Unexpected Suprises
Disclaimer: Same as before, and Auburn University is an actual institution in Auburn, AL, which I attend. I do not own any of the rights to the name of this university. I merely used it to keep this fic "close" to home. Oh, and some of these places and people may be real, but very little of this is historically accurate. I have taken EXTREME liberties with some things to make them work for my story. I apologize for the defamation of history that takes place here, but it makes for a good story.
A/N: Thank y'all for the nice reviews. I was kinda hesitant at first about this, but I have found writing to be quite relaxing.
Chapter 3: Sophocles's Book to Dionysis
Nigel couldn't remember when he had ever had so much fun outside of work. Well, very technically, it was because of "work" he supposed, but the book hadn't even been mentioned. They had watched Jeopardy before dinner. Lindsey had given him quite a bit of competition. She was the first person (well, short of Sydney and Preston) that gave him any competition at all. They ended up laughing so hard at one point, they lost count of how many points they each had, so they just stopped counting.
"Okay, so you love crossword puzzles and can play a very competitive game of Jeopardy. Is there anything else that I'm missing that I should know about? Any 'Nobel Prizes' or Pulitzer Prizes I should be aware of?" Nigel asked with a smile on his face.
"No Nobels or Pulitizers, and unless they plan on awarding them to people with the random, usless trivia knowledge, I don't see one in my future. Oh, but I do play a mean game of Trivial Pursuit." Lindsey and Nigel both fell into fits of uncontrollable laughter.
Soon, dinner was ready. Lindsey had made Chicken Parmagian (with homemade noodles!), she made a garden salad, and had toasted garlic bread. Not to mention several glasses of Merlot.
"This is quite good, Lindsey. I can hardly believe that you even made your own noodles." Nigel was enjoying his meal very much, but not as much as he was enjoying the company.
"Well, thank you. It's a knack I picked up from my grandmother." Lindsey just smiled at him over the rim of her glass. She finished the last of her glass, and went up to pour some more. "Would you like some more?"
"Yeah, just one more glass, thank you." Nigel knew that he probably shouldn't have anymore, just like Lindsey shouldn't have anymore, but he couldn't resist. He was having too much fun.
After filling up both of their glasses, Lindsey moved to the couch and sat down. She began looking at the papers that Nigel had brought over. They seemed to be copies of manuscripts from Ancient Greece. One was rather lengthy, and one was rather short. She was completely in awe. She had never seen anything like them. So much history...new history...and she was going to help uncover it. She had suddenly got the feeling that she had just gotten herself in way too deep.
"What do you know about the book?" Nigel asked Lindsey. He didn't really want to do work right now, but he realized that this was the reason he was here.
"Well, it's a book that has a complete collection of all of Sophocles's plays in it...the ones we have on record today, and the ones that we've never seen. Legend has it he was going to publicly dedicate the collection to Dionysis at the Festival of Dionysis the year that Oedipus Rex won. As he and Thespis, the first actor, were walking to the Theatre for the announcement of the winner, they were attacked, and the book was stolen. Sophocles was the only one who gave an actual written account of the attack because Thespis died a week later. Who stole it or why they stole it was never determined. In fact, the only evidence that we have that it even exists is that the attack was written about in some of the manuscripts from attendees of the Festival that year." Lindsey was certainly thankful she had paid attention during her Theatre History courses.
"Well, the longer manuscript just simply seems to be a another account of the attack," Nigel said dejectedly. "So, I doubt that it would be useful at all."
"I think you're wrong, Nigel. I think it is going to be very useful." Lindsey stated as her eyes went wide. "Look at the bottom of this page. There is a symbol on the bottom of it...a symbol that represents Thespis...This account was written by Thespis himself!!" She hurriedly handed the paper over to Nigel, and looked at the other, shorter one. "This one is too!!" Lindsey could barely keep her heart from fluttering out of her chest.
Nigel's eyes went wide with disbelief. He couldn't believe it. He wanted to begin to translate the manuscripts immediately, but he had left his research materials at home, and the lightheadedness he had received from standing too quickly reminded him of the excessive amount of wine he had drank. It would be no use to try and translate them tonight. He looked over at Lindsey, and saw that she had taken her glasses off of her head and was rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Are you alright?" Nigel asked?
