Disclaimer: I do not own Wolfblood.

A/N: this is an AU ending to 2.12.

Rhydian awoke with a jolt.

Beads of sweat were on his forehead and his breathing was wildly increased. Eyes wide, he slowly turned on to his back and took a deep breath in, letting it out cautiously.

It was just a dream, he tried to tell himself. Maddy is safe. It was just a dream.

The look on Alric's face as he held Maddy in his strong, relentless arms was still etched in to Rhydian's memory. And the look on Maddy's face as she thought she was going to die was etched even further in to Rhydian's brain.

The whole memory had found its way in to his dreams – well, nightmares, really – and it had all seemed so real. For a while he thought it was actually happening again. And this time, in his dream, it didn't end as well as it had done in real life.

He knew it was just a dream deep down. Really, he did.

But something inside of him just needed to check.

Without even thinking, he rolled back on to his side and reached out to grab his phone that was sitting on his bedside table.

His fingers found Maddy's name and he pressed the call button. It rang, and it rang, and it rang, but she didn't pick up. Soon it went to voicemail, and the calm tone of the voice telling him to leave a message after the tone wasn't making him feel any better; it was making him feel worse.

She hadn't answered her phone.

His imagination began to run wild.

Why didn't she answer her phone? He thought to himself. She always answers her phone; especially when it's me calling. ...But it is the middle of the night. She'll be asleep.

No. If her phone rang at night, she'd answer it if she was there. She wouldn't ignore it. Something must have happened...

These thoughts kept coming in and out of his head and he couldn't stop them. It was beginning to suffocate him. Before he knew it, he'd jumped out of bed, put his trainers and jacket on, and his body was taking him out of his window and towards Maddy's house.

He had to know if she was okay.

Alric could have come back for her. He could have changed his mind. He could have realised Rhydian wasn't at her house and swooped in to her bedroom when no one could stop him.

Rhydian felt guilt settle in his stomach as he ran all the way through the dark, cold woods towards Maddy's house. He shouldn't have left her alone; he should've had her stay at the Vaughans or something, just to make sure she was okay. Just to make sure that his nightmare wouldn't come true.

If it had already come true, he didn't know what he'd do with himself.

Rhydian had intended on just checking she was alive; just checking she was safe and that the woods surrounding her house were free of Alric's scent.

But when he scaled the wall up her window, the tree branch he'd had his foot on snapped and he managed to grab on to the window to stop himself from falling. But this, however, made a loud crash, startling Maddy from inside her bedroom.

Maddy sat up with a jolt and frantically looked around her room, searching for the source of the noise. Nothing and no one was in her room. But when her brain woke up a little, she sniffed the air and a familiar scent began to fill her nose.

Brow furrowing, she pushed her duvet back and stood up in to the cold air of her bedroom.

When she opened her window, she gasped upon seeing Rhydian hanging from her windowsill.

"Rhydian?" She whispered. "What the bloody hell are you doing?"

"Uh...," Rhydian looked down, embarrassed. "Mads, I'm...I'm just gonna...pull myself up..." Maddy watched as he took a deep breath, exhaled, and then heaved himself up in to her room, his feet landing surprisingly quietly on her bedroom floor.

"Are you okay?" Maddy stepped towards him, checking over his face and arms.

"I'm fine." He was still looking down. Maddy stepped past him and closed the window before asking him what the heck he was doing there at 2 in the morning. Instantly, Rhydian felt stupid. His cheeks went hot and he continued looking down at the ground. Why was he even here? Obviously Maddy was okay. Obviously his nightmare hadn't come true; it was just a dream. Obviously the reason she hadn't answered her phone was because it was on silent.

But still, here he was, standing like an idiot in the pitch blackness of Maddy's bedroom at crazy-O'clock, staring down at his feet.

"No reason, I just…um…wanted to make sure…" Rhydian wasn't looking at her. His eyes were darting all over the place frantically and he ran a hand through his hair, making it all spike up. Her eyes were boring in to him and he was so incredibly embarrassed. How old was he, ten? - Believing that a stupid dream could come true?

"...Wanted to make sure what?"

He still wasn't looking at her. But Maddy couldn't help but notice the terrified look in his eyes. He looked distraught – like something had really freaked him out – and she just wanted to reach out and hug him.

So she did.

For a moment Rhydian seemed a little shocked, but soon he gratefully reciprocated and wrapped his arms around her tightly, burying his head in to her neck. He took a moment to smell her scent all around him and take it in, appreciating the fact that she was here. She was alive. She was okay.

Finally, he spoke. Finally, he admitted what on earth he was doing here.

He kept his head in her neck and held her tighter before speaking.

"I needed to know you were okay," he said, his voice quiet and hesitant.

Over his shoulder, she calmly said, "what do you mean?"

"After Alric, you know... Sorry, Mads, I didn't mean to wake you…I just…I had a bit of a, uh…nightmare about it. That's all. And I called you but you didn't answer... I just meant to come and check you were okay. Sorry, I really didn't mean to disturb you or—"

"Shh," she soothed over his shoulder, noticing his babbling. Slightly hesitantly, she brought her hand up to the back of his neck and begun smoothing the short, spiky hair comfortingly. "I'm okay. I'm right here."

Rhydian melted in to her touch. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, you donut," she said softly, "you have nothing to be sorry for."

"Yeah, I do. I'm acting like a little kid. And I woke you up."

"I don't mind, Rhydian. Really. You have every right to still be shaken up. Come on, let's sit down." She let him go and Rhydian reluctantly took his head out of her neck. She took his hand, leading him over to her bed, and they sat next to each other on the edge of the mattress.

"I just...I keep seeing your face as he had you. As he was about to..." Rhydian looked away. He clenched his jaw.

