Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Audrey Rose could still feel the phantom sensation of the bats on her skin. The way her black hair was matted to her blood smeared chest. The way the bats were drawn to the crimson life source, teeth and claws scratching at her skin. The way they caught in her hair at their desperate attempts to get to the blood. The way they screeched almost directly into her ears.

“Wadsworth?”

Audrey startled at the name. She shook the reverie out of her mind with a shake of her head as they walked the halls. They were nearing her chambers, and she hadn’t realized they were so close already. “Sorry,” she mumbled. There was still blood on her chest, and her hair an unruly mess. Thomas bore a similar look, but with eyes less widened. He was slowly gathering his bearings.

“Are you sure you want to be alone tonight?” he questioned.

After telling professor Radu about what happened with the Ripper case, he was not in a position to say or assume things on her behalf anymore. Questioning her after she told him she’d wanted to return to her room alone for the night was a bad move. But it was one he had to make nonetheless, considering the states they were in.

Audrey didn’t even answer with words. She just sighed heavily, raising a hand to press the heel of against her eyes. “I just want to forget tonight ever happened,” she said, resigned. “And to get these bites cleaned. We’re both prone to infection now.”

“Those bats weren’t native to here,” he reminded her. “We need to be very careful. Do you have bandages in your chambers?”

“Yes. Let’s get these wounds cleaned.”

She led them into her room, heading right for the bathroom. She grabbed washcloths, taking them over to the bath. It was filled before she left, so the water wasn’t warmed, but it was better than nothing. After soaking two washcloths and wringing them, she gave one to Thomas and kept one for herself. He busied himself a few feet away unbuttoning his shirt and taking one arm out of his shirt sleeve to work at the dried blood.

Audrey shrugged off Thomas’s overcoat he lent her before they resurfaced earlier, extending an arm to hang it on a coat hanger, one of a few she had throughout her chambers. With her back turned to Thomas, she cleaned her chest as well as she could before moving or taking clothes off. It stung as she did so, biting back a hiss. It pained her to put pressure on the wounds, but she knew she needed to do it. It wasn’t a lengthy process, but a painful one.

However, her wounds were already beginning to heal and scab. She breathed a sigh of relief after the last swipe of her washcloth, watching no fresh blood produce. With as far as she could crane her neck to see her chest, the wounds didn’t look that bad. They were shallow and an angry red, but all superficial wounds. They were already whitening at the edges, indicating the granulation and accumulation of her white blood cells. Good. She would clean her hair once Thomas left. In fact, she wondered how he was doing. She turned to face him, washcloth still in hand. Her features softened when she saw him.

His expression was clearly pained, and his mouth turned into a grimace. A groan was barely being restrained, she could tell. With half the buttons undone on his shirt, he had one arm out and was cleaning it with his free hand. His washcloth was tinged more red than hers, and with one arm already cleaned. She could tell because that sleeve of his shirt was wet and sticking to the skin where he’d disinfected. He was working at a nasty part of his shoulder now on the other arm, finishing up.

“Oh, Thomas,” she started, sadness in her voice. She’d convinced him to go underground with her, and got him bitten by bats in return. What a great person she was.

Thomas merely made a sound in return, unable to trust his voice not to waver. As Audrey stepped closer she could see his shoulder shaking beneath his own touch. Her brows upturned in worry and compassion for him as she reached out. “Let me help,” she murmured, trying not to look at the bit of exposed skin of his chest that she could see. Instead, she focused on his neck, where a particularly bad bite was. She pressed her washcloth to it, eliciting a sharp inhale from him. “Sorry,” she said softly. “Almost done.”

The use of Thomas’s shoulder would become limited over the next couple days. The two of them deduced as much once they were finished tending their wounds. They helped each other apply some generalized yet beneficial mixture to help optimize their healing time before Thomas left for his own chambers.

It wasn’t until Audrey undressed and leaned her head over the tub to wash her hair that she realized he forgot his coat here. She quickly finished cleaning her hair and donning her night clothes before grabbing his coat, hiding it somewhere. She’d give it to him tomorrow when she woke. They didn’t have classes for the next two days, and he surely wouldn’t mind if she slept in. That was, if he didn’t come to her room first. It was in his nature to do so.

---

Audrey Rose woke with a stretch and a deep breath so satisfying she wished she could slow time. Her arms splayed well above her head, and her legs and feet stretched until she nearly pulled a muscle. The breath she took was deep enough to make her abdomen tighten. She let it out with a small yet satisfied sound. Then she laid there for a few moments, eyes adjusting to the light. She glanced to the small window across the room to see that she’d slept in. She didn’t mind one bit. In fact, she took her time once she stood up.

