The Rule

"Well, I guess it's time for our next assignment," Bogg said as he and Jeff walked away from Queen Victoria.

"Bogg?" Jeff said.

"Yeah?" Bogg said absentmindedly as he opened the Omni. When Jeff didn't answer, he paused and looked at him. "What is it?" he asked eyeing his partner. He couldn't exactly put his finger on it, but something about the kid didn't seem right. He watched as Jeff put his right hand on his left elbow. Bogg turned to him and narrowed his gaze, giving the kid his full attention.

"Remember when you said we had to tell each other when things happened? Like when we're apart and one of us gets hurt?"

Bogg's smile disappeared, replaced by a look of concern. He immediately knelt down in front of Jeff, "what happened?" he whispered. He suddenly felt numb. They'd been apart for close to an hour, and each of them had a difficult task to perform, how could he not have checked with Jeff about how his part of the job had gone?

"I fell off the horse," Jeff told him, a bit embarrassed. "But I'm okay, it didn't even start to hurt until just

now."

Phineas looked at his arm, "how fast were you going?" he asked.

"As fast as I could. The cinch broke and the whole saddle fell off," Jeff explained, his voice quivering

as he finished. "I couldn't help it."

Bogg was speechless. He reached out toward Jeff and gently touched both arms, "of course you couldn't," he whispered as he pulled him into a gentle hug, afraid he might hurt him more. They stood together for several seconds until Bogg leaned back and looked around, "sit here," he told Jeff indicating a nearby bench. He stayed with him until he was seated. Then he took a deep breath and looked around. Seeing that Princess Victoria was still nearby, he stood and approached her. "Excuse me, but Jeff's had a pretty bad fall off a horse today, is there a place where we can go so he can rest, while I make sure he's okay?"

"Certainly," she replied immediately, and turned to one of her court assistants while Bogg went back to Jeffrey.

"We aren't leaving?" Jeff asked.

"Not until I'm sure you're okay, can you walk?"

"Bogg, it's my elbow, not my foot," Jeff joked.

"Well, at least I know your mouth works," Bogg answered as he directed Jeff to follow the assistant.

He rested his hand gently on Jeff's shoulder as they walked. He couldn't believe how badly he felt. Soon they were alone in a large room.

"Let's get your shirt off so I can see where it hurts," Bogg said and watched Jeff struggle with his shirt.

He was trying not to move his arm too much and Bogg felt sick as he watched him. He reached out to help where he needed it.

"So doc, what do you think?" Jeff asked. It was ten minutes later and Bogg had looked him over, prodded him where he thought there was an injury and asked him all sorts of questions about the fall. Red welts covered his arm above the elbow and part of his back and he had a lump on the side of his head.

"I'm not done yet," Bogg said seriously and Jeff sighed. "Tell me more about this headache? When did it start?"

"When Annie started shooting the targets, the noise hurt, I guess that's when I noticed it."

"Is it worse than ten minutes ago?"

"Maybe," Jeff paused, "I don't know, can we stop now?"

"Okay, but I want you to lie down," Bogg told him pulling the covers down on one of the beds in the room.

Jeff obediently walked to the bed and climbed in. A red flag went up in Bogg's head as he pulled up the covers. It was definitely not like Jeff to lie down so willingly in the middle of the day.

He settled the covers under Jeff's chin and left his hands on Jeff's shoulders. "You can close your eyes, but I'm gonna wake you up every hour or so, just to make sure you're okay," he told him.

"I don't think I'll sleep," Jeff said.

"Well, you can rest then, I'm just gonna sit here, okay?"

"That's what my Mom said when I broke my arm," Jeff whispered as tears leaked out of his eyes.

Bogg sat quietly, not knowing what to say. Until he'd met Jeffrey, he'd always known what to say in any situation. He'd always felt that one of his strengths as a Voyager was his people skills. He could talk to people no matter who they were, rich or poor, famous or not, anywhere in history. That's why he'd been so successful as a Voyager.

