Hi all, thanks for the lovely reviews and the mention on the DS Luc and Eddie forum, I'm stoked. I hope you all like the next bit.
Chapter 7:
It was thirty six hours later and Luc had spent practically all of his time at either Eddie's or Ava's bedside looking after them. He had gotten some sleep here and there in between feeding Ava at the nursery usually when sitting at Eddie's bedside. He looked exhausted and was starting to smell bad. Eddie woke up from a nap to find Luc asleep in the chair beside her yet again. She noticed the smell and decided something had to be done.
"Luc, Luc, wake up" she called.
Luc woke up with a start. "What, what's wrong? It's not feeding time again already is it?" he asked.
"No, it's not. But it's time for something else" Eddie said grinning.
"She can't have another dirty nappy already" Luc asked.
"No, Ava's fine. Come here" she said beckoning him over. Luc did as she asked. He got up from the chair and sat down on Eddie's bed beside her. Eddie put her hand on Luc's face and kissed his injured right cheek.
"I need you to do something for me" Eddie said.
"No problem, what do you want?" Luc asked smiling.
"Can you hand me up my handbag?" Eddie asked.
Luc bent down and picked up the handbag out of the locker and gave it to her. Eddie rummaged around in it until she found her keys.
"Luc, I want you to go back to my place, have a shower and shave and have at least 7 hours sleep in a normal bed" Eddie said.
"I dont need to, I'm fine" replied Luc indignantly.
"Luc, trust me, you need to. You smell really bad and you look exhausted" Eddie said as nicely as she could.
"I dont need to I'm fine" Luc insisted again.
"Sweetheart, if you dont do something now Ava is going to think her father is a smelly wookiee called Chewbacca" Eddie said with a grin.
"Ok, I'm not that hairy or smelly. Dont you think you're exaggerating a tiny bit?" asked Luc.
"Ok maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit but you still need to get out of here for a few hours. Dont worry about us, we're not going anywhere. Besides, it's about time Ava and I got some girlie time alone together" replied Eddie as she tried to convince Luc to go.
Luc thought about it for a few minutes.
"Oh, alright then. I supposed I could do with a shower and a change of clothes. I dont think I've had a shower since India" Luc replied trying to remember the events of the last few days.
"Since India? Oh my god, Luc!" Eddie exclaimed while playfully holding her nose.
"Oh, ha ha!" Luc replied as he wrapped his arms around Eddie and hugged her as tight as he could so she'd get the full effect of his smelliness. Eddie playfully tried to struggle out of his grip. Luc lowered his head down so that his lips were level with Eddie's and gave her a long lingering kiss.
The door swung open and Melanie walked in to do some checks on Eddie. Luc and Eddie gently pulled apart. Luc gave Eddie another quick kiss on the lips and whispered in her ear "see you in a few hours. I love you" before leaving the room.
Luc made his way to the nursery to say a quick goodbye to Ava, giving her a kiss on the forehead as she slept in her incubator.
Chapter 8:
Luc soon made his way to the door of Eddie's flat, he put the key in the door and turned the key. He was immediately hit by the musty smell of the flat. It had been unoccupied for a few months ever since Eddie's last tenants had left but Liam had used it a few times since then to stay in when he visited friends in Holby. Luc looked around the sitting room and kitchen, the place was surprisingly clean considering Liam had stayed there sometimes. As he looked at the bookshelves in the sitting room one book caught his eye. It was the book he'd left for Eddie when he had left her that first time. He was surprised to see that she still had it and that she hadn't defaced it in some way. He wondered whether she had actually read it. He made a mental note to ask her that someday. He put the book back in its place.
His eyes were getting heavy so he made his way to Eddie's bedroom. He dumped his bag on the floor and undressed down to his boxers. He searched the chest of drawers to try to find a t-shirt to wear to bed and was surprised to find one drawer containing two of his tshirts, his shirt and his trousers all washed and neatly folded on top of each other. He lifted them out of the drawer and found a pair of his boxers at the bottom of the pile. He looked at the clothes puzzled as in his tired state he couldn't ever remember leaving his clothes behind any time he had previously stayed at the flat. He made another mental note to ask Eddie about the clothes. He threw a clean tshirt and boxers on the bed, grabbed a towel from the hotpress and headed for the shower.
As he washed himself in the lukewarm water he felt like he was finally washing all of the horrible events that had happened to him in India away. The smell of the English lavender shower gel he used to wash himself with announced to him that he was finally back in England, his home despite all his travels. It also reminded him of Eddie. The smell of lavender he always got when she walked past him in the ward had always been comforting to him, even in the beginning when all they seemed to do was fight with each other. He smiled to himself as he remembered some of the arguments they had had about patients back then.
Luc finished his shower, dried himself off and got dressed into the clean boxers and tshirt. He pulled back the bedcovers and happily got into the soft double bed. As he tried to fall asleep he thought about Eddie and Ava and about their future. The things that Eddie had said to him about her time in Dehli when she was alone and scared and was trying to scrape the money together to get home kept flying around in his head. Luc resolved to make sure that she never felt like that again and he knew exactly how to stop that happening again. The only thing was he would need to go to London and see the family solicitor to make it happen.
As Luc lay there in the bed thinking and trying to get comfortable in the bed, he realised that he would need to have to get something done to fix his leg. How else was he going to be able to run around after Ava when she started walking?
Then it dawned on him, he knew someone in London who could help him with that too.
Luc soon fell fast asleep. He was woken about 7 hours later by a bright morning sun beaming in the gap between the two curtains. He grabbed his phone and called Eddie in the ward. He explained to her that he needed to go to London on business for a few hours but that he would see them both later that evening. Luc got up, got dressed and headed for London.
Sorry peeps, this will be your last fix for a few days. I'm off swimming with our very own munchkin (my baby niece) tomorrow after work so won't have time to update it tomorrow. E xx.