The look Tao gave Semi on Thursday morning was almost identical to the one Xiumin had given her the previous day when she’d appeared in the kitchen for breakfast, and exactly the same as the expression that had passed across Xiumin’s face at four that morning when she’d stumbled into the kitchen like a zombie intent on getting coffee, because staying awake was far better than having that nightmare again.  Tao, though, had something to say about it.

“You look awful,” he told her, almost incredulous.  “Have you slept at all this week?”

Yawning, Semi shook her head.  It would be easier than trying to explain the nightmares.

“Wake me up when the lecture’s over,” she mumbled, dropping her head onto her arms, which were resting on the desk.  She missed the horrified look Tao exchanged with Seulgi, but she still heard Wendy saying something like “she doesn’t have any bruises or anything, does she?  Has she been eating?”

Junhong looked almost as appalled as the others did when he shook her awake at the end of the third lecture.  “Why are you even here?” he demanded.  “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

Semi waved a limp hand at the essay on the desk in front of her.

“You didn’t have to come to a whole day of lectures just to hand that in,” he told her.  Semi just gave an obstinate nod.  He sighed.  “Which professor does this need to go to?”

Semi mumbled something that sounded like profahn and tried to curl up in the lecture seat.  With another sigh, Junhong pulled her to her feet.

“I was going to ask if you wanted to join me at that dance place tonight, but no way are you coming in this condition.”

Semi just nodded in agreement.

“And also, you need lunch.  I didn’t see you eat yesterday, and you’re not sleeping through another meal.”

“Coffee,” she mumbled.

“No, you zombie.  Proper healthy stuff.”

Taemin took to monitoring the cameras surprisingly well when he realised that Xiumin was involved.

“Hey, wasn’t this the nutter Chen and Lay got locked up a couple of years ago?” had been his initial reaction when Jongin had sat him down in front of the screens and he’d spotted Xiumin on one of them.  “What’s he doing out of jail?”

Jongin had left him with a garbled explanation that had few intelligible words beyond “Luhan”, “Semi” and “Blood Brother Code” in it, but then Taemin had started crowing over the electronics Kyungsoo had in his office, and Jongin decided it was okay to leave him alone with Kyungsoo’s number in case anything went wrong.

Jongin was proud to discover that Taemin, while weird, was every inch as intelligent as he had pegged him to be when he returned the next morning to find a surprisingly alert weapons expert discussing screen clips that he’d taken with Kyungsoo, who was eating a bagel as he watched and listened.  It turned out that Taemin had been through all the clips Kyungsoo had deemed important enough to save during the quiet moments of the night.

“Oh, Jongin,” Taemin said, breaking off conversation with Kyungsoo as soon as he noticed the newcomer, “does Semi suffer from some kind of trauma?  Kyungsoo said you’d know.”

Jongin nodded.  “Lingering PTSD symptoms after what sounds like a really nasty car accident.  Happened a couple of years ago.”

“And where’s that semi-automatic pistol you promised me?”

Jongin and Kyungsoo were extremely surprised when Taemin showed up again that evening with enough food for twenty people and several energy drinks.

“I had an afternoon nap,” he announced.  “Go away and let me watch.”

They were more than happy.  Jongdae was even happier that Taemin wanted to steal his shift.

On Thursday morning, Taemin had more clips to show them.

“I think Semi needs to see somebody about those nightmares,” he told the others, “because she does not look in the least bit healthy.”

“Her brother says she refuses to.”

“She has a brother?”

“Long story.”  Jongin waved a hand.  “And I will shoot you if you tell anybody.”

“Yes, with the gun Siwon won’t allow you to have,” Taemin said mildly before continuing.  “I think our hardy criminal is concerned… that he’s losing sleep.  Look.  It’s the second time he’s done this when she’s been screaming in her sleep.”

He opened up two windows on one of the screens.  “Tuesday night.  Oh, and I’m muting it, because I think Semi burst my eardrums.”

The clip was about half a minute long, and showed a thoroughly irritated-looking Xiumin getting out of bed and leaving his room, only to pause for several seconds outside Semi’s door.  It was hard to tell because the apartment was evidently dark and lighting on the cameras wasn’t great as a result, but it looked like Xiumin was a bit confused, or at least thinking.  Then his shoulders slumped in relief and he turned and went back to bed.

“That was when she stopped screaming,” Taemin supplied.  “And then we have last night.