Title: Delirious in Love
Characters: Claudia/Nick
Rating: Teen at best
Disclaimer: Don't own anything or anybody.
Summary: What if, instead of Stephen, Nick was the one bitten by the centipede? How will Claudia react and will the team ever find a way to get the antidote?
A/N: I wanted to do this because I always wondered what Claudia's reaction would have been if it had been Nick that was attacked. Hope you like.
Chapter 1: Delirious in Love
"Nick? Are you there?!" Claudia Brown demanded into the mike but received no answers.
"What's wrong?" Stephen Hart asked, concerned. Claudia turned to face him.
"It's Nick, I can't get a hold of him. There was a scream," Claudia explained, fear shining in her brown eyes as fear started to coil around Stephen.
"I'm going back down there," Stephen said as he moved over to the table where all the guns were laid out and picked up one.
"You can't," Claudia started only to huff and roll her eyes. "Of course you can but what if you get hurt too? How is that going to help Nick?!"
"Fine, I'll go with Ryan but I'm not leaving him there Claudia, not if he is hurt," Stephen told her. Claudia seemed to fight within herself for a short moment before she nodded, giving Stephen the permission he needed.
Stephen gave a short nod as he called Ryan over and both of them hurried into the tunnel to get to Nick.
Abby and Connor stood next to Claudia as she tried, fruitlessly, to contact Nick, to let her know that Nick was alright but deep inside of her…she knew that Nick was in trouble and could only hope that Stephen and Ryan got there quickly.
Entering the small room, Ryan and Stephen kept an eye out for the creatures that might attack them when Stephen caught sight of Nick lying on the ground, fitting slightly as his eyelids fluttered.
"Nick!" Stephen shouted as he hurried over to Nick's side, kneeling down.
"Helen…Helen was here…" Nick whispered.
"What?" Stephen asked, confused. Helen was dead…wasn't she? He couldn't ask anymore questions as Ryan had reached them
"Man's down, we need a stretcher!" Ryan barked into his mike as he and Stephen lifted Nick up and carried him out of the room, through the tunnel over to the where the platform was.
There were already paramedics standing there with their first aid kits and stretchers. Upon seeing the men, they jumped down and helped the men to carry the harmed man over to the stretcher.
One man set about buckling Nick down while the other man took pulse and checked Nick's pupils before they lifted the stretcher up and hurried out of the tunnel with Stephen and Ryan following them.
"Oh God! Nick!" Claudia exclaimed as she hurried over to the stretcher where Nick was lying, strapped down, on. She had been biting her nails since she let Stephen and Ryan go ahead, hoping that Nick was okay and just forgot to pick up his headgear when she saw the paramedics coming running out with Nick on the stretcher.
"Claudia?" Nick slurred as he tried to focus his blue eyes on the brunette but she kept moving about.
"I'm here," Claudia took Nick's hand.
"You're so beautiful, I never did get to tell you that," Nick mumbled. A slight blush crossed Claudia's cheeks as they reached the ambulance.
"I'm going with him," Claudia said as she climbed into the ambulance with them. "I'll call you when I get news." Stephen nodded as Connor hugged Abby.
They watched as the driver slammed the doors shut before locking it and hurried round to the driver's side to drive the ambulance.
"Right now, no one goes into the tunnel till we have a better idea of what we're dealing with!" Stephen shouted to everyone. They all nodded and started making plans on what to do next.
Meanwhile, the paramedics worked on Nick while Claudia held onto his hand, assuring him that she was still there.
"When are you going to start listening to me? I told you to wait but no…you just have to be a big hero," Claudia scolded. Nick laughed slightly.
"Will you go out with me?" Nick slurred. Claudia just looked at him, shocked before shaking her head.
"Only you would ask me out when you're in the middle of a near death situation," Claudia scolded with tears falling and a teasing tone in her voice.
"Gotta give a man a break every now and then," Nick joked back before his eyes rolled up into the back of his head as he passed out from the pain.
"Nick?" Claudia asked, worried.
"Don't worry, the pain got too much for him that his brain shut down in order to deal with it. He's fine," one of the paramedics explained.
The ambulance came to a sudden stop and the doors was flung open a few seconds later, revealing that they had arrived at the hospital.