"I'm fine, but I'm afraid that I won't be any help dealing with these manuscripts tonight." she said. "I guess I was having such a good time talking to you that I didn't realize how much wine I was drinking." She smiled and laughed a little bit. "I'm really sorry."
"No need to be sorry at all. I'm a bit tipsy myself." They both just laughed. "What do you say we start on it first thing tomorrow?...Unless you have something to do," he added very quickly.
"I have absolutely nothing to do tomorrow. I was wondering how I was going to keep myself busy all day. We can make a day of it...Unless you have things to do tomorrow." Lindsey suddenly felt embarrassed. Had she just asked him to spend the day with her?
"I have nothing to do. I had planned spending all day working on these manuscripts anyway." Nigel had became extremely anxious for tomorrow to get here. "You just have to let me cook you dinner tomorrow night, and we'll even watch the movie I kept you from watching tonight," he added looking over toward the long forgotten DVD. "As sort of a break from the work." He was getting unusally nervous.
"Okay. I'd like that. Like I said, Jen won't be home until Sunday. She usually spends the weekends with Jake. That's why I liked the idea of moving in with her. I'd have alot of time to myself." Lindsey grinned.
"Well, I guess it's a date, then. "What? Nigel did you really just say that?" he thought. "Well...uh...not a date..um..unless of course...you... you want one...um..." "Really, smooth, Nigel," he thought.
"I think calling it a date would be rather lovely," Lindsey said quietly. She was looking at the floor. "That is...if that's what you want." She looked up at him. His eyes were so inviting. She just wanted to get lost in them forever.
"I would love it. But, right now, we both need to get some rest, so I guess I had better get going." Lindsey got up to see Nigel to the door, but the wine went to her head and she almost fell. Luckily, Nigel was there to catch her.
"Careful. Are you okay?" he asked. He still had his arms wrapped around her waist and her head and arms were still resting on his chest. His heart was bearly beating.
"Just fine. Thank you." She looked up at him. I guess I really should be getting to bed." Lindsey said, still gazing in his eyes.
He helped her to the door, and then he stepped outside. He took her hands in his and kissed them. "See you tomorrow." And with that, he was gone.
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He undressed and started crawling into bed. He was thinking about her and about what had happened. "She was so close, Nigel. You should have kissed her," he thought to himself. At that moment there was nothing that he wanted to do more, but he didn't because they were both a bit tipsy, and he would have felt he was taking advantage of her if he had kissed her while they were in such a state.
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Lindsey took down her hair and changed into her nightgown. She washed her face and climbed into bed. The whole while she thought about Nigel. She was really beginning to like him, and they had only known each other a day! "What's wrong with you, Lindsey? You don't need to be liking him so soon. At least you guys have business to attend to." And with that, she drifted off to sleep with thoughts of Nigel and the Book of Sophocles.
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Lindsey woke up to the sound of someone coming into her room. She opened her eyes slightly and could see a dark figure moving across the room at the foot of her bed. She fought the urge to scream, and stayed as still as she could. The intruder began rummaging through her drawers, slamming each one with disgust. Apparently he couldn't find what he was looking for. After completely invading her privacy, he then turned to her. Lindsey shut her eyes quickly, to frightened to watch what he was going to do. She could feel his hands trace her face around to her mouth and she screamed before he could clamp her mouth shut. "Where is the book?" a gruff, male voice demanded.
"I don't know..." she said through the muffle of his hand. She couldn't keep the tears from stinging her eyes.
"Then where are the manuscripts?" He shouted. She squirmed up underneath him. He pressed a knife close to her throat. He moved his hand from her mouth for her to answer. Instead she kneed him in the crotch and crawled out from under him and onto the floor. She then ran to open her bedroom door.