She crossed slowly to the bathroom to tame her hair and to assess the condition of her wounds. The redness still remained, and they were a little more painful this morning. She put her brush down to gently palpate the angry cuts marring her chest. It was enough to make her wince, but she could be worse off. She decided it would be best to wear a scarf with her outfit today, then. After cleaning up and readying herself for the day, she smoothed out the front of her charcoal outfit, complete with a scarf in a lighter shade of gray. If anything, it matched her mood.

Confident in the outfit, complete with black boots to match, Audrey made her way to the door before she stopped. Thomas’s coat. She turned back around to grab it, holding it up to her face before she proceeded to leave. She breathed in the scent of him as deeply as she breathed when she woke, taking it all in. As it dropped from her face it revealed a smile.

Once out of her room, Audrey had to ensure that nobody was watching when she went towards the room Thomas was in. She knew the way to it as well as she knew her own now. The building itself still took some time to get used to since it was so far away from home, but she would get accustomed to it with time. It wasn’t hard to find the room she needed to go to, and had to double back once when she was convinced there were eyes on her.

When she did get back to the room, she went in and closed the door after her as fast as she could. The act of it made her heart race. It was scandalous for her to have done that, especially during the morning when anyone could have seen. The thrill of it made that smile return.

“I cannot believe the things I do for you, Cresswell,” she said breathlessly as she slowly stepped further into the room. She didn’t see him right away, or hear him. She called out his name again as her smile faded and she set his coat down carefully on a table. Audrey’s mind went back to when they’d reconciled only yesterday after he played dead on the morgue table. He better not be playing that game again, not after she could tolerate him once more.

When she called his name a third time and didn’t hear anything, Audrey pushed on. Dignity and norms aside, she went to his personal quarters. She nearly hesitated at first, but she could clearly remember them talking about regrouping in the morning. Did he already forget about it that fast? She had to know that she wasn’t imagining things, not that he would mind her presence anyway.

Finally, she heard a sound. Perhaps he slept in and was finally waking at the sound of someone in his room? She wasn’t sure, but announced herself before crossing the threshold into the bedroom. It was dark, and it wasn’t until she took a few steps closer that she realized the sounds weren’t of him waking up.

Thomas was under the blankets of his bed, bloodied shirt from last night discarded to the floor. He was visibly shaking and eyes barely open. It looked like he was trying to track her movements, but he was struggling. Sweat covered his forehead, and his incoherent mumbling was the closest he could do to talking.

Think fast. Before she even knelt down to comfort him, she all but ran to the bathroom. Her heart broke at the sight. There were a small clutter of washcloths on the floor, balled up and thrown there once they were saturated with his blood. So he was suffering after he left her last night, and she didn’t even know. It was making her anxious to think about, but she knew that his health came before those intrusive thoughts. So she looked around for a few more moments before spotting a clean washcloth that was hung out to dry. Only, it wasn't dry, much to her luck. She took it, glad that it was still damp and cold. It would help with the inflammation she didn’t have to check to know was there.

Returning to the male’s side, she crouched at the side of the bed that he was huddled on. “Thomas,” she coaxed, trying to get him to open his eyes. She placed the cool cloth on his hot forehead, enabling him to lift his head a bit. His hands were balled together at his bare chest and his eyes opened slowly.

“Au…”

“Shh, shh. Stop talking. Let me help you.”

He didn’t respond to that, only nodding his head. Or, at least, she thought he did. He was shaking too much for her to really gauge that. She reached to his head to pull down the blankets to examine what wound was causing him to be in this state. One must be infected enough to have sent him into this feverish state, and she needed to pinpoint it. No sooner than she did it, Thomas instinctively reached out, stopping her from continuing. His fever riddled body was conflicted between being cold and hot.

“I know,” she soothed. “I only need to pull it down for a few moments.”

She wasn’t even sure if he could comprehend what she was saying or doing, but she did it again with a more forceful hand. She didnt have to overpower his grip on the blanket to pull it down, and frowned at the sight. The same shoulder he’d been having trouble with last night was an angry inflamed red, with the bite in the middle. It was discolored with infection and very hot to the touch. How was this going to be explained to Moldovenau if she needed help caring for him?

Chapter Text

Audrey took a few steps back from the bed, taking a deep breath and raising her hands, pushing her hair away from her face and leaving them tangled in the black locks. How was she going to handle this? She exhaled shakily as she turned away from Thomas and to the bathing quarters. What could she find here? She stepped into it, trying to force the anxiousness out of her. But aside from his discarded shirts, there was nothing medically beneficial to her here. She had an idea of what she could do, though. So she turned on her heel, approaching Thomas once more.