Scrambling out of the ambulance, everyone wheeled the stretcher through the emergency area till they reached a doctor, the same doctor that she and Nick had met earlier, Claudia remembered.
"What happened here?" she asked, noticing the same woman she had met earlier. The doctor led the way into a room so they could get a start on helping Nick.
"He's been bitten," Claudia explained. "Can you do anything?"
"Is this the same bite as the other man?" the doctor asked. Claudia nodded. "What bit him?"
"A large insect," Claudia said, helplessly.
"What kind of insect does this bite? I have never seen anything like this!" The doctor said.
"Can you just pump anti-venom into him?" Claudia asked as the doctor moved closer to her. The doctor shook her head.
"No, we only do that as a last resort," the doctor explained. "Whatever it is, you better get me some poison because without the cure, he will die." Claudia took a step back from the doctor and watched as the door closed in her face.
Tears ran unchecked down her cheeks before she wiped them away and grabbed her phone with shaky hands.
"Claudia?" Connor asked. "How is he?"
"He's dying," Claudia said. "The doctor said they need the poison and they'll try and match it against the anti venom they already have."
"How are we supposed to do that?" Connor argued.
"I don't know! You all are the ones who works in this all the time, figure it out!" Claudia snapped. "Get the poison and get it soon!" Claudia barked into her phone before snapping it shut. Closing her eyes, she brought her clasped hands up to her forehead as she fought back her emotions of what was happening.
"What did she say?" Abby asked and Connor sighed as he shut his phone.
"We need to get the poison. If we do, the hospital will be able to match it to anti-venom they already have but we need to find it soon otherwise Cutter's chances will be nil," Connor explained.
"Fine, let's go," Stephen said, grabbing the gun and strapped it over his shoulders as he and Ryan led the way back into the tunnel once more.
They had found the creature quickly, thanks to Connor's quick studies of the creature and realised that it could burrow its way in walls and floors. Stephen had managed to annoy the creature enough for it to attack him on the arm, injecting poison into the ice bag that Stephen had wrapped around the arm, under his jacket sleeves.
He had given it to Connor, who bolted out of the building, holding the poison close to him as he got into his car and drove over to the hospital while Stephen and Ryan went back to the others to let them know that the creature was dead and the crisis, for now, was over.
Running through the hospital corridor, ignoring everyone who told him to slow down, Connor looked around for Claudia till he spotted her standing in front of a window down a hallway.
"We got it!" Connor shouted as he skidded through the hallway, coming to stop next to Claudia, holding up the bag.
The doctor came out, hearing the disturbance only to see Claudia hugging Connor before Claudia turned to face the doctor.
"They have the poison," Claudia explained as she thrusted the bag toward the doctor. A look of relief crossed the doctor's face as she took the bag and hurried off to the science lab so they could analyse the poison and find the correct cure for it.
Claudia just hugged Connor once more in happiness before she turned to look at Nick when a well dressed man came up behind them.
"Miss Brown, Mr Temple," Bill Lester greeted. They both spun around to see him standing there when Connor nodded and stepped off to the side and walked over to where Abby, Stephen and Ryan were standing, conversing.
"What do you want?" Claudia asked, turning away from Lester to watch as the doctor hurried in with some medication and Claudia could only hope that they had found the antidote they needed.
"You shouldn't have left the anomaly. You are working for me so you were supposed to make sure that everything was running smoothly, not dropping everything because someone got bitten," Lester said.
"Nick was bitten, I needed to make sure that he was going to be okay…it would hardly suit any of us if he had died," Claudia remarked.
"This isn't very professional," Lester lectured only for Claudia's temper to spark once more.
"Screw professionalism!" Claudia snapped, startling everyone. "Nick is in there, dying because a creature took a bite. Excuse me if I'm more worried in making sure that he survives than what everyone else thinks. Why don't you go back to your office and deal with the mess that has been left behind or do you want Nick to do that when he wakes up?" Lester just stared at Claudia, wide eyed before he turned and left the hospital.
Claudia just turned away from everyone else and rested her head on the glass window that overlooked into the room where Nick was being worked on as the doctors and nurses injected the anti-venom into him.
Abby, Connor, Ryan and Stephen just looked at each other, stunned at what just had happened and vowed to themselves not to piss off Claudia Brown when she was angry.