"If I can only get to Nigel," she thought, and she ran into the living room. It was very difficult to navigate the foreign room in the dark, and she ended up stumbling a few times. All of a sudden, she could feel two gloved hands grab her arms roughly, and throw her against the wall. Two pictures fell off of the wall and fell to the floor, shattering the glass in the frames. Lindsey hit her head hard on the wall, and blacked out. She fell into a limp form on the floor on top of the broken glass. The intruder, knowing that he had made too much noise, quickly ran out of the apartment, leaving the door wide open, and Lindsey laying bleeding on the floor.
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Nigel awoke with a start. The thump that came from Lindsey's room made him worry. It sounded like a body had been slammed against it with enough force to break a few bones. He quickly pushed that thought from his mind. "If that thump were loud enough to wake me up, it had to be loud enough to wake Lindsey up," he thought. He didn't know why, but he had an unnerving feeling that something was horribly wrong. "Maybe she just stumbled and fell, Nigel. She was a little intoxicated before she went to bed, and the room is new to her. She probably won't be able to navigate it well in the dark," he thought to himself. "Or, she could be hurt, or worse..." he continued to wonder. He finally decided to give her a call to make sure she was okay. The phone rang and rang, but no one answered. "I'll just go knock on her door. And, when she answers, I'll just tell her that I heard a noise and was wondering if she was okay," Nigel decided. He put on his housecoat over his tee-shirt and boxers, and went outside. He turned to knock on Lindsey's door and saw that the door was wide open. "That is very odd. I distinctly remember her shutting it. I even remember hearing the deadbolt lock. Something's not right." He looked inside the apartment. The streetlight gave him just enough light to see that the living room had been completely ransacked. He immediately entered the room. Not wanting to alarm the intruder, if he was still there, he left the lights off. He grabbed an overturned lamp for defense, and then quickly moved in the first room he came to. He saw the unmade bed, and the clothes on the floor. He knew that this had to be her room, but she was no longer in it. He was really starting to be worried now, when he heard a groaning coming from the living room. Lamp in his hand and ready for anything, he followed the direction of the noise.
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Lindsey could feel an ache in what seemed like every part of her body. She felt like she had just been hit like a truck. She thought about getting up, but, remembering the intruder, decided not too. She opened her eyes and saw a dark figure moving towards her with an object raised in his hands.
"Oh, my God! He's gonna kill me!" she thought. She let out the most blood-curdeling scream Nigel had ever heard.
"Lindsey!! Oh, my god." Nigel quickly threw down the lamp. Anyone who was still in the apartment would have came out by now, if for nothing else, the scream. He kneeled down beside her to check her out. "Are you okay? Where are you hurt." He noticed the blood-stained glass beneath her. His breath got caught in his throat.
"I'm okay...I think." Lindsey managed to get out. Once she realized it was Nigel, she calmed down a bit. She was so glad to see him.
"But, you're bleeding." Nigel was relieved to hear her voice. He didn't want to think about all of the things horrible things that had just been running through his head.
"It's just the glass from the picture frames. I'll live." She tried to sit up, and Nigel quickly helped her and flipped on the lights. She had a nasty gash over her left eye, and two rather nasty-looking, large bruises appearing on her arms. He was almost certain she was hurting all over. "I have a first-aid kit in the bathroom, if you'll go get it please, I'll fix myself up." Lindsey tried to grin at him, but it hurt too much. Nigel quickly ran into the bathroom and grabbed the first-aid kit. He noticed the manuscripts sitting on the bathroom counter.
Nigel called the police, and they were on their way with the EMT's. He had insisted on cleaning her up. She was going to do it herself, but he felt that she had had enough for one night, and was not going to let her lift a finger. "Did the intruder say what he wanted?" Nigel asked.
"Yeah, he said he wanted to know where the book was. I told him I didn't know, so he asked where the manuscripts were. That's when I kicked him and ran. Then he caught me and threw me against the wall. I blacked out, and he got away with our manuscripts, I suppose," Lindsey said dejectedly.
"Well, it seems that you hid them rather well." Nigel smiled as he handed her the manuscripts. "I found them in your bathroom. Apparently the intruder didn't have any need to go in there."
"I must have left them there when I went to wash my face." Lindsey felt relieved.
