Talk

Rick nodded to Misty and tried to give her a smile of encouragement. He'd missed her and had been glad to hear about her and Carson getting back together. She looked far better now than the last time he'd seen her. But now wasn't the time for social chitchat. "I will. Just rest and I'll see you in the morning unless something changes." For the time being, he would go back to his lab work to see if he could find anything that showed up in Jason's blood. It would be the only way to tell for sure what was going on. If nothing was found, they would have to approach this differently. If it was found then... at least they had a small base to go from. Either way wasn't good though.

In spite of Jason's active mind, his body was too exhausted to stay awake, and he fell into a restless sleep. Rick woke him up a few times to check on him, and did end up hooking up an IV to keep him from dehydrating. By morning, his headache persisted, but the fever hadn't returned, and at least things seemed to have stabilized...

"How ya feeling?" Rick shone a light into his eyes and checked his vitals. 

Jason cringed at the light as he sat propped up in bed. "Fine, til you shone that thing in my face."

Rick smirked. "Haven't changed much, have you?"

"Not much." Jason managed a wry grin. "Just been saving up my orneriness since you left."

"Joy." Even though Rick's tone was annoyed, if anyone knew him, they could tell there was a part of him that was glad to be needed here again, despite the stress. "Seriously now - how do you feel?" 

"Um... not the greatest," Jason admitted. "I feel kinda weak all over. My head hurts. Kinda nauseous. And I really feel like either punching someone's lights out, or going for a stroll in the park." He looked up at Rick, forced to resign to the fact that all of these were signs of the element resurfacing. "What's my blood work look like?" 

Rick sighed. "I'll get the results in a couple hours. In the meantime..."

"You wan me to stay here. I know." Jason waved him off. "This is old hat by now."

"I wish it wasn't."

Jason's shoulders dropped. "Me too." As Rick walked away, he reached for his phone and texted Katie. 
You up? I'm still at work. 
Rick's here. Wants me to
stay. Come see me when
you get here. 

Sighing, he leaned back and closed his eyes as he waited. Something told him this was going to be a long day. By the time Katie arrived, he'd seen the lab results from Rick, and knew now he had to talk to Katie about it whether he liked it or not. Seeing her enter the infirmary, he gave her the best smile he could, and waved her over to sit with him on the bed. Slipping an arm around her shoulders, he gave her a squeeze and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Hey, you... sleep okay the rest of the night?" 


Hunter rolled over in bed and sighed before squinting at his clock. He'd slept later than planned... not that he really cared all that much. It felt like a lazy day and he was good with that. He did have something to do though...

Propping himself up with a pillow as he lay on his stomach, he fished around for his phone and yawned before opening up his texts messages and navigating to his conversation with Ryan. 
Morning! I think...
He looked at the clock again.
Yup. Still morning. 
Wanna do something?
Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner?
All three? 
He faceplanted in his pillow as he waited to see if Ryan was awake yet, too.