Thank you for all your wonderful reviews. It really warms my soul. Thank you once more to Alice for being there for me and editing and helping me out with the stories. Okay here comes next chapter. Please review, swenglish

To say that it was just a thunderstorm would be a definitive understatement. Winds were blowing so hard that even though I'm use to these spring storms I don't think I've encounter anything like this before. I had heard that storms could be very severe up in the mountains like the tempest blowing, but I never thought that I would encounter one. As if that weren't enough, the rain was pouring down as if the sky had opened and thunder echoed against the rocks making it sound like large explosions.

Luckily we've been able to put to put up our tent as a shelter before the worst of the storm came crashing down. Making sure that the tent poles were secured to the ground I made one last check and then crawled inside.

Larry had lit up the small kitchen stove that we brought along and was busy making coffee.

"The weather is still just as bad?" He asked as he handed me a cup of streaming hot java.

"Thanks." Gratefully I accepted the cup and took a zip. "Yeah. It looks like all hell is about to break loose out there." Moving closer to the stove I took off my wind breaker that was soaking wet. Catching one look at Charlie dead to the world on the sleeping bag I asked, "Has he been sleeping like that all the time?"

Larry nodded. "Yes. I don't think he even moved an inch."

I frowned. This was not good. Normally Charlie wasn't the person that fell asleep all that easily and when he did it was not a challenge to wake him up. Now it looked as if not even an earth quake could wake him up and that was so very much unlike him. The fact that he didn't like thunderstorms either and still slept on like a baby had me a bit worried.

"Poor Charles. He must've been totally exhausted after the previous night's events."

"Yeah this hike is really taking it out of him." I sighed. This was not the trip that my brother had expected. Falling victim to a flu bug was bad but what were even worse were the thunderstorms that crashed outside making it impossible for us to continue the hike.

We sat quietly, drinking the coffee and eating the blueberry pie that Dad had sent with us, listening to wind blowing and the rain whipping against the canvas fabric. Charlie kept on sleeping and if it wasn't for an occasional moan or whimper I would've been really concerned.

"Did you call Alan?" Larry suddenly asked, more in an attempt to break the silence than anything else.

I frowned. "No. Why?"

"If this situation keeps getting progressively worse than it would be a good idea to advise him before things start to slip out of control. At least then he could send out a rescue team for us if it becomes necessary."

Larry was right. That idea had crossed my mind several times, but Charlie and I had an agreement. We never dragged Pop into our own problems unless it was something serious and couldn't be helped otherwise. Dad did a lot of worrying over us as it was and there were no need for him to become burdened unnecessarily. However if we wouldn't be able to continue with the hike by tomorrow I would consider giving him a call. I'm not stupid and after all he is my dad.

"I'll keep that option open, but for now I think its best that we stay here and wait to see what the weather gods have in store for us for tomorrow. When and if this thunderstorm dies down I'm going to take a look at where we are and I'll try to estimate how far away we are and if it's possible for us to go on or if we should call and wait for back up." I might not be a hiker but I know how to take care of tricky and difficult situations.

"Don, don't forget those rocks can be slippery." A weak voice mumbled behind me. "You might fall."

I turned around in surprise. "Charlie? I thought you were asleep?"

"I was." My little brother's voice was filled with pain. "But then my arm started to hurt so badly." He grabbed his arm as if to illustrate his point. "It burns."

I moved over to him. "It does? Let me see." Larry was by my side now and to our surprise Charlie did none of those "I-can-take-care-of-my-self-thank-you" acts which were his speciality. The pain seemed to have won over his stubbornness. Rolling his sleeve up gently, I noticed the heat radiating from him. "Buddy, you've got yourself a fever." Larry placed his hand on Charlie's forehead too.

"Yes Charles, Don is right. It seems as if the sickness is in the midst of running its course. "

Charlie didn't answer and neither did I since I was too busy opening the band aid that my brother had wrapped around his sting. Larry tried to see the injury a little better as I tried to loosen the bandage without causing more pain. This attempt proved to be futile since the tape stuck to the wound and the moment I was able to peel it off a yellow brown substance oozed out almost like a small volcano.

