Lucie didn't leave Shane's side. She'd stumbled in through Harvey's door in the mid-afternoon, and had waited for him to treat Shane. Harvey could see her shadow pacing on the other side of the curtain as he inserted the drip to Shane's arm.
It was such a shame. He'd seen Shane slowly destroying himself for the past couple of years, but never felt like it was his place to say anything, but here was Lucie. She hadn't realised what she was getting herself into, and here she was, worrying herself over someone who didn't want to worry about himself.

He'd warned her that he was most concerned about Shane's mental health. Warned her that he didn't think Shane would improve unless he decided to, so she shouldn't hold too much hope in the treatment plan Harvey would suggest for him in ZuZu City. Warned her that he'd definitely be out for a good few hours at least, and that she'd be better off going home to sleep.

Lucie had just looked at him, exhaustion in her eyes and asked if she could stay with him. She didn't want him to wake and be alone. She asked if he was going to be okay, physically. When Harvey had promised her that the damage wasn't permanent - this time - her shoulders had sank with relief, and she'd sat down on the small chair by Shane's bed, and taken his hand in hers. She rubbed small circles on his knuckle for a few moments, before looking up at Harvey.

"Thank you," she whispered, a little hoarsely.

"Just doing my job." Harvey shrugged in response.

"The contact in ZuZu City is Maggie, right?" Harvey blinked in surprise when Lucie had suggested it, but she was right. He nodded and Lucie smiled weakly before explaining. "She was Pelican Town's go to for my mum too. Mum didn't really want to try."


It was about 4 am when suddenly Lucie remembered Marnie, and Jas, and how much they must be worrying that Shane didn't come home that night. She stood quickly, then paused as she got head rush. Closing her eyes for a moment, she swayed by Shane's bedside. The forced stop made her look down at him. If she ignored the IV, he looked so peaceful, his face tilted towards her in sleep, hair falling across his forehead. She swept it back with an affectionate stroke of her hand, running her thumb back across his forehead a few times before lightly pressing a kiss on to his forehead.

The door to the clinic was locked, so she lightly padded upstairs and woke Harvey with an apology. He grouchily lifted himself from his bed and found the key.

"Thanks, Harvey," Lucie whispered, barely more than a breath.

"I hope he's worth all your trouble." Was all Harvey could think to respond. Lucie looked at him, unreadable. Her hand rested on the door, half out into the brisk morning air.

"Everyone is worth the trouble."


The knocking on the ranch door had Marnie up and out of bed in a heartbeat, hurrying to the door, praying that she would get to scold Shane for being reckless. She wrenched the door open and her heart cracked.

Lucie stood with her back to the sunrise, the pink glow spilling behind her, silhouetting her to Marnie. Marnie dared not breathe.

Lucie struggled with herself for a moment, knowing her panic was on face, then let out a shuddering breath and nodded.

"He's fine. He's at the hospital, he had his stomach pumped - I'm so, so sorry I didn't come sooner. I. I didn't think." Lucie pressed a hand to her mouth, holding in the words. "He's fine. He's going to be fine."

Marnie looked at her, then pulled the young woman into a hug. Lucie wrapped her arms back around Marnie, and quietly repeated.

"He's going to be fine."


Lucie anxiously watered her plants. She was too nervous to try to sleep, so she may as well try to be productive. The animals had been fed, watered, and milked. Diogenes had screamed at her as usual, but this time, the screaming was met with a defeated, "Same, buddy," instead of the usual "shut up".

So, now, Lucie was watering plants. She'd grabbed her hoe and decided to use the wild seeds that she kept finding around the place. Why not? If she didn't do something, she'd go insane - and holy, shit it was Shane.

He was stood at the gate, rubbing his hand awkwardly. When she met his gaze he looked away quickly. Too quickly.

"So," he began. Lucie walked up towards the gate, closing the gap between them. "This is awkward. How do I…?"

Lucie didn't let him speak, instead threw her arms around his shoulders, burying her face into his neck. Shane stiffened in her arms, then, slowly placed a hand on her lower back. It wasn't quite a hug - a better description would be that he patted her lower back, but forgot to remove his hand.

"I'm just so glad that you're okay," she mumbled into his neck. Shane's eyes widened.

"Wow, it was that serious? I can hardly remember any of it…" he trailed off. She was still holding him, and her hair was tickling his nose. How, he didn't understand as she barely came up to his chin normally, and even on tiptoe she was still a far cry from his nose. Lucie let go of him as though she could hear him thinking about how nice her hair smelled. He hadn't said that aloud, had he?

He looked awkwardly away, moving as if to leave. Lucie tried to think of a reason to make him stay, to make him be near her where she could know he was okay. To think of a reason to hug him again, to press herself against the warmth of his body again.

"I've decided to see a therapist," Shane said, redness gracing his cheeks as he spoke. "Harvey put me in contact with a colleague of his in ZuZu City. It's kinda lame, but -"

"-It's not lame at all."

"Anyway," Shane cleared his throat awkwardly. "I just wanted to thank you for taking care of me. And I want you to know that I'm going to take things a little more seriously from now on. I don't want to be a burden on anyone."

Lucie smiled softly at him, her eyes kind and outshining the morning sun.

"Well. You're always welcome here, where you can… feed chickens and feel like less of a burden," she sniffed audibly, and tried to smile at him again. Shane tried to return the attempt, which was worth it just for the small laugh it brought out of Lucie. She stepped backwards, and seemed to shrink, before speaking again. "Hey. When you say you can barely remember anything…?"

"I don't remember anything but seeing your shoes and waking in the clinic," Shane answered, shoving his hands deeply in his pockets. Lucie made a small noise in response, a small, half strangled 'oh'. Shane looked down at her, then frowned, looking even further down. "Did you have to stand on the fence to hug me?"

"Get off my farm."


Shane chuckled to himself as he left the farm, Lucie good-naturedly throwing a clot of dirt at him. It hit him on the shoulder and splintered into a thousand crumbs, but he didn't care.

After all, she'd told him that she loved him. What was a bit of dirt in comparison to that?