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she was choking. she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, what was holding her down? who? a dark figure at the edge of her vision, tying her down, her throat, god, no, she couldn’t
breathe.stella sat up gasping for air. fuck, fuck. where was her sleep journal? it was right–no, she didn’t bring it, she forgot to pack it. she didn't pack anything. she didn’t know she was spending the night here.she put her face in her hands, trying to push away the vision that was tying her down.“have you suffered from sleep paralysis before?” scully asked from the other side of the bed, using her best doctor voice so early in the morning, sleep making it rasp. she knew that looking at it clinically could help calm stella down, to think rationally. scully needed to feel in control with it too.stella was breathing deeply, barely aware of scully’s voice next to her.“you seem to have a form of
postdormital sleep paralysis, where you are consciously aware after REM sleep, but your body is still relaxed from deep sleep. It makes it feel like you can’t move for a few minutes.”stella’s breath started to slow down, regulate. she was somewhat aware of scully, sitting next to her in bed but carefully not touching her, waiting for her to come back down from the plane of terror she was on.
"it can make you feel like you're being tied down, or attacked, or even that you're dead. it's scary. it's happened to me, a few times before."stella
glanced at scully between her fingers, through her messy hair, still laying next to her in bed, awake and attentive to her. she felt so loved, in that instant. and so sad. all at once. too much emotion for so early in the morning.
“some people
actually believe they’re being abducted by aliens, or attacked by demons. believe me, i’ve read the case files.”stella smiled slightly behind her hands, finally hearing scully clearly, feeling her presence, her warmth.“you likely have isolated cases like this. like a waking nightmare. some people have them and aren’t even aware, or don’t remember, but for others it’s a terrible experience. i’m sorry.”stella leaned back, to her side, to scully's side, finally allowing her muscles to relax from the tense ache of fight or flight they were just put through."waking in the morning should be peaceful, especially after such a lovely evening we had together."with that stella leaned into scully’s side, thankful that she was there, that she was so good to her. scully wrapped stella in her arms and leaned them back down, holding her, kissing her forehead, whispering nonsense words of comfort and love.