2019-07-19 - Icu Visit

To say that the week was going fucktastically for the Henderson family was an understatement. One was dead, the other had almost died but had been too stubborn to go. Their Aunt Vivianne has been camped out in the ICU's waiting rooms when they wouldn't let her be with her niece. She'd contacted Lucian and so had one of the officers at the station. Apparently Penny had a lot of friends.

Vivianne is a short woman who is older, she manages to look older sitting in the hospital light. The lights in Penny's room had been dimmed and there's was the steady beep of the monitors as the heartbeat, pulse and other things were tracked. She had called Lucian as soon as Penny had regained consciousness today and Penny had been stubborn and wanting her phone. Which she didn't get yet.

Lucian might have gotten a little leeway to get one of the other Provisionals to cover his shift so he could head over to the hospital during visiting hours, rather than get stuck coming by when he couldn't visit, but he's still in uniform when he shows up and signs in at the ICU desk, then pauses at the door to her room, a curious look shot at Vivianne along with a terse little smile and a very soft, "is she.." apparently not wanting to wake her up if she's asleep.

Vivianne stands when she sees Lucian and there's a smile to him, "Oh my goodness. You are real." the woman states as she gives him a look over. "Apologies, just..it's a bit of a story. I'll leave you to visit and I'm going to get something to eat." she pats him on the arm.

"I'm...awakish?" Penny rasps out as she waves to him, a soft smile on her pale lips. "Hey Handsome." she greets him as she starts to sit up. "I can taste the morphine." she shudders.

Lucian is a little hesitant at the 'you ARE real' comment, but clears his throat and seems to shrug that off, repasting that wan smile on his face as Vivianne heads out for her snack. His attention shifts to the woman in the hospital bed and the smile fades into a expression laden with concern, his boots echoing lightly across the floor as he approaches the bedside and reaches out to touch her shoulder, "No, just relax, please. I can stand just fine, and you don't have to strain yourself. They made it sound like you got pretty badly hurt, but they didn't explain what happened, and..." He trails off there, aware he might be rambling.

Penny shakes her head and then reaches out to pull him closer. She leans her head against his chest. Taking a moment to breath in and out. "I'm relaxed. Honest." she whispers. "I...don't know what happened is the thing. I found Derrick dead at the house. Heard a few sounds like someone was leaving and when I went to chase after them something jumped me from behind." she tells him as her heart rate climbs. "I didn't get it." she looks up to him.

Lucian delves his big hand gently into her hair when she leans into him, a frown creasing his features while his other hand carefully reaches around to hug ger close, only letting go enough that she can look up at him and he can look down at her face to listen when she explains. Slightly, he shakes his head in the negative, "I don't understand. What do you mean 'you didn't get it'? Do you know what this was that got Derrick and almost got you?" His voice has dropped to a quiet murmur, like he knows this isn't going to be a mundane explanation.

Penny gives a soft murmur when she feels his hand in her hair. It almost makes her forget she's nearly dead. But the warmth is nice. She looks a bit confused for a minute, "I didn't see anything. Nothing was physically wrong that I could see. I didn't hear anything until the door shut at the front. Everything else was like a ghost or a fucking ninja was there." she strains out. "I don't even know what to tell the police. They're going to look at me like I'm nuts." she whispers.

Lucian's furrow doesnt relent as she describes, but at least his hands stay right there, caressing her hair and lightly pressed across her back, "Then you just tell them you didn't see or hear anything until you got hit. You were upset. You thought your brother might be dead and that would be traumatic for anyone. They'll nod their heads and write you off as emotional...or if they are used to strange shit in this town, maybe they'll believe you, but either way, they dont HAVE to believe that your attacker was a silent ninja."

Penny keeps her eyes on him, those brown eyes full of sadness, but she's happy that he's here. "I'll tell them what I know then. When I can talk for more than just a few minutes." she muses quietly. "Sit. How have you been?" she asks him. "I...apologize that we're having a meeting in a hospital, but, it could have been worse." she admits.

Lucian bends down to press a kiss to her forehead, and only then finally lets go of her to pull the visitor chair over and ease himself into it, "You definitely do NOT need to be apologizing. I don't know what's going on, but I'm very happy you're relatively okay. The doctor said it will take a while to heal, but you'll be able to walk around and even go back to work after a bit."

"I have so many bodies that I have to intake, I don't have time to be near death!" Penny laughs as she tears up. She wasn't wanting to be in the hospital. Much less like this. She leans back against the pillows and there's a smile to him, the scar across her throat was going to be pretty gnarly. "Yeah, I'll have to take it easy." she whispers. "How is work? How are you?" she asks him.

Lucian leans in and reaches out to rub a thumb across her cheek, then nods slowly in agreement with her assessment that she'll have to take it easy, "I think it's safe to say, most of your customers are going to be fine waiting. And you DO have an assistant or someone else that can cover if the police need something expedited, hmm?" He trails off there and rumbles, "Its learning the ropes. Probies get all of the crap assignments. They sorta want to make sure you're going to be able to hack it, so they run you a little rough for a while to make sure you dont start fraying at the edges, and I guess with my background, they're making REALLY sure of it. It'll be fine."

