Here's Chapter Two. Part of this was a suggestion from one of you on a previous story. Hope you enjoy!
They made it back to Rosewood before she woke up again.
"Want me to take you home?" he asked as she opened her eyes.
"Can we go to the loft?" she asked tiredly, "My parents went to Philly for the weekend."
"Of course," he said, heading for his place.
He carried her up to the left before going back down to the truck to get her bags and the groceries.
"Let's get you into some pajamas," Toby said, pulling out one of his long sleeved t-shirts.
"Can we take a bath?" she asked tiredly, "I didn't have time for a shower yesterday or today."
"Of course," he said, "I'll get it ready."
She smiled at him, shivering a little.
He got the bath going, adding a little bit of her favorite lavender bubble bath to help her relax. He went into the bedroom, helping her strip before guiding her into the bathroom. They climbed into the tub, Spencer relaxing back on his chest.
He had put a small bowl of warm water on the side of the tub with a wash cloth. He dipped the cloth in the water and slowly wiped her swollen eyes.
"That feels good," Spencer said, "How did you know to do that?"
"When Jenna had all the issues with her eyes," Toby said, feeling Spencer tense a bit when he said the name, "Her mom used to do this and sometimes, they made me do it when my parents were busy. Even though I tried to block most of that time out, I know that she always said this made her eyes feel a lot better when they were swollen."
Spencer nodded, letting Toby continue to wipe her painful eyes.
"I'm cold," she said about twenty minutes later.
"Alright," he said, pulling the plug on the tub, "Let's get you dressed so you can sleep."
He grabbed two towels, wrapping her in one before wrapping the other around himself. He guided her into his bedroom, helping her put the t-shirt on that he had pulled out earlier before grabbing a pair of her yoga pants out of her bag, helping with those too before tucking her into bed.
"Lay with me," she said tiredly as her eyes started to close.
"Of course," he said, "Let me just get dressed."
Once he had his clothes on, he got into bed next to her. She curled up next to him, trying to get into a position she was comfortable enough to sleep in.
However, with how swollen her eyes were, laying on her stomach was not an option. She was so congested that laying down at all was difficult.
"How can I help you?" Toby asked after Spencer squirmed around for five minutes.
"I don't know," Spencer said, tears forming in her eyes, "I can't get comfortable on my stomach and I can't breathe when I lay down."
"Come here," he said, helping her move so she was between his legs, bringing her back so she was on his chest, sitting up but still relaxed on her back. She closed her swollen eyes, coughing a little before she relaxed and fell asleep.
Toby loved the way her weight felt against his chest, never wanting to let her go. It had been about ten months since the girls had been found in the dollhouse, and they had all worked their tails off to get back to some semblance of normalcy in their lives. And while he was glad she was getting healthier with each passing day, one thing he missed a little about right after she was rescued was how she always wanted to be right on top of him all the time. However, he would trade that for her mental health without even thinking.
He held her as she slept, knowing that if she was being held tightly, she was less likely to have a nightmare because she felt safe. However, he learned early on that there were only certain ways to hold her that helped her.
About a month after she had been released from the dollhouse, he had reached out to grab her hand in his but grabbed her wrist first. The look of sheer panic in her eyes when his hand wrapped around her wrist frightened him and the two hours it took to get her calmed down were enough to shake them both. However, he had found that when he held her tightly with her arms crossed on her chest, she would relax and sleep almost undisturbed.
It was also a good way to calm her down after panic attacks. Her triggers for these were slowly decreasing, thankfully.
When she was first let out of the dollhouse, it seemed like everything set off an attack. The darkness of her bedroom at night, being alone, getting exhausted, black hoodies, the sight of blood, screams, any kind of alarm, sleeping too long. Everything sent her into a panic attack. He remembered one night, about two months after they had been rescued, he had come over late after a shift, planning to sleep in the chair next to her bed for a while. However, two hours after he got there, he was woken up by her screaming. He had bolted awake to find her sitting in bed, knees to her chest. He went to her, looking at her sheets and seeing a blood stain. At first, he had wondered if she had hurt herself, but when he noticed a red spot on her pajama shorts, he realized what was going on. It had taken an hour to work her out of the panic attack, soothing her. He helped her into a hot shower, changing her sheets before helping her back to bed. She had fallen asleep, exhausted from the panic attack. However, when she woke up the next morning, she was so embarrassed, she couldn't even look him in the eyes. He had reassured her that it was fine, trying to help her feel comfortable in her own body. However, with each passing day that he didn't get a call from her that she had had a panic attack, he knew she was getting back to normal. Her roommate had him on speed dial just in case, but it had been almost three weeks since the last time she had called him and that time had just been something minor that he had helped her through over the phone. Spencer slept against his chest for a long time before waking up with a coughing fit. She groaned as she pried her goopy eyes open.
"Hey beautiful," he said, kissing her forehead, "Did the nap help?"
"A little," she said, leaning into him heavily, "Still feel like garbage."
"I'm sorry," he said, brushing a stray piece of hair from her flushed face, "Can I get you anything?"
She shook her head a little, just enjoying being close to him when she felt so terrible.
"Can you drink a little bit?" he asked, feeling how warm she was.
She nodded, sipping the Gatorade he brought to her lips. She took a few sips before pushing it away. She moved her hands up to itch her eyes.
