Day 28 – "I should have stayed home."

It was rare for Tully to take sick days. It was rare for him to get sick, period, and he did his best to be as reliable as possible. His boss at the mechanic's shop liked him, made conversation every morning, and was an overall good guy to work for, which was one reason Tully had stayed with that shop since the end of the war. The other was that it was work he liked doing.

He didn't think much of his headache when he got up that morning. It made him wince a little while getting his coffee and breakfast, but he hoped it would go away once he had something to eat. His wife wasn't there to question if he needed to stay home, as she was out of town visiting family. Hitch was supposed to be visiting later that day, after Tully came home from work, so he wouldn't be completely alone.

He figured he could make it through the day. There seemed to be no reason he couldn't.

His headache subsided a little when he arrived at the mechanic's. Things went as they usually did, aside from his boss pointing out that Tully was looking a little flush and seemed lethargic.

"I'll be alright," Tully's reply was. He knew he could go home if he wanted to, but didn't. He got right to work, hoping that distracting himself would allow the headache and lethargy to pass.

By the middle of the afternoon, Tully hadn't gotten much better. He felt like his sinuses had been set on fire and were drier than the Sahara. Still, he continued his work, hoping he could get this car done and ready to be picked up by its owner by the end of his shift.

The end of his shift came, and the car was in better shape than he was—well, the wrecked one that was just towed in was in better shape than he was. The look on his face was noticeable by everyone in the shop, and when he was packing up to head home, he was told to go rest and get well soon.

He returned home feeling like he was on the brink of collapse. Maybe I should've stayed home, Tully thought. I probably prolonged this by working all day.

It was too late to call and cancel Hitch's visit—he was probably leaving the train station by now to come over. Tully felt a bit guilty over not having anything prepared as he lay down on the couch to try and rest. His exhaustion weighed on him heavily, and it was hard to get back up when he heard a knock on the door, followed by Hitch entering the house.

"Hey, Tully, good to—" Hitch paused, a confused expression crossing his face when he wasn't greeted with a hug and a handshake. He then turned to see Tully lying on the couch, looking quite miserable. "You okay?"

"Nope," Tully said. "I made a big mistake."

"What'd you do?"

"I woke up feeling a little off, but I decided to go to work anyway. I didn't think it would get this bad."

"Ouch."

"You can go home if you want. I can't imagine taking care of me sounds like much of a vacation."

"Compared to taking care of Sarge or Moffitt or Dietrich when they're sick, taking care of you definitely is a vacation."

"Well, we all know Sarge is bad, but Moffitt's not."

"Moffitt throws up a lot, and he gets really mad if you make his tea wrong."

"Okay, well, Dietrich ain't too bad."

"Dietrich is a big grouch. And he curses at you in German if you do something wrong. Or touch him. Or open the curtains just a little. Or—"

"Alright, I get it."

"I'll stay and help out. Unless you really don't want me to."

"No, you can stay if you want to. I won't argue." Tully managed to sit up. He wasn't worried about Hitch messing things up. I'm just grateful he wants to help.

Hitch got a cold compress for Tully, then sat across from him. "I'm sorry this happened."

"Not your fault. I should've stayed home today when I realized that headache wasn't going away. My boss even told me I could go home if I wasn't feeling well." Tully grinned a little. "Just like with the ski trip, you weren't expecting this, were you?"

"Nope. Not a chance. At least it's just us."

"Yeah. No offense to everyone else, but it's nice to not get smothered."

"At least they all care. I'd rather deal with figuring out what I'm doing with ten gallons of chicken soup than… not." Hitch fell silent for a moment. "Sarge and Dietrich had it rough growing up. I'm glad we didn't."

"Yeah."

"Moffitt's just fussy by nature."

"Yep."

"You don't fuss. You just bring all the food."

"Pretty much."

"I try to be helpful."

"You're helpful in your own way. You're just usually on the receiving end of all the care."

"Yeah." Hitch went quiet again. "I know Moffitt would argue, but I can make tea if you want."

"I got iced tea in the fridge."

"Will that help? I'd think something hot would be better for a cold."

"It's got a soothing quality to it."

"Okay. If that's what you want, I'll get you a glass."

"Thanks, Hitch." Tully shifted to get comfortable and keep the washcloth from falling off his head. He was glad he had someone, rather than dealing with this by himself.

Hitch returned with a tall glass of iced tea, and set it on the coffee table by the couch. "Anything else?"

"No, thanks."

Hitch sat back down. "Do you just want to rest, or is there something we should do to keep your mind occupied?"

"Well…" Tully thought for a moment. "Could play cards."

"You feel up to that?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

It was a little harder to focus during a game with his illness, but Tully didn't want things to be made too easy for him or Hitch. Towards the end of a round, Tully glanced over at Hitch, who looked deep in thought while studying the cards in his hand. "Remember doing this when I sick during the ski trip?"

"Yeah. I remember Moffitt having to go downstairs and pull Sarge and Dietrich apart because they started arguing, so it was just the two of us," Hitch replied.

"It was still fun. Cards, I mean."

"It was."

"When the others settled down and joined in, that was even more fun. That was something we hadn't done—well, we played cards with Sarge and Moffitt, but that was the first time Dietrich got involved. It was nice just seeing him smiling and having fun."

"Getting him to smile feels like a chore sometimes," Hitch said. "But it's worth it."

"It is."

"Honestly, you know what? Getting anyone to smile is worth it, regardless if they're depressed or not."

"I agree, but getting a smile out of someone who's known nothing but sadness for most of their life is even more worth it. I mean, I'm not depressed like Dietrich is, but I still remember when I worked up the courage to talk to you about… when I ran moonshine during Prohibition, and how I came right out and said that I don't look back on it very fondly, especially with how I got out of it. I was afraid of everyone's opinion of me changing because of it."

"You asked me not to tell Sarge or Moffitt." Hitch was quiet, looking deep in thought again. "Wasn't that when you were thinking about telling Mabel the truth? And you were afraid it was going to ruin everything?"

"Yeah."

"I remember you got really quiet—quieter than usual—for a few days, and then one night you just took me aside and told me everything. You told me about your dad's accident, and needing the money, and the shady speakeasies you went to, and the… the murder you witnessed." Hitch gave Tully a sympathetic look. "It really upset you, talking about it. I could tell just by your tone that it'd been building up over the last few days, and then it just… came out."

"Yep."

"And you were still scared about telling Mabel, so I decided to cheer you up."

"You cancelled a date with your nurse of the week to spend leave with me."

"Because you needed it."

Tully smirked. "It worked, and to this day, I still appreciate it, otherwise I wouldn't be where I am today. So, even though I said it all those years ago, I'll say it again: thanks."