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“Where’s Whistler?” Lucy asked, trying not to sound worried when she spotted her boss and the team all together in the office. Her ex-girlfriend was noticeably absent, even though she was supposed to be joining them for their next case. Were they ever really even together? Lucy pondered.
“She didn’t tell you?” Jane asked, raising an eyebrow at the younger woman.
“Why would she? We broke up.” Lucy said, more than a little annoyed now that Whistler, who had a secret girlfriend - well now ex-girlfriend and didn’t think to tell her, would be telling her anything. Lucy made it known that she didn’t trust her, so it seemed it went both ways.
Kate didn’t think to tell her yet another thing. What other secret could she have now?
Jesse looked down at Lucy and frowned. “She’s sick.”
Wait what?
“I spoke with her boss and was informed she has the flu.” Jane stated, and Lucy opened her mouth to respond and then closed it.
“I’ll….check on her later.”
Jane smirked, clearly amused by Lucy’s response, knowing that she would not be able to focus on work with Kate out of commission.
“Go Lucy.” She all but ordered, and the younger woman looked at her confused.
“What?” Lucy was fine. She would check on Kate later. She was probably sleeping anyway or maybe she had another secret girlfriend that she didn’t tell her about.
Lucy cursed herself for thinking such a thing, knowing how upset Kate looked when she left the office the other day.
“Fine, but I’ll be back.” She glared at the team but gave in, knowing she needed to check on Kate for her own peace of mind.
Just because the trust was broken between them didn’t mean that Lucy automatically stopped caring.
She was glad she didn’t take off her jacket when she entered, so she said goodbye to the group and all but sprinted out of the building.
She stopped on her way to Kate’s apartment at a local soup shop, remembering how much the other woman talked about the place. Kate told her that when she first came to the island, she would go there pretty much every day and try a new soup no matter how warm it was outside.
Lucy smiled at the memory, before growing sad. All the good moments of their relationship had been tainted by the fact that Kate had lied. She wanted to punish her for hurting her, but also wanted to know that she was okay.
As she paid and tipped the person at the register, she took the order and walked out.
They needed to talk.
–
“Kate?” Lucy knocked on the door and heard a shuffle behind the door before the door opened and she came face to face with the blonde.
She looked horrible and like she was trying not to pass out right then and there. Lucy all but rushed forward, careful with the soup and grabbed Kate gently by the arm.
“Lucy?” Kate looked dazed, shocked at the smaller woman walking into the apartment. She looked down at the hand on her arm and looked back up at Lucy with wide eyes. She was exhausted and sick, but the touch from Lucy brought all the emotions to the surface and tears started streaming down her face.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” The apology came spilling out of her mouth and she felt like she was hanging on by a thread. She felt like death, and probably looked like it, but all she could think about was Lucy. Lucy’s touch, Lucy’s lips. Lucy, Lucy, Lucy.
The other woman looked on in alarm, before pushing Kate further into the apartment, noting that there was a trash can near the couch and the pile of tissues on the coffee table. She put the soup on the table, before steering her to the bedroom, but before she could make it to the bed, Kate collapsed on the floor like a puppet whose strings were cut.
“Kate!” Lucy yelled, getting on her knees. She felt the heat emitting off of her and Kate’s eyes fluttered open as she let out a groan.
“Wh’ happen?” Kate said, or well, tried to say as her mouth failed to form full words. Lucy lifted her under her arms and got her into a sitting position, grateful that she gained some arm muscle from hitting the gym over the past year. Kate’s head fell against the edge of the bed, and Lucy got up and ran to the attached bathroom. She found a thermometer in the medicine cabinet and walked back into the room, taking in the woman she had grown to love. She put the device in her ear and waited for the beep. As the sound came from it, she pulled it and cursed as she looked at her temperature. 102.5. If it got any higher, she was worried she would need to call an ambulance.
“Kate, you’re going to have to help me here.” She muttered as she lifted her up from under her arms again. The taller woman was basically useless, but with strength she didn’t even know she had, she got Kate up and onto the bed. She laid her out and took off her shoes, before pulling the blanket over her. She went back into the bathroom and got a washcloth to put on her forehead, before also grabbing some over the counter medicine.
