Chapter 4

"So," Mel sighed after she had managed to compose herself. "Uh..." She reluctantly disengaged herself from his gentle embrace. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine other than a nasty shtaybacht." Cole smiled reassuringly down at her.

"A what?" Mel asked, blinking. "God, Cole, don't start speaking Cirronian on me again."

"It's okay, Mel. I just could not find the human word." He smiled reassuringly. "It is... not unlike a hangover, I think. From the sugar."

"Why did you drink all that stuff anyway?" Mel asked, frowning and shivering slightly at the memory of the delirious Cirronian chugging maple syrup.

"I don't know. If I was really delirious, it might have been shtaytacht." He paused, considering how to explain. The splitting headache, aching muscles, and other effects of his chickenpox and shtaybacht were making it incredibly difficult to concentrate. "Cirronians have a very rapid metabolism," he began.

"You mentioned that." Mel nodded faintly. "It's why you got sick and went downhill so fast."

"Yes. Our metabolism means that we also have very high energy requirements. When our bodies fight disease, it takes even more energy. If we can not take in enough calories, our bodies will begin to shut down. Eventually, our brain may as well. It is like starvation only... accelerated."

"You would have died if you hadn't thought to drink the maple syrup?" Mel whispered, aware that her lower lip was trembling and her eyes were brimming with tears.

"Not immediately, but eventually." Cole nodded apologetically. "I'm actually surprised that I was lucid enough to think of it."

"So am I... I really thought I was about to lose you," Mel whispered, closing her eyes against the idea of Cole dying in her arms. She opened them again when she felt gentle fingers drying away her tears.

"Why are you dressed like this, Mel?" he asked gently, trying to side-track her thoughts from their obviously-distressing line. "Why were you under the blankets with me?"

"You were so cold and... unconscious. I was trying to warm you up. I didn't know what else to do for you."

He smiled warmly down at her, nodding reassuringly. "You did well, Mel. I doubt I would have been able to regain consciousness at all without the warmth you shared with me. It allowed my body to divert some energy back to my brain."

"I was afraid you weren't going to wake up," she added quietly. "I just kept hanging on to you and... just begging you to stay with me."

"Shtay," Cole murmured, his smile growing. "That must have been what made me realize what was happening, that I needed shtay, sugar."

"Oh..." Mel chuckled weakly. Stay with me... That clichéd phrase had actually saved Cole's life? "And how... how do you feel now?"

"Sick, Mel." Cole smiled weakly. "And a little hung over," he added with a wry smile, hoping to cheer her.

"Tired?"

"Yes, Mel."

"So lie back down," she directed gently, rearranging his pillows. "You're going to be okay, aren't you?"

"Well, my body is still very weak, but no longer in immediate danger of shutting down."

"Good. That's good," Mel whispered, hugging him close for a moment before pushing him back against the pillows. "What do I do if it happens again?"

"Just force me to eat as much sugar as you can. There would be other therapies on Cirron, but sugar is considered the standard... field-medicine."

"Okay, good. Now, how do I prevent it?" she asked.

"We must keep my temperature up so that my body does not need to divert resources to that and I must be sure to eat enough."

"Well, that at least shouldn't be too hard," Mel sighed, absently rearranging the blankets around him. "You're always hungry."

"I'm not hungry now," Cole sighed, shaking his head and huddling farther under the blankets.

"How about some ice-cream?" Mel offered hopefully.

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep it down, Mel," he told her apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"Just a little?" she asked. "Think you can try to have just a little? For me?"

"I'll try, Mel. Can I have more of that... Nyquil, too? My head hurts."

"I don't think that's wise, Cole. Nyquil has aspirin and aspirin lowers a person's temperature." She sighed faintly. "I'll see if we have any Tylenol."

"Thank you, Mel." Cole smiled and started to sit up.

"Oh no you don't." Mel shook her head firmly and gently pushed him back into a prone position. "You stay right there. You need to conserve as much energy as possible."