"But he didn't," she said quickly, "I'm here. I'm alive. See?" She smiled softly as she held her hand up to his nose. "You can smell me."

He chuckled. "I know. I'm so grateful that I can..."

Maddy shuffled closer to him. His eyes were on her but she was looking down at her hands, now nervously twiddling her thumbs. "I was having a bit of a nightmare, too," she admitted quietly. "It was different to yours, though. Instead of me being hurt by Alric...i-it was you, and he..."

Instinctively, before he could even stop himself, Rhydian reached out and took both of her hands in his. Slowly, her eyes came up to meet his and his gaze was intense, sincere.

"I'm here too," he whispered. "We're both okay."

"But we're both shaken up. I was so scared for ya, Rhydian. I thought he was gonna kill ya."

"Me, too," he shrugged, "a little, anyway. But you were by my side and we got through it. I mean, we always do, right?"

Smiling feebly, Maddy nodded. She was looking at him from under her dark eyelashes, a piece of hair falling in her face.

"Will you stay with me?" Maddy asked after a few long but comfortable moments of silence. Her voice was rough and quiet, and Rhydian could tell she was nervous.

His face still serious, he nodded. "Of course."

She smiled gratefully. And then she stood up, pulling back the covers and lying down.

Maddy patted the space next to her and Rhydian responded by lying in it, his shoes and jacket now on the floor and the duvet on top of him too. Her back was facing him as he lay on his side.

For a moment the room felt a little awkward. But then Maddy rolled over and moved as close as she could to Rhydian, resting her head against his chest. He was really warm, and Maddy smiled as she inhaled his scent.

"Mads," Rhydian whispered, hesitantly putting his arm over her waist.

"Mm?" She mumbled in response.

"I...," he trailed off. And then he sighed, burying his head in to her neck, nuzzling his nose against her soft skin. Her scent right here was strong and it made him feel at home. "Nothing."

"What is it?" Maddy pulled her head away. She frowned at him.

"Nothing. It's...it's nothing. Really."

She was about to push him, but she was too tired. If it was that important, he'd have said it.

For a while they just lay there silently. At some point Rhydian had brought his hand up to stroke her hair gently, and Maddy was beginning to feel sleepy. His scent was all around her and everything felt calm; they found it hard to believe that not long ago at all their lives had been at stake.

"Mmm..." Maddy mumbled, shuffling in her spot and putting her arm over his waist. Rhydian knew she was asleep, because a few moments later when she said his name and he responded, she didn't say anything in return. He chuckled quietly to himself, just loving having her close like this. She must have been dreaming about him. Or at least, the fact she was currently sleeping in the same bed as him had clearly slipped in to her subconsciousness and was coming out in her sleep.

He held her tighter, and then he too drifted off to sleep.

It wasn't until he stirred in the early hours of the morning that Rhydian realised again what was happening.

He woke up slowly, frowning when he realised his unfamiliar surroundings. But then he remembered where he was, and when he looked at the clock on Maddy's bedside table, he saw it was 5.30am. A tiny bit of light was now entering the room.

He looked down to find a sleeping Maddy next to him on the bed, her head just a few inches from his chest now. He smiled to himself, fighting the urge to reach out and touch her beautiful, still face.

He needed to go home in case the Vaughans woke up and freaked out when he was no where to be found, but he was so comfortable and warm right here with Maddy that he wanted nothing more than to stay.

But, alas, he couldn't.

Reluctantly, he untangled himself from her and carefully climbed out of bed, trying his hardest not to wake her up. He didn't want to disturb her, so he looked around her room in search of paper and a pen to leave a note.

But as he opened one of the drawers on Maddy's dresser, something from the top of it rattled and then fell to the floor with a dull thud. Rhydian winced, cautiously turning to face Maddy who, unfortunately, was now stirring.

She sniffed the air without opening her eyes, turning on to her back. "Rhydian?" She frowned. And then her arm came out to search the bed beside her.

He walked over, his footsteps quiet. "Mads," he whispered in response. Maddy smiled upon hearing his voice and her eyes fluttered open sleepily. "I've got to go. The Vaughans will freak if they wake up and I'm not there."

She looked a little disappointed. Stretching her arms in the air she yawned, her eyes finally coming to focus to the room around her. "Okay." She said through the yawn.

"I'll see you later, yeah? I'll come over before school. In a couple hours."

Maddy nodded drowsily. "Yeah. Okay."

"Later, Mads." He walked towards the bed once more and leaned over her. He kissed her cheek softly and slowly, and when he pulled away, she smiled at him.

"Rhydian," Maddy grabbed his hand before he could walk away and he turned to face her again. "Thanks. You know, for staying last night...I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome," he'd almost said 'anytime' but he thought maybe that was a bit inappropriate before he even asked her out on a first date (which he was planning to do really soon). "I needed it too. We were both shaken up."

She nodded in agreement, squeezing his hand. "We were."

Rhydian smiled. "I'll see you later." He gathered up his coat, slipped his shoes on and flashed her one last smile before jumping out of her window, landing silently on the grass outside.

A/N: Okay, so I know that the night after Alric attacked was actually a full moon and they were down in the den and Liam found it etc, but I only remembered that once I was halfway done with this and I didn't want to abandon it. :P So now I guess this is, well...I feel like had it been a normal night, this would have happened. If season 2 ended happier :')

Also, I know this kind of fic has been done before but WOW I had such a big need to write my own :P And it's sort of a drabble of sorts, I suppose.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! :) I'm having a massive Maddian spiral at the moment, probably because I'm rewatching Wolfblood (and bcus the WB online comic -dies-), so there are more Maddian fics where this came from :D

Do let me know what you think!

Love :* xxx