..oOOo.. 8:34am Sunday Byers was awakened the next morning by a low, deep groaning sound from next to him. He turned his head to the other side, since sometime during the night he had ended up on his stomach. Opening his eyes, he saw Langly still curled up on his side next to him, his back to the older man. Still more than half asleep, Byers figured he was imagining the sound and started to drift again, only to be startled awake by a sharper, louder moan. He raised his head, looking at the other man. "Ree? You okay?" he mumbled sleepily, forcing himself to stay awake long enough to hear a response. When none came, he shifted onto his side, leaning over to look at Langly's face. Eyes tightly shut, his face screwed up as if in intense pain. All thoughts of sleep were instantly gone at the sight of such distress in his lover. "Ringo? What's wrong, hon?" he said softly, reaching up to stroke the tightly curled arm. He looked down to see both of Langly's arms clutched tight around his abdomen. "Don't feel good," Langly's response was muffled in the pillow he had his face buried in. "You feel sick? Like, you need to throw up?" Byers asked, not really in the mood for twenty-questions but knowing it was usually the only way to get his lover to answer him honestly. "No...just hurts." "What hurts? Your stomach?" Byers reached down to gently rub Langly's bare abdomen. He pulled back quickly when he got a sharp yelp in return. "Sorry...?" he said, obviously confused. "Not really...lower." Langly's answers were short, but not annoyed. He simply didn't have the energy to talk much and Byers realized that. "Like, a cramp?" Byers offered, remembering how the younger man used to get cramps after their first few sexual encounters. "Mmm...kinda, but not like that," he answered, as if reading Byers' mind. "This is a lot worse." Byers sat up, alarmed. He knew Langly would never admit to being in pain unless it was serious. "Sweetie, can you lay on your back? So I can try to figure out where you're hurting?" Langly shifted slowly, then gasped, curling up again. "Don't think so..." he grunted through clenched teeth. The older man sighed, frustrated and concerned. "Ree, we need to figure out what's wrong..." His lover sniffed, turning his head to look up at him. "No, it's okay. It'll go away pretty soon. Probably just a cramp, like you said." "You sure?" Byers couldn't keep the disbelieving tone from his voice. "Yeah," Langly gave him a crooked smile. Byers sighed, hoping he wouldn't regret not pushing the issue further. "Okay. Listen, I'm going to shower, and get dressed. If you don't feel better by the time I'm done, I'll bring you some breakfast in here, all right?" "Sounds good, John." Langly replied quietly before burrowing into the bedding again. By the time Byers returned from his shower, he found Langly sitting up gingerly in bed. He smiled as he crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed, toweling his hair dry. "Feeling better?" Langly nodded with a smile. "Yeah, thanks," he said, rubbing his hand over his face. "Guess it was just a cramp." "So, you feel up to getting out of bed then?" Byers flashed him a grin. "I guess. Why, what are you plotting?" Langly responded, squinting at his lover with fond suspicion. Byers shrugged as he stood. "Nothing. But we *do* only have two weeks until our next issue is due..." Langly groaned and flopped back down onto the bed. "God, John! We just finished one yesterday--take a day off for once!" ..oOOo.. 3:22pm Sunday Byers couldn't stop watching Langly. Not like he usually does, watching the graceful movements of his lover, imagining what he'd rather be doing to that wonderful body than just staring at it. No, this was him watching with growing concern. Langly had been fine after that first, unexplained pain that morning. But in the last few hours Byers had noticed Langly getting very quiet and withdrawn, like he does if he feels sick. The older man had asked him several times if he felt all right, and always got a nod and smile from Langly. But now...he was getting more worried. He could see Langly sitting in front of his computer looking very distracted and more than a little pale. As he watched, he saw the younger man reach for a stack of hard disks only to knock them over with a trembling hand. He had seen enough. Byers stood up, looking across the workstation at Langly. "Ringo, you obviously aren't feeling 'okay'. You're shaking like a leaf and look like you're about to throw up." Langly's head shot up at the sharp tone, the quick movement making his head reel. "No, I'm okay," he insisted, shaking off the feeling. "Maybe I just need some air..." he added, pushing his chair back to stand. He made it two steps before collapsing with a dull thump. "Shit--" Byers was at his side in a heartbeat, kneeling to check for vital signs. He let out a relieved sigh when he felt