Chapter Text
By the time they got Newt back to the apartment he was drenched in sweat. He leaned heavily on Jacob for support and his breath was coming in pained gasps. Jacob helped Newt to the couch and gently eased him down on to it. Newt rolled in to the back of couch, clutching his arms to his chest and burying his face in the cushions. He was shivering violently and sweating profusely, both products of the fever burning through him.
Jacob, Tina, and Queenie gathered in front of the couch and shared a look of helplessness. Newt had been stung by the thorn of a gigantic rose bush he'd discovered on the groups camping trip outside the city. He'd encountered the species once before but this one was different in that the bush had large scorpion like tails hiding inside that could reach out and sting unsuspecting victims before they even touched the plant. The one he'd seen previously only had fixed thorns attached to the stems. Newt was the usual expert here but he'd claimed nothing could be done to counteract the poison. He would simply have to ride it out. He'd assured them it would only take a few hours.
Tina thought suddenly that they should at least attempt to bring Newt's fever down, although she wasn't sure he would be very agreeable to anything that involved him moving.
"Oh, you're right," said Queenie in response to Tina's thoughts. She reached down and placed her hand on Newt's forehead. "He's too hot. We do have some fever reducing herbs here somewhere."
"Where are they, I'll get them," Jacob said. He was no longer phased by Queenie's manner of speaking in response to words that only she could hear. He was learning quickly how to fill in the blanks.
"Nnn," they heard Newt mumble from nearly inside the couch cushions. He turned his head just a little so that he would be heard. "No," he was breathing heavily still and his eyes had taken on a glassy shine. "The poison reacts to any other substance." He took a moment to catch his breath. "Anything you give me will just make it worse." He clenched his eyes shut at the sudden nausea that rolled through him. "May I have a bucket please," Newt asked urgently, still much more polite than he had a right to be.
Queenie, reading his thoughts, had already snatched up the small wastebasket from the end of the couch and placed it down in front of him. He rolled over and lost the contents of his stomach. He nearly fell off the couch as he vomited but Tina sat down in front of him and held him up.
"Oh! Is that blood?!" Jacob asked upon seeing the contents of the small trash can. Newt glanced down, his brow furrowed, then realization struck him.
"Yes, I'm afraid so . . . I'm dying," Newt said. He fell back on the couch in exhaustion but a smirk crept on to his face. Queenie was nearly beside herself trying not to laugh. Tina and Jacob shared a horrified look.
"No, he's only joking! Remember all that Italian food we had for lunch?" Queenie asked.
"Oh!" Jacob sighed in relief. Tina just smacked Newts arm gently.
"That's not funny," she said trying not to smile back at him.
"It was a little funny," Newt said. Almost immediately the smirk and the color drained from his face as another wave of pain hit him. This time the prickly sensation, like thousands of needles, spread up past his diaphragm where it had before been isolated. Queenie could almost feel it too, and she was getting a weird distorted view of the sensation. The only thing she could compare it to was when you woke up after sleeping strange on an arm or a foot and the way it felt like static over the radio when the blood started to flow back into it. Except this was much worse.
The pain crawled its way up his chest, all the way to his chin and wrapped its icy claws around his jaw. Newt again turned his face down in the cushion. He whimpered and drew his shoulders up tight at the pain. His breaths became more shallow due to the tightness in his chest. This pain was already worse than the last time he'd been stung. Tina gently brushed the sweat soaked hair away from his forehead. Queenie and Jacob went to the bedroom to prepare some things so that they could move Newt somewhere more comfortable.
Newt was nearly holding his breath by the time the wave passed. His shoulders finally relaxed and he was able to breathe again, for a little while at least. He gasped for a minute until he caught his breath. He looked up at Tina as she felt his forehead again. The look on her face did not bode well for Newt. He groaned and buried his face in the couch once again.
"No, no, we have to get you cooled down," she said.
"Oh, Mr. Scamander," Queenie said as she walked back in to the room. She could cry for him, for the pain he was in. She wanted to, but that wouldn't help anything. "The pain is already so much worse than last time. He's worried about how bad it's gonna get. And that's not a very nice word to say to a lady," Queenie admonished him playfully. Newt blushed and muttered an apology. "Oh that's okay honey. You're feeling just terrible. I'm surprised you don't have anything worse to say in there." She tapped his forehead and then placed a cool cloth over it. Times like this Tina began to feel a little bitter that Queenie could tell what was going on inside that strange man's head and she couldn't. He was hers after all. She should be able to help him. "Aww Teenie," Queenie said. She pulled Tina into a hug and rubbed her back a few times. She pulled back and gave Tina a knowing look with a smirk. Tina knew Queenie was probably just bursting inside about Tina calling Newt "hers" in her head and of course Queenie would never be upset at Tina for the other thoughts. Tina took it back. Her sister was the perfect host for such a gift and she loved her for it.
Newt lay there in silence for a few minutes while Tina and Queenie bustled about. They made him drink some water even though he would have rather just died. Then Jacob emerged from the bathroom. "It's ready," he said.
"No," Newt groaned.
"Yes," Tina said, leaving no room for argument. Jacob helped Newt sit up on the couch. He thought he might be sick again but it passed in a few moments. They removed Newt's coat and his waistcoat. When Tina reached for his shirt he pushed her hand away.
"Please," he whispered, "don't." She could never deny him anything when he made that face.
"Okay, but it's coming off after, you can't sleep in it all wet," she said sternly. Newt nodded and attempted to stand only to pitch forward. Tina and Jacob caught his weight easily. He wasn't very heavy. He blushed once again.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"Don't be ridiculous," Tina said. They managed to reach the bathroom but as soon as they entered, the pain peaked again. Newt tried to stay silent but he couldn't help the cry that escaped his lips. His legs buckled completely. They lowered him gently down to the cool tile floor.
