Ameliorate | C. Cullen

Four: In the Window



Tony's first action was to put the number into his contacts before promptly deciding to knock out for a couple of hours before making a phone call to call in sick for Monday as he was unlikely to be anywhere near work ready by then.

The clearing of a throat woke Tony up, there was a startle before the slightly panicked voice of Carlisle registered in Tony's mind and the man cuddled back up into his blankets.

"You did say to come through the window, the door was locked and you didn't hear me knocking," the blonde quickly tried to cover up, upon the small race in Tony's heartbeat.

"You're good, was just sleepin'," Tony mumbled, his face well smushed into his pillow.

"Too much sleep won't do you any good," Carlisle sighed, somewhat fondly, "Did you eat?"

"What time is it?" Tony risked a peek at the vampire only to feel his ears grow warm.

Carlisle looked slightly flustered but was looking around the room holding a small paper bag. The vampire looked rather interested in the small bedroom, Tony supposed he hadn't actually managed to give the vampire a tour of his house the healing wound was a bit of a setback.

"It's 5 AM," Carlisle informed after a moment and a glance at the clock Tony had placed somewhere on his desk.

"Then no," Tony huffed, unimpressed that it was a Monday morning already.

Carlisle's posture changed immediately. The vampire rounded to face the nestled human and was fully ready to lecture him on how important it was for humans to eat to heal. Though it seemed that whatever train of thought he started with was cut short, Tony didn't really know why until Carlisle sighed and sat on the edge of the bed.

"You look down," Tony murmured, unable to quite tell what the doctor was feeling.

"Not quite, I just don't like seeing you like this all alone," Carlisle explained, a hand running through his slicked-back hair.

"Well, I have you," Tony responded before shuttering and blushing, "Shit that sounded so lame."

Carlisle, thankfully, offered a kind chuckle and reassured Tony. The ginger was starting to look a bit red but was overall well awake after the social shock of what he'd said.

"Ah, right, ointment and food," Tony pondered, trying to shuffle his way out of his cacoon.

It didn't take long for the ginger to wiggle his way out of the blankets, his hair a mess and sleep dusting his features. Carlisle helped him to stand up, a soft smile permanent on the vampire's face.

"Ya know, you've really gone out of your way to help me," Tony started as he started to wake up, "Your whole family has."

"It's not often we see someone who knows and accepts us as being vampires," Carlisle seemed to be careful with his words.

"You're very different from the vampires I've come across. Far kinder, in a human-like way. Not to say the coven that looked after me wasn't kind, but I had to live with human blood-drinking vampires," Tony paused, the thought washing over him.

"What is it?" Carlisle asked.

"Your family confuses me, I like them - and you," Tony struggled, "But I don't think you'll like the end benefits - or rather, cons - of associating with me."

The pair had reached Tony's bathroom which looked almost unpacked if the candles and bath bombs were anything to go by.

"I don't see the harm. Alice seems to think you're in our future and Emmet is actually fond of you," the vampire spoke as he went through the motions of checking Tony's wound.