Charlotte awoke to an odd sound coming from her window. She lifted her head and immediately let it fall again due to an overwhelming pounding. She sat all the way up and rubbed her eyes. A blurry Henry tapped on her window. She got up to open it and felt dizzy, she was afraid to take another step when she felt two arms cradling her. Henry picked up Charlotte and gently placed her on her bed. She opened her eyes and looked at Henry then at the window. The lock was broken. Henry had watched her stumble and almost effortlessly ripped the window open and swooped in next to her. "Char look at me." He studied her face with a concerned scrunch on his own. "You ok?" he inquired. "Yes thank you," she quietly replied. Her voice was so soft he just about melted. On their way to work she did everything she could to keep her eyes open. She couldn't stop shivering and Henry saw this and turned the heat way up. She was finally comfortable. Henry had an inkling that something was wrong but said nothing. He didn't want to embarrass her or say anything wrong. He decided he would watch over her the rest of the day just in case. Down the elevator he put his arm on the wall behind her casually, but he really just wanted to be there in case she couldn't handle the rough ride. When it was over he was holding on to her gently he must have done it on the way down, he hardly noticed. She didn't have the strength to care. But she did feel some butterflies when he did it, that was nice. He didn't feel as great when he felt how warm she was. His concern grew and he decided then that he would not leave her side.
"Ding!"
The elevator opened to an angry Ray.
"Oh my gosh look it's Henry and Charlotte, how lucky are we that they could MAKE IT?!" he jabbed sarcastically. The yelling made Charlotte's ears ring, she winced in pain. Henry looked at Charlotte then shot a death glare at Ray. He put his hand up to Rays face and spoke sternly. "We are here now. Just tell us what we missed." Surprised by his reaction Ray toned it down and proceeded to explain today's plans. He respected Henry and knew that he would never speak that way without good reason, so he trusted him enough to comply without reluctance. They ended up just doing inventory of everything in the man cave, in storage, even junk n stuff. Schwoz and Jasper were playing with something they found in the back, loud spouts of laughter we're usually amusing coming from the goofy boys. But Charlotte could hardly focus on anything other than staying vertical.
"Charlotte go get another load will ya?" Ray asked, never even looking at her.
"Yes of course ," she quaintly replied.
The task terrified her. She could get by alright when she was sitting but walking AND carrying something heavy, no way!
"I got it, I'm going up there anyways." Henry was quick to rescue Charlotte from the task, he shot up and jotted out of the room but not before he looked back and checked on Charlotte who was looking at him as well. He could see a tiny glimmer in her eye, it was a tear. A sleepy tear that she didn't even try to hold back. Ray, Schwoz, and Jasper announced they were headed to lunch and would be back later. Finally Charlotte could relax. She leaned back into the couch and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Henry walked back in with the first load and looked at Charlotte sweetly. She was in a deep, deep sleep. He grabbed a blanket and tucked her in. Glad that she was resting he went back for a second load and disappeared into the back room. Like a tornado the boys flooded out of the elevator and in a huff they herded around Charlotte.
"CHARLOTTE! WHERE ARE THE KEYS, YOU HAD THEM LAST AND WE ARE STARVING! AND SLEEPING ON THE JOB WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" Ray awoke Charlotte from her one moment of relief she'd had that day, she couldn't bear it. She quickly stood up and began frantically searching but she couldn't focus her eyes, she felt the tears rising in her throat. "I don't know I'm so sorry!" she croaked as she continued her search. Just as Henry heard the yelling he rushed back in the room to kill whoever was doing this when he saw the swarm of boys yelling at her from all directions. Henry ran to her and broke through the chaos, he didn't know what would happen but he knew how fragile she was in this moment. Just as the boys turned to Henry to loudly ask why he shoved them so, Charlotte fell into Henry's arms. They all fell silent and Henry picked her up and brought her to the couch where he propped her up in his arms. Stunned and very confused, the boys stood speechless. "Why...uh what just happened?" Ray asked with a now very quiet worried voice. "Charlotte has a fever, I suspected it earlier but I kept it to myself, I didn't realize the severity of it. Schwoz will you please take a look at her?" Breaking Schwoz out of his trance he jumped into action. Now they could all clearly see her visible exhaustion.
"I should've done something or said something..I..." Henry said as he shook his head and rubbed his face and head. They all felt like their hearts had been ripped out and stomped on with the big fat foot of guilt. Schwoz hooked her up to a machine that displayed her vitals. It showed her pain levels spiking. They all cringed as they watched her stir unconsciously. She slept for eighteen hours straight with her boys anxiously awaiting a good sign.
They all jumped in unison when Schwoz broke the silence.
"Well...she's sick alright. And I know what it is, but it hasn't been named yet. I discovered it myself. I contained it in my lab but she must have been exposed somehow." Ray rubbed his eyes roughly admitting that he had her clean it. "Well I must wake her up to check her out and get some food in her if she can eat." He then prodded her with some sort of medical tool to end her sedation. She began to open her eyes only to see four worried boys looking down on her like they just watched a litter of puppies get hit by a bus. She bunched up the sheets in her hands and pulled them to her chest. She was so groggy she wasn't quite sure where she was. This caused a tired, fearful tear to fall from her eyes. The monitor showed her heart beating rapidly and suddenly. Henry got close and stared deeply into her eyes. "Charlotte?" he begged. His voice was tender and the protection in his voice made Charlotte's heart rate go down. Her vision cleared and she now realized his hands were intertwined with hers. They brought their faces closer, foreheads touching gently. He wiped her tears as they fell. Then he pulled her close and she just melted into him. Nothing had to be said, they had both been letting the same feelings build up and they always knew what the other was thinking. "Hey kid, you gave us quite a scare there for awhile, how ya feelin?" Ray asked. "Hungry." she replied with a smile through the tear stained face that broke them. Just then he held up a bag of takeout from her favorite restaurant. She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. He was surprised by her sweetness, it was really nice to have her in his life he thought to himself. They all proceeded to eat and talk and even laugh. The next few days of quarantine in the lab turned out to be fun and very chaotic, but that's a story for another day.
