[It's almost like an instinct, how to take care of Ben after a nightmare, doing it is like riding a bike, and even after years of not having to do it, Klaus still knows how. As Klaus drags Ben toward himself and holds him, Ben trembles in his arms, speaks in a choked voice about how it was the same dream he'd had as a kid, over and over again.

Klaus remembers those dreams, remembers night after night of holding his brother just like this as he cried and trembled and fought going back to sleep, terrified. Remembers all the nights that Ben had done the same for him, and when Ben hides his face against Klaus' shoulder, he turns a little so he can put an arm over Ben and rub his back more, presses his face into Ben's hair and exhales into it to add another layer of contact, of warmth, of reminder that he's alive and okay. That he's safe.]

Nightmares suck. Believe me, I know. It's all fake though, that's not...you're not there.

[Not for the first time, Klaus wishes that he knew more about how Ben's powers work, that he knew enough to say something logical and comforting about how he doesn't have to be afraid, but Klaus doesn't know enough to make that kind of statement. So he just keeps rubbing Ben's back and breathing into his hair.]

I'm here, Ben. I've got your back and... [His voice drops down to barely above a whisper, a little hesitant.] I love you. You're not alone.