Chapter 6 Being There
A half-hour later, a knock at the door interrupted his work and Phineas went to answer it. Olivia and Stan stood outside in the hall.
"He's got to be settled by now, come on downstairs," Stan started.
"I can't."
"Look, I'll stay with him awhile," Olivia offered, "there's no reason you have to miss everything, we can take turns."
"Thanks, but I wanna stay here."
Olivia stood up taller. Bogg always thought she wasn't up to whatever task they had to do and it drove her crazy. "I'm a Voyager Phineas, and no matter what you think, I'm just as responsible as you are!"
"Olivia, it's not about whether or not you're responsible."
"What's it about then?" she asked.
Phineas paused, unsure how to answer, "it's about me being here," he said honestly.
She paused, then continued, "I really doubt it's something serious, kids get sick all the time Phineas. And you can stop back up any time, you'll be right downstairs."
"Olivia," he paused, "it's not about how serious it is."
"I don't get it," she said in frustration.
"I already told you, it's about me being here." He paused, "do me a favor and check in on us later, before you go to bed? It doesn't matter how late it is, I'll be up."
Both Olivia and Stan stared at him, then Olivia sighed and shook her head.
"Okay," Stan said, "but I really don't get why it's so important that it's you that stays."
Phineas closed the door as Stan left.
"Bogg?"
"Yeah kid."
"It isn't fair that you have to miss everything."
"Don't worry about it," Bogg answered.
Jeff suddenly felt tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat.
"Tell me what hurts now?" Bogg asked as he pulled up a chair beside the bed. But Jeff didn't trust his voice to answer. Phineas leaned forward to see him better and noticed him surreptitiously wiping his eyes. He moved to the side of the bed and put his hand on Jeff's shoulder. "Your Mom would want me to stay, I'm sure of it," he said softly. He knew Jeff's nightmare had been about his mother, he had called out for her several times.
After a moment, Jeff answered, "you talk like you know her."
"I feel like I do," and he reached up and touched Jeff's cheek with the backs of his fingers. He still felt very hot, so he wrung out the cloth and wiped the cool water on his cheeks and neck again.
"I miss her," Jeff whispered and closed his eyes again.
"I know," Bogg whispered back.
It was a long, uncomfortable night for Jeffrey. Tom Paine knocked on the door at 2 AM and told Bogg that Stan and Olivia had asked him to check on them. He brought some ginger ale up from the kitchen at Phineas' request, then promised to check back in the morning.
"Is this really what you want to be doing Phin?" Tom asked when he dropped off the soda. "I mean," he paused, "really?" His tone was one of disbelief.
Phineas stared at the voyager he felt closest to, besides Jeffrey. How could he ever make him understand what it was like to have Jeff in his life? "Of course it is," he finally answered, "look, I know it must seem strange, but I just can't be anywhere else right now."
Tom shrugged, "suit yourself, you know, everyone is making jokes about it."
"Are you?" Phineas asked, locking his gaze with Tom.
Tom smiled and then chuckled, "no, Olivia and I are telling them all that they just don't understand," he answered evenly, "course we don't understand either... I was just wondering, you know, for myself if you really wanted to be here."
"I do."
"Okay I'll see you tomorrow. I got the coordinates this afternoon, so we can go whenever you say."
"Thanks, I'll let you know," Phineas answered and then Tom was gone.
Jeffrey threw up several more times in the bathroom and slept restlessly off and on.
Finally, Phineas decided he was sleeping more soundly, and that the fever was lower, so he lay down on the other bed in the room and fell into a light sleep. It seemed to him that he was awakened every few minutes by sounds in the hall or outside the window, but Jeffrey seemed to be comfortable and getting some much-needed sleep.
At 8 AM Jeff rolled over and groaned, and Bogg's eyes popped open. He looked over and saw Jeff start to get up.
"Hold on a minute," he said as he moved to his side quickly.
Jeffrey stood up and started falling sideways.
Phineas caught him and helped him sit back on the bed, "how 'bout you sit for awhile before you get up."
Jeff sat still as the dizziness cleared. "I just wanted a drink," he whispered.
Phineas poured a little ginger ale into a cup and gave it to him. It was the first thing he'd had to drink since last night's supper. "Go easy," Bogg told him.
Jeff drank it all, "can I have some more?"
"Let's make sure you keep this down first, okay?" He paused, "where does it hurt now?"
"I don't know. I'm just tired."
Bogg knelt down in front of him and looked at him closely. His eyes were sunken, but clear, and he looked better than he had. Bogg smiled comfortingly, "you'll feel better today."
Jeffrey slept off and on, with Phineas waking him up every hour for another drink. By one o'clock, he ate a cracker from the box that Stan and Olivia brought to them when they dropped off lunch for Phineas.
"Thanks a lot, you guys have been great," Phineas had said when they unexpectedly brought him a sandwich.
"Well, it was pretty obvious you weren't going to get yourself anything soon. And by the way, we're going out later so Tom will check in at 4 o'clock," Olivia told him. "You can give him your supper order."
"Where are you going?" Phineas asked in an amused tone. There had always been an attraction between him and Olivia, but he had come to realize that they were too much alike to be very compatible. They always managed to fight about something, and he valued her friendship too much to want that. He was happy to see her getting along so well with Stan. They seemed to be quite compatible.
"The movies, see you later."
"I like Tom," Jeff said and his voice sounded much stronger. "Can I have another cracker?"
Some time after that, Jeff got up and walked around the room restlessly. "Can I go outside?" he asked, looking longingly out the window at the field where some of the Voyagers were playing a baseball game. Beyond that was a basketball court and Jeff could see there was a game being played there as well. "We're missing everything."
Phineas came up behind him and also stared out longingly. He hoped he'd get to do the sailing competition. A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts, "tomorrow," he said to Jeff as he went to answer it.
ooOoo
Tom hesitated before he knocked at the door. Truth be told, he had gotten a strange, uncomfortable feeling, seeing his friend showing so much concern for Jeffrey. In some ways Phineas seemed like a different person, but of course he was still the same, ... just different somehow. He couldn't even put it into words to explain it. Finally his curiosity about Jeff's condition overcame this strange feeling, and he knocked. He could remember Jeff so clearly from the last Convergence. Such a great kid, and the two of them had seemed so close, like a real family, as hard as that was to believe.
Tom did a double take when Phineas opened the door. He looked a lot worse than last night. He was unshaven, disheveled and tired, but he had a smile on his face and Tom could see Jeffrey standing at the window in the background looking out.
"Hi," Phineas greeted him.
"Hi, Olivia and I decided to take turns checking on you," he said, "it looks like Jeff is feeling better, what do you need?"
"Yeah, I think he's ready for some real food."
"Okay, what do you want?" Tom asked.
"How about some chicken soup and toast for Jeff, and any kind of sandwich for me", Bogg answered.