A/N: I do not own Code Geass, nor any of its characters.
The next time Lelouch awoke, it was Nunnally who sat by his bedside. "Big brother?" she asked, turning her head as she heard him stir.
"Nunnally?" he asked, his deep voice hoarse. "How long have you been here, silly girl?"
"Oh brother," she murmured, wheeling closer to his bed, searching for his hand with her own. "I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner. I accidentally dropped my cellphone in class, so Millie couldn't get ahold of me until this morning. I was so worried when you didn't come home. If I had known, I would have been here-"
"Hey there," Lelouch interrupted, clutching her tiny hand tightly. "Nothing to feel guilty about. I'm still in one piece."
"Thankfully," she said, then frowning, continued. "Brother, you need to stop staying out so late and get more sleep, so you don't get sick like this. I can feel your heartbeat. It's too fast, and your hands, they're cold and clammy."
Seeing his sister frown, Lelouch felt guilty. "Alright, Nunnally. I'll do my best to get more sleep. I'm sorry to have worried you." Nunnally paused, and he knew she wanted to ask where he had been spending all of his late nights, but she pursed her lips, and kept quiet. "How are you feeling, brother?"
"Much better," he said.
"Don't lie to me, Lelouch."
Lelouch sighed, placing his other hand to his forehead. "It's not a lie. I do feel better. Just a little dizzy."
The young girl frowned again. "Well I told them to absolutely not let you leave here until they were sure you were okay."
"Nunnally-"
"Don't 'Nunnally' me, Lelouch. I know how you are. You're my brother, and if anything were to happen to you, I'd lose everything we've fought so hard to maintain."
Lelouch sighed. Despite her gentle nature, his sister had certainly inherited the same manipulative streak as his. She knew exactly what to say to get him to listen to her. "Yes, Nunnally," he consented, leaning back into bed.
"That's what I like to hear. Now, you have some friends that would like to see you. Is it okay if I invite them in?"
Lelouch grinned. "Of course. I would hate to keep them waiting any longer." Soon enough, Millie, Shirley, Rivalz, Suzaku, and Kallen filed into the small room.
Millie, leading the pack, was smiling, a hand on her hip. "About time, VP. You've been sleeping on the job, it seems." Lelouch let out a light chuckle, and groaned, a deep pain filling his stomach. For a moment, Millie's lighthearted facade broke, and she frowned slightly.
Suzaku walked over to his bed wordlessly and placed a hand on his shoulder. "How are you feeling, Lelouch?"
"I'm much better, thanks. I'm only sorry to have worried everyone." On this, his eyes met Kallen's for too long, and they both averted their gaze, blushing. "But, really, you all look tired, yourselves. You should go home and get some rest."
"You don't have to worry about us, you know?" Suzaku said. "Lelouch, how long had you been sick before this happened?'
Lelouch sighed; he had been hoping to change the course of the conversation. "I'm not sure-a few days. Why?"
The boy crossed his arms and frowned. "You need to take better care of yourself, that's why. It's not normal to be so exhausted that you pass out for almost six hours." Suzaku wasn't going to let him get off easy, that was for sure.
The boy slouched further into his bed and pouted. "Listen-"
"Cut your bickering, you two," Nunnally said, moving her wheelchair in the small space between Suzaku and the hospital bed. "I've lectured my brother enough. Let's all just be glad he's OK."
After a few moments of tense silence, with the boys simmering, Shirley spoke up. "At least this is an absence Ms. Rainier can't get mad at you for, right Lelou?"
Lelouch gave a small smile. "I'm sure she'll find a way. Just like Suzaku here, she always does." At this, he felt a sharp poke in his side, and he looked up to see his best friend smirking, his elbow drawn back.
"Really though, Lelouch, we're glad you're OK." This time, it was Kallen who spoke up, her expression as serious as ever. "But don't you ever scare us like that again." Lelouch laughed to himself dryly, With friends like these, it's easy to forget I was abandoned by my parents.
"I won't, Kallen. Promise."
As the pain in his stomach worsened, Lelouch laid his head back against the pillows, trying to appear tired. More than anything, he didn't want to get sick in front of them.
"Alright, friends," Shirley said, picking up Lelouch's cue easily. "I think we should let him rest for a while."
"Oh, we wouldn't dare interfere with his beauty sleep, would we, gang?" Millie added with a smirk, ushering the other student council members out. "Feel better, Lelouch!"
"You guys go home! Don't worry about me!" he tried to shout after them, but his hoarse voice betrayed him and he began coughing. The coughing, however, only worsened the building pain in his stomach. A sudden warmness took over him and he broke out in sweat. Anxiously glancing around, he saw a black button with the words "NURSE" over it in bright red letters. Pressing the button, he leaned back and clutched his stomach, grinding his teeth to dull the pain.
He heard the nurse's footsteps, but didn't think he had the strength to look over without vomiting. "Excuse me, I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to be-"
"Don't worry," a calm, but familiar voice lilted. Lelouch nearly jumped when the nurse wrapped an arm around him, placing her cool palm on his forearm before pushing his body upward. With the other hand, she pulled the wool blanket laying across his legs off and folded the railing down, so he could get out of the bed. Astonished at both the woman's clairvoyance and forwardness, he turned his head barely to look at her and the first thing he noticed was her green hair, pulled into a tight bun behind her head.
"C2?" he mumbled, letting the woman help him out of bed and toward the restroom in the corner. "What are you doing here?" The woman said nothing, but with her hand around his waist, supporting half of his weight, they made their way into the tiny tiled room. Within seconds, Lelouch was on the ground, retching violently.
When all was said and done, he sat there for a moment, forehead pressed to the cool porcelain and let himself catch his breath. His chest still heaved, his body trembling with exertion. It felt like the world was spinning, until he felt careful fingers stroking his hair tenderly, anchoring him to the ground.
"Why are you here, C2?" he grumbled angrily, despite his weak state. "It's dangerous for you to be here."
"How else was I to get ahold of you? You weren't answering your phone. You missed your meeting with the Black Rebels." Her remarks were direct, unapologetic, as usual. "What happened to you?"
Lelouch sighed. "I'm sick or something. Passed out at a student council meeting, and they took me here." He gave a frustrated sigh. "We're three days away from the greatest uprising of the century. The timing couldn't have been better."
"There will be other days. I don't see any point in continuing with the ambush if you're not certain we can win."
"The ambush will go on," he seethed through gritted teeth, pushing down the nausea that threatened to make him sick again. "I'll be out of here tomorrow, one way or another. But first, I need something from you." This time, he smiled, in a way that made C2 narrow her eyes.