Before she headed back to Mara's clan, Lucy insisted on one last movie night together. Niles even let her pick what they watched, despite the fact that Lucy always slept through most films.

Niles sat on the couch a good distance from Ashton, but Ashton still felt the cushion dip down towards the human. He glanced at Niles nervously, but Lucy had no such misgivings, immediately dropping down into Niles' shirt pocket.

"Lucy," Niles griped. "Can you please stop using me as your personal sofa?"

"Nope," Lucy said brightly, settling down happily. "I get the best naps in here," came her muffled voice.

Niles sighed and started the movie. "Whatever. Just don't fall asleep this time. It's hard to move you out of my pocket when you're asleep."

The movie hadn't been on long before Ashton felt his eyes closing. His head dipped towards his chest, and he jerked awake. Niles was still watching, but Lucy had completely disappeared. She must have curled up in the human's pocket.

"Niles?" Ashton began tentatively. Niles immediately glanced down at him, and Ashton couldn't help how his shoulders tensed up at the sudden attention. "I think I'm gonna head to bed," he said, pointing towards the bedroom.

Niles turned the volume down on the TV and stretched. Ashton stared at how high his long arms soared overhead, and he swallowed nervously. He didn't think he would ever get used to the size of humans. Even from his seat on the couch, Niles looked as tall as the mother tree.

"Ok," the human replied. "Are you going to walk there yourself or do you want me to carry you?"

"Umm, I got it," Ashton said, standing up quickly. "Thanks though."

Niles waved and pulled his blanket up higher on his chest. "Good night, Ash."

Ever since Ashton had gotten his cast removed, Niles had placed fae-friendly stairs on the floor leading up to the couch. He had similar stairs for the kitchen table and desks in his office and bedroom. Ashton liked them a lot because they meant he no longer needed to rely on Niles to pick him up all the time. While Ashton realized by now that Niles wouldn't hurt him, the less contact he had with the human's hands, the better.

Ashton hurried down the couch stairs and into the room, burying himself under his blankets in the carrier. He fell asleep quickly, but he wasn't asleep for long. He dreamed of emptiness, of a clock ticking loudly, out of sight from his jar in the closet. He felt himself slowly going crazy as he tried to count the beats to figure out how long he had been in there, and how much longer he would probably be. He wanted to get out, but getting out would mean seeing... him. And that was not a tradeoff he was willing to make. So, he lay there on the cold glass, counting the ticks of the clock and praying that he would be stuck there forever.

Ashton woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air. He pushed his sweaty hair off his forehead and ran his hands down his face.

Just a dream, he thought. Just another dream.

He stared at the wall and listened to the quiet sounds of the house around him, feeling exhausted.

When he couldn't stand the stillness anymore, he turned from his side to his stomach and buried his head in his blankets. He had discovered a few weeks ago that doing so always helped him calm down. This time, however, his heart rate didn't slow. He frowned in confusion and pushed himself into a sitting position. 

What's going on here?  he wondered. 

He pulled the blanket to his nose and sniffed at it. Niles' scent is gone, he realized. 

The thought made his stomach drop, though he didn't understand why. Suddenly, he just really wanted to see the Niles human, and he poked his head out of the carrier to find him.

Niles wasn't in bed, so Ashton stole back out into the living room. Sure enough, Niles was still there. He had laid down on the couch and fallen asleep, one hand loosely cupped over his shirt pocket. Ashton guessed that Lucy had fallen asleep in there.

Ashton snuck up to the couch, propelled by the anxious remnants clinging onto his mind from his dream. He stood below the cushions, feet sinking into the soft rug, and stared up at Niles far above him. His heart still pounded in his chest, and he glanced around fearfully, expecting to hear footsteps.

No footsteps came, but fear still pushed him to climb the stairs up to Niles until he stood beside the human's face. He was rarely close to Niles like this, and he studied his sleeping face carefully. Just being near him unexpectedly made him breathe a little easier, though now he was nervous for an entirely different reason that he couldn't quite name.

Lucy had said that she liked listening to Niles' heartbeat until she fell asleep, saying that it always helped her relax when she was upset. Ashton felt his own racing heart, and he looked back up at Niles.

I can't believe I'm doing this, he thought, shaking his head. But there he was, sneaking up to the side of Niles' neck and leaning his ear against it. He was surprised to feel the soft thrum of Niles' pulse, and he listened to it for a few minutes, trying to match his breathing to the beats.

