Foreboding

[Christine Montgomery]

She laid next to him careful not to hurt him further, but she had to hold him to assure herself that he was still alive.

She ended the kiss and found his eyes with her own urgent ones, "I love you Dorian. I've loved you since Egypt. You almost died and you wouldn't have known." she didn't care about appearing vulnerable, or whether he returned the sentiment. He had scared her so badly she needed him to know, she needed to say it.

[Dorian Humbert]

"I know," he answered tenderly. She hadn't needed to say it for him to know. He had seen it in her eyes. In the sleepy way she said "good morning" when they woke. In all the little movements she made as they went about their day, pretending to play house as she was locked away in this hotel room.

And he loved her in return. Every night for the past week, after she'd fallen asleep and her nightmarish fits came upon her he would whisper that he loved her as he pulled her close and calmed her while she slept. The real tragedy would have been him dying without telling her properly. 

With a sharp inhale of breath and shooting pain in his stomach, he shifted his weight so that his body was angled towards her. He caressed her face with the back of the fingers. Her skin was soft and damp with tears. "My darling, Christine. When I say I love you, know that I do not say it out of reciprocity. I say it because I love you. I love all of you. You are my first thought when I awake and my last thought as I fall asleep. I am yours and I will always be yours."

[Christine Montgomery]

She was in it now. She didn't give a second thought to all the reasons they couldn't be together. For one blissful moment as she knew he loved her she forgot about the impending doom that would result from the lies she had told him, or allowed him to believe.

For some reason his confession made her cry harder. Now that the information was out in the air the happiness she felt was almost painful. Loving someone gave them the power to hurt you, loving someone completely gave them the power to destroy you. Dorian destroyed her.

"I can't lose you. I can't ever lose you." she whispered.

[Dorian Humbert]

"Do not fret about that. I promise I will always be here." He understood the irony of his words, lying here on the bed when most of his blood had been left on the sitting room floor. But he intended to keep his promise.

[Christine Montgomery]

The rest of the world could have disappeared for all of Christine's awareness of anything occurring out of their private haven.

But things were happening outside of their private haven.

Lex was busy using the Veritiserum to vet the doctor that had arrived and make sure he was who he said he was, additionally the other MLE officers who had arrived with the Veritiserum. She was also told that Dorian would be in charge and decide whether or not to move Christine to a safehouse or keep her there, but they had the veritiserum either way.

Suddenly voices grew louder and with a grimace Christine jumped from the bed seconds before the doors opened.

[Simon Montague]

Simon had rushed to the hospital after his encounter with Dorian. He only briefly stopped to stash the knife with Dorian's blood on it. He'd use that and the other fibers he had collected for his next batch of polyjuice potion, but for now he waited for his victim to show up at the hospital...except he didn't.

It was a while of treating patients before the hospital got the call he had been waiting for. He offered to go to the hotel to take care of the wounded Auror, and smiled as the nurses fawned over the handsome hardworking doctor.

He spent the better part of twenty minutes being vetted by Lex and showing his credentials before the woman would let him see to his "patient."

"Well now, I hear you took a stabbing." he said noting the proximity between Christine and Dorian.

No hint of recognition showed on his handsome face, though there was some amusement for the wounded man.

[Aleksandra "Lex" Eiriksen]

Lex's job became infinitely more difficult this evening as her partner had been stabbed, her ward was in even more trouble, and the room was swarming with MLE and a Doctor that needed to be let in to treat her partner. It was chaos. Luckily Lex was used to chaos in the pack and corralling wizards was nothing compared to corralling wolves.

"Bloody idiot thought his stomach was a sheath, and had to stand around gabbing before going to the hospital, leaving me to do all the hard work. Dorian this is Dr. Montague, since you can't be moved right now he came to you." Lex griped, but she smiled at her brother.

[Dorian Humbert]

Dorian wanted to glare at the door itself for allowing it to be opened at such a moment, but he maintained his composure and watched as Lex and the doctor filed in. He attempted to re-position himself without their notice, now that Christine was no longer by his side, but the pain for the wound was too much and he winced and took in a sharp breath. His jaw tensed as Lex made her silly comments, which he had come to expect from her. She had a wit that he had not yet learned to appreciate and he found her joke, particularly the timing of her joke, to be not very amusing. 

"Good afternoon, Dr. Montague." He felt a headache coming on and rubbed his forehead.

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine for her part was too interested in Dorian to realize that Dr. Montague had arrived, but suddenly she went pale. She moved to the corner of the room to get some water.

