Chapter Text
"Emily . . ." Spencer tosses restlessly in the barn loft's bed, her forehead sweaty and her eyes squinched shut. "Emily . . . Emily!"
Emily rolls over and opens her exhausted eyes for the fifteenth time that night. "I'm right here, Spencer. Shh." She wraps her arms around the other girl, unsurprised to find her burning up again. Spencer's illness had only gotten worse as the evening wore on, her fever spiking to sky-high levels and her body dehydrating. Emily had spent most of the evening trying to get Spencer to drink as much water as possible, but she'd only wet her diaper once in the entire eight hours Emily had been there.
"Spence . . . oh, honey." Emily rubs Spencer's back as the thin girl's cough reverberates through her entire body. "You're really sick. I wish you'd let me call your parents."
"No," gasps Spencer, clinging to Emily. "They're just going to be mad at me, Emily, don't call them. Don't," she begs, her voice starting to sound teary. "Don't call them."
"Okay, shh, shh." Emily holds Spencer close to her. "I think you need some more medicine."
"I don't want it," whines Spencer, pressing her hot face into Emily's neck. "I don't want any more. I just want some water."
"Oh, Spence." All night, Emily had been fighting Spencer on the medicine angle. When she was rational, Spencer had no problems taking whatever she needed to keep her going, but when she was sick, she was whiny and non-compliant. If Emily wasn't so concerned Spencer would end up dangerously febrile, she would have given up long ago.
"I want a drink," murmurs Spencer, and Emily heaves herself out of bed. The minute she lets go of Spencer, however, Spencer's lower lip begins to tremble, and as Emily moves away from the bed, Spencer begins to cry.
"Oh, sweetie. I can't get you a drink without getting up!" Emily runs a hand through her dark hair in exasperation. Spencer had barely let her go all night, not even for a minute. Sure enough, despite her fever and weakness, Spencer struggles up from under the covers and attempts to follow Emily down the stairs.
"Spencer. No." Emily's voice is firm, which just causes Spencer to begin sobbing. Great.
"I'll be right back," Emily tries to rationalize gently, steering her friend back to the bed. "You're going to –"
Before she can finish her sentence, Spencer begins to shiver violently and then to cough, her thin legs wobbling under her.
"See?" Emily presses a kiss onto Spencer's feverish forehead. "Stay in bed. I will be right back. I'm not leaving."
Gently tucking Spencer back into bed, she ignores Spencer's growing wails as she runs lightly down the stairs to the kitchen. Drinking from a glass is messy and hard for Spencer in this state, but she only has one bottle. Emily quickly washes out the bottle, sitting in the sink, and calls back up the stairs to Spencer.
"Stay there. I'm coming right away."
In another minute, Emily has filled the bottle with cool water from the fridge and is back upstairs where Spencer is trying to get out of bed again.
"Spence," sighs Emily. "No. You can't get up, okay? You need to lie down. You're going to fall and then you're going to get hurt. I have a drink for you right here." She doesn't mention that she also has Spencer's latest dose of cold medicine, too. That's a fight they'll be having soon enough.
Spencer lies back in bed, exhausted, and sucks eagerly at the bottle Emily holds. But a suck of water goes down the wrong way, and she starts to cough violently, spraying water all over her pajama top and Emily's bottle-holding arm.
"I'm sorry," whispers Spencer, when she can talk, and Emily looks puzzled.
"It's okay. You just choked, sweetie."
Spencer shakes her head slowly, her lower lip trembling, and Emily suddenly realizes what's wrong when she sees Spencer shift uncomfortably.
Raising the comforter, Emily catches sight of a stain spreading slowly across Spencer's pajama pants. Her diaper must have leaked. Spencer shivers suddenly at the cooler air and closes her eyes in exhaustion as she starts to cry again.
"It's okay," says Emily, a little awkwardly. Changing Spencer's wet diaper earlier had been more than weird, but Spencer had been coherent enough to do most of the work herself, just depending on Emily to help her position the new diaper into place. Emily having to actually deal with Spencer's accident herself is really beyond the call of friendship. But Spencer is so sick, and leaving her to clean herself up is going to just be dangerous. The girl can barely stand.
"I'll get you cleaned up, okay?" Emily gently runs a hand under Spencer's bottom to make sure she hasn't leaked on the bed. Thankfully, she hasn't. Spencer picks the bottle up from where Emily put it down beside her and begins to suck on it thirstily. She really can't get enough water, and Emily knows she needs her medicine as soon as possible.
