Billy Kaplan

There isn't much running through Billy's mind at first; his immediate goal after the whole revelation was to get some alone time to think about what just happened, and the implications of it. Being in the same room -- the same house as Teddy is too distracting, because all he can think of is that they've been together, and everything that entails.

Mostly, he can't stop thinking about making out with Teddy and that doesn't help matters at all.

It's not until he rounds a bend and notices the compound in the distance that Billy realizes what he needs. He has friends he's been getting to know all over again, but he can only think of Maxxie right now. He's got to have some advice, having been caught up in the middle of the awkward horror earlier. And having someone who he know will listen will probably go a long way.

When he makes it into the compound, Billy realizes he doesn't remember which room, exactly, is Maxxie's, but he heads toward the stairs anyway.

Lots of horrible things happen to super heroes. It's a fact of the hero life, Billy's knows, from all the comics he's read and hearing about the crazy things the Avengers and X-Men get up to. However you go into it, it's something you have to think about, and he'd been giving it a lot more thought ever since meeting Nathan and ending up on the island, missing two years of his own life.

It figures that some crappy stuff must have happened to him since, but that still doesn't make the nightmares any less terrifying, or confusing. Why should he get nightmares if he didn't even live through those events? They hardly ever make sense to Billy, and the only things he ever recognizes are a big green guy he's come to realize is Teddy, himself, and Skrulls.

Always Skrulls. Sometimes they're normal Skrulls, but sometimes, like tonight, it's the Super Skrull, and he's so hellbent on killing them -- on killing Teddy, that the fear chokes Billy up and has him gasping when he wakes.

It's about the fifth night of the same nightmare since he woke up with amnesia, and the adrenaline and fear pumping through his body tonight is enough that he doesn't even think before he gets out of bed. He pads down the staircase, in boxers alone, and walks over to the couch Teddy has been sleeping on since that first night.

Billy almost lets Teddy be; he looks peaceful and innocent, like none of the stress of being Billy's caretaker can touch him at night. And it sucks that he's about to do this, but he's still kind of shivering and he can't shake the image of Teddy hurt and bleeding, so he reaches out and gives his bare shoulder a firm shake.

"Teddy," he says, loud enough to rouse him, but not so much to startle him awake. "Teddy, please wake up."