Arachnophobia
Stephen sat in the kitchen eating his cereal, paperwork scattered around, laptop open in front of him. Even when he was eating he did work. Boo and Callum were already out on a call and Freddie was still doing her training with Thorpe, so he and Rory had the flat to themselves. She had went to take a shower so he decided to have a look at a case that Thorpe had sent through. He leant back in his chair and looked around. They had to get a bigger place. This place was far too small for five people. Sure, he and Rory had they own room as did Callum and Boo but it really wasn't fair that poor Freddie had to sleep on the couch and divide her stuff between the two bedrooms. Still, she didn't complain and she seemed to be enjoying her life with them. He finished his cereal and took it over to the bench and was just about to run the tap when a blood curdling scream came from the bathroom followed by another scream that sounded like his name. Stephen bolted from the kitchen to the bathroom door, his heart and thoughts racing. When it came to Rory, he never thought,he just reacted. Now was no different. What could have made Rory scream like that? Was she hurt? What had frightened her like that? The bathroom door wasn't locked, thankfully, and he flew in.
"Sweetheart! What's the matter?" He saw Rory standing in the corner of the room, a towel wrapped around her, staring frightfully at the bathtub. Other than seeming afraid, she appeared alright. She had no marks that he could see so he didn't think that she'd hurt herself. She looked up at him, wide eyed and pointed at the bathtub. Her voice was high pitched and her hand shook.
"There! Do something! Get rid of it!"
He walked a step closer to her before looking into the bathtub. He almost missed what she had seen. Sitting calmly in the bottom of the tub was a spider no bigger than a penny. His first instinct was to relax. She wasn't hurt. It was just a spider in the tub. His shoulders dropped and the breath he didn't realise he was holding was released. He looked over at her slowly, the look on his face a mixture of amusement and questioning. "Is that why you screamed?"
"Yes! Look at it! It's huge!"
He bit his lips before licking them, holding in the chuckle that threatened to escape. "Ok. Don't move."
She nodded at him slowly as he left the bathroom to get a piece of paper and a cup. He came back and knelt down to reach the spider, trapping it under the cup before slipping the paper underneath. He carefully lifted it up and flipped it round, taking a quick peek inside to see that he had caught it. He had. He put the paper back on top of the cup and smiled at her. "Don't worry. I've got it." He went into the living room, opened the window and tipped the spider out.
"There we go. All sorted and gone."
She was still stood on the corner when he got back to the bathroom, her voice still small. "Thank you."
"I didn't know you were scared of spiders."
"They're the one thing I don't handle very well."
He laughed lightly as he walked over to her, taking her hands into his and lacing his fingers through hers. "You're telling me that you can handle ghosts, and being in the squad, and being slashed by the ripper, and hammer wielding ghosts, and a trip into the underworld and all of that other stuff but you can't handle spiders?"
"Yes, that is exactly what I'm telling you."
"Ok." He placed his hands on her cheeks and placed a small, soft kiss on her forehead before pulling her into a hug. Everything that she did, everything that she said just made her more perfect to him and, somehow, her being able to face almost everything but a spider was adorable, amazing and so very Rory. And it all made him love her more which he hadn't even thought possible. "Well, we're each other's strength. So, if you can handle all of that other stuff for me, I'll handle the spiders for you."
She smiled into his chest, wrapping her arms around him tighter. "Deal."