Rose followed him, curling up on the bed silently and not facing him

He turned towards her, simply just putting a arm around her waist. "You okay?" Caden asked, the question simple, but the wight it carried? Uninmaginable.

Rose placed her hand on his arm, just grounding herself

He didn't say anything else, just slowly drifted off.

Rose felt herself melt into his touch, listening to his breathing even out as he fell asleep. She didn't want to ever admit it to him, but she was scared. Terrified. She slowly drifted off

Caden's breath hitched every so often, it rattling in his chest when it did.He turned away from Rose, face contorting to a more fear filled look then one defying fear.His hand gripped the bed, muttering Russian as he did.The man awoke with a jolt, chest heaving, heart beating too fast, adrenaline pumping through his veins.He let out a exhale, chuckling quietly. "Just a dream....maybe." Caden mumbled, still disturbed by it as he stood and walked to the balcony.

Rose jumped awake, only sleeping lightly, and watched him walk out. She got up and announced her precense a bit aways, giving him room. "Love?" She asked

Caden said nothing and turned to her, walking over and pulling her into a hug. "I'm scared Rose, i'm really scared, for the future, for what happened, being here," He said truthfully, voice a whisper.

Rose hugged him back, holding him close. "I am too..." She admits softly, rubbing his back gently. "What do you want to do?"

Caden held Rose tightly, his breath uneven as she rubbed his back, her touch gentle but not enough to calm the storm inside him. His mind raced, spinning with fragments of thoughts that didn’t connect, voices that whispered in the edges of his consciousness, telling him things he couldn’t quite understand. Focus, he told himself, but it was hard when everything felt so distant, so out of reach. He could still hear the echo of the sniper’s shot, the sudden panic, the cold, hard reality of it all, and now, here they were, in a mansion in Russia—his home, but it didn’t feel like it. It felt like a trap. A place to hide, but for how long? His vision flickered for a second, the room warping, then snapping back. He felt Rose’s hand on his back again, a grounding force, but it didn’t stop the shaking in his hands or the tightness in his chest. “Usually... I’ve got a plan, something, anything, but now? I—I don’t know what to do. I don’t... I don’t know how to fix this.” His voice cracked, the words slipping out like a confession. His breath hitched, and he could almost hear them—the voices—telling him he was weak, that he wasn’t good enough, but he couldn’t focus on that now, not with Rose right there. The weight of it all felt too much, like he was drowning, and he wasn’t sure if it was the situation or the mind he couldn’t trust anymore. He pressed his face into her hair, trying to shut everything out, but nothing would stop the noise inside.