Sleepwalking

Garrick opened his eyes to the very softest early-morning light cast across soft pink hair. He let a lazy smile cross his face; this was a good dream, then, not one of the nightmares he had regularly. Though usually in his dreams about Imogen she was naked or wearing a very un-Imogen silk nightgown instead of the fuzzy sleep pants she was wearing, and usually he wasn't wearing the leathers he'd fallen asleep in and...

Shit.

This sleepwalking thing was now officially out of hand.

It was one thing when he'd been waking up in the kitchen pantry all of a sudden, because that was annoying and embarrassing but at least it was on brand for him, and hey, snacks. He'd been trying to deal with it by mostly ignoring it, his tried and true method of dealing with annoying things, and by warding his own bedroom door from the inside, against himself.

That should have been more than enough to stop him from leaving in his sleep, shouldn't it?

But now he was facing imminent death if Imogen woke up and found him in her bed.

Garrick held as still as he could, listening to Imogen's breath like his life depended on it. It was still slow and even, and he was right next to her but they weren't tangled up together or anything, thank fuck. He started by sliding one leg away from her to the edge of the bed and then, when that didn't seem to rouse her at all, the second one followed. Once his feet were off the side, he tried to curl his hips away from her.

Of course, moving his hips made him aware of just how his body wanted to react to the fact that he was in bed with Imogen, and now was not the time. He needed to focus. He closed his eyes and tried to think of something less sexy as he slid across the mattress. His first thought was Imogen stabbing him, but that was definitely on the hot side, so no good. Xaden glaring at him, maybe? Bodhi's sad, disappointed face when he died. That was a little better. The friction was definitely not helping, though. Why did Imogen's bed have to be so soft and why did it have to smell like her?

But finally he had enough of himself over the edge that he could let gravity help, and he slowly slithered out of her bed and onto his knees,

He'd never spent so much time just listening to Imogen breathe before.

For a second he almost fell over in relief as he tried to stand up, banged his shin against the side of the bed and bit his tongue as he tried not to make a noise.

Imogen made a grumbling noise in her sleep and turned over.

Away from him, thank fuck. He used every ounce of lesser magic he could put into silence as he made his way to her door and into the hall, letting it close behind him. He leaned his back against the wall next to her door and sagged in relief. He'd made it.

He wondered briefly how he was able to sleepwalk into Imogen's room, through her wards, but before he could get anywhere with that thought he heard another door in the hallway of the family wing opened.

--

"Garrick?" Bodhi asked, looking from him to Imogen's door and back to him again. "Fucking finally, but don't tell me you're sneaking out on-"

"No! I mean. I didn't. I mean. We didn't. I mean- what do you mean finally?"

Bodhi snorted. "Okay, so what is going on then, if you're not sneaking out of Imogen's room?"

"Well, okay, I am sneaking out of Imogen's room, but I don't know how I got there. I've been sleepwalking lately but it's only been public places like the pantries before this."

His friend looked at him closely, like he wasn't sure what to make of Garrick. That was fair, Garrick decided. He wasn't sure what to make of it himself.

"Sleepwalking? That sounds dangerous, what if it happened when you were out-"

Garrock shook his head. "It hasn't. Only here, and it's only been like... two weeks. I just need to figure out how to make myself stay put. I'm surprised her wards even let me into her room."

"I'm not," Bodhi muttered. "Maybe you should try locking yourself in?"

"I tried already, I must have taken my wards down before I left." Garrick unlocked his own door and stepped in, Bodhi following.

"They don't feel down," Bodhi pointed out, looking behind him. "Maybe you should try tying yourself to the bed or something? That's probably harder to undo in your sleep."

"Yeah maybe," Garrick sat on the edge of his bed, trying to get the image of Imogen's hair in the sunlight out of his head. He flopped backwards on top of his mussed blankets.

"Let me know if you need me to help with anything, okay?" Bodhi ducked back out the door, and Garrick reached up with push of air to close it behind him, then made sure it was warded tightly before unlacing the leathers he'd been wearing when he fell dead asleep last night. Thinking about Imogen was not exactly calming him down, so he gave in and slid out of his leathers and underwear, leaving them in a heap as he palmed his cock.

