Chapter 71

"Are you alright?" Shawna asked seeing Hope limp slightly as she settled into a seat.

"Yeah, I think so." She rubbed at her hip. "I guess he's still a little disoriented." She giggled finally and Shawna joined her as they settled side-by-side on the couch.

"Not quite how I expected our first time in bed to be," Shawna finally managed, which set them off again.

"What's happening?" Marcus asked, leaning heavily against the doorframe. He had hurriedly dressed in jeans and a shirt.

"Come sit down, honey." Shawna patted the couch between her and Hope, and they both shifted apart to make space.

"What's going on?"

He looked back and forth between them but didn't move.

"Look at your arm." Hope pointed, and he lifted it, staring at the stitches there. "You remember that, right?" He nodded. "Remember how you got it? Then... then Shawna and I." He winced, hunching in on himself a little.

"Then Nick and Ally came up, and Hope's dad was here as well," Shawna said.

He nodded slowly.

"Then the conversation in the kitchen," he muttered.

They both smiled, seeing him relax. "It wasn't just... the fever?"

"Well, fever of a sort." Shawna laughed, and his smile broadened after a moment, when he realised what she meant.

"I need something to eat," he said finally. "Do either of you want anything?"

"You to sit down," Hope told him in no uncertain terms, rising to her feet. "I'll get it."

"I can manage." He assured her, wobbling slightly as he stepped away from the support of the wall.

"So can I. Sit."

He realised just how ill he was when he noticed he was halfway to the couch without putting up a struggle.

"What did I miss?" he finally managed, slumping heavily onto the seat.

"Not much. We've both been mopping you down, keeping you cool and catching sleep when we could. You spent most of the time on the couch."

"What a time to get ill."

He meant it as an apology, of sorts, and they both smiled back at him as they recognised it.

"Doctor Ninan was out again to check on you this morning. She thinks it was probably all the stress of the past week or so," Shawna told him.

"Maybe..."

Hope reappeared with two cans in her hand. "Chicken noodle or highland vegetable?"

"What?"

"Soup, which one do you want?"

"Soup? Toast'll be fine."

"No, it won't," she countered. "Doctor's orders — soup."

"I don't like soup."

"You're going to be hungry or upset, then," she told him bluntly, which made him start a little.

"Give him vegetable," Shawna said, deciding for him. "He needs to get some vitamins back into his system, and aren't noodles like pasta?"

"I need to eat," he pointed out, "not drink. And I need a shower."

"Well, once you've eaten your soup," Shawna told him, "I'll run you a bath, and you can soak for a while."

"What's with you two?" He looked between them. "Are you just going to disagree with everything I say?"

"Hey, you're the patient," Hope told him, leaning over the back of the couch to kiss his forehead. "We're your nurses."

"Just relax, Marcus," Shawna told him, rising to her feet and heading off towards the bathroom. "You've looked after us. It's our turn to look after you. We could dress up as nurses, if it'll help."

Hope felt a little flutter in her stomach, but the implications seemed to bypass Marcus completely.

Once the water was running, Shawna snuck into the kitchen where Hope had almost finished warming the soup.

"This isn't going to be easy, you know," she told Hope in a hushed whisper.

"We're over the worst of it, aren't we?" she argued. "He's eating again — or he will be — and on the road to recovery now."

"Marcus is a horror when he's ill. He doesn't like being fussed over. He can't stand being stuck in all the time. He's... He gives, but he doesn't take very well."

"You just have to phrase things right." Hope winked. "Stay here and listen. My mother used to do this with Tommy. It's about making him think he's giving."

She wandered out, bowl on a tray.

"Marcus, here you go."

"Thanks, Angel." He smiled up at her.

Her eyes narrowed a little at how pale he looked although she smiled back.

"You remembered. Look, I know you don't like the fuss and everything, but, well, I don't want Shawna feeling guilty about driving you into being ill, OK? Let her, I don't know, let her cater for you a bit, work it out of her system."

"It's not her fault," he started to argue, reaching for the spoon, but she pushed his hand away, doing it herself.

"I know, and you know, but... that's Shawna. You won't convince her, really. She thinks she owes you. Just let her get on with it. We'll try not to crowd you."

She fed the spoon up to his mouth as he started to talk, and he was forced to swallow instead of talking.

"Thank you, darling." She smiled, cutting off his next comment, the spoon ready again. "I knew you'd see it like that, too."

Shawna, leant up against the kitchen door, was stifling her laughter, and when she finally had it under control she reached into the corridor to pull the bathroom door open and then closed and returned to the sitting room.

"How are we doing? Bath's nearly ready," she called, and only just managed not to laugh again when she spotted the serious look Hope sent Marcus' way with another spoonful of soup.

"Uh, th... thanks, Princess," he managed, earning an approving smile from Hope. She gave him the spoon to finish up.

