Evening At The Cabin Right Now…
Several hours passed before Billie finally regained consciousness. Her mind registered that the sky had turned pitch black and evening had settled once again. She also noticed she wasn't on the floor anymore, but lying on the couch, her back pressed up against her partner's bare chest. Suddenly feeling very uncomfortable after all she'd said earlier that day, Billie tried to pull away, but his tight hold kept her in place. "Van," the strength in her voice came out with that one word. She needed to get his attention so he'd let her go and she could possibly retract all that she had said. "Van," her voice came out clear again, even more strongly than before as she turned around to face him. It was then that she noticed his pale features and the beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
Billie no longer felt uncomfortable. That terrible fear came back with a vengeance as she pressed her palm to his forehead. Van was burning up. "Oh, God," Billie said as she struggled to remove herself from his grasp. "Van, wake up," she ordered, shaking his shoulder. "Van… VAN! Van, please wake up!" She was getting frantic. Why wasn't he awake? Why was he so warm? What was wrong with him? The questions flooded Billie's mind as she searched for what might have caused him to get so ill in such a short amount of time.
Looking down at the blood soaked bandage covering the wound in his shoulder, Billie realized it had started to bleed again. She sat up and started peeling back the tape and gauze until only the cotton was left. Pulling it free, the full horror of his gunshot wound became clear. Billie turned away, unable to look. It had gotten infected. Returning to her survival skills class and what she'd learned about infections, she remembered that redness, swelling, warmth, and pus were the first symptoms. A fever was the next stage of the infection indicating it had become systemic.
"Oh, fuck," she softly cried. "Why do things just keep getting worse? Why?" Billie felt like crying again. The world seemed to be against her at the moment as her head fell into her hands. She roughly rubbed her eyes with her fingers, forcing herself to stay calm. Being a sobbing mess wasn't going to solve anything, and it wasn't going to help Van.
Billie slowly extricated herself from his grasp. Van coughed slightly as she slid off the armrest of the couch to make her way to the kitchen. The first thing she needed to do was bring down his fever, and since whoever owned this place didn't feel the need to keep any types of over the counter antibiotics or pain killers stocked in the medicine cabinet, she had to fill a large basin with cold water and place a few pieces of fabric in it to soak. The next thing Billie did was turn the burner on under the teapot to warm the tea that was still in it. She soon returned to the living room, leaving the basin on the coffee table and making her way to the hearth to put another log into the fire since it was nearly dead. With a new burst of warmth spreading through the room, she felt confident again.
Ever so gently, Billie lifted Van's head, causing him cough again, and slid her legs beneath it so he was resting in her lap. He took a deep breath, causing her to pause and look down at him as he coughed. His grey green eyes slowly opened and looked up at her in confusion and disorientation. "Hey," she whispered, plastering a smile on her lips so he wouldn't get scared. Van mumbled something she could barely hear and closed his eyes again as he tried to get comfortable. Even turning made him cough. "Don't move around too much," Billie added, placing her cool hand on his forehead.
"Mmm," was his response as he coughed once more. She placed the extra towel in the basin, soaking it thoroughly and wringing it out before placing it on Van's warm forehead. Again, he moaned something incoherent, but relaxed slightly.
The teapot whistled in the kitchen, prompting Billie to pull the cool cloth away and get up. Van protested, not wanting her to leave as he weakly wrapped his left arm around her leg. "I'll be right back, I promise," she whispered, placing a soft kiss on his burning face. He let go and she walked into the kitchen to grab the teapot off the stove. Taking two cups out of the cupboard, Billie poured equal amounts of the hot tea into each and headed back to the living room.
Even though Billie was going to use the vodka on the coffee table to clean out Van's wound, she decided to pour a half shot of it into his tea just to make sure it dulled his pain. Gently, she slid herself back beneath his head and picked up his cup, bring it to his lips. "Drink," Billie softly encouraged, being careful not to tip the cup too much. Van was compliant, sipping the warm drink offered to him. When he'd had his fill, which wasn't much since his coughing would start up again every time he took a sip, she replaced it on the coffee table and grabbed the vodka and towel again. Billie sighed, knowing what she had to do next was going to hurt, no matter how much alcohol she put in Van's drink. The whole bottle wasn't going to dull the pain as soon as she placed that towel on his wound.
'Brace yourself,' Billie thought after having soaked the towel in the vodka. Being gentle wasn't an option; she had to do this fast. In one quick motion, Billie placed the vodka-soaked towel on both sides the gunshot wound and pressed down, eliciting the most gut-wrenching, soul piercing, pain filled scream she'd ever heard come out of Van's mouth. It was worse than the scream she'd heard over the phone when he was kidnapped and that crazy couple tried to cut off his thumb. Tears streamed down his already wet cheeks as he grabbed her arm and held on for dear life. His face twisted in pain as he buried it in her inner thigh.
Instinctively, Billie wrapped her arms around his head and cradled him, whispering soft words of comfort into his ear. Van continued to hold her in his death grip as she felt the first pangs of guilt hit her. She'd hoped she wouldn't have to deal with it again, but after hearing and seeing him cry out, it all came rushing back to her. Now was not the time to try and make amends. Billie needed to end this horrible suffering before Van passed out from the pain. She wiped the wound clean, making sure she'd gotten as much of the pus and debris out of it as she could.
