High on...
Chapter 3. ...caffeine
Author's Note: Thanks to MisNealie, anonymousgem22 and Isobel_Maggie_Wanda24, whose ideas inspired this chapter. And to Skater1263 for beta-reading this translation.
After spending the day in the hospital, while his metabolism eliminated the narcotic from his body, Jubal spent the night at home and returned to work the next morning.
Upon arriving at the office, he found Isobel and most of the rest of the team were up all night working. The granddaughter of one of the Governor's sisters disappeared from a pajama party at a classmate's house. Fortunately, they just found her less than five minutes ago.
As he entered her office, Isobel was talking on the phone. She waved her hand at him as greeting, which became gesture for him to come in. Her face was pale and haggard.
"Yes, ma'am. Aha, that's it. Safe and sound."
Jubal understood she was reporting to the Governor.
The little girl, who suffered from diabetes, had a sudden low blood sugar. Severely disconcerted by finding herself in a strange place, she left her friend's house while the others were asleep. Someone found her asleep in the street and took her to the emergency room, but by then the little girl could not articulate a word or say her name. Between being alerted of her disappearance and finally finding her, it was a long night.
"My agents will escort her parents to the hospital," said Isobel.
She was speaking a little faster than usual. Jubal at first thought it was for emphasis, but then noticed she arranged all the objects on her desk by color. He saw her do this before, when she was tense. Isobel had in her hand the fountain pen he gave her last Christmas and which, since then, she used to sign papers. She was tapping it on the wooden surface in a quick continuous rhythm.
"You're welcome, Madam Governor. It's our work. Noise? What noise? I don't know what you mean, ma'a-"
Jubal leaned over the table and placed his hand on Isobel's, stopping her incessant tapping.
"Oh." She gave Jubal a brief uneasy look. "Yeah, has it stopped now? OK... No, please, don't mention it. Have a nice day too, ma'am."
She hung up the phone as Jubal sat down.
"Looks like I've missed all the fun," he said, eliciting a slight wry smile from Isobel. "Why didn't you call me? I texted you I was discharged yesterday afternoon."
"You needed the rest. How are you feeling?"
And you didn't?, Jubal wondered. If his calculations were correct, after the previous tough case, and having to take him to the hospital -he couldn't help but feel guilty about it-, Isobel barely slept at all for more than 72 hours.
"Fully recovered," he replied.
It wasn't entirely true. Very surreal things populated his dreams last night, as if his brain was still wringing out the remnants of the psychotropic substance. This morning, upon awakening, it seemed the elaborate patterns still danced faded before his eyes in the gloom. He needed a long shower and a heavy breakfast before they disappeared completely.
"Mmm... Hey, Isobel. I wanted to... I wanted to apologize," he said then, straight to the point before he could regret it.
He was worried. He remembered a lot about that night, more than he thought possible under the effect of the narcotic. Some things were deliciously unforgettable, but to be honest, he was unable to distinguish between reality from dream.
"I'm very sorry if I said or did anything inconvenient the other night..." he added.
"Don't worry. You were drugged against your will," Isobel replied, quickly, but with a neutral voice and her best poker face. "Anything improper you might have said or done would be excused."
She couldn't help but lower her gaze slightly, however.
The memory of Jubal's beautiful words and, especially, of his mouth softly, slowly, sweetly exploring hers, of those fingers gently entwining in her hair, of the warmth his body gave off while pressed against hers... It still made Isobel shudder. It would take her a long time to forget it. Maybe she never would.
She didn't hold back either, throwing her arms around his neck, stroking his nape.
The kisses they shared continued, they reveled in them with abandon, until the paramedics interrupted them by knocking on their door. The startle made Isobel feel like a teenager caught by her parents making out with a boy on the living room couch when they got home.
Jubal's question took her a bit by surprise. He didn't seem to remember it specifically. Isobel decided it was best not to bring up the subject.
For his part, Jubal thought it all was part of his other hallucinations. He simply could not believe Isobel's arms would have welcomed him so gladly, her mouth would have returned his attentions with such eagerness. He could no more believe it than he could believe the memories of seeing gorgons, centaurs and sphinxes on the streets of New York, or of flying between its skyscrapers on the back of a hippogriff.
The latter were not as vivid, though...
