America
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A few weeks had passed since the vampire catastrophe, and Ciel was focusing on his next move..or rather he was trying to. Sebastian was training an entirely new staff, with the help of Bard, and Elizabeth...well she hadn't been away from the phone very much. Her mother's condition was worsening and being on the phone with the doctors practically twenty four seven was the least she could manage right now. She was physically and emotionally exhausted, she looked worse every time Ciel passed her in the hall.. of course he didn't tell her that.
Elizabeth sat in the glassed in veranda, just in front of the gardens with pen and paper in hand. Every dose of medicine her mother had taken was written in that book, along with the folder sitting on the marble table beside her which contained mailed records of her prescriptions and documentation. Her mother had endured a large set back recently; a heavy fall which had broken her hip and bruised her left arm. Something like this made her immune system plummet quite a bit and she was now officially bedridden. Of course she was forced to stay in bed before because of her Tuberculosis, but now she didn't even fight it. She refused physical therapy and ceased all verbal communication. The nurses, her handpicked and well trusted nurses, said she only groans or moans and she doesn't wake up to eat or bathe. Elizabeth sighed, she knew it wouldn't be long from here.
"Would you like some tea, M'lady?" A young girl, around sixteen, smiled down at the seated Elizabeth. "Pardon my saying, but you look stressed. Perhaps some hot tea will help..?"
"Of course, that would be lovely. Thank you." The young maid excused herself into the manor. Elizabeth peeled open the front of her folder with dread written all over her face. Something wasn't right about her prescription papers, which meant she had to look through all of them. There had been a problem with her mothers medicine when the leading nurse tried to have it refilled. The doctor said she shouldn't have been out of it just yet, and her mother needed that medicine. She couldn't skip even one dose.
"You look hard at work out here." A familiar voice interrupted her train of though, not that she was getting anywhere anyway.
"Ciel, what brings you out of your office?" She smiled as she inquired jokingly.
"I could smell your frustration from the top floor. Mind if I join you?"
"Oh, forgive me.. have a seat."
"Would you like a cigar?" He smirked and she gently brushed her hand against his shoulder. "I don't think all of the cigars in England could help me at this point." She groaned.
"Complaining isn't very befitting of you. I'm not used to it."
"I'm sorry.. but, something isn't adding up. Mother is coming up short on her medicine for some reason." Ciel noted two more folders on the table that were filled to the brim with papers and doctors notes. "All of this from your mother's caretakers?" She gave a silent nod and flipped through her papers. "My god Lizzie, they're very thorough."
"I demand it." She admitted. Ciel's brows shot up in mild surprise. Sure, he should have expected this type of thing from her but to actually see her like this was a little unsettling. She was like a machine that ran off of crackers and tea, as well as the mailed prescription papers and phone calls of the doctor.
"Elizabeth.." He hesitated for a moment, "Perhaps you should let me ..take a look at it." The hesitation was because he knew she wanted control of all of her mothers proceedings, and with good reason. Her mother was important to her and he didn't want her to feel as though he was trying to take this away from her. She looked up at him through tired, glassy green eyes. "If you wish, I can't find the error." She handed him the folder.
Ciel flipped open the folder and scanned through the first page quickly, the error was at the bottom right hand corner of the first page. It was so simple he was afraid to say it out loud. "Love, the page numbers.. they're mixed up." He quickly looked on the pages behind it before continuing, "They are all out of order. This wasn't recent, this was from months ago. It's no wonder you couldn't find..." He trailed off when he looked up at her face. Her eyes were wide and her face pale with panic.
"What did you say?!"
"Elizabeth, calm down it's a simple mistake."
"Let me see!" She reached out to snatch the folder from his hands and he grabbed her wrist, "Lizzie! Stop it, look at me. All you're seeing is this folder, you're going to be dreaming of bar codes and mixed numbers for the rest of your life. Let. Me. Fix. It." He growled out and the panic evident on her face started to subside. Ciel released her wrist and settled back in his chair, after a few short minutes and some quick rearrangement of papers he had the folder in working order. "Ah, look there it is." He pointed. He gently slid the folder in front of her with a large finger pressed against the center of the first page. "He shortened the dosage for whatever reason, would you know why?"
Elizabeth gently picked up the folder and examined the paper. "I can call and ask..I don't remember.."
"Well then you can ask them tomorrow, we are heading that way."
"We are?" She looked a little shocked.
"Yes, I have a surprise for you."
"You do?"
"We're heading to America."
On the Boat-
It had been almost two weeks since their departure from her mother's home. Elizabeth went to sort things out with the doctors and hopefully see her mother. However, the doctors said it wasn't the best idea at the time. She had to settle with seeing her through a glass, like a caged animal. It was unsettling but it couldn't be helped. When they had arrived her mother had a spiking fever, which meant she would be contagious. Elizabeth hated to see her so..comatose.
