Tauriel never fancied these kind of parties. Too much of everything and not enough space. People, a mixture of sweat, perfume scented with the stench of alcohol or vomit. Music, too loud, making ear drums bleed, the basses so loud no melody could be heard. Alcohol, practically in everything, even orange juice had something in it, best case vodka worst case scenario a rape pill. She was wondering about her reason to be there, her best friend Arwen, her stupid brother Legolas and their friend Lindir, knew the birthday boy Fili from college. She was pulled along, and later left alone as her companions melted into the disgusting crowd losing control on the dance floor. She briefly noticed Arwen dancing with some long haired man who could use a shave. Her brother was missing in action, and she briefly wondered whether he already found his one night stand or not yet. Lindir was even worst, at the beginning he tried to glue himself to her, but fortunately for him he realized it was time to get lost. He was handsome, however she was not into this college game, sleep once and forget. She'd seen this so many times from her brother's point of view. All those girls going through his bed, some even tried breaking the game by calling him again, however her brother easily ditched them later. Her views on these things were tainted with distaste. She could have spent the evening reading a good book, and after a long hot bath she would peacefully go to bed alone.
An hour later, and after ditching four not so subtle invitation to "the game", she decided to get one more orange juice and go home to that book and hot bath. Alone. She finished her juice, grabbed her small handbag, and got off the stool just to hit into someone. She felt the liquid of a drink soak her dress. This evening was the worst of them all, she noticed, now even she smelled like the disgusting crowd. She briefly looked down to the slim person staring shocked at her. Go ahead accuse me of ruining your drinks you jerk, she thought. He looked at her with shock. Clearly he was more than a bit drunk, since he was still holding on to her.
"Would you mind?" She tried to signal her discomfort.
"I'm sorry." He murmured and she could clearly see his dilated pupils. Not only drunk but drugged as well. She thought sourly.
"I was supposed to take those drinks back to the table.." She could hear him finally say.
"Well then you'd better get some new drinks and go to that table." She suggested. "But first get your hands off me."
Instead he leaned more against her and murmured something like "I'm not feeling well..."
"Don't you dare throw up on me!" She spoke in a cold voice.
"I'm not..." She could feel his hot body lean into her.
"You idiot you shouldn't be drinking if you have a high fever." She scolded him.
"I wasn't drinking..." He chocked out.
"Fine, say whatever you want, tell me who to call to pick you up." She demanded.
"My brother is over there..." He gestured to a table on the right. "Or he was over there before I went to get the drinks."
"Whatever. Sorry mate but I'm going home. If you want I can drive you home, but nothing more." She told him firmly.
"Home sounds fine." He whispered.
Dragging her road kill she left the fancy club, and motioned the concierge to get her car. The concierge was kind enough to pack her unwanted parcel on the front passenger seat of her new BMW, and she drove off and stopped after a hundred meters realising she had no address to drop her package off.
"So where is your home?" She tried to wake him up, without prevail. Now I've done it. She realized.
. . . . .
I should fuck myself for being such a fucking good Samaritan, was the only thought she could think looking at the sleeping person in her bed. Fuck Legolas, Fuck Arwen, Fuck that idiot Lindir. I could have left him in the car, but then he could throw up on my seats. I could have dropped him off at that table at the party. Idiot. I could have done so many things, but here I'm stuck with a drunk boy with a cold who was stupid enough to go to a party instead of visiting a doctor.
She looked back at him and decided only one thing would make her relax, a long hot bath.
When she came back, she put a cold compress on his head, and briefly wondered what might have caused such a high fever, after all she was going to be a doctor in less than two years. She changed her clothes, making sure her night clothes were decent, and thanked God she listened to Legolas's advice and got a king size bed for her room.
She was woken up in the middle of the night by an extremely hot arm. Her road kill was shifting, his forehead sweaty, and his fever sky high. She got out of bed, and went into the kitchen to get some treatment for her patient. She carefully slipped two pills into a bit of water and swirled the glass until the pills melted, at least it would be easier to force it down. She returned to the bedroom to find him trembling in the middle of the bed, tightly wrapped in her cover. She grabbed the cover, and forced him into a sitting position, and woke him up enough to force the medicine down his throat. She forced him swiftly onto one side of the bed. That moment she was grateful for those long hard hours of hospital work, where she learned how to deal with people in this kind of state.
She was woken early in the morning only to find herself in a very strange position. Her head was lying on something hot, and it wasn't her favourite pillow. She blinked looking at her road kill, who shifted again into the middle of the bed and actually he was laying across the bed. Then she heard it again, the sound that had woke her up, it was a ring tone and it was coming from his jacket which was on the floor. She reached down to answer it, but she was too slow. She looked at the caller's name, Fili, Legolas's friend. She would call him later and ask who the stupid guy in her bed was. She shifted him again, and made herself comfortable and went to sleep.
. . . . .
