&& I'M STILL QUITE UNWELL,, josh

Joshua's week was shaping up to be quite busy. He had a couple of tests he needed to take, assignments that needed work on, friends he had to meet with. He had not planned to jam the next several days with such a schedule but sometimes he forgot individual details and managed to arrange a couple of things in the same day. He didn't really mind it, however. Joshua was a bit of a workaholic in the sense that he thrived on having things to do, always moving, always having energy. Sitting idly on a Saturday morning was not a past-time was was content with unless he had the company of a book or a friend. Lazy people were sometimes exhausted by his personality but Joshua himself was fine with that. He liked his life thus far. Besides, being busy meant that he thought about the more concerning things in his life a lot less. Like Nell's trial. As the thought of the girl popped into his head Joshua glanced over his schedule with a light frown. Why was Nell not included in any of this? It was rare that he spent an entire week without planning to hang out with her at least once. Strange.

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Nell in days. Though he lived with his girlfriend he had spent the last little while holed up in the Earth dormitories. They were not having a fight or anything like that and he'd informed her of as much when he'd decided that he was going to hang out there for a few days--he just had a lot of studying to do and preferred to be close to the Academy's large and useful library. For college students the library was open even during after hours because they had to deal with the irritating Academy students during the day and often couldn't get as much work done. He took advantage of this as much as possible and stayed up well into the night poring over books and making notes for research. He often came across Nell even when they were in the hallways of the Academy but this was another thing that he noticed--he had not seen here lately. Though normally he would have shrugged it off as nothing this made him curious. He was not suspicious of Nell and didn't really think she was mad at him but he did wonder why she hadn't been around at all for a few days.

I'll go over and see her after school, he thought, crossing out the plans he had for that day and making a couple of calls to reschedule. He really wouldn't mind taking a day off of his busy week to check up and make sure everything was alright with her. Joshua merely hoped that she was not at work when he came to call--he'd probably go down to Blackjack and see her even if she was, but it was always easier to hold conversation when it wasn't frequently interrupted by drunks banging on the counter and demanding more beer to fuel their need for alcohol. He finished up the last few things he needed to do and then left the usually empty dormitory that the Earth students had graciously let him stay in. They were pretty good and accepting hosts, actually. They didn't make him sleep on the couch in the dorms just because he was not a part of their system element and that was something which he greatly appreciated. He would not have complained too much if they requested he slept in the common room or didn't come around unless he absolutely had to but these were Earth kids and they were not like that.

At last it was time for him to head over to Nell's and soon enough he was pulling the white Lamborghini into the parking lot of the building. He unlocked the door and walked in without knocking--he had knocked in the beginning but after living with her for a while had gotten used to just going in whenever. Nell didn't seem to mind. If she did ask him to stop he would certainly oblige but he doubted it. Sometimes the Fire elemental pondered how Nell was such a sweet and accepting person when he was just... well, not, but he tried not to dwell on it. If he thought about it too much he realised how poorly matched some people would say they were. Well, fuck them. Joshua was surprised to find Nell curled up on her couch and looking a little worse for weather. In all the time he'd known her this was not a common state for her to be in. "Hey, just thought I'd come over for a while, we haven't spoke in a few days," he said by way of introduction. Then, frowning, he allowed his concern to come through in the next words. "Are you alright, Nell? You don't look so good." It was in no ways an insult--it was the truth. He noticed the disarray of her up-do and the redness of her nose. Is she... sick?

Joshua listened to his girlfriend with a light frown playing across his lips. It really did seem like she'd had an off week and he wasn't doubting that but it didn't seem like she was getting any better. Considering he cared about her this concerned Josh quite a bit and he wondered what it was she was suffering from. Some kind of illness, apparently, for she sneezed and cut herself off mid-sentence. Normally something like this might have been quite amusing but he couldn't shake the growing worry that she wasn't taking the proper care of this. Why hadn't she told him that she was sick? At least then he would have known why she wasn't showing up to school. "I'm fine," he said dismissively. Surprisingly it was true and he was not trying to cover up for some other sort of feeling. "You don't seem to be so lucky. How long have you been like this?" He gestured mildly to indicate her entire person in general. He wondered if she'd gone to get herself checked out recently--having grown up with a doctor, Joshua had never really had to worry about rushing off to a walk-in clinic or a doctors office when he fell ill. He'd just wait for his father to get home and ask if he had anything to remedy the illness.

She had asked him another question, however, and so not wanting to seem as if he were ignoring her Josh got that out of the way next. "Testing went well enough, I've got another few things due later in the week but I'm on track." He was a very organized and to the point person. Joshua did not have a lot of times where he truly struggled with his busy life, possibly because he was so used to it. He'd also grown up watching his parents flit in and out, managing things with their jobs whilst trying to take care of their kids. It was probably a genetic thing he'd inherited. "Did you miss anything too important while you were gone?" he wondered curiously. He obviously wouldn't have expected her to show up at school when she was so obviously under the weather but he was wondering at how much she was going to have to hurry to catch up. With the end of the year fast approaching there was a lot of tying loose ends going on in all grades and classes. He knew Nell had a lot of work thanks to being a late transfer and so he hoped it wouldn't be too much. He hated to see her stressed out.

He was not buying her dismissive explanations. "It's not because you've been around the house all day," he disagreed. "I live with you, I've seen what you're like." He hadn't meant that she looked tired or just not primped enough, he was pointing out the fact that she was coughing and sneezing and her nose was as red as a cherry. He was a little exasperated by Nell not admitting this for he could not understand why it was such a big deal. As soon as she accepted the fact that she needed to do something about it and got some medication into her system he knew she'd be fine. He wasn't optimistic about most things but he was the son of a doctor, he knew that things could usually be worked out with remedies. Of course, they could also get worse if left unchecked and that was what he was worried about. "You're obviously sick, Nell," he said in disapproval. "Are you taking anything for it?" In his head he was going over all of the things that his father used to suggest doing when they were younger.