Dr. Montague had worked at the school, and she had worked with him. He could give her away at any moment. Did he get a good look at her? Oh Merlin was everything going to fall apart now?

***

Simon was not going to give Christine away. He was unaware of the worry that he was causing, but if he had known he would have taken a perverse pleasure in it. Instead he pretended not to notice her.

"Careful there. You shouldn't move too much. I'll give you something for the pain, but Lex has taken rather good care of you." he admonished, "You likely owe her your life."

***

Lex, now that everything was more or less taken care of, was putting the pieces together. She noticed Dorian's position on the bed, Christine's actions both now and when Dorian had arrived initially, Dorian's question as well as his expression toward Christine. It had clicked in her mind before, but it was only as things were relatively "safe" that the anger came. And boy did it come in spades. She'd have plenty to say once this was all over.

[Dorian Humbert]

Dorian incorrectly assumed that Christine's sudden change of location was to dispel any inferences about her relationship with him. He paid her no mind in order to keep from drawing attention to her. Instead, he looked to the doctor. Dorian welcomed the idea of some form of pain management. He felt useless and broken lying in this bed unable to even shift his weight without making a scene of it.

Dorian looked to Lex. "That I do," he admitted as Dr Montague spoke of his partner. Hindsight being what it was, Dorian would do it all exactly the same. He couldn't rest until he was certain Christine was safe, and if it took him bleeding out on the floor again to do so then Lex would just have to deal with the aftermath as she had before. 

[Simon Montague]

Simon glanced at both women, neither of whom seemed to be in the mood for conversation. Instead he focused on patching Dorian up. Though he had caused the wound he wanted Dorian very much alive and well to suffer when he took Christine later.

He worked in silence then gave Dorian the medication to ease his pain.

"Well that's all that needs to be done, you'll be up and about in a few days."

He went over the medication with Lex who nodded appropriately.

[Dorian Humbert]

A few days was several days longer than Dorian would have wanted. How could he protect Christine when he was laid up in bed? He would need to talk with Lex shortly about moving Christine somewhere safe, further away from the clutches of the madman who had now explicitly threatened her. Dorian cursed himself for allowing the imposter to fool him and setting this entire fiasco in motion.

"Thank you, doctor."

[Simon Montague]

"Anytime." he answered, "This should knock you out for a bit, it will speed up the healing process if you rest." he set a vial down on the nightstand near the bed.

With a nod toward both women he left the room, and then the building, but he had been IDed, he could come and go as he pleased.

[Dorian Humbert]

Dorian waited until the doctor had gone before he turned to Lex. "Thank you, Aleksandra," he said sincerely. Without her skilled aide, it might have been a coroner leaving instead of a doctor.

[Aleksandra "Lex" Eiriksen]

Lex waited for Simon to leave, then debated whether or not she'd hassle Dorian tonight, it was his thank you that stalled her.

"Don't think that you and I don't have a talking coming up. But you're not up to a full fight yet. I'll hold the fort, you take the medicine the good doctor left. And we'll come up with a game plan when you wake up."

Before he could argue that the killer was coming Lex continued, " No one is coming in or out of the room for the next few days at least so you have time to rest before we talk about a safehouse. There are MLEs stationed around the Hotel, and aurors in the hallways. The elevator has been disabled to this floor and we've been sent enough food and veritaserum to last us until Christmas."

What Lex didn't say was that the ministry was hoping the Killer would come for Christine, they had enough guards to keep the girl safe, but it was also a chance to catch him.

[Dorian Humbert]

He opened his mouth to speak but she just kept talking, easing most of his concerns with her monologue. The only concern he had left was one that resulted in her preparation. He was stuck with Christine and Lex for several days without any respite. The most time they had spent as a threesome was when Dorian had first introduced Lex to Christine several weeks ago. It had been full of small talk, pregnant silences, and awkward glanced between Christine and him as they attempted to disguise their relationship. He did not look forward to all of that again without the ability to even leave the room unassisted.

He nodded, it was the safest option at the moment.

[Aleksandra "Lex" Eiriksen]

Lex stared him down, almost daring him to say something, but when he nodded she smiled, "Good, now that there are no objections I'll leave you two alone. I'm starving since someone decided to bleed all over the living room just before dinner." she quipped before turning and leaving.

It would be just as awkward for Lex who hadn't decided how exactly to handle the romance between her brother and the girl she was supposed to be guarding. So for now she ignored it.