Color Blind

Chapter Forty-Five

AN: Alice in Chains' 'Dirt'.

* * *

Nancy walked in the door and was greeted by the sound of retching.

"Cole?" What had brought this on? "Cole, what happened?"

He was in the bathroom, clutching the rim of the toilet. His hair hung down in his eyes and his body was drenched in sweat.

"Cole." A shudder wracked his shoulders and he lurched forward, dry-heaving. "It's okay, it's okay...Jesus..."

He finally dropped onto the once-fluffy rug, wheezing. Nancy flushed the toilet and put her hand on his back. His shirt was hot and damp.

"S-sorry..."

"Can you stand up?"

He stood and doubled over, his arms crossed loosely over his ribs, and followed her into her room. It was darker in there and she could close the door so the phone wouldn't wake him.

"Take your shirt off." He looked up and shook his head. "Yes."

He finally broke eye contact and started shrugging his shirt over his head. Nancy went to get him a cup of ice. When she came back, he'd changed into sweats and gotten under the afghan. Good.

"Suck on a couple of ice cubes and try to go to sleep." she said. "Did the coughing make you puke?"

"Coughing made my ribs hurt, and that made me puke."

That didn't surprise her. Her sister had broken her ribs once and the lightest nudge made her whimper.

"Ice." she said. "It'll help, I promise."

He tugged the afghan around his body and picked out a cube from the cup. Nancy shut the door on her way out and went to get the phone.

* * *

When Cole hadn't come out a couple of hours later, Nancy cracked the door open to check on him. Just to make sure he wasn't passed out on the floor or anything. Coming home to find him unconscious had scared her and she would rather not repeat the experience.

He'd squirmed out from under the afghan, and now he had one hand on his stomach and the other on his hip. She'd never seen him this relaxed. Come to think of it, she'd never seen him without a shirt, either. T-shirts were a rarity for him. Was the apocalypse coming or something?

Christ, he was skinny. She was being hypocritical, she knew that, but she made a note to get some ice cream or something at the store. She shouldn't have been able to see his ribs. At least, she was pretty sure she shouldn't have been able to.

He groaned and she slipped out and shut the door. She wasn't about to wake him up.

She was making some fried rice with snow peas when he stumbled out, the afghan draped around his shoulders. He really did need a haircut.

"Hey." she said softly. "How are you feeling?"

"What time is it?"

"Um...seven-fourteen."

"Jesus...I didn't mean to sleep that long."

"Hungry?"

"Mm-hm."

"How's rice sound?"

"Want help?"

"Get some plates and a drink."

"What do you want?"

"Milk would be nice."

There was the glug-glug of milk being poured and a green glass slid across the counter. She really did need to get rid of those glasses-they made everything look booger-coloured.

"Weekend." she cheered. "Two whole days of sitting on my ass."

He gave her a tired smile and shuffled over the couch. Sadie sniffed his plate and turned away, tail held high.

"She's flipping us off."

"That's what cats do."

Their scary show was on tonight, in about an hour. Did they have popcorn? Popcorn sounded good.

* * *

Nancy wasn't expecting Cole to lie down to watch. He'd stayed there for a few minutes before moving a little and resting his head on her thighs. What was he doing?

"Is this okay?"

Was it? He wasn't moving to do anything else.

"Sure."

He nodded and turned back to the TV. Sadie curled up by his feet and licked her toes.

"Nance?"

"Mm?"

"Can we sleep in your room tonight?"

She'd forgotten what sleeping in there felt like, to be honest.

"Sure."

He was quiet until the show was over. Nancy went to brush her teeth while Cole turned the lights off.

They lay in bed for several minutes without speaking. Nancy was starting to doze off when he spoke.

"I forgot to tell you yesterday, but I went to the coffee shop."

"Coffee shop?"

"Someone wants to see me. Some artist-funding guy."

She scrabbled for the light and blinked at the brightness.

"You forgot?"

"Ribs."

Oh. Right.

"Congratulations!"

"Thanks."

"We'll celebrate tomorrow, okay? Maybe get...really nice take-out or...something."

She turned the light off and made herself comfortable. After a minute, Cole spoke again.

"Could we get pizza?"