Derek was currently having his worst flare up of insomnia ever. And there was absolutely nothing he could do but keep his head down and brave the storm.
So many times he wanted to just give in. To go back to taking the sleeping pills that knocked him out and left him feeling like his brain was made of fluff, incapable of complex thought. But every night he hung on and made it through.
He swam until he could not, his body used to the aches that came with cutting through water every night. And when that was not enough, he sat in his rocking chair until a reasonable time to be out and about came. Moving amongst those who had recently awakened, faking like he too was suffering the effects of a good night's rest when he'd had no such thing.
Derek had just made it through another night in the chair and his body was feeling it. His entire being was aching, his mind unable to shut down, and his head was pounding because of all the sleep be was missing out on, Derek came into work feeling like an active volcano spewing hot lava everywhere.
By the time he made it to the office, he had made exactly three people cry.
The first one had been one of the IT guys. Derek had walked by to see the young woman struggling with a desktop, trying to lift it.
"If you cannot get that working by the end of the day. Don't come back tomorrow," She had nearly dropped the device, her lower lip trembling.
Next had come Lucas, his uncle's PA. Derek had just happened to cross paths with him and he'd said the first thing that came to mind.
"If you did not steal that shirt from a pre-schooler, then the diet you are on is not working," Seeing a grown man cry, was wrong on so many levels that Derek had instantly felt nauseous.
But then he'd turned, found one of the accountants whistling cheerfully and had glared. The woman had promptly burst into tears.
Derek chose to believe that the tears had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with her pregnancy hormones. Luckily, after that people got out of his way quickly enough after that, and he did not have to suffer through breathing the same air as them. But he only had a few minutes of quiet before there was a knock at the door.
"I'm busy, go away!" He called, a hand over his eyes as he tried to block out the light. Despite his words, he heard the door open anyways.
"I'm busy too, but I still took time out of my day to get you some tea, so you had better drink it," Emily's voice was pitched low, and soft despite her obvious annoyance.
He felt her presence next to him as she put the tray down. But when he raised his head ready to argue, she was on the other side of his desk, giving him a quietly hopeful look.
All the acerbic words on the tip of his tongue dried up. She only ever got that look when she was worried about him and trying to fix what was wrong without actually knowing what it was.
With sigh, he looked down at the tray.. Sure enough, there was a cup of tea there, and next to it, a blueberry muffin. His favourite.
When was the last time he had eaten? Was it the day before at lunch? He could not be quite sure, his insomnia was throwing off his internal clock a bit.
Reaching out, he picked up the muffin and took a bite…perfect…his eyes slipped shut on their own. The goodness of well baked bread going right through his bones.
"I'll give you two some privacy," His PA quipped, but Derek was far too busy enjoying his small moment of bliss to care about her teasing tone.
He heard the door close behind her and finally opened his eyes. This time, he took a bite from his muffin and then drank his tea.
It was just the right side of hot, the leaves steeped to perfection. Two sugars and a dash of milk. Where did she get the tea? Some days Derek had regular tea, the kind you could get at any coffee shop.
But when he was having a really bad day. Emily always seemed to magic up the perfect cup of tea from somewhere.
And she always knew at a glance when he was in need of the enchanted brew. It was probably one of the reasons he dreaded even thinking of the possibility that she would leave one day.
If she left, who would bring him the secret tea? And who would be able to read his moods and know just what he needed to get him going again.
No one.
His mind answered brutally honest. And Derek pushed the thought aside. Despite him being difficult at times. Emily had stuck around for two years. There was no sense in ruining his just recovered mood by thinking of negatives.
He finished off his tea and muffin in silence, some of the aches from a poor night's rest easing up a bit.
As a thank you, he ended up taking her to lunch. Disguising it as a work lunch even as she kept giving him knowing looks.