Love Me Tender (A Kaimelia - Kai Bartley/Amelia Shepherd - fanfiction)

Part 1

Another stab of pain shoots through my temple and I can't help but wince, my hand moving to rub the spot.

"You okay?" Kai's quiet voice asks, the tone hushed as to not disrupt the silence in the lab. They've been eyeing me for quite some time now, not asking anything so far but I guess the pain is more noticeable now.

"Yeah, just a terrible headache. Honestly, jetlag still kicks my butt every time," I shrug it off, focusing my eyes back on the numbers and letters written down on different papers.

It's been five weeks of this back and forth and although my body is growing used to it in some ways, the headaches are still persistent. But I would gladly suffer through pain if it meant more of this work.

The results aren't quite there yet, but I have rediscovered my love for neuroscience and it's exhilarating. Kai is brilliant and although we sometimes clash with our different approaches, they always seem to find a way to compromise. I can tell that they actually value my opinion and trust it and so it's easy to blindly trust theirs as well.

"I think I have some advil in my bag-" Kai starts, already getting up from their stool but I stop them with a shake of my head, even though that makes it hurt more.

"I'm not a fan of painkillers," I cut them off with a reassuring smile. I can sense their hesitance, the need to fix this pain colliding with the respect towards my wishes. "I just need to drink more water," I add as a solution and they relax.

"Then I'll bring that," Kai agrees and moves quickly out of the room. I take the moment to rub my temple some more, the pain actually quite unbearable. Luckily it's pretty late so I can head to my hotel soon and hopefully sleep it off.

Kai returns soon, handing me a bottle of still water. I don't question how they know that I prefer that to sparkling. I have gotten used to them just knowing little things like that.

Then again, if I really think of it, I also know how Kai takes their coffee and what's their favorite takeout order and even the name of their dog and the fact that he's their phone background.

It's simple - being here, working here. No ex-almost-fiances waiting for me to 'come around', no crying babies - although I absolutely adore Scout, of course. It's a clean slate, a fresh start and a chance to focus on my work.

And yet I find myself focusing on Kai instead half of the time.

I admit, the first time I saw them, I felt like a teenager meeting her crush. That brilliant mind in that very attractive looking body was enough to make my heart beat a little faster.

I expected it to calm down when we started working together, but somehow it has gotten even worse.

I'm used to their presence. Even know, as I'm sipping my cold water and taking a break from trying to decipher the lab results, I hear them hum a melody and it's oddly.. cosy.

This lab feels like home and not just because of the countless hours I've spent here. It feels like home because Kai makes it feel like home.

I sigh and feel their eyes on me immediately.

"You should get some rest," they say before I have a chance to. So I just smile gratefully and nod my head, trying not to wince this time.

"I probably should. Not much use of me like this, I'm afraid." I stand up, perhaps a bit too sudden, and everything around me spins for a few moments.

I sense Kai before I hear them, that calming voice guiding me to sit back down, their hand grabbing mine and keeping me steady.

"I've got you," they say quietly, the words incredibly soothing. It takes everything in me not to lean into them. Instead I straighten my back and blink a few times, the room around me finally stopping.

"Are you sure this is just a headache?" Kai asks, worry showing in both their voice and expression.

The question takes me by surprise. I mean.. what else could it be? I hadn't really given it much thought, always passing it off as jetlag or exhaustion or stress. But the doctor in me starts questioning it as well and the first thing that pops into my head is, of course, tumor Amelia.

Still I manage to form a smile and nod, carefully this time. "I'm just tired. Work and Scout are both keeping me up at odd hours of the day."

Kai is not convinced but still nods, absentmindedly rubbing their thumb over my knuckles.

My breathing hitches and my whole body notices now how they're still holding onto my hand. I'm pretty sure this is the closest we've ever been to each other and a realization hits me like a freight train.

I have a crush.

---

Hello and thank you for reading Part 1 of lord-knows-how-many. I was one of the people to jump on the "queer Amelia" bandwagon as soon as we got the first introduction to Kai Bartley and I just couldn't resist writing about them.

With that said, I have mad respect for non-binary people BUT in my native language the word for he/she actually has no gender so I ALWAYS mix them up in english and have to go back and fix my errors. And I also mixed up their pronouns too a bunch of times and HOPEFULLY caught all the errors but if I didn't, please simply point them out and I'll get to it.

I mean no disrespect, I'm just dumb.

Again, thank you!