A/N Just to point out I don't know if Poison Ivy is contagious but for this story it is.

Contagious

The only thing Mike really ensured that he had with him was the Calamine Lotion, specifically because he knew that without it he wasn't going to be allowed into her house. He expected her to be a little annoyed with him. He was with himself, granted that ever since he'd found it was Poison Ivy he'd not touched her but before he knew it was that he had really believed it was a cold, or some kind of bug and he didn't think that it was catching. He wished he'd listened to her when she told him not to give it to her.

Sighing he rang her doorbell and waited for a response; of any kind. It didn't come for a minute or so and then he heard her speaking to him through the door, "Go away, Mike!" she definitely sounded annoyed, and clearly she'd looked through the peephole before answering.

"Alex, come on. I'm sorry." He tried but the door didn't open.

"I'm not opening this door Mike Logan, so you might as well go home!" She shouted through the door. Yep, she was pissed off at him.

Mike sighed, "I've got the Calamine Lotion for you." There was no answer. "Please, I am sorry."

Finally, the door opened slightly and Alex peered round it looking at him, a stern look on her face. "I itch all over." she told him, annoyed.

Mike pulled an apologetic face, "Please let me in."

Still not smiling at him or showing any kind of positive attitude, she opened the door fully and allowed him into the house. He walked in and watched her as she closed the door. Taking in her appearance he realised why she was so mad. She was red all over her arms, her neck and her face, and since she was wearing a dressing gown he could see that her knees had rashes on them as well. He opened his arms out wide to her and said, "Give it me back." It was the best thing he could have said because her resolve crumbled and she accepted it, moving into his embrace as he wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"Do you really have the lotion?" she asked, mumbling into his chest.

Mike snorted, "Yes, I do." He kissed her hair as it was the only part he could reach. Unwrapping one arm from around her he reached into his coat pocket and pulled the bottle out from it. He handed it to her and she let go of him.

Finally smiling at him she said, "Thank you."

"Got any hard to reach places?" Mike asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her with a wicked grin on his face.

"No." she said, with a small laugh as she turned and headed for her bathroom. Mike watch her leave and chuckled to himself.

When she returned from the bathroom she had an almost white complexion from the lotion and she handed back the bottle to him. She sat down on the sofa as he began to dab himself with some of the lotion. She watched him for a moment and then leaned back, closing her eyes. A sudden thought hit her about tomorrow. She dreaded the idea of going to work looking like that. "Are you going to work tomorrow?" Mike asked, making her look up wondering if he was psychic and shook it off. It must have been obvious what she was thinking about although this wasn't the first time she'd considered that with him.

"I'm calling in sick." Was the answer she gave him at the same time she made that decision. Mike sat down next to her and nodded. It was what he would've done if his had been as widespread as hers and she seemed to look more feverish than he did. She really didn't look well at all and he was concerned for her.

"Have you been to see a Doctor?" Mike asked.

Alex looked at him with a raised eyebrow and snorted. "You can't really ask me that since you refused to go when everyone was telling you." Mike looked away from her for a moment, considering that and then she added, "And no, I haven't."

"I realise who it's coming from but you really should go." He told her and she looked at him for a moment before shaking her head to say 'no'. "Alex, you really don't look well and I'll bet you've got stomach ache. Am I right?" Alex nodded, "Well the doc gave me some medicine for that."

"Was it prescription?" she asked, really hoping it wasn't but Mike nodded. Alex could feel herself groaning before she physically did so. "Great." she mumbled.

"Listen, I really am sorry." he told her, sincerely.

"I know." she said softly, as she pulled her legs up to curl into a ball. "I know." He sat back into the sofa and put his arm gently around her. They stayed like that for quite a while, just sitting quietly. Not saying anything and not really feeling the need to.

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The next day Alex went to see the doctor and was given the same medicine Mike had been prescribed. After having the morning off work to do that she actually felt much better and when she looked in the mirror she noticed that the rashes weren't as red anymore. Deciding she was better off getting her stacks of paperwork done she went in.

