Sitting on the table, Jeff gives Angel a reluctant nod. "Okay... nothing wild. I'll even ask Sparky to ride Hawk today and get all his energy out so tomorrow he'll be as tame as a lamb." He stops and quirks an eyebrow. "Hawk, not Sparky. Well, maybe Sparky too. He could use some calming down too. Ever since he's been married, he's just been a handful, ya know."
"Yeah.... yeah, okay." Arriving at his bunk, Hunter squeezes Katie's hand, turning towards her. "You're stuck with me now, ya know." He lets her hand go to reach up and brush her cheek with his fingers. "I hope you don't regret it."
Leaning down, he gives her lips a tender kiss. "I'll see you later." He hoped it would be later than sooner, if that meant he could sleep. He felt like he was walking around dead right now the way it was, and he could feel his body trying to shut down. He'd gone without sleep before, but it had never been anything like this.
Giving Katie's chin a light tap with his thumb, he turns to go into his bunkhouse. Once inside, he takes off his jacket and kicks his boots off into the corner. Studying the bottle of pills for a couple minutes, he finally takes a dose and lies down on the bed. It was so soft and comfortable. His body wanted sleep so badly, while his mind continued to race with fear of that horrible darkness. But his eyes felt so very heavy. Maybe if he could just get a half an hour in... that would be better than nothing...
...Prying open his eyes, Hunter groggily looks about his surroundings. The lighting was strange. Dim. Soft. Rolling over onto his back, he winces as his muscles protest. He felt as though he'd been run over by a truck.
Blinking, he finally gains a few more of his senses and he looks over at the clock. Shocked to see that it was almost seven o'clock he then looks to the window. No wonder the light seemed strange - it was much later in the day than when he'd laid down earlier. He must not have moved at all either, according to his achy back and legs.
Eventually sitting up, he runs a hand through his matted hair and tries to bring his mind into focus. Seven o'clock... he'd slept over eight hours straight. No wonder he was groggy. And... he hadn't woken from a nightmare once either. Though feeling tired from such a hard sleep, at the same time, he hadn't felt this good for over a week. Finally, finally.
Getting himself up and washing out his eyes, he finds his sneakers and pulls on a clean shirt. He'd need to do laundry again tomorrow. With as few things as he'd brought, he was doing laundry every two or three days. He was grateful for Becky's willingness to help out with that though.
Finally making it out of his bunkhouse, he sees little movement around the ranch and knew that supper was probably well under way. Wandering to the mess hall, he slips in the back door and scans the room. Yep, it looked like supper was at least halfway over. Spotting Katie over to one side, he ignores some of the other glances thrown his way. More than likely everybody had noticed his absence and knew he'd been trying to sleep all day. They could wonder what they wanted for now.
Ambling over to Katie's table, he comes up behind her, running his hand up her back before giving her shoulder a playful squeeze. "Got room for me?"
He pulls out a chair and sits down, stifling a yawn. Giving her a sleepy smile, his eyes still weren't fully awake yet. "I feel like Rip Van Winkle."
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