Work Text:
Emily had been on a case for the last few days. Initially, she thought it would not require her to leave the office, however, as more bodies kept being discovered by the team she knew they would need her there. Comes with the position of unit chief you guessed. You had been feeling exhausted for the past day or two, slowly getting sicker as the hours passed. Aiming to avoid putting more stress on your girlfriend, you tried your best to hide it from her, but she could see right through you. She looked over at you, hiding under the covers trying to avoid the conversation you knew was about to occur.
“Hey…” Emily voiced, keeping her volume low but loud enough for you to hear it under the sheets. However, you didn’t move an inch, trying your best to keep your breathing low and even. Emily let out a large sigh, feeling guilty for leaving you but knowing she had no choice but to go. She pulled the covers from your head, revealing your tousled bed hair still concealing you. “Baby, I have to go. The team needs me…” you heard her say, in a sadder tone than you were anticipating. Feeling bad, you turned over and opened your eyes, seeing her already dressed in that black suit and low-cut white shirt you found irresistible.
“Don’t look at me with those eyes, please” you begged, with a small laugh which quickly turned into a brief cough. You saw her face soon change to worry as she moved closer to you. Again, you didn’t want to stress her out further and reached to your right to grab a drink of water. “It’s a dry throat, I’m fine” you clarified, but you could tell from her expression that she wasn’t convinced. She gave you that well-known head tilt, asking for more and calling you out for not being entirely truthful with her. “I will be fine Em, I promise” you whispered, keeping your voice as low as you could to avoid another cough.
As Emily got her things together, you pulled yourself out of bed and followed her through your apartment. She didn’t notice you at first, you were quietly shuffling along the wooden floors and snuck up behind her. You squeezed her waist and hugged her from behind in one quick motion, laughing as you felt her jump in your arms. Your amusement quickly stopped as the laughter immediately turned into a coughing fit. You let Emily go and turned away, trying to control yourself but failing miserably. She was quick to your aid, holding you steady as you slowly got yourself breathing regularly again.
Emily hugged you and you fell into her arms, taking advantage of her warmth before she left. “You’re shivering” she observed with concern. You only hummed in return, trying to keep her arms around you. “Come on, let’s get you back to bed”, she said as she leaned down and lifted you up. You couldn’t help but laugh as she carried you back through to the bedroom. Gentle as ever, Emily lay you on your side of the bed and covered you back up under the sheets. Your smile was still evident, and she let out a laugh at your reaction. As she leaned down to kiss you goodbye, you couldn’t help but try and keep that smile on her face. You sneakily uncovered your right arm and pulled her body against yours, hearing her muffled laugh into the pillow.
You continued to mess around with her until her phone chime startled you both. You had managed to pin her underneath you, exactly where you wanted her before you were both rudely interrupted. She watched you roll your eyes and motion to get off of her, but she held you steady on her hips as she reached into her pocket to answer the phone. You were in a playful mood, so as she answered in her most professional voice, you gave her a devilish smile and leaned down. Going to the opposite side of her phone, you began softly kissing behind her ear and down her neck. You felt her softly card her hand through your hair while you gently nipped her soft skin, gaining more confidence. Her grip on your hair got tighter, warning you to behave yourself, but you continued.
Emily rushed through her phone call, trying her best to maintain a consistent tone speaking to the person on the other end of the line. As soon as you heard the phone being dropped beside you, you knew you were in for it. The rush of Emily holding your hips and flipping you over made you let out a large breath, watching her eyes bore into yours as she got herself comfortable leaning over you. “That was naughty,” she said with a cheeky grin, leaning down and kissing you hard. Your hands instantly grabbed her hair, wanting to feel her even closer to you. She soon broke the kiss, getting up and grabbing her phone and attempting to return to her unflustered state.
The time quickly came for Emily to leave. She insisted that you stay in bed, but you wanted to see her out the door. You held her hand as you both made your way through the apartment, and your heart began to sink as you got closer to saying goodbye. Emily looked at you with love, kissing you goodbye and demanding that you get at much rest as you could while she was away. You nodded along, still gripping tightly onto her hand as she made her way into the hallway. Watching her leave was always hard for you both, especially as your mind ran rampant with all the worst-case scenarios that could occur in her job. You pushed those thoughts aside as you waved her away with a smile, and when she was out of eyesight, you slowly went back inside and closed the door.
For the next few days, the furthest you managed to travel was the kitchen, feeling weaker as each moment passed. Emily had phoned earlier, telling you that the case was wrapping up and that she would be home later in the evening. Knowing this, you wanted to tidy the apartment you shared, not wanting to add more tasks onto Emily as you knew she would be tired when her flight arrived. You had offered to pick her up from the office, but she declined, hearing how tired you were just by your tone of voice. However, you still wanted to do something nice for her, so you painfully got yourself up and out of bed and began cleaning.
