Lacey's Luhpynes(38)

Nodding he wrapped an arm around her and hugged her to him. Once she'd  washed and dried her face, she let him lead her out and toward the  firing range. He pushed her into a chair in the soundproofed outer room,  not that she was going to argue, and went in to get Ansell. A short  discussion later and both men came out, Ansell coming right to her and  pulling her up and into his arms gently.

"I'll see you later," Zhubin said, running his fingers over her cheek. "Sleep, baby, and drink lots of fluids."

"Can do." She hugged him again and sighed, her cheek to his chest. "Lots  of fluid," she assured him and pulled back, and easily went into  Ansell's arms. Her cheek to his chest she closed her eyes. "Take me  home? I'm really not feeling so hot. When Zhubin gets home we will go to  the clinic so I can get a shot but for now, just take me home?" She was  repeating what Zhubin had said, but she couldn't seem to help herself.

"Absolutely," he said quietly, holding her close. He and Zhubin spoke  for a few more minutes but she didn't really listen to the words. Just  the rumble of their voices was enough to help soothe her. Then they were  moving, apparently. Ansell walked her to the elevator and they rode  down, him holding her close and rubbing at her back in a nice, slow  pattern.

When it was finally time for them to go she kept her eyes closed and an  arm around Ansell's waist. At this point in time she didn't care who in  the station knew she was ill and leaning on her men. Hell, that's what  you were supposed to do, lean on your man when you weren't feeling well.  So she was doing it. Dammit.

When they reached the parking level Ansell bent and scooped her into his  arms. "Hold on," he said against her hair. Long, sure strides carried  them through the cool underground area and to his truck. A few moments  later he had her settled into the passenger seat and mere minutes later,  they were on their way home.

Lacey was snuggled up in the truck, calm and collected. Before long she  was sound asleep there at his side. She shifted slightly when they  pulled up into their driveway. Reaching out, she laid her hand on  Ansell's leg and stroked it gently. "Thank you for letting me nap. Maybe  after a bit more sleep I will feel even better."

"I'm sure you will," he said with a smile. Parking the truck close to  the door he turned the engine off. Sliding out of the truck he came  around to her door and pulled it open. Helping her out, he scooped her  up in his arms again and carried her toward the house. Walking inside,  he set her on her feet only long enough to disarm the alarm and reset it  for them to be in there.

"Do you want something to drink before we head upstairs?" he asked  quietly. Lifting her up once more, he cocked a brow at her but didn't  move one direction or the other. Just waited for her to tell him what  she needed.

"Nope. I am good, just heading up to bed. Maybe after we are in bed I  will take some water but honestly I just want to sleep. I feel  marginally better after the small nap coming home so I am ever hopeful  that, having a nice long sleep, I would feel better than I felt  earlier."

Nodding, he carried her up the stairs and into their room. Settling her  on the end of the bed Ansell knelt and pulled off her boots and socks.  Straightening, he got her out of her jacket and shirt before he lifted a  brow at her. "You'll need to either stand or lay back so I can pull off  your pants, love."

"I can get them off if you want to pull back the sheets?" She grinned at  him and winked. "I promise you, honey, I really can get naked on my  own. I just need for you to pull the bedding back if you don't mind?"

"Well, I did help you get part way there." He chuckled. "Finish  stripping and I'll get the bedding ready for you." Moving around he  tugged off the decorative pillows and then drew back the heavy quilt and  the sheets. Stacking the other pillows just for her he stepped back and  waved a hand. "In."                       
       
           



       

Once she was fully naked she slipped into the bed and closed her eyes.  Shifting so that she was on her side Lacey was soon sound asleep, long  before he climbed into bed with her. Another shuffle, another sniff and  her body relaxed fully.



* * * *



A soft stroke down her cheek had her starting to wake up. "Come on,  Lace," Zhubin's voice called to her gently. "Open up those gorgeous eyes  and let's figure out if you need to go to the doctor's or not,  darling."

Lacey opened her eyes and smiled up at Zhubin. "Hey you." Reaching out  she pressed her hand to his cheek and stroked her thumb over his lower  lip. "Do you know just how very, very much I love you?" she asked  quietly. "Because I do. So very, very much. Now. I need to get up and  dressed. Let's see if I am feeling better?" There was a pause and then  she asked, "The blood from the paper, did you get any leads?"

Nodding, his lips pressed together tight and became a thin line as he  sat back on his heels. "Get up and dressed and we'll talk about it while  you try to drink something. We have a few things to discuss, none of  which I think you will like even a little bit."

She didn't like how that sounded, at all. Shifting slightly, she moved  so that she could get out of bed and looked to him. "Hand me my  clothes?" When he passed her pants to her she slipped into those,  followed by her shirt. Adjusting slightly she rose to her feet and felt  the world swaying just a bit, but shook it off. "Okay, talk to me," she  asked quietly and walked toward Ansell where he was standing, waiting.

"Downstairs, you're going to want to be sitting for this," Zhubin said.

When she looked to Ansell he just shrugged. Obviously, he didn't know  what was going on either. Taking her hand he pulled her in close to her  body as they headed through the house and downstairs.

Lacey moved to Ansell and slipped her hand into his. Once they were  downstairs she snuggled on the couch in Ansell's lap, her feet in  Zhubin's lap and a blanket around her body. Yawning she rubbed her cheek  to her mate's shoulder. Looking to Zhubin she said, "All right, we are  down here, love. Talk to us?"

Heaving a sigh, he cracked his neck before looking her way. "The blood  on the note was yours, Lacey. We don't know where he got it or when, but  all we could come up with is that he raided the blood bank in the  building to get it. It's the only place we could think of where any of  your blood was supplied."

Again, standard procedure for all agents, having a stock of their own  blood in the event of a medical emergency. A pint here, a pint there and  eventually the staff said they were good for the time being. It was  stored properly and always ready should it, heaven forbid, be required.

"We went right downstairs and found one pint missing from the ten that  should have been there. We checked the logs and no one signed it out,  which we'd hoped for but knew that was going to be a stretch. The lab  boys and girls did figure out that, best guess, it had been written  about three to five days ago due to the breakdown of the cells in the  one blob on the page."

"That's not all, is it?" Ansell said quietly, not a question, a statement.

"No, there was something in the envelope, a residue. They ran all the  standard checks for things like anthrax and ricin and such, no hits.  They did the drug screens as well, all the standards that is, no hits.  So they are now running a full chemical breakdown in the hopes of  figuring out what was on both the sheet of paper and inside the  envelope. When I left they had no clue but they were not looking happy  so we're to assume it's not going to be just baby powder."

"Fuck," Ansell muttered. His hold tightened around her a little and she could feel him kiss the top of her head.

"Pretty much, as well, they are testing the other nine pints of blood to  ensure nothing was done to them. That was my call once we knew about  the powder residue. I have a bad feeling in my gut and I listened to it  on this. So they are running everything under the sun on the stored  blood. Because if this psychopath did something to you that will require  the blood, what better way to really get you than to tamper with it? I  also told them that, no matter what, we're not using any of those pints  on you, ever. They were pulling in the appropriate blood from a blood  bank on the off chance we require it."

She felt ill from his words. Swallowing hard, she licked her too-dry  lips and rested back against Ansell once more. "I really don't like the  way that this all sounds. I really do not care for the idea that this  monster was so readily able to get to my blood. What if he messed not  just with mine but others as well? As much as I hate to say it, I really  think that the blood all needs to go out. It needs to be tossed and a  restart needs to happen." She hated it but that was all that she could  think of in that moment in time. If he had gotten to her blood, who else  was at risk?