Disclaimer: I own nothing and profit none.
A/N:...and here's the rest of it! Now if I can just come up with a reasonable epilogue this time...
Shifting in the incredibly comfortable bed of the off-bedroom far later into the evening, he tried to summon up that feeling of weightless slumber once more, but continued to fall short. With a sigh, he carefully sat up to relieve the pressure on his chest and try to get more breath into his congested lungs. Apparently neither the pain killers nor the cold meds outweighed the need to breathe. Unfortunately. Petulantly, he tossed the covers off, hoping that would at least make him feel cooler, even if it wouldn't bring the fever down. He felt like he was on fire.
Resting his head in his hands, he tried to reason out what to do with the night that stretched out in front of him. Having Magnus one closed door and twenty feet away put paid to most of his options; no way would he manage to work or read without being noticed. Staring at the wall and wishing he could sleep would just be depressing.
Could Magnus do something? He skirted around the edges of the thought, uncertain if he wanted to give in twice in one day. Although, technically, it was a new day now, so maybe he could have a one per day limit? He shook his head with his hands; that had to be the fever talking. Still, giving in earlier hadn't been the end of the world.
The sleep had been amazing – a feeling he wished that he could recreate now – and Magnus had woken him up at dinner as she had promised. Plus, after managing to eat at least enough that she let him set aside his plate, she had brought him up to date on a number of recent projects. Now he had both less files to read and a much more entertaining presentation of the relevant data. Magnus' insights were always more in-depth than what was laid out in print and they had wound up the evening in a friendly debate over how the Moscow Sanctuary should proceed with their new fire-summoning intake. When his yawns had grown too frequent to ignore, he'd excused himself to the off-bedroom before she could usher him in and she'd let him go after being dosed with more meds. He'd settled down to sleep in the delightful expectation of a full night of peace, only to wake up not long after to misery. That was just cruel.
If he did go to Magnus, he turned the idea over in his head half-considering it, would that be too much for one day? Or two days, whatever, he added irritably. She shouldn't be expected to concern herself with every minute of the cold he had brought upon himself. He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, divided. Feeling better would be nice, but pushing Magnus into exasperation with repeated demands would not be so good.
Still, she hadn't seemed to mind this evening and he didn't believe that was just his wishful thinking. He knew she'd enjoyed the debate at least and not fighting her about sleep seemed to put her into a good mood. Maybe he could chance it?
He had shifted to the edge of the bed when the panic set in and he froze, feet on the floor. The what-ifs flooding his mind were daunting, relayed to his body in a further tightening of his chest. Closing his eyes, he focused on breathing as regularly as he could, if not very deeply.
Okay, Will, he slowly began to reason with his instincts, she told you to come to her, remember? Just take a small step here, if she looks like you're pressing too much, say you were simply getting up for another reason. A hot drink or something. You can do this.
Reassured with a back-up plan in place, he groped for his hated crutches in the dark, wincing as everything protested grumblingly through the pain killers at the movement, and slowly made his way towards the door. Swinging it half-open, he paused to lean against the door frame and simply observe Magnus at work. He had only enough time to appreciate her look of concentration before she registered something off in the room and glanced up to catch him in the doorway.
"Will?" she rose and started towards him before he could say anything, "Why are you up?"
"I," he faltered, a blush rising to his face. Distractedly, he wondered if asking for help would always be this hard. And embarrassing.
Standing in front of him by this point, Magnus tugged the door from his hand and opened it completely, "What's wrong?"
She didn't seem anything but concerned, so he plunged in raspingly, "It's… breathing. I," he stumbled a bit before determinedly looking at her feet as he confessed, "I'm having trouble breathing," he drove forward before he could reconsider the consequences, "and I think I might be on fire." Nothing wrong with adding a little humor to the proceedings, "I was concerned about, you know, the bedroom going up in flames."
"I think the rest of the staff would give you a medal in that case," Magnus murmured, which gave him the courage to look back up at her and smile. Returning it, she reached out and felt his forehead, quickly losing her grin, "Good lord."
