Caroline Forbes is full of light (miss_mystic) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-02-01 06:41:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, caroline forbes, tyler lockwood |
Who: Tyler and Caroline
What: Tyler takes care of a very sick Caroline
When: Monday after these texts
Where: Tyler's apartment
Ratings/Warnings: Pretty low - some vomiting
Status: Complete
Caroline couldn’t remember the last time she felt this horrible. In fact she wasn’t sure she could remember a time she felt this horrible at all. It came on so fast too. One minute she was fine, the next shaky and nauseous. Her temperature had spiked too. All Caroline wanted to do was crawl in bed and sleep. But she couldn’t. She had her mom to think about. She couldn’t be home. Couldn’t be in her bed. Couldn’t risk her mom getting sick.
After texting with Tyler she decided to crash at his place to keep the germs away. And he would even check on her mom for her. Ugh, why did he have to be so sweet? Especially when he was no longer hers and clearly still in love with his ex. Well recent ex, because Caroline was his ex too.
She wasted no time getting to Tyler’s place, wanting to get her germs away from her mom as fast as possible. While Tyler went to check on her mom Caroline curled up on the couch to rest. Which turned into stints of napping mixed with time in the bathroom puking her guts out. And of course Tyler had to come home during one of the times Caroline was in the bathroom expelling the contents of her stomach. She tried to gain her compose. Get up and get the hell out before he could see her on the ground face over the toilet like this. But it was no use, her stomach would not cooperate.
Tyler had heard Caroline vomiting as he walked down the hall to his loft. He hesitated outside his door for a few moments, waiting for Caroline to stop to save her the embarrassment. Maybe in high school she wouldn’t have minded, but, well, they hadn’t seen each other since they’d graduated high school. But after a few moments it became clear that she was pretty sick.
He walked into the apartment, dropped the bag of actual groceries that he’d decided to pick up for his human guest on the counter of his kitchenette, and made his way to the bathroom. “Well, you’re looking better,” he teased from the bathroom doorway, and then made his way to sit down on the edge of the bathtub. He gathered Caroline’s long, blond hair from her face, and held it at the back of her neck. “This takes me back.”
“Shut,” before she could say up she heaved again. God, how much more could possibly be in her stomach. Despite her complete embarrassment, Tyler holding her hair back was nice. Sweet. Because apparently Tyler was just full of sweetness. And yes, it did remind her of old times. But it wasn’t just her that ended up with their head in the toilet. She remembered quite a few occasions where Tyler was in her position as well. That thought made her feel a little better, less embarrassed at least.
“Up,” she finally said as soon as she was able to get the words out. Caroline took a few deep breaths attempting to calm herself and her stomach. After a few moments she was finally able to stand up. Hopefully that was over with. Caroline made her way over to the sink rinsing her mouth out with water before full on brushing her teeth (yes, she brought her own toothbrush.) “How’s my mom?” she asked toothbrush in her mouth.
Tyler watched Caroline make her way to the sink, prepared to help her if it seemed like the walk was too much, but she wasn’t that sick at least. “She’s good. More worried about you than anything else,” he gave her a bit of a smile. “Don’t worry, I assured her you were fine.” Even if he wasn’t entirely sure if Caroline was fine. He didn’t get to see a lot of sick people, but Caroline seemed really sick, and he was genuinely worried. “We talked for a bit. How’ve you been doing?”
Caroline was sick. Sicker than she had ever been in her entire life. But she could handle a few steps to the sink. Caroline finished brushing and spit in the sink before responding to Tyler. “Are you sure? Did she look weak? Has she been eating? What about her pills? Did she take those?” Of course Caroline had also been texting her mom, well when she was lucid enough to. But she couldn’t help but worry.
As for how Caroline was doing. Not great. But she wouldn’t let that on. At least not in her words, because it was pretty damn clear that she felt like hell. “I’ve been okay,” Caroline lied. “Resting. Don’t worry about me.” But she was suddenly starting to feel light headed. As soon as the words were out of her mouth she sunk to the floor, back resting against the wall.
