Let's Play!

Naomi shrugged and the tears came.



" I can't help you anyway... I am not trained to treat this and I could make it worse... I can't help you....."



she offered again, shaking as she stood, moving and kissing his cheek.



" rest... I'll leave you be."





she stated softly.

Hunter sighed. He didn't press, instead assuming that this was her gentle way of saying that she'd rather not. After all, she might not be trained in treating supernatural maladies, but he had lived through a number of them, so... Either way it would be okay. He could deal with it later.



"Can I have my blanket back?"

Naomi nodded, shifting and covering him, tenderly tucking him in. Her actions were measured, and she was fighting the urge to kiss him. She failed, her lips brushing his. She forced herself to move back now. Hunter.... When your better..... I would like to be the next to toss a vase at you.... of course mine is plastic, but still.

Hunter considered the woman through half-lidded eyes now.



"Lay with me?"



Because she said that she wasn't going to eat.



"It's not catching at this stage. Promise."

Alright.



Naomi purred gently, not worried about catching. Hunter, she was down so low... she climbed into his bed slowly, slipping to being beside him. However, she would not snuggle to him, afraid to harm him.

Hunter reached over and pulled her to his chest. He really was oblivious, but then again he wasn't firing on all pistons. The man snuggled to her, like the insides of a lava lamp. The man drifted off heavily.

Naomi honestly would cry silent little tears, smiling when Thalia showed up, her hand reaching out and petting the pup that would fall asleep on her stomach. Such a precious thing... she was glad she could help someone....

Hunter wouldn't stir to the little pup. At least, he wouldn't until she hopped right on his wound (not on purpose of course). The man would instantly release Naomi, rolling over and throwing up into his little trash can beside the bed. The man made a face.



Naomi, you would probably want to get out of the bed now. It had broken open and was now gushing black gunk and blood everywhere. Hunter's temp spiked up to 106. It was a miracle he was even conscious as he gave a groan. Alright. Now he should get up. Definitely time to go get the kit out of the bathroom. Naomi, trained or not, you should notice some alarming symptoms, such as impaired peripheral motor control.

Naomi one, wasn't squimish, so did not rush away, even when she sent the pup from the room... but now she shifted and called for Thimbleton.



" Do not get that on you, trash the sheets, get me clean ones."



She was not bossy, but now she was in a state... He was hurt, and as much as she had felt helpless, to give up... he hit that nerve that would not allow such a thing.



If Thimbleton said a thing, she didn't notice. all she noticed was the clean sheets and the fact she pushed Hunter down on them before vanishing to get the kit and return. She could clean a wound simply enough, however.



" What is this? Hunter.. I need to know as much as you can think to tell me."



Anything, it would help, the woman had already scrubbed and was cleaning him now. Patiently.

Hunter gave a soft whine as he was pushed down.



"Don't bully me. I'm not fighting you."



He lay still for her, absently watching as she cleaned about the area.



Not infectious except through open wounds.



For starters.



Um... there should be some debris in there. It spreads through little... well, they look like marble sized pustules, until it reaches the spine. Once it does that it spread into the spinal cord and the brain, shutting down the body.



The reason he was running such a high fever was that his body was fighting off the disease. Heat could kill out the bacteria.

Naomi nodded, thinking this through.



" How high of heat can a vampire withstand?"



she asked, already thinking this through. For those that care to know, she does have the skill to remove these little pains without rupturing them, and had with a few already.



" Not to mention, since it shuts things down, it wouldn't make sense that it would actually kill you... but would you become a vegetable?"

Hunter was watching her, not at all comfortable.



It varies. Me, personally? I would start burning off my blood at about 112.



Especially with Naomi poking around, his fever was rising a faster, which was really impairing his ability to think clearly and answer her question.



It's all about the blood. If I run out, I die.



And if your body was shut down, then you couldn't put any more in. This one closed it all down - circulatory, respiratory, etc.

Naomi nodded and shifted now and finished cleaning him, wrapping him now, pressing her wrist to his mouth. She caught his fangs and gave him no choice in the matter. She would regenerate enough to survive. She cared less about herself though. Without him....

Hunter actually had passed out about thirty seconds ago. He bit her, hard. Well, Naomi, I hope you're right, because Hunter wasn't conscious to be able to control it or to fuss at you to go eat.

Naomi watched as he fed, she would not pull away. Honestly, this woman was here by faith and will power by the time released her. he body had not kept up with regenerating that demand. she took a few moments before she brought herself to her feet and moved to the kitchen. She drank the store there, only one vial, without hesitation. She was shaking as she felt her body clinging to this little bit, soon finding herself full enough to function. This is why she would get right back up and return to Hunter's bedside.



Monitoring his temperature and such. Never above 109 at the moment....

Hunter was solidly unconscious, however. He'd told you he would be fine. He had never been worried about this thing.

Naomi watched and worried, and changed and cleaned and tended and monitored... all the way until his fever broke... at this point her body would relax enough she'd collapse on teh foot of his bed from the build up of stress, and it's release.





Her head and arms were on the bed as her bottom and feet sat on the floor... the fact Thalia was chewing on her foot trying to get her to play... not working, didn't even flinch when the cub drew blood on accident.

Hunter would shift, not feeling very comfortable when he woke. However, it wasn't as bad as it could be. He could function. The man got up, looking over Naomi for a moment before bending and lifting her up. He waited a minute as he watched the sheets zoom through the air. Apparently Thimbleton was around. Then, as soon as they were turned down, Hunter simply put her back into his bed, covering her up before slipping out.



