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He was vaguely aware that what woke him up, ultimately, was the feeling of something warm and squirming being thrust into his arms.
“Oi, Lestrade! You’ll wake him up!”
“Well, that’s the point, innit?”
He could hear whispered voices somewhere at his bedside discussing something urgently, and he cracked his eyes open very slightly. He was prepared to cringe when the light eventually hit him, but was vaguely surprised when it didn’t—and realized that where his head rested was still shrouded in shadow.
He groaned, slightly, and then felt something else being thrust into his arms—this time, cold, smooth, and completely immobile. The warm, soft thing he was holding gave him… a very wet kiss, it seems.
Barok van Zieks suddenly wanted nothing else than for this hullabaloo to be just an extension of his very horrible, restless sleep.
“Dr. Gorey—!”
The panicking voice had risen perceptibly, and Barok finally placed its identity: that of his impetuous apprentice. “Asogi?” he finally croaked out, and the two—no, three intruders quickly stilled. The warm thing in his arms licked him again. No, make that four , he amended wearily, and he sat up and tugged at the lamp beside him, finally flooding the room with light.
They were arranged in a rather odd, quaint diorama all around his bed. Kazuma Asogi and Gina Lestrade were standing together, Kazuma looking as though he was absolutely ready to collar the inspector-in-training, and the coroner, Maria Gorey, was on the other side of the bed, leaning in rather too closely to peer at his face. Barok had the nasty feeling that she was secretly trying to see if he wasn’t already dead.
“I’m fine,” he snapped, and Maria tilted her head, doubtful. “No, I am, really,” he insisted, just as Kazuma went over and wrenched the cold object from his mentor’s grip and thrust it back at Maria. To Barok’s slight horror, it was a jar of… well, something that he better not think about unless he wanted the scant breakfast he had consumed to come back up.
“But you said to bring a get-well gift,” was the dull, incredulous reply.
Kazuma shot back, “I was thinking something more… conventional!”
“Well, Toby is a good enough present, then!” Gina said, and the warm thing in Barok’s arms licked his face again—which he had been hoping against hope to not be the dog. But it was, and there was no denying the glee on Gina’s face as Toby tried eating Barok’s disorderly hair. “What about you , then?” She turned on Kazuma with an accusing finger. “I don’t see you bringing nuffin.”
“I did.” Smugly, Kazuma produced a bundle from his coat, and Barok identified it as a legal envelope that no doubt contained a sheaf of case notes. “I brought him some very stimulating reading from the office.”
“Con-ven- shun -nal your arse! You just brought him work!”
Barok smacked his forehead onto his palm. His team—what an odd turn of phrase after all the lonely years! but they really were his team, when all is said and done—was, admittedly, far from being conventional. He supposed Kazuma should have… managed his expectations a little more.
He brought his hand up in a familiar gesture, and everyone quickly stilled and looked at him. Barok supposed that he should feel a bit of pride at how organized they are now compared to, say, when they all first tried working together as a unit— now that thought brought back a headache, and he put a hand over his burning eyelids, making Kazuma move forward with concern in his eyes.
“We’re not helping, are we?” he said, having the grace to look contrite, and Barok shook his head and lowered his hand. His blue eyes were softer as they roved past his apprentice and over the two young ladies. “We should…”
“No one’s going, Asogi.” His voice sounded much steadier than he felt, but it had the desired effect; it eased the tension in everyone’s faces. “In fact… I’d like you to stay. All of you.” He dryly added, “Having taken all this effort to come here, you might as well stay and keep me company.”
He immediately caught his breath, and wondered how he was able to muster the gumption to actually ask guests to stay longer even after such a showing. It had been years and years since he last invited anyone over for even something as simple as a cup of tea; but perhaps it was only Barok who found this situation strange, because before long, the three had already picked places around his (admittedly) large bedroom to just occupy themselves and “watch over” him. This meant Maria rather impudently inspecting all the curious ornaments on his shelves as though looking for a good place to put her “present”, Gina immediately chasing Toby up and down the room (much to his slight vexation), and Kazuma taking up a seat by his bedside to loudly inquire whether Barok thought that the current case he was prosecuting would benefit from another once-over of the crime scene, or if such an effort would be overkill.
