Shikamaru groaned opening his eyes to the bright light of the early morning as Jezebel drew back the curtains to his hospital room. He raised his hand to block the light out. It had been exactly three weeks since he had gotten here, a weeks of which he had spent in a coma from the charka destroying virus he had been infected with. Everything had been going smoothly, they had thought that at that point in their journey surely somebody wouldn't attack them so close to the village what with the other ninja expecting them. They hadn't let their guard down, but they had let their guard down enough.

"Well, look who's awake." Jezebel said with a smile, going over to help him sit up.

He was just getting to the point he could walk again now. Naruto and Ino visited him daily; he looked at the several vases of flowers Ino had brought in with another groan, this time out of annoyance. She placed a steadying hand on his back as he leaned forward.

"You don't have to do that anymore, you know. I'm pretty able to sit up by myself now." Shikamaru said pulling his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Old habits die hard, I suppose." She gave a shrug and sat on the edge of the bed with him. "They're having a shoji competition in the patient lobby later if you want me to help you down there. You could probably win every game." She said with a smile. "Interested?"

Though he'd only been a wake for two week now it was becoming apparent they had developed a closer relationship. Ino verged on jealousy anytime Jezebel was around, and Naruto teased the hell out of him, though to Shikamaru it wasn't really such a big deal. They'd become friendly, that's all. He still had five more weeks to go before they would let him out. Apparently the virus was something they'd never really seen before and they wanted to observe him till they knew it wouldn't spread and cause an outright disaster.

Shikamaru gave a shrug. "I guess so, not like I have much else to do but kill time here. I like the down time, just wish I was spending it in a better place."

"Like home?" She asked, getting up to retrieve a plate of food for him from the cafeteria.

"Exactly like home."

Shikamaru eyed the back of her leg just visible under her nurse's dress. A bruise the size of his fist was plainly visible and he could see fading bruises here and there on both legs. He wondered how she'd gotten them; maybe it was why she normally wore stockings with her uniform. He didn't see every nurse wearing them so he knew it wasn't required.

"No stockings today?" He asked as she opened the door to leave. She paused and looked back with a smile he found different from the others. It was weak at first but then suddenly almost too strong.

"Oh, no. They were all dirty." She said, glancing away from him. "No time for laundry."

Shikamaru watched her for a moment longer before she left the room. It appeared as if she knew he was indirectly bringing up the bruises. He heaved a sigh and closed his eyes. He'd only known her for a couple weeks; it wasn't exactly his place to start asking about bruises. He'd seen them before; on her wrists, like fingers wrapped around them too tightly and small scratches on her cheek. Band-Aids here and there, but she'd never mentioned anything.

He leaned forward and perched himself up by resting his elbow on his knee. The other hand rubbed the back of his neck and he tilted his head far to the side in an attempt to get the tension out. It was none of his business. He moved his hand down to rub his bare shoulder when Jezebel came back with a bowl of Natto Gohan, something they regularly served for breakfast. Jezebel set the bowl on the table beside his bed and poured him a glass of water.

"I'm going make my rounds, if I'm not back in time to help you to Shoji just press the button near the bed." She said with a smile and he watched her leave with a grim expression. He rolled his eyes back and watched a fly crawl over the light panels in the room lazily; reminding himself again it was none of his business.

Jezebel tread down the hall holding a clip board to her chest tightly, one might almost think protectively she clutched it so tight. She smiled at the nurse in the room of the patient she walked in to but the nurse only averted her eyes and ducked her head. A frown tugged down at the corner of her lip but she was determined to not let this get to her.

"Good morning!" She chimed to the elderly man as she took his vitals.

He smiled back at her squinting to see her so hard she couldn't make out his eyes. "Ah Jezebel! So good to see a friendly, familiar face. How are you my dear?"

"Oh good, Mr. Fuji. How are you? Back so soon?" She frowned at him, furrowing her eyebrows in concern.

"Oh you know the wife, always worried about something my dear. It's just a bad cold that I-" He broke into a coughing fit and Jezebel patted him on the back lightly. " -that I can't seem to break." He said, clearing his throat and smiling up at her again. "Don't you worry your precious little heart."

"I'm glad to hear it Mr. Fuji! I hope you continue to get well." She said with a small wave out the door, checking Mr. Fuji off the list.

This was what she loved most about her job, though she wasn't even paid for it, the people- or I should say patients- are what made it worth her while. They were like a family to her, the elderly patients that came in for routine checkups straight down to the medical orphans who lived in the children's wing. Though it was always a tough thing to watch when one of the orphans was adopted, it completely broke her heart to watch an elderly friend die. But, the good times made up for everything.

The friendly conversations and smiles, the occasional check-ins, the jokes and hugs from the people she'd grown close to, even if she wasn't able to get so close that they might know what went on behind closed doors. She'd go as far to say she loved them. They were her support and they weren't even aware of it.

The other staff in the hospital was another story though; you might have thought that they would be the ones closest to Jezebel, being that she spent so much of her time with all of them. That wasn't so, though they weren't cruel to her, they avoided her and she could always hear the whispers lurking in the distance from her. How many of them must have judged her.

She shook her head to clear it, setting her clip board down at her station and inputting the patient vitals into the computer. Her mind began to wander as she fell into a routine of typing. Shikamaru had commented on her lack of stockings today, though she knew his real reason behind it was he had seen the bruises. She hadn't expected him to have paid so much attention, but at the same time she knew it wasn't as if they weren't entirely unnoticeable. She bit her lip in thought and prayed Shikamaru would never out rightly inquire about it.

They had started to grow close these past couple of week, closer than she had hoped. Mostly they had kept things professional, even though she had found his gaze lingering on her more than once…and admittedly he found hers on him. She admired that he hadn't held a grudge against her although she knew he couldn't possibly understand why she had left, he seemed quite alright to let her handle her own business.

