Charlie awoke suddenly to the sound of screaming, as he jerked to a sitting position from the couch that he slept on, keeping vigil over the pack, maintaining an alert yet resting state, his eyes blazed with protective fury. Charlie leapt to the floor, breathing heavily, shifting as he did, his instincts taking over before his rational thought, he sniffed the air, no disturbance there, but scent was easily masked, he eyed the room, still nothing suspicious, then he heard the screams again, his head turned as he focused on the door from which the sounds had been coming, and a mixture of annoyance and concern crossed the protector's face as he shifted back into his human form, it was only Kiara. These awakenings had become more and more common in the recent past, screaming as she slept, Charlie didn't know what was causing them, or why, except that Kiara had said that they were "warnings of things to come" and that worried him, but it also made him hesitant to wake her. Charlie straightened himself and relaxed slightly, looking at the clock, 06:27, 'bout time to wake up anyway, so he shut off his alarm, put on a shirt and got to work.

As Charlie made his way to the adjoining kitchen, he thought about the sound that had woken him. As he opened the medicine cabinet, his hands shaking, he pondered Kiara's dire explanation of her screaming, that these terrible dreams of hers were more than the simple nightmare, that they were warnings of the future. As he took a shaky handful of pills, and downed them with water, he wondered if it were true, after all the girl had certainly been through things, things that haunted a body, seen things that one could never unsee, and he knew how that went, no one would blame her if she had cracked, least of all him. "On the flip side" he thought to himself as he felt himself steady and began preparing for the morning ritual, the girl definitely had a stronger connection to the more mystical aspects of their being than did the retired-marine, so perhaps there was some truth to what she said. Charlie turned the burners on as he absentmindedly cracked several eggs into a bowl, and stirred in milk, after a minute or two, Charlie bit his lip in frustration, flipping, stirring and seasoning the eggs to perfection as he did so. It was as much killing him to hear her, night after night, screaming in her sleep, as it was to wake up in a state on full alert, ready to help in anyway, and yet be completely powerless to do so. Charlie took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself, as he absentmindedly threw some bacon into a pan, scooping the eggs onto a plate and placing it out of his way. So he started on the next batch of food for the pack's morning meal, sausage. As he worked, the smell of well-cooked meats floated about the small townhouse in the early morning sunlight.