( day 45 ) you were supposed to return

[gleans]

WHO: Galen Howard and Jesse Finch
WHAT: Galen returns after disappearing for 24 hours
WHEN: Bright and early on day 45!
WHERE: House 20

[ Galen doesn't sleep often, anymore, but when he does, it's like a rock. His dreams are deep, and they're his; he knows he's dreaming, but he doesn't dare let himself venture out. Not when he could end up in the dark, where something will be waiting for him. There are already too many little dregs of that dog slipping around him, trying to get close enough to cling, to bite, and he can't let them.

The dreams are long, and they're deep, and they're his.

Something jolts him awake, though. Maybe it's a sudden sound, maybe it's the unfamiliar space around him, maybe it's the warmth beside him. Galen opens his eyes blearily, confusion and a sudden panic - familiar from the hospital - setting in -- but there's something familiar, something -- where is --

The warmth next to him, the body, that's Jesse, and -- oh, his heart nearly stops. He wants to -- but he can't. This has to be a mistake. Maybe he's still asleep, maybe he's punishing himself, maybe, maybe, maybe --

He brings a hand to his mouth and watches, chest tight, but even with the glassesless blur he knows what he sees. Any minute now, Jesse is going to wake up, look at him like that, and kick him out. Out of where, he still can't process, but that doesn't matter. Not right now. So he shifts, tries to slip out of bed without rousing Jesse, feels around for his glasses. ]

Comments

[rigging]

[ He somehow falls asleep, but not for long. He doesn't even know how it happens, because he's still -- he's still buzzing. He's still tweaky. But he falls asleep to Kenzi next to him, and he wakes up to, presumably, her next to him. Already, Jesse's prepared himself to wake up to nothing, to more anger, to pouting and a quiet lack of presence in the house. It's why he resists for as long as possible, shifting, curling up with his back to the body in the bed next to him. Stares at the sheets and tries to keep hold on the buzz, on his racing thoughts, get up, do something productive, stop feeling sorry for yourself, things are great, you can do whatever you want to, you have to --

But it registers that someone is watching him. And so he turns, ready to snap at Kenzi for staring -- except. It's not Kenzi.

Jesse's expression goes from angry to surprised in seconds flat, and then unreadable, in his silence. His fingers curl in the sheets. ]

... Galen? What?