28th December, 2014
It was just supposed to be a dinner date, a chance for Edward and Lisbeth to get to know each other better. Neither could have known how it would turn out, that Edward would have a relapse, his fever returning; that Lis would insist on taking him home to her bed, not for the usual reasons, but to take care of him and get his fever down. No one could have predicted any of these things, least of all Brynne, who had been against the date from the beginning for reasons of her own. It had been a long night for all of them - for Edward who was unaware what he'd said and done while lost in the throes of fevered dreams; for Lis, who had appointed herself his angel of mercy and who had hardly slept all night for fear his fever wouldn't abate; and for Brynne, whom Edward had told not to wait up, but who worried like a mother-hen over her elder brother.
The dreams, when they came, were particularly disturbing, though they made little sense, as feverish dreams rarely did. Bits of memory tied up with nightmares and fears that had him moaning in his sleep, until Lis somehow managed to calm him down. By the time morning came, the fever had broken, though he would have to take better care of himself over the next few weeks or chance another relapse.
It was a strange sort of waking for him, too. When he had settled down to sleep, it had been beneath three blankets and alone, with Lis settling herself in the next room on the couch. Yet when he woke, with the morning sunlight attempting to fight its way through the blind covering the nearby window, it was to find all but one of the blankets kicked to the bottom of the bed, and a very warm, very asleep Lis tucked close beside him. He had not been able to settle once the dreams had begun, calming only when she was in the room, and so she had given up at around 3 o'clock and simply climbed over him, sliding under the blankets to hold him as he finally slipped into peaceful slumber once again.
As soon as he was awake enough to realize he wasn't dreaming, he realized also that he wasn't alone. There was a warm body tucked up against his. His first thought was that it was Lila, as she sometimes snuck into his bed early in the morning to snuggle up or tickle him awake, but he knew right away that it wasn't Lila. The warm body beside his was no child, but a woman, warm and soft and close. He opened his eyes and turned his head to find not Lila or even Brynne beside him, but Lis, peacefully sleeping with one arm tucked almost protectively around him. He realized next that he wasn't in his own bed or even his own home, but he was slow to remember where he was or how he'd managed to get there.
Despite her own disturbed night, she stirred as he moved, the arm about him loosening but not letting go. Dark eyes blinked open slowly to meet his with a sleepy smile. "Buenos d"as, Eduardo," she murmured, shifting to gently touch his forehead, checking for any sign of the fever that had knocked him back so badly the night before.
He felt a little warm to her touch, but nowhere near the fevered heat of the night before. "What happened?" he asked, as she touched her fingers to his forehead. "Was I drunk" Did I pass out?" he asked, slow to recall the previous night's events that had led to this moment. He only just seemed to realize that he was nearly naked and flushed with heat of a different kind. "Oh, did we..." he broke off, too embarrassed to ask a question he should have known the answer to.
She smiled, shaking her head as she drew her hand back to brush her black hair off her face. "No, we did not," she assured him. "You collapsed at the restaurant with a fresh fever. I brought you back to my apartment and put you to bed, but you could not settle to sleep until I lay down with you."
"Oh," he said, almost disappointed, though if something was to happen between them, he wanted to be conscious enough to have remembered it. "Oh, gods!" he exclaimed suddenly. "Brynne will be worried sick!" Though he had told her not to wait up. "She's going to have my head!" he added, worriedly, looking around for his phone, which was most likely still in his coat pocket.
Lis laughed a little at the exclamation, rolling onto her back to stretch. "Your phone is beside you," she told him, indicating the bedside table. "I should make you something to eat." Without removing the covers from him, she made to slip out from under them herself, long legs making the trip over him a lot less embarrassing than it would have been if she'd been shorter.
He forgot the phone and his sister as she climbed over him, too aware of her presence to think of his sister just then. Part of him wanted to stop her, to keep her there, to hold her close a little bit longer. He almost wished he hadn't woken her, that he'd just laid there and watched her while she slept, quietly memorizing her face, but it was too late for that now. He realized again that he was half naked and tugged the covers up higher, though he had very little to hide that he thought was worth a second glance. "I, uh..." he stammered, unsure what to say now that the fever was no longer loosening his tongue.
