Ch 5 Jeff's Illness

After supper, they walked into the social gathering together. Almost immediately they heard a voice, "will you look who's here."

Phineas turned at the sound of Tom's voice, "not my shoulder," he said quickly, realizing Tom was about to give him a bear hug. He put his left hand out to guard his shoulder. Tom could get pretty enthusiastic.

Tom's expression changed to one of concern, "what's up?" Then he turned to Jeff, "I thought you were taking care of him?"

"He's the reason I'm alive," Phineas explained.

Tom glanced back and forth between them and was convinced that was the truth. "So you must've got hurt along the way too?' he asked Jeff. "You okay?"

"Yeah," and Jeff smiled. He'd liked Tom the last time they had met, but his concern for both of them was so obvious that Jeff now truly felt that he was their friend. It was a nice feeling.

Tom was as tall as Phineas and shared the same build, but his hair was much lighter, with a hint of red, and he wore it long, almost touching his shoulders.

"How're you?" Bogg asked Tom as they sat down to talk. They chatted for a few minutes before Tom was called away by a pretty girl Bogg didn't know.

"See ya later," he said with a smile and Phineas and Jeff watched him head toward the girl.

"There sure are a lot of people here," Jeff observed, "are you sure there were only 23 in your class?"

Just then a very pretty blonde approached them and Jeff noticed his partner smile. He'd seen that smile before so he decided to venture off on his own. He knew Bogg wouldn't miss him.

As he moved through the crowd, he was surprised to find that many of the people there called him by name. He spoke with a lot of different people who seemed interested in hearing about his experiences voyaging with Bogg. An hour flew by quickly.

ooOoo

Phineas had also spoken to many voyagers during the hour that Jeff was gone.

He was immersed in an intense conversation with Stan Fuller when he felt a small hand on his arm and turned away from Stan. "Kid, can't you see I'm busy," he said as he turned to Jeff. He'd been enjoying trading stories with Stan, it had turned out they had Voyaged to the same Civil War battle, on the same date, but on different sides.

"I need to talk to you," Jeff said as he pulled his arm.

Jeff was squeezing his arm tightly and it reminded him of their last mission. Jeff only did that when something was wrong, so Phineas reluctantly turned away from Stan, "I'll be right back, don't go away."

He followed where Jeff was pulling him until they were in the narrow hallway outside the large living room.

"What is it, I'm busy!" he whispered.

"Bogg, I... I don't feel very well," Jeff said haltingly. He hated to say it. They were finally here at the reunion and he knew that Bogg was really enjoying himself. He'd been trying to pretend he was okay, but as time passed he realized that his stomach was getting worse.

Phineas' jaw dropped open. He had been traveling with Jeff for almost 2 years and he had hardly ever been ill. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"My stomach hurts. I just want to lay down, okay?" He wished he could tell Bogg to stay here and enjoy himself, but he couldn't quite get those words out. The truth was, he didn't want to be alone.

"Wait here," Bogg said quickly and went back to Stan. Jeff could see and overhear Stan's reaction to what Bogg was saying.

"So send him up to bed and come back, come on Phin, everyone's arriving and it's been so long."

"Tell everyone I'll see them tomorrow, will you?" Bogg asked.

Stan sighed, "some Voyager, stuck alone in a room with a sick kid?" His tone was mocking and he shook his head. "The Partnership Agreement doesn't include babysitting you know."

Jeff's heart fell as he realized Bogg was being made fun of, even if the teasing was fairly good-natured. He didn't have time to dwell on the unfairness of this however, because his stomach suddenly felt worse. He turned toward the stairs, afraid to stay in the room any longer. If he threw up down here he would feel even more embarrassed than he already did.

Half way up the stairs he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. "When did it start?" Bogg asked as they finished climbing the stairs together.

"After we got here." Once inside their room, Jeff headed straight to the bathroom and it wasn't long before he was throwing up into the toilet. Phineas pulled the covers down on the bed and sat down to wait. Finally Jeff came out and headed straight to the bed. He climbed in slowly and laid on his side and Phineas untied his sneakers and slipped them off before pulling up the covers.

"Any better?" Bogg asked, putting his hand on Jeff's forehead.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," Jeff answered.

"Nothing to be sorry for, these things happen."

"You can go back downstairs." Jeff hated to say it, because he didn't want Bogg to leave, but he also didn't want Stan making fun of him. And he didn't want Bogg to think he was a baby either.

Phineas looked at Jeffrey and sighed. He really wanted to go to the Social downstairs, but leaving Jeff alone when he was sick just wasn't an option. "I think I'll just stick around up here," he whispered as he stood up.

He looked around the room and realized there wasn't much to do. There was a deck of cards on the bureau, so he sat down at the desk and started playing Solitaire.

Jeffrey lay still for a long time. His stomach felt a lot better, but his head was pounding and he was very glad to be lying down. He finally closed his eyes and after awhile he felt his mother's arms around him. Then he seemed to be rocking back and forth in the antique rocker that had belonged to his great grandparents. But something wasn't right, he felt hot and suddenly he was looking into the window of the burning camper. He could see his mother's face inside and she wasn't moving. He started pounding on the window and calling to her ...

"Jeff, wake up," the voice was gentle and familiar, and Jeff opened his eyes and half sat up. There were arms wrapped around him, "it's okay, it was just a dream," Bogg's voice found its way into his mind.

"But it really happened," Jeff said in a voice full of anguish.

"I know," and Bogg pushed him away from his chest so he could look at his face. He felt his forehead again, "it's okay," he whispered.

"I have to go," Jeff said suddenly and pushed the covers off and hurried into the bathroom again. Again, Bogg could hear him throwing up several times. After what seemed like a long time, Bogg went to the door and knocked, "Jeff, you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah."

Bogg pushed the door open and saw Jeff sitting on the edge of the tub, he was leaned over, looking at the floor, his head in his hands. "What're you doing?"

Jeff looked up, his cheeks were red, "just resting," he answered in a tired voice.

"Come on," Bogg helped him stand up and guided him back to bed.

"Can you open a window?" Jeff said as he pulled his shirt off and climbed back into bed.

"We'll see," Bogg whispered. Then he filled a basin with cool water and started wiping down Jeff's face and neck. "Does this feel better?"

"Yeah," Jeff murmured, closing his eyes.