"Seriously Charlie, you've gotta' give it a rest." Hank's voice drifts through my open mind, the sound of it grating against the stillness of Watching, "She'll be fine."

She'll be fine. _Fine_. Never great, or better, or happy. No, just _fine_. My body boils with anger and drips with exhaustion so suddenly I can't concentrate.

I pull away from my Thread with Erika, mourning the loss of her _gentle-purple-calm-soothing_ mind. Hank stares at me with his buggy blue eyes, raising a brow.

"I don't want _fine_, Hank, I want _better_." I snap, fed up with his judgy eyes and his stupid sweater vest, "I want her to get better."

Hank snorts, crossing his lanky arms. He's about three feet taller than me but weighs twenty pounds less._ I could take him in a fight_.

I shake my head to rid it of such ridiculous thoughts. I must really be reaching a limit with sleep deprivation if I'm contemplating wrestling my best friend... That's not _too_ unusual, though.

I search my desktop for a latte, I know I got one this morning at my favorite spot... ah, there it is. I guzzle down my coffee like it's holy water. Maybe it is, Tina's Coffee Imporiam is nearly religious to me now.

"Erika is a big girl, Charlie, she won't die from one night without you Wathcing." Hank slips on his olive green coat, pushing his thick rimmed glasses back up his nose, "You need to rest."

All of the fight, all of the boiling anger melts away. It leaves nothing but dread and resignation in its wake. I sigh, slumping over in my chair. I bury my face in my hands, my grey-blue eyes stinging with distant tears.

"She'll have another one if I leave her alone." My next words are hushed, "I can't let her suffer, Hank. _I can't._"

Hank puts a hand on my head, ruffling my chestnut colored hair like I'm a child. I'm not. I'm an adult man, fully capable of being Erika's Dream Catcher...

"There are some things we can't fix from our ivory towers, Charlie." Hank sounds sad, which is nice. Makes me feel less pathetic for crying on the clock. "Some people are just... Broken."

That word hits me in the chest like a knife, pericing me to my very core. I snap up in my chair, dislodging Hank's hand. He doesn't even seem to notice how deeply that word has shaken the foundation of our friendship. Cracks run along the collums.

_Broken_. _Unfixable. Ruined_. All the words Erika hears thrown at her in her dreams, all of the words she soaks into her heart. She wakes up feeling like a broken doll, empty and plastic and unloved.

Every nightmare is one filled with fire. She burns alive every night. How could I let such a wonderful woman turn to ash every night?

"We aren't allowed to interfere, ok?" Hank reminds me, unnecessarily. I know how this job works, I've been doing it since I was eighteen, "These people pay good money so that we just Catch the Nightmares. Not so we mess with their minds."

It's been Eight years and I've had thirty-two Sleepers. Hank has had twenty-four. Barbra down in the POW Sector has had forty-five.

We were all born with a gift, an ability that could help people. A gift that was turned into a multimillion corporation and a 9-5 job.

We're able to Watch dreams, and even snatch the Nightmares away from their minds before they have them. The scientific name for what we do is called Brianwave Manipultion Guidance... But everybody just calls us Dream Catchers.

Erika was assigned to me my first year. Her mother paid out of pocket and could only afford three months worth of protection from the night terrors.

But those three months... I fell in love with her. Well, we've never actually spoken, so maybe I didn't fall in love with her as much as I fell for her mind.

A gentle, kind mind filled with purple and light and beauty. Sinking into her mind felt like coming home, when home became an empty house and a full graveyard, I had Erika's mind to return to.

"You already broke the rules enough with this chick," He's halfway out the door, trying to be kind but firm with his tone - He's failing. "Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't."

The second the door closes I begin to do something stupid. I turn back to my desk, where all of my enhancing crystals and totems lay scattered.

Some Dream Catchers are very scientific about their abilities. They believe in evolution being the cause and that's it. I've always been more spiritual about my powers. Always felt like they were a gift from some higher power to help those around me...

I open my mind, breathing in the sensations of the sleep realm. Dark and cold and endless... And then, in the darkness, I see it. A little purple light. Bingo.

I've been helping Erika for free for the last eight years. I stay extra hours, come in on my days off, and Watch for her. Erika doesn't even know I exist, all she knows is a good night's rest without hellfire

But that's about to change.

In her dream, she's sitting at a table in a garden. All of the flowers are whispering, watching her. She sips at her tea, long black hair draped over her shoulder. She's trying to ignore the chatter, but it's getting under her skin...

I materialize, taking form in her mind. We're only allowed to appear to our Costumer's for emergencies. Hopefully my boss sees how urgent this is.