This time the sensation had circled all the way around his torso and was climbing up his spine. Tina was sat behind him, holding him up against her chest. She whispered soothing words in his ear. Queenie was forced to left the bathroom to get away from the worst of the pain for just a minute. She knew she'd be no help to anyone if she got too overwhelmed by it. She was quick to cast a silence spell over the bathroom, so that the neighbors wouldn't hear the commotion.
Newt cried out at the pain a few more times before he was out of energy to do so. He continued to whimper quietly with nearly every breath he took. Tina was ready to cry as she held Newt close and Jacob looked about ready to be sick. Finally, blessedly, the pain passed.
"Jacob, help me. Get his feet," she said. The two of them lifted his limp form up and into the bathtub. Tina worried that the water wouldn't be cold enough to help so she cast a cooling charm on the bath to bring it down a few more degrees. She and Jacob shared yet another worried glance as Newt shivered for only a second before going still. If his body was too exhausted for even that . . . well they didn't really want to think about that.
Tina knelt down next to the bath tub and reached in to begin unbuttoning Newt's shirt. There was no point in trying to lift him out of the bath with his wet clothes weighing him down and he was too exhausted to protest now anyways. As she reached the last button and pushed his shirt open, she gasped. Jacob looked around Tina and his mouth dropped open in shock. Newt was covered in a plethora of scars. Some large, some small, some still shiny and new and some older. Tina realized that most of them must have come from his encounters with magical creatures. She shouldn't have been surprised really. His work was dangerous and he was very experienced. You don't gain that kind of experience playing it safe all the time . . . or ever apparently.
"Jeez louise," Jacob breathed out. "Newt, buddy, you gotta tell me about these things ahead of time sos I'm not surprised." Newt huffed softly. He was slightly aware of what was happening but couldn't bring himself to care as much as he had before. Tina took a wash cloth and soaked it in the water and then rung it out over Newts head. She did this a few more times, he didn't seem to notice much. Finally she felt his head and decided he was cool enough for now.
"Okay, we need to get him out of here before he has another episode. Don't want him to drown." They pulled him out the same way they put him in and laid him gently on the floor. Tina then looked down, embarrassed. "Um, do you think you could, you know, help him change," she asked Jacob.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it," he said waving her out. He emerged a few minutes later carrying a mostly dry magizoologist in a pair of flannel pajama pants.
"Okay here bring him to the bed." Jacob did as he was told and set Newt down gently on the bed. The man was still quite warm but nowhere near as hot as he had been before.
"How long has it been?" Tina asked Queenie.
"About four hours I think."
"He said before that it would pass by now," Tina said worriedly.
"Yeah, I heard him thinking about it earlier though. He was worried that a second exposure would cause a more severe reaction," said Queenie. "It looks like he might have been right. There's no telling how long this will last, or how bad it'll get. Poor thing," Queenie took Jacob's hand and leaned into him as they all watched Newt.
"Well it's getting late, we should take turns watching him, right?" asked Jacob.
"I'll go first," said Tina. Jacob headed out to lay down on the couch. Tina went over to Newt and sat down gently next to him on the bed. His hair was still a bit damp from the bath so she smoothed it back before leaning down to kiss his forehead. He was looking at her as she leaned back.
"Hey you," said Tina. Newt's eyes were clouded over with confusion and pain. He was clearly exhausted but she doubted he would be getting much sleep tonight.
"Hey," he whispered back.
"Mind if I join you?" asked Tina as she pulled a chair up from the corner of the room. Newt closed his eyes and gave a sound of consent. Tina sat down facing the bed and she took Newt's hand in her own. Not a moment later, Queenie returned with a bucket of cool water and a cloth as well as another waste basket in case Newt needed to be sick again.
"I'm leaving this door open so we can hear you if you need us okay?" Queenie asked, more to confirm that Tina understood than to get her permission.
Tina smiled at Queenie, "thanks."
Tina pulled the rag out of the water and placed it on Newt's head. This prompted him to look up towards Tina and use what seemed like every bit of energy he had left to whisper a weak, "thank you." Then he squeezed her hand back.
He kept his eyes closed for a while longer but they opened back up to small slits in a matter of minutes. Tina felt Newt squeeze her hand and she looked down in time to see him tense up like a spring. Newt seemed like he was going to scream. The hot, needle like pain was now spreading down Newts arms, all the way to his fingertips. Tina took the rag off of his head and soaked it in the water again. This time though she dabbed the cool water down Newt's neck and across his bare chest. His other hand was buried in the blanket, ringing the life out of it. He screwed his eyes shut and he was nearly holding his breath again. She suspected this was his strategy for not making any noise. Well it was a stupid strategy and she was going to let him know about it.
"Newt, breathe, just breathe. It's okay to let it out. No one is going to hear you but me," she assured him, stroking his face with her free hand. Newt was shaking with the effort to hold in his cries. But at Tina's words, he couldn't anymore. He let out the breath he had been holding with a sob. He gasped for another breath and then he couldn't stop. A whimper accompanied every breath after. Sometimes a sharp cry would emerge if he was able to catch his breath enough. A few tears slipped down his face. "It's okay." She wiped the tears away and then resumed her task with the cloth. She kept careful hold of his hand the whole time. Newt was struggling to think of anything but the pain but it was overwhelming his senses. Every tear that fell was like a dagger ripping into Tina's heart. No matter how badly she wanted to help, she could do nothing for him except be there. And be there she would.