Gently uncovering Spencer all the way, Emily winces when the girl predictably begins to shiver. "I know it's uncomfortable, Spence, but it'll be done soon and you'll be nice and dry." Emily doesn't know where the words to comfort Spencer are even coming from – she's certainly not usually this affectionate. She also realizes she sounds uncomfortably like her own mother.
Pushing the thought out of the way, she strips off Spencer's wet pants and fetches a fresh diaper and wipes from the dresser across from the bed. Moving quickly, Emily tries to change Spencer as fast as she can. She feels extremely awkward, but Spencer's eyes are closed as she sucks on her bottle of water. She isn't even paying attention, she's just that sick.
When Spencer is dry, Emily gently replaces the covers and sneaks down the stairs with the other girl's wet pants. There are no dry pajamas in the loft, and Emily knows that she'll either have to wash the pants by hand or run next door and grab another pair. Spencer's asleep right now, but she still hasn't had her medicine, and Emily runs the risk of leaving and having Spencer wake up and be extremely upset.
The thing is, when Spencer does get up later, hopefully when she feels better, she's going to need dry pants. Emily could sneak into Spencer's house, but it's now almost two o'clock in the morning, and she doesn't want to take the risk of running into Spencer's parents.
Shooting a look at sleeping Spencer, Emily decides to risk it. Spencer should sleep for at least another fifteen minutes, and Emily can grab a few pairs of dry pajamas from her own house. She foresees a long night ahead.
Slipping out the door, Emily just prays Spencer stays asleep long enough for her to get back without causing upset.
/~/
Spencer's eyes flutter open. Her whole body feels like it's on fire, and when she moves, her limbs ache like someone's beaten her up. Ugh.
"Emily," she whispers. "Emily . . ."
There's no answer. Spencer tries to raise her head, but it seems so heavy. Her sinuses feel packed with some kind of glue. Her throat aches and she fumbles at the bedside table, trying to find her bottle. Her hand swipes against it, but it falls on the floor with a dull clunk. Spencer's face crumples and she begins to whimper.
"Emily . . . I need some water. Can you get me a drink? Please?"
Again, there's no answer, and Spencer's lower lip begins to tremble. Where has Emily gone? Has she just left Spencer alone?
Spencer realizes sometimes she can be annoying. She's intense and overbearing, and she knows that her friends aren't always on the same page she is. Her parents find her annoying and babyish, and her sister frankly seems to hate her. But she's sick and alone and she can barely move . . .
Spencer begins to cry in a cracked, hoarse voice. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry . . . Emily, please come back. I can't do it myself. I feel so bad . . . come back, please, Emily, please?"
Her whimpers turn into harsh sobs. "I know I've been a bad girl. I just need someone to help me. Emily? Mom? Where is everyone?"
Spencer's chest begins to hitch as she rolls over painfully to curl into a fetal position, holding her arms close to her stomach. She tries to suck her thumb, but she's crying too hard and her breath is coming in gasps.
"I don't want to be alone," she cries out, and starts to shiver, half with cold, and half with fear. What if she's alone and sick and someone decides to come and break in? The more Spencer's feverish brain works, the more catastrophic her situation becomes in her mind. Someone could break in, try to kill her, steal all the furnishings she and her mother had carefully picked out for the loft . . .
Spencer turns her face into her pillow and hopes she passes out or something before that happens. The entire bed is vibrating with her gasping, shivering, and coughing. She feels her bladder release and holds herself, hoping she doesn't end up leaking in the bed and having to be cold, wet, and scared.
Just then, she hears the door to the barn open, and she curls up even more tightly.
"Emily," she cries.
/~/
Emily, a bunch of pajamas and an extra blanket crammed into a large shopping bag in her arms, opens the door to the barn cautiously, hoping that Spencer is still asleep. There's silence as she slips inside the door, but as she closes it softly behind her, there's a cracked, frightened voice.
"Emily," Spencer cries out, and Emily immediately dashes up the stairs, kicking off her shoes as she goes, hoping Spencer's just woken up.
But from the way Spencer looks, wild, scared and beyond upset, Emily knows that Spencer's been freaking out for at least ten minutes.
"Oh, Spence. Shh. I'm right here. Shhh." Emily sits on the bed and wraps her arms around her poor friend, and isn't surprised when Spencer immediately fastens her arms around Emily. She almost holds her so tightly, Emily has trouble breathing.
