"Benji! Where the hell you been buddy? I've been going out of my god damn mind here and...Merit...um, hello..."

Merit smiled at Bay as she entered the room behind Benji, then looked nervously at Luca on the bed. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Luca had been writhing in, what Bay assumed, was pain for the last ten minutes.

Bay had been frantically trying to keep blocks of ice on the guy's forehead but they kept sliding out of the flannel wrap and Luca's Vesuvius-esque temperatures had already melted all of their icepacks.

"Why is the floor so wet?" Benji screwed up his face as he walked towards them.

"Benji! Priorities! Did you get the...juice?" Bay flicked his eyes towards Merit because he wasn’t sure how much Benji had told her.

"Yeah Merit's got it!" Benji beamed.

Bay couldn’t help but feel shocked as Merit pulled out an orange vial and some syringes from her pockets and handed it to him.

Bay immediately handed it back to Benji, his own hands were shaking way too much to be dealing with needles right now and he would probably end up injecting himself.

"Are you sure you should be giving him more if he's got poisoning from it already?" Merit questioned moving over to the bed and peering down at Luca.

"I asked the same thing," muttered Bay because he was still not sure if he was ready to trust Benji, Benji who forgot to put on pants yesterday and Bay had the good nature to remind him before he went down to breakfast, with Luca's life right now.

Bay glanced down at the patient, Luca was still bucking up in pain, his face taut and pale. Bay chewed worriedly on his lip, he had been doing that for the past twenty minutes and he could taste blood like rusted pennies.

Bay thought it over, going the official take-him-to-Medical route would definitely get Luca discharged and if Luca was given the choice of being discharged or potentially dying, Bay was pretty sure he knew which one the workaholic pilot would choose.

"Stubborn asshole," Bay muttered, although Luca hadn't actually said anything. "If you die I'll get Brent as my pilot, I really really don't want that."

Bay looked up, Merit was smiling tightly at him.

Benji administered the injection into one of the discoloured veins and Luca's eyes flashed open as he gasped.

Bay guessed this was probably the moment he should jump back in horror but instead he started forwards, pushing Luca back down against the bed before the other man did himself an injury.

Bay felt the overheating body spasm beneath him before going still. Luca's breathing became calmer and more regulated. Bay looked up at Benji who was wrapping the needle in a plastic bag,

"I'll dispose of it later at Medical," Benji explained before glancing at Luca. "He's going to feel pretty rough for the twenty-four few hours but the fever should die down."

"How do you know all this?" Bay asked, because hey, Benji.

"Jenkins took great pleasure in detailing the gruesome effects of Nectar poisoning to me when I joined the program. I think he was trying to put me off it so he didn't have to train me up or something." Benji explained, shrugging. "Luca needs to clean out his system now."

"So basically a fuck load of water?" Bay asked as Benji nodded.

"Yeah, and he should ground himself for a few days, I'll tell Jenkins he's letting me train on Ibis or something to avoid suspicion....Bay?" Benji trailed off as he looked around the room. "Where are all the bottles of water we had?"

Bay looked sheepish, "Oh...I er, kind of threw them over Luca."

"The refectory has water bottles! I'll help you go get some Benji?" Merit asked looking up.

The door closed and Bay was left alone with Luca again. Unconscious, bubonic plague Luca.

Bay ran his eyes over Luca's chest, rising and falling with pained breaths. It was soaked through from sweat and frantic water-throwing. Bay wondered if he should take it off but the thought of Luca waking up to Bay undressing him made him reconsider.

Bay shifted uncomfortably on the floor, his knees hurt from all the kneeling he was doing (And yes, him doing all the kneeling with Luca in a bedroom may have been a scene from another one of his fantasies but again, not like this)

"Bay..."

Bay jerked his head up, Luca's eyes were still closed but he was frowning. Of course that was the first facial expression Luca Jeong would make when he regained control of his features.

"Hey Luca," Bay gulped sitting up and moving closer. "You hanging in there Captain?"