Barok supposed that he should have been tired of socializing with them after a few minutes, but for some miraculous reason, nothing untoward happened. Much to his relief, the tea was soon served for his guests on the small circular table beside the window. They all clustered around it to talk, gripe, and joke around about their goings-on to each other without forcing him to interact. This suited him just fine; anything more than sitting up in bed and watching them and listening to their bright young voices would leave him abominably tired. Eventually, while Gina and Maria were in a lively debate about the moral implications of grave-digging (he had no idea whose side was winning), Kazuma stood up, perhaps growing disinterested in the talk, and walked over to his half-dozing mentor to check in on him.
“I apologize for our impertinence and making ourselves at home. You’re not feeling left out, are you, my lord?”
“Not at all,” was the “lordly” reply. “However, I was surprised that you three even thought of going all the way here.”
“It was no distance.” Kazuma neatly caught Barok’s cup before he was even aware that he was about to drop it, and smiled down at Toby, who was whining around his ankles for a biscuit. “And I’m sure our visit was as surprising to you as your absence was to us. How can Lord Barok van Zieks be defeated by a measly cold? I almost considered it an evil omen when the hour struck and I didn’t see you going through the door.”
“I’m not some supernatural being, Asogi.”
“Not at all,” he agreed. “And I suppose seeing you so helpless in bed right now gives me assurance to that fact.”
The lively chatter of the girls had ceased as they finished their discussion; they probably realized that the atmosphere of the room had become focused on the invalid once more. Barok colored up at the attention—which was made even more obvious by his worse pallor than usual—and cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Your… concern,” Barok stiffly announced with a quiet voice to the room, “is duly appreciated, of course. Thank you, for, er…”
Gina went over and pushed Toby back into his unwilling arms.
“Don’t mention it,” was the inspector-in-training’s gruff reply, in a manner rather reminiscent of her late mentor. Toby, as though punctuating Gina’s statement, gravely gave Barok’s face another kiss. “But you better rest up, you hear? We need you supporting us an’ all. I don’t know how to properly say it, I’m not that into books like you, but… dropping in there without you at your desk… It felt wicked wrong.”
Maria seemed equally emphatic as she nodded. “You seem surprised,” she remarked, and Barok felt a small blush creep on his face.
“Perhaps,” he fired back, and looked away; but there was Kazuma’s small smile answering him on the other side, and he glared, slightly embarrassed, at his apprentice’s mischievous expression. “I just didn’t expect everyone to feel my absence this strongly.”
“Maybe it’s time for you to realize something, sir,” Kazuma said, and Barok raised his eyebrows.
“And what’s that?”
“That perhaps,” the apprentice said, “we think you more indispensable to us than you yourself think you are.”
Was he?
Was he indispensable, indeed!
Barok thought that he suddenly felt a little better at those words.
Soon enough, the young ladies had to show themselves out before it became improper to linger, but Kazuma Asogi stayed behind for a bit, perhaps to do one last check of Barok’s condition before he left it to the doctor. “I’m expecting you to be back at work tomorrow,” he said, pompously, commandingly, just like how he had always been, and Barok cannot help but smile a wry smile. “I shall be very disappointed if this visit did not cure you as well as I thought it would.”
“Who’s the superior here, really?” he deigned to reply back sardonically, and Kazuma grinned.
“If you can exchange words like that with me, I think I don’t have to worry anymore.”
“No, and I will be back tomorrow, lest the entire lot of you come back here and plague me again with your noise and your energy.”
“So are you telling me that you disliked the visit? It was my idea, you know.”
“Hmph. Go.”
Having said that, he listened with content to the sounds of Kazuma pulling the door open and making as if to step out of the room, but then he heard the hesitation, and then a cheeky—
“You’re a very poor liar, my lord.”
The door shut closed behind his apprentice after that Parthian shot, and Barok buried his head under the covers, beet-red.