Please R&R! As requested by Clairebear97, hope you like it and sorry it took so long! haha :)
By the time Claire returned home that night she was exhausted. Myrnin had kept her working all through the night and if it hadn't been for Amelie conveniently walking in and ordering her to go home, she was confident she would've been there forever. Well, at least until morning. As the portal closed behind her, she drowsily walked up to the living room where Shane was lying down, asleep on the sofa with his mouth hanging open and an arm hanging down towards the floor. Smirking, she walked up to him and pinched his nose. With a gasp, Shane sprang up, confused, and looking wildly around him, like a paranoid deer suspecting a lion to be lurking nearby.
"Hey! Not cool, Claire! Eve taught you that, am I right? Seems too...evil for you"
Claire laughed, suddenly wide awake.
"You know, since we're both up.." She started.
"Yes!" Shane exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically for what she was about to suggest.
"...we could watch a movie" Claire finished, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah, sounds almost as good as what I had in mind...provided that the movie is a horror..."
Clare rolled her eyes with an amused expression on her face. "Pick whatever you want, I'm just going to change into something more comfortable"
"Please mean what I think you mean! " Shane joked but stopped laughing as a cushion collided with his face.
While Claire changed Shane went through the DVDs they owned and eventually decided on Shaun of the Dead. Eve swore it was good. While he was waiting for the popcorn to pop in the kitchen, he heard a shriek followed by a series of thumps.
Shane ran to the the stairs to see what had happened. Claire was on a heep at the end of the stairs. Uncontious. In a flash, he was beside her, kneeling at her side. "Claire? Claire, can you hear me?" He called out.
He tapped his hand against her cheek lightly and then put the side of his face close to her mouth, testing to see if she wa breathing. Thankfully she was, but she wasn't awake. Shit, he thought to himself.
" Eve! Michael!" He called out desperately, trying not to break down in a panic. "Wake the hell up and get down here!" He finally called out, hoping they'd hear his shouts, he didn't want to leave Claire, not even for a second. In less than a minute, eve came rushing down the stairs, fastening her silky black night gown as she did. "I'm coming already, what happe...oh my god! Claire! What the hell happened?" She exclaimed, her voice shrill and full of panic and her eyes darting around the room, already on full alert, expecting there to have been some form of attack.
"She fell down the stairs, call the ambulance. Where's Michael?"
"Out playing at some vampire exclusive concert or something" she muttered, already grabbing the house phone and calling the hospital. Shane waited next to Claire with one of his hands supporting her head slightly and the other gently stroking her forehead. His gaze didn't leave her face once.
"They're on their way" Eve finally called out, after what seemed like a good ten minutes.
"What took so long?" Shane asked, aggravated. Claire needed help and she needed it now.
"Oh, you know, had to answer a series of useless questions when really all they want to know is how serious the accident was, her chances of living, and whether to actually send the ambulance or the blood mobile. How is she?" she finally asked, her voice full of concern.
"She's breathing" was Shane's only response. He was too focused on Claire to pay eve much attention. Instead, he carefully moved Claire so that her head rested in his lap instead of his hand, hoping to at least make her a little more comfortable as they waited for the ambulance.
After what seemed like forever, but must have only been another five minutes, there was a knock on the door. Eve ran to open it and let in the medics, with a stretcher.
"Took you long enough" Shane commented, moving so that they could place Claire into the stretcher.
"Be careful with her!" Eve called out to them, watching their every move, fearful that they would somehow mess up and cause more harm.
"There's only space for one of you in the back." was the only passing comment the medic made as they rolled her into the ambulance. Typical Morganville friendliness, Shane supposed.
"I'll take the car, you stay with her. see you in ten" eve Eve said, already grabbing her keys and running to her car.
Thankfully, by the time they reached the hospital, Claire had come around. At first she was a little disorientated, not quite knowing where she was or what had happened and Shane all Shane was able to do was squeeze her hand in reassurance and kiss her gently on the forehead before he was ushered into the waiting room where Eve was already sitting down, talking frantically into the phone.
Meanwhile, the doctors tested Claire for a concussion and even checked her sugar levels, but she was okay. The only injuries she suffered were a sprained ankle and a fractured arm.
The doctor explained the situation to Shane and eve, who were forced to remain in the waiting area until they were finished with Claire, despite Shane's protests. Once they were happy that Claire was in good condition, they allowed them to see her.
"Claire! Hun! Are you ok?" Eve asked, running to give her an awkward hug, attempting to avoid her cast but stopping when Claire winced with pain.
"Hey eve, I'm fine, don't worry" Claire replied, laughing awkwardly. "I feel so stupid, who just falls down the stairs?"
"Don't be like that, you were home pretty late though, you must have been seriously over tired"
"I swear I'm going to have a little talk with Myrnin about keeping you so late, there's no need for it and it puts you at risk" Shane added, in a protective fashion, moving to sit at her other side.
"Like he'll listen to you" Claire added, grinning at the thought of Myrnin's reaction to Shane telling him off. "But I like that you care"
Shane leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "Of course I care, it's my job to care" he mumbled, as he kissed her again, this time gently on the lips. "
"Now, lets get you home. The doctor said you could leave whenever"Shane stated, helping her to sit up just as the door flew open and a blur swept into the room. The blur came to a sudden halt directly in front of the bed, revealing a panicked Michael.
"Claire! Are you okay?" he demanded, his voice shaking from worry.
"Uh..yeah, Michael did you run all the way here?"
"Yeah, what happened to you? Who did this? Why are you in a cast?"
"Calm down, I just fell down the stairs, it's nothing"
Michael blinked and slowly turned to face Eve who shrugged, trying not to laugh. "You told me she was dying"
"I...it's possible I exaggerated just a little" she replied, trying to keep a straight face. "It could happen..for all I knew she was paralysed!"
"But I was fine when we arrived here..." Claire informed Michael, earning a look from Eve.
"Okay, so I exaggerated a lot.." Eve confessed.
"Exaggerated? You were hysterical! I thought she was on life support!" Michael exclaimed, and everyone burst out laughing.
"Right..wanna start heading home? Eve eventually asked and Claire nodded eagerly.
The cast was awkward and she was unable to walk properly without limping but thanks to Shane, who supported her the whole way, they made it to the car shortly. Shane sat in the back with Claire and assessed her wounds further, as if he didn't quite trust anybody to take care of her properly, whether respectable doctors or not. He touched the cast on her right arm lightly and then moved to hold her left hand in his.
"Now that that's all over it, who wants hot cocoa?" Eve called ince everyone was comfortable in the living room. So they spent the rest of the night drinking hot chocolate as they shared stories about various accidents they'd each encountered, which funnily enough, for the most part, had everything to do with Shane. Claire enjoyed listening to the stories and found it interesting to imagine them before she had come to know them.
"We'd better get to bed" Shane finally said, seeing Claire yawn.
Shane brought Claire to the stairs, supporting her all the way but then stopped.
"Can't have a repeat of falling down the stairs, can we?" With that, he picked her up, bridal style and carried her to her bedroom, setting her down on the bed , with as much care as possible, and then slowly pulling the bed covers over her.
He then slipped in beside her, and carefully smoothed the ointment the doctor had prescribed over the bump on her forehead, so gently that instead of feeling the pain, the only thing Claire was aware of was the small circles that Shane used as he carefully rubbed it into her skin. Once he had finished, he lay down beside her and held her in his arms, making her feel safe and loved and only allowing himself to fall into oblivion once he was certain that Claire was asleep and comfortable.