Teal.

What awoke Julian the following morning came as little surprise; Teal's body was in revolt from her gratuitous alcohol intake, and at a quarter 'til eight she was not so quietly bumbling around his loft as she made her way into the washroom. It took it just a moment to register; but as he let out a groan at the stiffness in his neck from sleeping on his own couch, it clicked surprisingly fast for such an early morning. Julian Giles fell off the sofa as he hazily scrambled to go assist what he could only presume to be a very hungover American girl in his bathroom.

The sounds of her groans and retching reached him before anything else; and he gently knocked on the bathroom door that was still slightly cracked. A whine pulled forth after he did, followed by the flushing of the toilet.

"Why... Did I--" Teal cut herself off as she got sick again; and despite how much Julian disliked that noise, he slowly pushed the door open. It wasn't a glamorous sight—but then again hangovers never were. Her hands were trembling as she tried to keep her hair out of her face, and out of the toilet. He couldn't help but mutter an "Oh, Teal--" as he hurried forward then, quickly holding her hair back for her as she retched a few more times. His brow furrowed and he frowned; Wallace had mentioned she'd had six or so drinks, she was in for a rough time at her size.

She flushed again finally and rolled onto her back in the floor. Julian stood over her in the dimly lit bathroom, pushing his hair back from his face.

"Teal? I don't think you need to be laying on the floor here. Let me help you up and we'll get you back in bed, or even the couch. Even take a trash can to be on the safe side, yeah?"

The girl put an arm over her eyes, groaning. "Don't. Make me move. If I move I'll get sick again and everything will hurt."

"But, Teal, you'll be much more comfortable elsewhere."

"Julian," she whined. "Leave me alone; leave me in the floor to die in peace just shhhut. Up."

He felt silent at that, arching an eyebrow with a sigh as he watched her take slow breaths in her spot on the tiled floor of the bathroom. Her head must have been pounding. Without a word, Julian left the room, and returned to his own. He still had on his jeans from the late night run to retrieve her from the club, but he changed shirts, throwing on some old sneakers before he made his way back down the hall, grabbing his coat once again on the way out. It was early, but a few shops were open—close by ones, too. Convenient enough for Julian to slip out and pick up a few things, returning to his loft no more than half an hour later. He tried to enter his place as quietly as possible, dropping one of the bags in the kitchen before retreating down the hall to where he had left Teal, with the other.

She hadn't moved much; except to shift onto the rug in front of the sink, arms still over her eyes. He wasn't sure if she was out again or not, so quietly, he left the bag at her side and slipped back out. It contained a few little things; a toothbrush, cold water, some pills to help with the headache she probably had, and a nice little dissolvable vitamin supplement that would ease the hangover symptoms once she took it.

Julian was up, and had no desire to go back to sleep, especially considering the shape Teal seemed to be in. Instead, he opted to do something he hadn't since before he stopped seeing Claire; for the first time in months, Julian Giles cooked breakfast. He'd grabbed some things while he was out; eggs, milk, sausage, and a few pastries just for good measure. The warm smell of food filled his loft as he worked, and he hoped it would be enough to get Teal up and about—hopefully not make her sick again.

Twenty minutes into his kitchen escapades, he noted the sound of the bathroom door opening down the hall. The eggs seemed okay for the time, and he glanced back towards the hall. Teal emerged, sluggishly, with the bag in one hand. She was undoubtedly a mess; hair disheveled, clothes wrinkled, mascara still staining below her eyes, but she managed to make her way towards the kitchen. In the other hand she held the water bottle, already half empty.

He glanced back at the eggs only briefly, quickly returning his attention to the girl as she shuffled onto one of the barstools, setting the bag on the counter before she let her head hit the marble with a dull thud. She groaned, maintaining a vice grip on the water bottle.

"Breakfast will be ready in a minute, if you're up to eating. It might do you some good to get food in your system. I assume you found the pills and such?" He spoke softly.

There was no reply for a moment, but Teal finally lifted her head enough to look at him; her eyes were bloodshot; and by contrast her green irises stood out that much more. She—fittingly—looked nothing short of exhausted. "The toothbrush was honestly appreciated. My mouth feels less disgusting. What. What was the dissolvable thing?"

The corner of his lip quirked up a little as he moved the eggs onto their plates with the sausage. "Should help with the hangover, that's all. Muffin or bagel?"