Penny gives a weak smile to Lucian and she reaches her hand up to pat his hand, but doesn't make him move it. "They'll be good to you. The boys over there generally will treat you like a family. Which I'm guessing from the Army you'll fall into quickly." she smiles. "And I have an assistant. Just...so many are dropping dead." she murmurs. "But...that's not for talking on right now." she chuckles. "Brutus...could...if I give you the money and things could you take him to the boarding place?" she asks him.

Lucian mmms softly and tilts his head, "If you need someone to take care of your baby, I don't mind. I mean, as long as he'll accept me visiting, and you can tell me what his favorite toys are so he doesn't think I've taken Mommy away and try to kill me for it." A grin spreads across his face as he describes.

"He found mommy in a pool of blood, so I'm sure he's going to welcome the guy that feeds him dinner under the table when he thinks his girlfriend isn't looking." Penny teases him. "I can text you a list. It's...I don't know if they have the porch and entry way cleaned up, so if they don't...just...it should be dry." she mutters. "But he loves you. Really he does." she adds.

Lucian scrunches his nose a bit and nods, turning his hand over to give her hand a gentle squeeze, "Just send me list of anything you want me to take care of, and I can see what I can do about cleaning the place up a bit. I mean, cleaning up after a violent incident is something I unfortunately have experience in. If the police are done with the area, there's no reason you need to come back home to...all of that. You know?"

"So I am your girlfriend." Penny seems to smile at this. Or at least he was being nice and didn't rebuke her in the hospital. She gives his hand a gentle squeeze and smiles at him, "The next few months are going to suck more than likely, due to some local weirdness, but I will be here and I won't run off." she tells him. "And thank you, I'd appreciate not going home to the...horror show." she whispers.

"Oh, if you run into a man named Alexander while you are there. He is a friend that is looking into the murder. He's...a bit weird, but he's a friend. He'd probably like to meet another." Penny adds.

Lucian chuckles softly at the first comment, and takes her hand over to his mouth so he can kiss her fingertips softly, "You just rest up and get better and we'll see about taking the Coroner on a date like a real boyfriend. Then maybe Brutus will get jealous if he's not the only one getting attention from you."
He nods once at the comment about Alexander, "I'll keep my eyes open then and wont go clobbering them if I catch someone poking around. That would probably be bad, hmm?"

Penny gives a soft smile to him, "Thank you. For being here and for taking care of things. It means a lot." she tells him. "And Alexander is a good guy. Just a bit misunderstood and blaming himself for me being hurt." she frowns. "You want to crawl in and take a nap with me? Bed is pretty comfy." she muses.

Lucian grins at the offer, "I imagine your doctor will kick my ass right out of this hospital if I crawl into bed with you." He winks at that, amusement on his face, "I'll be patient until you get out, then we can watch movies under a blanket and you can commandeer my lap all you want for that. I wont even get upset if you fall asleep on me, then."

"I mean, he's shorter than you so we could see." Penny teases him. "But, I will hold you to the blankets and movies and lap commandeering." she tells him. She looks at the clock and then back to him, "They'll be around to tell you visiting hours are almost over...but I don't want you to go." she admits quietly. It sounded heartbreaking. "I'm just scared. I try not to be and it just...it was close." she closes her eyes and sighs.

Lucian frowns a little again and keeps his voice down, "If you want me to stay, I'll stay. I mean, you went and took my last name, I can create some confusion about us being related, and after all, I'm still in uniform." He winks once at that and clasps her hand in both of his, "As long as you promise to rest. If the doctor thinks my being here is getting you agitated, they really will throw me out."

"I would like that, just for a bit more. Just until I'm asleep." Penny looks to him. "I know I'm usually stronger, but, I just can't be right now." she whispers. "You're the least stressful thing in my life at the moment. So I will be just fine sitting here and talking over things with you." she grins to that. "I'm glad you're here..." she murmurs.

Lucian leans way over and presses a kiss to her temple and whispers, "Not goin anywhere. I didnt fight through all of this only for you to lose me now. Alright?" He smiles softly at that and lifts a hand to pet through her hair gently, caressing it back off of her brow, "Just get some sleep. I promise not to snore when I nod off, so I don't wake you back up."

Penny does good and doesn't cry when he kisses her temple or whispers to her. She curls up on her side and gives a soft smile his way, "I'm not going to lose you or anyone else." she murmurs to him. She takes a minute to breathe and then she closes her eyes. "You didn't snore that much a few years ago. Doubt it'll bother me." she admits as she gets comfortable.

After a few quiet moments and the morphine kicking in again there's the ghost of a smile that graces her lips, "I love you." she murmurs sleepily.

Then, she's out. Lightweight!