birdie bowers in the last place on earth ft. eye of the tiger

TLPoE is about a group of people who run a restaurant that' secretly a shelter for women who are in relationships with very dangerous, powerful people that could find her. Lacey is the one who always goes undercover to talk to the men. Eventually, her ex girlfriend September, who is a mule, reappears and she becomes infatuated with her and chooses to go with her and betray the Last Place. she returns when things end badly, but the vibes are OFF as fuck.

Lacey goes undercover with a high fever

Kit has the stomach flu and Lacey is helping her

Kit makes a bad, risky choice and Lacey gets hurt as a result

Lacey makes a mistake on a mission, Kit is pissed until it's revealed Lacey is running a high fever

Prequel Lacey in a neglectful, codependent relationship with September and they can't scrounge up enough cash

post-betrayal fic in which September gets Lacy into a bad situation that gets her hurt, so September calls the one name in Lacy’s phone she recognizes and knows will come: Kit.

the gang has to go to Kit's place to finish working in a bad snow storm, and Lacey starts running a really bad fever

Lacey is sick on a mission out of town alone and there's nothing her teammates can do about it but watch her deteriorate every time they chat

Three times Lacey's needs go unnoticed and one time they don't

Lacey exhausts herself until she practically collapses

Lacey is rescued after being tortured

AGHGHHGGHGHGHGHGH @taylortut gave me permission to write something for her AMAZING The Last Place on Earth series, so here’s a short sickfic about Kit Reed, aka tlpoe’s certified Cool Older Lady™

Disclaimer: I read just about every TLPOE story I could get my grimy slimy hands on (aka: found in the tag) to get context for this story and make it accurate, but I STILL don’t really know how the Last Place team’s jobs work, or if they even can be surveilled, but let’s just say that Lacey’s task in this story is very important and high risk or something. Idk, I don’t specify the details anyway! But sorry if I get anything wrong!

Also uhhhhhh does Roni and Kit’s daughter have a name? I feel like I don’t remember her having one so I just call her a bunch of nicknames when I reference her in this story. Hope that’s okay??? maybe?

---

“Kit. Kit. Kitty!”

Kit Reed dragged her eyes open to the tone of her wife shaking her, the sound of Roni’s alarm clock going off pulsing around her skull. The sunlight streaming in the window was too bright, the alarm clock was too loud, and even Roni’s hands on her shoulder made Kit flinch away uncomfortably, half asleep and half knowing that no, this probably wasn’t a good feeling to wake up to.

A better feeling, though, was Roni’s hand on her face, then her forehead, lingering there long enough that Kit probably should have been worried, but found herself too tired to actually think about it.

“Ah, now that explains it.” She heard Roni mutter, the alarm blissfully silent now as her wife’s hand pulled away. “You have a fever.”

Now that did get Kit thinking, because she suddenly remembered what day it was. Shit. This just wouldn't do at all.

“Can’t,” Kit said, sitting up even though it made the room tilt like a mockingly slow carnival ride. “Medina’s got that job today. I have to be there.” 

“Well, sorry honey, but you can’t control if you’re sick or not… and you are, most definitely, sick today.” Roni replied, a familiar furrow of concern settling between her brows as Kit pushed herself out of bed and made her way to the closet to get dressed. She heard her wife sigh from behind her, heard the bed creak as Roni got up, Kit pulling on a bra and a shirt without real choice of purpose.  Roni always got up half an hour later than her, which meant Medina was set to go in an hour, and with the drive to the office, Kit didn't have long to get ready if she wanted to make the time. 

“Hey, Kitty?” Roni called in, then appeared behind her as Kit combed back her hair with her fingers, suddenly unable to find the comb Roni always put here, specifically for her in the mornings. “Remember when we sent the kid to school with a cold because she had a test? And then they sent her home with a 101 degree fever?” 

Kit did remember. Their daughter had aced that test, too, and they’d kept her home for the rest of the week to recover. Roni even gave her ice cream for breakfast one day to make up for sending her to school. Kit had been glad she was okay, and felt bad they didn’t know she’d been that sick. Still, their daughter had gotten an A on the test, something she knew for a fact the kid was still proud of to this day; so was Kit.