It didn't take more than a few strokes along his length and replaying the image of Imogen's quiet, sleeping form to get himself off. He wiped himself off with his dirty shirt before adding it to the laundry pile and headed for the shower, hoping to get both the adrenaline and the sense that didn't deserve to think about seeing Imogen like that out of his system.

Maybe he needed to keep more distance from Imogen to make sure he didn't sleepwalk into her room again either.

--

That night he took Bodhi's advice. He put extra wards on the door and he use the belt of his nightrobe to tie his leg to the foot of his bed. Surely that would be enough, right? He'd start sleepwalking, fall over and wake himself up.

Satisfied, Garrick let himself fall asleep, trying to drag his mind away from replaying the strategy meetings or the fact that he was supposed to be going out on patrol again tomorrow. If this didn't work, he was going to have to tell someone. He was starting to genuinely worry he'd sleepwalk during a mission; Bodhi's concern was apparently infectious.

When Garrick woke the next morning, before he even let himself open his eyes, he tugged on his foot. He could feel the tug of the knot. Reassured, he opened his eyes.

It was not his room.

The bed was otherwise empty, but Imogen was sitting in the chair by the window, watching him and glaring as she played with a dagger.

Garrick panicked and shot to full wakefulness so fast he was pretty sure he heard his heart trying to escape out his throat. He tried to climb off the bed and away from her, but he had already forgotten about his ankle, and he immediately fell off the bed.

He glared up at the bedpost in betrayal- had he managed to untie the stupid thing and then re-tie it?

"What the fuck are you doing in my bed, Tavis?" Imogen growled at him. She must have stood up and walked over while he was panicking because she was staring down at him now.

This was not a good time to think about all the ways that her standing over him looking murderous made him feel.

"I- it's a long story," he managed to get out, trying to figure out how to start.

"I find you here in your sleep clothes, so you didn't stumble in too drunk to find your own room, and you've got this stupid thing around your leg like you forgot about it when you finished playing whatever game with whatever fucking mare was in your stable last," Imogen pulled on it, "so I figured I'd tie you down and see what happened when you woke up."

"So it was untied?" Garrick asked first, still hoping to figure out what had happened in his sleep.

"That's your question?" she snapped at him. "It had a little loop tied in the end, I guess, why the fuck does it matter?"

Before Garrick could answer, they were interrupted by knocking on the door. "Um, Imogen? Are you okay in there?" Bodhi. Shit, Garrick couldn't decide if that was helpful or not. He tried to sit up and start untying the knot as Imogen went over to throw the door open.

"I'm fine!" Imogen shouted as she threw the door open, making it extremely clear that she was not fine and Garrick would likely be much, much less fine in a few minutes.

"Help!" Garrick called to Bodhi as he started considering whether it'd be faster to gnaw through the tie than try to unknot the damn thing. Damn, Imogen had learned those well. "She's going to murder me!"

"You were in my bed!" Imogen whirled on him. "I'm within my rights to murder you!"

"Whoa, whoa, no murder, we don't have the manpower to spare," Bodhi said, throwing himself between them. "Imogen, did he tell you he's been sleepwalking?"

"He's been what?"

"Sleepwalking. I just found out yesterday." Bodhi glared at him as if to ask why he hadn't told Imogen that in the first place.

Imogen's face twisted up in something that looked like... longing? Garrick thought he must be misreading her. Maybe it was just disappointment.

"I was trying not to get murdered," Garrick muttered, pulling himself up to where his ankle was still suspended above him at the foot of the bed. Imogen rolled her eyes and slashed her dagger at him- missing his hands and his foot, but severing the tie so that Garrick flopped back against the floor with a smack.

"Okay, so what's going on?" she said, sitting on the edge of her bed, and from the floor Garrick explained pretty much what he'd said to Bodhi the day before - the other places he'd woken up, the first night in her room - quickly scooting out of her reach as he did - and his concern about going out on patrol again since it seemed to be getting worse.

"Alright, I'll help," Imogen agreed. She elbowed him in the kidney for good measure, but Garrick figured getting away with only that and no blood loss was a win in his book.

They reconvened after a day of classes and meetings, and both of them stood in the doorway while Imogen burned a rune into the door.

"Okay how many lock runes did you combine into this thing?" Garrick asked, staring at it. He counted at least six of them, arrayed like spokes on a wheel. "It's impressive."

"Nine," she answered, almost smiling at the compliment, which made Garrick grin in return as she pointed out the other ones that were made up of smaller runes. "And now I get to seal you in."

