Ed stirred, his head hurt and as he opened his eyes. It was his bed room, he didn't remember going to bed last night, he didn't remember much, judging by the pain in his head it was a heavy night. He stretched out, not a wise move, everything hurt.
Moving gingerly he realised he wasn't alone, slowly he turned over.
Kelly was asleep on top of the covers, her blonde hair strewn over the pillows, her face smudged with mascara. He smiled slightly. And reached to brush a strand of hair from her face. In doing so he yelped in pain as he moved.
Kelly awoke with a jolt.
"Ed! You are awake!" There was a level of worry balanced with relief in her voice.
"Hey Kel" he slurred.
"Try not to move" she grabbed some medication from the bedside table, and injected him. He jolted slightly in shock and his eyes glazed over a little as it kicked in.
"What happened?" he croaked, though the haze of what had happened.
"Drink some water, you have been asleep for 2 days" she instructed, holding a glass to his lips and making him take small sips.
"I love you" he muttered vaguely as the chemicals and pain swirled in his system trying to find a balance.
"I love you too" she smiled, and kissed him softly on the forehead, before backing off suddenly by the realisation of what she just said.
He drifted to sleep, she watched him content that he was ok.
It was then she realised she hadn't washed in 36 hours since this happened, she had stayed by his side, watching every move and every breath. She had never been so scared of losing anyone in her entire life. Even when they divorced she knew he was ok, they as a couple were not, but he would pick himself up and move on, live his life. He would be alive. While he was alive there was a chance they could become close again.
Checking on his breathing again she glanced at his bathroom, a 5 minute shower wouldn't hurt.
As she stood there the water washed over her, cleaning away the previous two day's stress. She had been so fixated on Ed she had forgotten about herself. She hadn't had time to process anything, just reacted to each event.
It was then she realised she was hungry. Hungry didn't explain it, more than hungry, she would eat anything, even his terrible, possibly dangerous, cooking, she was that hungry. It had been so long since she ate. She chuckled to herself thinking of some of the horrible meals he had cooked for her when they started dating before she was secure enough with him to be honest as to how bad he was at cooking. He was the only person who had managed to burn beans on toast. He was also the only person who would go so far from his comfort zone to please her.
She dried herself off and grabbed some of Ed's clothes as her uniform was dirty and caked in blood. Just like the early days of them dating, where she would sleep cuddled up in his sweatshirts to smell him. This was more practical. But painful. Their relationship also felt so incomplete, like a film that cut off in the middle. Moving to this ship was a mistake a constant reminder of what she couldn't have.
He was still asleep so she went to the ground level to get herself some food, a sandwich and an apple. Cold but filling as she didn't want to be away from him for too long. The food generators were on limited rations under emergency protocol.
Having eaten she sat on his sofa, her eyes feeling heavy as though weights were dragging them shut and she welcomed the darkness, more content that Ed made it through the worst of it. Her mind stopped worrying for enough time to allow sleep to engulf her.
"Yes Doctor….. I know….. Im lucky."
Kelly's eyes shot open as she heard his voice, her stomach fluttered with fear, and she bolted upstairs to his side.
He was sat up in bed talking to Claire over the communication system, the grey in his skin had lessened and he looked nearly normal, other than the blackened blood that crusted in his hair. Kelly was at his side next to him in the bed before she realised it. As close as she could. If Claire was curious about their intimacy she was kind enough to ignore it. Claire was always good at not asking questions that she didn't need to know the answer too.
"Hello Commander, the Captain has a few questions. You may be better placed to answer them. His vitals seem nearly normal, I will monitor them from here. Sadly quarantine is still in place for 24 more hours. I'm sure you can entertain each other." Kelly was sure she winked as she switched the monitor off. If she was honest with herself half the crew gossiped about her and Ed.
Ed looked at her quizzically, then down at his blood crusted T-shirt. The dull throbbing pain in his abdomen was concerning as well.
"I'm guessing I need a shower" he felt sticky and sweaty and had an urge to get clean, even though he really wanted to know what had happened and why Kelly was in one of his T-shirts and his shorts.
"Good plan, do you need help?" She struggled to sound as professional and emotional detatched as possible.
"I can shower alone thank you Kel" he scoffed, whilst the room span slightly but he wasn't having his ex-wife help him in the shower. She looked slightly sadly, but hid it well.
He took himself to the shower and peeling his shirt off he noticed the stiches in his abdomen. The bruising around his ribs made them tender to the touch. There were many questions in his head. Too many things that didn't make sense, but he wanted to be away from her while he got his bearings. Brushing his teeth he noticed the dryness of his mouth as the mint tingled on his tongue. What had happened, and why was Kelly not only in his clothes but clearly comfortable enough to be in his bed with him. If only things were not a blur.
The shower made him feel a lot better, he grabbed some clothes from his room and the medical kit to cover his stitches. Which was a lot harder than he imagined, muttering he took the bandages and dressing to his bed room. T-shirt in hand, maybe the dressing would be easier lying down. Being ill was not something Ed was good at. He was a terrible patient. Always trying to move on before he was really fixed.
His bedding had been changed while he was in the shower, and Kelly was nowhere to be seen, he was pleased. They had been fighting and he didn't fancy another round with her. Professionally they worked well, but personally there was still a lot of work to be done. Pushing the covers to one side he flopped onto the bed, wincing in pain.
The water on the bed side table caught his attention as he rapidly downed the contents of the bottle. He felt as though he hadn't drunk in days. He tried to struggle to his feet to get more to drink when Kelly appeared at his side.
