Lina got bored waiting. Very, very bored. Count-the-cracks-in-the-ceiling bored. She was on number forty-seven when Zel returned, carrying a crockpot full of oatmeal and a kettle full of tea.
Lina's eyes lit up, and Zel watched with fond amusement as she emptied the pot in a matter of moments.
Zel offered her a mug of tea, and she sipped it tentatively, not wishing to burn her tongue. It was the perfect temperature. MMmmmm, peppermint sweetened with honey!
"Peppermint tea is good for a sore throat," Zel commented.
Lina blinked, wondering if he'd suddenly become a mind-reader.
Zel noticed Lina had stopped sipping her tea, and was looking at him. "Is there something wrong with the tea?" he inquired.
Lina shook her head a bit too enthusiastically--she spilled half her mug of tea. Lina's teeth ground together as she repressed her agitation at being unable to yell out the profanities she was thinking.
Zel offered Lina an understanding smile and removed the tea-soaked covers. "I'll get some more blankets. Be back in a moment," he prefaced before exiting the room.
When Zel said he'd be back in a moment, he hadn't been kidding. Lina hadn't even had a chance to even consider getting bored before he returned.
"I brought several blankets. I didn't know how chilled you might get," he commented as he set the blankets down beside the bed. He grabbed the top one and covered Lina with it.
Unable to actually say thanks, Lina just grabbed his hand and squeezed it briefly, smiling at him.
Zel, of course, blushed, and said quietly, "You're welcome."
It wasn't long before Lina got bored again. She couldn't talk, and Zel apparently wouldn't talk. He was sitting in a chair, staring off into the distance, seemingly miles away.
Well, he was here, and he could amuse her, damnit! She reached over into her bag and threw a piece of clothing at him.
Lina blushed seven shades of red when she saw just what article of clothing she'd thrown.
Zel started as something hit him. He looked down and saw what appeared to be one of Lina's undergarments lying neatly across his arm. He brushed it off as quickly as if it were some sort of venomous spider with miniature Hikari no Ken fangs. If Lina had blushed seven shades of red, Zel blushed seventeen hundred.
After several long moments, Zel finally brought himself to look at Lina. She looked completely chagrined, and shrugged, her palms out flat: mia culpa.
"You wanted to get my attention?" Zel guessed. Gods, she'd gotten his attention, all right.
Lina nodded, a self-depreciating smile on her lips.
"My apologies, Lina," he said, recovering. "You must be bored, and I was just staring at nothing." Better nothing than...no, he'd better stop that train of thought right there.
Lina made a gesture absently, dismissing Zel's need to apologise.
"Would you like me to talk to you?" he asked.
Lina nodded.
"As you wish." Zel moved the chair next to Lina's bed.
Lina grinned, then settled back against the pillows.
Zel frowned, wondering just what he should talk about. Finally he ventured, "Would you like to hear a story?" Fiction was a safe enough topic, he figured.
Lina nodded her assent.
He launched into the story of Beauty and the Beast, as it was the first one to come to mind. It wasn't like it was a significant choice or anything. No way. Not a chance.
About the time Beauty was requesting to leave the Beast, Zel noticed Lina had drifted off. Good, sleep should help speed her recovery. He simply watched her for a long while, trying to think of nothing at all, before he, too, nodded off.

_______
I think that enough torture for the time being...

--Elizabeth, Trickster Priestess ~_~