Standing By Aleka (River Phoenix Fanfiction)

Do I Even Wanna Know?

            River woke up first in the morning, as soon as he did he noticed that his throat was sore, as was the rest of his body. His eyelids felt as if they were burning yet at the same time he was shaking and pressing closer to Aleka's body for warmth.

The light streaming in hurt his eyes and he quickly shut them and let out a small whine.

He heard a shift in the room and it didn't come from Aleka but from someone in the corner who turned out to the crew member lady who had found them the night before.

"River are you awake?" She asked.

He groaned softly in response and she walked over feeling his head much in the way his mother would.

"You're warm, I think you have a fever," she commented.

Her hand removed itself from his forehead and instead found itself placed on Aleka's and she sighed heavily, "She has one too, I better go get you guys some ibuprofen and maybe a wash cloth to cool down."

River didn't respond instead he groaned and turned in closer to Aleka going as far as to wrap his arm around her and pull her closer to try and share some of her warmth.

She groaned softly in her sleep but relaxed into his arms and as he brushed her hair back so that it wasn't in his face he realized that she did in fact have a fever.

The crew member along with the director came back awhile later and River heard them conversing, "I think it's just a cold from being in the water and then being so cold, we just need to break the fever for both of them. I don't want to wake her up though, she's sleeping, and she should sleep if she wakes up she'll likely be hurting like he is. Have you reached their parents?" She asked.

"Her mother's been impossible to get a hold of, his parents said they'll come up if we decide he's bad off, not sure he is, might give it another day," Rob commented.

"Wil's parents said the same, to contact them if she gets worse too," he added.

"Might as well give River the medication now, maybe give everyone a day off, might be best for them," the woman commented.

"Right, I'll do that. Probably best anyways, other boys are too distracted as well. Might film some of the solo stuff with Kiefer and the other boys instead, you know, just to be productive. You watch over them though, and contact me if anything changes," he said before leaving.

The woman sighed and then came to River's side of the bed.

"Can you sit up River?" She asked.

He forced himself up a bit on his arms though his whole body ached in doing so.

She placed the pill on his tongue and brought the water to his lips helping his drink it, and making sure he drank the whole glass so he stayed hydrated.

Aleka only slept about ten more minutes before she too was whining in pain and the crew member was repeating the same process with her.

When she was allowed to lay back down her head fell against River's shoulder and she buried her face into his warm neck.

There were several knocks at the door after that, each hurting their ears.

The pair listened and from what they could tell it was the other boys.