It looked like he was trying to recognize her. His brows and features were contorted in confusion as he peered at her through narrowed eyes. He started to mumble something before Audrey knelt down beside the bed, resting her arms on the side of it. He reached out to her, grasping her wrist lightly, holding it. She gave a sad smile, fighting the resistance of him trying to pull her closer. “I have to go get help, Thomas,” she explained quietly. There was no sense of understanding from him, though, so after repeating it one more time and getting the same reaction, she stood. She extracted her wrist from his hot hold and smoothed out her clothing before stepping away, giving a wave. “I will be back soon.”

As soon as she closed the door to his chambers, she let her emotions begin to show. Her face was already betraying her mind by showing her concern and worry for her companion. What was she going to do? She’d already seen so much death in her life, she couldn’t handle another, especially not Cresswell. She needed to make sure he stayed alive, and for the most selfish reason. For her.

Her pace was quick and purposeful. She went right back to her chambers, praying that Anastasia would be there. Despite any suspicions she had of her throughout the wild events happening here, she needed all the help she could get. So when she finally returned to her own chambers, she breathed a sigh of relief to see the blonde female there. She stood up from her task of making the bed, blankets still in hand. She hadn’t even finished her formal greeting before Audrey Rose interrupted her.

“Have you seen Daciana Cresswell?” She questioned. The girl’s face was blank for many heartbeats. “Daciana,” she repeated, before describing her in the best she could in the foreign language spoken in the country.

“Oh, yes yes,” Anastasia finally replied, understanding better now. “She was going to leave, but plans prevented it, so she is still here.”

Audrey did not care about any of the plans- so long as Daciana was here, that was all she needed. If Ileana was with her it would be a bonus. Three heads to help figure out what was wrong with Thomas was better than one. So, after nodding emphatically, Audrey followed Anastasia out of her room and to wherever the destination was. The maid led her through the castle and through many doors until they entered a cozy library, one that was not as large as the one available to the students. “Oh this is lovely,” she breathed, eyes glancing around the room.

“Ah!” came Daciana’s voice. A hushed whisper came from behind her. Thomas’s sister rounded a corner, peeking from around the bookshelf. The shoulder visible to her was a bit more bare than usual, and what looked like a smudge of lipstick at the corner of her mouth, and another on her thumb. “The lovely Audrey Rose. How are you? Have you come to escape the nonsense that my brother imposes on everyone he meets?”

Audrey could not even smile at her jokes. “No, um, it’s a bit worse than that, actually.”

Noting the tone in Audrey’s voice, Daciana straightened, all features of playfulness leaving her face. She looked at her with a worried yet stern look at her face as she approached, fixing herself as she walked. “What’s happened?”

Audrey began to stammer as she explained, barely glancing at Ileana as she also appeared from the side of the bookcase, in an equal state of slight unkemptness. She began to smooth out tangles of her hair with her nimble fingers and began doing the same to her partner while Audrey talked.

“We were exploring the underbelly of the castle last night, trying to figure out just what’s been going on around here. We found an underground passageway, but upon following it, we stumbled onto a hoard of bats. They’re not ones we’ve seen before,” now she held out her hands and pulled down the clothing covering her cleavage to display the bites and scratches from the animals. “I am fine, but Thomas is not. He had a bite on his shoulder from the bats and it’s become infected. I’ve not learned how to heal these things, I’m so accustomed to only helping after they’ve succumbed.” The worry in her voice grew the longer she spoke, nearly frantic. She could feel her breath quickening until she was nearly hyperventilating by the end of her talking.

Daciana reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, Ilenea doing the same to the other. “Take us to him.” She ushered Audrey out the door and followed close on her heels. Dignity be damned, Audrey hurried to her partner’s room, uncaring if anyone saw them. She would have Moldoveneau’s head if he tried to reprimand her for entering Thomas’s chambers to offer the help he so direly needed. It seemed like forever until they got there, but once they did, Audrey all but raced inside. Ilenea was the last to enter, shutting the door quietly behind her before joining the others at the bedside.

Thomas was a mound beneath the blankets now. The three women could see his figure shaking beneath the blanket and Audrey was the first to move. She reached out to peel the blanket back, revealing him curled in on himself in the fetal position. His arms were held tight to his chest, hands holding themselves just near his heart. His legs were curled, knees close to his core. He squinted at the sudden light from the blanket being lifted, lifting his head. He was red, sweating, and incredibly disoriented. He hummed and said very few syllables before swallowing and trying again.

“...aci?” he turned his head to the one closest to him. “Audrey?”

“Yes, it’s us.” Daciana strode forward to meet Thomas just beside Audrey. She crouched down and moved her arm to reach for one of her boots. Audrey watched as she produced something small, wrapped in brown paper tied to it with twine. She unlaced it quickly and held a small vial up, eyeing it’s contents. Audrey craned her neck to examine a small tan powder.