The police came and left, and Lindsey looked like she could use some sleep. He did not like the idea of her staying there by herself. "Lindsey, do you want to stay at my house tonight? You can have the bed, and I'll take the couch. I'm just afraid that whomever was here tonight may be back, and I don't want you here alone again." He looked at her timidly.
"Thank you, Nigel. I would appreciate that." Lindsey answered back to him. So they both locked the door, and went to his apartment. He helped her into his bed. All she had suffered was a slight concussion and several bruises, but no broken bones. She didn't even need stiches!
"Goodnight, Lindsey." Nigel said before turning to walk away.
"Nigel?" Lindsey called after him very timidly, and didn't know how to say what she wanted to say.
"Yes?" he answered back. He couldn't help but feel helpless and at fault for what happened. "You left those with her, knowing how rival relic hunters are. How very bright of you, Nigel." his head was saying.
"Um, actually, I was wondering if you could...um...sleep...here...with me...UH...i mean...not "sleep" with me, but you know...actually sleep with me." Lindsey couldn't believe how incredibly dumb she sounded. I just really don't want to be alone right now." She could barely keep the tears from her voice. She had just finally let the realization of what happen wash over her.
Nigel quickly crawled into bed beside her, and she just lay on his chest, sobbing like a baby. He just stroked her hair, and held her. "Shhhh...it's going to be okay, now. No one is going to hurt you now..." Nigel softly whispered. Lindsey eventually cried herself to sleep on Nigel's chest, and Nigel was relieved to see her finally at rest. Tomorrow, they would sort this whole mess out, and he would find out who did this. He soon fell asleep too, with Lindsey soundly asleep in his arms, and her tears forming warm, wet circles of fabric that caressed his skin.
A/N: Sorry for any typos or grammar mistakes. I wrote this at like 3:30 in the morning, and I'm quite tired. Oh, and I had intended on using Auburn as a part of Lindsey's past in this chapter, but chose to wait until later on. I'll just leave my note in the disclaimer for future references...=). Please R&R.
Disclaimer: Same as before, and Auburn University is an actual institution in Auburn, AL, which I attend. I do not own any of the rights to the name of this university. I merely used it to keep this fic "close" to home. Oh, and some of these places and people may be real, but very little of this is historically accurate. I have taken EXTREME liberties with some things to make them work for my story. I apologize for the defamation of history that takes place here, but it makes for a good story.
A/N: Thank y'all for the nice reviews. I was kinda hesitant at first about this, but I have found writing to be quite relaxing.
Chapter 3: Sophocles's Book to Dionysis
Nigel couldn't remember when he had ever had so much fun outside of work. Well, very technically, it was because of "work" he supposed, but the book hadn't even been mentioned. They had watched Jeopardy before dinner. Lindsey had given him quite a bit of competition. She was the first person (well, short of Sydney and Preston) that gave him any competition at all. They ended up laughing so hard at one point, they lost count of how many points they each had, so they just stopped counting.
"Okay, so you love crossword puzzles and can play a very competitive game of Jeopardy. Is there anything else that I'm missing that I should know about? Any 'Nobel Prizes' or Pulitzer Prizes I should be aware of?" Nigel asked with a smile on his face.
"No Nobels or Pulitizers, and unless they plan on awarding them to people with the random, usless trivia knowledge, I don't see one in my future. Oh, but I do play a mean game of Trivial Pursuit." Lindsey and Nigel both fell into fits of uncontrollable laughter.
Soon, dinner was ready. Lindsey had made Chicken Parmagian (with homemade noodles!), she made a garden salad, and had toasted garlic bread. Not to mention several glasses of Merlot.
"This is quite good, Lindsey. I can hardly believe that you even made your own noodles." Nigel was enjoying his meal very much, but not as much as he was enjoying the company.
"Well, thank you. It's a knack I picked up from my grandmother." Lindsey just smiled at him over the rim of her glass. She finished the last of her glass, and went up to pour some more. "Would you like some more?"