The scent that was missing from his blankets earlier clung to Niles, and he focused on it, finally starting to calm down. He wanted to be even closer, and before he knew what he was doing, he had curled up on the couch cushion next to Niles, in the little spot between the human's shoulder and his neck.

He lay there quietly, pressing himself into the human's warm skin to better feel his rocking pulse. Within minutes, his eyes had fluttered closed, and he was asleep.

***

When Niles woke up the next morning, the sun was already streaming in through the window.

What time is it? he wondered, placing his hand over his pocket to see if Lucy was still there. She was, curled up and snoring. Unlike her to sleep this late.

Niles sighed and threw his arm over his eyes to block out the sunlight. He really hated mornings. He couldn't even remember the last time he had slept this late, not since Ashton had come to stay with them.

Ashton. He jerked upright in a panic. If he and Lucy were still asleep, then where was Ashton? Ashton rarely left the carrier if Lucy or Niles weren't there to encourage him. Was he still waiting for someone to come get him?

A small sound came from the couch cushion he had just sat up from, and he looked down to see Ashton lying flat on his back, looking absolutely bewildered.

"Ashton?" Niles exclaimed in disbelief. He reached for the faerie without thinking and froze when Ashton flinched.

"Ah, sorry," Niles said, putting his hand down. Ashton sat up slowly, pushing his hair out of his eyes and glancing around nervously. "What happened? Are you hurt? How long have you been there?"

"I... I..." Ashton looked a little overwhelmed at Niles' questions, and Niles shut his mouth.

"Sorry," he repeated. "That was a lot of questions. Can you tell me what happened?"

Ashton hugged himself. "I had a bad dream," he explained after a long pause. "I came out to find you, and I fell asleep here. I... I didn't mean to. It just sort of... happened."

Niles couldn't believe his ears. "You came out here... to find me?" he asked skeptically.

Ashton nodded, looking both embarrassed and a little upset.

"Why?" Niles questioned, genuinely curious. Ashton always skirted around him, side-eying him as if to make sure Niles wasn't reaching for him. He most certainly never came looking for him.

"I had a bad dream," Ashton repeated softly, like that explained everything. Niles didn't understand his statement. 

Was he looking for me for comfort? Niles wondered. That's unlikely. If anything, being around Niles seemed to scare Ashton even more.

But Ashton didn't seem to want to expound, so Niles moved on to his next question. "When did you come out here?"

"I... don't know. Late, I guess? You were asleep, and it was dark."

Niles stared at the timid little sprite. "Hmmm. Did you just wake up?"

Ashton nodded. "I was sleeping right there," he said, pointing closer to the edge of the sofa. "And when you sat up, I rolled to the middle of the couch. That woke me up."

Niles sighed. "I see," he breathed out. "And you're not hurt?"

The faerie shook his head. "No, I'm alright."

"Oh, thank goodness," Niles exclaimed, relieved that he hadn't accidentally hurt the small halfling. He studied Ashton more closely. The faerie still looked confused, and he wouldn't make eye contact with Niles. He probably hadn't expected to wake up beside Niles, and the realization that he had seemed to make him awfully disconcerted.

"Ash," Niles began, and the faerie finally looked up at him. Niles smiled, trying to put him at ease. "You're more than welcome to sleep by me if you want, but just tell me next time so that I'm aware of you and can show you a safer place to sleep. You could've been really hurt."

"I know," Ashton murmured, hanging his head and hunching his shoulders. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

Ashton looked so forlorn that all Niles wanted to do was hold and reassure him, but he knew that would have the opposite effect of what he wanted.

"It's alright," he insisted. "And like I said, if it helps you sleep better, you can always come wake me up in the middle of the night, ok?"

Ashton nodded, and Niles stood up and stretched. "Let me get you and Lucy some breakfast," he said, yawning.

***

Ashton couldn't tear his eyes away from the tall human as Niles walked away. Sighing, he ran his hands down his face and lay back down on the couch cushion. It still smelled faintly like Niles, and he closed his eyes, remembering how it had felt to sleep pressed against his skin. It had felt... safe. And Ashton didn't know what to do with that new feeling. 

_______________________________________________________________

A/N: Well, uh-oh.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment and see you in the next part!