“She looked fine,” Tyler said, keeping his tone light. Honestly, Liz had looked better than Caroline did right now. “I did everything you told me to. I made sure she took her pills and that she ate, don’t worry.”
He saw her sink, and was on his feet in a flash. He had to remind himself that he couldn’t use his vamp speed, especially not now. Caroline would probably think that she was so sick she was seeing things, and that was a worry she really didn’t need. So at a more human pace he rushed to her, in time to help ease her to the floor. Then, he hooked one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders so he could lift her. “Okay, I think it’s time you went back to the couch.” Tyler was planning on letting her take the bed while she was here, but since his bedroom made up the second floor of the loft, it seemed more convenient to let her stay on the couch while she was still awake.
“Mm,” Caroline mumbled letting her arms wrap around his neck, head resting on his shoulder as he carried her to the couch. Being in Tyler’s arms like this? It felt nice. Nicer than Caroline wanted to admit. “I’m okay,” Caroline insisted again. She had to be okay. She had things to do. She had her mom to take care of. She needed to see her mom. But she couldn’t. Not if she was sick. It was all so incredibly frustrating. Caroline just wanted to just scream. And she would if she had the energy for it. “My mom,” she repeated. “She’s really okay?” She just needed to hear it again.
There was something familiar about carrying Caroline like this, her head on his chest. Tyler hadn’t realized that he’d missed it, but he didn’t dwell on the thought. He and Caroline had been broken up for a long time, and he’d been over it since he’d met Blossom.
“She’s really okay,” he assured her. “You should worry less about her and more about yourself. Liz is doing great, all things considered.”
“Okay,” Caroline replied softly letting Tyler place her down on the couch. He didn’t want her to go though. Being so close to him. It was comforting. Caroline would never admit it, but she needed that right now. “Tyler?”
Once Tyler had gently placed Caroline down, he took a seat on the arm of the couch. “Yeah? What is it?” he asked.
Caroline didn’t often let herself be vulnerable. Especially with an ex. Who was currently getting over his ex. His very recent ex. That he was thinking of proposing to. But she couldn’t help herself. At this moment Caroline was weak, helpless even. And perhaps slightly delusional from her fever. “Don’t go,” was all she said, big blue eyes looking up at him.
Briefly, Tyler glanced over the groceries he’d left on the counter when he’d walked in. But, well, they probably wouldn’t go bad if he left them out for a little while longer. Instead he reached for Caroline’s hand and held it between both of his. “I won’t go anywhere,” he assured her.
Tyler’s cool hands felt good around Caroline’s warm, clammy one. Comforting. Tyler himself was just comforting. She had seen his sweet side back in highschool but this was another level. He was right when he said he had changed. Caroline couldn’t focus on that right now though. All she could think about was how crappy she felt. What would happen to her mom if she didn’t get better. The always confident Caroline Forbes was scared. And Tyler? Well it was one of the few times she had ever shown that side of herself to him. “I don’t want to die,” Caroline said the words coming out of her mouth before she even knew she was thinking them.
“You’re not going to die. Not here,” he said, trying not to think about what would happen if she did die here. It was a little strange, thinking of Caroline as someone who could die because of some sickness. He’d grown so used to thinking of her as a vampire, as someone who could only die if someone tried to kill her, that it was hard to remember that the Caroline in front of him was vulnerable.
If Caroline did seem like this illness would kill her, well… he’d have to give her some blood. He had dreamed too much to think that his blood would help her get through this, but at least she’d come back as a vampire. He moved from the arm of the couch and sat down next to her so she could lean against him. “I won’t let you.”
Even though Caroline knew there wasn’t really anything Tyler could do to keep her from dying. Or well at least she believed there wasn’t. It was still comforting to hear. Made her feel slightly better. “Okay,” was all Caroline said, slightly relaxing as she leaned against Tyler. She wanted to say more, but she couldn’t think of words. Her brain was too foggy, and Caroline was just exhausted. Resting against Tyler her eyes slowly closed. “My mom needs me.” There. Words. She found words. But before she could add more, explain that’s why she couldn’t die, Caroline drifted off to sleep.