Her hand felt deliciously cool and he leaned into it, eyes falling shut, frowning when it moved down to his cheek. He opened his eyes and she motioned back towards the bedroom with a nod, "Come on, back to bed." At his deepening frown, she pushed against his shoulder lightly as an encouragement to turn, "That fever needs to come down and I can hear your lungs rattling from here, you should not be on your feet. In you go."
Reluctantly, he pushed away from the door frame, steadying himself on the crutches when he unexpectedly swayed. Her arm slipped between his side and the crutch to brace him, "Can you make it there?"
"Yeah," he wheezed, "You don't need to wake up the Big Guy. Just give me a minute."
"I can bench press your current weight, Will," Magnus stated matter-of-factly, "I hardly need help to get you across one room and into a bed." At his shocked look, she smiled, "Does that give you a little incentive to gain some weight?"
Actually, yes, it did, but he was hardly going to admit the fact. Besides, his primary concern now was to make it across the room under his own steam. There was no way he was going to let Magnus carry him to bed. Turning around, he slowly hobbled towards his destination.
He made it. Barely, and Magnus did have to prove her claim when he made the mistake of propping his crutches against the wall first, leaving him stranded without a support to lever his body the last distance to the bed. She'd offered her shoulder in aid, but taking it had been a mistake. Once Magnus felt how erratic his balance was and the amount of weight he couldn't support, she had slyly scooped her other arm under his legs and slid him onto the bed before he could wheeze a protest.
Propping him up with pillows to aid his labored breathing, she excused herself to the other room. He suspected she'd gone to raid the drug drawer. An hypothesis that was confirmed as she strode back into the bedroom with a medicine bottle in one hand. Settling herself on the edge of the bed, she poured a measure of the liquid into the plastic cup that had been resting atop it. She hesitated before handing it over, but eventually let his fingers wrap around the plastic.
"With all the medicine you're on, you really need to be eating more, Will," she explained at his questioning look, "I don't want anything to shred your stomach. But," she sighed, motioning to the dose, "that fever has to come down. I've asked my old friend to bring a few things up here, but that's…."
Her voice trailed off as, at her motion, he quickly swallowed the medicine and pulled a face at the taste, trying not to cough.
"You must feel miserable," Magnus said quietly, taking the empty cup from him. At his wide-eyes, she continued, "I don't think you have ever taken anything without demanding to know what it was first. Even then," she half-smiled, "I can't always convince you."
Should he not have done that? She was right, normally he was paranoid about being drugged, but the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. He sighed and rubbed at his eyes with a hand. He just wanted to go to sleep.
"Hey," Magnus drew his attention back, smoothing a hand through his hair, "It's a good thing, Will. At least with me, that is. And, if you're curious, it was a fever reducer."
He wasn't sure what to say to that, so he simply nodded and tried to focus on the hand running through his hair and not his chest's growing desire that he should cough. He just knew that would hurt. It worked up until she stopped and moved her hand down to take his wrist and press her fingers to his pulse points. The sudden change in activity caused him to take a slightly deeper breath and that was all the advantage his mutinying lungs needed. The coughing ripped through his chest, driving all the air out of his lungs. He was gasping for air, but felt like he was suffocating.
"Okay, it's okay, lean forward, Will," dimly through his focus on the need for air, he felt a hand against his back pushing him forwards. Complying, he fell against the arm that stretched across his chest to take his weight. "Relax, I've got you. Just lean on me and take slow breaths, okay?" The hand on his back began to run in soothing circles, but didn't she see that he couldn't breathe? The coughs felt as though they were tearing his chest to pieces. "Sh, Will, you have to calm down. Try to breathe with me, okay? In. Out. In. Will, please just relax and you'll be able to breathe."
It took far too long, in his mind, to convince his body that taking shallow breaths would get him air better than deep, gasping ones. By the time negotiations were over and his breathing had settled down to just the occasional hitch, he was listing towards Magnus' side with exhaustion, her hands still supporting his chest and rubbing his back. When he heard the creak of someone entering the room, he didn't even have the energy to care who was seeing him looking this pathetic.
