Deceiver: Okay! Intermission, FF. Time to bring some spice into the scene.
The following story is gonna be super spicy and steamy, especially at the end. Read at your own risk.
~.~.~.~.~
Take your meds, Eva
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There was something definitely wrong with Eva today.
Hint no 1: Neil was the one who always arrived just in time at Sigmund Corporation. Not Eva. She was supposed to be the early bird in their team.
Hint no 2: Eva didn't reprimand Neil on arriving late today. Normally, whenever she saw him running down the hall in the morning, she would tell him off about how he should be arriving at least an hour early.
And hint no. 3: Eva didn't respond to any of Neil's wisecracks. At all. She should at least roll her eyes at his silly antics. But there was none of that today. She just stared off into the distance as her partner yammered away on how bad his coffee tasted today.
Sensing this was not right at all, Neil couldn't take it and decided to confront his partner once they got off the elevator together. "Eva?" No response. "Oi, Eva!"
She jolted, looking back at him with unfocused eyes. "Yeah?"
"Are you sure you're okay?" Neil frowned at the way she looked. Her demeanour was terribly subdued compared to how serious she usually was. "You're kinda freaking me out here."
She just stared at him for a moment, blinking slightly. "I'm…fine…" she blinked, shaking her head a bit. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You sure?" Neil's question was ignored as she made her way to her office. At first, he was left standing there, quietly watching how Eva swayed a bit on each step she took. He cautiously got closer to her, only to rush forward when her legs suddenly gave out and collapse.
"Eva!" Thanks to Neil's (gifted) reflexes, he caught her before she hit the floor. Long strands of her hair stuck to her skin, which was slightly coated in cold sweat as she panted within her sleep. Roxie stumbled out of her office with Robert, wondering what the commotion was about until their eyes landed on the two.
"What happened!?" Roxie rushed over, her eyes darting between Neil and Eva in worry. Swallowing her anxiousness, the short blonde doctor reached out to feel her friend's forehead. The second she touched the skin, she jumped back at once in surprise. "Goodness! She's burning up! Why is she here if she's this sick!?"
"I don't know," Neil frowned as his partner in his arms. "But given how stubborn she is, she must have dismissed it as nothing."
Robert came over to have a closer look, frowning at the sight as he crossed his arms. "Well, this ain't going to work," he stated, ignoring the dirties Neil shot at him. "I'm afraid she can't stay in the office if she can't even stand on her own two feet. Have her taken home, Neil, since you have nothing to do anyway."
"And what the hell does that mean?" Neil snapped as he got up, carrying Eva in his arms. She wasn't that heavy anyway. "Well whatever. Roxie, will ya lend me a hand? I need someone to help me push the elevator button."
"Okie dokie Loki pokie!" She saluted before skipping to his aid. All she did was just push the button to summon the elevator, and pushed another button inside so then Neil could reach the ground floor. Robert promised to write them off as having a sick leave before Neil and Eva disappeared behind closed doors.
After waving good bye at them, Roxie turned to Robert. "Did you see how Neil carried Eva bridal style?"
"I saw." And to be honest, Robert was impressed by how smooth Neil was.
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It should be noted due to Neil's worry and frustration on Eva, he didn't think about taking her to the hospital.
Instead, he took her back to her home, enter her apartment using her keys before laying her down on her bed to rest. Seeing as she was not waking up at all, Neil assumed he had to take care of her.
Which was a problem though, because right now he was staring at how Eva looked uncomfortable in her sleep, while wearing her lab coat and work clothes. She was frowning slightly, groaning even as she tried to roll over a bit to get comfortable. Neil was sure the lab coat was suffocating her.
Silently, Neil debated what actions he should take. He didn't really want to leave her sleeping like this, however he didn't want to be the one helping her get changed into her pyjamas. And despite how manly and crude Neil was, he was a virtuous man. He would not do anything inappropriate towards someone he cared about, which definitely included Eva. However, he was looking after her right now, and it seemed his first task was to get Eva comfortable in bed.
"God, this is why girls are so troublesome," Neil groaned as he debated on taking off his glasses or not. He couldn't see anything, true, but it still meant he couldn't see anything. After a long agonising debate, he put his glasses back on. "She…is asleep. I'll look away whenever I remove something. Yes. Yes! That is the plan! A great plan, Dr Neil Watts!"
With that settled, he took a deep breath in before starting on his work. He got Eva's shoes off first, letting it fall to the floor with a thud, before he crawled on top of her to work on the button of her lab coat. It was a bit difficult though, because what Eva wore was fancy. Who wore lab coats with golden trimmings anyway!?
He fiddled with the buttons, giving out some curse words here and there as he tried to undo them. He didn't notice Eva was beginning to stir awake, blinking at the ceiling as he worked on the second button.
"Neil…?" She blinked, staring at him for a second before registering how intimately close they were. Their eyes met, unmoving before they slowly trailed down to Neil's hands which clearly showed he was trying to strip her.
Eva's temperature rose higher than ever, and it was not because of her fever.
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Neil was banished from Eva's room at once, branded with a bright red hand print across his left cheek. His ears were still ringing from the colourful strings of curse words Eva had not used since high school, having replaced them with vegetable names instead.
Luckily, despite having almost used up her new-found strength on yelling, Eva still found the energy to get changed into her pyjamas. It was difficult, given how heavy her body felt, but she managed before she collapsed back onto the bed. She could had gone back to sleep, but the mere thought of Neil still being here made her flare up, in more ways than one.
