trashchildren | For Joan

"Well, okay it was like for two weeks when I was 14, and it was mostly cause I was mad at my dad," Ted clarifies with a shrug. "Hey, but you said trick questions were okay!" he adds quickly, pointing at her.

"It's totally okay," she says with a smile. "And yeah, that makes sense. I think even you could feasibly have a two week goth phase."

She leans in to give him a soft kiss.

"So," she says. "Pajamas to prom?"

"Oh yeah, you're gonna love this," Ted says, scooting over to sit leaned back against the headboard, holding out his arm so she can snuggle up next to him again, and he tells her the whole story.

It's an amazing story, and Joan is laughing through it. "Wow," she says when he's done. "That is so perfectly you." She nuzzles his cheek. "I doubt I'll be able to top that."

"Yeah, what can I say, I was a rebellious teen in a lot of ways," Ted chuckles, leaning his head against Joan's and closing his eyes for a moment. He's all comfortable and stuffed with food, and the urge to take a post-dinner nap is coming in strong.

"In the best ways," she says, her smile fond.

She closes her eyes as well and sighs happily, warm and fed and in the arms of the man she loves. Their surroundings and circumstances aren't the greatest, but in a very real way that doesn't matter. All that matters is that they're together.

Once they fall comfortably silent, it takes very little time for Ted to fall asleep. Head leaned back, mouth a little open, and solidly conked out. But at least he's not snoring, nor drooling. Just a deeply breathing Teddy bear.

It doesn't take Joan long to follow him into sleep, her head on his shoulder and her arm around his waist. Her sleep is sound and mercifully dreamless, feeling weary but also safe in his arms.

Ted is not quite so lucky. He remains solidly conked out for quite a while - longer than he should. But eventually dreams do reach him.

Specifically one where he's apologising to Rebecca, who... appears to have been stabbed and is slowly bleeding to death, except she appears to be unaware of this fact and doesn't understand why Ted is apologising to her.

It doesn't jerk him awake, but eventually he does begin to mumble anxiously in his sleep.

The mumbling rouses Joan, and she blinks her eyes open sleepily, then frowns as she becomes aware of his distress.

"Ted?" she murmurs, touching his cheek.

Ted blinks awake, but it takes him a moment to become aware of his surroundings. The smell of the basement air hits his brain and makes him queasy for reasons he doesn't understand at the moment, before he reigns himself in.

"Hey. What's up?" he asks groggily, once words become possible.

Joan watches how his expression shifts as he wakes. It's like he's coming up through layers of his subconscious mind, and it worries her.

"Hey," she says softly. "I think you were having a nightmare."

"Yeah, I guess," Ted agrees, pushing himself up a little bit and rubbing at his eyes. He definitely doesn't feel super great. Like there's an anxious pit in his stomach. "Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Don't worry about that," she says gently. "Do you remember what your dream was about?"

He's got to still have so much trauma from the kidnapping itself, and there's been so much since and more to come. If she could help him work through it little by little, it might make it easier.

"Uh," he answers, trying to think. It had sort of been fleeting away, leaving only the sickening feeling of guilt and worry. "Sort of," he answers.

He seems really reluctant to talk about it, which only increases her worry. Is he trying to protect her? Is he ashamed?

"I'm here," she says softly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ted shakes his head gently. He doesn't really want to dwell on the details of the parts he remembers. "Just worried about tomorrow. And about Rebecca," he explains. Which is honestly all that really needs saying about it. That's what it comes down to. And he's already mentioned his guilt about not telling Rebecca.

He does however wrap his arms around Joan, and squeezes her a bit tighter than necessary for a moment, like he's using her as a teddy bear.

She holds him just as tightly, more for his comfort than her own. She knows he's worried about Rebecca, and he's not wrong to be. Rupert is vicious and has made her life hell. Of course he'd be worried that Mannion would do something to hurt her.

"It's going to be okay," she whispers, leaning her head against his. "We're going to be okay."

"Yeah," Ted agrees just as quietly, then presses a kiss against the side of her head. (He'd kiss her properly, but after that nap, his breath is probably atrocious.)

That anxious knot does start to loosen a little as he holds onto her though. He draws a deep breath in through his nose, then makes a face at once again at that basement air. "You guys couldn't have had an above-ground safe house?" he asks, only half joking.

"There's one in an abandoned warehouse on the North side." She kisses his cheek. "If we need to continue hiding after the gala...honestly, at that point I'd rather we went to the safehouse in Argentina."

If this is going to be a long term thing, they might as well go someplace where they could actually enjoy themselves.

"Of course you have a safehouse in Argentina," Ted answers with an amused huff. "Apparently they have good soccer players there."

He doesn't want to seriously consider that possibility quite yet, but at least that would feel slightly more like a vacation than like hiding in an underground cave.

"Pretty sure they call it football there, too," she teases gently. "And technically speaking, it's not mine. The property belongs to Sherlock's dad."

The elder Holmes is a terrible person in a lot of ways, but his extensive land holdings are useful.

Edited 2021-08-01 17:05 (UTC)

"Mmm. Yeah, well, I'm talking to you, not the Argentinians," Ted teases back. "They probably call it something like... El futball," he adds, trying to mimic Dani. They speak Spanish in Argentina, right?

She chuckles. "Something like that." She met Dani briefly in the investigation, and was impressed by the sheer joy the man exuded with his love for the sport.

"You could coach there under an assumed name. Grow a goatee." She smiles mischievously. "Or shave your mustache."

"I have done that, though it's been years. Really spooked Henry," he answers with a chuckle. He definitely thinks he looks wrong without a mustache, but he's also not so precious that he wouldn't do it.

He tells Joan more about Henry's reaction, and after that play some more two truths and a lie, though of course it veers off into mostly just storytelling.

Given their long nap, it's pretty late before either of them feels remotely sleepy.

And even when they do go to bed properly, Ted barely dozes off, before waking up and just lying there for an hour or two, listening to Joan's calm breathing to avoid feeling anxious about being in a basement. (The smell, the echo of the walls, with no sound from outside...)

Eventually he gets up, as carefully as possible to avoid waking Joan (who thankfully was sound asleep by then), and he just starts making bread using that mix. It takes very little skill or creativity, but at least he gets to knead some dough. He saves the actual baking for the next morning though, though that's nice, as then they get to eat it for breakfast.

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formersurgeon - 2021-08-01 22:58 (UTC) - Expand