Gagging I looked away briefly before wiping off the excess with a paper cloth. That was so disgusting. Charlie thankfully had his eyes closed which was just as fine since the puss oozing out from the wound would have made any strong headed man nauseous.

Larry on the other hand didn't seem to be bothered at all. Not by the offending smell and certainly not by the substance. It was a bit strange that I reacted like this since I'm normally the one that has the stomach for gore which comes with the territory of my profession, but I guess that the sight had been so unexpected that it made me gag. It also didn't help that I wasn't looking at some nameless victim of a crime; I was looking at my own brother.

"Charles," Larry asked after carefully examining the wound. "Did you see any insect? Any spider of some sorts?"

"Spider?" I frowned. "You think that this is a spider bite?"

"I'm not one-hundred percent sure but judging from the time the bite occurred to the damage its done I would say that it's a very high probability that it looks like it could be a bite from one of the more dangerous species of Araneae."

"Aranae?" I wasn't in the mood for playing twenty questions.

"The Latin word for spider," Larry explained as he went on, " Judging from how rapidly the bite did this amount of damage," he gestured towards the bite that I was cleaning up as best as I could. "I would say that it's either a genus Latrodectus or a Loxosceles. However I am most certain that its origin is not from dolichovespula arenaria since their stings doesn't leave blisters like this." Larry was talking mostly to himself and I was doing my best to keep up with the conversation.

"Larry," Charlie's tired voice interrupted him. "Its Latin, Don doesn't know that language."

That comment made me want to knock my little brother over. Okay I might not be a genius when it came to Latin, but he didn't have to rub it in. One look at him however made me change my mind. Sweat trickled from his forehead and even his shivering form told me that he was indeed feeling very sick. There was a green tint on his cheeks which I didn't like and I decided to watch him carefully for any further changes in his health.

Larry smiled to me apologetically. "I'm sorry, Don. I didn't mean to ridicule you; it's just that the Latin phrases are more comfortable for me than English. It's a perfectly normal stress response."

"It's Okay." I patted my friends back. "So what mean creatures were you talking about then?"

"The Black Widow spider and the Brown Recluse spider." Larry looked at me with a serious expression. "That would be my guess, and judging from the white blister in the centre of that purple and red area I would lean towards the latter. That…" he pointed at the bite that I had so neatly cleaned up and looked like a big sore now, "…is what is called a "bull eye," and it's characteristic for Loxosceles."

"Oh." I felt as if I've been hit. Black Widows I knew we had but they rarely bit people. If they did it could be fatal but that was mostly for small children and sick people. And Charlie was neither. The Brown Recluse I had heard of but those we don't have here in California.

"That can't be possible," I said, as I sat down rubbing my hand over my temple as I suddenly got a terrible headache. "Those…those spiders don't live here in the southern parts."

"That is what scientists say, yes. However the numbers of victims have proved differently. This is either due to falsely reported bites or the fact that the Brown Recluse actually has origins around here or has migrated here over time. Do you know that there are internet sites dedicated to being bitten by this specific spider? And most of them turn out to really serious."

Annoyed over Larry's once again inappropriate time to say the wrong things I said quickly, "But Larry we don't know if it's really a Brown Recluse. It could be just about anything. I've seen common sores look like that after being infected." Okay that was a white lie. But what would one more white lie do to this whole story?

After I had cleaned up and wrapped his sore with a fresh bandage, so it wouldn't become even more infected than it already was, I noticed how Charlie became very pale all of a sudden. My little brother had always disliked insects and spiders and the fact that he might have been bitten by one didn't look as if it sat very well with him. Suddenly his face changed colour very quickly. First it was white then whitish green then yellow green and….I spared no time in watching Charlie turn all of colours of the rainbow and the fact that I had seen that look on his face before many times and being the target; I knew very well what it meant.

And I wasn't going to stick around to wait until it happened.

"Oh shit he is going to blow!" I yelled at Larry as I tried to scramble on my feet and drag Charlie out of the tent. Larry looked up, just as surprised and I waved at him to come and help since one glance at my brother told me that he was in no shape or form to be of any help. "Larry help me, we gotta get him out of here before he redecorates the whole tent."

