Derek was a little startled at the sudden hug and rush of emotion, though he caught her and tentatively patted her back soothingly, still a tad bit stunned at the force of her gratitude but glad he could help and make someone feel so thankful.
She wasted a few moments marvelling at how /safe/ she felt, caught between their two bodies, before the tide of sleep dragged her under.
— hands at her throat, scrabbling, choking — drowning in darkness and silence — eyes just eyes full of hate she couldn’t taste and madness she couldn’t hear — claws stripping her skin until she could count her own bones — her heart dripping dripping stomped squashed flattened mutilated —
She flung herself bolt upright, trying uselessly to scream, fighting the covers and anything else that touched her. Her breath rasped in her throat as she panted and gasped for air. Something had her hair, and she yanked, tears starting from the pain in her scalp, and flung herself in a heap on the floor.
Derek woke first to Summer tossing and turning. Isaac woke next and sat up, looking over at her. Then she was moving more, then she was pressing, pushing, punching and hitting. Isaac scrambled off the bed when Derek leaned over and pressed him that way, hurrying to the wall.
Summer moved before he could move back and then her hair was under his leg and she hit and kicked out. Derek rolled off of her hair as soon as he could, calling her name. “Wake up! Summer, wake up, it’s a dream! Come out of it!” he called as he scrambled down, pulling her as gently as he could into his arms.
It was the breaking of the silence that woke her fully. Not her name, so much as simply a voice, shredding the haze of nightmare. She clutched at Derek’s arms, eyes fixed to his face, panting still. Her heart thundered in her ears, pounding almost painfully hard.