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It was around 1 in the morning when the mumbling began. Carmilla had hardly been sleeping, yet still the sound roused her from her trance-like state.
Glancing behind her, she saw that Laura had somehow managed to kick off the pile of blankets that she had wrapped herself in. Thankfully her unrest had not woken the ginger twins who were curled together in another corner of the cave. Slowly, and only slightly unwillingly, Carmilla got up from her spot as sentry.
"....'arm" Laura's voice was small and filled with sleep.
Carmilla couldn't help but smile as she pulled the blankets back over Laura's small, shivering form. As she turned to leave, she let her fingers linger for only a moment on Laura's shoulder.
"Carm?" The tiny voice pulled her back. " 'ts cold."
"It's okay Laura. Just go back to sleep." Laura nodded, eyes still closed, before snuggling back into her blankets. Carmilla watched, the small smile still playing at the corners of her mouth, before returning to her perch, satisfied that Laura would soon return to a warm, peaceful sleep.
But no sooner had Carmilla settled back into her spot at the mouth of the cave than a bundle of blankets sat down beside her. "You should get some sleep, Carm. I know you're a vampire and everything but you've been up for like three days now."
Carmilla shrugged, "Could say the same for you. That's the fifth time in the past three nights that you've managed to spazz your way out of your cucoon."
Laura avoided Carmilla's gaze. She pulled the blankets up to get chin and looked pointedly at the pine-covered ground.
"Well as long as you're awake you might as well keep me company." Carmilla settled back against the cave wall and looked out into the mountain forest.
There was silence between then for a few minutes before Laura's small voice spoke again from the mound of blankets, "The nightmares...they're about that night."
"Yeah I figured. It was a touch traumatic."
"Yeah," Laura chuckled softly, "but...that's not what I meant." Carmilla cocked an eyebrow and looked down. "What I mean is," Laura rushed on, "they're not about all the scary vampire, soul-eating light stuff...they're about you. And when you...um...did that thing...for me."
"Ah..." Carmilla suddenly became very interested in a spot about two meters to the right of Laura. She paused. "You know I'm okay, right? I'm fine. I survived. Sure I got a few bumps and bruises along the way but in the end I made it out in one piece."
"Yeah I know. It's just...for a long time you weren't alright and you hadn't survived. I...I forget that that's changed when I'm not awake." She noticed the worry flick across Carmilla's expression. "It's fine, really. Sure I'm not getting much sleep and it's probably not the best that I keep kicking off my one source of heat, but I'll be fine."
Carmilla brushed a hair behind Laura's ear, "Tell ya what, cupcake. You can stick here with me and I'll wake you up if you start freaking out. Not sure what I'd do if you turned into a Hollcicle cause you can't keep yourself bundled."
She lifted her arm and Laura immediately snuggled in, "Thanks Carm."
It was a while before Laura fell asleep though once she did Carmilla did not wake her til morning.