"I have to get to a lecture soon," Hope said. "I'll be back just after three. See you both then."

Despite the food and the fact that he was feeling better, Marcus still slept most of the rest of the day. He was back into his routine the next morning when six o'clock saw his eyes flit open with the comfortable warmth of a sleeping figure on each arm. Shawna's breath tickled his neck as she nestled a little, but Hope's dark, deep brown eyes were staring back at him when he turned that way.

Slowly, hesitantly, she leant forward and kissed him good morning, smiling as she did.

"You alright?" she whispered. "You're not going to pitch me out on my bum again?"

"I'm sorry," he muttered back, pulling her in a little tighter.

"It's OK." She lifted a hand to his chest, rubbing gently across it. "This is the first time we've woken up properly like this, you know."

"How was it for you?" he chuckled gently, and Shawna's eyes struggled open.

"How was what?" she managed.

"Waking up next to someone special." He tilted his head the other way, and kissed her forehead gently, bringing a smile to her face as her eyes closed.

"Always good," she muttered, then sighed gently as Hope's hand reached over to stroke her arm. "Better still."

"How are you feeling?" Hope asked, propping herself up on one arm, looking down on both of them.

"Pretty good," he admitted, after a few moments thought. "I don't think I'll try running today, but pretty good. I could do with a good meal."

"Not for a few days yet," Shawna informed him, slipping down to the end of the bed to get up.

"It's not like you to get up this soon," Marcus said as Hope eased herself out of the bed as well. Marcus felt suddenly cold, easing the duvet a little higher up.

"Well, we've got to get breakfast ready and get you up before the new bed arrives."

"What new bed?" He sat up suddenly, as two matching smiles beamed back at him.

"Three of us now so we've ordered a bigger bed. Should be here about lunchtime," Shawna told him smugly.

"You'll need your energy this afternoon, so we're getting breakfast."

"Is it a flatpack?" he asked, scrubbing his hands back through his hair. "I'm not sure I'll be up to putting it together today."

"We'll put it together," Shawna assured him. "You'll need your energy for when we christen it."

With Shawna and Hope out at lectures, Marcus took the opportunity to get dressed and get out for some fresh air. He wandered quietly down to the bench at the riverside, calming himself there for an hour or so, listening to the water and gently strumming the guitar, not really playing anything in particular.

It was good to get out again, good to feel the wind blowing through his hair and hear the gentle burbling of the river as it passed by. Things had been slightly tense in the house that morning — Marcus' returning energy giving him the capacity to voice his frustration at the situation, his limitations.

"Hey there, wanderer."

Hope's voice cut through his daydreaming as she settled beside him on the bench looking slightly sweaty.

"Hi," he said smiling. He put the guitar down on the other side, and then hurriedly moved it away as Shawna nestled down there instead. "Sorry, I didn't realise I'd been out here so long."

"That's OK," Shawna assured him. "It gave you the break you needed. You were a pain this morning, you know, and it gave us a chance to get everything done without having to tie you up to get you out of the way."

"How do you feel?" Hope asked, leaning in against his shoulder.

"Pretty good, actually," he admitted after a second. "You're right. I did need to get out. Sorry about this morning..."

"Hey, no-one handles being ill particularly well. You're easier than Lotty is when she's ill," Shawna said. "She wants attention all the time. You just want to be left alone. That's simple enough."

"You want attention all the time," Marcus replied with a smile.

"When I'm ill the whole worlds stops," Shawna confirmed for Hope.

"I don't think he was talking about when you're ill, Sho," Hope laughed. "You want all the attention all the time."

"Anyway, changing the subject completely." Shawna stood up, helping Marcus to his feet, "We were talking about how you are, and you're obviously still not well."

"I'm fine," he argued, but fell silent at the shared look that went between the girls.

"Listen, Marcus," Hope said as she nestled in under his arm, taking the guitar from him as she did. "All we were saying was that Shawna's getting antsy. She wants to christen the new bed."

"Oh, he's blushing!" Shawna interrupted as she slipped herself under his other arm.

"So am I," Hope said. "It's not just that, we've been trapped in the house, we could do with a break. We wanted to do something tonight, so we thought we could go out somewhere."

"A meal?"

"No," Shawna told him, "it wouldn't be fair to go for a meal and then you not be able to eat most of it."

"And, no, you can't eat whatever you want yet," Hope cut him off before he got started.

"And seeing as you don't have the energy to dance, we wondered if you'd take us to the cinema?"

They waited for him to answer, and when he didn't they stepped in front of him and looked up expectantly.

"Oh, I'm allowed to speak now?" He tempered the comment with a smile. "Is this how things are going to be from now on? You two decide what's going to happen and then lead me along to it?"

"Don't you like the cinema?" Hope wondered