I hope I'm doing a good job of balancing out cute, lovey scenes with the tougher ones. Here's the next chapter.
The next day is hard. Raven is nauseated and her abdomen keeps cramping up, but she doesn't know if she can take anything for it, and she definitely doesn't want to go to the nurse about it. Octavia insists that she stay at her place again that night. Lincoln had asked her to go skating, and so she has to ask him to reschedule.
"Hey Lincoln, " Octavia says, catching him at lunch. "Uh, I need to cancel our skating plans for tonight. I'm really sorry."
"It's okay. Is it the cold weather?"
"No, it's Raven. She's um, not in a good place. If you want to come over and watch movies, we could do that. She just needs company."
"Okay. I haven't seen Antman yet, have you?"
"No. I'd love to watch that. And Raven would be totally down for that."
"Alright, see you tonight."
When Lincoln shows up that night, Octavia greets him with a hug, and they go into the living room. Raven is lying curled up on the couch, silent and staring with a heating pad pressed to her abdomen. Lincoln knows enough about periods from his sisters to guess that she's probably on hers. But then, there's something about her face which makes him sense something more is going on.
"Hi Raven."
"Hey," she says softly. Octavia sits down beside her and Raven adjusts so that her head is in the girl's lap. Lincoln puts the movie in and they don't talk much; there's a dark mood in the room that none of them can shake.
After the movie, Raven goes to get ready for bed, and Octavia walks Lincoln to the door.
"Hey, thanks for being flexible tonight. I really appreciate it."
"No problem. You're a really good friend to Raven. I don't know her that well, but it seems like it's good she's here."
"Yeah. Things at home aren't good for her. I wish there was a good way to get her out of there."
"Is she not safe there?"
Octavia shakes her head. "But she doesn't want to go into foster care. She wants to keep going to our school, and stay with her friends. ."
"Has she ever tried to get emancipated?"
"What's that?"
"It's where you can live on your own and act as your own guardian as long as you follow certain requirements. She should look into it."
"I'll tell her about it."
"Good."
"Yeah, good." She smiles.
"Well I should go. See you at school on Monday," he says. Then, before she knows what's happening, he's leaning toward her, and then his lips meet her cheek below her nasal cannula, and she can feel the scruff on his face, and she smiles as he pulls back.
"See you at um, at school," she says after a second. She's completely head over heels for him, and it makes her feel and act like an idiot more often than not.
Lincoln and Octavia realize that she's never been to his house or met his sisters. They remedy that the next Friday when Lexa will be home. She takes the bus with him to his apartment and when they get there, the elevator is out of service. It's only a three story apartment building, so it shouldn't be a big deal, but for her, it is. It takes her a long time to get up the first flight and she's so winded that she has to sit down on the stairs and crank up her oxygen.
"How are you doing?" He asks after a couple of minutes.
"Sorry. This shouldn't be a bit deal."
"You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault."
"We're late. Now your sisters are going to hate me."
"No they're not."
She sighs, then gets up. Meanwhile, he grabs her oxygen backpack and puts it on himself, tucking an arm around her back for support. They finally make it upstairs, and when they get inside, three women are in the kitchen. One, in a pristine tan dress and a pair of heels approaches her. She feels underdressed in her jeans, leather jacket, and combat boots.
"You must be Octavia. I'm Anya." She holds out her hand and Octavia shakes it.
"It's nice to meet you."
"We've been telling Lincoln that we wanted to meet you ever since he told us about you," a girl with wavy brown hair says from beside the stove, where she's stirring something. "I'm Lexa."
"And I'm her girlfriend, Clarke," the blonde girl beside her says. "It's nice to meet you."
Octavia smiles, feeling a little awkward and more than a little out of breath from the stairs. Luckily, Lincoln pulls a chair out for her at the table, and she sits down gratefully, taking her oxygen backpack from him and setting it down next to her. She's not sure if Lincoln has told them about her cystic fibrosis, and wonders what they think of her oxygen tubes.
"Octavia, would you like something to drink? We have water, soda, tea…"
"I'd love some soda."
Eventually they sit down to eat, and the food is amazing. She and Bellamy usually just make simple food or order out, but here they're having roasted chicken, green beans, and smashed potatoes with blueberry pie for dessert. It's delicious, but she has no appetite, and only eats a little of what's on her plate. She hopes she doesn't seem rude, but she's pretty sure vomiting would be more rude than barely eating.
"Octavia, are you a Sophomore this year?" Anya asks.
"Yeah."
"Oh god, I remember those days," Lexa says. "All nighters to finish papers, trying to get good experiences for my resume."
"Experiencing your sexual awakening with me," Clarke says smoothly and Lincoln covers his ears.
"I don't need to hear about this."
Lexa laughs and kisses Clarke on the cheek.
They continue talking for an hour after dinner, and Octavia loves his family. Both of his sisters are a little intense, but she can tell that they really love their brother, and they're kind to her.
Things seem to be going a little smoother at Raven's home, which is a relief to Octavia. It means that she can focus on being her friend rather than her mom. It also means she can spend more time with Lincoln, and she does. They have their skating date, and it's a blast. They go on a 30 degree day, meaning her breath comes a little easier to her, and she can skate for 10 minutes straight before she has to take a break. They go back to his apartment, where the elevator is now fixed, and have hot chocolate. He kisses her as she leaves and she feels giddy the whole bus ride home.
Two Saturdays later, Octavia is decidedly sick. She can't breathe, she's coughing and sneezing constantly, and she's throwing up every half hour. Bellamy has to go work, but brings her saltines and ginger ale, and tells her he'll call to check in on her.
She spends most of the day sleeping between bouts of puking. In the afternoon, Lincoln texts her.
Linc: Hey, missed you at school today.
O: Got the flu or some shit. Sick as heck.
L: That sucks. Want company?
O: Maybe tomorrow. I think I just need to sleep.
L: Okay. Feel better.
She doesn't get better, and on Sunday she doesn't wake up till 1pm, when she gets a phone call from her brother. She tries to speak, but instead she ends up coughing for a few minutes, her brother waiting patiently till she stops.
"Hello?" She says groggily.
"Wow, you sound like death."
"I feel like death left in the fridge for 3 weeks."
"Are you doing okay? Have you had anything to eat?"
"I just woke up."
"Will you take your temperature?"
She does, and she has a fever of 102 degrees Fahrenheit.
"Why don't you give your doctor and the CF clinic a call and let them know what's up. Mom left you saltines and a thermos of tea."
Sure enough, she sees the crackers and thermos on her table.
"Where are you on the breath scale?"
"I don't know. Like a four."
"Is your oxygen on?"
"I took it off when you called."
"Okay. I probably won't be back until 7 or 8 tonight. Let me know if you need me, okay?"
"Okay."
They hang up, and Octavia needs to pee. She sits up slowly. She knows her oxygen sats are low, and if she exerts herself too much, she'll pass out. She holds onto her bed as she slowly stands up. Black dots creep into her vision, and her knees almost give out, but she leans heavily on the bed and waits for it to pass. She holds onto walls and furniture as she makes her way to the bathroom. It's stupid how out of breath she is, but she had left her oxygen in her room because she wanted both hands for steadying herself instead of one holding her oxygen tank. She makes it to the bathroom, and it's fine. That is, It's fine until she gets up from the toilet, and then everything starts going dark, and she can't find something to hold onto and she feels her head hit something as she falls.
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