{"id":3714,"date":"2018-09-07T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T04:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3714"},"modified":"2018-09-06T15:10:04","modified_gmt":"2018-09-06T19:10:04","slug":"forty-five-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3714","title":{"rendered":"Forty-five – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSo what have you been seeing that\u2019s robbing you of sleep?\u201d<\/p>\n

I startled at the question, blinking at J.T. as my stomach sank. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

He just stared at me for a few seconds, then sighed, shaking his head. \u201cMar, I\u2019ve known you for a long time by now. I\u2019d like to think I have a little bit of a handle on what\u2019s bugging you when it\u2019s bugging you. Am I completely off-base here?\u201d<\/p>\n

I blew out a breath in a sigh and shook my head. \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you just not want to talk about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s more accurate,\u201d I said, looking away from him, staring down at Lin instead. Lin wouldn\u2019t judge me\u2014at least not yet. That would still be another few years off, I thought.<\/p>\n

I hoped<\/em>.<\/p>\n

J.T. tucked an arm around my shoulders and I leaned into his embrace, sighing again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Thom, isn\u2019t it?\u201d he said quietly.<\/p>\n

I nodded before I could stop myself, not that I suppose I really wanted to. J.T. studied me, expression softening.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it the same thing as before?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDenial or losing him?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEither. Both.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the second one,\u201d I said in a whisper. \u201cJust losing him. I don\u2019t know how or why, just that it\u2019s what I\u2019m seeing, like he\u2019s fading away slowly and neither of us really seem to know what\u2019s causing it.\u201d My voice caught in my throat. It was hard to breathe. \u201cI\u2019m afraid that it\u2019s related to what happened to him before,\u201d I said. \u201cTo what happened when he was hurt that last time he fought. I\u2019m afraid something happened that I can\u2019t change or stop\u2014that none of us can do a damned thing about.\u201d<\/p>\n

I felt sick and I knew that much was reflected on my face. J.T. turned, wrapping both arms around me and Lin, holding on for a few minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to be fine,\u201d he assured me, his tone gentle. \u201cI promise, Mar. You\u2019re not going to lose him. He won\u2019t let it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou said that before,\u201d I told him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I still mean it now,\u201d J.T. said, then pressed a kiss to the top of my head. \u201cHe\u2019s my best friend, Mar\u2014my brother in every way that matters. I\u2019m not going to let him go without one hell of a fight and you know that I don\u2019t like to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] \u201cSo what have you been seeing that\u2019s robbing you of sleep?\u201d I startled at the question, blinking at J.T. as my stomach sank. \u201cWhat?\u201d He just stared at me for a few … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[240,297,14],"tags":[150,171,170,160,152,149,148,168,147,165,200,146],"class_list":["post-3714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-45-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-j-t-mackenzie","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-XU","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3715,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3714\/revisions\/3715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}