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It had only been two days. The first day, Joe was pleasantly surprised when he woke up in the old, creaking bed and discovered he had slept through the entire night without incidents. That second night, though, Joe woke up gulping the air, kicking the sheets away and falling onto the floor with his heart beating painfully inside his ribcage. He looked around him, and his still sleep-dazed mind finally realized where he was, and more importantly, that there were no gunshots outside. Those had been only in his dreams.
As soon as he stopped shaking enough to get up, he rushed towards the living room and took the phone, hitting the numbers from memory. He waited as it dialed one, twice… He suddenly was aware that it was the middle of the night. He was in the same time zone as Copenhagen, and he looked at the clock in the wall and saw that it was four in the morning. Before he could hang up and maybe let him sleep, the dialing stopped.
“Ja?”
Joe’s chest tightened with the mere sound of his voice, and he inhaled before speaking.
“Lucas?”
“Joe? What is it? Is there something wrong?” he asked, his mind probably still disoriented and his accent thicker than usually.
“No, it’s… I…” he started, but he couldn’t – didn’t want to - lie to him. “I still see them, Lucas. Every time I close my eyes, I see them… I hear them.”
“I know… But it’s going to be all right, Joe. I promise.”
Joe pursed his lips and nodded, even if Lucas couldn’t see him through the phone. Oh, how much he wanted to be in front of the other man in that moment, to hold him, to feel his skin beneath his fingertips, his soothing touch on his back. Joe closed his eyes, picturing Lucas’ hair falling across his forehead after waking up in the middle of the night to attend Joe’s call. He imagined, too, the way he must be sitting on the edge of the bed, his bare chest falling and rising with his slow breathing, his lips parted, his head slightly tilted as he did unconsciously every time he was on the phone.
Joe breathed out, feeling his tense muscles loosening.
“Joe?” Lucas asked at not receiving an answer from him.
“I’m here.”
“The children miss you so much. They asked about you today. They… they need you, you know?”
Joe’s throat closed up again, but that time, it wasn’t a bad feeling. He remembered the children at the school, and smiled a little. There was a pause in the other side of the line, and then Lucas sighed.
“I need you, too,” Lucas added, and Joe breathed out as his smile widened and tear rolled down his cheek. “Okay?”
“Yes…” Joe replied. “Okay.”