It was shortly after midnight and all of the Montgomery House was quiet... sort of.

Lauren and Micky slept in on of the guest rooms, the twins and Leah slept in another room. Faint light cast itself through the windows of the room, illuminating the room enough to see Micky toss and turn.

Finally Micky sat up abruptly, breathing a bit heavily. He looked at Lauren and let out a sigh seeing that she was still sleeping. Micky flipped the blanket off and slid out of the bed. He replaced the covers, then headed out of the room. He waded his way through the hall, headed for the stairs and descended them. Micky made a B-line for the kitchen and flipped the light switch for the room. He blinked at the brightness as his eyes adjusted.

We finally see just how banged up from the car explosion he really is as all he has on is a pair of pajama pants. There's several patches of bruised skin on his upper body, along with a few red lines that should have been gashes if it hadn't been for the devils' "healing" powers keeping Micky and Peter from being injured too badly.

We also see how slowly Micky moves as compared to his usual hyperness. He winced as he bent down to look in the fridge. He removed a container filled with iced tea and closed the fridge door. He reached up to a cabinet, but paused wincing. Micky stretched more slowly to the cabinet and eased the door open to remove a glass.

He filled his glass with tea and replaced the container in the fridge. Micky took his glass and sat at the kitchen table, both hands holding the glass, with his head bowed slightly. After a few moments, he took a drink of the tea and went back to his previous position.

"Micky?"

The drummer started, doing all he could to keep the glass from spilling. Micky turned and sighed. "Peter... don't do that."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," Peter said, giving a slight smile. The blond wore a set of normal pajamas as opposed to his favorite orange- one-piece footie pajamas. He subconsciously rubbed as his taped ribs as he crossed the room to the table. "Couldn't sleep?"

Micky shrugged. "I was asleep... but I woke up." He turned his gaze back to his glass.

Peter sat down at the table. "Micky, you had another nightmare, didn't you?"

Micky looked up, frowning. "Sometimes, I really hate that you can read auras," he said, then gave a short, fake chuckle.

Peter frowned a bit. "It was a horrible ordeal. We could have been--"

"Don't say it," Micky interrupted, then took another drink of the tea.

Peter nodded, then smiled a bit. "Remind me to thank Lauren for the iced tea."

Micky fingered the glass, but didn't respond.

Peter sighed. "Micky, talk to me. You can't keep it bottled up."

"Yeah, I know, I get told that every time," he responded, quietly. "Lauren always has to pry it out of me." He paused, then shook his head. "I really don't want to talk about it, Pete. We both went through it, you know what happened."

"Yes, I do know what happened. It bothered me, too," Peter said.

Micky looked up. "Then you shouldn't have to ask."

Peter blinked. "Micky... I just want to help, that's all."

"If I wanted to talk about it, I would be," Micky argued, then sighed, seeing the hurt look on Peter's face. "I'm sorry, Pete. I just... I don't like talking about the nightmares. I don't know why I have to have them. They just seem so real."

"It's okay, Micky, really. It's just... I know you're hurting and I just wanted to help you feel better," Peter said.

"Thank you," Micky said, then finished his tea and sat back in his chair.

"At least you don't have taped ribs," Peter commented, a faint smile appearing.

Micky gave a slight grin. "Yeah, I'm just a montage of bruises, instead."

"I've got my share of bruises, too," Peter added.

"Yeah? Well, I've got welts," Micky said, grinning a bit wider.

Peter opened his mouth, but grinned. "I got you to smile."

"You tricked me," Micky said, still grinning. "For someone so innocent, you have a bit of an evil streak in you."

Peter shrugged. "You do feel better now, though. Your aura looks much better."

"Thank you," Micky said, then added, "So, seeing the auras... does it come and go or do you always see them on everybody?"

"What's going on down here?" Lauren asked, entering the kitchen, rubbing at her eyes.

"Hi, babe. Did we wake you?" Micky said, as Lauren sat next to him, on the opposite side of Peter.

Lauren shook her head. "No, I had to use the bathroom and realized you'd gotten up. I heard you talking while I was out in the hall. You were trying to outdo each other's injuries."

Peter grinned, then pointed at Micky. "He started it."

Micky turned to Peter, grinning. "Peter!"

Peter winked at Micky. "I'm going back to bed. I'll see you in the morning." He got up and headed out of the kitchen.

Micky turned back to Lauren. "I think you already know why I'm down here."

Lauren nodded. "Nightmare. I kinda expected it. I... had one of my own just now. And when I woke up and saw you weren't next to me... It took me a few moments to realize it had just been a dream."

"It seems to be catching," Micky said. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Only if you do," Lauren returned.

"Nice try, babe," Micky said, then sighed. "There actually isn't that much to tell. It was pretty much just a rehash of what happened just before the explosion and that was when I woke up."

"Mine was..." Lauren began, then turned her gaze down slightly.

Micky glanced down at his rather colorful upper body. "I look like a pen exploded on me."

Lauren laughed. "Mick! I'm being serious!"

"I know and I was trying to lighten the mood," Micky said, grinning.

"Awful," Lauren commented, grinning.

"There is one bright side for me," Micky said.

"What's that?"

"You can't slug me," Micky said, then stuck his tongue out.

Lauren thought for a moment. "Well, if I can't slug you, then there must be a certain something else that your poor abused body couldn't handle." She waggled her eyebrows.

Micky's eyes widened. "I changed my mind, babe..."

Lauren got up. "Nope, you said it. I can't slug you, so you don't get to slug me!"

"Wait, babe...!" Micky jumped up, wincing as he did, and followed her. "I can live with the aches! Babe!"