"Yeah, just one more glass, thank you." Nigel knew that he probably shouldn't have anymore, just like Lindsey shouldn't have anymore, but he couldn't resist. He was having too much fun.
After filling up both of their glasses, Lindsey moved to the couch and sat down. She began looking at the papers that Nigel had brought over. They seemed to be copies of manuscripts from Ancient Greece. One was rather lengthy, and one was rather short. She was completely in awe. She had never seen anything like them. So much history...new history...and she was going to help uncover it. She had suddenly got the feeling that she had just gotten herself in way too deep.
"What do you know about the book?" Nigel asked Lindsey. He didn't really want to do work right now, but he realized that this was the reason he was here.
"Well, it's a book that has a complete collection of all of Sophocles's plays in it...the ones we have on record today, and the ones that we've never seen. Legend has it he was going to publicly dedicate the collection to Dionysis at the Festival of Dionysis the year that Oedipus Rex won. As he and Thespis, the first actor, were walking to the Theatre for the announcement of the winner, they were attacked, and the book was stolen. Sophocles was the only one who gave an actual written account of the attack because Thespis died a week later. Who stole it or why they stole it was never determined. In fact, the only evidence that we have that it even exists is that the attack was written about in some of the manuscripts from attendees of the Festival that year." Lindsey was certainly thankful she had paid attention during her Theatre History courses.
"Well, the longer manuscript just simply seems to be a another account of the attack," Nigel said dejectedly. "So, I doubt that it would be useful at all."
"I think you're wrong, Nigel. I think it is going to be very useful." Lindsey stated as her eyes went wide. "Look at the bottom of this page. There is a symbol on the bottom of it...a symbol that represents Thespis...This account was written by Thespis himself!!" She hurriedly handed the paper over to Nigel, and looked at the other, shorter one. "This one is too!!" Lindsey could barely keep her heart from fluttering out of her chest.
Nigel's eyes went wide with disbelief. He couldn't believe it. He wanted to begin to translate the manuscripts immediately, but he had left his research materials at home, and the lightheadedness he had received from standing too quickly reminded him of the excessive amount of wine he had drank. It would be no use to try and translate them tonight. He looked over at Lindsey, and saw that she had taken her glasses off of her head and was rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Are you alright?" Nigel asked?
"I'm fine, but I'm afraid that I won't be any help dealing with these manuscripts tonight." she said. "I guess I was having such a good time talking to you that I didn't realize how much wine I was drinking." She smiled and laughed a little bit. "I'm really sorry."
"No need to be sorry at all. I'm a bit tipsy myself." They both just laughed. "What do you say we start on it first thing tomorrow?...Unless you have something to do," he added very quickly.
"I have absolutely nothing to do tomorrow. I was wondering how I was going to keep myself busy all day. We can make a day of it...Unless you have things to do tomorrow." Lindsey suddenly felt embarrassed. Had she just asked him to spend the day with her?
"I have nothing to do. I had planned spending all day working on these manuscripts anyway." Nigel had became extremely anxious for tomorrow to get here. "You just have to let me cook you dinner tomorrow night, and we'll even watch the movie I kept you from watching tonight," he added looking over toward the long forgotten DVD. "As sort of a break from the work." He was getting unusally nervous.
"Okay. I'd like that. Like I said, Jen won't be home until Sunday. She usually spends the weekends with Jake. That's why I liked the idea of moving in with her. I'd have alot of time to myself." Lindsey grinned.
"Well, I guess it's a date, then. "What? Nigel did you really just say that?" he thought. "Well...uh...not a date..um..unless of course...you... you want one...um..." "Really, smooth, Nigel," he thought.
"I think calling it a date would be rather lovely," Lindsey said quietly. She was looking at the floor. "That is...if that's what you want." She looked up at him. His eyes were so inviting. She just wanted to get lost in them forever.
"I would love it. But, right now, we both need to get some rest, so I guess I had better get going." Lindsey got up to see Nigel to the door, but the wine went to her head and she almost fell. Luckily, Nigel was there to catch her.
"Careful. Are you okay?" he asked. He still had his arms wrapped around her waist and her head and arms were still resting on his chest. His heart was bearly beating.
