A/N

So, I've only just gotten over a two-month-long stretch of bronchitis. I'm fine and dandy now, but of course my eagerly long-awaited recovery coincides with the season when EVERYONE is sick. I really, really don't want to catch anything so soon after, so I've developed a Spidey sense detecting sick people so I can avoid them, although it's not always possible, and when it's not possible, I sulk, throw daggers with my eyes, and hold my breath. LOL I was trapped in a car today with a not-healthy person and she told me my anxiety was almost offensive, which I honestly agree with. It's a wonder nobody has murdered me yet. LOL

I could see that whole thing play out with these two, though, so at least something good came out of it. 😊


Blake had a sneaking suspicion that she was getting sick. It wouldn't be too much of a surprise; when James was home last week he had a real doozy of a cold, which he complained about almost endlessly.

"That's what you get if you go around kissing your patients," she had joked, but it seemed the joke was on her. She and James had done considerably more than just kissing over the weekend, but she hadn't been concerned in the slightest, she had complete confidence in her immune system sending those pesky viruses packing before they could do any harm. She never got sick.

Almost never, she corrected herself and suffocated a sudden sneeze with her sleeve.

"Bless you?" Reid said. It sounded like a question.

"Thanks. Sorry. I've been wanting to do that all day," she said. Her voice sounded a bit scratchy too, now that she thought about it, but she hoped Reid wouldn't notice.

"I know," he said. "I can always tell because you make this weird face when you have to sneeze and it won't come out."

"I don't make a weird face," Blake protested.

"Yes you do," Reid said flatly. "That face."

Blake had been certain it wasn't visible on the outside how much she struggled to defuse the urge to do it again. She really didn't want to cause Reid's germaphobia to kick in; they had at least an hour's drive left before they were back at the station, she had a headache, a sore throat and what felt like a fever on the rise. So all in all, she felt pretty crappy as it was, but she would feel even worse if she unwillingly gave Reid an anxiety attack on top of that.

"I'm not making a weird face and I'm not… ah… going to sneeze again."

This time the feeling went away, but the soreness in her throat did not. Blake swallowed and winced in pain, hoping that Reid wasn't watching her at the moment. What she wouldn't do to be back at the hotel, take an Aspirin, get a hot cup of tea with lots of soothing honey… and sleep. Dear God, she felt like she could sleep for days. She had been running on fumes lately, battling one of her recurring bouts of insomnia, so when she stopped to think about it, it was no wonder she caught this. She was totally rundown.

"You're coming down with something, aren't you?" Reid asked, and he looked decidedly more apprehensive than he had when they first got into the car, which felt like about two hundred years ago or so.

"Nope, I'm fine. Just tired," she said and tried for a big smile. With any luck they'd be going home early tomorrow morning, and then she'd have the entire weekend to go into hiding and feel sorry for herself without anyone knowing. She really should be able to hide something as simple as a lousy head cold for less than 24 hours. How difficult could it be?


Increasingly difficult, Blake concluded about thirty minutes or so later when she was slapped in the face by the returning need to sneeze. It was clear her body was not willing to renegotiate its demands; the more she fought it, the more she needed to do it. She couldn't stop until she reached number four in the row. When she could finally take a long, shaky breath and open her eyes, she saw Reid pressed up against the passenger door, as far away from her as he could get. It would have been funny if it wasn't so sad.

"Bless you," he said in an oddly strangled voice. It took Blake a couple of seconds to figure out why. He was holding his breath.

"I'm sorry," she said, dropping the act. "I know it disturbs you."

"It's alright. You can't help it," Reid said, but he looked like he considered jumping out of the car while it was in motion. "The common cold is generally most contagious the days before the symptoms start showing, and while the infected person has a fever. But it's contagious as long as you show symptoms, and the risk of catching it is highest in enclosed spaces with close proximity to an infected person."

Blake nodded tiredly. So she was degraded to "the infected person" for the time being. Lovely.

Reid had taken a couple of shallow breaths while he was laying out the facts, but now he was back to holding his breath. Blake sighed.

"Reid, at least roll down the window so you can breathe," she said. Reid did so, and he somehow managed to simultaneously look apologetic, sympathetic, embarrassed and repulsed.

"It's not that I don't feel sorry for you," he assured her. "I just…"

"I know," Blake said, although she didn't feel like being kind and understanding right now. "It's a phobia. It can't be reasoned with." She dipped her head and coughed, taking great care to cover her mouth but nevertheless noting Reid becoming rigid in his seat. "Still, you're making me feel really gross."

"JJ says the same thing," Reid replied unhappily. "I am getting better, though. In fact, I'm relatively relaxed."

Blake raised her eyebrows.

"If this is you relaxed, I'd hate to see you anxious."

"When I first started at the BAU, if someone was coming down with something, I went home," Reid explained.

"I see, well, that's an improvement," Blake said, and tried to suppress a chill. The inflow of cold air was refreshing for a while, but now it was getting to her, reminding her that she was indeed running a fever. Probably not a high one, but enough that she'd feel achy and pathetic.

Reid fidgeted in his seat, torn between his anxiety and concern for his friend. He had seen Blake shivering in the draught and knew that if he were in her situation, he wouldn't be as calm or tolerant. Why was he making such a big deal of it, he'd either catch it or he wouldn't, and if he did, well… it was just a cold. It was annoying and unpleasant, but not lethal.

He slowly slid back into a normal sitting position instead of plastered up against the door, rolled up the window and turned up the heat instead. Blake gave him a surprised but very grateful smile.

"If you get me sick, I'm going to be a cry-baby," he warned. "That's not a threat, that's an unfortunate fact about me. I turn into a whiny five-year-old whenever I get a fever of 101. Sometimes it doesn't even have to get that high."

Blake chuckled, had to cough, and then chuckled again.

"Want to know a secret?" she asked. "So do I."