Forever or Never

Forever or Never: 24

Getting woken to a slight ticklish feeling travelling through his hair and then down his face, Victor squeezed his eyes shut and tried to move away, only to find he actually couldn't. The sudden feeling of being trapped caused him to snap his eyes open and try and bolt upright.

Only in doing so he ended up colliding his head into another.

Groaning and falling back onto the bed, Victor held his head in his hands. He desperately tried to ignore the sudden pulsing pain, but he failed miserably. By sounds of it the constant niggling pain was causing problems elsewhere too.

Sitting back up he removed his hands slowly, looking down he was content to see no blood from the impact, yet when he looked to the bed his eyes instantly settled on the whimpering form of Mercy.

Pushing himself to kneel he moved forwards and gently rolled her onto her back. "I think you broke my nose!" She exclaimed sadly while keeping her eyes shut tightly.

"I am so sorry," Victor said while placing his hands over hers and gently tried to pry them away from her face; he failed miserably, she kept gripping onto her face, which really wasn't helpful. "Mercy, move your hands, I'm trying to help you here."

Mercy's eyes narrowed up at him. "Help?! No! No thank you, sir."

"I am a doctor." Victor said with a smirk and got a snort – a really painful snort – in return.

"You are not!"

He sagged and sat back, stretching his legs out in front of him he nodded at her. "I need to see what damage has been done, Mercy. If I have indeed broken your nose, then I need to reset it. Once that is done, I'm going to have to find something to reduce the swelling. Are you saying that you can do that all by yourself? Do you honestly have the stomach to reset your nose, if it is indeed broken?" Victor asked while watching as she slowly managed to sit. He bolted forwards however when blood seemed to trickle out from between her fingers. Mercy groaned and whimpered rather childishly and painfully, her eyes shut and she let out a saddened noise. "Come on," he placed his hands against hers and slowly managed to pry her hands away this time. "Tilt your head up, I need to see what's happened."

"What's happened is you decided to headbutt me!"

"I did not decide to do such a thing. You simply alarmed me and I reacted in a rather simple fashion."

"'Alarmed'? How could I have possibly done that?!"

Victor frowned and narrowed his eyes at her. "I couldn't move."

"Er, yes, because you were holding onto me. I was laying on one arm, while the other was buried under the pillows. I was laying against you, simply stroking your hair. How on Earth can that be a cause for alarm? You didn't need to react like this...it hurts so much..."

Victor listened to her explanation of things and suddenly felt even guiltier than he did five minutes ago. Smoothing her hair out of her face, he cupped her chin in his hand while the other tentatively pressed against her nose. Though it was tender to touch, nothing seemed to be out of place, which was reasonably lucky really considering they really did collide against each other. Or rather, he did collide against her with quite some force.

"Is it broken?" Mercy's voice piped up quietly and hesitantly, she was evidently worried about the verdict. She'd sat and watched the different array of emotions flicker across his face. First was thoughtfulness, then guilt, worry and sadness followed suit only to end in a blank mask. She couldn't get anything from that, so she supposed the outcome was a bad one. "It is, isn't it?" She said feeling her eyes water all over again.

"There's no need to get hysterical, Mercy." Victor said kindly while smiling at her. "You're fine. Nothing is out of place, nothing is broken, you're fine. You will be sore for a while though. I do suggest finding something to battle against any possible swelling though." He said while flinging his legs over the bed suddenly and walking about the room until he got to the bathroom which was attached onto the bedroom.

He pushed the door open and took to finding a flannel, once he had one he ran it under the tap and then returned to her. By now she had moved to sit against the headboard, legs outstretched and hands in her lap. She was looking at the blood smears with dismay. Her eyes seemed to spark with something as she looked down herself and noticed the blood which she hadn't managed to catch in her hands when her nose first started bleeding, was now indeed down her nightdress. It looked like something from a crime scene, she imagined.

"Here," Victor sat down in front of her. "This should make it feel better." He gently took to cleaning the blood from her face. He made note to be extra careful around her nose, "I am sorry, Mercy. Honestly I am."

"I'll survive." Was the only thing she seemed able to say. It was clear the anger and the shock from the moment had slowly worn off and now she was just sitting in dull pain.

Victor paused in his task, most of the blood had been wiped away by now and without the red smears he could fully see her unhappy saddened expression. "I didn't mean to do this, you know that, right?"

"I know."

"So?"

"So what?" Mercy looked away from her hands and looked to him with a frown. She didn't get what he was hinting at.

Victor sighed, he reached forwards and placed the blood stained damp flannel on the bedside table before looking to her. "What's wrong...other than the obvious I mean?"

Mercy sighed and ran a hand through her bed ruffled hair. Looking about the room she looked to the windows, with the weak sunlight shining through before looking to him. "I want to wake up beside you everyday, Victor. Not like today. I don't want a repeat of today." She said with a wry smile. No, she definitely didn't want another one of these mornings.

Victor's eyes widened a fraction. He evidently thought that whatever was on her mind would involve this morning, and the accident that just happened. "Oh." Was all he could surmise to say for the moment while he blinked several times trying to think of something else to say. All the while Mercy just sat and watched him, she could almost hear the gears in his mind working away. "Would...well, if it was all right with the parents, that is, though I doubt it will be, but would you...and if you wished to, too, obviously, which I have a feeling you do, quite possibly come and live with me...and Igor too, but mainly me." Victor said in a very awkward manner and tone. He shifted a few times in his seat and fiddled with his fingers, he looked around and at her a few times before looking at the blood stained flannel.

Mercy laughed, Victor looked to her with a frown thinking she was laughing at him. "I would love to." She said while quite literally vaulting forwards and wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. She buried her face as much – and as gently – as she could against his shoulder, she failed because it hurt her face, so she just rested her head against his shoulder instead. "Victor?"

"Yes?"

"Is it all right with you if I come live with you?" Mercy asked quietly while taking to running a hand through his hair, she was rather safe against a possible reaction now.

He sighed and wrapped his arms around her. He sat in silence for a few moments thinking of this all. What was one more lodger? It wasn't like Mercy was a high maintenance person. She was actually perhaps the most understanding person he'd ever come across, and it was because of this quality – amongst others – as to what led to him falling for her.

Tightening the hold he had he hoisted her away from her seat, she laughed and held onto him as he fell backwards and she ended up being on top of him. "Yes. I wouldn't have asked otherwise."

Mercy smiled, "Good morning, in that case then." She said while tapping his shoulders gently before jumping up and off of the bed. She stretched and turned to him just as he leaned against his elbows and looked to her. Raising an eyebrow she smiled at him. "Better get up, Victor. You've got a friend to go apologise to, while I have a dress to go sort out."

"Yes, suppose you are right. There's no point trying to delay. I must get back anyway," he frowned as he stood slowly and looked to where his clothes were left to dry from the night before. "Got work to do...and all that."

"Be careful." Mercy said while placing a hand gently against his arm. "Just...that's all I'm going to ask of you, is to be careful." Leaning up she kissed him on the cheek before grabbing her clothes for the day and disappeared into the bathroom.