"What kind of muffin are we talking? I don't know how much I can eat, but," she trailed off, eyeing the plates cautiously.

"Blueberry. I've got coffee too, if you think that would help at all."

Teal blinked, shifting her gaze to him again. She didn't say anything then, and it didn't take much to guess his kindness was throwing her for a bit of a loop. Julian opted to give her the muffin, sliding the plate across the counter to her.

"I wanted to wait until you were less... ah, incapacitated. But, I owe you an apology, Teal. For my behavior yesterday." Julian kept his eyes on her as he spoke, watching as she hesitantly took a few bites of her scrambled eggs. She paused after that, both of them waiting to see if her body was going to agree with food.

"Is this an apology breakfast for you being a jackass?"

Julian quirked an eyebrow, leaning back against the counter by the stove. "If that's how you want to look at it. I was in the wrong, though, Teal. I shouldn't have said what I did, or, acted as I did."

"I slapped the hell out of you."

"You did. And it was absolutely deserved."

There was a slow, dawning look of realization on Teal's face then, one of her hands came up and covered her mouth. Julian immediately moved for the trash bin; if she was going to be sick he'd at least try to make sure it wasn’t all over the floor or counter. But, Teal didn't throw up again.

"I... punched Tate Goodwin in the face. Oh my god I--" Her hands moved, pushing her hair back from her face. "Because he—And he left me there and I... I don't remember after that--"

"You drank a lot, clearly. And an old acquaintance of mine found you. Actually Teal, you're very lucky." It hit Julian then, just the position she had been in, and how it could have very easily ended much, much worse. A slight flame of anger began to flicker inside of him. "Do not ever do that again. If someone else had found you instead of him—Teal, do you have any idea what could have happened to you?"

She watched him wide-eyed, shrinking a little against the counter as he spoke. How the possibility of what might have happened to her hadn't crossed his mind until then, he wasn't sure. But it was suddenly a thought he couldn’t distract himself from. It hadn't seemed to dawn on her either, until that moment.

"I... I didn't think about that." Teal's voice was unusually quiet; almost like a child getting chastised. "I just. Wanted to not think about any of the day and."

"You decided to get completely bloody pissed in a nightclub full of strangers, all by your lonesome. Is that it?"

"I mean—I wasn't thinking--"

"No, Teal, you weren't. What if something bad had happened to you? What if I hadn't gotten the call come to get you? There are bad people here, just like everywhere. There were bad people in that club. I don't want to think about what could have happened to you if Wallace hadn't been the one to find you. It's not like you have family here, Teal. You're an ocean away from family and friends—everyone. Everyone who cares about you and worries and wants you safe--"

"Everyone but you." She cut him off quietly, eyes down.

Julian blinked. "What?"

"You meant I'm an ocean away from everyone who cares about me and worries, but you, right?" Teal looked up at him slowly, an almost reluctant vulnerability on her face in that moment. She looked small, somewhat scared, and like she wanted to believe it very badly. "You... you wouldn’t be this upset if you didn't care, would you?"

His anger seemed to fizzle then; a muted shock leaving him to stare back at her for a few moments. She'd been smashed the night before, when she admitted her fear of closeness, and how he'd breached the distance she held onto for safety. But now, she was sober, and telling him the same thing in a less direct way. That didn't matter, though. She was opening up. Finally.

Julian took a slow breath as he ran a hand through his hair, stepping a bit closer to where she sat. He hesitated a moment; reaching over to brush some of her curls behind her shoulder. "I had assumed that much was obvious. Although if my actions yesterday afternoon made it seem otherwise, I can understand. I can't apologize enough for that, Teal. But I'm glad you're here now, and you're safe."

There was a little pause as she let out a slow breath she seemed to have been holding, glancing down. "Thank you. For not letting something bad happen to me last night."

"Teal." Julian reached over again, gently tilting her chin up. Their eyes finally met again. "Whenever you need me, I'll be there, yeah? No matter what. Cross my heart."

The fear crept back into her gaze then, and she seemed to tense. Julian wasn't sure if he'd pushed the wrong buttons again. He waited, almost expecting her to bolt once more.

"You're not the first to make that promise."

He didn't need an explanation to know who Teal was referring to then; the look of pity he gave her was uncontrollable. "Maybe not. But I'll be the first one to keep it."