A/N: I'm slowing down a little, and my queue of prewritten chapters is shrinking rather than growing. In order to avoid having to take a hiatus when I get to a very climactic part of the story, I'm going to lower my posting to once a week. I still love hearing from you all! And the good news is that next Wednesday's chapter is the longest I've posted.

Chapter 16 - 112 degrees

The next few days went more smoothly than Jon would have expected. Jon went to go talk to Shawn's science teacher, and she was very understanding, praising the good work Jon was doing as well as reminding him to make sure Shawn studied for the test on Friday. Shawn didn't argue about being grounded on Tuesday, other than being a bit grouchy about it.

And going to Blockbuster together on Wednesday turned out to be really fun, even if Shawn did ask if they could go to the other Blockbuster, a 20 minute drive away, so that there would be less chance of running into people from school. Jon thought he should've been offended by that, but he actually didn't mind; they weren't keeping their arrangement secret, but it was always awkward to try to explain to someone who didn't already know why he was hanging out with one singular student outside of school so much.

But on Thursday, Shawn started to retreat, giving monosyllabic answers at the dinner table. And on Friday morning, when Jon got back from the gym, the apartment was silent. Usually, by this time, Shawn was up.

Jon went up to Shawn's bedroom to find him laying on his back, clearly pretending to be asleep. His forehead glistened with what Jon guessed was supposed to look like sweat. It was pretty obvious he had just dampened his head and hair.

From what Jon had heard, Cory's parents had a habit of playing along with Cory's schemes until he outed himself. Jon decided to take a page out of their book. "Shawn, you were supposed to be up half an hour ago."

Shawn rolled over, his eyes fluttering open dramatically. "I'm sick."

"Sick?"

"Yeah. My head hurts, and I feel like I'm gonna throw up, and everything just aches."

"Hold on. Let me get you a thermometer, so I can decide what kind of medicine to give you."

"I don't think I need medicine, I think I just need to rest."

"Shawn, if you're sick, you're gonna need to take something."

Shawn looked up at Jon, as though he were weighing his options. Then he said, "OK. You can take my temperature."

Jon went over into the bathroom to grab the thermometer from the first aid kit, and then he brought it back and gave it to Shawn, who put it under his tongue. "I'll be right back," he said.

He went downstairs to call for a sub at the school, Then he took a little bit of time to think about what he was doing. If he had stayed with Shawn while he took his temperature, Shawn wouldn't be able to put the thermometer next to the lamp. It felt cruel to let him dig his own hole. On the other hand, if Jon let him learn his own lesson from natural consequences, he probably wouldn't make the same mistake again. He was tempted to let Shawn know that he knew exactly what he was doing, but then Shawn would just get better at faking. It wouldn't teach him anything in the long run.

Jon made sure his footsteps on the stairs were loud enough for Shawn to hear from a distance. He opened the door to the kids room and held out a hand for the thermometer. Shawn gave it to him, and he took a look at the reading.

"112," he said. "Wow, that's pretty serious."

Shawn grimaced. "So I have to take medicine?"

"No. I have to take you to the hospital." Jon would never have wasted the hospital staff's time with this, but he was needing to take Shawn back to the doctor anyway, for the rest of his shots. This way, he could get him there without too much of a fight.

"Oh… I don't think—"

"There's nothing to talk about, Shawn. Unless there's something you wanted to tell me?"

Shawn swallowed hard. "No, you're probably right."

"All right, let's get you down to the car. Do you need help walking?"

"No, no, I got it."

"Do you need to throw up before we go?"

"No, my stomach is feeling a little better all of a sudden. Maybe I could grab something to eat?"

"Maybe some dry toast? I don't think you should be eating butter or anything, you're pretty sick."

"Well, maybe not that sick."

"112 degrees, Shawn. That's worse than I've ever seen."

"Really?"

"Come on, let's going. Unless you want me to call an ambulance?"

"No, no! It's OK. We can go."

"If you're sure." He helped Shawn out of bed and took him down to the car in his sleep clothes, and then headed out to the doctor's office.

He was absolutely sure the kid would crack on the way. There was no way he was so committed to his story that he would get all the way to the hospital.

Then again, Jon had promised pretty stiff consequences for lying. Maybe Shawn thought he could still get out of those. Jon had to hand it to him, he was stubborn. And he had put some thought into this. He'd only held the thermometer to the bulb long enough for the temperature to rise a little; Jon didn't know exactly how hot the bulb got, but he was sure it was a lot higher than 112.

"Have a seat," Jon told him when they reached the waiting room.

"Jon…"

"Yes?"

Shawn looked into his eyes for a moment, then he shook his head. "Nothing."

Jon sighed and went up to the front desk, just out of Shawn's earshot. "Hi, I'm Jonathan Turner, my foster son Shawn Hunter needs some shots." He handed over his ID and Shawn's insurance card.

The receptionist looked over both, and she clicked around on her computer for a moment. "Yes, he is 16, correct?"

"Yeah. Uh..." It occurred to him that the staff might not be thrilled about what he was trying to do. Of course, if they had the same nurse as last time, she would probably pick up on it pretty fast. She had been sharp. He leaned closer. "Is Ashley in today?"

"Ashley Enns?"

"Young nurse, blonde."

The receptionist smiled. "She's in. We always send the teenagers to her if we can, she's good with them."

"Great," Jon said, and he went to sit with Shawn.