He wasn't used to feeling so uncertain and this upset him. He wanted to help Jeffrey so much it hurt. Many times in the past, he'd felt like a failure with Jeff. He could vividly recall, just recently, stumbling over what to say when he and Jeff had been inside his great-grandparents apartment. Jeff had been very upset to see some family heirlooms in their original condition. He had told Jeff that he was good at family history, it was such a useless comment. But Phineas hadn't known what else to say. He was glad that Jeffrey didn't seem to mind, he always seemed happy that Bogg was close by, no matter what he said.

So they rested quietly, Jeffrey lying under the covers and Phineas sitting on the edge of the bed.

After about an hour, Jeff looked up at Bogg, "I think I'm gonna be sick," he said.
Bogg reached for a spittoon under the night table, "roll over, it's okay," he told Jeff helping him. A minute later he threw up several times. He didn't have much in his stomach, so there wasn't much to come up. Bogg held Jeff's head while he was sick and rubbed his back, careful to stay away from the sore areas. He helped him lie back on the pillow afterward.

"Feel better now?" Bogg asked a few minutes later.

Jeff nodded and used the covers to wipe his eyes. "I'm sorry I'm so much trouble," he whispered.

"You're no trouble," Bogg spoke immediately, surprise in his voice. "We're family, isn't that what we said?"

Jeff nodded and smiled, "yeah, but I still don't want to be so much trouble."

Bogg stared at him and shook his head. The things that came out of Jeff's mouth still astounded him at times. "Let me ask you this," he began. "On a scale of 0-10, with 0 being no trouble and 10 being a lot of trouble, how much trouble do you think you were when you jumped into that fire to save me, in Salem?"

Jeff stared at him.

"Well?" Bogg persisted.

"Zero," Jeff said.

"And how much trouble do you think you were when you taught me how to pitch 1982 style for Babe Ruth?"

Jeff smiled, "Zero."

"And how much trouble were you when you ran back into that tent just before the gun powder exploded?" Phineas said, his voice breaking.

Jeff stared at him, "how did you find out about that?" he asked.

Bogg cleared his throat. "Annie told me. She was pretty shook up, she thought we were dead. She saw you run in and said it exploded only a few seconds later," Bogg whispered. "I only woke up when we landed in Africa, remember? Once we got back and I talked to Annie, I figured out what must have happened." He waited, "well?"

"Well what?"

"How much trouble were you then?"
"Zero."

"That's right," Bogg paused, "enough talk, now I want you to rest."

Jeff looked at him and closed his eyes. He felt warm and safe.

The knock at the door startled them both. A man opened it and spoke, "I'm Mr. Harrington, the Queen's Barber, I was asked to see the boy." Bogg and Jeff exchanged glances.

"What do you think?" Bogg whispered to Jeff.

"We could hear what he has to say," Jeff answered. "But if he recommends leeches, get me outta here."

Phineas smiled and stood up, "Thank you for coming." He explained what had happened to Jeffrey and what he had found upon examining him. The doctor began his own exam, which was considerably shorter. Finally he sat back.

"I'm a bit concerned about the vomiting," he said. "In a head injury, that's not a good sign." He turned to Jeffrey, "What month is it?

Jeff paused, "uh," he looked over at the window and saw the tree in bloom outside, "May?"

"What holiday did we just celebrate?"

Jeff took a deep breath, but didn't answer.

The doctor smiled at him and stood up, he motioned Bogg to follow him outside.

As Bogg started to follow, Jeff reached out to him, "don't leave," he whispered and Phineas' chest hurt.

"I'll be in the hall, I'll be right back, I promise," he said.

Phineas was pretty sure what the doctor wanted to tell him. Jeff had hit his head and had a headache, and didn't know the month or holiday. But although Bogg knew that he shouldn't be expected to know those things, the doctor didn't. Jeff was okay, Bogg was sure of it, still he wanted to hear what the doctor had to say.