"Perfect timing," he heard Magnus say close to his ear, "Did you bring your herbal remedy for the lungs?"
"Hm," he heard the grunt of affirmation and connected the dots. The Big Guy. Well, it could be worse, "Right here. Cooled."
"Oh, good. I don't want to risk raising his temperature any higher," he wondered if he should be insulted that they were talking over his head as though he wasn't in the room. Being insulted sounded tiring, though, so maybe he'd let it slide this once.
Magnus started to move beside him and, while he hoped that she wasn't going to shift him back to the pillows, he definitely did not authorize his hand to clutch at her cardigan. He tried to correct the error, but the thrill of independent action had clearly transformed his hand into a rebel and it refused to let go.
"It's alright, Will. I'm not going anywhere. Let me just move you slightly." As she spoke, he could feel her shifting his weight from where he leaned forward against her arm until he rested against her side instead. Shouldn't you be protesting this? He ignored the thought and instead closed his eyes, settling his head against her shoulder. He could be mortified when he felt less thoroughly horrible.
"This, too," he heard the Big Guy mutter as Magnus turned towards the clatter of whatever he was setting up beside the bed.
"Oh," she sounded surprised, but pleased, "Good idea. It can only help." With an assenting huff, the Big Guy ceased his clattering and rounded the bed, settling on the other side of him. Magnus' hand brushing his hair back away from his ear gave him warning before the thermometer blocked off his hearing. When it pulled back, he determined that the new grunt from the Big Guy was definitely disapproving. He hoped it wouldn't be accompanied with a smack to the head this time.
Instead, he felt weight shifting off of the bed again as the thermometer was returned to the clattering area. Probably a tray, he decided.
"What do you need?" came the gruff voice once more.
"Nothing for the moment. I'll get these into him and we can proceed from there."
Footsteps started for the door, "I'll be close."
"Thank you. Will," he opened his eyes at his name, and looked up gingerly, unwilling to chance speaking until he was certain it wouldn't set off more coughing. "I need you to drink this. It'll help with your breathing."
He nodded and reached a hand up to wrap around the mug she held to his lips. At the first sip, only his desire to not cough ever again in his life kept him from spitting it back out. What the hell did the Big Guy put in these drinks anyway? The mug nudged his lips again, but he kept his mouth firmly closed. Nothing that tasted that disgusting could possibly be good to ingest.
"Will." He flinched at her no-nonsense tone, but didn't relent. Was she trying to poison him? "You do not want me to do this the hard way." He believed her, but couldn't convince his mouth to open. It knew what was coming and had clearly taken heart at his hand's earlier rebellion.
At her sigh, his breathing picked up and he turned his head into her shoulder again as he tried to slow it down. No-more-coughing, no-more-coughing it chimed like a mantra through his mind.
"Do I have to bribe you with a story as I did Henry and Ashley when they were small?" her voice dropped at Ashley's name, but otherwise remained steady. Distracted from his own troubles, he slid his hand off of the mug to run it over her forearm in comfort. He startled when she pressed a kiss to his head, but her next word was delivered in a warning tone that showed no equivalent softening, "William." When he made no move other than dropping his hand from her arm back to her cardigan once more, he got another sigh. Not a good sign.
"In the early 1900s," her voice softly began next to his ear, "James became embroiled in what he deemed a 'most frustrating' case at the behest of Scotland Yard."
Despite his misery, he became wrapped up in the story of his literary-hero-turned-real. In the middle of the first presentation of evidence, however, Magnus' voice stopped abruptly. He un-tucked his face from the crook of her neck to peer upwards and see what had happened. Instead of an explanation, however, the mug appeared at his lips again.
"Sip or I don't continue," she stated firmly. He blinked at the mug bemusedly for a moment before the pieces clicked. Bribed with a story. He blushed, but eyed the mug measuredly. Was it worth it? He had already determined where he would have started in the investigation and he did want to know what Watson had done. Resigned, he moved to take hold of the mug again, but Magnus moved it out of his reach. When he dropped his hand, the mug returned and he opened his mouth to take a much larger sip than he would have planned on his own. Trying not to cough, he screwed his face up and frantically tried to think of anything but the taste of dead things lingering in his mouth.
