Issy sighed, her head feeling heavy with all the thoughts clouding it. As she shifted, she felt Eric's even breath on her shoulder. He had fallen asleep and Issy smiled, reaching up to play with his hair. The frown on his face lifted and buried deeper into Issy. Issy held him as Eric held her but the smile on her face didn't outweigh the anxiety in her eyes.
Issy woke up early on Monday morning and from the time on the bedside table, it was when her first alarm would go off in the morning. She frown at the thought… Why hadn't her alarm gone off?
"Eric?" Issy poke him in the chest. They hadn't moved all night and Eric didn't move now. She poked him again. "Eric. Hey Eric?" He groaned and shuffled closer, her bruised side twinging in pain. "ERIC COULTER!"
"Shhhhhhhhhh. Go back to sleep."
"You're digging into my bruises." Small lie but it worked…
Eric jumped away from her and Issy bit her lip to stop herself from laughing when he nearly fell off the bed. He regained his balance and cautiously moved closer, his hands out and eyes darting around. "Are you okay? Do I need to take you to the infirmary?"
"Eric. Breath. I just feel cramped curled up and it'll do nothing good for my bruises."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." He started to move away from her, and she rolled her eyes.
"That doesn't mean you avoid me. Get your ass back here and lay on your back." Eric eyed her hesitantly and ever so slowly moved to lie on his back. Issy sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, stretching out next to him. "Did you turn my alarms off?" Eric stiffened beneath her. "I'll take that as a yes. Why?"
"You need a day to rest."
"We slept all day yesterday."
Eric shifted. "You need to have creams and shit applied each hour. We didn't do that each hour so you're going to be in pain." He runs a hand through his hair, making it all ruffled and cute. "I put on alarms yesterday so I could apply them, but we slept through them. Every. Single. One."
"So?"
"So, you'll be in pain all day if you go to work. You still won't be able to raise your arms above your shoulders and you won't be able to fight or run. The creams that Marlene delivered yesterday while you were in the shower should accelerate the healing."
"So, no work today?"
Eric shook his head. "Absolutely not. Not only because I say so, but because I have orders through Marlene from Vex saying you can't."
Issy huffs and Eric relaxes under her. "Fine." After a moment Issy frowns. "That's a thought… Where is my phone?"
"Dead on the counter."
"Awesome sauce…" When Eric tilts his head to look at her strangely, she shrugs. "Blame Uri, he's been saying it a lot recently and I've just picked it up." Eric snorts, sitting up a bit. Issy wiggles and he lifts her up too. "Can I borrow your tablet?"
"I already said you could." Eric leans over to his bedside table and picks it up, before handing it to her.
When she powers it on, Issy snorts a little when the lock screen comes up and it's a picture of Declan wrapping an arm around Eric's neck, both of them laughing with big grins on their faces. "Cute." Issy smirks as she hands the tablet back for Eric to type in the password. When he hands it back, Issy eyes the background before scrolling to the contact app. She raises an eyebrow but doesn't comment when she sees he contacts for all of her squadron. Issy adds all of them into a group chat but also changed their names to their nicknames because if felt weird and sent a message.
Hey guys, this is Issy. I won't be in today but hopefully tomorrow I'll be in.
CUTIE PIE: Eric briefed us. Are you okay?
RAINBOW: Of course she's not okay, you idiot…
RED: Eric's a lucky bastard… Wish I could've snapped Drama Queen's neck…
Issy smiles, looking up at Eric who has his head back and his eyes closed. "Red says you're a lucky bastard."
"Of course I am, I have you in my arms."
She makes a noise of disgust despite the smile on her face. "No! He means, you know, stopping Emmett."
Eric cracks an eye open and stares at her before closing his eye again. "Felt damn good too."
Issy rolls her eyes and sends another message. He's damn smug about it too.
Red send an annoyed looking emoji in response.
BULLDOZER: So what do you want us to do today Cap? Want us to stick to the schedule we had before and figure out the pairings later?