the steady pulse against his fingers. Not taking his eyes off the other man, he raised his voice. "Frohike!! Mel--get in here!" "John?" Frohike's voice drifted in as he hurried into the office, alarmed by the frightened cry from the usually quiet Byers. Spotting the two younger men on the floor, he drew a sharp breath. He knelt carefully on Langly's other side, his eyes darting between the two men. "What happened?" "I don't know; he just...passed out all of a sudden. Here--help me get him to the couch," Byers said, putting his arms under Langly's body to lift him, Frohike following his lead on the other side. Helping Byers lay the young man gently on the couch, Frohike stepped back and watched as Byers sat down on the edge of the seat beside his lover, stroking his face softly. Looking away, the older man spotted the crumpled blanket laying on the chair and grabbed it, silently offering it to Byers. "Thanks," the younger Gunman said absently, draping the blanket over his partner. After nearly ten minutes of strained silence, Langly finally started to show signs of waking up. He turned his head into the back cushion and took a deep breath before his eyes finally fluttered open. "John?" he said quietly, his voice rough with sleep. He felt Byers lightly stroke fingers down his cheek. "Hey there," Byers said gently, his face tight with worry. He put his hand against Langly's shoulder when the younger man moved to sit up. "It's okay, take it easy," he soothed. "How do you feel?" Langly looked up at him, still dazed. "Um...okay, I guess. What happened?" "You, uh...you passed out," the older man told him, exchanging a look with Frohike, who nodded. "Oh..." Langly muttered softly, closing his eyes again, half asleep already. Byers reached down to shake his shoulder gently. "No, you don't. You should be in bed, Ree," he said, sliding his hand beneath the younger man's back to push him into a sitting position. Langly looked at him, his eyes vaguely clouded. "Think you can make it down to our room?" Langly nodded silently, swinging his legs off the couch and slowly climbing to his feet. He swayed dangerously, and Byers slipped an arm around his waist to support him. "Thanks," the younger man whispered hoarsely, leaning heavily on his lover. "Come on," Byers helped him down the hall and into bed, where he fell asleep almost immediately. ..oOOo.. 8:13am Monday The next morning, Byers woke up to find himself alone. He sat up wearily, rubbing his eyes with his palms to clear his sleep-fogged vision. He glanced down, the covers on the other side of the bed tangled and still warm, recently vacated. Climbing out of bed, he pulled a t-shirt on and adjusted his pajama bottoms as he walked out into the hall. "Ringo?" he called softly, listening for sounds of the other man’s presence. He heard a soft coughing sound, and saw the bathroom door half-closed. Pushing it open cautiously, he grimaced as the smell of bile hit him. He saw Langly kneeling over the toilet, retching. "Oh, Ree..." he said softly, stepping quickly over to his lover and taking a knee next to him. Reaching up to take the held hair from Langly’s hand, he gently rubbed the younger man’s back as he continued to vomit. A few minutes later, Langly stopped coughing and sat back on his heels. With an embarrassed and shaky little smile, he closed the lid and flushed the toilet. "Sorry, John..." "For what, baby? You should have woken me up," Byers replied, still soothing the ill man with his hand, stroking his back tenderly. Langly shrugged as he moved to stand, his knees like water but he managed to stay on his feet. "It hit me really suddenly. I barely woke up before I started feeling really sick," he told his lover, his voice very quiet from his raw throat. Byers grabbed a nearby glass, filling it with water from the sink and handed it to the other man. Langly smiled his thanks, using the water to rinse away the bad taste in his mouth. "You were fine last night...right?" he looked at the other man searchingly. The younger man nodded, emptying the water glass and brushing past Byers out the door. "I don’t know. Maybe it’s just one of those twenty-four hour things." He reached back to grab his glasses from the counter and slipped them on his nose. "You feel okay now?" Byers asked skeptically, following his lover back to their room and watching his every move. When Langly turned back to face him, the older man put his hand against his forehead to check for temperature. "You feel warm..." Langly shook him off. "I’m fine." By later that day, the younger man was indeed showing signs of his normal healthy self. Despite his earlier nausea, he found that he was hungry. A lot. When Frohike pointed this out, his young roommate simply shrugged his shoulders noncommittally and grabbed another slice of pizza. As for Byers, he just took it as a good sign and let it pass. ..oOOo..