A/N: Lara's fever continues, making her more a tad bit delirious. Jacob opts to try a warm bath. Not Beta'd, so blame any weirdness to my own delirium. If anyone has ideas or wishes for the Jacob having the flu -scenario, please, let me know!

Also if anyone is interested, I'm looking for a second Beta to share the workload. English grammar knowledge would be very much appreciated, but simple second pair of eyes to spot any weird sentences and scenes would be gold. In return, you'd get to read fics in advance and see the stuff that doesn't make the cut. :)

Guest: Thanks!^^


"We need to get your clothes off," he speaks mostly to himself but even when feverish, Lara's senses stay sharp and her slightly glazed-over eyes turn to him. Her curt stare from her seat at the edge of the bathtub fights against the temperature in the tiled room.

"You'vlike that. You' were undressing me right after'we met."

He huffs a small laugh, nodding when he cannot deny her words or the meaning, "Hands up," he orders to pull her long-sleeved off, but despite a small slow twitch, Lara doesn't make an effort to comply.

And as if accusing, "You like that too."

It was going to be a long day.

He manages to swallow the sigh, but the small adoring amusement is harder to tackle, making Lara continue grudgingly , "Isnot mfunny," and when he descends on one knee in front of her to try to get her attention more easily, "Nothing's funny."

He bows his head in exasperation. He is reminded greatly of Sofia's tantrum when she was about five, fighting with Alya about her braids. He had always stayed a bit back on the child-rearing part because of his status and past, of course, only for the heavens to make him the sole custodian years later. And after Alya's death, Sofia had always been an easy child, always keeping a polite edge and never truly challenging him. The heavens must have made him meet Lara to keep the balance in the world.

"What are you in need of?" he tries to find a way to make her comply which makes the glare be directed at something he cannot see instead of him.

"To breathe thrugh my nose - to think," and when Lara's head droops, "Work."

He sighs very audibly this time and raises Lara's chin with his hand, moving the plastered hair out of her sulking face with the other one, "The bath will help with those. – Hands up?" he tries again and this time, Lara leans backward a little to fix her pose and give him a better shot of pulling the loose, sweat-drenched shirt off her.

Lara's skin doesn't look too ill-colored, and more importantly, the action of having her arms pulled up with the motion of the shirt causes her to cough audibly. He moves to support her, "That's good."

"No good," Lara fights back with irritation once the worse subsides.

"It means that your lungs are pushing the phlegm upwards. Your body is recovering. – Closer to work," he cannot help but add just to appease her, and true to his prediction Lara's face lights up momentarily at the thought, but soon the grimace is back.

"Don't have energy t'work."

His ancient neck nearly cracks at the surprise of Lara Croft admitting that she is not in the condition to do something. However, instead of feeling victorious – too much at least – he moves his arm under her armpits to raise her up to get her sweatpants off. With quite a lot of wiggling and not that coordinated teamwork, Lara is soon naked, and he guides her to turn toward the large tub. "One leg in. Then the other." It's the most worrisome stage of the acrobatics because he cannot let Lara slip and injure herself. The herbal bath might be a good remedy, but it does not work on broken bones.

Lara gives a lot-guttural, slightly nasal moan at the warmth of the water, and he carefully helps her to lower herself down in the bath while moving in sync to sit behind her.

At least the bathroom is warm enough that Lara won't get cold with how long it takes before they are both finally sitting in the tub, water just below her neck when she leans against his chest. The herbs also make her cough again which is another good sign.

"'m tired of being sick. Waste of a good bath wit'you."

"You are very much a romantic," he remarks with dry warm amusement and stretches to pick up an abandoned elastic band from the small shelf and loop Lara's hair into a bun above her head, slightly tilted to the side though, not to bump his nose into it repeatedly with their height difference.

"Must be sick," Lara grimaces back, but he can hear the overly self-pleased smile that follows the moment of wit. He prays that it doesn't make her think that she has recovered already.

He moves his hands to check the lymph nodes under her jawline - still bigger but not increasing in size anymore - and takes comfort in that before moving to massage Lara's shoulders which feel cooler with the temperature of the water.

"I'll pay back," Lara murmurs while raising her shoulders like a cat responding to his gesture, trying to absorb as much of his touch as possible, and before he has the time to object, "I'll blow 'til my knees ache, you know."

"Let's just try to get you to breathe without issues at first," he reprimands, still frustrated by how Lara sees receiving any comfort as something that would leave her in debt.

Lara cranes her neck backward, forcing him to lower his hands quickly and wrap them around her toned midsection to keep her from slipping. He has a prime-time view of how her expression turns from objecting to poignant, "Details". He watches in silence as her brain works overtime to figure out a solution, knowing that he should probably distract her, but he is just a man after all. "I can hold my breath," she eventually realizes, her puffy face lightening up which only underlines her delirium, not less when accompanied by a few coughs.

"Not with your lungs full of catarrh," he replies, omitting the 'I doubt' not to provoke her to prove herself.

"Spoilspo't.

He settles to hum an agreement against the top of her head, keeping an eye but not reacting to how Lara's hand finds his upper thigh and starts to stroke it absent-mindedly. But she does seem to listen to him in the end, leaving it at that for the time being.