My Sunflower || Lance Sweets

Chapter Ten: But first, Food

It was barely 6am when Isabelle was gently knocking on the door of Lance Sweets apartment. She had barely slept because she was excited and grateful to have a job.

Fortunately, her earliness had worked well for Hannah who had been an early waker since becoming pregnant with her twins. She unlocked the door quietly and grinned at Isabelle and ushered her inside and out of the cold.

"Thank you for being so early." She said in a hushed voice. Both Sweets and Booth were asleep in the lounge. Hannah led the way into the kitchen and offered Isabelle a mug of coffee, which she took gratefully.

"It's no problem. I... I needed this." She peered over the counter to look at the back of Sweets head.

"When we got back from the doctors appointment yesterday with all the additional stuff from the hospital, Booth and I were slightly overwhelmed. And it's not like we or our friends can be here when we have a killer to catch. But don't get me wrong. We all want to be here." Hannah absentmindedly rubbed her stomach.

"I get it. But you need to rest and a job needs to be done."
"And you know his cares better than anyone." Hannah grinned as she sipped her cup of tea.

Someone snored loudly from the lounge, causing both woman to jump suddenly. Isabelle shook her head.

"Okay, so where have you put everything? Meds? Extra drainage bags? Catheter bags?" Hannah pointed behind her to the dining table and Isabelle took note of the things on it and gave a low whistle.

"You don't realise how much a person needs until it's all laid out."
"Indeed. Booth and I tried to get it sorted but we were too tired. Sweets didn't take any sleeping pills last night either, by the way. He just went to sleep." Isabelle nodded.

"I'll sort it out." They kept talking, their voices low for about an hour when Booth gave a low sigh and stretched. He yawned and saw Hannah sitting in the dining room with the red-headed woman and he grinned. Finally.

"Morning." He kissed his wife on the forehead. "Hi, Isabelle. Thanks for actually turning up."
"What, scared I was going to run for the hills?" Booth pulled a face and Isabelle grinned. "I would never. I hate running." That earned a chuckle.

"Have you seen the contract? Are you happy with it?" Booth asked and she nodded and Hannah handed him the signed copy.

"Absolutely happy. You guys are going to be great employers." Isabelle stated. Booth snorted and almost jumped when his phone started buzzing in his pocket.

"It's Bones." He answered. "Bones! Give me some good news." He moved away from the lounge so that he wouldn't have to whisper.

In the lounge, Sweets himself was slowly coming too. The pain in his side and inside him was agonizingly painful. He tried to stifle a groan. As he was walking, he could hear voices and one that sounded awfully familiar. A scraping of chairs was heard and then someone appeared in front of him, causing shadow over his closed eyes.

"Hey, Sweets. It's me, Isabelle." He let his eyes open as a cool hand touched his forehead and saw the smiling, gentle face of Isabelle looking directly at him. She was sitting on the edge of his coffee table.

"Hi." He said simply, a faint smile on his lips but the pain was too much. "Ow."
"Pain?"
"Lots."
"Scale of 1 to 10?"
"9." He murmured. Isabelle nodded and he heard someone talking and Isabelle said something in return. The rustle of plastic gave way to Isabelle sitting down and shuffling through a bag full of pills and creams until she found what she was looking for. Sweets opened his eyes more and grinned.

"You're back."
"Sometimes I just can't help myself. You ain't never had a friend like me, Dr Sweets." Hannah appeared and passed Isabelle a glass of water with a straw in it.