InsaneJournal

Who: The Crain Twins
What: Just a bit of caretaking
When: During Nellie's sickness
Where: Their shared apartment
Rating/Warnings: G | None
Status: Log | Complete

Eleanor Crain, feeling dreadfully sorry for herself, flopped to the side and tugged the blanket closer around herself, wriggling closer until she could put a pillow on Luke’s thigh and lie on him. She felt like death, but the soup he’d made for her was warm in her belly and the tea had helped clear her nose a little. She was just tired, now, and feeling unnecessarily clingy.

“Sorry for asking you to cancel your plans,” she told him, lying on her back to look up at her brother with big eyes and a downturn to her lips. “Are you sure they weren’t really important?” She knew he wasn’t worried about getting sick; his immune system was made of steel ever since he cleaned up his act and became a health nut. It meant he was always there to look after her. “You’re the best brother, you know?”

Luke Crain on the other hand was fighting fit which if you were to look back a couple years you would totally be able to see the irony in their current predicament. Nellie really was having a rough time of it and it was clear that she was not feeling well at all so cancelling stupid things like yoga and runs was really no big deal.

"Totally sure," he assured as she flopped into his lap and he rubbed at her arm reassuringly. "And now I am. I definitely sucked for a while."

Nellie shook her head, “Stop it.” It was one of the few things she never let him get away with. She hated it when he got self-deprecating about his past. There were things that he couldn’t control, and the bad choices that put him in that position had spiralled so far out of his control that she had never blamed him for it. Never. Not once. She was just glad he was better. “You’ve never sucked as a brother. You needed... pointers?” The word was said with a little smile, “but you never sucked.”

Luke gave a small snort accompanied by an amused smile when Nellie admitted he needed pointers. "Okay, I'll give you that." He reached over to tug the blanket up a little more as it had slipped off her shoulder when she'd shook her head. "Okay so," he began in the hopes of veering away from his less than brilliant past, "What do you want to watch?"

They had a ton of movies and TV shows at their fingertips thanks to the beauty of streaming services.

"Literally anything."

"I'm like... fifty percent likely to fall asleep once it starts," Nellie pointed out, snuggling where she was on Luke's lap, smiling a little when the blanket was tugged up over her shoulder.

She swallowed, suppressed a cough and let out a little groan. It was the only thing that she didn't like about working with kids. Just so... so many germs.

"Something that doesn't need me to think too hard?" she suggested, "anything you've got tivo'd that you wanna watch?"

"Mm, good point," Luke affirmed with a soft laugh before he just frowned as he felt that cough rattle through Nellie's body and he smoothed his hand over her back in slow methodical circles.

He flicked through a couple things before settling on a light easy comedy show that definitely wouldn't take a lot of concentration.

"There's a couple things on tivo but I definitely want to save them for when you're feeling better."

Nellie hummed as Luke's hand firmly rubbed against her back and she leaned into him and the reassurance of his touch. The warmth of his hand was as comforting as ever, and that weird feeling she got in the back of her mind that told her Luke was okay was the softest hum, a warm blanket.

"Was work okay on Friday?" she asked, "I didn't get a chance to ask you about it. How's, uh- Mark, was it? The one you were worried about?"

"Mark..." Luke began before he let out a sigh. "He relapsed, but he's back in the clinic and working through some things that he previously didn't admit which should hopefully help him on his sobriety journey." He rubbed his fingers through his hair and shrugged. "We know better than anyone how it's not something that happens overnight or ever really ends."

He was doing much better these days but he still had a sobriety buddy that he checked in with.

Nellie sighed softly and turned her head, pressing a kiss to the pillow, but it would have been against his thigh if she'd been able. "At least you're there," she told him, "and you're doing the best you can for him. You know better than anyone that you have to be ready to accept help, too, be ready to change."

She rolled onto her back again and reached up, tapping his chin affectionately. "You did it, the people you're helping can too."

"Just takes time, right?" Luke said with a small smile as he caught Nellie's hand in his own and dropped an affectionate kiss to the palm of it. "And the best sister in the world, of course."

He was lucky though, to have her and to know that he was loved.

“Not everyone’s blessed with siblings,” Nellie pointed out, humming a little. “But you’ve got it- you’re in the best place to help the people that need you the most.”

Sometimes she worried that being around addicts would remind Luke of what he was missing, that maybe it’d make him miss the highs, but she trusted him. More than anyone else in the world.

“You settling in okay?” She asked, “Have you seen Theo yet?”

"Mm, that's true," Luke agreed. "Poor them." He couldn't imagine not having siblings or a twin for that matter, not when it was such an important part of his life.

He shook his head a moment later. "Not face to face, but I've heard from her, over the network. And I got a couple good recommendations for walks and runs."

Nellie snorted, “We’re an okay family, for one that’s so stupidly big.”

She turned onto her side again and snuggled backwards, waiting for the moment when Luke would drop his arm around her so she could be fully cuddled as much as possible. “I haven’t spoken to her yet, not outside of the texts when we first arrived. We should probably-“ she broke off, coughing, “-call her or something and arrange to get together.”

And he did drop his arm so she could get as comfortable as she wanted to, not minding in the slightest. These days his constitution was made of iron so it felt nice to be able to look after Nellie when she wasn't feeling her best.

"Yeah, you're right, maybe when you're feeling better though."

"Oh, yeah, I don't wanna give this to Theo," Nellie agreed quietly, squeezing his wrist briefly before she just tucked her hands under her head , closing her eyes.

She hummed and relaxed, the warm weight of an arm draped over her making her feel safe in the way she definitely needed.

"'m gonna take a nap now. Just wake me if you wanna move, okay?"

Luke gave a small smile and nodded. "Will do." Though the likelihood of him actually doing that was slim to none. She needed her sleep and if she slept better curled up on the couch with him then he was going to let her sleep as long as was possible.

"Get some sleep, Nellie."

"Mm," Nellie replied, already mostly asleep, "you too."