She stared out at the rippling waves as they passed the large boat. It was a beautiful day for sailing. Ciel had seemed to be enjoying himself with his rum in hand and feet propped up. "Elizabeth! Come sit, have some rum!"
She inwardly giggled, her husband was drunk. "No thank you, darling. I prefer to be sober upon entering America." He shrugged and mumbled a 'suit yourself' before taking another drink. Another day of sailing and they would be right at America's front door, Elizabeth was far too overly excited for this. It wasn't the first time she had been but she was no less excited.
Her sight seeing was interrupted by a sharp pain in her stomach that sent her to the side of the vessel to hurl profusely. "Lady Elizabeth?" Sebastian questioned from Ciel's side and strode over to her. "Are you fatigued?" She clung to the side of the boat and sunk to the floor with her knees to her chest, "I'm not comfortable with the way the boat sways.."
"Take her below." Ciel ordered as he rose from his seated position. "I'll join you momentarily."
Elizabeth was escorted below deck to their temporary sleeping chambers. However, she hadn't snuggled up in the bed like Sebastian had planned, she spent the entire night feeling deathly ill with Ciel holding her hair. "Elizabeth, I had no idea you were this ill.."
"I'm sure it's just the boat.."
"No, definitely not. You've picked something up. I'll have a doctor tend to you as soon as we dock." It was six am and Ciel was very adamant about her diagnosis. He believed she picked up a virus of some sort and it was dangerous to mess with illnesses acquired while sailing. He rubbed her back as he continued to argue his point and hold her long locks up. "God you've got such beautiful hair." Elizabeth looked at him and arched an exhausted brow. It was evident that he too was tired, both had been up through the night sweating it out so to speak. "You must be tired." She stated nonchalantly.
"Very."
Around nine am Elizabeth stopped vomiting completely and perked up just a bit. Her stomach was still uneasy, however, so her breakfast was light. At nine pm their ship docked and everyone was eager to get off. Ciel and Sebastian escorted Elizabeth to their temporary living arrangements without a hassle, that is, until Lizzie started to look a tad bit too fatigued. "Lizzie? I have a doctor stopping by in the morning. Are you alright?" Ciel sat at the foot of their bed and watched as she pinned all of her blonde hair back into one tight bun. "I have to prepare myself.."
"For what?" Ciel's brows went up.
"For a night of utter hell."
"Again?"
"I can feel it.."
"Lizzie.. do you have a fever?" He started to feel her forehead but stopped before touching her. He stared down at her for a moment. At the dark circles around her eyes and the malnourished fairness of her skin. She was sweating by just sitting there, and her eyes were dilated. Despite all of that, her hair looked extremely healthy and her fingernails were a healthy color as well, indicating she wasn't yet dehydrated. He continued to stare at her as she squirmed under his gaze. "Ciel..?" She only puked at night and early of the mornings.
He eyed her suspiciously but didn't say anything of it other than, "Try to get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow, you'll be surprised."
Getting more sleep was easier said than done. Elizabeth was up once every hour of the night, making a break for the powder room with Ciel not far behind her reaching for her hair. The next morning Sebastian came to wake them and found they were already up and dressed. They looked absolutely miserable. "You're ready?..Young master?"
"Yeah...yeah we're ready. Where is the doctor?"
"Unfortunately he is running a bit late, he had an emergency. He will meet us back here upon our return." They headed out with Sebastian as their guide. He drove them a few hours from where they were staying and sometime during the trip Ciel had managed to blindfold Elizabeth. "Don't you dare take it off until I say..!"
"Okay, okay. I won't." She giggled tiredly.
When Sebastian stopped the car and turned around to his two passengers he found they had both been sound asleep. He stared for a moment at the snoring Ciel and then at the blindfolded Elizabeth before shaking his head. "Dear god..." It took him five whole minutes to wake them after contemplating leaving them in the vehicle. Ciel groaned and forced himself out while Sebastian guided Elizabeth out. "You ready, Lizzie?" She could hear the excitement in Ciel's voice as he grabbed her hand gently and pulled her to stand in front of him. "I'm ready..!" She nearly jumped with excitement.
"Alright love, here you go!" He gently tugged on the blindfold and it dropped to her feet. "Oh my goodness! Ciel, you didn't!!" She clasped her hands together and smiled brightly.
"Oh but I did.."
A/N: Just chiming in to thank you all for your support on this! I always have such a lovely audience & I read everything even though I don't get much chance to reply. Thank you guys!- next chapter will be up soon!