When you have bad dreams, Marcus is always there to comfort you. He’s a light sleeper, thanks to years of being woken up by either his pager calling him in to save the world at odd hours or his daughter knocking on his door and saying she had a nightmare. When you have a bad dream, it’s no different; he senses the change in your breathing or the way you jerk awake and roll away from him to keep from waking him up. It’s too late to hide it, though. He’s already blinking out of sleep and turning over, fumbling around until his hand lands on some part of you—maybe your arm, maybe your hip. It takes gentle coaxing at first but you finally turn to face him and he gathers you up in his arms before you can protest. You try to explain that you’re overheating and sweaty and a little shaky from your dream, but Marcus isn’t deterred by any of that. He gives you specific instructions that are easy to follow when half-awake: breathe with me, and just listen to my heart, and, finally, when you’re feeling a bit better, do you want to talk about it? Even if you don’t want to talk about it, he’ll stay there, letting you pick which way you want to cuddle with him, and you’ll tell him it’s fine to go back to sleep but he’ll still lay awake until he can tell you’re asleep again. Only then does he let himself doze off again, only when he’s made sure you’re okay :)