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George sat at the table going over their case notes from the rough job they had gotten done the night before while Kipps and Lockwood shook their heads at his enthusiasm at the events and Holly finished cleaning and straightening upstairs. “You are really messed up, you know that, Cubbins?” Kipps teased.
“You’re telling me you don’t find any of how this works as fascinating after everything we’ve learned.” He asked.
Kipps just shook his head and looked at Lockwood who was sitting back in his chair, his eyes staring off as his mind wandered. “What’s with you?” He asked kicking the young man under the table and making him look at him. “Lucy kick you to the couch already?” He laughed.
Lockwood rolled his eyes as he straightened in his seat. It had been seven months since Marissa Fittes, six months since he and Lucy had made it official, sharing their hearts with each other. He looked at the two waiting faces. “She still sick?” George asked.
He ran a hand through his hair and nodded. “Her head got worse, hopefully some extra sleep will help.” He said with a sigh. “Told Holly to keep it down today, let her sleep.”
“I’m sure it’ll help.” George said. “Those screaming spirits are no joke, I mean I even ended up with a headache, can’t imagine how she feels.” He said.
“Maybe we should move the case for tonight.” Kipps said with a shrug. “Let her get some extra rest in.” Lockwood gave a little nod. “It can be hell being a listener, they always seem to get the short stick in all this.”
They heard several thumps from upstairs. “You told Holly why she should keep it down right?” George chuckled.
“Lockwood!” Holly nearly screamed, making the three men look at each other and scrambling up the stairs.
“Hol? What-?” He asked stopping as he turned, running up the next landing and seeing Holly kneeling on the floor over an unconscious Lucy. “Luce….”
“What happened?” Kipps asked as they came closer, Lockwood kneeling down and reaching out.
“Luce, Luce, come on, love, wake up.” He said grabbing her face before he furrowed his brow and shifted feeling her forehead and cheeks. “She’s burning up.” He said worried.
Holly touched her face and gasped. “We need to get her temperature down before she has a seizure.” She said as the men looked at her worried, Lockwood still trying to wake her up. “Bath, George fill the tub with warm water.”
“We can’t the plug is still busted.” He said, starting to panic.
“Shower still works.” Lockwood said as he scooped Lucy up, George scrambling for the bathroom to get the water running. “Luce, come on.” He said softly as he stepped into the tub, fully clothed, holding Lucy to him and letting the water run over her.
She sputtered as the shower sprayed on her face. She shifted her head against him and groaned. “Keep her in the water.” Holly said. “Too hot will overheat her and too cold could make her shiver and raise her internal temperature. George, Kipps, we need to get fever reducer and a new plug to cover the drain so she can soak in the water.” She looked at the two men at the doorway watching as Lockwood adjusted Lucy against him, holding her under the running shower.
“We need to run to Arif’s.” George said with a nod before he and Kipps were gone.
Holly looked back as Lucy’s eyes started to open and she looked up at Lockwood. “Anthony…” She whispered.
“It’s alright, Luce.” He said as he shifted her again, trying to get her under as much of the water as possible.
“What happened?” She asked as she started to wake a little more. “What’s going on? Why are we…. In the shower and …. Dressed?” She asked, confused.
He smirked. “You decided to take a drop down the stairs and pass out with a fever.” He told her.
“Sorry, suppose I should have thought that through a little more.” She said back making him chuckle, seeing her humor back.
“I’ll get fresh clothes for you.” Holly said, turning to leave as he shifted, adjusting her to lay in the tub in front of him, the water hitting her body, still talking to her. Holly was returning to the bathroom just as George and Kipps were running up the stairs.
“Got everything.” George panted as he handed Holly the little bag, following her into the bathroom as she set the clothes to the side and started pulling everything from the bag.
“Give her a dose.” Holly said as she took the plug and put it in the tub before turning the shower off to fill the tub instead. “Alright, you two out.”
“What?” George blinked at her.
“Out, she needs to soak in the bath.” She said pushing the two out.
“How come he gets to stay?” George teased.
“Please, he’s not going to see anything he hasn’t already seen.” Holly said.
“Hey.” Lucy protected weakly, her face still red.
“Excuse me?” Lockwood coughed his own face tinting.
Holly rolled her eyes before she shut the door in George and Kipps’ face and went about helping him take the wet clothes off as Lucy protested, moving slowly, and weakly to help. By the time they were done her clothes were piled in the sink and the water was already covering most of her body. Holly pulled the thermometer from the cabinet to check and found it was still high, but she didn’t seem as bad now and she let out a relieved sigh.
“You get changed and let her soak for a little while longer, then help her get dressed and in bed, I’ll bring some tea up in a bit.” Holly said as she climbed to her feet seeing her friend starting to feel a little better. Lockwood just nodded as Holly left him to the task.
“I’m capable of taking care of myself.” Lucy said softly.
He nodded as he quickly changed into the clothes Holly had brought in for him. “I know Love, but you had us all pretty freaked out when we found you on the floor.” He said as he reached out and she took his hands letting him pull her to her feet, helping her from the tub and wrapping a towel around her.
“Sorry.” She said softly.
“You don’t need to be sorry. Not like you did it on purpose.” He said as he had her sit on the toilet. “Unless it was an excuse.” He teased, making her laugh as he grinned at her. “Come on, let’s get you settled in bed and feeling better.” She nodded, letting him help her dress before opening the door where George and Kipps were both waiting.
“Lucy, you alright?” George asked, worried.
“I’m fine George.” She smiled patting his shoulder.
“George, help her into my room, I’m going to help Holly.” Lockwood said before making his way to the kitchen and George wrapped an arm around her waist as her arm went around his shoulder and he helped her into Lockwood’s room, setting her on the bed as she touched her head.
“What’s wrong?” Kipps asked, making her look at him.
