Author's Note: If I don't write I sickfic about a ship, can I really say that I ship them?

I was originally gonna post this tomorrow, because I've been posting every-other-day and all that, but you guys deserve a chapter after this last episode. WHY HSMTMTS?! WHYYYYYY?!

Summary: EJ isn't feeling well at rehearsal and Gina looks after him.

"All right," Gina began, standing with Carlos as they faced off with EJ, Big Red, and the ensemble dancers for the musical number Gaston. "As we all know, Gaston is a very flamboyant, blustery person, so Carlos and I developed some choreography that would go along with that. If a beefy dude with a tumbler of beer could be a dance… that would be this."

The actors in front of her laughed, all except EJ, who was staring glassily off into space and didn't even appear to be listening.

Gina sighed inwardly. She knew from EJ's own late-night-FaceTime confessions to her that he'd been pushing himself to hard. First it was waiting for Duke's acceptance letter, then it was appeasing his parents after he got rejected, and all of that was on top of rehearsals and becoming the president of the AV Club and Senior-level high school classes and homework. He was exhausted, and it was started to show.

"We'll start at the point in the song that Gaston will join in the dance," Carlos said, picking up where Gina had left off. "Once EJ learns his part he'll be free to go and we'll teach the rest of you the choreo. Everyone ready?"

The group nodded, and got to their feet. EJ rose out of his chair, staggered, and sat back down again. Big Red raised an eyebrow. "You good, man?"

"Yeah, yeah," EJ muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Just stood up too fast."

Gina eyed him suspiciously, but he stood up okay the second time. Mostly satisfied, she turned around and started her instruction, tag teaming with Carlos as she went. The two of them had gotten better about working together after Carlos' Quinceañera, and Gina had started actually appreciating having another person around to share and explain choreography ideas with.

They made it a couple of measures into the song and had run it once before EJ raised his hand. "I'm sorry," he said, swallowing. "Do you mind if- if I sit out for a second?"

"Are you okay?" Gina asked, concerned.

"Yeah," EJ said quickly. "I'm just- I'm feeling a little dizzy and I think that I should just… sit down for a little bit."

Those words did absolutely nothing to assuage Gina's concern. She glanced at Carlos. "Can you-?"

He nodded, already getting people set for the beginning of Gaston as Gina gestured at EJ to follow her to a quieter spot in the room. EJ took a heavy seat and leaned his head back, taking a deep breath.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Gina asked in a low voice, eyeing him warily. "You're really not looking good, Eej."

Now that she was closer, she could see how pale he was, a thin sheen of sweat across his forehead that shouldn't have been there after just a couple minutes of dancing.

EJ swallowed again. "It's nothing, Gina, really. I'll just… go home after rehearsal and crash." He shut his eyes. "Nope, actually, that can't happen because my parents have a dinner planned to talk about my 'future prospects'."

"Maybe just tell them you aren't up for it?" Gina suggested carefully.

EJ opened his eyes, looking at her incredulously. "Have you met my parents?"

She actually hadn't, but she'd gotten a pretty good read on what they were like from various things EJ and Ashlyn had told her.

"I'm gonna get you some water," she told EJ, changing the subject. She wasn't sure what water bottle lined up along the wall was his, so she got a small paper cup from the dispenser and filled it up with water from the bubbler in the corner of the room. EJ took the cup from her, but his hand was shaking so much that some of the water sloshed over the sides. Gina eyed him incredulously and reached forward to press a hand to his forehead.

"EJ, you're burning up," she told him, double checking by comparing the temperature of her own face. "I'm taking you to the nurse."

EJ shook his head, then seemed to regret it somewhat. He took a shaky sip of the water and rested the cup against his leg. "It's nothing, Gina."

"It's not nothing!" she cried, exasperated. "Eej, you need to go home and rest. I can teach you your dance part for Gaston another time, and you can reschedule with your parents. You have a fever and you look like you're about to pass out; you need a break. Besides, what if you're contagious? The entire cast doesn't need to be catching what you have just because you refuse to slow down."

She looked at him pleadingly, knowing that she couldn't force him to take care of himself but willing to try anyway. EJ swallowed again, staring past her, then suddenly shot to his feet and ran for the industrial-sized trash can in the corner of the room, usually used when the cast was working on sets. Gina winced sympathetically as he gripped the edge of the trash can and threw up.