I was thinking that we make the pairings by what skills the trainees lack… Like pairing Soren with Geek because Soren will just brute strength it without really thinking it through and Geek's smart…
BILLY: Smart ass…
GEEK: RUDE
RAINBOW: So, like putting Lani with BD because she needs to build up strength?
And Robyn with Red because she kinda needs to do the same…
BULLDOZER: Milo could go with Beta for the same reasons as Geek… Elliot with Rainbow too…
Kale with Billy?
CUTIE PIE: Really? You think it's a good idea to pair them together? ISSY, THEY'RE BOTH SARCASTIC SHITS! THIS HAS BAD IDEA WRITTEN ALL OVER IT…
BILLY: INSIDE VOICE PLEASE, we have the injured amongst us… The audacity…
GEEK: Guys… Please stOP
So that leaves Vera with Hec…
CUTIE PIE: Yup. What will Milo do today?
Set him with Geek today. I'll be checking in with you all today but have fun and don't break them…
BULLDOZER: NO PROMISES…
Issy shakes her head as she locks the tablet and places it to the side. "Don't you have work today?"
"Trying to get rid of me?"
"I'm just curious –"
"– Curiosity killed the cat."
"But satisfaction brought it back." Issy grinned at him.
Eric rolled his eyes. "Just got paperwork today."
"How are you going to do it if I'm on your tablet?"
"I have a laptop." Eric shakes his head. "I'm not leaving you on your own today Issy, because as soon as I leave, you'll go off to your squadron and get me into shit with Vex."
"No faith."
Eric smirked, tugging at the ends of her hair lightly. "You didn't deny it though."
Issy laughs lightly, the smile almost reaching her eyes, and Eric nudges his head against hers.
xXx
Over the next couple of hours, Eric woke Issy up every hour to reapply the creams. Issy wasn't going to admit it out loud, but she was hurting, and the smallest of sudden movements hurt like a bitch. Eric didn't comment when Issy winced or gasped as she moved and in turn, Issy didn't comment how right Eric was. By noon, Issy was slowly moving around Eric's apartment. Eric's eyes followed after her, narrowing when she froze momentarily as another rush of pain swept through her. He didn't follow her around though… Not after she had snapped at him until he hung his head with guilt. As each round of reapplying creams went by, her attitude got better as the pain slowly subsided. They had moved from his bedroom to the living room and as Eric went through his paperwork, Issy went through his bookshelf, or checked on her squaddies, or wandered around… Issy was getting bored quickly…
Issy was in the kitchen area, making herself a coffee when a thought popped into her mind. It had floated in the back of her mind last night and now, Issy chewed her lip, her eyes glancing to the front door. She spun around, her back ghosted the edge of the counter as she stared at Eric. He remained oblivious to her gaze for a couple of moments, paper reports held up in one of his hands as he went through the information on the sheet and on the system until his eyes glanced up to check on her before doing a double take at the worry on her face.
"What's up?"
Issy swallowed. "Will you, um, will you get into trouble for dealing with Emmett the way you did? Like, isn't there some kind of protocol for things like this? You arrest them, shove them in a cell and work out the consequences later?"
Eric put the papers down and turned to her. "There are protocols for such things as this. Arresting them is for the first or second time they commit a crime. Emmett was well past his first or second attempt. I felt like I did the right thing by this Faction and if Max feels like I should have done it differently, he would have demanded a meeting by now."
"So," Issy hesitated, continuing in a small voice. "So, you're not going to get arrested for snapping someone's neck?"
"Unlikely." Came Eric's blunt response and Issy flinched. The movement caught Eric's eye and he stood up, slowly making his way to stand in front of her. Eric's hands hovered at her sides as he stared into her eyes. "It was an act of defence."
"I can defend myself." The words flew out of her mouth quicker and sharper than she expected.
"I have no doubt that you can. I was defending my Faction against a threat and I dealt with it in a way I thought necessary." His hand came up to rest against her cheek. "I'm not going to get arrested." When she nods, Eric steps away from her and she finishes making her coffee, clutching the warmth to her after. As Eric wanders back to finish his paperwork, he glances back. "Marlene's going to be coming round to check up on you and also to help wash your hair if necessary."
