Pilgrim!AU: Part 3

Against her better judgement, Nancy was again at the bedside of Joseph Hardy.

With Frank.

Without Ned.

Joe was getting better - he was! In the course of a week, he had gone from death's door to being able to actually eat again. It was a blessing, but his condition was so precarious that she found herself worrying that one of them would contract it as well.

Frank wouldn't be able to handle it if he did.

The older Hardy boy hadn't been eating very well the last few days, and Nancy had a sneaking suspicion that he was passing his food on to others. Which was quite possibly the worst thing he could do right now for his body.

She administered the herbs she had to Joe, whose natural, healthy color was slowly returning.

As Joe drifted back into a sound sleep, Nancy turned to Frank.

"May I speak with you?" she asked.

Frank lifted his brows as if to say go ahead and speak.

It was peculiar, but she and the older Hardy boy had developed the ability to communicate with mere facial expressions and body language. What should have taken weeks to learn about each other had taken hours.

She felt a bond with him that she dared not articulate.

"No," she said. "I need to talk to you alone."

They made their way to a secluded corner of the sleeping quarters, and they sat down on some crates.

"You have to eat, Hardy." Despite everything, she couldn't bring herself to call him Frank. It felt like crossing a line, though she called Joe by name regularly.

"I am."

"Lying is a sin, you know."

"I'm not lying," he murmured. "I'm not. 'Tis true, I have been supplementing Joe's and Chet's rations with mine on occasion, but I have been eating at least once a day."

Nancy glared at that. "Once a day? You promise?"

"My yes is yes and my no is no, Nance. Yes."

She gazed at him a long moment. If he'd had that much of his rations, he shouldn't look like this.

Oh, no.

No, no, no, no.

She buried her face in her hands. "I'd rather you were lying," she said numbly.

"What? What's wrong?" Frank asked, pulling her hand away from her face, clearly trying to read her shattered expression.

"You might have...caught Joe's illness. The other symptoms will...might...show up in a day or two."

"Oh," he said, letting go of her hands. "I shouldn't be near you then."

His voice was so infuriatingly calm.

"No," she said before she could think about what she was saying. "I have already been around Joseph; I am already exposed. I shall be well." She took his burning hands in her own, and they sat there until she was called away.