Disclaimer as before. Sorry it's taken me so long to update, I've just started university! Enjoy!


Sandra knocked on the door and waited for a reply. And she kept waiting, and knocking, and waiting again. Until she finally gave in and yelled.

"GERRY WILL YOU OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!"

Eventually the door opened and the man facing her wasn't looking exactly like she had pictured. She knew he was tired, they all were especially after that meal with Strickland, but he looked dazed, like he was about to fall over.

"Sorry Sandra," he struggled to get his words out, "I must have fallen asleep."

She could see his eyes were bloodshot, any other time she would have thought he'd been drinking, but she knew him better than that by now; too well in fact for her liking, but she had realised that was something she was going to have to face up to.

"Gerry, I need to talk to you about..." She trailed off and looked at the floor trying to think of the right words. "I..um...look Gerry, you and me..we..." She eventually stopped and looked up at her colleague and noticed that he seemed to be staring straight through her. "Are you listening to me?"

"Sorry Sandra, I don't think I feel too well."

"You don't look it. Come on". She gently squeezed past Gerry who wasn't really making any attempt to move out of the way, brushing her chest up against his as she entered the room. This told Sandra everything she needed to know; if he didn't flinch at that then he was really ill.

Sandra took Gerry's arm and sat him on the bed.

"Look I think you need to lie down, I think you've still got concussion." Gerry just nodded and started to take off his shoes before lying back on his bed.

It wasn't long before Gerry was fast asleep again, with not much waking him up. Even when Sandra moved the duvet beneath him so she could tuck him in properly. And not even when Sandra got in beside him, under the duvet, did he notice. Sandra decided that she wasn't going to leave him on his own tonight, she didn't want to risk something bad happening to the person she cared about the most. That thought in itself was a breakthrough for Sandra; she had finally admitted that she cared for him, she just wished she'd actually had the chance to tell him.

It hadn't been long before Sandra had fallen asleep as well. She found this strange too; normally she found it difficult to sleep, but having Gerry by her side seemed to make it easier.

Sandra woke up in the middle of the night as she was a little warm. She tried pulling back the covers but it didn't help. So instead she decided to take her trousers and top off. She was sure Gerry wouldn't notice, he was still dead to the world. She got back into bed and stared over at Gerry. There was sweat forming on his brow, she knew that he must be boiling too, but was too fast asleep to notice. She lifted up the duvet a little and slid closer to Gerry. She began unbuttoning his shirt so that he would be cooler; she decided it was probably best to leave his trousers on. She felt the warmth of his skin as she pulled back the material from his chest to let the cool air get to him. As she lay back down she fought the urge to snuggle up next to him. To be pressed into his side. To be somewhere she felt safe. This time it was more difficult to get back to sleep.

Sandra had finally managed to get to sleep that night, although it had taken her a while. When she woke she realised why she had suddenly been able to sleep. She was curled up into Gerry with her head resting on his chest, and her arm draped over his stomach. But what made Sandra feel slightly better about waking up like this was that Gerry's arms were tightly around her body. Sandra didn't feel quite like she had taken advantage of a semi-conscious man anymore, even if nothing did happen, because he obviously wanted to be close to her too.

"This time," Sandra whispered to herself, "This time you have to tell him." She placed her head back down on Gerry's chest and fell asleep again, gripping Gerry's waist tighter than before.


Hope you're still enjoying this. Will try and update quicker than last time!

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