Title: Nightmares and Dreamcatchers
Author: Carina Scott
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Pairing: Jim Brass/Warrick Brown
Rating: FRM
Spoilers: All Seasons, specifically season 6
Summary: Something wakes Jim up.
Disclaimer: Seems that no amount of begging will change the fact that these guys don't belong to me. Pity. *is sad*

~*~

At first Jim wasn't sure what had made him wake up. Then he felt the bed shift and heard a soft 'no' from his left. Jim immediately turned to his lover, knowing Warrick was caught in the midst of yet another nightmare. Reaching out he gently shook Warrick, doing his best not to startle the younger man as he woke him from his agonizing slumber, "Come on Rick, wake up. Wake up, baby."

Even with Jim's gentleness, Warrick still woke with a jolt. "Jim?" he cried out into the darkness, reaching out desperately for his lover.

Jim wrapped his arms tightly around Warrick's sweat-soaked body, soothing him with his touch. "I'm here, baby. I'm here, you're here, and we are safe. I won't ever leave you, I promise." Both men clung to each other, knowing there was no way Jim could really keep such a promise, but still feeling better in spite of it.

Relaxing back against the pillows, Jim watched as Warrick arranged himself so that he was half lying on Jim's chest, his head placed strategically over Jim's heart. This wasn't the first time since Jim had been shot that Warrick had woke up from a nightmare, needing the simple reassurance of Jim's heartbeat to lull him back into a peaceful sleep. Jim never spoke about this bittersweet ritual, but it warmed his heart that a man like Warrick loved him enough that the mere thought of losing him could affect him so greatly.

The two men lay like that for a while, basking in the peaceful quietness of their moonlit bedroom, content in each other's arms. Some time later, Warrick heaved a deep, contented sigh before he finally allowed himself to succumb once again to the slumber his body so desperately needed.

Jim, however, didn't follow his younger lover to sleep. Instead he lay there, running a lone hand up and down Warrick's back soothingly, trying to keep Warrick's nightmares at bay.

The latest case had been a hard one. Any time an officer was killed in the line of duty it was hard on all members of law enforcement. The fact that Jim had only been back at work for a month, having been on medical leave for almost two months after he was shot, only added to the stress and strain of the whole ordeal. Jim wasn't surprised that Warrick was having nightmares. In fact, he was probably more surprised that he wasn't having nightmares himself.

As Warrick shifted in Jim's embrace, mumbling happily in his sleep, Jim couldn't help but smile into the semi-darkness, placing a soft, chaste kiss to Rick's forehead. Maybe he did know why his nightmares hadn't come. In the weeks immediately following his recovery Jim had understandably been plagued with horrifying nightmares. And Warrick had been there every time he woke in a cold sweat, trembling with fear as he tried in vain to convince himself that he was safely at home and not in that godforsaken hotel room. Warrick would softly whisper sweet and comforting words to calm him, hold him as he slept, or keep him company through the nights when it seemed that no amount of soothing would relax him enough to go back to sleep.

Tightening his hold on Warrick, Jim snuggled closer to his very own dreamcatcher and finally let sleep claim him.

THE END