"Oh gracious," she heard Carlos mutter as he quickly spun around and covered his ears.

Gina crossed the room and laid a hand on EJ's back, giving it a rub as he groaned and leaned his head on his arms. "Fine," he rasped, looking over at her with pitifully bloodshot eyes. "I'll go home."

"I'm gonna text Ashlyn," Gina told him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and helping him back to his chair. She was unable to ignore the way his head lolled against her neck, sticky, feverish skin against hers as he tripped over his own feet. "There's no way I'm letting you drive yourself home."

EJ nodded, seeming content just to let her take charge now. Gina shot a quick text to her roommate, and reached out without looking to put a comforting hand on EJ's shoulder.

Her fingers found the top of his head instead. Gina was about to yank her hand away and apologize when EJ murmured and leaned into the contact, eyes closing. Unsure of exactly what to do, Gina carefully pushed her fingers through his hair, brushing it away from his face. "You gonna be okay, Eej?"

EJ hummed, half-opening his eyes to offer her a tired smile. "It's probably just a bug."

Gina nodded, but that wasn't what she'd meant. EJ was a healthy guy; he ate well, he exercised, he wasn't a naturally 'sickly' person. But lately she'd been noticing deeper circles under his eyes, less of an appetite, little things like that, and she was worried about him. All of his anxiety about college, all the pressure put there by his parents… it was starting to take its toll.

Gina shook herself out of her thoughts, rubbing her thumb across EJ's hairline. She was reading too much into this. People got sick all the time, especially with all the germs floating around public school. He just needed a couple days to chill and he'd be fine.

Her phone buzzed and Gina jumped, guiltily pulling her hand out of EJ's hair. EJ frowned a little petulantly and opened his eyes. "Is that Ash?" he croaked.

"Yeah," Gina told him, thumb already moving across her keypad. "She says she'll meet us outside of school. You think you can make it there okay?"

EJ nodded, getting slowly to his feet. Gina glanced over at Carlos, who was still dutifully instructing the Gaston choreo. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Take your time," Carlos told her, waving a hand. "And feel better, EJ. All right everyone, from the top?"

Gina led EJ out of the theatre room and down the hall. "So, um… is there going to be someone home to look after you?"

She felt kind of awkward asking that, feeling like it sounded like she was assuming that EJ's parents were neglectful, but she was legitimately concerned. She knew they'd had a bit of a falling out over the whole Duke thing, and she needed to make sure EJ would be okay at home.

"Yeah, my mom'll be home by now," EJ said, shivering and flipping up the hood of his sweatshirt. "But honestly I'll probably just get home and sleep."

"That's a good idea," Gina agreed. "Make sure to drink lots of water, okay? Gatorade."

"Thanks, Doctor Gina," EJ teased, but he was smiling. Gina made a face at him and he looked at her a little more soberly. "But seriously… thank you. It's, uh… it's nice to have someone around when you're feeling crummy."

"Of course. I know you'd do the same for me," Gina said truthfully. "I mean, hopefully you won't have to because I really can't afford to get sick at the moment, but… you get the point."

They'd reached the front doors, and Gina could see Ashlyn heading up from her car. She gave EJ's arm a rub. "Feel better, Eej. Call if you need anything. I make a good comfort-food soup."

"Why does that not surprise me?" EJ queried rhetorically. "I'll keep that in mind. See you soon, Gina."

She opened the door for him, raising a hand in response to Ashlyn's wave. The redhead met EJ halfway and gave him a tight hug, and Gina felt a slight surge of jealousy. Not because Ashlyn was competition in any way- she and EJ were cousins, after all- but because Ashlyn was able to appropriately play the role of caretaker in the way that she couldn't. Gina wanted to be the one to drive EJ home, she wanted him to call her hoping for soup, she wanted to be able to make sure he was okay.

She couldn't. That wasn't her role in his life.

But maybe it would be someday.

Author's Note: Moment of appreciation for in-school sickfics, because this way I don't run into all those at-home-caretaking moments where I have sooo much writers block because you can only write so much of that content lol.