Ren frowns down at Donno as he sleeps, lips parted slightly, sweat making his skin shine in the morning sun gleaming through the sloppily shut curtains. "Damn," she mumbles, before grabbing her phone. "Hey, cancel my appointments for the day. Yeah, something's come up."
Once she gets off the phone, she settles down on the bed next to him and presses a cool hand to his face, frown growing as she feels the heat coming from his clammy skin. "Yeah, you're definitely sick," she mumbles. "Well, guess I'm on soup and tea duty today. Never exactly had to do this for you, but I've done it for my brother a time or two when our parents were busy and the staff couldn't be bothered. It's probably like riding a bike, huh?"
She sighs and flicks through her phone. "Well, I don't want to leave you alone in here while I'm handling all of that, but there's on one else around to sit with you." She smooths her hand through his hair and says, "How about I leave Fox and the Hound on for you? You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
She turns the TV on and finds the movie in the digital library, clicking 'restart'. "There you go," she murmurs. "I'll be back soon."
She makes the soup as quickly as she can, boiling water for his tea. By the time she serves everything and puts it on a tray, and makes her way back to Donno's room, the movie is up to the final confrontation between Tod and Copper, and she pauses for a moment, noting how Donno's eyes are half-opened, watching the screen intently. "I brought food," she says, kicking off her shoes and settling in next to him, tucking her feet under her thighs as she braces the tray next to him. "Soup and tea. Nothing special, but hopefully it'll help."
He stares at her, glassy eyed and dazed, for a few moments before nodding, pulling himself up into a sitting position. The two of them eat and drink in silence, watching Fox and the Hound end, then begin again from the start since neither had gotten to see it.
-x
Donno is staring off into the distance, remembering, when his phone goes off. He answers automatically, already knowing who to expect, especially at this time. "Hey," he greets her.
"Hey, yourself," she says. "It's my spa day, so I have all the time in the world to sit and talk. What's going on?"
He glances back at the screen, then shrugs. "I think we're getting closer to the money," he says. "It's still complicated, but things are starting to look up."
"Yeah?" she asks, adjusting herself on a lounge chair. "Tell me more."
So he does, explaining about finding Avery and how close he came to testing out his new sledgehammers before Tonya had distracted him. "He didn't specify how much he'd give us," Donno muses. "It'd better be enough for both Tonya and me to get what we want."
Ren chuckles. "I can guess what you would want, but what'd Tonya say?"
Donno sounds a little sheepish, and a lot surprised as he says, "She told me she'd want to make a chain of restaurants. And to bolster the real estate business."
"Those sound like solid choices," Ren says.
"And I'd want to breed foxes," Donno says.
"Of course you would." Ren laughs softly. "Your smart, mean foxes?"
"Yes," he says. "My super foxes." The idea bred from that day when he'd been ill and she'd watched Fox and the Hound with him.
"I'd like to see that," she says. "Would you also have ponies?"
He hesitates for a moment, glancing up at the screen, before looking back down at where it sounds like he's re-organizing his sledgehammers. "Yeah, maybe," he says. "I mean, fifteen million could probably buy me a lot of different animals."
Ren chuckles. "That it could," she muses. "That it could."
They sit in silence for awhile, soft music playing in her background overwhelmed by the repetitive sounds of his stacking his various bits of equipment up for the next opportunity he may have to use them. "Same time next week?" she asks finally.
"Same time next week," he agrees, glancing once more at the screen before ending the call so they can both go back to their different activities without distraction.