So Long and Goodnight...

You woke up screaming and totally unaware of where you were. Someones hand was wrapped around your wrist and someone else was shaking you by the shoulders. You opened your eyes and saw Gerard kneeling above you, shaking you gently to wake you up.
It was Frank, you realized, who had gently placed a hand on your wrist to comfort you as you woke.

"Helena, it's ok," you heard Ray speak from behind Frank.

You were breathing quite heavily and shaking beyond your control. Gerard finally stopped shaking you as he realized you were conscious again. Gerard was sitting on the bed with his back against the wall, gazing down at you with concern. Don and Donna came running through the door, obviously woken up by your screaming and worried as hell. You felt like shit for waking them up this late at night. Mikey was still asleep (not to anyone's surprise).
You were all pretty sure he could sleep through anything. Ya know ...a small tornado, a large parade passing under the window, a 747 crashing through the ceiling ...anything.

"What's wrong," Don asked, sidestepping his sleeping son in the dim light of the bedside lamp that one of the guys had snapped on.

Bob was sitting at the foot of the bed and he warned Donna about Mikey a split second before she would've tripped over him and had a very embarrassing meeting with the floor. Frank moved so the concerned Way parents could get to you.

"She just had a bad dream, dad," Gerard said solemnly.

This had happened before but never at Gerard's house. All five guys had experienced it but Don and Donna never had. They both understood it was only a dream but they thought of you as a daughter and were still, obviously, very worried about you. Donna rushed over and placed a gentle hand on your forehead.

"Sweetie, you're burning up! I'll be right back," she said, leaping over the unconscious Mikey who was sleeping as soundly as ever in a pile of blankets on the floor.

Don sat on the edge of the bed and laid his gentle hand on your arm. He sighed and looked at you with understanding and kindness.

"I'm really sorry I woke everyone up," you apologized, still pretty shaken from your dream.

"Don't you worry about that," Don said smiling at you."Besides, you didn't wake everyone up."

He motioned toward his sleeping son with his slippered foot and shook his head in mock pity. You let a low chuckle escape your throat as you glanced at Gerard and felt your heart melt yet again as your pale blue eyes met his sparkling hazel ones, which were made ten times brighter than usual by the smile that had spread across his gorgeous face. Quickly, you looked away.

You and him had somehow switched sides of the bed and now he was on the inside and you were on the outside. He didn't seem to care though as he stretched sleepily and collapsed onto the pillow. A few seconds later, Donna came in carrying a cold rag and a glass of water. Don lifted his wrist to look at his watch and murmured under his breath.

"That didn't take long."

Donna shot her husband a warning glance as she urged you to sit up and drink some water. When you laid down again and closed your eyes you almost instantly felt the cold wetness of the rag on your forehead. You didn't particularly care for it but you didn't tell Donna so because you knew she was only trying to help.

"Thanks, Mom." You smiled as you said this and you saw a few tears spring to her eyes. She smiled back at you and blinked them away.

"You're very welcome, Helena," she said.

You'd never in your sixteen years of life heard a sentence more full of love than that one.

"Goodnight," Mrs. Way whispered to you and the guys.

"Goodnight," you all whispered back. Don exchanged goodnights with everyone as well and he switched off the lamp, the click barely audible, and as he left the room he closed the door behind him, the sound of metal clicking together ringing through the air like the sound of a pin dropping in the middle of a Linkin Park concert. (In other words not very loud.) From somewhere in a pile of blankets on the floor you heard:

"GOD!! You guys are so loud!! Some of us are trying to sleep."

You all knew he was only referring to the clicks of the lamp and the door.

"Are you serious?" Gerard exclaimed

Beside you and everyone laughed for about two minutes straight. Mikey, confused as usual said:

"Did I miss something?"

That just made everyone laugh more. Finally, after you had all calmed down, you said goodnight to each other again and you fell asleep, the images from your dream still fresh and burned into your mind.