It probably didn't help that she had dressed for bed before joining him, comfortable in a soft cotton chemise and very little else. She paused as he spoke, turning to look down at him, and took pity, understanding that he must be a little tongue-tied. Instead of leaving, she sat on the edge of the bed, reaching over to stroke the curls from his face. "You have nothing to be ashamed of, or concerned with," she promised him. "And in case you have forgotten ....I like you, Eduardo. And I would like to be more than a friend to you, if you wish it."
"You would?" he asked, only now remembering the bits of conversation from the previous night before he'd succumbed to the fever. "I would like that, too, Lis," he admitted, feeling a little embarrassed as the situation he found himself in, but also touched and grateful for her help. Another woman might have just shoved him in a cab and let his sister take care of things, but not Lis. She was too caring and compassionate for that. "Bloody hell!" he exclaimed, as he remembered something else, sitting up a little too quickly so that the blood drained from his face again. "The car!"
She swayed back as he sat upright, hands reaching automatically to hold him there as his face went abruptly pale, forgetting that perhaps he wouldn't be too comfortable to have her hands on his skin. "Is in a garage," she told him. "I had it moved last night, by a professional driver, into a secure garage not so very far from here." It had cost a ridiculous amount of money, but he'd warned her the night before how precious the car was to his cousin. "All is taken care of, I swear."
"Oh." He visibly relaxed a little, as if, once again, the car was more important than his own health. He wasn't thinking of the money now, but once he did, he'd offer to repay her for all her expenses and then some. He had the money, after all, sitting unspent in his bank account. "Thank you," he told her, not only for the car but for everything. She may have even saved his life, for all he knew.
"Do not worry so much," she told him, her smile warm and gentle, offering a tease that made her eyes sparkle with mischief for a moment. "You will make yourself ill."
It was just supposed to be a dinner date, a chance for Edward and Lisbeth to get to know each other better. Neither could have known how it would turn out, that Edward would have a relapse, his fever returning; that Lis would insist on taking him home to her bed, not for the usual reasons, but to take care of him and get his fever down. No one could have predicted any of these things, least of all Brynne, who had been against the date from the beginning for reasons of her own. It had been a long night for all of them - for Edward who was unaware what he'd said and done while lost in the throes of fevered dreams; for Lis, who had appointed herself his angel of mercy and who had hardly slept all night for fear his fever wouldn't abate; and for Brynne, whom Edward had told not to wait up, but who worried like a mother-hen over her elder brother.
The dreams, when they came, were particularly disturbing, though they made little sense, as feverish dreams rarely did. Bits of memory tied up with nightmares and fears that had him moaning in his sleep, until Lis somehow managed to calm him down. By the time morning came, the fever had broken, though he would have to take better care of himself over the next few weeks or chance another relapse.
It was a strange sort of waking for him, too. When he had settled down to sleep, it had been beneath three blankets and alone, with Lis settling herself in the next room on the couch. Yet when he woke, with the morning sunlight attempting to fight its way through the blind covering the nearby window, it was to find all but one of the blankets kicked to the bottom of the bed, and a very warm, very asleep Lis tucked close beside him. He had not been able to settle once the dreams had begun, calming only when she was in the room, and so she had given up at around 3 o'clock and simply climbed over him, sliding under the blankets to hold him as he finally slipped into peaceful slumber once again.
As soon as he was awake enough to realize he wasn't dreaming, he realized also that he wasn't alone. There was a warm body tucked up against his. His first thought was that it was Lila, as she sometimes snuck into his bed early in the morning to snuggle up or tickle him awake, but he knew right away that it wasn't Lila. The warm body beside his was no child, but a woman, warm and soft and close. He opened his eyes and turned his head to find not Lila or even Brynne beside him, but Lis, peacefully sleeping with one arm tucked almost protectively around him. He realized next that he wasn't in his own bed or even his own home, but he was slow to remember where he was or how he'd managed to get there.
