“You can tell me,” I murmur, “You can tell me anything.”
"You were..." he starts, his voice breaking. He takes a couple deep breaths.
"Take your time, Atlas, I'm not going anywhere.”
"You were dead," he says finally. "But you always are in my nightmares. And I can't stop it. Nothing I do stops it. This one was... bad. You got sick, and I... I can't fight sickness. I can't protect you from it. I can't protect you from it. I just... I just watched you fade away."
"I'm still here," I tell him, keeping my voice even but gentle. “I’m still here, Atlas.”
"I know,” he breathes, sounding relieved at hearing that fact once more. “I know it's ridiculous. When I had them at Story Grove, I... I was able to talk myself through it. I know theywould call me if something happened to you. I know that they would tell me. But... I just needed to hear your voice."
I smile even as my nose stings from the vulnerability in his voice.
"Thank you for calling me," I whisper. "For sharing it with me."
"I'm so sorry for waking you—"
"You can always wake me if you're in trouble," I cut him off, before adding."Always,Atlas."
He sniffs, and I close my eyes, pressing my hand over my heart. "Do... do you want me to stay on the line with you?"
"Would you?" He asks, his voice hopeful.
"Of course," I say, and hear the rustling of sheets, him lying back down on the bed. I laugh, "You know, I told Liam about us cheating off each other in school."
He chuckles, "What made you tell our son that his parents are cheaters?"
"He's got a science project," I place my hand over my mouth to muffle my laughter, not wanting to wake the boys up. "And I was telling him how smart his Daddy was in science."
Atlas is quiet at that, before he asks, "...really?"
"Mhm..." I hum, smiling. "You're the whole reason I passed chemistry. Wait—what was that cheesy line you said?"
He mumbles something, and I giggle, "What was that?"
"I said... It's not hard to have chemistry with you," he mumbles. I try to smother my giggles into my pillow and he huffs, "Worked, didn't it?"
"Yeah, that one got you to second base," I tease, and he laughs.
"If I'm remembering correctly, we rounded the bases pretty soon after that," he says, and I can hear the smugness in his voice.
We both dissolve into laughter, trying to muffle it so our kids and his parents don't hear. Deja Vu hits me like a truck, and for a moment, we're teenagers again, whispering over the phone late at night in our bedrooms.
"Thank you."
I frown, "For what?"
"For not... for still allowing me the chance to try," Atlas says, his voice thick. "For being a wonderful mother. Our boys are... our boys are so lucky to have you, Wendy."
Tears slip from the corner of my eyes down my temples and into my hair.
"They're lucky to have you, too, Atlas," I whisper, my voice trembling. "I'm going to ask them during our next session about you joining us."
"Yeah?" He asks with that hopeful tone again.
"Yeah."
"Thank you, baby."