When he awoke it was very bright, his head was killing him, and his throat was very dry. He looked at his surroundings, but he had no idea where he was. The ceiling was blue he realised after a moment. The bed was warm and comfortable. Suddenly someone grabbed him and forced him to sit up, and drink something tasting really bad. Medicine type bad. He looked up to see the girl that was sitting at the bar last night, clearly bored and uninterested in the party. He remembered that Dain tried to strike up to her, but he returned with a sour face. He felt bad all day yesterday, so he wasn't drinking, but he couldn't add facts up starting from his flu to how he landed with this girl in an unknown room.
"Water." He gasped.
"Nope, no water, drink this." She gave him a glass with some red liquid in it. Thank God it tasted like strawberries, and it soothed the pain in his throat.
"Where am I?" He managed to speak quietly.
"My place. You blacked out before you could tell me where to drop you off. So you landed here." She explained.
"Sorry about that..." He whispered still feeling pain in his throat.
"I guess I'm a sucker for sick puppies." She explained.
"Rest a bit, and later maybe we can get you into a hot bath, and call someone to pick you up." She told him. "How does that sound?"
"Sound fantastic." He slowly went to sleep again.
. . . . .
"So you got lucky last night?" Arwen smile with her all-knowing smile to Tauriel.
"Nope!" She replied "I'm playing Florence Nightingale."
They were drinking coffee in the kitchen they shared.
"So did you get lucky?" Tauriel asked her best friend. "Well you could say so, I'm going out for a date tomorrow." Arwen smiled shyly.
"With that dark haired guy you were dancing?" Tauriel smiled.
"Yeah, he's studying International Trade, on the fourth year I think." Arwen explained.
"Don't tell me you've already gone to bed with him?" Tauriel asked.
"You know I'm not that type, and he seems not to be that type either. I have a feeling he might be a keeper." Arwen showed her beautiful illusive shy smile again."I didn't think you were that type either, but here I come home to find you with a fine man in your huge bed..." Arwen started to tease her.
"A fine piece of road kill, with a huge fever under the influence of alcohol and probably drugs." Tauriel noticed grimly. "Definitely not a keeper."
"We'll just see about that." Arwen showed her all-knowing smile for the fourth time in one conversation, which was comically annoying.
"Tell me something I don't know." Tauriel replied putting her coffee cup away.
"You should finally give at least one of them a chance." Arwen noticed. "Being stuck at home, and rejecting every dance and drink will lead you to a solitary empty life. Not quite suited for someone who used to dream about becoming a paediatrician."
"Used to is the right tense." Tauriel noticed preparing one more dose of medicine for her sick lost puppy sleeping in her bed.
. . . . .
His second wake up was a natural one. His head was still aching, but a bit less. Soon she came back with another red glass and a white glass.
"Medicine first." She gave him the white one, and he obediently drank it, trying not to complain about the taste. "Now to sooth that throat of yours." She handed him the red one.
"Thank you." He replied, still feeling extremely weak.
"Now, do you think you'll be able to get up?" She asked him, and he nodded. "Your fever is going down, so a hot bath will make you feel a bit better for some time. Try to get up, I'm going to run the water." She left him there and came back after a few minutes, and helped him out of bed. She dragged him to the bathroom, and told him to do the rest himself. She gave him a clean towel, and told him he had twenty minutes and if he didn't come out she would come and get him.
As soon as he landed in the hot bath, he realized she was right, the water was already making him more conscious. He washed his hair, and body, and soaked for a bit, trying not to fall asleep. But when he got out he felt much better. He put his clothes back on, and wrapped the towel around his hair.
She was already waiting for him with a comb. "I can do it myself." He told her with a smile, and took the hairbrush from her.
"Could I please get something to eat?" He asked at her pleadingly doing his best puppy eyes.
"Fine, I'll get you something, but when I come back I want some info about who and when will pick you up from here."
"And where is here?" He asked curiously.
"10 Martle Street apartment 21." She told him. "I'll be right back."
. . . . .
"I know I should have told you I was feeling bad, but you were so happy about the party..." She could hear him explain. "So when can you pick me up?" He asked pleadingly. "They did what?" and then there was a long silence. "I'll manage somehow." He final murmured. "I'll call you later have fun, bye bro!" He finished just as she came into the room, with some rice pudding.
"So when is someone picking you up?" She demanded.
"Nowhen." He answered grimly.
"My brother is in the middle of driving to New York." He explained to her desperately.
"So he left you without knowing if you're safe?" She asked surprised.
"Some of our friends kidnapped him for a surprise trip..." He began explaining.
"So how do you plan on getting home?" She asked him.
"A taxi?" He suggested.
"And who's going to make sure you go to a doctor?" She demanded.
"No one." He quietly replied.
"So I guess you're stuck here with me." She felt completely beaten. "Just shut up and eat." She pushed the bowl into his hands.
"I should manage by myself, I feel a bit better." He explained to her.
"Just shut it." She curtly told him off. "I'm mad at you and myself enough as it is."
"Why are you mad at me?" He gently asked.
"Well for starters, you spilt drinks on my favourite dress, fainted on me, blacked out in my car, and landed in my bed uninvited. And now it seems I'm stuck with you until you recover from this flu." She sat on her bed just next to him.
"So that's all me, but why are you mad at yourself?" He asked with a radiant smile.