She rolled her shoulders back and winced. She had been rammed into the wall late last night and she was pretty sure her shoulder had taken most of the blow. She pushed some hair behind her ear and glanced out of the corner of her eye to see one of the new nurses watching her. When she caught sight of Jezebel she snapped back to attention and started to fumble with some papers Jezebel knew for a fact wasn't at all her job, simply because she was the one that had put the papers there.

'I guess she's already heard…' She thought with a sigh. 'Gossip sure does travel fast around here. No wonder mom always complained about the women at work.' She shook her head with a dull expression. Glancing down at her watch she pulled back from the desk, deciding it would be best to head back to get Shikamaru in case he had extra trouble walking today. He seemed to be doing well enough though.

She blushed thinking about the night they had spent together over three weeks ago and bit her lip. She wanted him like that again…though she knew it would be a terrible idea. She wrung her hands together; finding a giddy smile crawling up on her face she wiped it away. It would be a terrible idea. Completely terrible. Beyond terrible. What if one of the nurses said something? What if people started to talk? She furrowed her brows and glared down at the floor. They were all too scared of Dr. Shiro at this point to just walk up to him and say something, but… they didn't really have a great habit of keeping their whispers quiet.

Jezebel took a deep breath as she opened the door to Shikamaru's room. He sat back in bed flipping through the channels on TV with a bored expression on his face. Ino sat in the visitors chair off to the side sending Shikamaru an icy expression. Jezebel assumed Shikamaru hadn't acted too enthusiastic about her presence, but of course, Shikamaru was never too enthusiastic about anything.

"Hey, Shikamaru," She waved timidly at Ino. "Ms. Yamanaka."

Ino nodded at her in acknowledgement bitterly.

Shikamaru turned off the TV at the sight of Jezebel. "Hey, Jez." He said, sitting up and pulling his legs over the edge of the bed. He was still shirtless. Jezebel's eyes trailed over his shoulders down his chest and swallowed hard, snapping her eyes back up to Shikamaru's. He met her gaze with a smug smirk and she couldn't help the smirk that pulled back at her lips.

"Yeah, yeah! Knock it off you two, you're making me sick," Ino said tossing Shikamaru's shirt at his head before waving her hand over her should as she walked out. "Might as well get a room."

Jezebel turned red and ducked her head, averting her eyes as Shikamaru pulled the long sleeved black shirt over his head.

"Ignore her," Shikamaru said catching her embarrassed expression. "she's always been like that."

"She seems unpleasant…" Jezebel said, putting Shikamaru's arm around her shoulder and helping him up.

Shikamaru winced in pain. "She can be…but she's there for her team. I'll hand her that."

"Are you okay?" Jezebel asked, seeing his discomfort.

"I'll be fine. Everything still aches is all."

"I see. That should go away soon…" She reassured him as they made their way down the hall but when he put more of his weight on her shoulder she's the one that winced. He straightened himself up a bit.

"Sorry, too heavy for you?"

"No, I just...ran into a wall last night…Clumsy me." She said with a shake of her head. Shikamaru observed her averted gaze and determined it was more than that but he didn't push her for answers.

Jezebel sat him down at a table that wasn't part of the competition; he'd said he wanted some time to play alone though he did prefer to play with people sometimes. He used the time to watch her read to the children across the room. They'd all crowded around her first chance they got, tugging on her arm and dress. He chuckled lightly at the way the kids behaved, it was nice to see. He turned to look at a couple of nurses watching Jezebel with crossed arms. One of them shook their head and walked away, as if she didn't approve of Jezebel being with the kids. He watched her with an annoyed expression.

"Geez, girls are so catty." He grumbled aloud, moving his pieces around the board, playing and replaying the game till Jezebel came back to the table. The other nurse ushering the rowdy kids back towards their room.

Jezebel took a seat with him, smoothing her dress over her knees.

"Your co-workers always give you such nasty looks?"

Jezebel turned her attention out the window in avoidance. "Not always."

"Why do those? If you're okay with me asking, anyway." He jerked his head towards where the other women had been standing.

Jezebel only shrugged. "Rumors get started and passed around."

"So troublesome,"

"Hey!" She chimed cheerfully, looking to change the subject. "You did promise me to that game of Shoji." She said with a smile. "I can take a little time off; it's slow this time of day."

Shikamaru smirked and leaned on the hand he had on his knee. "You sure you're willing to take on a master?"

"I guess I am, if you consider yourself a master."

"Never lost a game,"

"Yeah well…" She said acting brave, and getting a mock determined look. "I'll probably lose."

"You seem pretty determined on that."

"You better bet I am!"

Shikamaru laughed. "Well, we'll just see."

They played a quick game and eventually she won. She had the feeling Shikamaru had let her win though and she even picked at him for it when she'd helped back to his room. She felt cheerful, hoping they would play again soon, though she knew it was best to avoid spending time with him publicly, on the off chance people started talking. She sat back at her nurse's station again typing away at the computer faster than before in her happiness. He let her win and...in a weird kind of way, it had made her feel taken care of.

Her face dropped at the sight of Dr. Shiro and she focused intently on the work in front of her but he stopped by her desk anyway.

"What were you smiling about…?" He asked her suspiciously, hands stuffed in his white lab coat.

"Oh, I, uh, I was just…thinking of a joke one…of the patients said today."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You're not here to think of jokes, Jezebel. Focus on your work."

Jezebel bowed her head. "Yes, sir."

She took a deep breath and felt her body go tense as she stared unblinkingly at the computer screen. God only knows how long it would be before he left again. It had been a fairly uneventful week and she really hoped it would stay that way.