Eh, Chapters 3 and 4 are short, so I'm thowing them on the site together. :)
Stella found Murdock in the kitchen as she asked, staring into the corner of the room.
"Murdock?" she asked quietly, not wanting to startle him. "Are you okay? Can I make you something to eat?"
Her attempt to not scare him was wasted; he jumped anyway and looked at her with wide eyes.
"Murdock?" she asked again, taking a step closer.
He was immediately on his feet. "No, no, I'm fine, Stella. Just fine."
Stella looked him over carefully, trying not to make it obvious she was worried about him. "You look very tired. Why don't you go upstairs and lay down. I'll take care of things here, and when you get up in the morning you can have some breakfast."
Murdock opened his mouth to breathe and Stella watched him swallow. "You'll take care of them? You have medicine? You know what to do?"
A slightly desperate pitch clouded his voice.
She nodded immediately. "Yes, I do. I don't know what exactly is making them sick, but I'll take care of them. We'll get them medicine. We'll do it together."
It wasn't exactly the right thing to say, because he flinched. Caution be damned, Stella walked to him and hugged him tightly. He resisted her a moment, straining away slightly, but after a moment passed and she hadn't let him go, Murdock relaxed into her embrace. She rocked him in place very very slowly.
Stella stood with him as long as he allowed her to, then carefully released him.
"I need to go out to the drug store. You'll be okay here?"
"I can go! You tell me what you need. I'll go get it!"
She shook her head. "You need to rest, Murdock. You look exhausted."
At the pained expression that crossed his face, Stella amended herself.
"If you don't want to stay by yourself right now, I'll go tomorrow morning. Okay?"
He swallowed again.
"That's a better idea," she answered herself. "We'll all get rested up, and I'll head out tomorrow."
"You need to get medicine—" he tried to protest weakly.
She interrupted him. "It'll be fine till tomorrow. I've got stuff to give them tonight, and waiting will let me figure out what'll be best."
"O . . . okay," he agreed. His inflection sounded somewhat reluctant, but his body language indicated he was relieved she wasn't leaving the house tonight.
"Good. Since you don't want anything to eat, head on upstairs. Like I said, I'll take care of everyone down here; you just go rest."
Murdock mumbled a thank you, and obeyed.
Once she heard his footsteps on the stairs, Stella sighed. She found fever reducers and coaxed the other three men into taking them, inventoried her medicine cabinet, and brought in their duffel bags from the van before climbing the stairs herself to get some sleep.