"Just fine. Thank you." She looked up at him. I guess I really should be getting to bed." Lindsey said, still gazing in his eyes.
He helped her to the door, and then he stepped outside. He took her hands in his and kissed them. "See you tomorrow." And with that, he was gone.
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He undressed and started crawling into bed. He was thinking about her and about what had happened. "She was so close, Nigel. You should have kissed her," he thought to himself. At that moment there was nothing that he wanted to do more, but he didn't because they were both a bit tipsy, and he would have felt he was taking advantage of her if he had kissed her while they were in such a state.
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Lindsey took down her hair and changed into her nightgown. She washed her face and climbed into bed. The whole while she thought about Nigel. She was really beginning to like him, and they had only known each other a day! "What's wrong with you, Lindsey? You don't need to be liking him so soon. At least you guys have business to attend to." And with that, she drifted off to sleep with thoughts of Nigel and the Book of Sophocles.
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Lindsey woke up to the sound of someone coming into her room. She opened her eyes slightly and could see a dark figure moving across the room at the foot of her bed. She fought the urge to scream, and stayed as still as she could. The intruder began rummaging through her drawers, slamming each one with disgust. Apparently he couldn't find what he was looking for. After completely invading her privacy, he then turned to her. Lindsey shut her eyes quickly, to frightened to watch what he was going to do. She could feel his hands trace her face around to her mouth and she screamed before he could clamp her mouth shut. "Where is the book?" a gruff, male voice demanded.
"I don't know..." she said through the muffle of his hand. She couldn't keep the tears from stinging her eyes.
"Then where are the manuscripts?" He shouted. She squirmed up underneath him. He pressed a knife close to her throat. He moved his hand from her mouth for her to answer. Instead she kneed him in the crotch and crawled out from under him and onto the floor. She then ran to open her bedroom door.
"If I can only get to Nigel," she thought, and she ran into the living room. It was very difficult to navigate the foreign room in the dark, and she ended up stumbling a few times. All of a sudden, she could feel two gloved hands grab her arms roughly, and throw her against the wall. Two pictures fell off of the wall and fell to the floor, shattering the glass in the frames. Lindsey hit her head hard on the wall, and blacked out. She fell into a limp form on the floor on top of the broken glass. The intruder, knowing that he had made too much noise, quickly ran out of the apartment, leaving the door wide open, and Lindsey laying bleeding on the floor.
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Nigel awoke with a start. The thump that came from Lindsey's room made him worry. It sounded like a body had been slammed against it with enough force to break a few bones. He quickly pushed that thought from his mind. "If that thump were loud enough to wake me up, it had to be loud enough to wake Lindsey up," he thought. He didn't know why, but he had an unnerving feeling that something was horribly wrong. "Maybe she just stumbled and fell, Nigel. She was a little intoxicated before she went to bed, and the room is new to her. She probably won't be able to navigate it well in the dark," he thought to himself. "Or, she could be hurt, or worse..." he continued to wonder. He finally decided to give her a call to make sure she was okay. The phone rang and rang, but no one answered. "I'll just go knock on her door. And, when she answers, I'll just tell her that I heard a noise and was wondering if she was okay," Nigel decided. He put on his housecoat over his tee-shirt and boxers, and went outside. He turned to knock on Lindsey's door and saw that the door was wide open. "That is very odd. I distinctly remember her shutting it. I even remember hearing the deadbolt lock. Something's not right." He looked inside the apartment. The streetlight gave him just enough light to see that the living room had been completely ransacked. He immediately entered the room. Not wanting to alarm the intruder, if he was still there, he left the lights off. He grabbed an overturned lamp for defense, and then quickly moved in the first room he came to. He saw the unmade bed, and the clothes on the floor. He knew that this had to be her room, but she was no longer in it. He was really starting to be worried now, when he heard a groaning coming from the living room. Lamp in his hand and ready for anything, he followed the direction of the noise.