Garrick leaned against the doorframe, admiring her work. And her. "And let me out in the morning, right?"

"Probably," Imogen rolled her eyes. "It depends."

"Depends on what?"

She looked at him seriously and he swallowed hard. "Why were you sleepwalking into my room, Tavis? Why not Bodhi's, or Xaden's, or one of the empty ones?"

Garrick had been dreading this question, actually. "I…"

But Imogen wasn't finished. "It just seems a little convenient for you. You'd better not be putting me to all this trouble as an excuse."

He stepped back into his room. "Immy, I wouldn't! I don't need to sneak into bedrooms to sleep with somebody, you know that!"

Somehow that didn't seem to help. Which, that was fair, Garrick regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. "Wait, I didn't mean-"

"Good night, Garrick!" Imogen snapped at him and slammed the door. A minute later he felt the sizzle as she fully imbued the locking rune on the door.

Well, fuck.

--

The good news was that Garrick woke up in his own bed.

"Fucking finally," he grumbled, making his way to the small bathing chamber in the corner. He showered, shaved and dressed for breakfast, already planning to thank Imogen for her help.

The door, of course, was still sealed shut.

Garrick tried dispelling the rune, then negating it, but apparently it was too strong for that. He banged on the door instead, taking down his sound shields so he could shout into the hallway. "Imogen? Hey, Cardulo! Your rune worked great, now let me out!"

There was no answer, but he could have sworn he could feel Imogen smirking on the other side of the door.

"Immy! Mimsy! Pinkie!" He tried, using lesser magic to boost his voice.

"Don't call me that!" came roaring back from the other side of the door.

Garrick laughed despite being the one sealed away in his room like a cask of Tyrrish whiskey. "Let me out then!"

"Maybe one of your mares can help with that little problem," she sang, clearly enjoying herself.

He banged on the door again. "Come on, I have things I need to do today, you made your point, I was an idiot."

"What was that?" Imogen called.

"I was an idiot!" he answered, as loud as he could.

"Damn right you were," he barely made out her words. "Oh, hi, Sorrengail. No, everything's fine. Go ahead to breakfast, you'll see me at formation."

"Violet! Make her let me out!" Garrick yelled, but if Violet was still there to hear him she'd clearly decided not to get involved. Considering Imogen was on her Squad and he wasn't, Garrick couldn't really blame her, but still.

There was a low whistle from the hallway and he heard Bodhi's voice then. "Is he still in there? Nice work, Imogen."

"Bodhi! Bodhi, make her let me out!" he yelled, hoping Bodhi would at least make her see reason. Garrick couldn't hear anything after that but some muffled talking, but that had to be a good sign, right?

"Why, Imogen!" he finally heard Bodhi's voice clearly again. "You want to run away with me while we leave Garrick sealed in here forever?"

"Oh, yes, Bodhi, I've always been in love with you, not that big lug," Imogen answered, her voice also suddenly clear.

The rational part of Garrick's mind knew they were fucking with him. However, he had already not been sleeping well. He hadn't had any coffee, nor any breakfast, and he never functioned well when he was hungry. And they were messing with him and his sense of loyalty instead of letting him out, so the rational part of Garrick's mind was about as effective as a lightning rod when Xaden and Violet got to spend the night together.

The rest of his brain had determined that he was getting out of that fucking room, right fucking now. He backed up toward his bed, giving himself room to run a few steps before the door, and lowered himself so he could ram it with his shoulder. He was going to get into that hallway, dammit.

He took his first running step and-

-he was in the hallway?-

-he didn't have time to stop before he rammed into the wall across from his still-closed door, denting the plaster that covered the stone wall. Fuck, that hurt even more than he was anticipating. He was not looking forward to explaining that to Brennan.

Except.

Garrick turned to look back at the door to his bedroom, which was still just as closed as it had been, and then at Bodhi and Imogen, who were both staring wide-eyed at him.

"I knew you'd figure it out eventually, Squire!" Chradh offered cheerfully in his mind. Suddenly the fact that his dragon had been largely saying nothing but the draconic equivalent of snickering behind his hand all week made sense.

"Figure what out?"

"Distance-walking!"

Garrick opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.

"Could you do that the whole time?" Bodhi asked slowly.

Imogen snorted. "Only when it was funny, clearly."