Title: Feverish
Author: lucy_roman
Rating: Teen and up
Summary: Bodie is feeling a bit hot
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Word Count: 600


"I think I'm melting," Bodie said with what Doyle felt was an overly melodramatic groan. "Next time you come round there's just going to be a little puddle on the floor."

Doyle frowned. "A puddle of what?"

"A puddle of me."

"Weather's not that hot," Doyle said. He stood back and looked at Bodie. His partner's face was flushed and there were beads of sweat on his forehead. There was also a breeze blowing across the room and the curtains hanging on either side of the window were fluttering. The window itself had been flung wide open.

Doyle turned back to Bodie. "How long have you been this hot?"

"I'm always hot," Bodie said with a smirk that was rather spoiled when he staggered sideways.

"Hey." Doyle lunged forward to catch Bodie before he could fall. "Come on, sunshine, let's get you sat down."

He helped Bodie into a chair and then laid his hand across Bodie's forehead.

Bodie moaned. "Your fingers feel lovely."

"And you feel like you're on fire. Come on, sunshine, let's get you into bed."

"Now there's a proposition I can't refuse. You coming too?"

"Once you're well again, Bodie, I promise."

Bodie did his best to grin. "Can't say fairer than that I suppose."

Doyle wrapped an arm around Bodie and all but lifted him out of the chair. By the time they made it to the bed Doyle felt almost as hot as Bodie.

"Thanks."

The look of relief on Bodie's face as he felt the bed underneath him didn't escape Doyle's notice.

"You got a thermometer?"

"What?" Bodie had closed his eyes but from the lines of tension around them Doyle was fairly sure his partner had a raging headache.

"A thermometer. I need to check your temperature."

"Bathroom cabinet." Bodie shivered. "I'm cold."

"A moment ago you were boiling. Make up your mind, Bodie." But Doyle couldn't put any bite in his words. He was too worried.

In the bathroom Doyle eased the little glass tube out of its box and shook it vigorously. Then he went back to the bedroom and as gently as he could placed the thermometer under Bodie's tongue.

"So what's the verdict?" Bodie croaked once he could speak again. "Am I dying?"

"Chance'd be a fine thing." Doyle did his best to keep his tone light but Bodie's temperature was higher than it should have been, a lot higher.

"My head hurts," Bodie said and Doyle frowned because if Bodie was admitting to not feeling well then he really must be ill.

"Just hang on, okay. I'll be right back."

"Where you going?" Bodie's voice was barely a croak.

"Supplies," Doyle said, too worried to answer more fully.

He pulled a bowl from the cupboard under the sink and filled it with cold water. There was a tray of ice cubes in Bodie's ice box and he tipped those in before reaching for a clean cloth, also under the sink.

In the meantime Bodie had fallen asleep and Doyle carefully put the bowl down on Bodie's bedside table. He wrung the cloth out in the water and laid it across Bodie's forehead. Bodie murmurs but didn't wake up.

"Oh, Bodie." Doyle gently touched Bodie's cheek. Maybe he was imagining it but it seemed cooler. He dragged a clothes covered chair over to the bed, relocated the clothing onto the floor, and sat down.

"It's just a fever," Doyle told himself. "Nothing to worry about." But he was worried because this was Bodie. His partner. The man who was becoming more and more important to him every day.