"Where am I?" Luca spoke so softly it was no more than a whisper.

"You're in my room. Well mine and Benji's room. You're on my bed."

And that last bit was relevant why?

Luca's frown relaxed and Bay realised the guy had probably worried he was in Medical.

"No one knows you're here apart from me, Benji and Merit - and she's not telling anyone."

Hopefully, should probably check with Benji on that one.

"They've just gone to get you some more water,” Bay explained. He felt awkward and anxious and his hands were still shaking.

Luca tilted his head and opened his eyes to look at Bay. "I...I was trying to find you but you weren't in your room," he croaked hoarsely.

"Ah no dude, we were all out on the south side of Base testing out some new armour," Bay explained and then Luca's words hit him.

Luca had been in trouble and the first person he had come looking for was Bay. There was a small warm glow in Bay's chest, but if you had asked him, he would probably have denied it.

***

"Sleeping Beauty awake yet?" Bay groaned from the top bunk.

Benji was already up and moving about the room. Bay had shared a bed with Benji the previous night on account of the great, drugged up hulking pilot in his.

The growl from below Bay that definitely did not come from Benji confirmed that Luca was indeed a) alive and b) awake.

Bay climbed out of Benji's bunk, slipping on the step as he went down and landing painfully on his coccyx bone.

"Shit! See, this is why I sleep in the bottom bunk," Bay was still whining and rubbing his ass when he looked up and saw Luca glaring at him.

"Well good morning sunshine," Bay beamed. "And how are we feeling today?"

"Fantastic," Luca bit out.

"Lovely!” Bay quipped, which earned him another death stare from the pilot.

"So a strict detox Luca," Benji was saying as he pulled on his T-shirt, "No Nectar in your system for forty-eight hours and when you get back to active duty you really need to cut down your hours."

Oh good, the death stare was directed at Benji now rather than Bay.

"You know buddy, you could say thank you - we did save your life, or maybe not your life but definitely your career!" Bay exclaimed, gesturing at Luca.

Luca stared at him for a moment then said, "Thank you," between gritted teeth.

Bay grinned widely, he reckoned that was probably the best they were going to get.

"Well you guys already saved my life so I'm guessing we're even!" Benji called over his shoulder as he walked to the door.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Bay shouted after him, "You just planning on leaving me as house nurse here?"

Benji turned around smiling, "Luca's okay with me piloting Ibis for the next few days so I'm going to go update the rosters. As for the patient, you'll be okay for a few hours Florence Nightingale!"

Bay grimaced as he heard his roommate laughing down the corridor.

"You can go out," Luca said quietly, "I don't need a nurse."

Bay turned back around and batted Luca lightly on the shoulder (A move he would not have considered doing if Luca was at 100% health and mobility.)

“What, you don’t want to see me in a nurse’s outfit?” Bay grinned cheekily before realising who he had just said that to and the colour drained from his face.

“I mean,” Bay coughed to clear his throat, he was aware that Luca was still staring at him, intensely and with an indecipherable expression. “It’s okay, Benji says you'll be feeling sick today and I don't want you choking on your own vomit."

"I'm not going to choke on my own vomit Bay."

"No seriously, I once watched this 'kids who are heroes' documentary with my Dad when I was little, and one of the boys who was on there, scooped sick out of his grandma's mouth so she didn't choke, with his bare hands..." Bay stopped as he noticed Luca's eyes widening.

"Bay, if I vomit and you fucking stick your hand down my throat I swear to god I will strap you to the rotor blades of the..."

"Okay!" Bay interrupted throwing his hands up, "No scooping out your sick - I get it."

"Also for Christ's sakes stop talking about vomit, Bay," Luca growled.

"Duly noted," Bay nodded. "So...what should I talk about?"

“Just, something – whatever you were talking about before,” Luca rolled his eyes.

“Me wearing a nurse’s outfit?” Bay asked, cocking his head with a questioning frown.

“Jesus, on second thoughts, don’t talk,” Luca groaned, rolling over so Bay couldn’t see his face anymore.