Nick groaned softly as he opened his eyes only for bright light to blink them shut once more. Slowly opening his eyes once more, he allowed them to get used to the light before he saw that he was staring at white ceiling and he was lying down on the bed.
Looking to his right, he saw a bunch of machines and an IV hooked up to him and realised that he was in the hospital. His eyes flickered slightly as some memories came back to him but hazy.
Turning his head to the left, he saw Claudia sleeping in the chair with his jacket over her body to keep her warm. Nick felt his heart warmed when he saw her sleeping peacefully when a voice spoke up.
"She never left your side," a man's voice said. Turning to the front, Nick saw Stephen standing in the doorway with his arms crossed and the side of his body leaning against the doorway. "She was really worried about you that she even chewed out Lester."
An amused yet proud smile crossed Nick's face at the thought.
"Bet that pissed him off," Nick said and Stephen grinned as he nodded.
"Yeah…you know, you found a good one," Stephen said. Nick sighed as he turned to look at Claudia once more before he nodded.
"I know," Nick whispered. Stephen nodded.
"I'd better go and let Abby and Connor knows that you are okay, get better soon." With that, Stephen left the room, leaving Nick and Claudia alone.
Nick moved his hand and it landed over Claudia's hand that was resting on the bed. He curled his hand around hers and squeezed gently.
Claudia stirred slightly before she opened her eyes to meet blue ones. Startled, she shot up in her chair with hope clear in her eyes.
"Nick? Are you okay?" she asked as she leaned forward, touching his cheek, forehead and hair.
"I've had better," Nick joked. Claudia couldn't suppress the smile of amusement.
"I'm sure you have," she joked back before worry kicked in. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just a little sore and a little hazy," Nick admitted. Claudia's eyes narrowed slightly.
"What's hazy?" Claudia asked. She had heard that memory loss was temporary and needed to know what he couldn't remember. Nick chuckled.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten that I asked you out," he gently teased her. Claudia flushed slightly before she rolled her eyes.
"You know, I haven't actually accepted it," Claudia said, almost snootily.
"Claudia Brown, will you go out on a date with me?" Nick asked and Claudia grinned.
"Yes, Nick Cutter, I will," agreed Claudia before she leaned down and kissed Nick on the lips, sealing their deal.
A week later, Stephen entered the hospital room only to find that Nick was packing his stuff up and grinned.
"Finally got your release papers?" Stephen asked. Nick looked up with laugher shining in his eyes.
"Yeah, Claudia managed to convince the hospital to let me go, I was getting bored just sitting around," Nick explained as he zipped up his bag. Stephen nodded before his expression grew serious.
"Listen Nick," Stephen started as he moved closer to Nick. Nick looked at him once more, concerned. "When I found you, you told me that Helen was still alive…was it real?"
"Yeah, Helen's waiting for me on the other side of the anomaly," Nick said to Stephen. Stephen's eyes widen in shock.
"She's still alive?" Stephen asked and Nick nodded.
"Looks like it," Nick said.
"What are you going to do?" Stephen asked, curious. Nick just looked over Stephen's shoulder at Claudia who was talking to the doctor.
"I'm going to move on with my life," Nick said as he looked Stephen before clapping his shoulder and walked past Stephen and over to Claudia.
Stephen turned, curious only to smile when he saw Nick lean down and kiss Claudia before he wrapped an arm around Claudia's waist and the two of them left the hospital together.
"About time Nick, about time," Stephen whispered to himself, happy that his best friend had finally found someone else.
"Stephen, Lester wants us to give a report," Connor called from the doorway. Stephen nodded as he walked over to Connor and both of them walked out of the hospital and into the car where Abby was waiting.
Upon entering the car, Abby spoke up.
"Does this mean Nick and Claudia are together?" Abby asked, startling Stephen and Connor. She smiled at their bewildered look and nudged her head in the direction of where Nick had pressed Claudia against her car and both of them were kissing like there was no tomorrow.
"Alright," Connor cheered. "I was wondering if they would ever get together. I guess this mean we can take their pictures out of the dictionary next to sexual tension." Stephen and Abby just stared at him for a short moment in disbelief before they laughed.
Stephen started the car and drove away, leaving the couple alone to live their lives together.
The End.
A/N: Not been Betaed!