The Danger Within
Chapter 2
The first thing that penetrated Steve's consciousness was the annoying sound of a ringing phone. He placed the pillow over his head hoping to drown out the incessant noise that was disturbing the first peace he'd had in the last thirty six hours but whoever it was, was extremely persistent. Still half under his pillow he reached out his hand and grabbed the receiver and placed it to his ear. "Mmmmmm..Yeah..hello?" was all his exhausted mind could say. "Steve, what the hell do you think you're doing? Are you still in bed? Damn it Steve, it's nine o'clock and we're supposed to be meeting the Captain in an hour or had you forgotten? Did you have your alarm clock in the closet again? Damn it Steve, you had better high tail yourself out of that bed and into the shower and be here asap...do you hear me now?"... The rant continued and Steve couldn't get a word in edgewise...When Mike was in that mood the young inspector had learned to take his dressing down and to say as little as possible was the best thing to do. Nine o'clock! No wonder Mike was mad...he hadn't even realized it was that late. He thought about telling Mike he was sick and about his night on the bathroom floor but thought better of it, knowing that if he blamed the hotdog Mike might either feel guilty or worse he might provoke another lecture about the fact that his healthy eating had ruined his ability to stomach real man's food! So when the rant finally ended all Steve managed to say was " I'm sorry Mike...I'll be there soon." " You'd better be buddy boy "was the sour reply as the receiver was slammed down. This was not going to be a good day! Steve thought to himself as he dragged his weak and exhausted body out of bed and headed for the shower. On a brighter note he didn't feel like he was going to throw up anymore although he reckoned that the slightest sight or scent of food right now might change that situation. He had awful stomach pains though, the kind that could almost double you over and his mouth felt like something had long since died in there. He reckoned he probably didn't have anything left in his stomach to be sick with ,so if he kept to a liquid diet he should make it through the day's work without causing a scene or alerting Mike to the fact that his culinary choices had almost killed him this time. He showered, shaved and dressed quickly and brushed his teeth. He almost felt human again except for the terrible stomach cramps and so decided against his usual morning cup of coffee and settled for a bottle of water that he could bring with him to work instead. He was used to getting up later than he should and making the mad dash to work so considering the night he'd had he was quite proud of himself when he entered the front door of the precinct at exactly nine thirty-five am. As he made his way upstairs to his office he readied himself for the further telling off he reckoned he was going to have to endure and paused in the corridor before entering to breathe through another set of violent stomach spasms that gripped him. God he felt lousy! "Ok, here I come, ready or not " he muttered to himself under his breath as he entered the bullpen noticing that Mike was already hovering around his desk awaiting his arrival and that was NEVER a good sign! He just hoped he'd have the strength to get through what was going to be a very difficult day.