"Coma arousal therapy," Reid announced, popping up beside Emily in line for coffee in the hospital cafeteria, nearly startling her into dropping the cup of boiling liquid in her hand.
"Come again?" she asked once her heart rate had slowed.
"It's unproven at best, but..." He trailed off. "Emily, your hands are shaking," he pointed out as she stirred her coffee, sloshing the brown liquid over the sides of the cup.
"I haven't had breakfast yet," she said, a little too quickly. Without waiting for her coffee to cool, she took several large swallows.
He eyed her suspiciously for a few moments, but said nothing. He grabbed a muffin, a container of yogurt, and a banana and paid for them, then set them before her as they sat down.
"You didn't have to..." she started to protest.
"Eat," he said firmly, leaving no room for argument.
Conceding, she took a bite of the muffin and plastered on a 'happy now?' smile. "You were saying?" she prompted.
"Right. It's unproven at best, but there is some evidence that coma arousal therapy may help stimulate brain activity in patients in a persistent vegetative state. I can't promise that it will do anything, but it's worth a shot." He seemed exceedingly proud of himself for having discovered something.
Emily's face lit up. "Reid, that's wonderful! So, how does it work? What do we do?"
His cheeks pinked with embarrassment. "Well, umm..." He cleared his throat. "You have to stimulate his, uh, senses..."
"'Stimulate his senses?'" she repeated skeptically. He avoided eye contact for so long that realization dawned on her. "Oh... Oh. Alright, then. Well, I'll try anything."
He cleared his throat again. "Great. Okay, well, let me know." He scuttled off just as quickly as he'd approached.
"If you're in there, please don't judge me for what I'm about to do," Emily informed Derek's unconscious form seriously. "It was Reid's idea, by the way. I'm not sure yet whether I want to thank him or kill him."
Derek clapped his hands together. "Let's do this. I'm ready to wake up."
"It isn't going to work," Ian said.
Derek turned to glower at him. "Isn't there somewhere else you can be right now?"
"And miss the show?" He grinned, showing too many teeth. "Not for anything in the world."
She paced back and forth a few times. "This is weird. This is so weird," she said, mostly to herself. "Damn it, Reid." She let out a heavy breath and rubbed her hands together, trying to psych herself up.
Not feeling any braver, but anxious to get it over with, she climbed onto the bed so she could straddle his hips. "I'm going to stimulate your senses, baby..." she said, attempting to be sexy, but feeling incredibly awkward. A bright red flush crept across her cheeks and down her neck. Dirty talk had never been her strong suit and, on more than one occasion, her attempts had left him in uproarious laughter.
Her eyes lifted to the ceiling as if looking to God above for the fortitude to power through her embarrassment and do this for him.
"Scent," she said, reaching over to the table at the side of the bed and grabbing the elegant glass bottle there, spraying the air with perfume.
"Oh, no, not the perfume..." he rasped, inhaling deeply. That perfume never failed to get him excited – it smelled like her, like them. He'd given it to her as a gift for their six month anniversary. It wasn't the typical spicy cinnamon scent she usually wore, but it had quickly become her favourite. He didn't think he'd ever forget that last time she'd worn it...
"Sound," she said next, flicking on the stereo, a slow jazz tune tinkling out of the speakers. She'd gone into his iPod and found the most played song, putting it on repeat. She didn't know the name of the song, but she remembered dancing together to it on their first date.
"Princess," Derek said, shaking his head. He'd never heard the song before that date and had to tip the DJ a twenty to find out the name so he could listen to it again. It had quickly become his favourite song. He hadn't been able to listen to it since she'd left without his heart feeling like it might shrivel up and die, but even after all this time, it still sounded like them, together.
"Now, the good part..." she whispered, pulling her sweater up over her head, exposing her lace clad breasts. She took one of his hands in hers and pressed his palm against her hip. "If you're in there, now would be the perfect time to wake up," she informed him seriously.
Derek shut his eyes, head lolling back. He groaned softly, entirely too aware of Ian's presence to really enjoy it.
She moved his hand up to cup her breast through her bra, resting her hand over top of his to squeeze softly.
There was a sharp knock at the door and before she could climb off of him, Desi entered the room before stopping short, eyes wide. "Oh! Oh, my God!" she yelped, covering her eyes. "What-what are you doing?"
"It's called coma arousal therapy," Emily said in a rush, scrambling for her sweater to cover up. "I'm trying to wake him up..." Her face was as red as the sweater she was unsuccessfully attempting to pull over her head.
Desi gave a snort of laughter. "Well, knowing my brother, if anything would wake him up, it would be that."
Emily couldn't help but laugh, in spite of her utter mortification. "Please, don't tell your mother," she begged.
Desi shook her head, biting down on her laughter to spare Emily's feelings. "She doesn't need to know," she agreed.
Emily smiled gratefully. "Well, I'm just going to go crawl in a hole and die, okay?" She squeezed his hand one last time and moved to leave, when his hand tightened around hers, briefly, but definitely there.