After redressing it with the last of the cotton (which she'd sprinkled with a tiny bit of vodka), gauze and tape, she could feel Van begin to relax. His fingers slowly released their hold of her arm as his head rolled back into her lap. "I'm so sorry," Billie whispered as she tossed the towel onto the floor and placed a soft upside down kiss on his forehead.
She tried to hold back the tears that suddenly sprang to her eyes, but one somehow managed to get past her defenses and rolled down her chin, falling softly onto Van's face. He looked up at her, those grey green eyes locking onto baby blue, and raised his shaking left hand to stroke her cheek. He might have been an incoherent, mumbling mess, but he still knew when she was hurting. Billie felt the tears coming again, but she could barely hold them back this time, and as Van continued to gaze at her, she felt a few more fall down her cheeks, landing on his fingers.
He began to mumble again, but this time she managed to hear one word pass his lips, "Cry." Van smiled up at her as she released once more, allowing herself to cry as his fingers continued to stroke her face. "I'm so sorry," Billie broke down, placing her hand on top of his, holding it against her face as she kissed his fingertips. "Please, don't die," she whispered as she gently ran her fingers through his sweat slicked hair.
Van shook his head to say no then brought his left hand to his neck and the chains she always saw hanging from it. He touched the one with the cross as if to say, "Have faith." Billie nodded in understanding, her fingers lacing with his. They continued to stare at each other until his eyes began to droop.
"Sleep," Billie whispered, still refusing to let go of his hand. She wanted to make sure he knew she'd be there when he woke up, and to reassure herself that he was still with her. Van soon dozed off, allowing her to reach over and grab the towel that was soaking in the cold water. After wringing it out, she gently dabbed it over his forehead and chest, cooling his red hot skin. Billie also reached over and grabbed her own cup of tea, but not before spiking it with vodka. She knew she was going back to her old habits, but right now, she didn't want to feel all the pain; she just wanted to fall asleep.
After having downed most of the cup, Billie slowly eased herself down so she was lying beside her partner, her hand resting on his chest just above his heart so she could feel it beat against her palm. It was the only reassurance she had now that Van was asleep. Her head fell on his left shoulder, snuggling close to the nape of his neck. She could feel the alcohol coursing through her veins, gently lulling her to sleep as well.
It didn't take long for her to nod off. But the dreams that followed would haunt her for a long time to come. They were all about Van, and what it would be like to kiss those velvety soft lips, slow and tender at first, then harder and more passionately as his hands ran over her body, touching places she had longed to be touched again.
Before they could blossom into a full on wet dream, Billie awoke with a start, short of breath. She looked over at Van to see he was still soundly sleeping, but now she felt a burning in her throat that had nothing to do with the alcohol she'd drunk. A fit of coughing erupted from her lungs as well. It suddenly hit her that she was getting sick too.
"Son of a bitch," Billie managed to blurt before she started coughing again. Now was the perfect time to start panicking, but Billie was too caught up trying to stop herself from collapsing a lung to notice. When she finally got her coughing under control, she let out a sigh of relief and lay back down beside Van, who had somehow managed to sleep through the whole thing. Well, at least it meant he didn't have to worry about this now. Billie wrapped her arms around his neck and went back to sleep feeling lethargic and sick. 'This sucks,' was the last thing she could remember thinking about before she was knocked out completely.
Y'all are LUCKY! I somehow found a pocket of time in my extra busy finals schedule to actually update! Woohoo! Be happy, be VERY happy, cuz I don't know how long its gonna be before I update again. Only a few chapters left before this story is finished. I know, it's said, but there will be another one coming soon. Let's just hope I finish it before Christmas. Anyway, on a side note, there will be an X-rated version of this chapter posted to my website, http/ if any of you are interested. I just don't know when that's gonna happen, so don't check right now. Onto other pressing matters (BTW, gotta make these short)...
prplerayne: LoL! Yeah, I thought I'd just tap into Deaq's anger in that last chapter. He seriously needed to be assertive, so I wrote it in. Hope you liked this update!
FoxyWombat: I know what you mean... This is definitely the semester from hell for me. Here's more Van/Billie drama that you wanted. Enjoy!
fan4fastln: Well, I guess I'm screwed... I'd better warn you now, the last chapter might be a bit sappy for you, but I hope you stick with it. It's only the last chapter. There's plent more shit that still needs to happen before that. Anyway, I'm glad you liked the last update. I had fun with that chapter. It's nice to give Deaq a little more power.
ackeberlynn: Thank you for the heads up on the Patriot Act! Nice that I actually got it right for a change. I feel the same way about it, tho. Glad you liked the last update.
Avillie: Don't feel guilty! I'm awful when it comes to updating around finals week/holidays. Anyway, I hope this satisfies your need for Van/Billie drama.
The Unsigned: Thanks for reading! I really appreciate it. Sorry to keep you waiting.
As always, please read and review. I thank you for all you wonderful comments and cititcism. Hope you enjoyed this last update!
Stay tuned, more story coming soon!