Jean awoke with a banging headache, she couldn't remember much of the night before except that she'd gone out with Laura, Robbie and James. All she knew was that in her younger years she couldn't remember hangovers hurting this much. She couldn't remember the last time she'd even got drunk let alone drunk to the extreme that the hangover felt so bad. Needless to say, this wasn't the normal Jean Innocent.
Focusing on how rubbish she felt meant that for a while she was clueless to anything going on around her. This was until she felt the presence of someone else in her bed. She rolled over so that she was facing the opposite way to whoever it was out of pure fear. What had she done? This was the point that the amount of alcohol that she'd consumed decided to make itself even more known. Quickly she made a dash for the bathroom to empty whatever the remaining contents of her stomach was.
As she walked back into the bedroom there was no mistaking who it was in her bed. She'd have recognised his blonde flop of hair anywhere. For years she'd tried to keep her soft spot for the younger sergeant under wraps but she feared what alcohol had done to her desires and how far the line that she normally wouldn't cross, had moved.
As James let out a slight snore, for a second a slight smile crossed Jean's face which was then replaced by a look of pure disgust but not at James but at herself. She hated herself for feeling this way, she hated the fact that she wanted James more than the air she breathed, mostly though she hated the fact that she couldn't have him. Fair enough she was divorced but there was still the matter of work and that was a hurdle that she couldn't figure out how to jump.
Jean made a dash for the living room of her house, being careful not to make too much noise so that she didn't wake James. Her phone didn't hold any pieces that may help her to put together the jigsaw, that was currently missing most of it's pieces, in her head. There was nothing from Laura at all let alone anything to suggest that she'd done anything serious but that didn't necessarily mean anything. For all the she knew Laura could have been just as drunk as she had been or she was busy with Robbie. Either was possible but that didn't help Jean's current dilemma.
After a while of doing nothing but sitting panicking she decided to go and check on James after all if he'd drunk a lot then anything could be wrong with him.
"James?" She called sheepishly at first but after a lack of response tried again in a more bold tone. Still she received no response. Jean climbed back into the bed and straddled James's tummy as he was laying on his back. There was no sexual motive behind this, in fact she just figured she could check his pulse easier and do her best to wake him.
His pulse was normal but still he slept. It took lightly slapping his cheek for him to awake from his slumber.
"Jean?" James grumbled sleepily. Quickly Jean removed herself from where she was positioned and lay in the bed next to him. This didn't feel any more comfortable then where she had been before. It was still just as awkward in her eyes.
"How are you this morning?" James asked now that he was back in the land of reality.
"Honestly?" Jean asked to which James nodded. "Terrible, my heads banging, it feels like a stampede in my tummy and I've spent quite a bit of time over the toilet."
"Ah." James replied, he didn't sound like he was in the same position of her. Jean didn't know how to approach the subject of the previous night but she had to know what had happened. Her personality was the sort that wouldn't let anything lie, she was curious and would do anything to get the information she needed.
Unfortunately she didn't get the chance to ask as she yet again ran to throw up. Surprisingly for her, James followed her through to the bathroom and held her hair back and rubbed her back gently as she was sick. This set of butterflies in Jean's stomach for a completely un-alcohol related reason.
There were no words spoken between the pair as they made their way back to the bedroom.
"James..." Jean started but couldn't finish as she crawled back into bed and James almost tucked her in like a mother would her sick child.
"Jean, you need to rest. I'll go and get you some water and paracetamol and then you can say whatever you're about to say." James said before he made for the stairs. This was why she loved him. He couldn't be anything but a gentleman, he always put others first and he was just generally lovely in every way.
He placed a glass on Jean's bedside cabinet and dropped two tablets into her hand. Once she'd taken them, he perched at her beside and stared at her expectantly.
"About last night, what happened?" Jean finally broached the subject.
"You don't remember?" James asked with an unreadable tone. Jean feared she'd slept with him, not that wouldn't be all that she wanted but it was the possible fact that she couldn't remember that spooked her. "You had drunk a lot and you were rambling but none of is could make out what about. Laura and Robbie went off home but you were so drunk that I couldn't leave you. I brought you back here to make sure you were safely in bed. Don't worry though, you changed into your pyjamas yourself. Anyway you started being sick so I stayed with you a bit longer and comforted you and just generally made sure you were okay. I made you some toast to try and soak the alcohol up but it wasn't long before you were sick again. Then you got into bed and you fell straight asleep, I didn't want to leave you though. I was scared you might be sick in your sleep and choke to death." James explained quietly.
"Thank you James, that's so sweet of you." Jean said with tears in her eyes. No one had ever been so sweet to her before, which just confirmed her love for him even more. "Anyway if I'd choked to death in my sleep you'd have never have known! You sleep the sleep of the dead!" Jean laughed.
"Oi! I'd like to think that I'd have sensed what was happening and woken up to save you!" James argued lightheartedly.
"Do you think you're telepathic now? Do I need to get you an appointment with the department shrink?!" Jean joked already feeling a hundred times better.
"No but when you love someone you feel the pain that they do." The words tumbled out of his mouth without him giving them permission to.
"What?" Jean asked unable to know how to react to what she'd just heard.
"Erm nothing. I should be getting home really."
"James, do you know you're one of the worst liars I know?" Jean pointed out. His face went red. Jean sat up in her bed. "Tell me I heard incorrectly James or show me that I didn't." He took a moment to decide what she was expecting of him in the situation and in that moment her heart raced like it never had before. All that was until he reached forward and kissed her. He didn't care that she wasn't well, he didn't care that she was his boss. All that mattered was the mutual love between them. The love that gave them an unbreakable bond.
