Warnings: Mentions of blood and parental death

Reader type: hostage!reader + spouse!reader -- she/her pronouns

Relationship type: romantic

Summary: You have a bad dream and Jim comforts you.

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From your viewpoint, strapped to a chair and entangled in steel chains, you could still see your sister's bloodstains splattered over the wall. You were lucky none had landed on you, you doubt you'd've been able to cope.

You gripped your mother's hand tightly. This stretched the chains. If you survived this ordeal you knew that you'd have bruises for a while. Her hair was streaked over her face and her eyes glistened with tears. It must be hard to lose a child.

A shadow seemed to break off from the wall. It was our captor stepping out from the darkness. He pulled a knife from the pocket of his westwood suit.

He walked up to your mother. She was at breaking point. This he knew. An evil grin stretched across his face as he scraped the knife along her jawline leaving a deep cut. As you were still holding her hands you were able to feel her blood drip onto your fingers. You were petrified.

Noticing your fear he leaned in close to your face. Your eyes closed in a burst of instinctual terror.

'Oh no, my precious dove, there's more. I'm not done yet.'

He stepped backwards and you heard the a gunshot. Everything went quiet. He'd killed your mother.

'You monster!'

'No, I'm only human,' he placed the gun under your chin and lifted you head up before prying open your eyes 'and that makes me scarier, don't you think?'

Then he laughed. Long and loud. That sound would haunt you forever.

You sat up with the bedsheets tangled around your face, wrapping you in their clinging white embrace. You hurriedly pushed them off your body and sat up.

Your husbands hair was all fuzzy and spiked up and his breathing was slow. The pillow had been flung off the bed and his eyes were open. You knew he was asleep but that had been hard to get used to.

Content that he was asleep you got up and out of the bed and then wandered over to the windows of your apartment. You felt the night breeze brush past your face. Pushing the pink curtains out of the way you stepped onto the golden railed balcony.

The streets were still, nothing pierced through the thick veil of silence. You heard a movement behind you. Turning around your breath caught as you stared into the perfect facial features that had captured your heart. His graceful arms wrapped around your waist and he dragged you back to bed.

'Your brow still holds a few beads of sweat, you're not meeting my eyes, your breathing is faster than normal and you are clearly unsettled.

Damn, you did love it when he deduced you. It was unsettling and hot at the same time.

You sat down on the crumpled bedsheets.

'It was...'

He slowly pulled you into bed as you described it, your words quaking with terror.

'I may be evil, - he kissed your forehead and started to cuddle you gently - but I'm not that bad.'

He may be a criminal, you thought to yourself, but he's my Jim and honestly I wouldn't change that for the world.

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Author's Note: This was initially the winning entry in a contest that drayizzle and myfirstnameisagent held. I have now revised it.

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