"At the scene, however," Magnus voice took up the case again and he let his mind hold onto that as a distraction from the lingering disgustingness.
It took most of the story to finish the mug and he noted that she had impeccable timing, pausing just when he most wanted to hear the next piece of the puzzle. Still, as the mug grew lighter and the taste grew stronger, he had to weigh his inclination to hear the ending longer at each pause. His bone-deep need for answers won out every time. Eventually. It seemed to take forever before Magnus said 'last sip' and the torture was finally over.
His dismay when she reached over to the tray and brought back another mug knew no bounds. Apparently, it showed.
"It's not more medicine, Will," she laughed, "I hope you'll not even need any persuasion to drink this. Here."
Magnus set the mug in his hand and, dubiously, he sniffed the contents. It smelled… chocolaty? Tentatively he took a sip. Yes, definitely chocolate, strong and sweet, though it did have a hint of bitterness in the aftertaste. He took a larger drink and the coolness coating his throat made him brave enough to chance speaking.
"What is it?"
"Chocolate, I believe," he leveled a glance at her. He knew subterfuge from her and wasn't inclined to let her get away with it this time. "It's a nutritional supplement, Will. You aren't giving your body enough calories to fight off an illness. This is packed with them."
He eyed the drink suspiciously once more. Normally, he'd object to consuming anything 'packed' with calories; the baby fat that had taken a few extra years to wear off had made him leery of too many calories. However, given that his most substantial meal in days had been the scant portions he'd eaten tonight, she was probably right. He took another sip of the liquid and tried not to jump when Magnus hugged him tighter for a moment, clearly in approbation.
"I suppose you want to know how James finished the case?" she inquired teasingly.
He nodded, trying for casual interest and dismally failing if Magnus' chuckle before she picked up where the story left off was any indication. Sipping between shallow breaths, he listened in fascination to the results of the most brilliant mind he'd ever heard of applied to a veritable labyrinth of a mystery.
Case complete, Magnus plucked the empty mug from his hand and set it on the tray. She returned with the thermometer and motioned for him to lean his head over again. He complied, fairly certain that his temperature was lower. He at least felt cooler; now if he could only breathe then he might still have a chance at sleep tonight.
"Good," she stated in a tone of relief, "It's inching down. The fever reducer is working, so let's say a dose every four hours until its back within a normal range. Provided your lungs sound any clearer, we'll put the herbal remedy on the same schedule."
He wasn't sure what sound he made, but clearly it was both audible and pathetic, because Magnus responded to it with a soft laugh.
"Yes, you have to drink more of it. If you can next time, I would recommend tossing it back as quickly as possible. And you can have more of the supplement afterwards; that should wash the taste out."
"Water's fine," he breathed softly, carefully testing his ability to talk without coughing. One mug loaded with calories was one thing, repeated mugs was quite another.
"You'll be drinking plenty of water, but it won't give your body fuel. Nor will it help fill out these hollows," her thumb stroked over the cheekbone not pressed to her shoulder. "You've not been eating well as of late and it's beginning to show, Will. You're too thin for my liking."
"It's… well, I've. Stress," he sighed at last. It was hard to convince himself to eat when his stomach was tied in knots, "and then this."
"Well, until you're well and eating normally again, I think you should stay on the supplement." It might have been phrased as a suggestion, but he knew an order when he heard one. He supposed it wouldn't hurt for a while. And it wasn't as though he was being given much of a choice.
Taking his silence as assent, Magnus moved on, "I want to do some blood work as well. Your fever spiked very quickly; I'd like to get a better idea of what we're dealing with here."
He shifted uneasily against her side, "Just a cold," he whispered.
"Perhaps," she ran a hand along his side, "but I'd like to check everything, in case." He nodded into her shoulder, reluctantly, with a disquiet she obviously picked up on, "It's just a precaution, Will."