"Okay."
Marlene arrives not long after Eric mentioned it and Issy couldn't have been happier. While Eric was hesitant to carry on with his work as he watched Issy, he seemed oddly content with it. Issy though, had stared at his tablet, watching her squaddies and trainees train together with Eric's unlimited access as she sipped her coffee. Marlene came in with her little med kit hanging off her shoulder and smiled at Issy. It wasn't like Eric's – hesitant and cautious like he'll push her too far – but happy and true.
"Hello Issy." Marlene smiled wider in greeting and the nurse nodded her head to Eric. "How are you feeling?"
Eric appeared lost in his work but Issy saw how his body tensed. "Bored."
Marlene snorted. "Well let's see if you've healed for active work again." Marlene looked to Eric. "Coulter, out of the room."
His head snapped up. "What?"
"Out. Don't make me tell Vex." Eric went to open his mouth but shut it not soon after. He collected his laptop and paperwork, before walking towards his bedroom, grumbling all the way. Marlene rolled her eyes. "Fucking cave man…"
Issy smiled as she followed Marlene's instructions and lifted her top up so Marlene could see her ribs and sides. She prodded the bruises gently, muttering under her breath before walking around Issy and pulled the back of the top higher so she could check Issy's back. When Marlene came back to face her, she searched for the bump near her temple and when she found it, Marlene lightly ran her fingers over it. She also instructed Issy to lift her arms up until it hurt and Issy couldn't quite lift them above her head yet…
"Am I cleared?" Issy asked when Marlene finally pulled away.
"The creams have worked faster than expected. I wouldn't advise running for a couple more days, light sparring only and continue to apply the creams every hour or so. Other than that, you're clear, just don't do anything stupid."
Issy grinned, itching to get her hands on Eric's tablet to tell her squadron about it. "Oh thank god!"
Marlene eyed the corridor Eric disappeared down for a moment before lowering her voice. "Have you been okay with Eric? He hasn't tried to push you or anything?"
The question nearly made Issy laugh out, but she understood why the nurse had asked it. "No," Issy lowered her voice too. "He's kinda the opposite. He's very hesitant to touch me and keeps his distance unless I make the first move." Issy bit her lip. "Could you help me wash my hair please?"
xXx
It didn't take long for Marlene to wash Issy's hair in the sink and Eric had supplied a foldable chair for Issy to sit on. The nurse tried to keep her professional mask in place but quickly became irritated with Eric's constant hovering. At first, she referred to him only as Coulter but as he kept on getting in Marlene's way and breathing over her shoulder – his eyes watching each time she touched Issy and edging closer every time Issy winced – she screamed at him to fuck off. Issy was trying to hold in her laughter as Eric's head ducked down and walked out of the bathroom, practically with his tail between his legs.
When Marlene was finished, she twisted Issy's hair up in the towel and walked back into the living room with Issy. Eric's head snapped up immediately from where he was sat on the sofa and eyed Issy for any pain, causing Marlene to snort as she picked up her bag.
"She's fine Eric, please calm the fuck down! Issy is cleared with a few restrictions; no running for a few days, light sparring and continuation use of the creams." Issy moves to sit in between Eric's knees and without even asking, he begins to undo the towel. "As cute as you both are, I'll leave you be." Marlene smirks at them.
"Bye Marlene and thank you!"
When the door shut again, Issy can feel Eric relax behind her with a sigh. He slowly goes through the motions of drying her hair before he says anything. "I guess you'll be going back to work tomorrow then…"
While Issy feels positively ecstatic at the notion, she can't help her shoulders slumping at Eric's defeated tone. She couldn't stay practically wrapped in bubble wrap in his apartment forever… "Yeah." She said gently. "I'll be careful though, and Red or Bulldozer won't let me do a lot as it is."
"Half five start?"
Issy shook her head. "I'll be starting at half eight, I'm missing out on the run."
Even though she couldn't see his expression, she could hear the pleased smile as he said one single word. "Okay."