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. I just stand there, watching her drink. She flinches at a particularly loud tulip, making a snide remark about how Erika will '_die alone because you're so..._'

With a flex of my fingers the flower crumbles into nothing. The mindscape is my domain. I control everything in this realm.

Which is why I can't explain how Erika turns her head and looks straight at me. Her big brown eyes pericing through me. I haven't made myself visible yet, how is she?...

"It's you."

"It's me."

She smiles, and it almost looks sad. "Yeah, you wouldn't recognize me here."

My mind shortcircuits. She knows me. How does she know me? I open and close my mouth a few times, like a fish on land. Or a man in front of a gorgeous woman. Same difference.

"Of course you'd be here." Erika mumbles to her tea, a latte with extra foam sat across from her. "Because _that's_ here."

That being the latte. The latte that looks just like the own I always order. _Oh_, she knows me in the Waking world. She knows my coffee order... She must work at Tina's Coffee Imporiam.

My heart leaps into my throat, dislodging my words, "I don't want you to burn... anymore."

She looks at me with tired eyes, "Me neither, Latte-With-Extra-Foam-and-pretty-eyes."

She obviously has a nickname for me, which heats my cheeks up to an embarrassing shade of pink, "I'm Charlie."

"Hi, Charlie."

Erika smiles, and then faintly, heat starts boiling up from the ground. It rises so quickly it begins melting the flowers. They're all screaming now, screaming her name. The tea in her cup boils. Her skin melts off her bones like wax. She's still smiling. I scream out to her, reaching for her...

"_Wake up _you absolute loony," Hank yells into my ear, violently shaking me, "Do you know what would've happened if anyone saw you _speaking_ with her? My god Charlie..."

"Move." I shove Hank out of the way, racing out into the Waking World.

I have no control out here, where the cars are loud and the people are scared and people get hurt. But I have control over me, and I need to see Erika. Now.

The sun has just crawled up the sky, dawn lighting the world with hope. Hope for a new day, better than the last.

I run for six blocks until I reach it, heaven on earth. Tina's Coffee Imporiam. There's an Angel inside, and her name is Erika. I catch my breath before opening the door.

The bell announces me with a jingle, the staff half asleep at such an early hour. They all give me half-dead side eyes. All expect one girl. She's the burn victim girl who always takes my order.

Her scars tug when she tries to smile, so she stops. She simply asks in a smooth, lilting voice, "What will it be today, sir?"

"Latte, extra foam."

I watch her nod, her thin black hair swaying with the movement. Her entire body is covered with scars. Just the right side of her face is free of pain... it's soft, like her eyes. Her deep brown eyes... _oh_.

"Erika?"

No name tag. I've never asked. She's never told me. This burned woman looks up at me like I've just casted a spell on her, shocked and mystified.

"...Charlie?"

Tears spring to my eyes so violently I have to take hold of the countertop in front of me. Her mouth parts with shock, revealing perfect little bunny teeth. _She's so cute_.

"That was really you? In the garden..." The wonder in her eyes dim at the memory of the garden, burning to ash, "How is that... _oh_. You're a Dream Catcher."

I nod, unable to speak. Fondness and affection has choked me. Love has my throat in a Vice. I love this girl. This kind, beautiful, sweet girl. I want to protect her from her Dreams and the Waking World. All of it.

"But how did you find my mind if-"

"I'm your Dream Catcher." I interrupt, leaning closer to her, trying to see the specks of green in her wide eyes, "I've been watching over you for a while now."

As creepy as it all might sound, she seems almost calmed at the notion. Like I've always been there. Like she was never alone in the inferno.

"Dream Catcher?" She tries to smile again, a dorky little grin that showcases those adorable bunny teeth, "More like Man of my Dreams. _Ha_... oh god please forget I said that."

"No, no I don't think I will." I reach for her hand.

She flinches from the touch, doubt and fear and insecurity racing across her scarred face. But with a gentle smile from me, all of the chaos settles into contentment.

She laughs, and a few of her co-workers are jumping up and down behind her, celebrating Erika's romantic wins for her. One of the guy's whisper shouts '_Score!_'

"I should've known my mom was setting me up."

"Your mom had nothing to do with this," I lace my fingers through her's, "I fell for you as soon as you fell asleep that first night. As soon as I saw your mind, your heart, your spirit."

"Oh..." she says with wide, trusting eyes.

"Yeah, _oh_."

"Wanna' get out of here?" She sounds timid, afraid like I might say 'no'.

"I couldn't dream of doing anything esle." I wink, a goofy over-the-top-thing that has her laughing again, "see what I did there?"

"Yeah, very funny."

"Thanks."

Her smile lights up the whole coffee shop. And just like that, I finally have the girl of my Dreams in the Waking World...

_Oh god, my boss. _