Somehow between laughing and talking John and Jessie dozed off. As he came out of sleep, John wondered how long they had been asleep because the room felt different. Warmer. He opened his eyes, rubbed the sleep out of them and blinked them into focus. Needing to get up and stretch he reached down to move Jessie, she still had her head resting on him, and froze. She was why he had felt warm. The heat coming off her, made him think of what it was like to walk into a bathroom after someone has taken a hot shower. He put his hand on her head, her hair was warm and wet with perspiration, and then, gently touched her cheek and neck. Her skin was like touching a warm iron.
"Jessie.." He shook her shoulder. She stirred but didn't respond. He sat up and gently eased her on her back. Her face was flush and pale with fever. "Hey..." He patted her cheek gently. "Jessie, wake up."
"I don't want to go today...I don't feel good." Jessie mumbled in her sleep.
"C'mon, Jessie, wake up." He shook her shoulder again, this time, a bit harder.
"Five more minutes, Dad...please."
That scared him. "Jessie!" He yelled and when he saw her flinch, he calmed, but just a little.
Jessie opened her eyes. "What?" She said groggily. "It's hot in here."
John allowed himself to relax. "It's not here that's hot, it's you." He laid his hand on her forehead. "How do you feel?"
"I feel okay." She started to sit up and changed her mind. "Whoa..."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just sat up too quickly. It made me dizzy."
He touched her arm just above the bandage on her wrist. It felt hotter than the rest of her and the redness he had seen earlier was darkening to purple. He cursed silently, not wanting to scare her. He took a deep breath and tried to hide his concern. "I think this is infected." He patted the bandage on her arm gently.
She sat up a little, propping herself up on her elbows. "I don't feel sick...I mean, I just feel hot...I told you, it doesn't even hurt, not really."
"I know and I believe you." He grabbed his duffel bag and pulled out a sweatshirt and a tee-shirt and gave them to her. "Put these on."
"But I'm hot...don't I want to take things off, not put on layers of other clothes?"
"Just do it, you may feel different later." He picked up the first-aid kit and rummaged through it until he found what he was looking for. A thermometer. It wasn't a regular, under your tongue thermometer, but a strip that looked like it belonged on the side of a fish tank. It looked kind of old and he wasn't sure how reliable it would be, but it was better than nothing. He pressed it against her forehead until he was sure it was going to stay and moved his hand away. 101 lit up immediately and the color had started to change for 102. He picked up the aspirin bottled and shook four into his hand, then grabbed a bottle of water and gave them to her. "Take those and hold on to the water. You need to keep hydrated." He looked at the thermometer. It seemed to have stopped changing colors and now read more than 102 but not quite 103. He took it off her forehead and placed it back into the first-aid kit.
"Well, what's the damage?" Jessie sat up the rest of the way and took another drink of water. She wished it was colder.
"102. We'll have to keep checking it. Are you sure you feel alright, though? Nothing else is bothering you?"
"No, I feel fine. I'm just hot. Hotter, now that I put your stuff on."
"If you feel any different...any worse, you tell me okay? Don't be scared. Promise?"
"I will."
"Make sure you keep drinking, okay? Even if it's just a mouthful once in a while."
"Okay." She watched him get up and start to pace. "John, I'm okay. Really."
"I just want to get my hands on that son-of-a-bitch, Langston, just for a minute...so I could-" He shook his head, trying to shake the thoughts from his head. Being angry would not do either of them any good, right now, but he couldn't stop pacing. His leg hurt and the pain was getting worse by the minute. 'Great,' He thought. 'Fucking great. How much longer before I start burning up.'
Jessie watched him pace and mumble to himself. She could see the pain in his face with each step he took. She stood up, unsteadily at first, and went to him. "It's your leg, isn't it? The pain's getting worse."
He looked at her and nodded, continuing to pace.
"Krieger's gonna call tomorrow, right? We could hold it together until then, can't we? We'll be alright."
John stopped pacing and smiled at her. "We'll be fine." He told her, but he didn't believe it. He pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry. I'm just frustrated and feeling a little boxed in."
"And you're in a lot of pain. I can see it, John." Jessie added.
"Yeah."
"Is your leg infected too?"
"It could be. I don't know and I'm not sure I want to."
"You can't just take care of me, ya know, you have to take care of yourself too."
"I promised I would take care of you and I keep my promises."
"You promised, Dad, didn't you? Before he.." She choked up as the words came out. "Before he died."
"Shhh. Yes, I did."
She pulled away from him blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. "Promise me, then. Promise me you'll look after yourself...that you'll tell me if it gets to be too much...that you won't let yourself get worse, trying to protect me. Promise me, right now, or you can forget that I promised you...I won't tell you...I won't tell you anything else." She backed away from him. "We'll rot together, silently because I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna be the only survivor in all this bullshit. I can't. I'll go crazy. I'd rather be dead."
He wasn't sure if it was the fever talking, or that she was scared, or angry, or a combination of the three, but he was sure that she meant it. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears and they made her face look even paler. She was watching him, intently, angry and pleading at the same time. "Okay," He reached out and touched her cheek, it was warm, too warm for his liking. "I promise." He took the sleeve of her sweatshirt and gently tugged her towards him and she walked into his embrace. "We'll take care of each other, okay? You're not going anywhere and neither am I. We'll take care of each other." The sob he had been trying to hold back, escaped, and he felt her tighten her grip around his waist and press her head closer to his chest. "Thank you." He whispered into her hair, as he kissed the top of her head.
"Anytime." She let go of him and stepped back. "What can we do for your leg?"
"It has to be cleaned again and the bandage changed. I'll take some aspirin and try propping it up a little...to take some of the pressure off. But, we can wait a little while...until you feel better."
Jessie shook her head. "No, we'll do it now. This may be as better as I get...you said it yourself when you made me pile on these clothes, that I may feel different later. "We'll do it now, in case I can't help you later."
"Jessie, if I pass out-"
"Then I'll take care of myself until you wake up. I'll be fine, but even if I'm not there's really not much you can do about it, not really."
John didn't like it, but she had a point. There wasn't much that could be done, not in their current situation. He could give her aspirin, and water, and hold her so she would sleep, but that was about it. "Okay," He said, giving in. "Let's get this over with."
Tbc