Tyler sat and let Caroline lean on him for a few minutes, but once he was sure that she was well and truly asleep, he slipped out from under her and laid her down flat on the couch. Then, he got up and started putting away groceries. After that, he sat down at his desk to do a bit of drawing.
It was a little while later when he thought he should probably make something for Caroline to eat. He’d bought a few cans of soup, thinking both that they’d be easy for Caroline to eat and also that they’d be easy for him to cook. He never really had picked up that whole cooking thing, and had no need of it now that he drank blood.
But really. How hard could soup be? He opened the can, poured it into a pot, and put it on the stove, and then went to take a shower while the soup cooked. He had no fear that the water would be poisonous to him. He was enjoying the hot water rushing over him, so much so that he almost didn’t notice the smell of smoke in the steamy bathroom. When he did, he turned off the shower and took a tentative sniff. Then, he quickly got dressed and rushed, looking in horror at the small flame on his stovetop.
“Oh shit,” he cursed, and with vamp speed made it over to the stove. “Ow, dammit,” he continued cursing, his flesh searing, as he moved the pan from the stove top to the sink.
The next thing Caroline knew she was smelling smoke. And Tyler was yelling. Her eyes popped open. First they fell on Tyler at the sink, but then there was a small fire on his stove. “What the hell?” Caroline asked jumping up from the couch, fully prepared to go help Tyler out. Only that was a bad idea. Not only did she sit up to fast, she had jumped to her feet too quickly as well. Before she knew it the room was spinning and her feet fell out from under her.
Tyler looked over at the sound of Caroline’s voice, just in time to see her sway on her feet. He dropped the pot, burnt soup slopping over the edges, and again using his vamp speed, he managed to make it to Caroline before she hit the ground. It stung as he grabbed her, the burned pot-handle imprint on his palm not quite healed yet, and he sucked in a sharp breath, but he knew that the pain, and the injury, would be gone by the time he next looked at it.
He lowered them both so that they were sitting on the floor, holding Caroline against him. “Care? Hey, Care. Are you okay?”
Luckily Caroline didn’t full on pass out. Just got too dizzy to stand. So she was still conscious when Tyler caught her. But wait, how did he get there so fast? Okay, she must have passed out for a second. He was definitely clear across the room when she first stood up.
“I’m okay,” she replied from her secure spot in Tyler’s arms. “Just a little dizzy.” Or a lot dizzy but she was trying not to worry Tyler. If that was even possible with how sick she clearly was. As much as Caroline wanted to act like she was fine and everything was okay the way she usually did, she knew it wasn’t entirely possible at the moment. “What happened to the stove?”
Tyler lifted her back up onto the couch, touching her forehead. She felt warm even to Tyler, which meant that she must have been burning up. As a hybrid, he tended to run hotter than most people. “I tried to make soup,” he said, looking back at the stove. The last of the fire was just now burning out, he noticed with relief.
“You didn’t do a very good job,” Caroline replied lightly, attempting to crack a joke. She didn’t want to make too big of a deal of the fact that she had apparently just passed out. But then something dawned on her. “Oh god, you didn’t try and cook for my mom, did you?”
Tyler snorted. “No,” he said. “I picked up some take-out on my way over. Don’t worry, I didn’t go anywhere near your kitchen.” Probably a good call, given the pall of smoke hanging over the apartment now. Any second now… and there it was. The fire alarm.
“I’ll be right back,” he said, going to flip the breaker switch the smoke alarm was on.
Caroline could feel herself sigh with relief. The last thing her mom needed right now was a fire. Almost as soon as Tyler left to go take care of the alarm Caroline fell back to sleep. All the excitement of the fire was exhausting. Besides, she hadn’t been completely ready to wake up yet anyway.
Tyler returned from the smoke alarm, prepared for a little more ribbing from Caroline about his cooking skills or lack thereof, but when he got back, Caroline was sleeping, wan and pale and looking very human and weak. He watched her sleep for a moment, and then lifted her up, walked her up the stairs, and laid her in his bed. She’d sleep better if she was comfortable, and Tyler would be fine on the couch until she was well enough to go home.
He tucked her in, and brushed the hair from her face. “Sweet dreams, Caroline,” he said, and then retreated back down the stairs.