“An antidote, of sorts,” the woman said with a smile. “Go get a washcloth.”

Audrey obeyed, turning around to find Ileana doing the same. The two found the cleanest one to use, dipping it in the cooled water in the basin. They cleaned it as well as they could before wringing it out and returning to the bed. Daciana had set the vial down on the nightstand and was wrestling her brother into a more suitable position. She reached her arms under his own, careful to not aggravate his bad shoulder. When she had good placement, she strained to lift him higher on the bed, and to be propped up a bit on the pillow. She grunted with the effort of moving her him, but did it. He whined in protest, to which she only patted his head comfortably. “You will feel better soon.”

The other two regained their place near the siblings. Audrey bent down to place the cloth on Thomas’s shoulder, much to his dismay. He flinched away from it, grumbling his protest. The hand of his good arm tried to swat hers away, but she easily overpowered him. She grasped his wandering hand, holding it still. With her other hand she cleaned the wound as best she could. It earned more sounds from Thomas, and the way he wrenched his shoulder out of her way.

“Thomas. Quit it.” Daciana used a tone as if she were their mother, but it was enough for him to make eye contact with her and stop. It looked like he wanted to say more, but held back. Audrey took this moment to quickly clean the wound the best she could before he began to stir again. “Alright,” she said as she stepped back. “It’s as clean as I can get it,” she reported to Daciana.

She nodded, passing her and to the nightstand where the vial remained. She held it over Thomas’s wound, angling the vial and tapping it’s edge to sprinkle some of it’s contents to the wound. Thomas hissed in response, his other hand immediately reaching for the wound. “What are you doing?” He cried, trying to clamp his hand over it.

“Leave it alone,” Daciana commanded, taking hold of him to calm him down. “I know it hurts. But you need it.” He was still wild under her grasp, though. While still febrile and still out of it, the pain from the cure in his wound jolted him more conscious than before.

Tears were pooled in his eyes as he continued to struggle against his sister to try and ease the stinging of his shoulder. Without needing to be told or given a glance, Audrey moved closer to help, running her hand along the length of his forearm comfortingly. “I got it,” she told Daciana, who hesitated with a smile. “Really, I’m good here. Just keep an eye out for anyone outside so as to not let them know I was in here,” she said with a sly grin.

Ileana joined Daciana’s side, linking arms. “We’ll make sure you’re both uninterrupted. Keep him safe.” The pair gave their thanks and smiled. Audrey thanked them back for the cure to the bite, unsure how she knew it would help and why she had it. This was one of the very few instances that she knew not to ask questions.

---

It wasn’t until a while after the girls left that Thomas began to finally settle down. He was exhausted from his body fighting the infection. His poor muscles were strained, she could feel them quivering for a few seconds at a time over the course of the evening. She’d since brought over a chair to sit beside him, arm entwined with his, fingers moving soothingly on his skin. His breathing finally started to even out and he no longer fought to aggravate his wound. The two sat in comfortable silence.

He heaved a large sigh, chest expanding and ribs outlined. She turned her head lazily to look at him, smiling softly through half lidded eyes. It was nearing sunset, and she’d stayed with him since the morning. Her limbs ached and were stiff, but she did not mind as long as she could be by his side. “Do you want a drink?” she asked him.

It had taken the course of the day for him to be able to form sentences and understand them, and he still had days of recovery ahead of him. But he was doing better already. He pondered for a moment before nodding wordlessly. Audrey stood, arm lingering against his, before she walked away. Just across the room was a pitcher with some cups. She placed the back of her hand against it to see how cold it’s contents were. It wasn’t as cold as she’d hoped, but better than lukewarm. She poured the water into a cup from the dark pitcher, pouring one for herself, and bringing both back to the side of the bed. She gave the first to Thomas before drinking a fourth of her one. When they both finished their sips, she placed both glasses on the nightstand, behind the chair she’d drug over.

She then turned to sit back down, but allowed Thomas to get readjusted under the blankets first. She stayed standing incase he requested anything, but he did not. Looking down at him, she could not fight the instinct to gingerly rest her hand atop his head, carding her fingers through his hair. It felt natural. She took it a step further by applying gentle force to bring his head closer to her as she leaned to him at the same time, inviting his head to lean against her hip. He gave a small sound of contentment, happily resting against her.

The two stayed like that for many moments, he leaned against her hip and her hand scratching in a calming manner. She finally had to sit when her heels began to protest the prolonged standing. She pulled away long enough to sit down and scoot the chair closer before relaxing one arm on his side of the bed. He rested his head against her shoulder now, favoring her instead of the pillow.

Their unconditional fondness for each other didn’t have to be spoken in the healing quietness.