"Oh, shh." Emily strokes Spencer's tumbled curls, trying to calm her. "Shhh. I'm right here. I didn't leave. I just went next door to get some dry clothes for you. I was only gone for ten minutes."
Spencer's chest is hitching so badly, Emily can actually hear her breathing rattling dangerously. After a second, Spencer coughs painfully, her paroxysm so bad she starts to gag. Emily swiftly grabs for Spencer's bottle of water, but she can't find it. At the same time, Spencer gags and spits up water onto her shirt.
"Okay," says Emily soothingly, hoping Spencer isn't going to start vomiting everywhere. "It's okay. Just take some deep breaths and try to calm down." Emily hasn't seen Spencer freak out this bad, well, ever. She should have given her cold medicine before she let her fall asleep, she realizes ruefully.
Spencer manages to get herself calm enough to stop the coughing fit, and Emily is able to pick up the bottle of water, fallen beside the bed. After a few sips, Spencer's breathing is more or less under control, though she's still hiccupping.
Emily picks up the cold medicine bottle from the bedside table and shakes out two pills. "You are taking these now, missy. I'm not letting you go another minute with a fever that high." They don't have a thermometer, but Emily can feel the heat of Spencer's body right through her clothes.
Spencer shakes her head, but Emily insists, and after a minute, Spencer takes the medicine and a long swallow of water.
"Good girl," whispers Emily, and presses a kiss onto Spencer's forehead. "Shh. I'm right here. You're okay." She gently disentangles Spencer's arms and starts to take off her pajama top. "Poor baby. That was scary, wasn't it?"
"Where did you go?" Spencer's eyes are starting to look calmer, which is a comfort to Emily. Spencer still won't let go of Emily's sleeve, though, which makes undressing her hard. But her shirt is soaked and she needs to dry off.
"I went to go and get some dry pajamas. You wet through your pajama pants," says Emily, trying not to meet Spencer's eyes – it's still awkward to talk about. "And now you've spit up on your shirt, so I guess it's good I have dry clothes."
Spencer's chin quivers. "I'm sorry. It was an accident," she says, her voice wavering, and Emily gently puts a fresh top on Spencer, then strokes her hair.
"It's okay, sweetheart. You're just really sick. Accidents happen when you're sick."
Spencer nods, but she still looks sad, and Emily gives her a big hug. "Stop worrying about it so much. Do you want some more water?"
Spencer just looks down, and Emily sees, with a shock of discomfort, that Spencer is holding the front of her diaper.
"Oh. Are you wet again? You can just tell me," she adds quickly. "It's okay. I don't want your rash to get worse."
Spencer nods, a blush coming up on her cheeks for the first time since Emily came over. "I don't think I can do it myself . . ."
"It's okay, Spence. I've got it." Emily gently pushes Spencer back so that she's lying on the bed and begins to change her. "It looks like your fever's going down."
"I feel a little better," says Spencer, but her voice is hoarse, and right in the middle of her sentence, she yawns widely, her eyes closing in exhaustion.
"Aw, sweetie. You need to sleep. I'll get you a fresh bottle of water and then we'll try to get some sleep, okay?"
"I'm sorry for freaking out," murmurs Spencer, her thumb finding her mouth. "And for being so much trouble." The last words are muffled as Spencer begins to suck on her thumb, her eyes closed.
"Not so fast," says Emily, gently shaking Spencer awake. "I want you to have a good drink of water. It'll help your cough."
Spencer whimpers and tries to turn over, but Emily is putting on a fresh pair of PJ pants and gently turns her back over. "Not yet. I'm going to let you sleep really soon."
Emily refills Spencer's bottle in the bathroom and hands it to the sleepy girl, who sucks a few times and then hands it back to Emily. "All done."
"Hmm. I don't think you are," says Emily, but Spencer just lets out a loud, exasperated sigh and turns over in bed, cuddling into Emily.
"Sleepy," she whines, and Emily gives up.
"Okay." She settles down, smiling as Spencer curls up in her arms, her thumb in her mouth. Her body is already a lot cooler. If only she wouldn't fight Emily so hard on the cold medicine, she wouldn't get to the dangerous crisis level that worries Emily so much.
Spencer falls asleep quickly, still holding onto Emily. Just before Emily falls asleep herself, she thinks about this situation and realizes she doesn't find it as awkward as before.
Maybe she's realizing she actually likes looking after Spencer, after all.