Private time at home, recuperating.

[h_hollister]

Sleeping most of the day equals awake most of the night.

She's been dozing on and off all day, curled up on the sofa. The detritus of a cold is all around her. So many empty and half-empty mugs of tea, huge bottles of water and orange juice, tissues and pills and blah.

Flipping through the many delights that late night BBC has to offer.

*click* "Let's rrrrrrattle those pots and pans!" Aak, no.

*click* "Stoli, darling?" Heh. Met her in real life, don't need the TV for that.

*click* "Mrs. Slocombe, are you free?" ...oh lord, if SHE ever showed up in the Nexus... She'd probably ask a question about her pussy, too... dear god...

*click* ...Eastenders? Nah. Too much like real life.

*click* "They've taken Mr. Rimmer! Sir, they've taken Mr. Rimmer!" "Quick, let's get out of here before they bring him back!"

...

...

The remote falls out of her suddenly nerveless fingers and she stares.

She knew about this. Jinpei clued her in ages ago. She'd just never gotten up the balls to watch it. And here it is, finally. She watches the episode unfold, and her eyes go even wider as Nirvana Crane graces the screen... and THEN! The scene where Arnold and Nirvana END UP IN BED TOGETHER!

...

It's like watching a train wreck. She just can't look away. She unconsciously grabs at the medal that she still wears around her neck.

Smegging hell.

Comments

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

The man in the kitchen preparing the chicken noodle soup is getting good at preparing the chicken noodle soup. Perhaps a new fixation to study, this food preparation. Handy survival value and all.

His ears perk up at hearing a "Mr. Rimmer" come from the television, though, and he pokes his head out to see what she's watching... home videos?

[h-hollister.livejournal.com]

...smegging hell.

...

Holy shit.

...

This is so supremely weird.

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

"Um... what is this?" comes the call from the kitchen.

[h-hollister.livejournal.com]

"It's... um. It's that show. About Red Dwarf. Um."

Even with her congested sinuses, she still sounds like she's having some difficulties coping.

...smegging hell.

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

"Oh. That Nexus thing. There's a show about me, too. A cartoon, actually. It's pretty stupid. Don't let it bother you. I laughed at it."

[h-hollister.livejournal.com]

"Kinda hard not to. But I'll try."

"She's taken leave of her senses and fallen in love with me, sir."

...

Bitch.

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

Finally, he comes out with a bowl for her, sitting down next to her on the couch.

"Is it remotely accurate?"

[h-hollister.livejournal.com]

"I dunnow. This took place before I was alive again. Arnold never mentioned her. Nor did Dave. Guess they thought it wasn't important."

She picks up the remote again and turns off the television just as the annoyingly chipper theme music starts up.

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

"Or maybe none of that ever happened at all in reality. You should have seen some of the idiot things they had us doing."

[h-hollister.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah? Like what?"

She smiles a little, picks up the soup and starts eating, pulling her feet under her as she goes.

Mm. He's getting good at this. Maybe he should start cooking for them.

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

"Ridiculous plans that made no sense, the commanders doing a lot of cackling and posturing... one thing I'll give it, though. It made Starscream into an even more pathetic whiner than I thought was possible."

[h-hollister.livejournal.com]

She chuckles. "You've mentioned him before. He sounds like a real charmer. Heh. Remind me sometime to tell you about 'Nicey' Ackerman."

She puts the soup aside and cuddles up to him, pulling her blanket over them both.

"How're you feeling? I haven't passed my ickies on to you, have I? Of course, me being all snuggly with you probably isn't helping, but hey."

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

"I will brave the 'ickies' to be all 'snuggly.'"

An arm wraps around her. "Are you feeling any better at all yet? How long do we have left?"

[h-hollister.livejournal.com]

She sighs a nice, happy, contented sigh. Unfortunately, this leads into a coughing fit. She swings away from him quickly, a hand flying to her mouth, the other reaching for her water. When she swallows some and gets her breath back, she grimaces.

"Aak. Sorry. I'm AM feeling a bit better, all evidence to the contrary aside."

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

"And you're SURE I'm not making it worse by being here?"

[h-hollister.livejournal.com]

"Positive! You're making it better. You bring me soup! And you take such good care of me."

She curls back up next to him, squeezing his hand. "I need you here. I need you, period."

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

"Well, it is good to be needed. And Eiko's treatment will be finished soon?"

[h-hollister.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. The nanos are already gone. This cold is just the end result of all of that. Should be over soon. Unless I really DID pick up the Venusian Death Flu."

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

"So this isn't some sort of accumulation of disesases that the nanobots had prevented all piling up on you at once."

[h-hollister.livejournal.com]

"Nah. Just a regular old common cold. S'what happens when ninety percent of your white blood cells suddenly go bye bye."

Her tea has gone cold. She tries to get up to get herself some more.

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

White blood cells. He's read about some biology. It's convoluted.

Then she tries to get up. "Stop that. Resting. Just resting. I'm the doting person now. Let me get you your tea."

[h-hollister.livejournal.com]

She smiles and flops back down on the couch, handing up her mug.

"Okay, yessir, you got it, aye aye cap'n. I just didn't want to be so 'woe is me' helpless. I'm trying to keep the lid on the whining, just for you. It's a good thing I didn't get a bell to ring to call you, that's all I'm going to say."

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

"There's no better time to be helpless when you've got someone willing to cater to you," he says with a smile, standing up to fetch the warm pot.

[h-hollister.livejournal.com]

She matches his smile, and nestles back down in the cushions. "Thunder? Thank you. For everything. I love you."

[crackofthunder.livejournal.com]

He smiles a little, still not used to hearing that.

Wishing he felt confident enough to return the sentiment.

"You're welcome," he breathes, fondly, as he pours her another cup.

Someday, he'll understand it.