𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀𝐍

𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘

Katherine showed up to Charlie's house looking worse for wear. She barely had time to half-change into fresh clothes before she collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep. Charlie, needless to say, was shocked to find her in his house, let alone see her without announcement.

Not that he minded. He liked surprises.

He climbed into bed beside her and pulled her close. That's when she woke up with a sharp gasp, cold fingers gripping his wrist and squeezing as she pushed his hand away.

"Ow!"

"Charlie?" She pants. She sounds congested. Blue eyes are wide with terror, and an ugly bruise splotches across her temple.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

"No—no, no—" she presses the heels of her palms into her eyes and a sniffs. "I'm sorry."

"Can I hug you now?"

A small sob wracks her chest, and hot hands reach for him. "I'm sorry," she whispers again.

"You're fine," Charlie murmurs, nosing her blonde hair. "You just...have kung-fu grip...nothin' new." He exhales, closing his eyes. Then his brows furrow, and he holds her a little tighter. "Jesus, Kit, you're burning up."

"It's freezing in here," she sniffs, burrowing into his chest.

"Are you sick?"

"I think so." She sighs. "I fell into a freezing river." Charlie frowns. 

"Why were you by a freezing river? It was, like, sixty-five the whole time you were in Texas."

She sniffs again. "We were in Wisconsin, too...all over the Midwest."

"You drove all over Middle America?"

Katherine exhales through pursed lips and scoots away from him. Her head hurts from the sunlight streaming through the crack in the curtains. The room feels like it's spinning. And she's tired.

"Did you find him? Sam?"

"Yeah," Katherine murmurs, sitting up on her elbows. "Yeah, we found him."

Charlie gnaws on the corner of his mouth. "So you were with his brother for two weeks," he begins. Instantly, his face turns into a wince. Not the must subtle, Taylor.

"Basically," Katherine hums, tightly crossing her arms, resting her head back on the pillows. "Nothing happened, Charlie. He's a dick."

"Yeah, well...you fell in love with him for some reason, right?"

"Yeah," she sighs. "I guess so."

Charlie looks at her with hard eyes. "What happened to your head, Katherine?"

She makes a whiney face. "Can we please talk about it later?" She whispers. 

"Have you at least been to the doctor—"

"I am a doctor," Katherine huffs, snuggling into the comforter more. "I am concussed, I am running a fever, and I probably have the flu." She opens one eye. Charlie sighs, burrowing down with her.

"Fine."

"Fine," she hums.

"If you're gonna be here, you're gonna give me the flu, too," he grunts, sticking his face in her neck. She yelps from the chill of his nose. "I ain't goin to work." Katherine laughs.

But neither of them sleep. Her eyes are burning behind her closed lids, and it's nice to lay in silence, but her brain won't turn off. She's suddenly very uncomfortable...like her skin is too tight and she's too hot and too cold at the same time.