Reminiscing about what he thought he dreamed of tasting on Isobel's lips, Jubal wondered if he would ever get the chance to actually do it. He immediately chided himself for having such inconvenient thoughts toward Isobel. She's your boss. She's your friend, dammit. But he unconsciously licked his own lips.
Meanwhile, Isobel did a great job of pretending it didn't attract her gaze, nor quicken her pulse even more. She turned her attention back to the things on her desk.
"So, are we all right?" he asked somewhat unsure, the answer Isobel gave, too ambiguous to completely reassure him.
She seemed perhaps to be holding something back. Jubal hoped it was nothing really embarrassing.
"Absolutely. Don't worry anymore," Isobel assured him.
Nodding, Jubal stood up, giving her a relieved smile.
The secret part of him from where Jubal thought those silly hallucinations sprang found it bitter he would never get to kiss Isobel, but it would have been far worse to have lost her friendship.
Then he noticed Isobel was rearranging her desk again for the third time.
"Aam, are you all right?" he asked, concerned.
"All right? Yes, yes, of course. I'm fine. Perfectly," Isobel answered quickly.
"Have you slept at all?"
"No, I haven't..." She closed her eyes and shook her head, snapping her neck. "I need another coffee."
"I doubt it. How many did you have already?"
"I don't know... Two or three..." Oh, thank goodness. "No, five. Eight, I think?"
"What!?" Jubal exclaimed, somewhere between alarmed and amused. "No. You definitely don't need another coffee. You need to go home. You need slee-"
"No. I'm fine," she dismissed him without even letting him finish. "I still have a lot to do."
Jubal went to reply, but at this moment, Scola stuck his head through the door.
"We already have her in the interrogation room."
"Perfect."
Isobel got up and passed Jubal to leave the office.
"Who?" he asked, following her.
She had such a hurried pace, for once, Jubal's stride was not enough and he struggled to catch up with her.
It turned out he was not the only one at the pub spiked with LSD. Four other people, including Ian, ended up in a medical facility. Fortunately, by the time Isobel called to make sure everyone was okay, Kelly, Hobbs and OA already noticed their friend's strange behavior and rushed him to the hospital.
As soon as they got down to it, Isobel and the team quickly found the culprit: Alice Bremmer, one of the girls at the bachelorette party.
"She asked for a lawyer," Scola warned as Isobel went to enter the interrogation room.
She snorted, as if she didn't care in the slightest. Jubal frowned and followed her inside. This was certainly not the usual serene Isobel.
Tiffany, already inside the room, stood up to give her the seat when Isobel entered, but she did not sit down. She approached in two strides. Supporting herself on the table with both hands, she leaned over the suspect.
The woman, a rather attractive blonde thirty-something, visibly shrank back.
"I didn't do anything. I want my lawyer!"
"I don't give a damn you don't want to confess, Ms. Bremmer. We've got you on video spiking my..." Jubal. She glanced at him briefly over her shoulder. He stayed behind, next to the wall and seemed worried "...people's drinks. I just need to know why you did it."
Bremmer stubbornly closed her mouth.
"Did you know they were FBI?" Isobel insisted upon her silence.
"I... I..."
Isobel slammed the palm of her hand on the table. Jubal and Tiffany stepped forward, alarmed.
"Talk!"
"I didn't know! I didn't know! I just thought they were both too serious to be so cute."
Isobel looked at Jubal, who raised an eyebrow momentarily flattered. He immediately became stern again. This didn't seem to reassure Isobel, however. Quite the contrary. "Did you mean to hurt them?" she asked the woman aggressively.
"No! No!"
"I don't believe you. Who do you work with!?"
"I just wanted our party to be more fun!" Bremmer exclaimed on the verge of tears.
Jubal gently grabbed Isobel above both elbows and pulled her away from the table. He could feel she was trembling. Fortunately, Isobel did not resist. "I think she's telling the truth," Jubal whispered in her ear and released her. She exhaled, trying to calm herself. "Let the District Attorney file charges for endangering public health," Jubal proposed.
Bremmer looked startled to hear this. She didn't know she was probably just going to get a big fine.
Isobel gave the blonde a disgusted look again, as if she still wanted to grab her by the shirt, but allowed Jubal to lead her out of the room. He waited until no one was around to speak. Isobel was still visibly agitated. "Shhh... Breathe, breathe..." said Jubal, hands outstretched in a soothing gesture. "Isobel, you need to rest," he added worriedly. "Go home."
