Nick was carefully trying to decipher the contents of the shelves at the local pharmacy. He wasn't really sure what he was looking at and since he'd walked in the door, the pharmacist had been busy. He was standing there rubbing the back of his neck, his brow furrowed in frustration.
A somewhat familiar voice caught his attention. "Nick?"
Nick looked up to find Ned across the aisle. "Hey, Ned."
Ned quirked an eyebrow. "You look a little lost."
Nick let out a chuckle. "Uh, yeah. My Spanish is a little too rusty to figure out what I'm looking at here and the pharmacist is a little busy."
"Maybe I can help." Ned walked over to where Nick was standing and gestured to the display of medicines. "Ok, so we have your basic decongestant here."
"Well, we certainly won't need that." Nick commented.
"What are your symptoms?" Ned looked at Nick with concern.
Nick shook his head. "Me? No, I feel fine. It's Sara. She's been throwing up and, uh, well, let's just say that her digestive system is pretty upset."
Ned nodded in understanding. "Has she had anything to drink?"
Nick shook his head again. "No, and she's made it pretty clear she doesn't want to drink the water again anytime soon."
"Well she definitely needs fluids in this weather or she's going to end up in the hospital." Ned had a thoughtful expression on his face as he began pulling things off the shelf and depositing them into Nick's basket. "What's her temperature?"
Nick looked at Ned a bit oddly. "It's elevated, but I don't know exactly."
Ned glanced over and noticed the expression on Nick's face. "Hey, I'm a doctor. We never did get around to that 'what do you do for a living?' question yesterday."
"Yeah, I guess we didn't, of course Juan Carlos made it hard to get a word in edgewise." Nick quipped.
Ned chuckled. "I don't think I've ever met someone who could talk that much and that fast. It's a wonder he doesn't pass out from lack of oxygen."
Nick furrowed his brow again as he looked at what Ned had put in his basket. "Uh, do you think you could come and take a look at Sara? I'm kind of worried about her because she doesn't ever really get sick."
"Sure, I can do that. I was just stopping in here to get some more sunscreen. I sort of overdid it yesterday." Ned's fair skin was decidedly reddish.
Nick half snorted out a laugh. "I sure hope you're not a dermatologist."
"Hey, we heal other people, no one said we were good at taking care of ourselves. I'm actually a pediatrician." Ned smirked.
Nick pulled a thermometer off of the display and put it into the basket. "Ok, Doc, let's get this stuff and go check on Sara."
As they got into the line to check out, Ned nudged Nick. "You're probably going to want to get her some soda and crackers too."
Nick glanced around and furrowed his brow as he realized that the pharmacy was just that a pharmacy. He was going to have to go to a grocer to pick up the soda and crackers.
"There's probably a grocer near your hotel." Ned suggested.
After stopping to buy something that wouldn't further upset Sara's stomach, Nick and Ned made their way back to the hotel. As they walked into the dimly lit room, it was apparent that Sara was asleep.
Just the sound of the door closing caused Sara to stir and her eyes fluttered open. "Nick?"
"I'm here, Sar." Nick walked over and sat on the edge of the bed and began stroking her hair.
"Did you get me something?" She didn't even notice that Ned was in the room.
"Yeah, I got you some medicine, some soda, a box of crackers, and a doctor." Nick could tell that she probably had a low-grade fever because her forehead was still warm to the touch.
"Doctor?" Sara was curious how Nick had come up with one so quickly, he hadn't been gone that long, or at least she thought he hadn't.
"Ned." Nick gestured over to where Ned was standing just inside the door to the hotel room.
"Oh." Sara smiled a bit tiredly Ned's direction.
Ned strode over to the bed and crouched down. "So Nick tells me you've been throwing up."
"Yeah." Sara confirmed. "That's part of it anyway." She hoped that whatever she had wasn't going to make her feel like this for the entire trip.
"Well, I just want to take your temperature and ask you a couple of questions, ok?" Ned pulled the thermometer out of the bag of things Nick had gotten at the pharmacy.
"Ok." Sara really wanted to close her eyes and enjoy the sensation of Nick's fingers brushing against her cheek as he continued to stroke her hair.
"Open up." Ned instructed as he poised the thermometer in front of Sara's mouth.
She complied as Ned slipped it under her tongue.
"So now that you know I'm a doctor, what do you two do?" Ned asked.
"Mpnn sjen mmpatr." Sara mumbled.
Nick smirked. "Crime scene investigators."
"I actually got that." Ned glanced at Sara with an amused look on his face. "Kids try and talk all the time with those things in their mouths."
"Mphst?" Sara quirked an eyebrow.
"Nope, not a dentist." Ned smiled.
Nick chuckled. "He's a pediatrician, Sar." He began rubbing her back, smiling as he noticed her eyes slowly closing.
"So you're both crime scene investigators then?" Ned looked at Nick curiously.
Nick nodded. "Las Vegas Crime Lab."
"So you met at work then?" Ned's mouth twitched into a sort of half smile.
"Mmmphuh." Sara answered affirmatively.
"That's a yes in case you didn't quite get that." Nick chuckled softly.
"Ok, Sara, let's just see what we've got." He pulled the thermometer out of her mouth and studied it for a moment. "Hmm, well you've definitely got a fever, but I think with some fluids that'll probably come down."
"So which one of these should she take first?" Nick looked at the array of medicines Ned had gotten him to purchase.
Ned picked up a bottle of something that looked an awful lot like Pepto Bismol. "Take this until you can keep food down."
"Ok." Sara agreed, closing her eyes again.
"Then I want you to take some Imodium because the fun little bacteria in the water you drank are going to want to live in your digestive tract for a few days and the pills are just easier if you don't feel like throwing up anymore." Ned smirked. "And I'd recommend staying close to town where you can find a restroom fairly quick."
"If I didn't feel so crappy, this would be really embarrassing." Sara managed a bit of a smile.
"You have nothing to be embarrassed about." Nick tried to reassure her.
"Nick's right. It happens all the time when people travel." Ned looked at her sympathetically.
"I should know better." Sara had done a fair share of traveling and knew that no matter where you went, bottled water was always better. She just didn't think that a restaurant frequented by tourists would serve tap water.
"I'm going to let you get some rest. Give me a call if you need anything else, you still have the number over at my hotel?" Ned looked at Nick expectantly.
"Yeah, we do." Nick stood up and shook Ned's hand. "Thanks a lot man. We'll have to try and catch you for another meal when Sara's feeling better."
"Thanks, Ned." Sara lifted her hand half in a half-hearted wave.
"No problem." With that Ned left, closing the door softly behind him.
Nick sat down next to Sara on the bed and opened the bottle of Pepto, pouring some into the measuring cap. "Let's get you some of this pink stuff, ok?"
"Kay." Sara smiled tiredly and then sat up long enough to drink the concoction. "Nick?"
"Yeah, Sar?" Nick began to rub her back.
"I'm sorry I don't feel good. I didn't mean to ruin your vacation." She looked at him apologetically.
"Hey, you didn't ruin my vacation. I'm glad you're here." He smiled.
She furrowed her brow as she seemed to be mulling something over and then looked at him inquisitively. "Are you going to leave again?"
Nick smirked at her. "I was kind of thinking that I might want to take a nap."
A tiny smile tugged at her lips. "I'm kind of tired too."
"Well see, now that's something we can do together and we don't even have to go outside." His eyes danced with amusement as he lay down next to her and pulled her into his arms, placing a kiss on her forehead before closing his eyes.