Hunter would return soon with warm, fresh blood that he would slowly trickle down her throat. A little bit later, he would put a bowl, box of cereal and a carton of milk on the bedside table for when she woke up. Then, the man would got to bathe and sit down. He hurt everywhere.

Naomi woke when Hunter was feeding her, and she was definitely confused as she sat up. She reached out to touch. He was real? Confirming that he was there, she drew back, looking over the food on the nightstand. He wanted her to eat. She frowned and reached over, touching it. alright...



She only ate one bowl, but it was an effort. She slowly inched in Hunter's bed until she was sitting on the edge.



I'm sorry, Thimbleton.



She apologized, feeling badly for bossing the little guy around... she'd been worried about Hunter... she still was, but now she was too afraid to speak to him again. So, with this in mind, she forced herself to her feet. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Every inch of her hurt. Ached. Either way she moved to the hall, stopping to sit down beside the wolf cub and petting the passed out little one. Such a sweet thing...

Hunter now was walking out of the shower, taking up the leftover bits from her meal and returning it to the kitchen. He hurt everywhere, but he was ignoring it as he walked back to where Naomi was.



"Do you need anything?"



Because he was going out. He was H.U.N.G.R.Y.

Naomi shook her head, speaking faintly.



" No... But the cub will need more formula... she won't be old enough to ween for a few more weeks."



She offered, watching the little cub tug and pull at her, shifting and giving up the bottle finally. Man, that kid could nail an 12oz bottle in five minutes.... and then was off to play again.



(( Yes, they do make these.))

Hunter nodded.



"Anything else?"



If not, he was gone.

" nothing."



She offered gently, watching Hunter leave. Then she relaxed a tiny bit and watched after the tiny cub, petting Thalia once in a while, as she was much happier to be petted then her father. She even settled for rough housing with Naomi, for a while. But at some point she sort of well... just... crashed. There was a sleeping cub, right in the walk way, dead to the world. Naomi tenderly would move the little one to where her father normally slept. Then she would work on cleaning, again.

"Figure eights."



Thimbleton remarked as he watched her with the mop.



"Figure eights don't leave streaks and they dry faster."

Naomi looked to thimbleton, nodding.



" I know, I am sorry."



She apologized gently, her thoughts had merely been elsewhere. Either way, she focused now on cleaning.

"Sniffley Girl not so bad after all."



Thimbleton was riding on the stick between her two fists. He was supervising the mopping casually.



"I'd do stuff for her and the master both, I just decided."

Naomi smiled slightly.



" Just worry about the master, kind one. "



She stated barely above a whisper, now done with mopping, dumping the water and such.

Thimbleton blew a raspberry at her.



"I do what I want."



And then he hopped off, disappearing mid-fall.



Hunter walked in now, setting a bag of groceries on the counter.



"I don't know what you like."



So he had just gotten what he thought were normal things. Then, he set a box on the counter beside the paper bag. He had purchased a small set of dishes and utensils.

" You didn't have to..."



she commented faintly, slowly moving to put the things away. She would eat everything he'd gotten... well, except the mustard. But certainly there were other uses for it... like staining things yellow or something. After all, lunchmeats, cheese, bread, cereal, and milk were all pretty basic things. And popcorn. There was popcorn.... and then three jars of the pup formula... and a few more jars of the baby meats... she hadn't asked for those, but it was good they had them...





She had the things easily put up even as she sighed and looked to the floor. Thimbleton had left little tracks on the floor.





she absently mopped these up and then washed the new dishes.

"And you didn't have to clean my house from top to bottom."



But she did it anyhow. Hunter looked over her with a shrug.



"I don't do food."

" It gave me something else to think about."



She offered honestly, glancing at him and then to the kitchen.



" I know. I am sorry."



Apologies. This is killing this author. She has enough characters that do this... Naomi shouldn't be

Hunter shrugged, seeming not worried and barely even thinking about it at all.



"Well, I can do food. I just don't. I can follow instructions and stuff... but the last time that I cooked food that I ate myself was a rabbit on a spit over a fire in the middle of the woods."

Naomi shrugged, looking to her feet, and then towards Fang, who walked between the two of them.



" I would eat whatever there was, I am not picky. I am sorry you had to worry about it at all..."



and now the woman turned and vanished from sight. Where to? She was hiding in Fang's little hidey spot, watching the cub sleep.

Hunter sighed. He should have been more gentle. He should have given and tugged her to him like he wanted. It was just... he seemed to be scaring her off a lot lately. He wanted her to stay. Those two facts were brushing against each other.



Please stop apologizing. You didn't do anything wrong...

I did.... I know I did.



You can't help feelings, but her's were wrong, she should have shut her trap and kept to herself... She shouldn't have crossed that line.

Then tell me what it was?



Hunter posed this gently even as he moved so that he could go sit down. Ouch.

I got too involved... for that I am sorry.



Honestly, Hunter, she was waiting for the blows to come. Everytime she'd ever been too vulnerable..... She got hurt, everytime. she was just waiting.

Hunter sighed gently.



You wouldn't believe half the things that I could tell you...



Odd response.



Fang was eyeballing Naomi, even as his pup chewed on his ear.

Naomi smiled at Thalia, and ruffled the back fur on her, and was pounced in return for her actions.



.... I am sorry.



Nothing more to offer there.

Hunter didn't say anything for a long while. In fact, it seemed like he wasn't going to say anything at all by the time that he did.



You shouldn't be, you know. You haven't stepped across a line like you think you have. I like caring about and for you. You please me very much. And... I haven't been loved in a very long time.



The idea... well, it wasn't exactly unpleasant.