Teeloganroryflan, no, it won't help Cal at all! Cal seems to be very good at doing things that won't help him. Thank you for the review!
GloriaNerd, thank you for your review - it's lovely to have a new reader. I'm happy you like the scene between Ethan and Connie. I really enjoyed writing it.
Tanith Panic, I quite often do that when I make a mess of something! I'm sure Cal feels like weeping. I actually haven't seen much of Dervla in the episodes, but The Fierce Brave Gang really brought Dylan's relationship with her alive for me. Thank you for the review!
Becs2202, that's true, at least he's trying! I'm just not completely sure how happy Ethan will be... Thank you for the review!
ETWentHome, thank you for the review. I agree Cal will want to help Ethan if he gets ill, but he'll need to look after Ethan a lot better than he's looking after himself!
is-there-somewhere-x, I'm really happy you like the image of Cal sitting in the squash and Ethan's conversation with Connie - they are my favourite parts of the chapter too. Thank you for the review!
Ethan arrived home at the end of his shift to discover Cal hard at work in the kitchen.
Well, that was one way of putting it.
Cal was sitting on the floor in a pool of orange squash, wrestling with a mop. His face was red and sweaty from exertion and he was sniffing, but he continued with his task, ignoring the tissue that was balanced on his knee. As Ethan watched, Cal sneezed violently and hit himself on the head with the mop.
Ethan told himself he absolutely must not, under any circumstances, laugh. He bent down and lightly touched Cal's forehead. The skin wasn't broken, but he would probably have a bruise later. "Are you okay?"
"Of course I'm not okay!" Cal sniffed loudly and looked around for something. He picked his sodden tissue out of the puddle of squash and looked ready to cry. "Why can't something just go right, Ethan?"
Ethan handed Cal a tissue from his pocket. As he was sickening for a cold, it had seemed sensible to carry several. "Everything is more difficult when you're not very well. I'm sure things will improve once you're feeling better." He held out his hand. "Come on, Cal. You'd better go back to bed. I'll deal with this."
For once, he didn't feel angry with Cal at all. At least he had given Ethan a reason to smile.
Of course, he wasn't actually going to let himself smile when Cal was clearly incapable of seeing the funny side, but he was sure he would smile once Cal was safely tucked up in bed.
Cal put his hand in Ethan's and let his brother help him up, but as soon as Ethan let go of him, Cal swayed dizzily and staggered into the bucket, which fell over, flooding the kitchen with soapy water.
"Well… you did say you felt like you were going to kick the bucket," said Ethan as he steadied Cal.
Cal glared at him. "That's not funny!"
"No. Sorry. Of course it wasn't," said Ethan. He looked at Cal. His pyjama bottoms were dripping wet. "Why don't you go and have a shower and I'll clean up."
For the next few hours, Cal was furious with Ethan for witnessing his disastrous attempt at mopping up the kitchen floor but by the morning, he was starting to see the funny side – and it wasn't as though he had any objection to letting Ethan do all the housework.
He did have a bit of a bump on his head, but at least it was bigger than the bump on Ethan's head.
"I hope you're looking forward to your lunch," said Cal when he said goodbye to Ethan.
Ethan looked significantly less enthusiastic than Cal had hoped. "You don't have to make me any lunch. I don't want you to tire yourself out. I can make us some lunch when I get home. "
Cal felt annoyed all over again. "I'm not going to tire myself out! I'm a doctor, Ethan. I know all about being tired. I knew about being tired before you were even born!"
"Okay, I'll see you later then," said Ethan, and left before Cal could finish his rant.
Cal lay in bed and tried to decide what he would make for Ethan's lunch. He realised he wasn't in any condition to make anything too ambitious, but after some deliberation, he decided to make beans on toast. It might not be the healthiest meal, but Cal was reasonably confident he could cook it without causing more trouble for Ethan.
The good news was that the bump on Ethan's head had gone down and he no longer needed the bandage.
The bad news was that he now had a different kind of headache and it almost matched the description of the headache Cal had been suffering since a day or two before his cold started.
Ethan's throat was worse as well. He'd bought some throat sweets on the way to work and they helped a bit, but he was beginning to wonder if he should buy himself something more powerful at lunchtime. He wasn't going to be able to help anyone if he couldn't talk.
He noticed Lily shooting him disapproving looks while the two of them were treating a patient in Resus and wasn't surprised when she stopped him on the way out. If Ethan looked as ill as he felt, he probably looked worse than the patient.
"Dr Hardy!" said Lily, and Ethan just knew her voice would carry all the way to reception. "Are you eating sweets?"
"It's just a throat lozenge, Lily," explained Ethan. "I have a sore throat and I really don't want it to get any worse so I-"
"…so you should save your voice and not trouble me with the full explanation," said Lily.
Ethan didn't usually let Lily bother him too much. It was just her way and she was a good doctor, which was the most important thing.
But he was ill and he couldn't help feeling a little bit hurt.
Lily, for once, seemed to pick up on this. Her face softened, though she was careful not to get too close. "Perhaps you should have a break, Ethan, if you're not feeling well. I hope you feel better soon."
"Thank you," said Ethan, grateful for her kindness. He knew Lily wouldn't have said that unless he meant it. It was a bit early for a break, but he intended to take one as soon as he could. He didn't want to be lazy, but neither did he want to exhaust himself like Cal had.
Cal took the precaution of setting his alarm so it wouldn't matter if he fell asleep. As was often the case, the precaution was unnecessary. He became so bored with lying in bed, he actually went into Ethan's room to see if he had anything interesting to read. He didn't, so Cal went back to his own room and searched through the mess till he'd found an old copy of FHM. His boredom was considerably abated when he found a picture of the blonde actress who looked exactly like Tamzin Bayle, but he soon discovered she didn't look nearly as attractive once he'd sneezed all over her.
He tried to clean it up, but he scrubbed a bit too hard and managed to tear a hole in the picture. Eventually he gave up and put it in the bin. He lay in bed and sulked until it was time to make Ethan's lunch. That was something Cal definitely didn't want to sneeze on so he took lots of tissues with him and kept one in his hand as he took bread from the breadbin and put it into the toaster. It was surprisingly easy and he didn't even feel that ill.
He found a tin of beans without too much trouble and picked it up. But the tin seemed to have a mind of its own. It jumped out of Cal's hands and landed on his foot.
Hard.