"Ed take it easy" she jumped onto the bed and pulled him back onto it. "Sh…" she stopped herself as she saw his bruises. And stopped herself from touching him.
"Kelly leave me" he demanded
"Not while you are like this, let me patch you up" both equally stubborn a battle of wills was the worst thing in the current situation.
He sighed deeply and submitted to her, "Why do you care all of sudden, you made your feelings really clear"
She flung her arms around him. Sobbing slightly as she allowed herself to stop holding in all the fear and anger that had fuelled her for the last few days, pretending not to care when face to face with him was always difficult.
"You have no memory of anything that happened?" she questioned
"In what context and why are you crying Kel?" He was really confused by everything that was happening and in a high level of discomfort.
"What's the last thing you remember?"
"Ummmm going to the shuttle bay to greet the Huiegy ambassador, after that nothing before waking up here" He was slightly snippy with his tone.
"That was 2 days ago" she stated "Right after…"
"Yes, after you told me it's not working and you want to leave the Orville" he snarled in reply.
She blushed slightly and averted her eyes. There were so many things she wanted to say about that. Tell him how hard it was being so close to him, but no being with him, how those little touches they shared hurt her as she knew they were based in history rather than a promise for the future. And she hated that.
"What happened?" he calmed his tone realising that their argument had clearly upset her. Smiling softly and reassuringly. Reaching to place a reassuring hand on hers he stopped himself. They had always been very physical, holding on to each other when possible. This new normal was so difficult. Working together so closely was challenging, they were learning new behaviours. But natural instincts were hard to fight.
She noticed his change in attempt to touch her, and took his hand, they smiled slightly before he remembered he was annoyed with her. But he didn't withdraw his hand, rather he weaved his fingers between hers.
"The Huiegy were not here for peace. They pretended they were but escorting them off the ship they released a bio toxin and stabbed you, we had 2 minutes to get to a room before the ship went into lock down, I got you back here, Bortas was on the bridge, Claire was in medical. Auto Lock down kicked in, the union sent the Wilber to guard us" he smiled slightly at their sister ship being assigned to work with them.
"You stitched me up" he laughed glancing at the bad stitching. But pleased he was there to help him.
"Yes sorry, only have a basic medical kit that was in your room, and I was always terrible at the field medic unit"
"You can't be perfect at everything, besides you saved me" he smiled.
"No you were lucky, it didn't hit any organs. It did however have a toxin embedded, which being away from the medical centre meant we couldn't identify it easily, so we gave you all the antitoxin in the medical kits and prayed that it would work"
"Thank you" he squeezed her hand.
"Once the lock down is over we will go to the medical centre and fix that so you won't get a scar" she reassured.
"I thought you said scars were sexy" he teased.
"They can be" she smiled shyly, swallowing slightly, wondering where this was going.
"I'm sorry this happened. I know you just wanted to leave and start your life elsewhere. Are you ok?" He asked looking at her with concern in his dark eyes.
"I never wanted to leave, I just can't be around you every day" she justified.
"I understand" he nodded releasing her hand.
"I don't think you do. I told myself, we can just be friends. But deep down I think I was lying to myself. I can't just be your friend. So I need to move on. Not see you every day. Knowing how badly I ruined everything." She started speaking really quickly.
"What are you saying?" he took a deep breath processing, and hoping it wasn't the drugs in his system confusing the situation.
"I know you will never trust me as you once did, and I can't help but love you. Being this close every day, the late night chats, the drinks, the confiding in our days remind me how we used to be. I realised I want to be with you, I don't want to be a friend." She took a deep breath and moved slightly away from him, closing her eyes scared to see his reaction.
Ed paused and watched her for what felt like a life time there was a silence which hung in the air.
"You want to get back together?" his voice cracked
"Yes, I know I can't ask you to risk it after what happened" she trembled, and he grabbed her hand again.
"We were both in the wrong, we are both different now, we grew and learnt from our mistakes" he almost justified.
"What are you saying?" hope tinged her words
"Im not sure do you want to date, or ….."
"Ed I don't care, I just want to be with you"
With that she closed and gap between them, he welcomed the kiss, both hungrily kissing each other, desperate to make up for their lost year and a half. Relieved to finally be able to touch and taste each other. She straddled him, hitching her T-shirt to allow him to touch her bare stomach, she moaned as his cold hands caressed her warm skin.
"Captain! Stop whatever you are doing! Your heart rate and Blood pressure has spiked to dangerous levels!" Claire's image flashed up as the emergency communication monitor shimmered into existence.
Ed and Kelly froze.
"Oh, sorry, ummm" Claire didn't know where to look. She was never lost for words.
Kelly in a flash was sat beside him pretending nothing had happened. Trying to look as innocent as possible.
"I think it's wise you keep your blood pressure and heart rate down until we can treat you in a medical facility, if you two can manage that for the next few hours" instructed Claire trying to smoother a laugh and sound stern at the same time.
Red faced Ed smiled at Claire "I will take your advice doctor. Thank you and dismissed"
Claire nodded and turned off the emergency channel. And started laughing as soon as the screen was gone, that was one suspicion confirmed.
"Maybe we should wait until you are not being monitored constantly" Kelly laughed, running her fingers though his hair playfully.
"If you think you can manage to resist me" he chuckled, lightly kissing her head and winching slight as he lay down.
"24 hours can't be that hard, besides I should dress your wound" she indicated the angry red stab wound that had been aggravated by their heated kissing.
"Ok, grab some pop corn while you are up and we can watch some movies to distract us"
"The sound of music"
"What else" he smiled