“You need to take this,” Lucy poured some of the medicine into the small cup and watched as Kate struggled to take it. She winced as the other woman let out a cough and briefly worried that the cough was a new symptom or that the medicine went down the wrong pipe. Thankful that she didn’t cough again, she laid the washcloth on her forehead, before going into the freezer in the kitchen and getting some ice packs.
Kate let out a shocked gasp as the freezing packs touched her arms, but Lucy shushed her and reminded her gently that she needed to get her temperature down.
“Can you stay?” Kate said, looking at Lucy through half-lidded eyes, trying hard not to fall asleep. Lucy nodded and smiled faintly, before letting her fingers go through Kate’s hair to soothe her. It didn’t take long before Kate fell asleep, and Lucy would have laughed at the sight in front of her, looking at Kate covered in ice packs, if she wasn’t so worried. She sat watching her for about an hour, before checking her temperature again.
She let out a sigh of her relief as she looked down at the thermometer. 100.1.
She removed the ice packs, seeing that they basically melted before throwing them in the bathroom sink. She sat in the chair in the corner of the room, keeping a watchful eye on Kate’s sleeping form, before grabbing a random book off the bookshelf and getting comfortable enough to read.
–
Kate opened her eyes hours later and looked around, her mind muddled as she tried to remember what happened. She still felt like crap, she really needed a relaxing bath, but she didn’t feel like she was on death’s door anymore, so that was an improvement.
How she got from the living room to her bed was another question though and she tried sitting up, letting out a groan of discomfort, which alerted the person in the room.
The person turned in the chair to face her and memories from earlier came back.
Lucy.
Lucy was here?
“Hey sleepyhead,” Lucy greeted, a soft smile on her face. Kate let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding at that and was about to start crying again, before Lucy walked over to the edge of the bed.
“No more tears,” she said softly as she grabbed her hand.
“I’m so sorry.” She apologized, feeling like she owed it to Lucy. She should have thought to make sure that she was actually single before starting anything with Lucy. She wasn’t expecting to fall so hard and so fast for the other woman.
“Yeah, you said that earlier when I first came over right before you scared the shit out of me and passed out.” Kate winced at that, but could only watch as Lucy sighed.
“We really need to talk and I mean really talk,” The brunette stated and Kate could only nod.
“I’ll do whatever you want,” She assured her, but frowned as Lucy shook her head.
“We both need to be equal in this relationship and listen to what we both want.”
Kate bit her lip. She didn’t know what she wanted and her inner panicking was clearly shown on her face as Lucy touched her cheek softly to calm her nerves.
“It’s okay to not know what you want now. We can start slow, but we have to talk. I can’t put my trust in you again if you don’t tell me things.” Lucy reminded her and Kate looked at her confused, fully taking in the conversation.
“Wait, you want to date me again?” She asked cautiously, and smiled as Lucy nodded.
“But first, you need to get better, so let me check your temperature again.” Lucy grabbed the thermometer she had at her side, and Kate looked at her patiently, pretending she wasn’t thinking about kissing her.
“I know what you’re thinking and until you are completely well, we are doing none of that.” Kate pouted at that, and watched as Lucy pulled the thermometer out and looked at the results with a smile.
“99.1. Not the best, but I think you’re over the hurdle now.” Before Kate could respond, Lucy kissed her on the forehead.
“Oh.” Kate responded in disbelief, and Lucy laughed at the dumbfounded expression on her face.
“So do we have a deal?” She asked, waiting for Kate to respond.
“We start slow and we tell each other the truth.”
“So you don’t have any other secret girlfriends?” Lucy asked and Kate covered her face with her hand.
“You’re never going to let me live this down are you?”
“We’re telling each other the truth now, so…no.”
As they stared at each other for a good minute trying to figure out what they would do next, Lucy suddenly jumped up.
“Your soup!” She exclaimed, rushing out of the room before Kate could react. She came back in a few minutes later, with a folding bed tray and a bowl of soup that Kate could smell from the doorway.
“You remembered?” Kate asked in awe as Lucy placed the tray in front of and gave her the bowl of her favorite soup and a spoon.
“Of course I did.”
They smiled at each other, before Kate started eating the soup as Lucy sat down next to her.
“I want all of you. I’m all in.” Kate responded, the statement ringing true as she looked at Lucy, who grinned back at her.
They were not perfect. They had many hurdles to get through, but they knew that they could get over them and grow into a steady, healthy relationship.