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You woke up around 6 in the morning burning hot and as you took your temperature, you knew even before you got the number you had a fever. Sure enough the thermometer read “103.2 F”. Even though you went to bed at 11:30 the night before, you felt tired and drowsy as you stood in the bathroom staring at your pale face. You decided to go back to bed but before crawling back between your blankets, you texted Barbara saying you wouldn’t be in and to tell Jon you wouldn’t be able to do the On The Spot taping you were scheduled for.
After sleeping for another 5 hours, you were woken up to the familiar whining only inches from your head. You felt even worse somehow, your head now pounding. You rubbed your eyes, hoping that it would somehow help but that only made your vision fuzzy. Your dog whined again trying to tell you he wanted out and you understood, quickly scratching behind his ears. You untangled yourself from your covers and grabbed your blue Caboose hoodie off the floor, putting it on and throwing the hood up. You grabbed some sweatpants, tripping along the hallway trying to put them on. At this point, you couldn’t give two shits what you looked like. You were too sick to care as you clicked a leash on your dog and left your apartment.
While curled up in the shade of a tree, you took out your phone, tweeting everyone about your condition and apologizing for not being able to be on On The Spot. That was the main thing you were looking forward to this week. Jon had asked on Monday if you’d like to participate and after thinking it over, you agreed. You were to be partnered with Miles and you two had already had a team name ready.
Once your dog came running back up to you, you decided that you’ve had enough of the Austin heat and made your way back up to your place. Your stomach growled as you walked in but you were too tired to get yourself anything. You made your way to your couch, falling into the pillows and draping a Rooster Teeth fleece over you. You turned the TV on, just for background noise as you drifted back to sleep.
_____
You couldn’t catch a break as barking woke you up this time. It only felt like you’ve slept for a couple minutes but as you opened your eyes, the only light that illuminated the room was the TV and a small light in the kitchen. A knock caught your attention, as you now knew why you were awoken yet again by your dog. You groaned as you got up, pulling the blanket tight around you as you made your way to the door. You didn’t bother to see who it was as you opened the door. Regretting the decision to not look now washed over you as you stared at the last person you’d ever think would show up at your door.
“What are you doing here?” you asked, completely shocked and also a little embarrassed with how you looked.
“Barbara told me you were sick so I brought you some stuff,” Joel said gesturing to the bag in his hand. You stood there in silence as you took in what was happening.
“What-I-” you stuttered over words as Joel slinked past you into your apartment. You shut the door and turned to him, watching him pull out a bunch of things and setting them on the kitchen counter. You were still at a loss for words as you walked to the counter. You frowned at him and he let out a sigh.
“I can be helpful at times,” he practically yelled, throwing up his hands. You secretly wondered if there was more to this since you had no idea what him and Adam talk about before filming. You wanted to believe that after Barbara had told him about you, Adam talked him into taking care of you. Everyone always joked and said that you two would make a great couple because of all the time you've spent together with him at the office but you always brushed it off.
“Okay, okay I believe you,” you said not wanting to ruin whatever…this was. He threw you a glare, which quickly turned into a smile as he lifted something into your view.
“I got you a beaver,” he said poking your nose with it.
“I thought beavers were your thing?” you asked, remembering the podcast a while ago where he went on and on about beavers.
“It was there on the shelf staring at me. Pretty sure it said ‘buy me Joel’,” he explained. Giggles escaped you as you took the stuffed animal from him and smoothed the fur on its head. You were too busying looking at your new present to notice Joel reaching up and placing a hand on your head. You were caught off guard, almost stumbling back when it registered that he was touching your forehead. His hand felt cool against your overheated face.
“Wow, you are hot,” he said, dropping his hand.
“Thank you,” you smirked earning a long sigh from him.
“Have you taken anything?” he asked.
“I don’t have anything,” you said. This time he didn’t say anything as he turned you around and pushed you back to the couch. You sat back down in the same spot you were before he showed up and watched him walk back. After a couple minutes, he walked back with a glass of water in one hand and a tiny cup filled with red liquid in the other. He handed both to you and after a forceful “drink” you took them both from him. You downed the small cup, shuttering from the familiar medicine taste and quickly took a drink of water. You set the cups on the table as Joel sat down next to you. You watched him take the remote and switched the channel to some political show. You looked at him, surprise and confusion on your face.
“Well, I’m obviously going to stay here to make sure you don’t die,” he responded, his voice slipping into Caboose. Before you could throw a sarcastic, sass filled response back, he put his arm around you and pulled you onto his chest. Your head was now rested in the crook of his neck and you had no idea what was happening. But you didn’t want to question it as you snuggled deeper into him and you could swear his grip on you got tighter as he pulled you closer to him. As you lay there for a couple minutes, you could feel yourself starting to get drowsy again. The last thing you heard was Joel angrily mumbling something about gold, which left a smile on your face as you faded into dreamland.