"Cuddle bug, what's wrong" Luca asked feeling his wife start to fidget a bit under the duvet they shared, she was always a pretty sound sleeper, so he noticed if she was restless
"I just feel a bit warm, that's all, chest is achy as well" she said trying to readjust herself to a more comfortable position
"Let me go grab the thermometer" Luca said as he hopped out of bed and over to the drawers that he kept stocked in their bedroom containing Jess's medical supplies, this was not everything obviously, he kept that downstairs in the store room he'd set up so he could monitor the supply and order when he needed to, this was emergency stuff that might be needed overnight or when Jess was in bed resting so he wasn't going up and down 2 flights of stairs, Zah had a similar setup in her bedroom as well, he quickly found the thermometer and put it in his wife's ear, she didn't feel very warm, but nighttime fevers were unfortunately a sign of leukaemia, so he had to be sure if she was running one or not, and the aching chest was another sign that something could be wrong
"It's probably nothing, just working to hard with the trainer's" Jess said softly, she was really tired and ready to go back to sleep, she'd only been consistently training for a week under their supervision, she'd slowly start being allowed to resume her PT training with her brothers in a few weeks, doing a couple of sessions and building from there
"Humour me, it's a low grade fever" Luca said as he checked the reading, it was 99.7
"I probably just got to warm for a second" Jess said to her husband
"I'll grab you some tylenol, just to be safe cuddle bug, see how it is in a few hours time" Luca said getting back up to put the thermometer away
"Okay, you want it down the tube" Jess asked as she saw Luca get the pill crusher, syringe and a small container out along with a bottle of water from the fridge, she was already booked up for a feed so Jess assumed that Luca felt it would be better to administer it that route than giving her pills to swallow
"Yeah, it will be easier on your gut and get in your system quicker, where did you get that bruise cuddle bug" Luca said as he quickly mixed the crushed medication with some liquid in a cup before bringing it over to where she was laying in bed, it hadn't been there before they went to bed for the evening, it was probably 2 inches in diameter sitting starting from the top left area of her right breast and running towards her sternum. The look on Jess's face reinforced Luca's concern, she hadn't seen it before, and had no idea how it had gotten there, Jess's body started to tremble slightly as she realised what was happening, Luca wasted no time administering the Tylenol to his wife before getting back into bed and pulling her in close to give her one of the bear hugs she'd often seek out to help comfort her when she was anxious about something, and this was something she was extremely anxious about
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"What the hell did you do to my cage" Jess asked shocked slightly as she walked into the team room the following morning, she had an appointment booked with Doctor Shah for first up this morning, Luca had called her to let the doctor who was the family GP know what was happening, Luca would come straight back to the base as soon as he had taken Zah to school, she hadn't mentioned anything yet to her brothers and was trying to work out how to tell them
"We thought you'd be more willing to agree to using the coping strategies if you saw how they were able to be applied, and see how everything is still nice and organised, just the way you like it" Jason said indicating the reason for the changes and why nothing had been said to her before now, her hammock was no longer in the cage, her cot had been pushed hard against one side and was made up, it was raised slightly higher than normal, underneath it was some plastic drawers, a couple of larger tubs and 3 of her duffle bags, the shelves had been moved to sit higher but still in arms reach to hold her boots and some folded uniform tops and civilian clothing that was neatly sitting in tubs labelled, everything was packed away with labels identifying the contents of the various tubs, Jess realised that it had been done like that so that the others could easily locate what she might need if they were asked to
"See, we can also check where you're at with things like weapons maintenance, that way if you need to crash out for a few hours, we can pitch in and help without disturbing you" Ray said indicating to the three clipboards that were hanging on the wall of her cage, each a different colour and labelled, one was a weapons and gear maintenance log with sheets that could be filled in and dated by a person when the maintenance was performed, this would allow for easy monitoring and they could see when something was due to be done, another was for stocktake and ordering of equipment from supply, Jess could easily not down if something was getting low so she didn't forget, the third was a task list, if something was coming up that was important it could be recorded on there so she wouldn't forget, the official diagnosis was called chemo brain, and that Jess may have a hard time occasionally remembering little details, having lists to refer back to would help take the pressure of with the smaller things, allowing her brain more energy to focus on the bigger tasks at hand, and if she became to fatigued she could easily crash at the base instead of going home like she would in a normal workplace, and the cot was better and more stable to rest in then the hammock, especially if she was really nauseous
"You look like you're ready to crash right now" Brock said noticing that Jess did look more tired than usual, he'd been spending more nights sleeping at Jess and Luca's house with Laura, his lease was up soon for renewal so they were currently having some discussion about what to do next, did he get another place on his own, did the pair try and find somewhere together, or did Brock move in to the house with Jess and Luca, he hadn't seen Jess this tired in the morning before, something had obviously happened throughout the night to interrupt her sleep Brock thought to himself
"Feel it, but I got important stuff to do this morning" Jess said, she'd sleep later if she was still tired
"We can help" Clay said eager to pitch in
"Not with this one, think Doctor Shah would realise it wasn't me she was turning into a human voodoo doll, and even if she didn't, the change in blood type would soon arouse suspicion" Jess said with a small smile at the thought of Clay trying to take her place in the doctors appointment this morning, the only member of Bravo who was a match for blood was Jason, the joys of being a universal donor
"You got to see the doc today, everything okay" Trent asked concerned, he hadn't been aware of any appointments that were booked, and he was normally alerted beforehand
"I gotta go, Luca's here" Jess said checking her beeping phone quickly before grabbing a bag that was referred to as her emergency spoonie bag, Jess had just repacked it 2 days ago and the boys had been pleasantly surprised at the amount of gear that had been packed in there, the bag was to go with her to all medical appointments, trips to the infirmary, and could be used on planes
"We'll see you in the briefing" Jason said as the rest of Bravo's phones started beeping alerting them that they were required in the briefing room, medical had the authority to keep anyone out of a briefing, and not even a general could overrule that decision, unless that general was a doctor themselves, so Jess would be attending the medical appointment regardless of where her brothers were
"Hopefully, depends how long Doctor Shah keeps me for" Jess said heading towards the door to leave, she wanted to be in the briefing with her brothers more than anything, this would be their first mission of the new rotation, unfortunately it hadn't worked out like that
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