As they turned to walk into the hospital, Creed reached out to hold Meg’s small hand in his. The doors whooshed closed automatically behind them, and Meg leaned her head against Creed’s strong shoulder. Knowing he would stand beside her no matter what made all the difference in the world. She may be the oldest child, but at least now she didn’t feel alone in her responsibilities to protect her family.
Later that evening, as Meg and Creed dozed on the sofa just outside Margo’s private room, Meg dreamed of being in battle. Huge lizard-like creatures and shadow demons surrounded her. She was fighting with every ounce of strength. Creed was there with her. They fought back to back against the evil, depending on each other to defend their vulnerable sides from the enemy.
Meg wasn’t letting one wisp of darkness pass her. Nothing was going to keep her from protecting him. She could feel Creed’s equal determination to protect her. They were a team and they fought as though they had practiced together for years, predicting each other’s next move. Meg would duck to swipe the legs out from under a lizard creature and Creed would strike his fist over her head to grab the winged shadow with his bare hand and rip it in two. Then he would hurl the pieces at the next attacker and Meg would roundhouse the nearest creature daring to touch them. In her dream, she felt surges of power pouring from her muscles, more than just refueling from Creed.
Something else was there amplifying her gift. That’s when she looked up and saw Danny hovering overhead. He was barefoot, just as he liked to be and was wearing only the simple hospital gown he had on the night they found him weak and dying, strapped to the bed in the basement of that wretched Facility’s Research Hospital. He was watching intently, but hovered just out of reach of the attackers.
Danny locked eyes with Meg, and in her dream she knew his voice. “Don’t be afraid, Meg. Keep your eyes and heart on what is good, and you’ll never be alone. I will not leave you.”
Somehow his words soothed Meg and Creed, but enraged the lizard men and shadow demons.
Meg woke with a start, her fists tight, ready for the next strategic punch.
“Are you okay?” Creed’s voice was raspy with sleep.
Meg held her head and tried to wake completely from the dream without forgetting it.
“You and I were fighting bad guys in my dream.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Creed offered a sleepy smile as he reached over and rubbed Meg’s tense shoulders with his huge hands.
“Mmm, wow. You’re hired,” Meg smiled despite the echoes of worry still pressing in her mind.
“Creed?”
“Humm?”
Meg looked up earnestly into Creed’s eyes. She didn’t know how to say what was on the tip of her tongue. How annoyingly ironic, Meg! She scoffed at herself. You’re a living, breathing emotional ball of goo and you can’t say the three little words Creed aches to hear you say.
Meg felt the yearning coming from him the moment he touched her back. She just took for granted that he would know how she felt only because his feelings for her were so transparent. Meg heard his heart whisper “I love you” every time he looked at her with that little turn of his head, sky-blue eyes wide with adoration matching his thoughts perfectly. Meg had seen his heart and felt his love for so long, she couldn’t remember a time when she was without it.
But Creed had lost half his memories of her. He could not read emotions like Meg. He followed her around like a devoted puppy but was very worried about how much the dark-eyed girl of his dreams really felt for him.
“I need to tell you something,” Meg whispered so her voice wouldn’t echo down the nearly empty corridor.
“What is it? Are you okay?” Worry for her safety was always the first place his mind went. He was so afraid of outliving her.
“I’m fine, really I am.” Meg nodded her head emphatically. “I’m more than fine when I’m with you. That’s what I wanted to talk with you about.”
Creed’s face still looked adorably perplexed.
“When I’m with you, I can take on the world. I feel as though we were always meant to be together…you and me. You make me feel beautiful and adored even when I haven’t showered, and I look like three-day-old road kill on a hot Texas highway.”
Creed’s face turned a beautiful shade of pink under his tanned skin. He smiled as his hands moved from her neck, down her arms and stopped to hold her hands.
“I love how, even after being raised to hate and kill, you chose to side with me and my family. I love your unwavering devotion to what is right and good. You were never taught to love, never had someone reach out to hold your hand.” Meg squeezed his gently.