Castle's partner

Sick

We are at the precinct and I sneeze.
Castle hands me a tissue.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Are you sick?"
"No.... What? I'm fine."
I launch into a coughing fit.
"Ross you're sick you need to go home."
"No I'm okay. Really I'm not sick."
He looks reluctant to let this conversation go.
"If I hear you keep coughing-"
"Yeah I know."
"Ok." He walks away and I hold in my cough until he is in the next room.
I sit down in the couch I the break room, and lay my head on its arm.
I feel like crap, but I need to be here working on my dads case. I sneeze again, right as Beckett walks in.
"Bless you."
"Thanks." I can feel a headache coming on, and I can't breathe through my nose.
"You ok?"
"Yeah. Fine. I'm just a little tired. I'm gonna just sit here for a little while."
"Go home."
"What?"
"Ross go home. You can't do anything here when you feel like that. I'll give Ryan the rest of the day so he can go with you."
"No it's ok, really."
"Nope. You don't have a choice. Go. Now."
I stifle a cough, and Beckett walks to me placing a hand on my forehead.
"Oh my God Ross! You have a really bad fever you're burning up!"
I try to brush her hand away, but the damage has been done.
"Do you need to go to a doctor?"
"No I'm fine."
"Ok then you at least have to go home with Ryan today and tomorrow. Fair?"
I nod, not letting her know I want to go back to my bed.
I lean against her as we walk out the door together. She hands me off to Ryan.
"Hey what's wrong?" He brushes away a lock of hair that has fallen into my face, and in doing so feels the heat radiating from my face.
"Oh my god! How come you didn't tell me how bad this is? Beckett can I-"
"Take her home. And stay with her. If you need one of us to wrestle her into bed just call."

I make my way to the bedroom.
I can feel the effects of my fever taking over, and I can feel my body shaking. I become freezing, as though my body is a freezer instead of the sun.
Ryan catches me as I fall, but everything is blurry.
He lays me in bed, and tells me something that I can barely make out. Everything is moving in slow motion.
"I'll be right back."
After what seems like hours, he brings me blankets and lays them over me, tucking me into my own cocoon.
I am still cold, and I feel like I will never feel warm again.
Ryan holds up a pill, and I open mouth to take it. I swallow it, and Ryan feels my head again. He tries to calm my shaking body, but nothing he does is working. I watch as his eyes widen in fear, his pain increasing and his hands frantically trying to reassure me that it's ok. I try to tell him I'm not going anywhere, that I'm fine, but the words don't seem to form in my mouth.
I manage to catch his eye and his movement comes to a stop.
I move my eyes towards the window, where the outline of my heart is still etched into the thin layer of dust in the glass. His eyes follow mine, and he sees what I am looking at.
"I love you." He whispers.
I close my eyes.