“It’s nothing, just a little dizzy.” She said waving off the concern. “Thank you.” She said as they nodded just before Lockwood and Holly came back into the room. Lockwood set the tray to the side while Holly walked over checking on her.
“You’re not hurt anywhere, right?” She asked, searching for injuries. “You took a pretty nasty tumble down the stairs; the boys heard it all the way downstairs in the kitchen.”
Lucy glanced at the three young men watching her. “Sorry.” She said again before looking back at Holly. “I’m fine, just a little sore, but I’ll be fine.” She said pushing her hand away. “Holly, really. I’m okay. I just want to sleep.” She said softly.
Holly sighed and stood up with a nod as Lockwood walked over, getting her to drink some tea before settling her under the covers and they left the room. “I’ll reschedule our cases for the next few days.” Holly said. “Let her rest. If her fever goes up again, try to get her in the bath again, it should help to lower it and keep up on her medicine.” She explained.
“She’ll be fine Hol.” Lockwood said. “She’s here with George and me, we can handle a fever.” He reassured her as she nodded. “We’ve all been running ragged even though we had a few hours’ sleep earlier. Go home, get some rest, we’ll call if anything happens.” He said making her nod again before saying her good nights and leaving, Kipps following suite a moment later.
“I think you’re right; we need more sleep.” George sighed. “You going to be okay handling this?”
Lockwood nodded. “It’s fine. It’s just keeping an eye on her.” He said with a shrug. “Get some sleep.”
“Night.” George nodded, heading for his own room, the activities draining him after having been working on so many cases recently. Lockwood turned and walked back into his room and laid on the bed beside Lucy, watching her sleep as he gently brushed hair from her face. He watched her sleep before he drifted off himself, holding her close.
He woke up feeling her shivering beside him. He rubbed his eyes and looked at her curled up into his side, her body trembling. “Luce.” He said softly, reaching out, feeling her head and noticing her fever was back. He climbed from the bed and started running the water, trying to keep it warm but not too warm that it would send her the other way and setting everything up before he went back to his room to wake her.
“Anthony?” She asked in a small voice as she looked at him.
“Come on, Love.” He said as he helped her stand, shaking at the cool air and ushering her into the bathroom. He had to wrap his arm around her as she was so tired and shivering, she could barely walk. He undressed and helped her undress before he stepped into the water, helping her to follow and he sat, pulling her down in front of him. She was too tired to argue or make a comment as she sat and laid back against his chest in the warm water. He gently ran his hand along her head, and she drifted off. He let out a sigh, hoping she would feel better soon. He sat in the water holding her until it started to cool, and he was forced to wake her again, helping her out as he dried both of them and helped her dress then back to bed where he covered her with the thick blankets even adding the spares to make sure she would stay warm.
As he sat on the side of the bed with tea, helping her sit up just enough to drink it and take another dose of medicine she gave him a soft smile. “Thank you.” She said softly.
He smiled back as he helped her settle back into the bed. “Of course, Luce.” He said watching her. “You feel better?”
She nodded. “The bath helped a lot I think.”
“Alright, I’m going to take this back to the kitchen, try to get some sleep, I’ll be right back.” He said as he kissed her head and went back to the kitchen while she drifted off. It was only a few minutes before he was back in the bed beside her, holding her close.
The next morning George was making breakfast, and Holly was doing the dishes when Kipps arrived. He looked around. “No love birds?” He teased.
George took his seat and shook his head. “I heard the tub early this morning and someone up and down the stairs a bit. I think her fever was back.”
“We should let them sleep. She’s going to need rest to get herself back in order.” Holly said with a little smile. “Lockwood has everything in order, I’m sure.” She gave a little smile.
“So, Holly.” Kipps said looking at the young woman. “What makes you think Tony’s seen everything?”
She looked at him and saw the little smirk on his face as George grinned. “It’s rather hard to not know.” George said as Kipps looked at him as he laughed. Lockwood joined them as he ran a hand through his messy hair, greeting them.
“How’s Lucy?” Holly asked.
“She’s better.” He said as he made himself tea and toast. “Fever seems to be staying down now.”
“So be prepared for her to be back to being a pain.” George chuckled as Lockwood smirked at him as he took his own seat.
“She really doing better?” Kipps asked watching his friend.
Lockwood nodded. “Probably be out for a little while still but she’s feeling better.” He explained. He finished his breakfast as the others started talking about their cases, he made more tea and toast and made his way back up to his room. “Luce.” He said softly, waking her.
She rolled from her bundle of blankets and looked at him. “Anthony.” She yawned as he smiled. He never got tired of hearing his name from her lips. She had told him she liked it better than calling him by his last name but to keep the agency dynamic she would still call him Lockwood when they weren’t alone. He reached out touching her head and smiling.
“Looks like your fever’s gone.” He said softly as she pushed to sit up in the bed. “I’ve got you tea and toast.”
“Exactly how I like it.” Lucy smiled as she tasted the tea.
“You should eat and then lay down and get some more sleep. Make sure you’re better.” He told her.
“I’ll be fine.” She said, reaching for his hand as he smiled at her. “Thank you for taking care of me.” She said.
“Always, Love.” He said. She reached out grabbing the front of his shirt pulling him forward kissing him. They parted and he rested his head to hers. “I’ll always take care of you, Luce. I love you.”
“I love you too.” She said softly.
“Alright, come on. Lay down.” He said.
She shook her head. “Lay with me.” She pulled at him.
He grinned letting her pull him to lay on the bed beside her. She cuddled into his side, laying her head on his chest. “Now get to sleep before we go adding to all the comments George and Kipps have to say.” He teased, making her laugh softly, letting the sound of his heart and his fingers running through her hair lull her back to sleep, feeling better than she ever did even just lying in his arms.