"What did they say?"

"They'll call us in just a minute. You just relax. How are you feeling?"

"My stomach is hurting again."

"Don't doubt it," Jon muttered.

The door opened, and Nurse Ashley stepped out. She looked up from her clipboard and called, "Shawn Hunter?"

Shawn stood on slightly shaky legs, and Jon led him over to Ashley, who they followed to an examination room. Jon cleared his throat. "So, the reason why I brought him here today is that he seems to have a fever of 112."

Ashley did a double take for about a half a second before raising her eyebrows and nodding. "Oh, is that so?"

"Yeah. I took his temperature myself."

"Have a seat, Shawn."

Shawn sat on the table. He pushed back his hair and wrung his hands.

"Why don't you tell me what's wrong with you?"

He scoffed. "Lady, how long do you have?"

She laughed, even though Jon was pretty sure she was trying not to. "Your symptoms, Shawn."

"Oh, my symptoms! Right. So, I woke up with a headache, and my throat was hurting, and feeling really nauseous. And then Jon took my temperature, and it was 112, like he told you. So, being a responsible adult-type, he rushed me here."

"Well, he did the right thing. 112 is pretty high. You know, there's a bug going around, it's called...Slothitis."

Jon blinked.

"Sloth-itis?" Shawn asked.

"Yeah, it's really common. Very treatable, too."

"Really?" He sat up a little straighter. "How do I know if I have it?"

"Well, let's take a look at your symptoms. First, you wake up with a headache, you feel achy all over."

"Yeah?"

"You feel a little nauseous, you get a really high fever."

"Uh-huh!"

"Then, you start getting really itchy, but only on your left knee."

Shawn started scratching. "Yeah, I think it just started!"

"Actually, I think it's the right knee."

Shawn switched to the other knee. "Yeah, yeah!"

Jon literally smacked his own forehead.

"Yeah, I think you must have Slothitis."

"So what's the treatment? What do I do?"

"You're sure you want to know?"

"I wanna get better, don't I?"

"And whatever it is, you'll do it?"

"Yeah, of course!"

Her face went suddenly dead pan. "Stop lying to your foster dad."

Shawn's face fell. "I…"

"If I had to guess, I'd bet money you only have one symptom."

"Yeah." He lowered his head.

She raised her eyebrows. "Tell him."

Shawn looked up at Jon. "A science test," he muttered.

Jon nodded. "That's going around too. Best treatment is to study."

"I did, but—"

"Hey," Ashley said. "Look at me."

Shawn looked up at Ashley, keeping his head down.

"This is serious, Shawn. When you pretend to be sick, you take away time that we could be spending treating people who are actually sick. That's not acceptable."

"Sorry," he said softly.

"And just a tip for you, 107 is typically the highest fever we see. 108 and you're dead."

"Oh."

"That," Jon added, "and teachers tend to write the make up tests to be harder."

Shawn frowned. "Maybe I can still make it in time? I can't have missed more than the first couple of periods."

"You can go back to school," Ashley said, "but I'm not quite done talking to you. Aside from wasting valuable hospital time, you made your guardian worry about you. He cares about you a lot, you know."

Shawn shrugged. "Sorry, Jon."

"But you know what? I think he's smarter than you think. If you ask me, I think he saw through your little act this morning."

Shawn's jaw dropped as he looked up at Jon. "Why did you let me do it, then? I hated lying to you."

"Well, maybe to help you realize that, so you won't lie next time."

"But if you knew I wasn't sick, why did you waste hospital time bringing me here?"

"Because he needed to bring you here anyway," Ashley said. "You're due for your next round of vaccinations."

Shawn's voice caught. "You set me up!"

"No, you set yourself up," Jon said. "If I were you, I wouldn't be arguing about this. You're in enough trouble as it is."

Shawn winced. "I'm sorry…"

"I'll be right back," Ashley said, stepping out of the room.

It was quiet in the examination room. Neither Jon nor Shawn said anything. Ashley came back in with the tray of syringes and administered them wordlessly. Shawn flinched at the first one and hissed at the last one, but other than that, nothing.

Finally, after placing the last band aid, she rolled his sleeve back into place and patted his arm. "They usually give lollipops to little kids, but I've got a secret stash in here." She reached into a drawer and took out a full candy bar, handing it over to him.

His jaw dropped. "Really?"

"Really. You can head out to the lobby, if you don't run off. I need a minute with your guardian."

Shawn grinned and jogged out of the room.

Jon waited until he was gone, then he turned to Ashley. "I'm so sorry about all of that."

"Don't even worry about it. It's really common, and you did the right thing." She grinned. "And Shawn is a riot."

"I don't know what to do with him."

"I'm sure he's a handful. I've always wanted to foster. I wasn't sure about teenagers, but you got lucky with him, he's a cutie."

"Yeah, I think he knows it."

"Oh, I'm sure he does." She let out her breath. "Well, the reason I called you back is that the last of the shots I just gave him is going to make him tired. Early bedtime tonight, unless you want him to be grouchy for the rest of tomorrow."

"Good to know."

"Anything else I can help with?"

She gave him a winning smile. If he hadn't been dating Debra, he'd have asked for her number in a heartbeat. "Nah, we're okay. Thanks, Ashley."

"Any time, Jon."

Jon let his breath out, counted to ten in his head, and went out to deal with his kid.