he could persuade her to help relieve some of her nightmares. If she was having them a lot, then Andrew would have to help get rid of them. "I'm really sorry," he said softly to her, after hearing what she said about her dog. He really hoped that she would be able to conqueor these dreams sometime soon. He really didn't want to see her crying for any reason.

Andrew felt panicked when Chase began to show signs that she was in pain. "Chase?!" he asked frantically when she put all of her weight on her. He checked her pulse and found out that she was still alive. She passed out. He quickly shook her a little, trying to wake her up. "Come on Chase!" he said loudly but not in a harsh way. It was more like telling a kid to wake up in the morning. "Get up!"

Chase stirred slightly, her hair falling more around her face, she felt dizzy, and very weak, but someone was trying to wake her up. She whimpered and moved her arm to hide her eyes from the glare of the waking world. "Andrew?" She whispered and suddenly sat bolt upright. "What happened?" She looked around frantically, as though someone had just hit her on the head or something. Lights popped in front of her eyes and she fell back against the sofa. "Ohh, my head.." She growled and closed her eyes tight, feeling a few twinges of pain in her back still. "Why did my back.." She murmured before looking up at him and attempting to smile. "I'm sorry Andrew.." She whispered. "This happens a lot.." she said softly and attempted to sit up again.

"I have a nightmare.. I wake up.. cry a lot, and my back hurts.. it's hurt like that.. every time I've ever had a nightmare.. and recently I've had more.. so they are more frequent..." She glanced at him. "Please don't worry about me.. I usually just pass out and end up falling asleep again anyway.." She said softly and sat up carefully, pulling her knees to her chest. This was why it had been good to sleep in a different room then Sophia, she would have these nightmares.. end up crying, in pain, and pass out. And Andrew just had to witness it, and it made her feel absolutely horrible. "I really am sorry.." she said wiping her eyes to get the stray tears off her cheeks.

Andrew felt a wave of relief pass over him as Chase began to wake up. He thought that she was in some sort of coma or something and it worried him. "Chase," he said softly, looking into her eyes "this isn't good. It's not good for you to be passing out like that." He sounded like his mother for a second and it actually worried him that he did. He had never noticed that before in his life until that very second. Weird. "I really think we should try and go see a doctor or something."

Andrew's friend instincts kicked in at that moment. "I have to worry," he said softly to her "it isn't good. I only worry because I care." He couldn't believe that the scar on her began to hurt her. That usually only happened if the person who gave the person the scar was using very powerful magic or was nearby. And she didn't even know who gave her the scar in the first place. He smiled slightly and his eyes seemed friendly "You don't have to apologize Chase."

Chase smiled slightly and rubbed her forehead. "I think I'll be okay now Andrew, I don't need to see a doctor.. I'm not crazy.." She said looking up at him and grinning happily. "It's just nightmares and an old scar that was given to me by a curse, it can't be healed anyway.. I've tried, so there isn't anything I can do besides wait the fits out, and wake up in the morning.." She said smiling at him, trying to stay happy. "I'm sorry I woke you up for that fit.." She said and rubbed her shoulder uncertainly. "You should be in bed.. it's been a long day.." She sat up completely and took his face in her hands.

"Really I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me, it's been happening so much these days I don't even think about it half the time.. and nobody knows about it! Well besides you now! But I promise I'll be okay" She said giggling and touching his lips with hers briefly. "Really... I'm fine, go back to bed, I'm just going to get some water and try and get some more sleep, okay Andrew?" She smiled at him and released his face, but not before gently running her fingers in his hair again, giggling she got off the couch and went into the kitchen, grabbed a cup and got herself some water.

Andrew wasn't fully convinced, but he would take her word. If anything else happened though, he wouldn't hesitate to get her to St. Mungos in a heartbeat. His head was then kept in one place as Chase held onto it. He bit the side of his lip, thinking about what would happen later on. It was only the first night and she was already screaming and in pain. He hoped to god the neighbors didn't hear.

"Okay," he said softly, still unconvinced and tried to hide it from his features "let me know if you need anything I guess." He stood up after Chase let go of him and walked to the right so he was in his room. He appraoched his bed and literally fell onto it feeling exhausted. Not even a minute later, he was breathing slowly, a sign that he was asleep. He almost snored as well.

Chase gripped the counter, the water sat forgotten in front of her, her back twinged painfully again, and she fell onto one knee, biting her lip. She had let him see, he had seen her in pain, seen her crying, and knew what her nightmares were like. How much more trust could she put in someone? Someone she had met such a short time ago. She sat on the floor for a long time, unable to move because of the after affects of her fit. It took her a long time to finally find the couch again, and even longer for her to fall asleep.

--

When Chase woke up the next morning, she was exhausted, her back felt horribly stiff, and she was dying of thirst. She stumbled off the couch, almost falling onto the ground, but she caught herself, and then stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes wearily. "What's for breakfast Calla?" She groaned, grabbing the cup she had used the night before and swallowing down the rest that she hadn't finished yet. She scratched her head and opened her eyes a bit fuller, seeing Calla standing by the stove, making pancakes. Chase smiled lightly and rinsed out her water cup in the sink. "Sleep good?" she muttered, the house elf squeaked something and then went back to making pancakes. "Wonder what time Andrew wakes up.." She grumbled and started to fix her pants, which had gotten turned around funny as she had slept.