Shay had a bottle of red wine ready for Jacob when he arrived. He poured the first glass as Jacob set out dinner in the break room.

“You’re not having one?” Jacob asked, picking up the glass.

“Of course not. I’m at work.”

“Technically I am too. But if you guys want to pay me to get drunk, I’m all for it.”

“I’m not asking you to get drunk. Wait a second before you drink that. I want you to have the electrodes on. I want to monitor you from the start.”

“The monitors can pick up their data from out here?”

“Yes. They’ve got the range.” He took the electrodes out of the box and approached Jacob. Should he ask him to take his shirt off? Maybe change into his night wear already? Highly tempting to have him sitting there so scantily clad while they ate, but he had to remain professional. Jacob applied the ones to his forehead but let Shay do the others, holding his shirt up out of the way for Shay to apply them, smooth them down on his warm skin. Shay maybe gave them an extra stroke and let his fingertips linger on Jacob. Maybe. Just being thorough. Jacob had to take off shoes and socks to give Shay access to his feet for the last two. He put the once-hated slippers on after that. He seemed to have become quite happy to wear them and keep his feet off the cold floor of the lab.

After they ate, Jacob carried his glass through into the lab, Shay following with the bottle. Jacob dropped onto the bed, sprawling as he had that morning, when his erection had shown up. A sight Shay had been trying not to allow to dominate his mind all day.

Shay put down the bottle on a table by the bed and headed for the monitoring desk.

“Oh, don’t go over there,” Jacob said. “Come sit beside me again. Like you did when I was ill. I liked that.”

“I have to monitor the readings.”

“So link your portable terminal to the monitors. Come on.” He had a second glass of wine in his hand, already partway through it. Shay would quite like to monitor him more closely. He knew the neurological effects of alcohol on a person well enough, but he wanted to see if they were different for Jacob. The monitors would record the difference in his brain. Shay could personally monitor the external signs.

“Okay, I’ll check everything is set up. Give me a second.”

“Let’s have a movie again.” Jacob winked. “Something sexy.”

Shaw frowned at him. “Definitely not sexy.” Not if Jacob was getting flirty already.

He checked over everything, made sure all the recordings were working, sent the monitor feeds to his terminal, and went to take the armchair where he’d sat for hours a few nights ago, watching over Jacob with his cold.

“Forget the movie,” Jacob said as Shay searched for one. “Changed my mind. Put on some music instead.”

“What do you like?”

“Never mind me. Put on something you like.”

Shay smiled. “Like I said, I’m at work. I’m not here to have fun.”

“I insist. I want to know what you like. Play your favorite music of all time for me.”

“Oh. It might not be your kind of thing.” He brought it up on his terminal and sent it to the room’s speakers. “It’s Beethoven’s violin concerto. Is that okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Some of his old hostile attitude came back. “Maybe I can’t study as much as non-sleepers, but that doesn’t make me an idiot, you know.”

“Of course not. I’m sorry.”

Jacob snorted and lay back on the pillows, still frowning. He lay there silently as the music filled the room. Slowly his frown disappeared. After a few minutes, he spoke quietly. “It’s beautiful.”

“I had violin lessons as a boy, but I never kept it up. Too busy with my schoolwork.”

“Do you wish you had?”

“Sometimes. My life might have gone a different way.”

“So many things that look like small choices can change our lives forever,” Jacob said. He went quiet, gazing off into the middle distance.

They listened again for a while.

“Do you play an instrument?” Shay asked.

“No. Never had lessons. I suppose my life was never stable enough as a kid, not like yours.”

“My mother still has my violin,” Shay said. “It’s hanging on the wall. I wish ... I wish she wouldn’t keep it that way. A silent violin is ... dead.”

Jacob rolled onto his stomach then leaned up on his elbows, close to the edge of the bed. He took a couple of big gulps of wine and put the glass down.

“You’d rather someone was playing it?”

“Of course. It’s a half-size one. She should give it to a child who’s learning, whose parents maybe can’t afford one. So it can sing again.” He blushed. “Sorry. I get sentimental about it.”

“Don’t apologize. It obviously means a lot to you.”

“Yes. A violin is an amazing thing, you know. It’s only wood and metal and strings, and yet in the right hands, it can produce ...” He waved his hand in the air, indicating the music. “I think it may be the pinnacle of human invention. The greatest thing humanity has ever created.”

“For a scientist, you’re certainly poetic,” Jacob said. He reached over and squeezed Shay’s knee, making him jump. He withdrew his hand right away, and Shay tried to calm himself as his mouth dried at the touch. It was nothing. A friendly pet. He should try not to think he’d have liked Jacob to allow the hand to linger and then slide it upward.

Jacob poured himself another glass of wine.

“I wish you’d have a drink,” he said. “It feels so weird, you sitting there stone-cold sober, while I’m getting more and more legless.”

“Sorry. I can’t. But, ah, maybe it would be a good idea for you to go get changed for bed. In case you are a little unsteady later.”

“Good idea.” Jacob drained the glass, quite impressing Shay, who’d never been able to drink fast like that. Shay didn’t have much of a head for drink at all. If he had joined Jacob in the drinking, he’d shortly have been lying on the floor, talking nonsense and getting distracted by random marks on the ceiling.

Jacob stood up from the bed and stumbled, missed his footing, and started to fall. Shay jumped up quickly, catching Jacob’s arms, taking his weight until he regained his balance. Jacob grabbed the front of Shay’s shirt, one large hand bunching up the fabric.

“I’ve got you,” Shay said. He looked into Jacob’s face. Only inches away.

“Yes,” Jacob said softly. “You’ve got me, Doc.”