Knight in Shining Armor

Illness brings fondness

Her head hurt. Her nose was stuffed. She barely made it to the toilet to puke. It had been a few days since the shopping trip, and she'd worked a shift at McGinty's. But the dish sprayer nozzle had had a malfunction. Covered her head to toe in soapy water. She'd screamed bloody murder. Rocco, Conner, Murphy, Doc, anyone who'd been able to shove into the back room when she'd slipped and crashed, broken glass around her, had taken a quick look. The sprayer was going crazy, she was huddled on the floor, surrounded by broken glasses, water spraying everywhere, bleeding a bit. And then had to walk home soaked to the bone.

Conner had been the first to react, picking her up, slipping a little from the glass and water, Rocco had battled with the sprayer, and Murphy and Doc grabbed a broom. "Little trouble with the dishes, love?" He'd murmured in her ear as he set her in Doc's office.

She blushed, only to hiss when he'd started picking glass out of her cuts.

"All right then?" Doc asked, popping up.

She nodded, but Conner answered. "Superficial cuts, bruised pride. She'll be all right, I think. Yeah?" He ducked his head into her eyesight to confirm. She nodded again, blushing. He smiled at her.

"Why d-d-d-d-Fuck! Ass! Oh, just go." He waved when she nearly jumped into Conner's lap. More fed up with not being able to spit out what he wanted to say than his jumpy niece.

She groaned, flushing the toilet before making her way back to the bed. She was so cold! She coughed and groaned again. Conner had wrapped her in his coat on top of her own, but apparently, it hadn't helped.

Someone knocked on her door, she groaned in response. She felt like she had a hangover and they'd just hit her in the head with a hammer. "Gooo 'way!" She moaned.

She heard a rap at her window, sharp and quick. She peeked out of her mound of covers to find Conner at the window. She thought it was Conner. What... How was he.... He opened the window and slipped in. This must be a dream. She decided.

"If yer here ta kill meh, get it overwith..." She groaned. He chuckled.

"Not here ta kill yeh, Love." He assured. He wet a rag and folded it over her forehead. She sighed in relief. She hadn't realized she needed that. He disappeared after a moment and she heard muttering in the other room.

"What's goin' on?" Murphy asked softly.

"Lass's sick."

"Should we take her to the hospital?"

"Nah. Probably just a cold. I've got it." He assured.

"I'll bring a bit o' whiskey, yeah?"

"Yeah. I'm sure she's got the ingredients for that shit ma' used teh make. You remember?"

"Uh... Yeah, the broth?"

"Yeah, you got the phone."

"I'll call, double check the ingredients." Conner nodded. "Be right back."

He shut the door as he heard a whimper from the bedroom. Jenna'd tossed and lost the rag, he quickly replaced it and listened to the mumbling of Murph through the wall. She was always so quiet, they hadn't realized the walls were so thin. Most noisy she got was when she was in the tub, but it being right next to the shared wall and all, that was kind of a given. Then again, there was that one time they'd come home and her TV was goin'.

He sat on the edge of her bed, holding the rag in place for a moment as she shuffled a bit. Murphy ended the call and knocked on the door. Conner went to get up, only to feel a tug on his shirt. He looked down to find her fingers had entwined in the fabric of his shirt. No amount of prying was getting them untangled. Luckily, he hadn't locked the door when Murphy left the first time. "Well?" He whispered.