The two slightly- confused and a bit bemused Cohen adults looked back and forth between Ryan and Seth.
"M'fine," Ryan muttered, sitting up. He coughed a little and sniffed, "Jus' a cold."
"I'm ACHOO dying!" Seth moaned, swooning dramatically in his chair.
"You're not dying..." Sandy muttered, but he obliged his son by placing a hand on his forehead to check for a fever.
"Are you sure?" Kirsten looked at Ryan warily, he didn't look very healthy. His skin was pale and he looked exhausted. She moved toward him to feel his forehead, but Ryan decided he'd had enough "care taking" for one day, and moved his head away from her hand and got to his feet.
"Yeah, I just need sub sleep. Night." He waved good bye to the Cohen's and stumbled out towards the pool house.
"Well, Seth, you do feel a little warm..." Sandy had completed his assessment of his son, and turned to Kirsten who was still looking out towards the pool house, but Sandy's comment brought her attention back to her own son.
"I'll go get the thermometer." Kirsten said, and disappeared into the kitchen.
Seth coughed weakly, "Ugh, guess no school tomorrow, huh?"
Sandy sighed, "Let's just take your temperature first, okay?"
********************************************
Ryan knew he was never going to get any sleep. His body ached, his head hurt, and he was coughing far too constantly to actually be able to settle comfortably into one position, and every time he moved he felt the pounding throb of an angry headache. The cold medicine was in the house. The nice cold medicine with the sleepy-time ingredients that would make everything be okay... Was in the house. Guarded by Kirsten and Sandy who were clearly on high alert, and Ryan was not in the mood for being fussed over. There had been quite enough of that already today.
He coughed again and moaned slightly in pain and discomfort. Alright, maybe Sandy and Kirsten would be preoccupied with Seth. He could just sneak in there, on the pretext of getting a Gatorade or a bottle of water, take the cold medicine and get back out here before the even noticed him. He glanced at the clock. It was almost 11pm. He sighed, which unfortunately made him cough, and he heard the first signs of phlegm in his chest. Great. It was now or never if he was going to be able to take the medicine and then be able to get up tomorrow for school. He was sure Kirsten would let him stay home, but he didn't want to. For one thing, he could tell Seth was already gunning for that privilege and for another, he had missed half a day of school yesterday, he couldn't afford to miss another today.
Crap! That reminded him- he hadn't done his physics homework. He sat up, waited for the room to stop spinning, and then looked around for his backpack. It wasn't in here. Then he remembered, after he had staggered into the house after school today- was that really today? He had dropped it off in the foyer and then stumbled out here and gone to bed. His backpack, with his homework, was in the house. Well, now he had to go back out there.
With a grinding attempt to clear his throat, he got up from his bed and went back to the main house.
Seth was still in the chair, and Kirsten and Sandy were both trying to take care of him. Somehow they made a much more coordinated team than Marissa and Lindsay.
"Sorry we didn't believe you," Kirsten was telling him, gently brushing his dark black curls away from his face.
"Yeah kid, hang in there." Sandy was squeezing his wrist. "You should get some sleep, it's late."
"Yeah," Seth got up from the couch like a cripple and Sandy helped him up. Ryan, pulled himself away from the tableau and went to the kitchen where he swiped a bottle of cold medicine and then grabbed his backpack from the foyer.
"Ryan!" Kirsten started when she almost bumped into him as she came back into the kitchen from the living room. "Sorry- you startled me. I thought you were in bed!"
"Sorry, jus' neebed to grab dis'." He raised a shoulder to indicate his backpack, his voice was hoarse and scratchy.
"You sound terrible!" Kirsten said, "Let me make you some tea. Come on, sit." She started to push him towards a kitchen chair.
"Whab about Seth?" Ryan croaked.
"He's being taken care of." Kirsten reassured him, "His fever's pretty low. He just needs some rest and he'll probably be fine in the morning." She pushed him down into a chair, and Ryan was forced to sit. She didn't say anything to Ryan, but she was slightly startled at the amount of heat his skin seemed to putting off through his shirt.
"I probably should get sub sleeb too..." Ryan said, starting to stand up. Unfortunately, at that moment, the room decided to start spinning and Ryan hastily sat back down. "But I guess some tea wouldn't hurt..." He covered for himself, hoping Kirsten hadn't noticed the way his knees had been shaking.
"Mom! I need some tea for my throat!" Seth said, coming back into the kitchen. He forced another weak cough.
"Of course, I just put the pot on." Kirsten smiled as Seth sat down at the table next to Ryan.
