When Henry's wound gets infected, he and James argue over his reckless behavior.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I'm merely borrowing them for my own amusement.

Warnings: Adult Themes, Slash, Temporary Character Death, mentions of Suicide

Spoilers: General spoilers for the whole of Season 1.

Author's Notes: This story exists in an alternate universe in which James Carter is alive in present day. Henry and James had been dating for awhile before Henry started working with Jo. I'm not sure when exactly this story is supposed to take place, but it's probably before the events of episode 8. This story was written for the Big Reveal Ficathon event.

When James came home from his shift at the hospital, he stopped briefly in the shop to say hello to Abe, who informed him that Henry was upstairs resting. James smiled and nodded at Abe, then made his way upstairs to the apartment above the shop. He didn't see Henry in the living room at all, so he climbed another flight of stairs to check their bedroom. Sure enough, Henry was lying down in bed. He had the covers pulled up to his chest and there was an open book lying next to him. James wasn't sure why the lights were off, given the presence of the book, but he figured that either Abe must have turned off the lights after finding Henry asleep, or Henry had turned them off himself, but had been too tired to set the book aside.

James approached the bed and picked up the book, placing a bookmark inside it before setting it down on the night stand. He took a moment to gaze at Henry's sleeping form and smiled as warm feelings of love and adoration filled him. James wondered how he had gotten so lucky to have a man like Henry in his life. He bent down and ran his fingers through Henry's hair as he kissed him on the forehead. He frowned and pulled away when he felt Henry's skin burning with fever.

Henry woke when he felt the press of cool lips against his forehead. He struggled to open his eyes and blinked a few times to clear his vision. "James?" he murmured and managed to smile weakly.

"Yes Henry, I'm here," James answered as he switched on the bedside lamp and sat down on the side of the bed. His frown deepened with concern when he saw that Henry's face quite flushed.

"I'm glad you're here. I'm not feeling very well at the moment." As Henry became more alert, he let out a low groan realizing just how much pain he was in.

"I can see that. You're definitely running a fever. How long have you been sick?" James asked gently.

"I've been experiencing low levels of fatigue all day, but I wasn't actually feeling ill until I woke up just now," Henry explained.

"What are your symptoms now?" James asked, switching gears from concerned lover to doctor.

"Well my arm is throbbing, but I hurt all over, and I'm so tired," Henry answered and closed his eyes again.

James frowned again and nodded. "I'm going to go get the thermometer so I can see just how high your fever is." James sighed as Henry made a soft whimpering sound. "I promise I'll be right back." He placed a soft kiss on Henry's cheek before getting up to retrieve the thermometer from the bathroom.

Feeling very uncomfortable in his current position, Henry struggled to try to sit up in bed, but he was weak and tired, and that combined with his injured arm caused him to collapse on the bed again. He kept trying to shift to different positions, but it seemed that he was in pain no matter how he lay on the bed.

James returned from the bathroom with the thermometer, and he patted Henry gently on his good arm to let him know he was back. Henry opened his eyes, took the thermometer from him, and stuck it in his mouth. James climbed into bed next to Henry and stroked comforting circles on the palm of his hand as they waited for the thermometer. When it beeped, James took the thermometer from Henry's mouth. His mouth dropped open in dismay as he read the display. "This isn't good at all. You're at nearly 103 degrees."

Henry grimaced. "Truth be told, with the way I'm feeling right now, I'm really not surprised."

"We need to get your fever down. I'm going to get you some Tylenol," said James and got off of the bed.

"No," Henry objected. "I'm in a lot of pain. Please bring me the Percocet. It has paracetamol in it, so it will help the fever as well as the pain."

James blinked in surprise. Henry had been prescribed the Percocet for his injury, but up until now he had been too stubborn to use it. He must be in a lot of pain indeed if he was asking for it now. "Alright Henry. I'll bring you the Percocet, and then I'm going to have a look at your arm. I have a bad feeling that the wound got infected and that's what's causing your fever."

Henry groaned miserably. "I'm afraid you may be right."

James left and returned a few minutes later with the Percocet, a glass of water, and some medical supplies. He handed Henry the glass of water and the pill bottle. Henry retrieved two pills from the bottle and swallowed them with a long sip of water, before placing them both on the night stand. "Can you sit up for me Henry? It will be easier for me to look at your arm that way."

Henry struggled to sit up, but he wasn't having any more luck than he did earlier. He shook his head at James."Help me up."

James set the medical supplies down on the end of the bed, and after a couple of minutes, he managed to get Henry sitting up with the pillows propped up behind him. The wound was too high up on Henry's arm to be able to access it by rolling up his sleeve, so James unbuttoned Henry's pajama top and helped him get his left arm out of the sleeve. He frowned when he saw that the bandage had soaked through with blood that had since dried. "When was the last time you changed your bandage Henry?"

Henry thought for a moment. "I believe it was before I went to work this morning."

"You went to work?!" James all but shouted. "I thought we agreed that you were going to take a few days off to recover."

"My injury really isn't that severe," Henry insisted. "The bullet only grazed my arm. It's no worse than a deep cut."

James sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, and I'm not happy that you keep getting hurt. I really don't know what's gotten into you Henry, but ever since you started investigating cases with Jo, you've gotten a lot more reckless. I really wish you'd go back to just being an ME, but if you feel that this is what you need to do, then for god's sake please be more careful and let Jo protect you instead of the other way around."

