Confident

The morning after

I woke up with the worst headache, my body was aching, and I couldn't see straight. I tried to sit up, but my head started to pound.

"Stay down Jessica," a low voice said from across the room. I searched my room to see where the voice came from, and that's when I saw James walking to me with food and water. "I brought you Advil too don't worry."

"Why are you being so nice?" I asked, wincing as I tried to sit up once more. James grabbed my arm to help me sit up, and he helped me by bringing the water up to my lips.

"Because I have to protect my partner right?" He asked, "that was our deal."

"I thought it was out of the goodness of your heart," I winked, and tried to laugh, but it just ended up hurting more.

"You wish," he retorted, pulling my hair back and tying it so I could eat. He was soft with me, and patient. My hands were really shaky so he helped me eat. And for me, usually that's awkward. But since he did it, it didn't feel like that. It felt normal. There was warmth from the pancakes, and it made me feel better after a few bites. "Did you sleep okay?" He asked, his eyes searching mine.

"Mhm," I hummed, "did you stay over?"

"No," he said as he ran his fingers through his hair a few times, "Nat let me in this morning after I dropped you off last night."

"Why can't I remember that?" I asked, and he fed me a strawberry.

"Because Shang drugged you. Do you remember that?" He asked, and I nodded, "right. He drugged you with a very rare drug in hopes of whatever he was going to do. And I'm trying to help you recover."

"Thank you," I whispered, "I owe you big time."

He waved off the offer, "no you don't. It's a part of our agreement. You protect me I protect you."

"Yeah..." I sighed, "do you know how long I'll be like this before I'll be back to normal?"

"Few hours," he said quietly, "I'm not leaving Nat to do it because we all know how unprofessional she is."

That's when I started laughing, yes it hurt but that was fucking funny, "that's so true!" And then I stopped to hold my hand to my head, "fuck this hurts."

He handed me an Advil pill, and I took it gracefully, "you can have it now since you ate."

"Thank you James," I whispered with a small smile, "you have no idea how much this means to me."

"Don't take it too personally," he said with a small smile back, "go back to sleep. You'll feel better if you sleep it off. I'll be here if you need anything."

"No no it's okay. You don't have to worry about me," I said, "I'll be okay."

"I know, but I need to see it with my own eyes before you do something stupid."

"Ugh. Fine," I sighed, rolling over and closing my eyes, "Adiós Jamesy."

"Sweet dreams Jessica." I woke up a few hours later, and to my surprise James was still in my room. He was at my desk typing on his laptop when he heard me groan. "Good morning sleepy head."

"Fuck you," I groaned, the meds finally wearing off, "my head hurts."

"That's weird," he said to himself, "it's supposed to wear off in a few hours."

"Great I'm fucking going to die," I groaned, holding my hand to my head, "ughhhhhh."

"You're not going to die. It's just going to take longer than I expected," he replied, "oh and your brother wants to see you."