Despite both our efforts and swift movements we didn't succeed in getting Charlie to sit up. Before we knew what happened he suddenly rolled over to his side and did just that; blew chunks.

All over my sleeping bag.

That was the second time that day I could've clocked him in the head.

But then again he was my little brother and he couldn't help being as sick as a dog. Instead I sat down next to him rubbing his back as I had seen Mom and Dad do many times in the past and as I had done the previous night.

"I'm so…so sorr…sorry," he shivered and his fever glazed eyes looked up at me for support. Larry had already told him that he couldn't help it and I felt it was best for me to say something too. After all it wasn't his fault that he was sick.

"It's all right, Buddy." I smiled at him even though I was doing my best to breath through my mouth. The smell was offending and we needed to get that sleeping bag out of the tent or there was no telling what the results would be.

Looking up I saw to my relief that Larry had dragged the soiled item out of the tent and he was leaving the door open to let in some fresh air. That was easier said than done since the wind blew the raindrops inside the tent.

"I'm co…cold," Charlie mumbled shivering seeking shelter against me. I held my arms around him just as I had seen both of my parents do for him, and also for me, several times in the past when we were running a high fever. "You need to lie down," I said, as I gently lowered him on his sleeping bag.

Charlie closed his eyes for a brief moment then his eyes suddenly shot open. "No…No I can't do this. "

I frowned. "Why?" Sometimes my brother made very little sense to me.

"I ruined your sleeping bag. Where should you sleep?" The voice was weak but his eyes were open, searching for an answer.

I thought for a moment. That wasn't exactly an option I had considered. Where would I sleep? It would be too cold lying straight on the tent floor and spending the night outside was out of question. Sleeping beside Larry was a No No and the only option I could see was having to spend it with my little brother; just like we did when we were small.

"Move over." I said to Charlie. He gave me a confused look. When he made no sign of understanding what I was talking about I repeated the words once again, "I said move over…are you deaf or something?" Okay that might not have come out very nicely, but then I needed to show who was in charge, and especially who was the oldest. It came with my big brother territory. You can't give away too much power.

He moved over to his side and I can't say I was actually happy to be crawling down beside him either. The smell that was still permeating in the tent wasn't one of roses and having to sleep beside Charlie who was now as hot as a stove wasn't exactly my idea of a good night. Still he was my brother and I cared for him.

"Is this really okay with you?" Charlie asked his eyes glazed from the fever he was obvious experiencing.

"Sure." I moved in to get some space. "Besides what options do I have?" I could've bit my tongue when I saw Charlie's disappointed expression and quickly added, "Just kidding, Buddy. This will be like old times."

A smile lit up on his face. "Remember when we used to sleep like this? When we were with Mom and Dad on vacations and had to share a bed?"

"Yeah." I laughed, those memories brought back some funny moments and we shared a few of them while Larry was still out in the rain, no doubt preparing to go to bed. "But Charlie now when we share bed you have to promise me two things. Okay?" I sat up on my arm to look at him.

"Shoot!"

"First If you start feeling sick; don't puke at me."

A groan.

"Second; if you fart I swear that I kick you out of the sleeping bag and I don't care if you have to spend the rest of the night on the floor. No matter what villain might have infected your arm."

Another groan; then a giggle.

"I don't fart."

"Yeah you do. " I laughed and then punched him softly in the back. "You always do."

Charlie let out a small chuckle despite the obvious pain he was in. "And I thought you would tell me not to snore."

"Nope." I shook my head grinning. "That one is reserved for Larry. Did you hear him last night? It was like sleeping with a motorcycle gang!" Charlie's only answer was another giggle and at that very same time the professor entered the tent.

"Something funny occurred while I was out?" He asked as he closed the tent opening.

Charlie, who always had a hard time keeping things to himself open his mouth to answer when I stopped him,. "It's nothing, Larry. Just nothing."

"Okay." The professor didn't push the issue and instead crawled down into his own sleeping bag. That was the good thing with Larry; if one didn't want to talk he didn't press.

Closing my eyes I heard Charlie whisper a small, "Thanks."

"No problem, Buddy, just try to get some sleep. And like I said as long as you follow those two simple rules we're cool." There were certain things that you didn't share with anyone but your brother. It was an unwritten code of honour between brothers.