Chapter Six: Bad Bedside Manners

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"Feeling better, kid?" Ed asked five minutes later as Danny finally came walking back into the bedroom. Holding his stomach, the brown-haired man shook his head as he made his way back to the bed. "Let me go grab you a washcloth or something for your forehead."

"Thanks." Danny replied weakly as he climbed back into bed. "How's the inspection going?"

Silence.

"Ed?" Danny called, curious as to why his mentor wasn't answering.

Even more silence.

"Don't tell me that it's going that badly." a stunned Danny said as Ed came back into the room with a damp washcloth in hand. With what Danny deemed was an unnecessary roughness, the older man pressed it firmly onto the younger's forehead. "Ow!"

"Didn't anyone tell you that I don't want you worrying about it?" Ed inquired, looking down at McCoy. "You need to concentrate on getting better, Danny."

"It's just that I feel like I'm letting you down, Ed." Danny admitted.

"How?" a curious Ed inquired, "By staying home and taking care of yourself?" He shook his head. "That's not letting me down, man."

"Maybe Jillian was right." Danny sighed after thinking about things for a brief moment. He weakly shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe I do tend to think that I'm invincible and this is reminding me that I'm not."

"Well, if there's anything that I've learned in this life," a grinning Ed replied, readjusting the washcloth on Danny's forehead. "It's that Jillian is pretty much always right."

"She's got you trained." a noticing Danny chuckled as Ed's cell-phone went off.

"Deline." the gray-haired man greeted, immediately answering it. "Understood, Mr. Brunson. I'll be right there." As he hung up the phone, Ed's blue eyes turned back to Danny. "Brunson's about to take off, so I need to be getting back. You going to be okay by yourself?"

"Don't worry." a familiar voice commented as footsteps were heard stopping. "He's not going to be by himself."

"Oh, no." Danny whispered to himself, hoping that he had just imagined Sam Marquez's voice. However, that theory was thrown out the window upon seeing the dark-haired woman smiling at him from the doorway to his room.

"What's the matter with you?" Ed remarked, obviously hearing Danny. His blue eyes met the dark ones of his protégé. "That's no way to greet a lady."

"Maybe he's delirious and thinks that I'm Luis or something." a grinning Sam shrugged as she walked further into the room. Turning her gaze away from the bed, she looked at her boss. "Don't worry about us, Ed. Danny Boy is in my good and very capable hands."

"Hands very capable of smothering me." a teasing Danny remarked.

"Well, if you keep up that attitude…" Sam fired back, glaring at Danny.

"Enough!" Ed barked, getting both of his employees' attentions immediately. The gray-haired man briefly rubbed his forehead in weary frustration. "Geeze, I swear that Israel and Palestine get along better than the two of you! Even though it goes against my better judgment, I'm going to have to leave you two alone for the time being." His blue eyes turned to Danny. "You, be sure to get some rest."

"Right." Danny nodded in agreement.

"And you, try not to pick on him too much." a smiling Ed instructed, turning to look at Sam.

"Ed!" Danny exclaimed, wondering why the older man had apparently just given the brown haired woman permission to make him miserable.

"Will do." Sam promised, looking as innocent as ever.

"See you guys later." Ed said with one final sigh. He still questioned the wisdom of his actions, but found himself also questioning the wisdom of not seeing Brunson, his boss, off.

As Ed left the room, Danny and Sam waited to hear his footsteps go down the hall, down the stairs and out the front door, as well as the sounds of his red Hummer H2 starting up and driving away before either spoke again.

"Okay, he's gone." Sam announced, looking directly at Danny. "You can quit faking it now."

"You think I'm playing sick?" a stunned Danny realized.

"Yep." Sam nodded, sitting down next to Danny.

Saying nothing in response, McCoy simply rolled his eyes and thought about telling Marquez what she could go do with herself.

"I'm just playing with you." Sam laughed, gently massaging Danny's chest. A smile remained on the dark haired woman's face as she quit laughing. "I know that you know better than to play hooky when there's an inspection. I'm just surprised that Brunson hasn't ordered some sort of medical test to confirm that you really are sick."

"You and me both." Danny admitted with a nod.

"So, are you feeling better?" a curious Sam inquired.

"A bit." Danny replied with a smile.

"Good." Sam replied, "Because Mike told me that you were throwing up earlier and that's something that I just don't feel comfortable dealing with. So, if it happens…"

"Seeing as how I got rid of lunch just before you got here," Danny grinned, "I really don't think that I'm going to be throwing up anymore today." A chuckle escaped him. "Man, cut out for the medical field, you are not!"

"Oh, be quiet." Sam replied before her eyes caught a glimpse of something on the floor. Curiosity soon filled the dark spheres. "What's that?"

"What's what?" a puzzled Danny asked before Sam reached down and picked up the item in question: Tugglesworth! "Uh oh."

To be continued...