Chapter 1

I awoke with a jolt, rolling out of the comfort of my bed, hurling myself towards the bathroom door. I stumbled to the toilet eyes barely open. Before I could make sure I was aiming correctly, I retched into the bowl bringing up what seemed like a 3 course meal. This was strange as I had only eaten a few bites of my dinner that night. After emptying the contents of my stomach into the porcelain bowl, I sank all the way to the floor resting my cheek against the cool wall. I felt strong arms grip me under my armpits pulling me to my feet. Adam turned me to face him, looking into my eyes with concern.

"I told you there was something wrong with the roast," I mumbled. Still weak from my recent spell.

"There was nothing wrong with it Mercy, I thing you might have a stomach flu," He said this while checking my forehead to see if I had a temperature.

"Am I okay Doc, you think I'm gonna make it?" I said in a horrible impression of Donald Duck. This made him smile.

"If you can laugh about it I'm guessing you'll be fine, c'mon let me help you get cleaned up, then I'll put you to bed and get something for your stomach," He started towards the sink, still holding me up.

"I'm fine, really," I protested meekly.

"Shhhh, just let me help you," He turned the faucet on and made me rinse out my mouth. He then led me to the bedroom where he pulled the covers back and helped me onto my side of the bed, tucking the covers around me like a small child. He pushed my hair back from my face and kissed me on my clammy forehead and whispered "I'll go get you some water and something for your upset stomach," with that he left the room, closing the door in halfway. I was asleep before he returned.

The next morning Adam woke me with a kiss saying something about going to work, and asking how I was feeling that morning. I was about to say "fine", when the scent of coffee wafted upstairs assaulting my senses. I threw the covers off my legs and bolted for the toilet. Adam followed me into the bathroom and held my hair away from my face as I heaved. When I had finished pouring the contents of my stomach into the toilet he pulled my t-shirt over my head and lead me into the shower with him, adjusting the pressure and temperature to one that would be more comfortable to me. He pulled me directly beneath the spray, then reached behind me to the shower caddy for my vanilla and lavender body wash and my purple loofah. He poured some body wash onto the loofah then set it aside so that he could hold me up with one hand and have the other hand working me over.

"You must be really ill to let me take care of you like this," he rumbled near my ear. "I think you should see a doctor about whatever this is," he continued tentatively.

"It's probably nothing, and throwing up that second time really did wonders for me… really, I'm fine," with that I grabbed the loofah from him and gently started scrubbing his left shoulder and chest with it, moving in small circles all the way to his right shoulder. It wasn't long before my gentle touches heated up, and we progressed to more intimate touching.

Fully clothed we made our way downstairs to the kitchen, where we found Jesse sitting at the counter eating toast with jam and a cup of coffee.

"How you people could drink that stuff is beyond me," I said, while Adam made his way over to the coffee pot to grab a cup for himself. "Did someone change the coffee; it's even more noxious today, if you can believe that,"

"Nope, same good old regular coffee" Jesse said taking a big gulp of her own with a teasing smile.

"Well, I'm late for work," Adam said, giving me a provocative smile that made me blush all the way through to my core, "I have to go, but Mercy I would feel a lot better if you ate something, and If you saw a doctor, at the very least went to the pharmacy. Take Jesse for moral support, and call me if it's anything serious" with that he put his coffee mug in the sink and left.

Jesse turned in her chair and looked at me in a way that said she wanted to know everything. Just as I was about to assure her that everything was okay Ben walked into the kitchen, probably from one of the rooms in the basement.

"Morning," he mumbled, pushing past me, to get to the coffee. After he poured himself a mug, and took his first gulp, he turned to me with a less disoriented expression, "Boss said I'm supposed to make sure you take care of that stomach of yours, something about a stomach flu," he paused, looking at me questioningly. I sat at the counter with a sigh, grabbing an apple from the basket at the centre of the counter.

"I told him I felt fine. You know Adam, he worries too much,"

"Nevertheless I have, direct orders, and I'm not looking to get on his bad side,"

"What about my bad side?" I asked half-jokingly. Chuckling, he reached over and patted me on the head.

"Cute, now you two get your arses up, I do have a job you know?"