thecapitol | The world is beating you down, I'm around through every mood

Who| Jessica & Barbie
What| Come on get down with the sickness.
Where| Tribute Center
When| During Week Three
Warnings/Notes| Bloody illness + excessive flirtation.

Jessica didn't think it was possible to feel this awful. As the weeks had worn on, she'd gone from mildly uncomfortable with her springtime cold to downright delirious. The nights without sleep, waking up in pools of sweat had taken their toll, and not only was she tired from coughing, but also just from the lack of rest. She felt like a wreck and she looked it, too.

After holing up in the District Three suites for the first week of the arena, she finally had to face the music that she needed help when her coughs turned bloody. Wearing her raggediest pair of pajamas, she somehow managed to get to the main elevator, intent on sucking it up long enough to get to the pop-up clinic on the ground floor of the Tribute Center. She didn't trust Wesker, Penny, or Zoidberg, but there had to be something someone could do to help her sleep.

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He worked without looking back to her -except when she coughed to make sure she was alright. He had the bed stripped and re-made in a matter of minutes, though he spared her a smile for that last comment. "Yeah, something like that."

Once the bed was ready, he returned to carry her to it, tucking her under the sheets and everything. He left only to drag the same chair to the side of her bed, though he didn't sit in it immediately.

"Do you want anything? Some water?"

"Just don't leave me," she answered, coughing so hard her entire body shook. Slowly she closed her eyes, pulling one arm out from beneath the blankets so that she could reach for him. "I don't know what's happening to me. I've been sick before, Barbie, but not like this. It's never been like this. I'm scared."

He took her hand and used his free one to tuck the blankets tightly around her again, then placed it on her forehead.

"I'm not going anywhere, Jess. You're going to be okay."

He hadn't seen someone this sick either and most of the stories he'd heard of people who were this sick did not end well. But he refused to just accept she wasn't going to get better, she'd been perfectly fine -strong- before.

"I know you, Jess, some bug -even one this bad- isn't going to bring you down."

Jessica closed her eyes, practically melting at Barbie's touch. She wanted to believe him, she wanted to be strong, but it was so hard to be optimistic when she could feel her body breaking down with her mind alert and trapped inside of it.

"You've always been so nice to me. Why?" She turned away from him to cough. Her whole body shook from it. "I wasn't even one of yours."

He paused to consider while he stroked her hair back from her face. He wasn't the type of person to mince words or say what someone wanted to hear just because they wanted to hear them; he'd always been pretty honest and that hadn't changed once.

"It was your eyes, that's what caught my attention. You just sort of wormed your way in beyond that. And I'm glad you did."

He wasn't lying, but he did omit the part where the reason he even set out to see her was for his own guilt. The girl who almost killed him, who he viciously and mercilessly snapped the neck of, whose sister had sought him out to name him a murderer and forced him to change his view of the world, had been from 3.

There'd been several occasions where his mind wondered about if that girl had won instead of him, so when District 3 produced a winner, he'd made it his business to go and meet her.

He didn't regret that decision, at least.

"My eyes?" She batted them then, to tease him, mostly unaware of his own connection to Three. She'd been too young to really comprehend that stuff back then. As far as she was concerned, Dale Barbara had always just been an attractive older guy she could flirt with but never have. This little disclosure was a pleasant upheaval of the status quo up until recently.

"Well, I'm glad all those years of worming lessons paid off. And I'm glad you didn't find me totally annoying or something. A lot of the others did." Jessica smiled up at him, leaning her cheek against his palm.

"Yeah, lucky for you I have a well of patience." He smiled and pulled the blankets in around her more.

"You should get some rest, Jess. I'll get you some water and a rag for your head while you do."

He'd like to get her something simple to eat too, but with her coughing as bad as she was, it might not go over well. Plus, anything short of soup would likely give her more pain.

Jessica considered protesting, but she was too weak for that. She wanted him to stay with her, cheer her up, fawn over her forever, but realistically she knew that she had to sleep and eat and get well. Being laid up in bed was only fun for so long.

"If I sleep, you have to promise you'll be here when I wake up."

"That, I can promise." He didn't intend to be gone long. Just long enough to get her what she needed and maybe run back to his room for a book or something while he sat with her. Otherwise, he didn't intend to be anywhere else but right here with her.

He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead, a soft smile only for her on his face.

She watched him, a small, devilish smile tugging at her lips. Even sick as she was, she was still capable of playing the role of seductress. Or at least, trying to. She didn't exactly look sexy, all pale and frail and skinny, but when Barbie smiled at her, she somehow forgot that she was supposed to be vain. Somehow, she felt like the most beautiful woman in the world.

"You really do like me. Ha." She smiled again.

"Yeah, keep saying it and maybe it'll sink in." His smile turned into a smirk but it melted back to something softer soon enough. "Come on, get some sleep and the sooner you do, the sooner I'll be right back here. Plus, you need it."

He could see her trying to put on that 'look' of hers and didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't that effective when all he wanted to do was wrap her in a blanket. Although, even with her sickly pale complexion, dark circles under her eyes and sweaty, he still saw the beautiful young girl he'd first met. She'd get back to that and back on her feet soon enough, he'd make sure of it.

Jessica gave him one last look before finally relaxing into the bed, settling back against the stack of pillows. She watched him for a few moments, as though she were checking to make sure he wasn't going to abandon her entirely, before closing her eyes.

"Good night, golden boy."

The world is beating you down, I'm around through every mood

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