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Lindsey could feel an ache in what seemed like every part of her body. She felt like she had just been hit like a truck. She thought about getting up, but, remembering the intruder, decided not too. She opened her eyes and saw a dark figure moving towards her with an object raised in his hands.
"Oh, my God! He's gonna kill me!" she thought. She let out the most blood-curdeling scream Nigel had ever heard.
"Lindsey!! Oh, my god." Nigel quickly threw down the lamp. Anyone who was still in the apartment would have came out by now, if for nothing else, the scream. He kneeled down beside her to check her out. "Are you okay? Where are you hurt." He noticed the blood-stained glass beneath her. His breath got caught in his throat.
"I'm okay...I think." Lindsey managed to get out. Once she realized it was Nigel, she calmed down a bit. She was so glad to see him.
"But, you're bleeding." Nigel was relieved to hear her voice. He didn't want to think about all of the things horrible things that had just been running through his head.
"It's just the glass from the picture frames. I'll live." She tried to sit up, and Nigel quickly helped her and flipped on the lights. She had a nasty gash over her left eye, and two rather nasty-looking, large bruises appearing on her arms. He was almost certain she was hurting all over. "I have a first-aid kit in the bathroom, if you'll go get it please, I'll fix myself up." Lindsey tried to grin at him, but it hurt too much. Nigel quickly ran into the bathroom and grabbed the first-aid kit. He noticed the manuscripts sitting on the bathroom counter.
Nigel called the police, and they were on their way with the EMT's. He had insisted on cleaning her up. She was going to do it herself, but he felt that she had had enough for one night, and was not going to let her lift a finger. "Did the intruder say what he wanted?" Nigel asked.
"Yeah, he said he wanted to know where the book was. I told him I didn't know, so he asked where the manuscripts were. That's when I kicked him and ran. Then he caught me and threw me against the wall. I blacked out, and he got away with our manuscripts, I suppose," Lindsey said dejectedly.
"Well, it seems that you hid them rather well." Nigel smiled as he handed her the manuscripts. "I found them in your bathroom. Apparently the intruder didn't have any need to go in there."
"I must have left them there when I went to wash my face." Lindsey felt relieved.
The police came and left, and Lindsey looked like she could use some sleep. He did not like the idea of her staying there by herself. "Lindsey, do you want to stay at my house tonight? You can have the bed, and I'll take the couch. I'm just afraid that whomever was here tonight may be back, and I don't want you here alone again." He looked at her timidly.
"Thank you, Nigel. I would appreciate that." Lindsey answered back to him. So they both locked the door, and went to his apartment. He helped her into his bed. All she had suffered was a slight concussion and several bruises, but no broken bones. She didn't even need stiches!
"Goodnight, Lindsey." Nigel said before turning to walk away.
"Nigel?" Lindsey called after him very timidly, and didn't know how to say what she wanted to say.
"Yes?" he answered back. He couldn't help but feel helpless and at fault for what happened. "You left those with her, knowing how rival relic hunters are. How very bright of you, Nigel." his head was saying.
"Um, actually, I was wondering if you could...um...sleep...here...with me...UH...i mean...not "sleep" with me, but you know...actually sleep with me." Lindsey couldn't believe how incredibly dumb she sounded. I just really don't want to be alone right now." She could barely keep the tears from her voice. She had just finally let the realization of what happen wash over her.
Nigel quickly crawled into bed beside her, and she just lay on his chest, sobbing like a baby. He just stroked her hair, and held her. "Shhhh...it's going to be okay, now. No one is going to hurt you now..." Nigel softly whispered. Lindsey eventually cried herself to sleep on Nigel's chest, and Nigel was relieved to see her finally at rest. Tomorrow, they would sort this whole mess out, and he would find out who did this. He soon fell asleep too, with Lindsey soundly asleep in his arms, and her tears forming warm, wet circles of fabric that caressed his skin.
A/N: Sorry for any typos or grammar mistakes. I wrote this at like 3:30 in the morning, and I'm quite tired. Oh, and I had intended on using Auburn as a part of Lindsey's past in this chapter, but chose to wait until later on. I'll just leave my note in the disclaimer for future references...=). Please R&R.
