"I think you might still have a crush on him," Rose teased. She sat down and watched Sera cook. "Come on, admit it."

"I might still like him. Maybe." Sera gave Rose a look, pouring food onto both plates.

Rose knew that was the best she would get for now, and didn't push the subject.

"Come on, let's eat while it's warm." Sera took her plate to the table and started eating quietly.

"You think I should forgive him?"

"I think it's up to you," Rose replied carefully as she took her plate. "But I also think that you're going to be angry and unhappy as long as you hold such a relatively pointless grudge."

Sera grumped again but did actually listen to her, mulling that over.

Once she was finished with her dinner, she washed her plate and put it away.

"I think I'm going to head to bed a little early tonight," she said. She knew Sera knew she'd been having trouble sleeping. "I might actually be able to sleep tonight, I might not. We'll see."

"Alright," Sera said. "Well I hope you sleep well. I can drive tomorrow if you want."

"You can if you want," Rose replied. "It's up to you."

"Alright. Well, go rest. That's an order." Sera managed to grin at her.

"Yes, ma'am," Rose replied teasingly, making her way upstairs. She kept glancing at the roses on her dresser as she got ready for bed, and she felt better about things.

Sera stayed up reading for a while before she got ready for bed. She didn't sleep well at all, but she didn't show it, just getting up and making tea the next morning so she could drive them to work.

Rose noticed how tired Sera looked the next morning when she came down for breakfast. Gently, she took the car keys from her.

"I'll drive," she said. "I'm willing to bet I got at least a little more sleep last night than you did."

"I got plenty of sleep," Sera muttered, leaning against a wall. "But I keep having nightmares. It's driving me up the wall. I mean, I haven't had a nightmare since I was, what, ten? And now I'm having them almost every night."

"What about?" Rose asked. She knew Sera wasn't one to have nightmares for no reason, but she had no idea what could have caused it. Rose didn't have nightmares all that often, either, and she'd been fine lately.

"I was at a seaside fair type thing," Sera said, looking out the window. "And I was alone. I kept looking for people but no one was around. I ran across this walkway over the water to a man-made island that had a big Ferris wheel and some other carnival things on it, and when I tried to go back the walkway crumbled under my feet and I was stuck on the island. And there was something else on the island, something that made me keep running and trying to find a way off." She shivered. "I woke up a couple times and the dream just kept going as if I'd never woken up."

Rose went over and gave Sera a hug.

"Maybe I can find you a book on dream interpretations or something," she said. "Maybe if you could figure out what the dream means, it'll stop bothering you."

"Maybe," Sera agreed, hugging her back. "I don't know. We'll see, I guess. If you can't find anything don't worry about it. Don't take up your time looking for a book on dream interpretation unless it's really easy to find."

"I'll see what I can find," Rose replied. "Come on, I'll drive. We can stop for coffee before we get to work."

Sera nodded. "That would probably a good idea," she admitted, grabbing her purse and heading for the door. "Not like Taylor's going to say anything if I'm a few minutes late."

"If he does, blame it on me," Rose replied. She grinned. "The research department has access to everything, I doubt he wants to annoy us all."

"I'd love to see him try," Sera muttered, slumping into the car.

"Rest for a bit," Rose said. "I know what kind of coffee you like, I'll wake you when we get to work."

Sera nodded and happily snuggled into the seat, getting as comfortable as she could and drifting into a half-sleep.

Rose let her sleep, keeping the radio low. She stopped and got the two coffees, and then went the rest of the way to the zoo. Once she parked the car, she nudged Sera gently.

"Sera, sweetie, you actually have to wake up now," she said.