Author's Note: Hi, gang! I am SO SORRY about the delays to updating. I've been pretty out of it physically and mentally lately. On the bright side, here's the 100th chapter of Torture Without You! It's shorter than I originally planned, but a kitten deleted some stuff and I have to rewrite it. But I just finished a monster life admin task, and now I want to do something that actually feels fun, so here we go!
A little stunned by how well her bedside meeting with Pellington had gone, Jane retraced her steps towards Roman's hospital room. Pellington had always been a figure of fear to her, whether or not she liked to admit it, so having him actually thank her for saving them all, and extend an invitation to become a more permanent employee of the FBI… It was a dream come true, almost.
She slowed when she heard Kurt and Roman's voices—not intending to eavesdrop, exactly, but wanting to get a sense of how the two of them interacted when she wasn't in the room.
"...should probably apologise," Roman was saying. "Jane wants to stay at the safehouse with me until the doctors say I don't need to be supervised, so…"
"She does?" Kurt sounded a little taken aback.
"Yeah. I know you guys have missed each other, though. I'm sorry I got shot bad enough to need a nursemaid."
Kurt laughed. "If you hadn't, more of my people at the FBI might have been injured by your team members, so don't apologise. Really." He hesitated. "You know, I have a spare room in my apartment. It's been empty since…my sister moved out."
Since his murderer dad died, Jane mentally filled in. No doubt Roman knew that as well, since Jane had told Oscar, and Oscar would have found that information relevant enough to pass on to Shepherd. But her brother didn't call him on the omission.
"You're welcome to stay there until you don't need as much support."
Oh, Kurt, I love you so much.
"I don't wanna be a burden—" Roman began.
"You won't be. If you're important to Jane, you're important to me. And honestly, I'd feel better if Jane stayed at home right now. For my own sake, as well as hers."
After a moment of silence, Roman said, "Okay. Thanks."
Jane smiled, her heart lightening further still.
"Ms Briggs?"
Jane turned to see a nurse standing there, holding a giant vase of flowers that she could barely see Jane over.
"Uh, it's Doe. Jane Doe," she said hastily, uncomfortable with the misconception. 'Ms. Briggs' was Remi, not her. "But yeah, I'm Roman's sister."
The nurse smiled. "These just arrived for him. I thought you might want to give them to him yourself."
"Sure. Thanks." Jane took the vase from her, a little confused. Who would be sending Roman flowers?
She carried them back into the room. "Looks like you have a fan."
Roman stared at the flowers as she placed the vase on the windowsill. "I do?"
Jane brought him the card that had been attached to the arrangement, and glanced at Kurt as Roman opened the envelope. Her lover looked slightly amused, as though he already knew who'd sent the elaborate bouquet.
"To Roman, from everyone at the FBI. Thank you for your assistance." Still seeming baffled, Roman looked over at Kurt. "You sent these?"
Kurt grinned. "Not personally. This has Brianna written all over it. I didn't even have to ask."
"His assistant," Jane filled in, though Roman probably already knew. If Borden had supplied Sandstorm with a detailed layout of SIOC, he'd probably given her an overview of the personnel staffing it, too.
Roman nodded slowly, processing the situation. "I guess…tell her thanks for the flowers. Not that I have any idea what to do with them."
Jane could sympathise. She didn't remember ever getting flowers sent to her, either—and wasn't sure what she'd do with them if she got some. They seemed like such an impractical gift. "Just let them sit there and look pretty, I guess. I dunno."
She sat back down next to Roman, who shot the flowers one more confused glance before returning his attention to his sister.
"Thank you so much, Kurt," Jane said, as soon as they were back in the car.
He turned the key in the ignition, glancing over to find her watching him with clear gratitude and love. Unable to help himself, he leaned over and gave her a soft, gentle kiss. "For what?"
"For letting Roman stay at your place," she said. Roman had told her the plan, and she'd confessed that she'd overheard as she'd been returning from Pellington's room.
"Our place," he corrected, taking her hand. "And you're welcome. It was a selfish decision, really—I didn't want you spending nights away from me so soon after I got you back."
She looked down at their joined hands, smiling a little. "Yeah, I wasn't too happy about that idea myself. But I need to take care of him."
As much as he had reservations about the decisions Roman might make in the future, Kurt knew Jane was deeply protective of her brother. He'd have to either get on board with that, or watch her distance herself from him. Hopefully, Roman wouldn't put her in a position where she'd need to choose between them.
"We will. And this way he doesn't have to eat any of your cooking, so…"
Jane laughed, giving him a soft punch in the arm. "Hey!"
"Sorry. I couldn't help it." He grinned, glad to see her looking so happy so soon after her ordeal. It wouldn't last, but they'd take the good with the bad, no matter what.
"Speaking of food, do we need to eat before the gang come over, or are we gonna eat with them?"
"Pretty sure I heard Tasha say something about Greek food." He put the car into drive, and Jane squeezed his hand before relinquishing it so that he could reverse out of the parking spot.
"You sure you're okay with everyone coming over so soon?" She'd said she was, but if she was too tired or overwhelmed, he'd cancel without a second thought.
"Yes. Really. I've missed them, and we've been so focused on the aftermath of everything… We haven't had much time to catch up." Her smile faded. "Plus I think Patterson really needs this. Borden's testimony really did a number on her today."
"Yeah." Kurt scowled, thinking back to Borden confessing his love for Patterson. "The sooner that guy's out of the country, the better. A whole ocean isn't far enough distance between him and Patterson."
"Did you warn him off her earlier?" Jane asked, though she must have already been fairly sure of the answer.
"Yeah. And I got in touch with GCHQ to make sure they keep tabs on him. He can be British intelligence's problem from now on."
Jane nodded, guilt filling her expression. "That's good. Patterson doesn't need any more contact with him."
"Neither do you," he said, voicing his gut feeling before he realised how dictatorial he sounded. "Sorry. I just mean you don't owe him anything. Remi's influence doesn't change the fact that he made his own choices."
"I know," she said quietly. "And I agree—I don't need to talk to him again. But it's probably always gonna bug me a little."
"If you need to talk about it…"
"I'll let you know," she filled in, nodding. "But tonight I want to focus on our friends, and beer, and moussaka."
Kurt steered the car towards the exit, deciding she had the right idea. "I'm right there with you."
She leaned her head briefly against his shoulder. "I know you are."
Author's Note: Thank you again for sticking around for a whole 100 chapters, and I hope you're enjoying this slightly softer non-ZIPped Roman (I love ZIPped Roman too much to not have part of him in my AU, even if he wasn't dosed in this version)! I'll try to have chapter 101 ready to go in a few days. Any thoughts about how the team drinks will go?