"Now?"
"I'll hold the fo-."
"Impossible," she refused emphatically. "I have to inform the ADIC about the Governor's niece, and the Director and... Besides, I wouldn't be able to sleep now."
She left at a frantic pace before Jubal could say anything else.
·~·~·
Trying to ease Isobel's workload, Jubal got a head start on as much paperwork as he could while she talked to the brass.
Tiffany and Elise approached his desk.
"Hey," the agent greeted.
"Hi. What's up?" replied Jubal, without stopping typing.
"How are you?" Tiffany asked.
Jubal smiled and turned to them. They both looked at him a little worried.
"It was nothing," he tried to reassure them. "It was disturbing not knowing what was wrong with me, but in retrospect it was an interesting experience. That's all."
"Thank goodness," said Elise, also smiling.
The three exchanged relieved nods.
"Hey, one other thing, Jubal," Tiffany said directly. "Isobel... she's been like this since yesterday. She hasn't slept, she hasn't eaten. Take her home, Jubal. She will listen to you."
Nearby, Hobbs, Kelly and Scola nodded.
"You can convince her," Elise continued timidly. "We didn't want to say anything to her because we didn't want to overstep..."
"And because, let's be honest," Tiffany said with a half-smile, "hyper-caffeinated Isobel... is a bit scary."
Everyone nodded more emphatically. Jubal chuckled and stood up.
"I know. I've already tried twice, but I'll go talk to her again."
He found her sitting at her desk, but with the receiver slipping from her hand, her eyes half closed. The inevitable caffeine crash finally caught up with her. She seemed on the verge of collapse. Alarmed, Jubal ran to her. Kneeling beside her chair, he held her in his arms to keep her from falling. Isobel's head immediately rested on his shoulder.
Carefully removing the receiver, Jubal found, to his relief, there was no one on the other end of the line. Isobel's poor exhausted brain must have given up just as the call ended.
"Let's go, Isobel."
"Where to?" she murmured.
Jubal's heart shrunk at the vulnerability he heard in her voice.
"Home. To sleep."
"To your home?"
Jubal sternly restrained himself from answering, 'I wish'.
"No, to yours. Come on."
"But what about..."
"I'll take care of it. You need to get into bed and sleep until tomorrow."
"That sounds good..." Isobel said with a faint smile, "Dammit, I can't..." There was frustration in her low voice. "I forgot. Tonight... I have a date."
The familiar pinching sensation occurred inside Jubal's chest. He paid no attention to it. Ever since Ethan, he learned to deal with those every time he found out Isobel was dating someone. More or less.
"Mr. Courtside?"
"Who? Ah, yeah. With him."
Jubal mentally slapped himself. He shouldn't have asked if he didn't want to know the answer. He suppressed a dejected sigh.
"Well, that proves my point," he insisted. "It's still early." He checked his watch "It's 8:30 am. If I take you home now you'll be able to get a good eight hours of sleep before getting up to go to your date."
"Okay..." Isobel finally relented.
Ignoring what her touch reminded him of, Jubal took her by the waist and helped her up, leading her unsteady steps down the hallway. Elise picked up Isobel's things and walked past them, opening doors for them.
Leaving Maggie in charge of the JOC, Jubal drove Isobel home in his car. She seemed asleep for the entire ride.
·~·~·
When they arrived at her house, he opened the door for her, leaving her bag and coat in the foyer's rack. Isobel looked ready to sleep right there, leaning against the entrance wall. With a sigh, Jubal took her in his arms and carried her up to her bedroom.
He took off her shoes and her jacket, laying her on the bed, on top of the duvet. He covered her with a blanket Isobel had, folded at the foot and drew the curtains. By then, she seemed to be fast asleep.
Sitting on the bed beside her in the semi-darkness, Jubal carefully brushed aside a lock of hair which had come to her face. He leaned over and kissed her delicately on the eyebrow.
He gazed at her for a moment longer, increasingly overwhelmed. Swallowing hard, he rose to his feet.
"Jubal..." Isobel murmured without opening her eyes. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, Isobel. Rest well," whispered Jubal.
He walked out, leaving the bedroom door ajar.
~.~.~.~
Author's note: "Mr. Courtside" denomination belongs to anonymousgem22 and their great story "Role Reversal" that you shouldn't miss. :)