Disavowed: A Call of Duty Fanfiction

Chapter 6: Fever

"Bunny, you are burning up," said Vladimir, pulling Sasha into an upright position.

She groaned weakly, feeling disoriented. "Vladimir..?" she whimpered. Still in a blur from her dream, she pushed away from him. "Get... Get off me!"

"What?" He screwed up his brows. "Sasha, wake up, it's me! You're running a fever, we need to get you cooled down." She continued to strain against him, but he managed to gather her up in his arms and carried her across the bedroom to the bathroom, laying her in the tub and filling it with lukewarm water.

Sasha gasped, and her eyes finally focussed. "Shit!" she swore, fighting for a breath. "Vladimir, what the hell..?" She shivered, laying against the side of the tub away from him, her throat closing around her vocal cords and tears forming in her eyes; though it wasn't that cold, her skin ached as if she'd been tossed naked into a drift of snow.

Vladimir winced seeing the tears and he put a hand on her shoulder, though she shuddered against it. "I'm sorry, bunny, I know it's cold," he said. "I just woke up and you were blazing hot. Are you feeling sick?"

She shivered and closed her eyes. In fact, she did feel sick to her stomach, but not in relation to the fever. That dream had felt so real. "Um... A little..." she said.

He sighed sharply. "Stay here, I'm going to call for Kiev and see if he can help."

As he walked out of the room, she curled into a ball, feeling out of control as her body trembled. Outside she could barely hear Vladimir talking on the phone, and for a moment wondered where her own phone was. She had half the mind to tell Price to send an exfil, but with a fever, there was no way she would make it alone.

"Alright," said Vladimir, walking back into the bathroom. "Sounds like Kiev will be here soon and see if he can figure out what's going on." Sasha nodded sleepily, her eyes still closed, and he felt a pang of loneliness in his heart. "Are you okay?"

Sasha nodded again. "Just sleepy and cold," she replied.

He touched her forehead. "Fever is still there... I'll go get you a glass of water, that might-"

"Vladimir," she interrupted, and he fell silent. "Did you mean what you said, that you would never hurt me?"

His head tilted with confusion. "What do you mean..? Of course I meant it."

"You promise?"

"Baby, where is this coming from?"

She shook harder now, less from the cold and more out of fear, still seeing that expression of hatred in her mind. "Just... Had a bad dream."

Vladimir's jaw tightened and he leaned over the bath. "Do you honestly think I would do anything to hurt you?" he demanded, voice hardening.

Her eyes shot wide open and she looked up at him, shrinking back as far as she could. As he towered over her, Sasha fought every nerve in her body not to shift. What if she had to, though? How was she going to get out of there in that condition? Panic blurred her mind and tears blurred her vision, overwhelmed by a feeling of helplessness and fragility.

The muscles in his jaw worked as he blinked back tears of his own. "Sasha, I promise you- I swear on my life- nothing could ever make me hurt you. I would rather cut my own throat than do you any harm," he insisted. "Do you understand me?"

Sasha looked him up and down and saw his chest heaving unsteadily. She swallowed hard to soothe her dry throat and nodded.

He sighed and knelt back down, his head resting on the side of the tub and his fingers entwined in his hair. "Fuck, Sasha..." he said quietly. "How can I prove to you how I feel? That you are the most precious thing to me?"