Part 4 of 5

His starry eyes look up at her for several seconds before her question penetrates his fog. She can see it registering with his thought processes as his forehead furrows and his eyes darken. He licks dry lips and croaks, "Women? In THIS bed? Why, none, o' course. You know that."

She frowns, "I do? How would I know that? You never give the slightest hint of your… your… um…"

He nods, encouraging her, "My sexual proclivities? Well, I work with you almost every wakin' moment, don' I? An' whenever I'm not, we're limin' either here 'r in town, sometimes with the men but mostly alone together. When would I have time for women? Other women, I mean." He's looking earnestly at her, like he doesn't understand the question.

She shrugs helplessly, "But there's still times we're apart. Time enough for me to waste on useless blind dates. Time enough for you to go on the hunt for other women, blonde demure blue-eyed women."

Now he scoffs, sounding almost like his old self, "Other women! As if! Camille, there ARE no other women, blonde or otherwise. There's only you. Surely you must know that?"

She shakes her head, staring deep into his eyes, so green, so impossibly green, "No, Richard, I DON'T know that. You've never said… and I never dared hope." Now she frowns, sits up, "But… are you saying that I'm simply the only woman you know? The only woman you talk to? The only woman you let near you on a daily basis? Because if that's all it is then I'm just a part of the background, aren't I? A piece of furniture? Someone you tolerate?"

She is pulling away as he struggles to hold onto her, beginning to pant as the next fever swell comes upon him, "No, no, Camille, it's not like that! Nothin' like that! I promise. You're everythin' t' me, you have t' believe me! I can'… I can'…" His voice gives out and he begins to thrash.

Carlton is at Richard's side in a flash with water and meds and soothing manner while Camille steps back and thinks about what was just said. "Carlton," she finally says as Richard subsides back into uneasy sleep, "do fever patients lie during their bouts?"

Carlton chuffs a laugh, "No, they don't. They can't lie. All their defenses are down and many a family has had to deal with the truth once revealed in a sick room. I've even seen divorces happen over it."

Her eyebrows go up, "And… relationships? Do people reveal secrets that other people maybe once thought impossible but then they find out the person is already thinking about it but hiding it for some reason and now other people realize something might be possible with that person after all?"

Carlton leans back, studies the rafters, as he sorts his careful way through this sentence before he nods and says firmly, "Yes. Definitely. If I were you, I'd believe everything he says right now. Whether or not you can get him to admit it once he's recovered, well, that's another kettle of fish, isn't it?"

"Yes," she muses, "it is." She takes Richard's slack hand, "Oh, he feels cooler. Has his fever broken?"

Carlton takes Richard's temperature and nods, "It's down a whole degree but that doesn't mean it's over. He'll probably spike again within the hour." He sees Camille stifle a yawn and smiles, "Why don't you go back to sleep? If he calls for you every time he wakes up, you're going to be dead tired."

She stretches, groans, "I'm already dead tired… and that chair is awful…" She stares down at the blank space beside Richard and says, "Um, do you mind very much if I clutter up the sick-bed just a tiny bit?"

Carlton smiles, "No, I don't mind and I don't think he will either. If he wakes, talk to him. I'll do the rest." Camille nods, lies down, puts a careful hand on Richard's shoulder, and is asleep within seconds. Carlton watches for a minute before going back to his current read, a thick tome from his grandfather's library. He checks every hour, ministering meds and water to one, fluffing the pillow for the other until his third check-in where he finds her now pillowed on his chest.

He smiles and whispers, "Yes, the truth comes out during a fever."

END – part 4