"Don't touch them," Toby said, taking her hands in his.
"But they hurt," she whined, giving him puppy dog eyes as best as she could through the swelling and gunk.
"Here," he said, pulling one of the heat packs out of the bag that was next to the bed, "Try this."
He helped her put the packs on her eyes, feeling her sigh against his chest as she relaxed a little. She ended up falling asleep like that, sleeping for another hour before she woke herself up form a coughing fit. He sat her up more, rubbing her back as she coughed. Once she settled a little, he moved to get up. "Where are you going?" she asked as she felt him move, her eyes still shut. "You need to eat something more then take the next dose of your medicines," he said, helping her lean back against the pillows. She nodded, taking the tissue he pressed into her hand and wiping her eyes. One was so swollen she actually couldn't see out of it anymore. He came back with all her medicines and some yogurt for her. "Here you go," he said, handing her the yogurt container. However, her hands were shaking quite a bit and she dropped it on the bed. "Do you need me to feed you?" he asked with a small alugh. She nodded miserably as he climbed back into bed with her. He took a spoon and fed her the yogurt slowly, kissing her head as she fought to get it down her burning throat. "Alright," he said as she finished eating, "Time for more meds then you can sleep." She nodded, taking the antibiotic pill he offered her. She got it down before he handed her three Advil. She got those down to before breaking off into another coughing fit. He rubbed her back through it, helping her relax on his chest before handing her the inhaler. He ended up having to help her with the inhaler again because she couldn't hold it. "Eyes or ears?" he asked, picking up the two bottles. "Eyes," she said, "I can't even get my left one open right now." "Alright," he said, laying her down a little bit before putting the drops in her very, very swollen eyes. He used a tissue to blot away the excess drops. He then rolled her on one side and helped put the drops in her ears. After another few minutes, she was finally done with all her many medications. She fell asleep quickly. He decided to sleep too. However, three hours later, they both woke up as Spencer started having a nightmare. Toby held her, feeling a lot of warmth coming off her body. Once she was clamed down, he realized the heat want' just from the ightmare and that her fever was actually really high. "Alright," Toby said, looking at his tired girlfriend, "You are burning up. You need to get cooled down. I'm going to start a cool bath." "No," she whined, tears leaking from her still swollen eyes. "Just for a little bit," he said, kissing her forehead as he got up. He went into the bathroom, turning on his bathtub, getting the ater to a lukewarm temperature. He then went back to the bedroom, stripping her down before carrying her to the tub. He placed her in the water gently, deciding not to get in with her this time. "No," she said, tears running down her flushed face, "It's cold." "I know," he said, taking her hand, "But your fever is too high right now." "I can't Toby," she said, shivering and crying. This led to a sever coughing fit "Alright," he said, rubbing her back as she coughed harder and harder, "You're alright."
Once she finished coughing, she whimpered, looking at his miserably.
"Alright," he said, "Let's get you out."
She lifted her arms toward him like a child as he carefully lifted her out and wrapped her in a towel. Her fever was still really high so he decided to just have her put underwear on so hopefully she would cool off. "I'm cold," she whined again as he put her on the bed.
"I know," he said, pulling off his own shirt before climbing in behind her, "But you're fever is too high. I'll cuddle you and you can have some blankets."
She nodded, cuddling close to him, shivering. He rubbed her bare back, kissing her forehead. Under other circumstances, this would be a very desirable and sexy position. However, right now, she was so sick that he couldn't even think about doing anything like that. All he could think about was helping her get better. Luckily she fell back to sleep quickly and Toby followed. They managed to sleep for about another four hours before she woke up coughing. He woke up too, grabbing her inhaler and helping her take a few pumps on it so she could breathe.
"'time's it?" she asked, her eyes still very swollen and gunky.
"A little after four in the morning," he said, kissing her forehead, "You can take some motrin if you want for that fever."
She nodded as he grabbed the medicine and her Gatorade. He helped her take some and sip on the Gatorade.
"How's your throat feeling?" he asked as she leaded back against him.
"Sore," she said, coughing a little more.
"Try to get more sleep," he said, rubbing her back as her eyes closed.
The rest of the weekend was similar. By Sunday night, her throat was feeling a lot better. Her eyes were still a little painful and swollen, but she could see normally again. Her cough was still bad, but much better than it had been. She was still running a pretty good fever and had a good amount of congestion going, but she felt a little more human.
"Thank you for taking such good care of me," she said as Toby carried a tray with soup and crackers on it.
"It was my pleasure," he said, setting the tray down before climbing into bed with her, "I'd do anything if it meant I got to be with you."
She shook her head a little before taking a bite of her soup.
"When do you need to be back at school?" he asked, brushing a piece of crazy hair from her flushed face.
"I'm supposed to have class tomorrow, but I don't think I could make it to class," she said, "But if you could drive me back tomorrow, I can't miss my Tuesday class."
"Alright," he said, nodding as she took another bite of her soup.
They spent the rest of day curled up in his bed, Spencer taking full advantage of being able to sleep as much as she wanted.
When he dropped her off at her dorm the next day, she was still feeling pretty miserable with a fever just under 101, but as he kissed her goodbye, she knew that it would have been so much worse had he not been by her side.
There it was. Prompts always welcome. I currently have just onething planned for PLL for the future, but I'm always looking for more inspiration. Thanks so much for reading!