She had half expected everyone to say something sarcastic to her, look up when she walked in or ask her how she was. Neither of those things happened, the only people who asked how she was were Bobby, Carolyn and Deakins. Getting her head down into work she barely noticed anyone around her at all until Bobby said, "Eames, are you alright?"

The first thought that came to Alex's mind was that he was becoming a broken record. She just offered a polite yet fake smile. "I'm fine."

Bobby was about to ask another question when he heard Deakins call out their names from his office. Looking up, Bobby saw that he was waiting for them. Alex looked at him and then sighed, standing up they headed for his office.

They walked into the office to see Mike and Carolyn there as well. "What's going on?" Bobby asked when he saw the unhappy look on his friends faces.

"You're never gonna guess where they're considering sending us on!" Mike said, sarcastically. Clearly whatever it was, wasn't good. Looking at Alex he said, "You really don't wanna know. Your fever will rise!" Mike added, animatedly. Bobby stood there for a moment actually trying to guess what Mike was talking about but for some reason he couldn't come up with an answer. He looked at them with a blank expression. "No?" Mike asked, wondering if he'd come up with one. "Okay, get this, they want to send us on a team building excercise out in the wild."

Bobby looked at Deakins for some kind of explanation. "The chief of D's has heard of a scheme that helps promote team bonding by sending them out to a different kind of environment where you have to solve problems together." Deakins explained, he didn't sound fond of the idea himself but if that's what he was told to do, that's what he'd do.

Mike snorted, "He likes this idea?"

"Yes and he wants to put it to 'good use' starting with Major Case." Deakins continued, watching with concern as Alex seemed to look ill at the thought.

Alex groaned as she looked for a chair to sit on. "Is this for real?" she asked no one in particular.

"Actually, I - I like the idea." Bobby said after he'd thought about it. "It would be st-stimulating to be solving puzzles and problems in a different envrionment."

"I knew you'd like it, Sherlock!" Alex said, sarcastically but Bobby knew she hadn't meant that as insulting - it was just her way. Mike snorted a laugh of amusement but Deakins wasn't amused at all.

"I want you all to follow his example." he said, pointing at Bobby. "Because as soon as we get the dates, you four are the ones he's sending out first."

"Seriously?" Mike asked, incredulously. He didn't want to be on the guinea pig team, hell he didn't want to be on any of them. Deakins looked at him with his best serious expression. "Okay, it's serious then." He then nodded to say he'd go and do as he's told.

Carolyn finally chose that moment to speak up, wanting to show her support. "I think it sounds interesting." Mike looked at her with curiosity and she shrugged. "I do."

They all looked at Alex, who in the last few seconds had leaned forward and put her head into her hands, resting her elbows on her knees. "It's not that bad, Eames." Bobby said, quietly but Alex didn't reply.

Deakins looked at Mike, wondering about the poison-ivy. "You didn't have it that bad, did you?"

Mike shook his head in response and then spoke to her, "Alex, you alright?" When she didn't answer again, his concern grew tenfold and he crossed the distance between them and bent over to pull her hands away from her face. When he did he could see she was trying to focus on him but she was having difficulty. "You okay?"

"Eames?" Bobby asked, walking a little closer to her as well. Alex tried to look at him but that was a bad move as soon as she did the whole world went black for her. Mike managed to stop her from hitting the floor. As gently as he could he lowered her the rest of the way to the ground. "Uh, we need a medic!" Bobby called out and just for good measure Carolyn headed out the door to ensure that one was called.

"I don't understand why she has it this severe. I didn't." Mike said, almost to himself as he gently held Alex on the floor of Deakins office.

Bobby wanted to put a comforting hand on his shoulder but refrained from doing so, choosing to simply say, "Everyone reacts differently."

Deakins, however, did put a comforting hand on Mike's shoulder as the medics arrived with Carolyn closely behind them. This was Deakins' way of telling Mike that he had to step back and allow them to help her. Mike nodded and stood up, watching as they began examining her to find out what was wrong and what information they'd need to tell EMS if they ended up being called out, which looked likely.

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TBC

I'm not always evil, I swear! ;)