"Mel," he began to protest.

"Mel, nothing." She shook her head firmly. "Doctors orders, Cole. You are hereby confined to that bed until I give you a clean bill of health."

"Mel!" he protested. "How will I work?"

"You won't. You will rest, the way you've been making me rest for the past two months. You'll thank me later."

Cole sighed and gave in, too tired and weak to argue. Every muscle in his body ached, his head hurt, his stomach was threatening to revolt, every inch of his body itched... More deeply exhausted than he would have thought possible, he relaxed against the pillows and closed his eyes, drifting in and out of what was either sleep or unconsciousness.

"Still with me?" a gentle voice asked a few minutes later.

"Yes, Mel," he whispered, not opening his eyes.

"Good. Open your mouth."

A little confused by the request, he opened one eye instead. Mel was holding two pills in one hand and there was a bowl of ice-cream and a glass of water on the nightstand.

"Tylenol. Last two in the house."

"Thank you, Mel," he said, letting her slide the pills between his lips. They tingled where her fingers touched, making him smile faintly.

"Here." Mel picked up the glass of water and held it to his mouth. "I put sugar in it. Figured it couldn't hurt."

"No," he agreed, taking a long gulp. "It will probably help me feel better."

"That's good." Mel smiled faintly. "Then I'll keep it coming. Not too sweet, is it?"

Cole shook his head faintly. "I like sweet things. It's nice."

Very nice, actually. That first long gulp had hit his churning stomach, instantly calming it and sending tendrils of warmth wending their way through his body. He almost imagined that he could feel the sugar's progress through his bloodstream, and when it hit his head, the dull ache there started to recede. He gulped gratefully at the sugar water until Mel pulled the glass away.

"Not so fast, Cole," she urged gently, shaking her head. "You'll make yourself sick. Take slow sips..."

"Yes, Mel," he agreed quietly, forcing himself to drink more slowly when she lifted the glass to his mouth again.

"Want to try some ice-cream now?" Mel offered when he had drained the glass. "Cookies and cream..."

"Yes, please, Mel," he agreed, reaching for the spoon. His stomach really did feel a lot better just having something in it.

"I've got it," Mel assured him, picking up the bowl and lifting a spoonful of ice-cream to his mouth.

"Thank you, Mel," Cole said, accepting the ice-cream and smiling widely. Even if it was a little cold for his taste, the flavor was very much to his liking. He winced as the cold sent a spike of pain through his head, only intensifying the already-present ache.

"Brain freeze?" Mel asked sympathetically, putting the bowl aside. At his pained nod, she rose. "Okay, I'll get you some more sugar-water and we can make some hot soup if you feel up to it."

"I can try, Mel," he assured her quietly.

"Chicken or tomato?" she offered.

"Not chicken, Mel," he told her firmly, shaking his head.

Mel chuckled and nodded. "Tomato it is, then," she said, rising. "And another glass of sugar-water."

"Thank you, Mel," Cole sighed, struggling to ignore his discomfort. It was a losing battle and, by the time Mel returned, there were tears trailing down his cheeks as he violently scratched his chest.

Ignoring his tears, she gently caught his hands and pushing them away from his chest to assess the damage. He had scratched himself raw but was not, mercifully, bleeding. The last thing he needed was to divert even more of his body's energy to healing himself.

"Look, we'll get some soup in your stomach, then I'll get some more calamine lotion on you. Sound good?"

"Yes, Mel. Thank you, Mel."

"Horrible, isn't it?" Mel asked quietly as she spooned tomato soup into his mouth. "Being so sick?"

"Yes, Mel." He sighed weakly. "It is. It must be so frustrating for you."

"Yeah, it is." She spooned some more soup into his mouth, catching a few stray drops with a napkin. "But chickenpox tends to run its course fairly quickly. You should be as good as new in no time."

