Bring a Little Chaos

Retinentia part 1

Hayley was getting worried. Over the last few hours Elijah had gotten a lot worse and she had tried to call Klaus but she couldn't get any service. Was Klaus wondering where they were or did he just assume that they were looking for her family?

Right now, Elijah was laying on the bed in Dwayne's shack, looking pale, sweaty and clearly miserable as he tossed and turned restlessly. Hayley gabbed some water in a cup and walked over to offer it to Elijah.

"Here, drink this." Hayley coxed. "You need to keep your strength up."

Elijah drank from the cup, bur he immediately started to gag and cough. "Forgive me, please."

"There is nothing to forgive." Hayley smiled kindly at him as she ran a gentle hand through his hair. "I can't reach your brother, but the phone just shows that we don't have any service out here."

"We just had to shack up in a swamp." Elijah tried to joke but was interrupted by a cough.

"I'll open the door to let in some air." Hayley said softly and stood up to walk to the door. "That might help you feel a little better."

Hayley opened the door and stood on the porch for a few seconds, taking deep breaths to try and calm her worried mind. Suddenly Elijah started to cough violently and Hayley rushed back in, helping Elijah lay down more comfortably after he stopped coughing.

"Don't cry." Elijah whispered as he brought a hand up to wipe away the tear on her cheek. "I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me, Elijah." Hayley sat down so Elijah could place his head on her thigh. "I can see that you're not fine."

"You should return to your reading." Elijah smiled at her.

"I've already read the bible thing, it's just a regular Bible... with an entry in a family three that may or may not be me." Hayley shrugged. "I'll take care of you instead of reading it again."

"Hayley, please." Elijah pleaded with her. "This fever will make me unstable and once the hallucinations begin, I'll star to see things. You must leave me here."

"I am not leaving you like this!" Hayley glared at him.

Hayley stood up and walked over to where she had placed a bowl of water earlier, she grabbed it and went back to Elijah. She placed the bowl on what must have been a makeshift bedside table and pulled off her outer shirt so she could rip it into cloth pieces.

"What are you doing?" Elijah asked softly

"Making cloth pieces so I can help keep you cool." Hayley murmured as she ripped her shirt.

"You didn't have to ruin your shirt." Elijah looked at her with fever glazed eyes. "You could just have taken one of the rags laying around the shack."

"Eww, no." Hayley shuddered. "We don't know where they have been."

Elijah chuckled a little which triggered another coughing marathon. Hayley moved them so that she was sitting against the head board and Elijah was laying against her with his back against her chest.

Hayley dipped one of the pieces of her ripped shirt in the water on the 'bedside tale' and wringed it out before place it on Elijah's forehead. As she worked, she started to sing quietly, hoping it would help Elijah calm down and focus on something else beside the pain.

Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay
Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay

Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby
Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay
And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow
Bless you with love for the road that you go