Despite her own disturbed night, she stirred as he moved, the arm about him loosening but not letting go. Dark eyes blinked open slowly to meet his with a sleepy smile. "Buenos d"as, Eduardo," she murmured, shifting to gently touch his forehead, checking for any sign of the fever that had knocked him back so badly the night before.
He felt a little warm to her touch, but nowhere near the fevered heat of the night before. "What happened?" he asked, as she touched her fingers to his forehead. "Was I drunk" Did I pass out?" he asked, slow to recall the previous night's events that had led to this moment. He only just seemed to realize that he was nearly naked and flushed with heat of a different kind. "Oh, did we..." he broke off, too embarrassed to ask a question he should have known the answer to.
She smiled, shaking her head as she drew her hand back to brush her black hair off her face. "No, we did not," she assured him. "You collapsed at the restaurant with a fresh fever. I brought you back to my apartment and put you to bed, but you could not settle to sleep until I lay down with you."
"Oh," he said, almost disappointed, though if something was to happen between them, he wanted to be conscious enough to have remembered it. "Oh, gods!" he exclaimed suddenly. "Brynne will be worried sick!" Though he had told her not to wait up. "She's going to have my head!" he added, worriedly, looking around for his phone, which was most likely still in his coat pocket.
Lis laughed a little at the exclamation, rolling onto her back to stretch. "Your phone is beside you," she told him, indicating the bedside table. "I should make you something to eat." Without removing the covers from him, she made to slip out from under them herself, long legs making the trip over him a lot less embarrassing than it would have been if she'd been shorter.
He forgot the phone and his sister as she climbed over him, too aware of her presence to think of his sister just then. Part of him wanted to stop her, to keep her there, to hold her close a little bit longer. He almost wished he hadn't woken her, that he'd just laid there and watched her while she slept, quietly memorizing her face, but it was too late for that now. He realized again that he was half naked and tugged the covers up higher, though he had very little to hide that he thought was worth a second glance. "I, uh..." he stammered, unsure what to say now that the fever was no longer loosening his tongue.
It probably didn't help that she had dressed for bed before joining him, comfortable in a soft cotton chemise and very little else. She paused as he spoke, turning to look down at him, and took pity, understanding that he must be a little tongue-tied. Instead of leaving, she sat on the edge of the bed, reaching over to stroke the curls from his face. "You have nothing to be ashamed of, or concerned with," she promised him. "And in case you have forgotten ....I like you, Eduardo. And I would like to be more than a friend to you, if you wish it."
"You would?" he asked, only now remembering the bits of conversation from the previous night before he'd succumbed to the fever. "I would like that, too, Lis," he admitted, feeling a little embarrassed as the situation he found himself in, but also touched and grateful for her help. Another woman might have just shoved him in a cab and let his sister take care of things, but not Lis. She was too caring and compassionate for that. "Bloody hell!" he exclaimed, as he remembered something else, sitting up a little too quickly so that the blood drained from his face again. "The car!"
She swayed back as he sat upright, hands reaching automatically to hold him there as his face went abruptly pale, forgetting that perhaps he wouldn't be too comfortable to have her hands on his skin. "Is in a garage," she told him. "I had it moved last night, by a professional driver, into a secure garage not so very far from here." It had cost a ridiculous amount of money, but he'd warned her the night before how precious the car was to his cousin. "All is taken care of, I swear."
"Oh." He visibly relaxed a little, as if, once again, the car was more important than his own health. He wasn't thinking of the money now, but once he did, he'd offer to repay her for all her expenses and then some. He had the money, after all, sitting unspent in his bank account. "Thank you," he told her, not only for the car but for everything. She may have even saved his life, for all he knew.
"Do not worry so much," she told him, her smile warm and gentle, offering a tease that made her eyes sparkle with mischief for a moment. "You will make yourself ill."