"The more pressure you put on me, Francis, the less likely I am to get it right." She took the needle and inserted it into his arm. "Alright. Now, I'm going to need to take a deep breath."
As he exhaled, she pushed down on the plunger until the liquid was drained. She extracted the needle, and placed a small bandage on the spot. She stood up and took off the needle and disposed of it. "Do you want a lollipop?" she asked over her shoulder, grinning.
"Of course you don't. I suppose that's a good thing anyway," she said, returning to her spot on the couch. "I don't have any." The sun was beginning to set in the window behind her, and she squinted as she turned to look back at it. "It's no Northern Lights," she said. "But I think it's pretty lovely too, don't you?"
"The view from a hospital window will never be pretty to me." He shook his head, then shut his eyes for a moment, leaning back into the bed.
She turned to look back at him for a moment and thought on his words. Finally, she shrugged and stood up. "Here, you should drink some water," she said, going over to the sink and filling a glass.
"Oh. Thank you." He opened his eyes. Instead of the annoyed and cold look on his face, there was a kindness. He was obviously tired.
She was struck by his expression, but she didn't act on it. Instead, she smiled and brought the glass over to his table. "Sure," she said gently. "Try and get some sleep, okay?"
He took a sip before setting it down. "That's like saying you don't want to see me loopy. I shall take that as a compliment."
"Oh, I definitely want to see you loopy," she said. "But I don't think it would be good on my conscious to keep a patient awake for my enjoyment."
"Technically I'm not your patient, but whatever you say." He smiled a bit, closing his eyes once again.
Poppy sat back down and leaned against the arm of the couch. She gazed off into space as she thought about the events of the day. Her shoulders felt heavy, and she closed her eyes against her thoughts. (If there's a time skip soon, would it be okay if I took the plot for a little while? War is coming -dun dun dun-)
(Okay! Zoooooooooom!) Throughout the night, Poppy would open one eye to check on Francis, making sure that he hadn't woken up without medication. It was about 2 in the morning when she woke up with a start, the ambassador's screams echoing in her ears. She stared into the darkness, and took a quiet, shuddering breath, before turning to look out the window. The stars glittered in the sky, and she stared at the horizon, her heart pounding in her ears.
Francis remained asleep, but his breathing pace was quick and light. It was like he was having a nightmare.
She tilted her head to listen to his breathing and then turned to look at him. She wasn't sure if it was actually a dream or if it was something seriously wrong, and she bit her lip, trying to decide. She walked over to the side of his bed. "Francis?" she said softly, her brow furrowed.
He jumped awake, startled by her voice. "What?!" He frantically looked around before realizing what was happening. "Oh.. I'm still here. Ugh."
