My my, this is fairly long for me, especially writing for Lenalee, hope you like it! I'm already working on chapter eight so it should be up soon.

Chapter VII (Lenalee's POV)

I knew I was hurting Allen, and yet I didn't think I could stop. No matter how hard I tried, the same resolution came about, I loved Lavi and that was all that there was to it. If Allen couldn't understand that or take it reasonably, there was nothing that I could do to stop him. Why was it that I had choosen such a hard path? I knew that Allen could've protected me, from danger, from pain. But Lavi held something more for me, what exactly that was, I wasn't certain. In any case, I was sure that Lavi wasn't going to wait for me very long. Perhaps I should have talked more to Allen, I might need to lean on him for awhile. A knock on my door aroused me from my thoughts.

"Come in," I stuttered, startled. I almost jumped five feet when Lavi stepped in. He grinned crookedly and I threw a glare at him. "Bookman is going to kill you if he finds you up and about." The red haired exorcist's face turned solemn.

"He already knows where I am." As soon as he said that I knew what he was doing. There was absolutley no way that Bookman would let him in here without a good reason. "Oh please don't start that. I came here so you wouldn't do that." He had seen the tears in my eyes. I thought that I would never be happy again.

"I thought you were going to wait!" Lavi stepped closer to me. He was visibly upset, though wether it was my tears or what he was going through, I couldn't tell. "At least tell me why." I was horrified that he was going through with this. "Why?" At first I thought he wouldn't answer. He was standing akwardly, as if deciding what to do. I heard him sigh loudly and he hugged me as a response. I was so surprised that I couldn't even react. He rested his forehead on my shoulder as though he were tired.

"It's getting harder for me to activate my Innocence, if I don't get it over with soon, I won't be an exorcist anymore. This place is as close to a home as I've ever had, I can't loose that." My mind finally caught up with the situation. I felt as though my heart would break, I could not help him anymore, only give him company. I would do anything to keep Dark Boots, even risk my life like he was going to do, so why would I expect him to do any different? Doubt clouded my mind and filled my mouth with unspoken worries. Lavi seemed to sense my tension and he straightened. "Stop furrowing your brow like that, you'll get wrinkles." I could have slapped him for joking at a time like this. Sadly he sensed that too and took my hands in his own. I gasped as I noticed how hot they were, contrasting starkly from the time when they had been so cold. Ever so carefully, I resisted the urge to jerk away. His temperature must have been well over a hundred, too high for anyone but him or Allen to up. He stiffened as I pushed him into a chair, but relented as soon as I peeled off his headband. Both the band and his face were slick with sweat, he hadn't looked this bad when he had first come in. He must have been up too long.

"How long have you been up?" He gave me a wary glance. "Walking around, not awake." I knew he could tell what I was getting at, a guilty look crossed his face. He swallowed thickly before answering.

"Just over an hour." I hoped for once that he was joking. He had been walking around like this for an hour?! I searched his face for the truth but it stared back at me with a hollow green eye. "Don't worry, I've been fine all day." He was lying now, he wouldn't look at me either. He hardly seemed to be listening to me when I spoke.

"Don't play 'tough guy', your exhausted." He gave me his crooked smile without opening his eyes. "It's not as though I need to be a doctor to know when there's something wrong." The smile faded and he looked at me again.

"Touchy and I didn't even poke a finger in your general direction." His outlook on the situation hadn't changed. I wished he would point a finger at me, that way I could bite it off. Lavi's face changed when he saw me seething. "Is something wrong doctor?" I hated it when he played off of my own words.

"Just because you're sick doesn't mean I won't slap you." He winced and I knew I had gotten through to him.

"Ouch, now I know something's amiss when you threaten voilence." Please don't let him be serious. "I'm sorry to have worried you. I have to do this though." He seemed to add the last part as an afterthought. I felt like I was beginning to feel metaphorecally dizzy with my moods changing so quickly. First it's 'slap him' now it's 'hug the life out of him' although the second one might have been closer to 'kiss him before it's too late'. I think he read my mind. "Not until I'm better." Damn his perceptive skills. I placed a hand on his forehead instead, pretending to ignore his remark. He shivered. "Stop, you're cold." A soft moan escaped his lips and he tried to pull my hand away. I didn't give way, he needed to have something cold on his face, he was getting flushed. "Dammit Lenalee, stop, you're making me cold." My resolved hardened as he cursed, when that happened then he really wasn't well. (Although 'Shit' always seemed to be his favourite word)

"Lavi, you're burning up! You should't have even been up for ten minutes, much less an hour!" I wanted to crawl into his arms and be comforted but he was the one who needed help. "I'll get Bookman down here." He flinched.

"Don't, just let me sit for a bit." He was probably right, the last thing he needed was to be moving around. I watched his face as he closed his eye. His face was unbarebly pale and it looked like he was having trouble breathing. I pulled my hand off and he tensed up. "On or off, pick one or..." I waited him to finish the threat but it never came. "Good Lord, my head hurts," he muttered. Was he talking to himself or me? He seemed to have given up on sharp comebacks. A shaky hand rubbed at the back of his neck and I pulled it away.

"Here, lean forward." He seemed confused although I though that my gesture was pretty obvious. In any case, he did as I asked. He moaned again, gripping the arms of the chair so he wouldn't fall. He seemed to think about shaking his head to clear the dizzyness but thought better of it. "Sorry, didn't think of that." I thought I heard him mutter a sarcastic 'obviously' but he didn't look like he was still in the mood to say that.

Lavi shuddered as I settled my hands on his shoulders. Was I that cold? He certainly had not cooled off. I finally felt him relax a bit as I rubbed at the knots in the muscles along his neck. His hands fell into his lap and I brushed his hair from his face.

"Don't go to sleep or I won't know what to do with you." I sounded nervous although it was more a feeling of despair. He took my right hand and pressed it back to his forehead.

"I won't." I wanted to hear laughter in his voice but there was none. I had never seen him so washed out, drained of emotion as well as strength. I wished that I could lend him some of mine but that was impossible even by exorcist standards. "I shouldn't stay here too long." Why was this turning out like Romeo and Juliet? We loved each other and yet it seemed we couldn't be. He sat up slowly, my hand still trapped.

"I'm not sure you should get up yet." There was a spark of amusement in his eyes.

"Selfish once again, you should get into the habbit of sharing. Now's as good a time as any." He dropped my hand as he rose. I saw him grimace.

"Hey, are you okay?" It was a needless question, he wasn't fine. I frowned as he smiled.

"Just peachy." He winced again and leaned on the conveniently close wall.

Well it's not really a cliffie, but it was a good place to stop. Click the box that says 'review' you would if it was big and red, do it you know you want to...