"I hope so, Mel," Cole sighed quietly.

"You've never been really sick before, have you?"

"Not physically ill, no Mel. When I was younger, I would sometimes get hurt exploring where I should not have, but such injuries heal very quickly even without medical intervention."

She nodded her understanding. "More soup?" she offered.

"No, thank you, Mel. I think I'd just like to rest some more if you don't mind."

"Sure. You want company?" she offered, knowing how much easier it was for her to get to sleep with him there keeping her company.

"Yes, please, Mel."

"Okay. I'll just put this in the kitchen. Why don't you have a little more sugar-water while I do that?" she suggested, handing him the glass.

"Thank you, Mel." He smiled warmly up at her, sipping at the water as she left.

Mel returned with a bottle of calamine lotion. "Do you think you can sit up for this?" she asked. "So I can get your back, too?"

"I can try, Mel," he assured her, struggling into a sitting position.

"Ooh, careful. Here." Mel winced at his lack of coordination, reaching out and wrapping her arms around him as he struggled into a sitting position. It was not lost on her that he had to rely heavily on her help to sit completely upright. "Okay, let's make this quick so you can lie back down."

"Okay, Mel," he agreed. He was a little disappointed that she would not be spending much time on the task of rubbing the lotion into his itchy skin, but also grateful that he would not have to remain upright for long.

"You know, I wasn't wrong about this stuff spreading over your entire body fast," Mel observed. "You are absolutely covered. Here, you get your legs while I do this."

He nodded faintly, looking down at himself as Mel began rubbing lotion into his back. The 'spots' were no longer recognizable as such. They had spread to cover almost his entire body, blending into one another until he was covered in large, glowing patches. In fact, he had more such patches of glowing skin than he had regular skin: he actually had to look for several seconds to find any unaffected skin.

How was he supposed to do his job, or even leave the apartment, when he was glowing head to toe? He could only hope that it would go away soon. Sighing, Cole closed his eyes and bowed his head, relaxing under Mel's care as she gently smoothed the lotion into his itchy back.

"That helping?" she asked gently, peering over his shoulder to make sure his legs were well-coated.

"Yes, Mel. That's a lot better. Thank you." Cole smiled over his shoulder at her.

"That's what friends are for," Mel said, shrugging and smiling back at him.

She suddenly found herself recalling, with something verging on panic, the last time she had rubbed him down with calamine lotion, of his reaction to that. She focused on applying a thick, even layer of the calamine on his back, pushing those memories aside. Focusing was a little harder when she had to move on to his chest.

There were just very few safe places to look. Down was out. Looking at his face, she risked seeing his emotional reaction rather than his physical one. She focused squarely on his chest until it was completely, uniformly coated.

"Better?" she asked, smearing some lotion on the worst patches on his face as well but still avoiding his eyes.

"Much better, Mel. Thank you." Cole smiled at her. "It doesn't itch so badly any more."

"I'm glad." Mel grinned at him, leaning around to see if the lotion on his back was dry. She nodded to herself. "You can lie down now," she told him.

"Thank you, Mel. Are you going to lie down again as well?" he asked, laying back and pulling up the covers.

Mel's eyes widened faintly at the offer. They were both still dressed in nothing but underwear, she had just given him a rubdown that had led to a fairly obvious reaction, and now he was asking if she planned on joining him in bed. It did not really matter that he had not meant it the way that a human male would have, not with the emotional intimacy between them growing by leaps and bounds every day.

"Oh, Cole, I don't think..."

"You're very tired, Mel. I can sense it," he told her. "You promised me that you would take care of yourself if I could not. You must rest now."

Mel nodded faintly, more moved by the obvious concern in his tone than by his words. She rose and circled the bed, sliding under the covers on her side. Part of her expected Cole to close the distance between them. Part of her wanted that. But Cole just watched her as she found a comfortable position and continued to watch her until long after she had fallen asleep.