Disclaimer: I have been told to say they're not mine. Not sure if I believe that, but there you go. *grin*
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The scream broke through Danny's dozing. He jumped up, tossing the blanket onto the floor in his rush to get to the bedroom. He stopped himself at the door and looked in. He could see CJ tossing and turning by the light of the streetlight outside and wondered how long it had been since she had any medicine.
"CJ?" He whispered. When she didn't answer, he pushed the door open and walked over to the bed. He managed to put his hand on her moving forehead. "You're burning up."
He hurried to get a wet washcloth to cool her face. "CJ? C'mon CJ, time to wake up."
She opened her eyes and struggled to sit up. A coughing fit overwhelmed her and he eased her upright as he rubbed her back. "Danny," she finally managed. "It's so hot. I'm so hot."
Danny stifled the obvious retort, knowing she was probably too sick to realize what she was saying, let alone him. He washed her face with the cloth, becoming concerned when it was immediately hot. "We need to take your temperature. Do you have a thermometer?"
"Medicine cabinet," she murmured, laying back down. He left her for a moment to get the thermometer and wet the washcloth again.
Chuckling, he brought the thermometer back to her. "An ear thermometer, CJ? Wow, Miss Technology."
She managed a small smile but didn't open her eyes.
He brushed her hair gently away from her ear and realized he should have tied her hair tighter, she had pulled it out sometime during the night. He glanced at the clock and noticed it was after three am.
"Well, you have a fever." He announced. "I know, shocking. Not high enough to need a hospital but we definitely need some medicines for you. Fever, coughing."
"Danny." He stopped and stared at her. "Shhh." She put a hand to her head weakly.
"And a headache." He whispered to himself. He looked through the medicines he had grabbed when he got the thermometer and shook out a couple of capsules. He left them on the nightstand and went to get her a glass of water.
"CJ, you need to take these. Can you do that for me?"
She opened her eyes slowly. "Yeah," she rasped. She reached for the pills and the water, swallowing them without a problem.
He took the water back, telling her softly, "It's on the nightstand here. If you can, drink some. Let me do something with your hair, it should be off your neck. You're burning up." He found another hair tie, giving the first one up as lost somewhere in her bed. He tied her hair quickly, not quite as neatly as the first time, then used the washcloth to cool her face a bit.
She relaxed and settled down, only to sit back up as she began to cough again. He rubbed her back until she stopped, but when she tried to lay down again she began to choke.
"You need to stay sitting up. Do you have more pillows somewhere?"
She nodded, then groaned and quickly stopped the movement of her head. "Closet, top shelf."
He grabbed the pillows and arranged them in back of her, hoping that propping her up would let her sleep easier. "Try that."
She leaned back and closed her eyes. He tucked the blankets around her but she pushed them away. "Hot."
"Okay. Just the one blanket then, don't need you getting cold. And I'm going to sit here to make sure you don't get cold." He pulled a comfortable looking chair over to her bedside and went back to the living room to get the blanket he had been using. He made himself a make-shift bed by propping his feet up next to hers on the bed. After staring at her to be sure she was sleeping, he finally relaxed and fell back asleep.
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