He nodded again and debated sitting up. This mollycoddling had gone on quite long enough, his stern conscience demanded, time to sit up and, hopefully, pretend that it never happened. He sighed, but he was so tired. Hadn't he already decided just to be completely mortified when he was better? Yes, he closed his eyes and willed his lungs to clear so that he could sleep, that sounded like a good plan.
It was a few hours later, not long before the dreaded herbal stuff would once more be foisted onto him, when Magnus made an intrigued and dismayed sound at the tablet she was poring over.
"Will," she looked over to where he was propped up next to her in the bed, zoning out against her shoulder between labored breaths, "when you were caught in the mud slide, do you remember inhaling or ingesting any of the mud?"
"Ick," was the first thought that came to mind. "I don't remember," he said softly. "Probably, it was everywhere."
"That would explain the results from your blood and sput… and what you're coughing up," she changed phrases mid-sentence, remembering his dislike for most of the technical terms dealing with bodily fluids.
He still wrinkled his nose, but forbore from commenting.
"What is it?" He then hurried to add, "Do I want to know?" The hurry was ill-advised, he began another – thankfully gentle – coughing spell and Magnus handed him the latest in a long series of handkerchiefs and gently rubbed his back. Once it was over, she answered his question.
"Let's suffice it to say that we're going to need a little antibiotic help to defeat what you picked up," he knew that she had seen the grimace that time when he heard the laugh next to his ear. "Let me run down to the infirmary and get what we need."
He shifted to sit up against the pillows instead of her shoulder and firmly stuffed down all feelings of abandonment. For pity's sake, Will, he scolded himself, she's going down a few levels, not to the South Pole!
Before leaving, Magnus set a walkie down by his hand and held up another in her own.
"Just in case," she promised, heading towards the door, "and don't you dare leave that bed."
Somewhat reassured, he wrapped his hand around the walkie and decided this was the perfect moment to have a little talk with himself about his deplorable actions and coming humiliation. It was a good plan.
Unfortunately, he zoned out again staring at the wardrobe against the wall, only starting out of it when Magnus reentered the room with another tray in hand.
"Hey," he tried to smile.
"Hey yourself," she set the tray down near the bed and motioned for his arm. "Let's get this into you, so it can start working, alright?"
Handing over his arm, he resolutely looked over at the wardrobe once more until he felt the needle withdraw.
"I'm done," Magnus commented, capping the needle once more as she held the cotton ball on with one hand. Clumsily, he reached over to aid her, but she brushed his hand aside and set the needle on the tray to put a band-aid over the spot. "Now, let's see if that doesn't help."
"Here's hoping." He paused, before pushing onwards, "I guess," he rasped, trying to do right by his conscience, "that I've kept you from Sanctuary business more than enough for one night."
He could feel the sharp glance landing on his face, but didn't want to look at her at the moment. Letting her go back to what she actually should be doing might be the right thing to do, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
His surprise when the bed rocked as she settled herself beside him once more, however, caused him to look over at her involuntarily.
"I've decided I quite like working from this bed," Magnus stated airily. "Plenty of tea," with a nod to the service the Big Guy had set up in the room, "better pillows than I remember, warm blankets, and," she emphasized in a tone he knew to be wary of, "I have you trapped all to myself. Although considerably less cheeky than normal."
His cough that time was from forgetting to breathe in shock.
"So I'm afraid that you're stuck with me," she finished in the same cheerful tone, turning to grin at him. Taking in the slightly stunned look on his face, the grin faded to a wry smile and she reached out to stroke the side of his face. "Oh, Will. It can't be that much of a surprise that I enjoy your company, can it?"
"But I'm…" he trailed off and gestured to his chest dumbly.
