It was still snowing when Rita woke the next morning. The snow cast a hard white glare upon the walls of the bedroom, showing up the hairline cracks in the walls, and the smears of fingertips on the full length mirror by the door.

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and yawned, stretching out her body, her legs extending into the cold sheets at the bottom of the bed. She shivered and pulled them back up, rolling over, curling herself into a ball.

A sneeze caught her attention just as she realised that Connie was no longer in the bed. With squinted eyes she raised her head from the pillow, hearing the rapid pulse of her own heart beat within her own ears and the throb of her head as she moved.

Connie made her way out of the en suite, holding a toilet roll at arms length as though she were using it as a bumper in case she stumbled into anything. She was breathing through her mouth and her eyes were bloodshot, her hair tied limply at her neck, dark curls springing free about her jaw.

She rolled her eyes as she realised Rita was watching her, but before she could say anything she paused, half closed her eyes and sneezed again, four or five times in quick succession. She groaned.

"You ok?"

Rita asked, pushing herself further up beneath the duvet and tossing it back as Connie neared.

"Oh...fabulous."

Connie's voice was hoarse, and lower than usual, an oddly attractive change that made Rita smile.

"I don't know what you're smiling about. This is all your fault, making me stand out there in the snow last night whilst you..."

She was caught unexpectedly by a tickle in her throat and was forced to abandon her sentence due to a sudden fit of coughing.

"...snowballs..."

She managed to say with a vague gesture of her hand once she'd recovered.

Rita bit her lip against a smile. She remembered vaguely the last time Connie had had a cold, a year or so ago, she remembered because she had been particularly insufferable. Some things didn't seem to change...

Connie unravelled a piece of the toilet roll that she was holding and blew her nose dejectedly before setting the roll of tissue down on the bedside table. She glanced to the window – they hadn't thought to close the curtains – and looking out now she saw that the trees in garden were heavily lined with snow, all the roofs in the distance were softly moulded with snow; it was still falling. She sighed. The pale white light was unbecoming to them both, yet she couldn't deny that she didn't think the snow beyond the window beautiful.

"Do you feel awful?"

Rita asked, assuming it best not to enter into the discussion of who was to blame for this cold that Connie had caught.

Connie drew in a breath through her lips and clapped her hands to her sides. Her head felt as if someone had shaken it until her brain was thoroughly bruised. Shooting pains shot through her muscles with alarming frequency, and there was a ringing in her ears.

"I'm fine..."

She sighed, knowing full well that Rita would never believe such an obvious lie, and with legs stiff with fever she edged herself back under the duvet, shivering at the chill of the sheets as Rita tugged them up about her chin.

Rita hugged her close, kissing the side of Connie's head, beneath her lips her forehead damp with sweat, and she smiled as Connie closed her eyes and drew in a long breath.

"Is this an elaborate attempt to get out of meeting my parents?"

Rita whispered, and Connie opened one eye, arcing her eyebrow. She opened her mouth to reply, but again her breath caught in her throat and she coughed, a dry bark like cough that made her wince, and Rita felt bad suddenly for suggesting that she had been putting it on.

Gingerly, Connie reached over for the water from the bedside table, but she recoiled at it's coldness. She licked at her parched and cracked lips feeling the thickness of her saliva. She suddenly felt hot again and pushed at the blankets with arms that ached painfully at the wrists and she shivered as her skin prickled with sweat.

"No."

She said finally, swallowing the tail end of another cough.

She turned to face Rita who pushed the damp curls of her hair from her cheek, tucking them neatly behind her ear before she smoothed the frown from between her eyes.

"I'll be fine."

She winced as she inhaled, her chest tight and dry.

"I'm looking forward to it."

She added.

-.-

More soon. I've just realised that this is my 'most reviewed' story! Thank you all so much! Your reviews really do make it worth writing, they always make me smile :) xxx