“It’s not noble to push yourself to work when you’re sick. Not for Lacey, definitely not for you. You trained them, they’ve got this.” Roni said, still behind her, then pushing the familiar plastic comb into her hands. “And you especially shouldn’t go in sick enough that you can’t find the comb that’s in the same place I always put it…” Her wife was convincing, and Kit almost wanted to give in and go back to bed, but… Medina’s job was too important. Too dangerous. She needed a professional watching her back on the cams, and that’s what Kit was. She couldn’t, and wouldn’t, leave Lacey without that. God knew Medina got hurt enough on her own, she didn’t need another injury because Kit couldn’t do her job.

“I hear you, Roni.” Kit sighed, a low crackle of congestion ominous in her lungs as she did. “But I still need to go. Just for Medina’s job, then I’ll take the rest of the day off. Alright?” 

“And tomorrow.”

“...And tomorrow.” 

Roni nodded, stepping away. “Okay. I’ll drive you to work, alright? And back. You’re too dizzy to be behind the wheel.” Part of Kit wanted to object, there, but a dizzy spell cut her off as she turned her head wrong, and she relented. 

---

Three hours later, Lacey Medina was back at the Last Place successful, and even in one piece. She did, however, get the sense something wasn’t right as she entered. 

Kit hadn’t been in when she’d left, despite literally always arriving at the same time every day, before Lacey’s departure time for this assignment. It struck her as odd, but the oddest thing was that when she got back, Mrs. Reed, Roni, was there too, and Kit was somehow really pale and really flushed at the same time. Not to mention shivering, despite the sheen of sweat on her forehead as Roni sat her down, TJ hovering nervously nearby as Esther returned from the kitchen, a glass of ice water in hand.

“What’s going on?” Lacey asked, with Eve, who had been her ride back from the job, closing the door behind them. 

“Kit kinda took a page out of your book, Lacey,” TJ said, in a tone that indicated he was joking, but also quite worried. “Almost fainted.”

“It was not fainting,” Kit bit out, tone terse, but surprisingly lacking her usual bite as she took the glass of water offered to her by Esther. “I just… got dizzy. More dizzy then I was before.”

“And almost passed out, yes, that’s what fainting is, honey.” Mrs. Reed spoke softly to her wife, but just loud enough that everyone else could hear. It almost made Lacey feel like she was intruding. Then, a thought struck her.

“Wait, Kit, what are you doing here if you’re that sick?” She asked the very question Kit herself had asked Lacey many times. And despite Lacey knowing her own personal answers, she had no idea what Kit’s reasoning was. It wasn't like anything would fall apart if Kit took a sick day, and she knew that, even though they all knew she loathed admitting it.

“We already had arrangements on the job today,” Kit explained with a weak shrug, shivering and pulling her suit jacket tighter around her frame. “I just had to be here. In case.”

“Of?” Eve asked from behind Lacey, but guiltily, Lacey could already guess the answer.

“In case I got hurt. Or needed backup.” She said quietly, and Kit nodded.

“Whatever else you are, Medina, or what you’ve done, you’re a good kid.” Kit said, looking at Lacey with glassy, bloodshot eyes that made Lacey almost wonder if the older woman was delirious. “Can’t stand the thought of something happening to you because I wasn’t there. You’re my responsibility. All of you.” Kit gestured vaguely at everyone else, too, and Lacey got the point but she still felt bad about it. She’d technically dragged Kit into work like this because...

“Okay, now that Lacey’s back, I really have to get her home,” Mrs. Reed broke Lacey’s train of thought as she spoke, helping Kit to stand. “Fever reducer, tea and sleep for a couple days, I think… Hope you kids can manage the Place by yourself.” Mrs. Reed gave a knowing smile, and for just a beat Lacey’s guilt vanished.

Kit was their boss. Kit was good to her, even motherly at times (in all the good and bad ways). Kit did this for her, and if Mrs. Reed knew they could handle things, then so did Kit.

She had faith in them. And in that moment, Lacey even had faith in herself.

-

oh no i made all my OCs on this picrew creator here are the Last Place kiddos

The premise of this story is that the Last Place on Earth is disguised as a restaurant, but is really a shelter for women who are being abused by men who are in positions of power. They surveil and blackmail these men into leaving the women alone. Lacey is the undercover prodigy, but when her ex girlfriend September shows up in her life again, she’s tempted to throw it all away.