After exhausting yourself almost to the breaking point, you decided to have a quick shower before she got home. Emily’s flight landed in just under an hour, so you knew you had time. Carefully disrobing, you grabbed clean clothes and gathered your towel, placing it all close by. While you were cleaning the bathroom, you removed the non-slip mat that Emily insisted you use because of how clumsy you could be, but with your wandering head, you had forgotten to place it back. Too tired to notice, you climbed into the shower and began to wash your hair. Everything was going fine, you were almost done, and thankful that you had managed to stay upright for the entirety of the shower, but your confidence was about to crumble when a small movement caused you to lose your balance.
It all happened so quickly that it took your brain a few seconds to process the situation you now found yourself in. You had reached for your face cloth, not paying attention to your footing when you slipped and fell hard onto the shower floor. Using your arm to attempt to stop yourself only resulted in it being twisted and landing on a funny angle. You screamed out in pain which quickly turned into tears as the water kept its continuous stream on your body. You didn’t realise you had passed out, not being aware of the time passing before you opened your eyes to the sound of Emily’s voice shouting for you. The pain quickly returned when you attempted to sit up, you let out another shout and fast footsteps followed immediately after.
It was quite a sight to see. Emily heard your scream and bolted from the kitchen straight through to the bedroom. Her panic never faltered as she scanned the room quickly, not seeing you and quickly realising the water was running in the bathroom. She pushed her way in, instantly stopping when she saw you crying and clutching your wrist. She didn’t speak, immediately moving over to you and switching the water off. As she bent down, Emily noticed the bruising beginning to appear on your wrist. She shushed you, trying her best to comfort you while figuring out the best way to handle the situation. Deciding it would be quicker to take you to the hospital herself, Emily grabbed your towel, wrapping you as best as she could and carrying you through to the bedroom.
No words had been spoken yet, Emily was busy grabbing clothes and drying the water off of you as carefully as she could while you tried to calm your breathing. “It hurts Em” you whimpered when she tried to gently put a top over your head. She managed to get it on without a lot of pain, but your crying still hadn’t stopped. She grabbed one of her jackets and threw it around you as she coaxed you outside and into her car. She was still overly quiet, just the occasional comforting phrase and gesture as you closed your eyes and waited for the journey to end. Emily pulled into the hospital as you passed out again, the tiredness had reached a new level and you couldn’t keep your eyes open any longer.
When you awoke again you were confused. Looking around the hospital room and feeling a strange sensation on your arm. Looking down, you saw your wrist in a bright red cast, stiff and still a little sore. You heard movement next to you, and when you turned you saw your girlfriend’s concerned expression gazing back at you. “I’m sorry” was the first thing you said. Emily reached over and laced your hands together in response, looking between you and your joint fingers. “What happened to the mat I put in?” Emily asked, gently stroking your thumb with hers. “I cleaned the bathroom; I must have forgotten to put it back in. I’m sorry” you apologised again, and Emily could sense that you were about to get teary-eyed again.
“Hey, it’s okay. Accident’s happen” she said soothingly, moving even closer to your bed. “I was trying to clean up for you. God I can’t even do that without an incident!” you laughed through your now obvious tears. Emily gave you a soft smile, leaning over and kissing you to make sure that you knew she wasn’t upset, only worried. “Can I sit with you?” she asked, gesturing to the small space on the bed. You responded by shuffling yourself over slowly, and when she saw you struggling Emily hopped up next to you and helped you lean against her. You were so happy to feel her warmth again. Even though she was only gone a matter of days, you still craved her touch.
“Next time wait for me to get home, I would have happily showered with you” Emily said later on. You turned to look at her, saw her devilish smile and rolled your eyes. “I don’t think you would have actually helped in that department; you get distracted way too easily” you laughed, feeling her chest move as she did so too. You exchanged small conversation, still overly apologetic on your behalf, which eventually trailed off as you struggled to keep your eyes open. “Get some rest sweetheart, I’ll be here” was the last thing you heard Emily say before you drifted off into sleep.
You woke up the next morning confused. Your surroundings were not familiar, and the initial startle shook you and the person next to you. Once your brain caught up with the situation, the person holding your hand made themselves known. “You’re awake” Emily said, still looking perfect even after sleeping on the chair next to you all night. You smiled, leaning over to kiss her as she got up to be closer to you. A few hours passed before you could be discharged, something about dehydration that Emily was not pleased about. You convinced her and the doctor that you were fine, just having a rough few days with whatever bug you had caught in the colder weather in DC. You watched Emily closely, still seeing the concern in her eyes for you.
“Em, I’m fine now. You don’t have to worry about me” you tried convincing her as she led you through your apartment later that day. She silently got you undressed and changed you into your pyjamas, brushing your hair and tucking you back into your shared bed. “I will always worry about you” she whispered, moving under the sheets after getting herself ready for bed. You turned your head to face her, seeing the same expression she gave you earlier in the hospital. “I love you, preferably in one piece” she laughed as she pulled you in closer. “I love you too” you said, kissing her goodnight and snuggling into her warmth. You moved your injured arm around, not entirely sure where to put it in between you both, which just ended up in a laughing fit. Emily, always quick with her solutions, turned you around and hugged you from behind. “goodnight baby, sweet dreams”, and with that, you happily drifted off in her arms, glad that you had Emily by your side.