"I'm mad at myself for being an idiot. I went to that stupid party, couldn't ditch a stupid sick puppy, I should have just left you there, your friends would probably find you later at that table. I could have asked for a taxi for you, instead of taking you in my own car and getting stuck with you." She explained.
"You're too beautiful to be an idiot!" He noticed with a smile.
"Like that has anything to do with it." She replied with a smile. "I'm such an idiot that I'm sitting with a stranger on my bed!
"Kili." He reached his hands in her direction.
"Tauriel." She touched and shook his hand for a brief moment.
"Now since we're not strangers anymore, would you mind turning on that TV on the wall?" He asked grinned at her.
"Well first of all, if you're going to stay here longer you need some more clothes. Give me your keys and the address." She extended her hand.
"7 Washington street, second room on the right on the first floor is mine. I'll be forever in your dept for all of this." He said with a weak smile.
"I sincerely hope so." She replied giving him the remote control for the TV.
. . . . .
She came back in half an hour, with a bag of fresh clothes. He was asleep again and the TV was playing. She went to the kitchen to get some chicken broth ready for her uninvited house guest. When she came back later he was awake again, so she told him to sit up, and brought a tray and after several minutes returned with a bowl of soup.
"You're going to spoil me." He noticed with delight.
"The sooner you get better, the sooner I'll have you out of my hair." She noticed.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that If I were you." He smiled devilishly.
"You want that soup to go back into the kitchen?" She threatened in a low voice.
"No way, I'm just saying that It's going to take some time before I pay off the dept to you." He confessed.
"Forget about it, just get well, that's all I'm asking at the moment." She replied.
"By the way, why did you take care of me?" He asked curiously. "Not many people I know would actually help a stranger met at some party, and later nurse them to health."
"You're not scared I actually kidnapped you?" She joked.
"Nah, If you wanted to get my clothes off you could have just asked." He grinned again.
"You're hopeless!" She laughed at him. "Coming back to your question, I've already told you, I'm a sucker for poor lost sick puppies. I used to drive my family crazy."
"So I'm just a lost sick puppy?" He asked sulking.
"Nah, you're more like road kill. I bumped into you in that bar, so I just had to clean up my own mess." She smiled at him, thinking about how absurd their conversation would seem to someone from the outside.
"Lost puppy? Road kill?" He looked at her surprised. "Now that's new. I've been called a leech, a reckless brat, and many other stuff, however this is new." He almost chocked on his food trying to stop laughing.
"Anyway, I'm really grateful." He noticed. "Now tell me if I'm right, Is that a play station over there?" He pointed to the cupboard under the TV and he showed her his stunning smile again.
"Well yes my dear Puppy, it is a play station." She replied smiling back. "Fine let me just clean up." She took the bowl back to the kitchen. She moved two armchairs closer to the TV, and pulled out two warm blankets from the wardrobe. "Do you need help?" She asked.
"No, I think I'll manage to walk three meters, thank you for you kind offer." He smiled radiantly again. She helped wrapped him tightly in the blankets and turned on the console, and chose her favourite game.
"My favourite." He smiled at her. "How did you know?" He asked with a wide smile.
. . . . .
He fell asleep really fast, as soon as he was back in bed and his head his the pillow he was out again. She took a shower herself, and decided to go to sleep as well. Tomorrow she only had two classes, but she had to get up early. She was surprised, her companion was a funny and cheerful person. He loved flirting, and paying word games with her. It was actually sad that he was so ill, and that his fever was high again. She was getting worried, but flu cannot be cheated, keeping the temperature down and staying warm in bed for a longer period of time was the best medicine. She still kept calling herself an idiot for this whole ordeal, however when she looked at his peaceful sleeping face she could feel a tingling of interest. He was really cute, his hair wild dark flowing in waves to his shoulders. His deep brown eyes, clearly showing mischief and his fun loving nature, but with a deeper meaning in them as well. He was slim, slightly shorter than her. But she was very tall for a girl, almost as tall as Legolas. Her brother always teased her that she should become a pro basketball player. Slowly a shade of facial hair on his chin was appearing and he looked like a modern day pirate. It was strange to have him there in her room, and in her bed. But not uncomfortable she realized. She had lots of fun with him, more than in a long time. She put her head to the pillow and tried to fall asleep.
She was woken by him after some time, he was moving again, and his fever was higher. But this time, he wouldn't just fall back asleep. He kept calling her name, and his cheeks and forehead were burning hot. She rushed to get another cold compress for him, and as she sat on the bed his head settled in her lap, she held the compress to his forehead.
"Tauriel?" She could hear him barely whisper.
"I'm here." She told him.
"You can't be her." She could hear him whisper. "She is far far away from me." He gasped, his throat clearly in pain. "She walks in the starlight..." His breathing was rapid and heavy.
"Do you think she could have loved me?" He whispered barely audibly.
She froze hearing those words. He was delusional in his fever, and speaking nonsense. His fever was getting really bad, so she pulled the cover off him to cool him down, and changed the compress again. She forced him to take another dose of the medicine and made sure he wouldn't grab the cover back onto him. Slowly after what seemed ages, he stopped trembling with the fever, and she could see his chest rising steadily. And she fell asleep just like that, her back on the pillows and his head in her lap.
