salute [h.s]

the one where harry gets sick

"Is there a reason you're naked in my bed?"

Piper was exhausted. She'd had to go into work extra early to help with a field mission crisis and she'd spent the morning on a bad connection with an agent in Cape Town trying to sort out a problem that could have been prevented had the operations agent in charge been doing their job properly. Sometimes she got flack for having moved into her position as a junior agent in O branch so quickly (mostly because no one knew what she actually did for this organization) but no one could argue that she'd earned her title today.

She'd had to clean up the mess for the rest of her shift, working right through lunch and then through dinner, digging into her stash of crisps that she kept in the bottom drawer of her desk for sustenance. Now it was nearing ten and she just wanted to go to bed and collapse in it. The lights were off across the house — Louis and El must be out for the night. Piper wasn't complaining. It meant she could go to sleep undisturbed.

Except that when she got into the bedroom, there was a large man taking up all of the bed, his limbs spread out at his sides as he lay there on his back. He was also completely starkers.

"Is there a reason you're naked in my bed?" Piper asked with an aggravated huff. "If this is some attempt to seduce me, it's failing. Big time."

Harry rolled his head slowly toward her and Piper could see that his face was flushed red, much redder than Harry usually got. His eyes were bloodshot and a bit hazy and when he licked his dry lips, he had trouble swallowing.

"'M so hot," he mumbled. "Had t' take m' clothes off."

"It's like the arctic in here with how high Louis has the AC," Piper muttered to herself as she dropped her bag and crossed over to the bed. "Are you feeling okay, Harry?"

"Fine," he muttered but Piper could tell just by the way he was acting, all sluggish and dozy, that fine was not the right word. She got a knee up on the bed and reached over to place her hand on Harry's chest to steady herself.

His skin was burning hot.

"Christ, Harry, you're burning up," she said as she touched her palm to his forehead. Harry leaned in toward her hand like her cooler skin was giving him considerable relief, his eyes fluttering shut. "Have you felt like this all day?"

"Uh uh," he mumbled. "Just tonight. Very hot."

"I know," she said as she leaned over to press a kiss to his forehead, his skin warm and dry against hers. Not a good sign. "Stay here. I'm going to get a thermometer and then I'm going to call Niall."

"'M okay."

"You're certainly not okay," Piper said as she pushed off the bed. "Don't move a muscle."

She jogged over to the bathroom and began throwing drawers open in the vanity, looking for a thermometer. She knew where it was supposed to be but everything flew right out of her mind as she searched. She was too worried about Harry to concentrate at all. It meant that she had to pull open every drawer before she found the thermometer right where it was supposed to be.

She carried it back into the bedroom in shaky hands, trying her very hardest not to panic. It wasn't going to help Harry if she was inconsolable with worry — she had to keep her head on her shoulders. So she bit right through her lip in an attempt not to start crying and took deep breaths in through her nose to try and calm herself down.

She sat down on the bed beside Harry, reaching up to run her hand through his curls and push them out of his face. "Still with me, Harry?" she asked him, her voice shaking as she did. He turned his head toward her and tried to smile.