Once outside, the doctor conveyed this same information and his concerns.

"Jeff doesn't really keep track of dates that well," Phineas lied, "so I'm not sure this is serious." Bogg heard himself speak these words to the doctor, but he felt worried nevertheless.

"I hope you're right."

"He could get worse, couldn't he?"

"I've seen some head injuries become worse, yes. I've also seen them resolve. I'll stop back in tomorrow to check on him."

"Thanks," Phineas whispered and re-entered their room. He walked over to the bed and sat beside Jeff again. "How's the headache?" he asked.

"The same."

Bogg sat quietly, thinking. He would ask Jeff something he would be sure to know. "Where are you from?"

"New York," Jeff answered and Bogg smiled.

"What's your birthday?"

"October 7th, 1970"

"What's my middle name?"

Jeff looked at him, "you never told me that," he said in an accusatory tone.

Bogg's smile got bigger, "I don't have one," he said.

"That's not fair," Jeff objected.

Bogg was feeling very relieved, "who invented the airplane?" he asked as an afterthought, wanting to continue the game.

Silence.

"Jeff?" Bogg's voice was suddenly serious.

"I know this," Jeff whispered, "I know I do."

Phineas smiled, even as his heart pounded. He didn't want Jeff to be afraid. "Don't worry," he whispered, "I want you to rest now. I'll be right here."

Jeff rolled over and winced when his arm moved the wrong way, before he knew what was happening, Phineas had another pillow and was slipping it under his arm."

"That better?" he asked.

"Yeah, thanks," Jeff whispered.

The day dragged on and soon it was dark. One of the court servants entered every so often to tend the fire, and bring in some food. Jeff dozed off and on and wasn't hungry. Phineas couldn't bring himself to eat, so the food remained uneaten. As the clock approached midnight, Phineas woke Jeff to check on him again. He didn't want to risk the hard landing of a trip with the omni if he didn't have to. But, if Jeff seemed worse, he was prepared to take him back to headquarters. His muscle pain had increased, which Bogg expected, but his headache hadn't changed.

Bogg's stomach had been churning and his heart had been pounding all day. He was exhausted. He leaned forward in the chair beside Jeff's bed so he wouldn't be too comfortable. He was planning to be up all night.

Jeff opened his eyes and stared out the window beside his bed. It looked like dawn. He ached across his back and arm, but decided he felt better than he had last night.

"You okay?" a familiar voice said as he started to sit up.

Jeff smiled at Bogg as he moved each part of his body to test it out. "Yeah, I feel better," he answered.

"Who invented the airplane?" Bogg asked.

"The Wright Brothers," was the quick answer.

Bogg smiled broadly, "there's food here."

"Great, I'm starving!" Jeff answered him and Bogg brought him a roll from the table.

A half-hour later they were sitting at the table, finishing breakfast. Jeffrey looked his normal self though his movements were a bit stiff. Bogg was always surprised at how quickly Jeff could bounce back from whatever happened. He sat watching him, and thinking how thankful he was that Jeff was okay.

"Can I ask you a question?" he finally said. Jeff nodded, his mouth full.

"If you fell off the horse, how did you get back to the castle?" Bogg asked.

Jeff shrugged, "I ran," when Bogg's jaw dropped, he continued, "I mean, I had to delay the match,

right?"

Bogg swallowed hard, "yeah," he whispered, amazed at what Jeff had managed to do. "I'm glad you followed the rule too. We should always tell each other what's happened, even if it seems at first like we didn't get hurt, okay?"

"Uh huh," Jeff nodded and stood up. He turned to Bogg and put his arms around him, Bogg reciprocated and they held each other. "I gotta get some sleep," Jeff whispered into Bogg's ear, "somebody kept waking me up all night long." He pushed himself away and smiled at Bogg, then turned and climbed back into bed. Phineas pulled up the covers and then turned and laid down on the other bed in the room. Both of them were asleep before the sun had completely risen.

The End