"Dude, thought you went to bed." Seth said, his tone was slightly unfriendly. Clearly he wasn't thrilled about Ryan taking up his parent-sick-time attention.
"Couldb't sleeb." He rasped out to Seth. His voice was hadly above a whisper by the time he got to "sleep."
"Why are you whispering?" Seth whispered loudly back to him.
"I'b not!" Ryan said. The word "not" didn't seem to make it past his lungs.
"Dude, I can't lip read!" Seth siad. At a literal loss for words, Ryan glared at him.
"Seth, stop tormenting Ryan." Kirsten said. "He's- Tired." She glanced at Ryan. She knew Ryan was sick, but for whatever reason he wasn't ready to admit it yet, and she wasn't going to force the issue unless she needed to.
"What's everyone doing down here?" Sandy appeared. He had changed out of his suit.
"I''m making some tea for the boys," Kirsten told him.
"Oh, okay, why don't you go get changed, I think I can handle boiling some water."
"Okay, thanks." Kirsten gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "If it boils before I get back, make sure you put lots of honey in their tea." She emphasized, and glanced over at Ryan, who had given up the glare and was now staring blankly and glossy- eyed into space.
"Ah yes tea- the ultimate cure all. No matter what ails you!" Sandy boomed, as he looked back and forth between Seth and Ryan. Ryan slowly turned his head and looked at him, and then looked away. As if moving hurt, he rubbed his neck with his hand.
"Dad- what are you talking about?" Seth asked.
"Tea- it's great. Good for colds, fevers, bad days. My mother used to always make us tea whenever we were sick." Sandy explained. "It's an ancient Cohen remedy."
"Dad- do you really think people wandering the desert drank boiling hot water? Or is our family British and you've been secretly lieing to me all these years?"
Sandy rolled his eyes, "Alright, you got me. What brought you back into the house Ryan?" Ryan just shrugged and studied the floor.
"Dad, can you take my temperature again? I think it may have just spiked!" Seth said, dramatically feeling his forehead.
"We'll take it again before you got to bed," Sandy sighed. He looked at Seth's pleading eyes, "And you can relax, you're not supposed to go to school until your temperatures been normal for 24 hours."
"Really?" Seth looked delighted. He's reading of 100.1 was more that enough to keep him home from school tomorrow.
Kirsten reappeared in the kitchen, and noticed Seth grinning broadly. She groaned, "You told him didn't you?"
"What?" Sandy pretended to be innocent.
Kirsten sighed, "I already sent an email to my dad, told him I wouldn't be coming in tomorrow because Seth was sick."
"Looks like someone else is playing hooky!" Sandy teased. "Maybe I'll stay home too, we can have a Cohen family sick day." He looked at Ryan, who's forehead had broken out in a sweat, despite the cool house, "Guess it'll just be you missing out."
"Guess so." Ryan muttered quietly, he tried to clear his throat, but ended up just coughing. He quickly covered his mouth and glanced around. Everyone pretended not to notice. The kettle began to sing and Kirsten set about making cups of tea for everyone.
Ryan tried to drink his tea, but now he had started coughing again, and to make matters worse, now he was shivering with sudden cold. He put his hands around his warm mug and clenched his teeth in an attempt to stop the tremors that coursed over his body. He glanced up, and noticed all three Cohens staring at him. "What?" He asked, as he coughed wetly, and shivered again. Sandy and Kirsten exchanged a look.
"Maybe we should get you into bed..." Kirsten suggested gently.
"I'b fine." Ryan said stubbornly though his voice threatened to give way at any moment.
"Okay..." Kirsten said, sounding unconvinced as she watched him struggle to not shiver. His t-shirt was soaked with sweat. His face was pale except for two spots of fever- color high on his cheeks. He coughed again into a napkin, and looked at whatever his lungs had just produced with disgust. She sighed, Ryan was always difficult when sick, but usually not this difficult!
"I'b... bed." Ryan pushed himself to his feet. His legs were shaking, and he had to lean against the table. Watching him make his way out towards the pool house was just too painful.
Sandy couldn't take it anymore, he jumped to his feet and rushed to Ryan's side, "Easy kid, I got you."
"Don'd need..." Ryan said, but his resistance was futile he realized. He either needed Sandy's help, or he was going to be sleeping on the couch. Which... He noticed they had indeed changed direction and Sandy was leading him towards an armchair in the living room. Without protest, Ryan sat down on the chair and allowed Sandy to tuck a throw blanket around him. His head lolled to one side.
"Sorry, not yet." Kirsten said gently, and Ryan noticed too late that she was brandishing a thermometer. The battle had been lost.