Henry let out a sigh of his own and found that he couldn't meet James's gaze. "I'm not sure that's something I can promise."

"Why not?" James demanded. "Do you love her?"

"Of course I do. Jo is a dear friend and I care very deeply for her, but I'm not in love with her. I just couldn't live with myself if something were to happen to her if I could have prevented it," Henry explained desperately.

"And what if something bad happens to you? Do you have any idea what that would do to me and Abe?" James shouted again, blinking back tears. "As it is, the added stress has been causing you to go sleepwalk skinny dipping much more frequently."

"Oh James, please don't cry," said Henry taking James's hand in his. "I promise you, nothing is going to happen to me."

"I don't know how you can make promises like that when you behave the way you do." James sniffled and brushed away the tears that had overflown from his eyes. "I think I should give Jo a call and have a talk with her."

Henry chuckled. "I'm not sure there would be much point to that. She's in complete agreement with you, and has lectured me many times on what she perceives as my lack of a self preservation instinct. This is just who I am James. You know this, you know how I got that scar on my chest."

"Yes I know. You were shot trying to save another man's life. I just can't bear the thought of losing you Henry." James took a deep shuddering breath as tears filled his eyes again, which he quickly wiped away.

"You won't lose me James. I will never leave you for as long as you will have me," Henry promised.

James shook his head and turned away from Henry. "More promises that you might not be able to keep."

Henry sighed wearily. "James I'm ill and exhausted. Can we please not fight anymore right now?"

"You're right. I'm sorry," said James as he turned back to face Henry. He climbed into bed next to Henry and drew him into a gentle hug. "I didn't mean to stress you out. Maybe you wouldn't be sick right now if you'd stayed home though."

Henry returned James's embrace and rested his head on his shoulder. He sighed in contentment as James brought one hand up to stroke his hair. "It really was my intention to stay home today, but then Jo called with a case that required my expertise. I promise I only stayed for a few hours, and I did my best not to exert myself."

James shook his head in exasperation. "Your expertise. You speak as if you're the only competent ME that works for that office."

Henry smirked. "While most of the MEs I work with are not as skilled as I am, it was not my expertise in pathology that was required."

James nodded knowing that Henry was an expert in many different fields. So many in fact, that he couldn't even hazard a guess as to which area of his knowledge had been called upon. "Alright, what subject did Jo need your expertise in?"

"18th century jewelry. The pieces Jo had me examine were really quite exquisite." Henry smiled fondly as he pictured the jewelry in his head.

James laughed. "Of course. I should have guessed. The 18th century seems to be a particular specialty of yours."

"Indeed it is," Henry replied with a wry grin. "Well the late 18th to early 19th centuries at any rate."

"Well I'd better get that bandage off your arm and take a proper look at your wound," said James as he reluctantly untangled himself from Henry. He grabbed the medical supplies from the end of the bed and gently peeled away the large bandage, tossing it into the wastebasket. James grimaced at the state of Henry's arm. He wouldn't be able to tell how bad it was until after he had cleaned the wound, but from what he could already see, it was definitely infected. The wound was oozing and the entire area was red and swollen. James cleaned the wound with some alcohol swabs and smiled apologetically at Henry when he hissed from the sting of it. "Sorry Henry. I'll try to do this as quickly as I can."

When James had finished cleaning Henry's wound, he was able to get a better look at it. If anything, it looked worse now that he could see it properly. He gently prodded the area around the wound, and his light touch caused Henry to repeatedly gasp out in pain. The skin around the wound was even hotter to the touch than the rest of his body was. When James had finished his examination, he applied anti-bacterial ointment to the wound and re-bandaged it. James took a deep breath and ran a hand over his face before giving Henry his diagnosis. "I hate to say it, but it looks like you've got a bad case of cellulitis. It's probably a staph infection. I'm going to call you in some antibiotics, but if this gets any worse, I'm going to have to admit you to the hospital."

Henry groaned and felt his heart start to race in panic at James's words. The hospital was really the last place he wanted to be if he had a life-threatening injury or illness. "Please, no hospitals," he pleaded.

James blinked in bewilderment at Henry seeing the look of fear on his face. "I don't understand. You used to work in a hospital, how can you be this afraid of them?"

"It's the difference between being the doctor and being the patient," Henry explained. "A hospital really won't be necessary. I have IV equipment down in my lab, and I'm sure you and Abe would take much better care of me than they would at the hospital."

James could see that Henry was shaking now and he drew him into a hug. "Ok, I promise I'll keep you at home for as long as possible, but you have to promise that you won't go in to work at all for at least a week."

Henry let out a low sigh of relief. "Thank you James. I promise that I won't go in to work under any circumstances for the next week."

James pressed a soft loving kiss against Henry's cheek. "Get some rest. I'm going to go let Abe know what's going on, and then I'm going to head out to the drugstore to get your medicine."

Henry nodded. "Do hurry back though."

"Don't worry. I'll be back as soon as I can," James assured him. He kissed Henry again, on the lips this time, before getting up and leaving the room.

Henry smiled briefly, savoring the lingering feeling of James's lips on his. He then yawned before closing his eyes. The pain medication was starting to kick in and it was making him rather groggy. He gave himself over to sleep once more, hoping that he would feel somewhat better by the time he woke up.