Author: SilentG
Title: Sometimes Strife
Fandom: LO:CI
Pairing: B/A
Rating: K+ for now
Spoilers: Probably not
Archive: Anywhere – no need to ask – just attribute, and let me know if possible
Disclaimer: Not mine. Also not a medical professional. Apologies for any inaccuracies.
Summary:When Alex gets heatstroke on a family outing, what does Liz do? She dumps her sister at home and calls someone to clean up the mess. Who does she call? Guess. B/A hurt-comfort with a happy ending.

A/N 1: I don't usually write hurt-comfort, although I enjoy reading them. Heatstroke is Eames's karmic punishment for being too accommodating of her family.

~.~.~.~.~

CHAPTER ONE

"Goren. My sister was looking a little out of it when we dropped her off just now."

Eames hadn't said anything about it, but he'd gotten the feeling that she'd been a bit anxious about spending the day with her family at the beach. Things between Eames and her sister and brother-in-law had been tense the past couple of years, and although the occasional grimace and twitch of her head was the extent of her expressions of frustration at work, he could see the degree of her hurt, frustration and shame. At one point, he thought maybe she'd been hinting at him joining her, and he almost offered, but in the end he couldn't find the words.

"What?"

"Just now. We dropped her off at her apartment. She looked a little piqued."

Piqued. He'd been snoozing in a lawn chair on his tiny patio when his cell phone had woken him up. Liz, Eames's sister, didn't ask if he was busy, didn't ask him if he was able to check on his partner, and didn't, repeat, didn't, tell the truth about Eames. That was what had him rushing to lock the sliding door and wiggle his toes into his flip-flops… If she was calling Bobby to passive-aggressively bully him into driving all the way out to Forest Hills to check on his partner, something must really be wrong.

Bobby was already breathless with worry and exertion. "Um, OK, did you…" click. Hanging up on him hadn't been an accident… she wouldn't be calling back.

She was a nurse, for Chrissake. If Eames needed to be monitored… and the myriad conditions that could have resulted in that imperative rattled around in his head like buckshot… why didn't Liz just stay with her sister?

Because it didn't fit with her life plan, Bobby thought as he rummaged for his keys with shaking hands. Eames was there for her sister's health, happiness and convenience, not the other way 'round. It was probably Gary who talked her into calling at all. Bobby could picture the three of them driving away, him nattering at his wife to call her sister's partner so she wouldn't be all alone…

He phoned Alex from his car. The first three times it rang and rang, then went through to voicemail, then finally, the fourth time, she answered.

"Hello?" The breathy, husky voice was similar to what he'd heard in his fantasies many times, and despite his worry, Bobby felt a twinge of arousal. Her quick, shallow breaths added to the similarities, but he reined in the distracting feelings by reminding himself that the origin was cause for concern and not excitement.

"Hey, Eames, what's up?" He disliked deceiving her, but he was afraid that if he told her straight away that Liz had called him, she'd hang up without giving him any idea of what was wrong. "Did I wake you? I thought you'd still be at the beach."

"Nah, just… hanging out on the couch. Got back a few minutes ago."

"Oh, cuz you sound… tired. Are you OK?" He tried to keep the pitch and volume of his voice down, but he was so worried, it was hard.

"It's nothing Bobby, I just got a bit too much sun." He held the phone to his ear frowning while he listened to what sounded like his partner vomiting.

"You're throwing up? Is this the first time?"

"No," came her soft voice.

"That's serious, Eames. You need to get into the tub, in cold water, right away."

"Oh Christ, I'm not doing that Bobby."

"You…" How could he persuade this stubborn woman? She hated to be told what to do, particularly by him, she hated seeming weak, especially in front of him, and she hated being fussed over. Especially by him? He didn't know, because he'd never tried before.

Bobby managed to keep her on the phone for the rest of the drive, but he failed to persuade her to do anything more than she was already doing, which was apparently lying on the couch with a wet facecloth on her forehead and a waste basket on the floor next to her. He winkled a few tidbits of information out of her: that she'd had a bit to drink – booze, that is – but nothing much else, that she'd been unable to keep anything down, and that she'd spent most of the afternoon in the water with her nieces and nephews, without a hat.

"Where were Liz and Gary?" He could picture her in the surf, in a little bikini – quickly moving on from that thought – getting dehydrated and sunstroked and overheating in a trice in the car when everyone else had the windows closed to warm up.

"In Dad's station wagon. They were fighting."

"And what about your brother and his wife?"

"They couldn't come at the last minute, Dad just picked up the kids."

"And what about your dad?"

"He was on the phone with Liz and Gary."

"From the car?"

"They needed a mediator." She laughed a little, and Bobby found himself smiling as he slammed the car door. "Where are you? Were you driving?"

"Just a sec, Eames," he mumbled as he locked up.

"Because you know that's unsafe, especially for you. You should have called back later."

"That's funny," he said, letting himself in to her building.

~.~.~.~.~

A/N 2: This fic is about 6k in length, and will be six chapters. I may try to get the whole thing up before Sunday night, just so as not to jinx the finale.

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