Eva obviously still furious about him. She did not care about whatever good intention Neil had, she was almost exposed to him, for pineapple sake! Rolling over in bed, Eva buried her face into her pillow and screamed. She was getting more worked up, and it was making her feel worse than before. She could feel her cheeks glowing bright red, and her heart was pounding rapidly in stress. And how she hated this.
After who knows how long of her rolling in her bed from her high emotion (and fever), there was a knock on the door.
"Go away!" She shouted, although not so loud as she wanted to. Just trying to talk seem to take all her breath away.
Silence. "Don't you want something to eat?" Neil asked behind the door.
"Not hungry!" Eva managed to say.
"C'mon, Eva. At least have something to eat? You need to take this medical crap I found in your drawers."
Her eyes grew wide. "Y-You…" she tried to take a proper breath in. "You went through my things?!"
"What!? No! I just remembered where you put your first aid kit on one of my visits!" Neil groaned loudly. "Anyway, just open the door. Do that and I'll leave you alone."
Eva glared at the door for a second. "And…if I…" She breathed again. "Don't open the door?"
"I'll climb through your bedroom window from the kitchen," he deadpanned. "Seriously, should a sick person lock themselves in their room like this? Just open the door already! Geez!"
Eva didn't like the idea of Neil being labelled as a burglar if he went through with his backup plan. So instead, she gave in. She got off her bed, her blanket wrapped around her small frame as she hobbled over to the door and unlocked it. Neil was standing on the other side, his lab coat off, leaving in his grass green shirt and trousers. He was holding a tray carrying a bowl of soup, a glass of water, and two small pills for her fever.
Eva winkled her nose at this. "Do you even know how to cook?"
He frowned at her for that. "Better than the one who identifies tomatoes fruits."
Eva didn't have strength to argue over that again, so instead she let Neil in before slinking back into the comfort of her bed. She stared at the soup placed before her, shivering a bit as she took the spoon in hand to take a little sip.
She smacked her lips together, humming a little. "Not bad." That was a lie. It was the best thing ever (or at least that's what her brain told her). Eva ignored Neil's indignant scoff, offended by how she dismissed his master piece of his infamous chicken soup. She just drank everything up quietly, feeling her body feel a fuzzy warmth with each gulp she took.
After she was done, she gave a satisfied sigh before her eyes landed on the pills left on the tray. To her feverish mind, the size of those pills looked like oversized grapes. And the mere thought of swallowing them made her want to hurl.
What came next was a challenge to her though. Eva stared at the two pills sitting next to the glass of water, swearing she saw them the size of two grapes. She was expected to swallow these? No.
"Aren't you going to take your medicine?" Neil asked, watching her carefully behind his one-way mirrored glasses. It looked more intimidating to Eva than before.
"I don't want to..." She mumbled quietly, making Neil blink.
"Wait what?"
"I'm not taking them," she huffed trying to hold as much dignity as she could as she pushed her tray away.
"Eva," Neil resisted the urge to facepalm, finding her stubbornness to be ridiculous again. "Take your meds. You should be the smart one here to know you have to take them."
"If I said no, I mean no!" Eva huffed again, crossing her arms and looking away. "I'll get better if I sleep it off."
"I'm not waiting for you to sleep it off when you can take these #£&ing pills!" Neil snapped. "I rather you get better sooner rather than later! I don't want to be stuck with Rob and Alistair forever while you're just sleeping it off here!"
"Neil, please! Stop acting childish!"
"I'm childish!? You're childish here, Eva!"
"When I said no, I mean no!" And with that, Eva quickly huddled back into her bed, hiding under her blankets. She ignored how Neil was looming over her in a threatening manner.
"Don't make me force you take the meds, Eva," she tried to ignore the dangerous growl. But her gut told her he was being serious.
"You wouldn't dare…!" Eva looked back, only to find Neil taking the pills and drinking up the water in the glass. His cheeks were puffed up dramatically as he held all those in his mouth. Oh Cucumbers, he really was gonna… "D-Don't you dare...!"
Too late. Before she could finish, Neil leaned forward to grab her face in both his hands before he sealed her mouth with his completely. She let out a squeak, her hands bunched up into fists before she hit him in the chest. But of course, her punches lacked any strength, feeble even, as Neil wouldn't budge at all.
She let out a weak moan as her arms feel to her side, feeling him feeding her the medicine and water using mouth-to-mouth. He didn't move away once he was done though, not until she swallowed everything at least. Without a choice, she did just that.
Neil pulled back, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt as he stared at Eva's stunned face. She was left speechless, couldn't believe that happened as he laughed triumphantly. "I win…" He smirked. A smirk which infuriate Eva greatly. "And if that didn't work, at least I might get sick too, so I'll get a day off and avoid work completely!"
He quickly dodged a pillow thrown at him, causing him to retreat from Eva's room as she yelled "Get out!" Neil slammed the door shut, but Eva could still hear his cocky laugh. With a loud groan, she curled up in bed, her fingers on her lips as she internally screamed on the fact Neil kiss her like that.
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Meanwhile, Neil had his back against the door, his glasses taken off as his face grew a bright shade of red. He was sure he was sick now, because he felt his chest tight as his heart fluttered rapidly. But for some reason, he was okay with it.
As funny as it was, Neil enjoyed what he just did. He was just not sure how he was going to face Eva from now on. But thank God he had his one-way mirrored glasses. It would help him hide at least half of his embarrassment.