"Yes, a bit quieter than normal, but that just means I get to win our arguments." With a wicked grin, Magnus tapped his nose, before continuing, "Falling ill is just an inevitable part of life, although you do seem to be setting some records." As his eyes dropped to focus on her shoulder, she reached over and nudged his chin up, "I'm a doctor, Will, why should I reproach you for contracting this bug or breaking an ankle? I wasn't thrilled with your carelessness, but I never questioned the injury. As for this," she motioned to the two of them, "I've always been a tactile person, Will, and not likely to turn down a chance to cuddle with someone I care for, particularly if it brings you comfort."
"But you don't…" one day soon he hoped to regain his ability to finish a sentence.
"In the day-to-day, it's seldom appropriate in my business dealings. Not to mention, I seem to be surrounded by very self-contained people. Neither Kate nor Henry is keen on more than minimal contact, apart from the occasional moment of distress. I had no idea until recently that you responded so positively to it."
"I'm not…" he stiffened slightly and looked down at his hands, but his sentence still wound up trailing off into silence.
At her touch to his back, he tried not to lean into it, instead pulling into himself.
"Ah, ah, none of that, Will," her arm slid around to tuck him into her shoulder once more. "There's nothing to be ashamed of, m'lad, and I'm… curious why you think otherwise."
After a moment's thought he let himself lean into her, but declined to answer the implied question. "'M'lad'?" he rasped instead. Finally, a complete thought, even if it was just the one word.
"You have a deep objection to names of endearment?" her tone was teasing. Apparently, he was allowed to pass on that question.
"Never thought about it," he shrugged his free shoulder and continued softly. "Better than Dr. Expendable. Or Junior."
"Ah, yes, Nikola," he smiled at the peculiar mix of exasperation and affection the man always seemed to engender from her, "I'm not sure those fall precisely in the category of 'endearing.'"
"Probably do. For him." he suggested, considering the odd scientist, so flamboyant in his actions that it took time to realize how closely he guarded his real self. "Endearing. Doesn't let you know it."
For a moment, her stillness made him worry that he'd said something amiss. When he went to pull away, though, she tightened her grip and pressed a kiss to his temple. "Sometimes even I forget how perceptive you are – Nikola would be so disappointed to know that you can see through his act."
"Still annoying," he felt obligated to point out, truncating his sentences to stave off a severe coughing attack, "Can't feel too bad."
Her laugh brushed over his ear, "Yes, well, he does work at that and he's had a century of practice."
"Mm," he agreed, "Good defense."
"Not one that I want you to imitate," Magnus' tone was still light, but there was a layer of warning underneath.
"Couldn't pull it off," he joked, to ease her mind.
"Thankfully, I believe Nikola is one of a kind," she admitted.
"Rather be like another of The Five anyway," he teased, although it brought on another mild coughing fit.
"And who might that be?" she inquired archly, once his breathing steadied. He sipped from the glass of water she passed to him before he chanced an answer.
"Brilliant mind. Firm dedication. Boundless curiosity," he smiled innocently over at her, but she knew him too well to take the bait and only raised an eyebrow in inquiry. Remaining silent, he continued to project an air of guilelessness.
"That wasn't a name," she finally said suspiciously.
He affected surprise, "Didn't give it away?"
"Will," she was trying to keep her lips from curling upward and failing.
"Watson, of course," he kept up the innocent smile long enough for her eyes to narrow, before he dropped it to grin at her.
"Utter cheek," Magnus muttered, attempting to force her features into a frown, "You must be feeling better. Which reminds me," she ostentatiously checked her watch before reaching over to the tray and bringing back a mug. She smiled vengefully at his fallen expression, "See if I tell you a story about James this time."
He coughed lightly, eyeing the mug, "The antibiotics?"
"Could use the help," she dropped the ruffled act and ran a hand down his side, "Can you chance gulping it this time?"
He checked in with the tightness in his chest and willed it to loosen just a little more. Unsuccessful, he shook his head slightly.
"Damn. Well, you have to start sometime," she passed him the mug and he tried to tamp down the nausea the very sight brought to him, "As large a sip as you can will get it over with faster."
After he managed to keep the first sip down, he did convince her to tell him a story. Magnus kept her word, though – she wouldn't tell him one about Watson.