Worse

Phil reaches over to take Katie’s picture, his eyes lighting up. “Man, this is really good.” He elbows Mike. “Look.”

Mike’s eyebrows rise. “Hey, not bad.” He fingers the logo. “I like it.”

The backdoor slams shut as Kyle lets it go behind him, carrying the plate of cookies. “You just couldn’t wait for me could you?” He grins as he sets the plate down, then stands behind Mike and Phil to stare over their shoulders. “Ha! What did I tell you two? I knew it would be perfect.”


The rest of the evening goes by fairly quickly, and as darkness descends, the small gathering disperses. Jason leads the way back to the hospital, while Kyle once again gives Katie a ride.

As they pull to a stop in the parking lot, Kyle cuts the pickup engine, and glances over to Katie. “Well, this has certainly been an interesting evening, I’ll give you that. Though I think I can predict the outcome.” Grinning, he gets out and comes around to help Katie with her wheelchair.

Meeting up with Jason, the three head to Katie’s room where Jason helps her back into her bed.

Finished, he nods to Kyle. “Thanks for everything.”

“Yeah, no problem. We all had fun, and…one of us will give you a call tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.”

Kyle turns around to look at Katie. “And you be thinking about where you’d like to go out to eat, so tomorrow when I call you and you agree to go out with me, I’ll know where to take you.” He can’t help his grin as he spins back around and heads for the door, waving as he goes.

Jason quirks an eyebrow and smiles a little as he takes off his jacket and settles down on the spare bed. “Alright, so…movie or sleep?”


Con sighs deeply, feeling a contentment he’s never experienced as Jamie lays down her head. Her breath on his skin brings comfort. Her fingers running through his hair is calm and soothing.

He wraps his arms around her and kisses her head lightly, just holding her close for several minutes, unable to even imagine how everything had changed in a single moment. But it had. And suddenly a new road was laid out before him.

Finally, though not wanting to, he answers her question, breaking the silence. “No, I think I’ll just sleep some more. I’ll be all right now. You go get your work done and scoot on home to take care of yourself. I’ll probably be up and running again come morning so I can get back to work.”

He lifts her chin with a finger, to give her one last kiss on the lips before offering a tired smile. “Thanks, Jamie.”

…Alone once again, Con remains on the couch for a while before finally mustering up enough energy to get himself to bed.


...Con barely opens his eyes to see the digital numbers on his alarm clock. His ears finally receive the sound of the buzzing wakeup call, though he realizes that it’s been going off for ten minutes. He lifts his arm to shut it off, and groans at the movement. Ever muscle in his body hurt, aching from head to toe.

Rolling over, he realizes that his bedsheets were soaked with sweat from during the night. Trying to prop himself up, the room appears fuzzy, his mind disoriented and clouded. He doesn’t have to take his temperature to know that his fever is back and worse than the day before. Sinking back down he winces as it feels like someone has hit him over the head with a hammer.

Knowing he needs to get up, he manages to swing his legs out of bed and stand, but his muscles can’t take the strain and his knees buckle, sending him sliding to the floor by his bed. His eyes closed and his breathing shallow, he reaches to his nightstand for the phone. Something was wrong…really wrong…

Somehow managing to get the phone to his ear, he dials TJY. Nothing. No sound. His phone was dead.

Too weak to do anything else and too tired to think up any other options, he simply stays where he is.