I helped Lauren the best I could with getting some food into her body. The chicken soup went down, all in all, relatively easily. I had to support her head all the way so she could sit somewhat upright, but beside that, that food wasn’t an issue. As for the oatmeal, that was a bit harder to do. Lauren’s appetite also quickly disappeared but it was nonetheless important that she ate at least some of it. In the end she did manage to eat at least a third but after that, it was definitely going to cost more energy than it was worth. I sat the bowl on the side and then took a couple of napkins to clean up the mess we had caused. Apparently eating while practically laying down isn’t easy.

“Sorry for the mess, Luna…” Lauren apologized while I dabbed some of the oatmeal of her shirt.

“It’s not like you can help it.” I was pretty much creating an even bigger mess with the tissues though. “We should probably just get you a new shirt. Could you lift your arms up for me?”

Lauren tried but I had to assist her a bit to really get her arms in the right position for a clean t-shirt switch. Although the new shirt had to wait a bit as it was clear that the oatmeal had made its way partially through the shirt’s fabric.

“Let me get something to clean you up with.” I gave Lauren a kiss on the head and made my way to the bathroom to get a washing cloth. When I made my way back with the damp cloth in hand, I could see from Lauren’s face that she was fuming. “Lauren…”

Lauren let out a very pained grunt. “I’m sorry… This is just… so frustrating. I don’t like feeling this powerless. It reminds me of being back in hospital.”

“You’ll be better soon.” I replied, getting to work on cleaning Lauren’s chest. It wasn’t much that came through the shirt but clearly enough to be very annoying. “Then you can go kick ass again.”

“I want to shoot something very badly… Might have to book out the firing simulator for the entire day.”

“Understandable.” When I was done with the washing cloth I dried off her skin with a towel. “But in the meantime, are there no things that you can see the positive side of?”

Lauren looked at me for a couple of seconds before she chuckled. “Are you trying to be my psychologist now?”

“No, more your very supportive girlfriend.”

This managed to make Lauren smile. “Well, in that case, I guess there are.”

While Lauren was thinking about it I went to her closet to grab her a new shirt. “Like?”

“At least I can go to the bathroom when I want to.”

I tilted my head at that comment. “Of course you can, but what brought that up?”

“Well…” Lauren started. “When a friend of mine got surgery she wasn’t allowed to go to the bathroom for five whole days. I don’t know about you. But that seems like hell to me.”

“Don’t they have those catheters for that?”

“Yes, for urine, but I’m not talking about urine…”

“Oh…”

“Yeah…” Lauren lifted her arms again, or at least attempted to, so I could put on her new shirt. “So it’s not too bad in my case. And I hope it won’t ever go that far for me.”

“In other words, you like to be able to poo?”

“...” Lauren rolled her eyes. “I like to be able to have the opportunity to do so…”

I got Lauren into her new shirt and then ate some of my own food. I had gone for a cold spicy chicken wrap which was now at a more agreeable temperature. I don’t really like the ‘just-out-of-the-fridge’ coldness that went with it. After that I cozied up and sat myself down next to Lauren again.

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“Do you think you can lay on my lap without hurting too much?”

“I think so.” Lauren nodded and waited for me to lay her head on my lap which I did, carefully and very gently of course.

“How’s that feeling?” I ran my hand through her hair.

“It doesn’t hurt at least.” She replied.

“Good.”

“Can I ask you to do something silly for me?” Lauren grunted that last word as she tried to move herself a bit and from the looks of it, it hurt like hell.

“Like what?”

“Could you read me from one of the books you like to read?” She had bitten the pain away.

“I can.” I smiled and ran my index finger over her cheek towards her ear. “What genre would you like to hear?”

“As long as it’s not non-fiction…”

“Don’t want to hear about physics today?”

“Not really… My brain is not wired for that today… or any day…”

“Hmm.” I ran my hand through her hair again to which Lauren leaned into my touch as much she could. “Then how about an adventure novel I’ve been meaning to read?”

“That sounds fine.” She replied.

“Alright.” I took out my holostick and set it up so that I could read the screen without having to hold it. “It all starts with a gruf scarred adventurer leading a dragon princess through the woods…”

Lauren didn’t last long as I could tell she was drifting in and out of consciousness almost constantly. The pain had been taking its toll on her energy levels however it was clear that just me being there and her hearing my voice was keeping her calm and at ease.

It was only after an hour or two that Lauren seemed to be able to stay awake a bit better. “I’m sorry, I think I was falling asleep.”

“I know.” I smiled as I looked down on her. “But don’t worry, we can read it together again at a different date.”

“Hmm.” She nodded so very slightly that it was hard for me to see.

I looked at the clock and saw that it had already gotten rather late. “I’ll go wash off and then join you in bed. How does that sound?”

“Are you sure?” Lauren asked in return. “I’m not going to be able to keep laying still all night. I might wake you up.”

“It’s fine. You’ve been plenty calm when you were laying on my lap.” I replied. “Don’t you worry about me.”

I gently got Lauren off my lap before I headed to take a shower and to brush my teeth. I wasted little time with that and got back to Lauren within ten minutes. That’s when I noticed the pills that were still laying on the table. “Right, I need to give these to you…”

“Pills?” Lauren asked, looking at me sideways.

“Yeah. Eva said you really shouldn’t skip out on these. And there’s some more pain medication here too I see, and a sleeping pill as well.”

“Hmmm.” Lauren grumbled.

“Lauren, you really need to take these.” I went to the counter to fill a glass of water for her.

“I know…” She sighed. “Can you at least snap the big ones in half for me?”

I looked over the pills but from the looks of it, none of them really looked that big. I brought them over with the glass of water in my other hand and showed them to her. “These ought to be small enough for you, no?”

Lauren looked at the pills with tired eyes. “Ah… Yeah… That should be fine… Eva gave me different ones earlier and those were a bit too big for comfort.”

I nodded and sat the glass of water down on the floor for a second so I could help Lauren upright completely. Swallowing these pills from a reclined angle would just be too hard.

With a bit of pain on Lauren’s side we managed to get her up and with a couple of gulps of water she managed to swallow all the pills as well.

After that I turned the lights off and got into bed next to my partner.

I could feel by Lauren’s radiating warmth that she was still running quite the fever.

“Last chance for sleeping somewhere else.” Lauren said.

“Not a chance. I’m staying here, whether you like it or not.” I gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Hmmm.” I couldn’t really see it in the dark but that did sound like a happy hum. “Oh.”

“Oh, what? Do you need something else before we sleep?”

“I just remembered that I didn’t ask you how work went.”

“Ah, it went fine.” I replied as I snuggled up to my warm Lauren.

“Did the bridge crew not make life too hard on you?”

“No, quite the opposite at least. It seems like they quite enjoyed having me in the lead too.”

“Should I be worried about my top spot?”

“Maybe a little.” I joked. “Need to keep you on your toes, even if you are sick.”

“Hehe, thanks. Can’t lose my edge after all.” After that I heard Lauren groan a bit as she turned around, swiftly followed by a kiss on my cheek. “Good night, Luna.”

“Night night, Lauren.”