{"id":3840,"date":"2019-01-16T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T05:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3840"},"modified":"2019-01-15T18:56:25","modified_gmt":"2019-01-15T23:56:25","slug":"ten-02-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3840","title":{"rendered":"Ten – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cI didn\u2019t realize it would bother him that much,\u201d Matt said quietly, looking down. \u201cNeither of us really slept that well, either.\u201d
\n\u201cYou and Hecate?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded. \u201cYeah. I don\u2019t think she realized how little I actually slept.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that why you\u2019ve got that look?\u201d<\/p>\n

He glared sidelong at me for a second, but I could tell his heart wasn\u2019t quite in it. I put an arm around his shoulders and squeezed gently.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s okay. It\u2019s okay to be upset, Matt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUpset?\u201d He studied me for a few seconds even as he slid his arm around me. \u201cMaybe dwelling?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDwelling, maybe,\u201d I admitted. \u201cUpset? Only because Thom is. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on. He\u2019s acting a little weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMar, your husband\u2019s always weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

I choked on a laugh. \u201cMatt.\u201d<\/p>\n

His expression was the very picture of incredulous innocence. \u201cWhat? Tell me I\u2019m wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not,\u201d I admitted. \u201cBut I\u2019m being serious here. He\u2019s acting funny and I\u2019m a little concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt sobered, brow furrowing slightly. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s dwelling,\u201d I said softly. \u201cHe\u2019s dwelling on things that don\u2019t matter anymore and I don\u2019t know why and I don\u2019t think I can get him to tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a silence as we got closer to the end of the hallway. Then, finally, Matt said quietly, \u201cI\u2019ll talk to him. Maybe he\u2019ll open up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be incredible,\u201d I said, squeezing him gently. \u201cIt really would. I\u2019m just\u2014I\u2019m worried, Matt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do that a lot,\u201d he said, hip-checking me gently. \u201cWorrying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually for good reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

He winced. \u201cYeah,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cUsually.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d I said. \u201cI don\u2019t mean to be some kind of downer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are certainly not the downer.\u201d Matt shook his head slightly. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of stuff to be concerned with and you seem to find the right things. I trust you, sis. Always have.\u201d<\/p>\n

I rose up on tip-toe to press a kiss to his temple. \u201cYou keep me grounded, little brother. That\u2019s important, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLove you, Mar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLove you, too.\u201d He kissed my cheek and together, we emerged from the hallway and into the tends beyond. I could smell coffee and breakfast and that soothed nerves that were more ragged than I realized.<\/p>\n

It was just another normal<\/em> morning. That was all.<\/p>\n

Just another normal morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] \u201cI didn\u2019t realize it would bother him that much,\u201d Matt said quietly, looking down. \u201cNeither of us really slept that well, either.\u201d \u201cYou and Hecate?\u201d He nodded. \u201cYeah. I don\u2019t think she … 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":[299,312,14],"tags":[150,171,170,152,181,149,148,168,147,165,200,146],"class_list":["post-3840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-10-book-7","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-marin-astoris","tag-matthew-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-ZW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3840","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=3840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3841,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3840\/revisions\/3841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}