The Octonauts and the Pollution Incident

Chapter 9

"Kwazii, matey-" His grandfather stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Shellington, pale and fragile-looking and Kwazii, barely able to hold both Shellington off of the ground and himself together. "Is it-?" Kwazii only shrugged helplessly. Pearl was on his heels, and gasped and put her paws to her mouth at the sight of her brother on the floor, but nevertheless, they shook off their shock and helped Kwazii hoist Shellington off of the ground and lay him in his Murphy bed, which Pearl had kindly pulled down for him.

Not 5 minutes after Shellington was laid in his bed, he began to stir slightly. The first thing he saw as he opened his eyes groggily was his sister, Calico Jack, and Kwazii's faces looming over him.

"How are you feeling, little brother?" Pearl asked with concern in her voice, immediately feeling his forehead.

"I-I'm fine." Shellington managed weakly, then he sat bolt upright, "My research! The virus- samples- Kwazii." The poor otter could barely string a sentence together.

"Shellington!" All three of the worried, frazzled creatures gathered around him chorused in frustration and pushed him back down onto the bed.

"Do you feel anything right now, matey?" Kwazii asked.

"No, why?" Shellington replied naively.

"Just checking for symptoms, matey." Kwazii replied and put a paw on Shellington's forehead.

Erm, Kwazii." Shellington broke the silence rather awkwardly.

"Yeah, me hearty."

"Can I go back to my research now?" Pearl sighed in exasperation. 

"You need to stop worrying so much about that, little brother. You might have the virus yourself. it won't help anyone if you're working yourself to death." Calico Jack stepped forward and put his paw to Shellington's forehead before looking the otter up and down.

"Arr, he don't look sick, and the fella seems to be in good spirits. I think we've got ourself a false alarm. The poor matey's just overworked."

"So can-" Shellington began.

"No." Pearl said firmly as her little brother opened his mouth to protest, "You've just fainted from working too hard. I will take over your research for now, and not another word about it!"

@Burritogirlboss

Shellington tried to argue with the current situation. "You don't understand, Pearl." He said in a stern tone. "I can work, I just got a little tired, that's all." He tried to desperately get up but Pearl wasn't taking any chances. "Oh no you don't, brother, you're staying here until you're better. Now I'll take over and-" but she was cut off mid sentence by a scream "IM FINE, ALRIGHT?! I JUST FAINTED, I WASN'T DYING OR ANYTHING, BUT IF I DON'T GET BACK TO WORK THEN OTHERS CAN!"

Shellington turned his head to the side, not making eye contact with his sister.

Pearl was stunned, she'd never seen him so angry before. "Shellington I know you're upset but-" but she was cut off mid sentence once again. "I'm the scientist here. I need to do the research on this virus or more bad stuff could happen! If I don't continue working then more people will suffer from this." Once he finished he sighed and put his hands on his face in frustration.

Now Pearl understood; he'd been putting pressure on himself this entire time. Too much pressure to the point of overworking. "I understand, brother, putting pressure on yourself because you have such a big role to play in all this." 

Shellington took his hands off his face. "So you understand how I need to get back to work?" Pearl could see exactly what her brother was doing, trying to make his way back to the lab. "No. I don't understand, to be honest. But I do know one thing and it's that you've been stressing yourself out too much. Just take a break. No one will blame you for it." She turned to Shellington.