He was feeling a little torn with her last offer. On one hand he wanted to keep Nell in good spirits and cheer her up but on the other he wanted to make sure that she was taking care of herself. In the end it was his instinct that told him her sickness was only going to get worse and he shook his head. "I really don't think that's a good idea right now. I'll stay over and keep you company but it looks like you need rest more than anything or you won't get better." He was unaware of her fears. He didn't know that she was afraid to acknowledge any sort of illness and he didn't know that it was because of her sister, either. If he had the Fire elemental likely would have been a lot more sensitive but, in reality, there were a lot of things about Nell that were still left unsaid.

Joshua was rather alarmed by the length that her symptoms had apparently dragged out. He could understand letting things go for a couple of days to see if the illness would clear up on its own but she'd gone an entire week and not even worried about going to see someone about it? His gray eyes were concerned as he pressed his lips together for a long moment. He hated sounding as if he were berating Nell, he was just scared for her health at the moment. He reminded himself of how she had overreacted when he hadn't eaten and reminded himself to try and be a little less insistent. Still, he was not a quiet person. He was more worried about her health than if she disapproved of his methods. "A week?" Regardless of the fact that she didn't seem too bothered, Joshua was. "Nell, that's not good. These things can get worse with time, you know." It was possible for the cold to turn into the flu and for that to then evolve into pneumonia. He didn't want Nell hospitalized and her life possibly threatened just because she was too stubborn to see a doctor. It was ironic that she always rushed around trying to make sure everyone else was alright and barely did anything for herself when it was she who was in danger.

He did not really want to discuss trivial things like school and the war going on there when his girlfriend was not well. However, Joshua was still trying to keep himself calm to stop from being overbearing and so he kept his tone as light as possible. "No worse than it's treating anyone else." That was true, at least. Now that the spotlight was away from Nell he was no longer a prime target of hatred and abuse. Of course, he was still a traitor to his element and they frequently made attempts to get him back for that but now he had the defence and support of both of his new allies in Water and Earth. He was confident that he'd be alright in the war and hoped that Nell could say the same by the end of it. "I got a bit marked up the other day, nothing the Medical Wing couldn't fix." By that he'd been referring to the elemental wounds but he'd treated the shallow cut on his forearm himself. It was not deep enough to scar and the stinging pains were nothing compared to worse agonies he'd felt in his lifetime so he felt that he'd pretty much gotten off lucky. "Sam?" he repeated. "One of your classmates, I'm assuming?" He didn't make the connection that it was the same Sam that he knew--he was too busy worrying over Nell's health to care.

He folded his arms and frowned at her as she rather childishly insisted that she did not get sick. No, it was not childish, more like... could it be considered naivete? Perhaps an extreme form of optimism? Even the healthiest people usually got sick at some point. Joshua had a very good immune system and a doctor for a father that made sure he was keeping healthy but even he fell under the weather sometimes. He had believed Nell when she'd told him she never fell ill in the past but as they say, there's a first time for everything. He just wished that Nell would at least acknowledge that this might be hers. "You are sick," he insisted, shaking his head. "Trust me, Nell, I know illness when I see it." Heck even if he didn't have ambitions to become a doctor he probably would have realised that she was not in her best shape. Anyone could see it, anyone who had ever had a cold or worse--thus, most of the population--would be able to tell. He was at least glad to hear she was going to take something for her symptoms but knew that they were likely only a band-aid remedy. "You'll need more than Coke syrup to cure what you've got," he pointed out unsmilingly. He was taking this much more seriously than she was, apparently.

Joshua sighed. "No, Nell, you're not an invalid," he said. "And I don't mean to come across that way, but surely you know yourself what you're feeling!" Where her tone was light, his was filled with exasperation. He could not believe that she was sitting there looking like crap, sneezing, coughing, and yet telling him that she was absolutely fine and that she did not get sick. Was she ashamed to admit that there was something wrong with her perfect medical track record? That seemed silly. Joshua was not someone she'd need to worry about. Then what was it? He could honestly come up with no logical answer and this frustrated him. "Cabin fever isn't the only fever you seem to have," he said sternly, not letting this go. He wasn't going to give up on this. He hated treating her like she couldn't take care of herself but that was the thing--she refused to take care of herself. "Alright," he relented. "We can go and pick up the syrup but--just trust me on this, please?--we should get some other stuff, too. I grew up with my father, I know some things that'll alleviate the symptoms. All of them."

Perhaps he was worrying too much, but Joshua still felt this was an instance of the pot calling the kettle black. Nell had nearly given herself an aneurysm when she'd found out he'd put off eating for a couple of days and yet she was pointing out that he was concerned she might be ill? He decided against saying anything for he didn't want to fight with her over something so trivial. He was allowed to worry. She wasn't going to be able to change his ingrained concerns for her well-being even if she tried. Instead, Joshua chose to move on in the conversation and had to press his lips together to avoid comment when she sneezed. If you're not sick, then what is that? The allergies you don't even have? The thought was biting and sarcastic so he was kind enough not to let it slip out. He couldn't take his exasperation out on Nell. "Not too bad," he assured her, still noting the irony that she was worrying over him. Hypocrite. It was actually remarkably easy for Joshua to avoid saying any of these things aloud. As soon as you earned his friendship (and, in Nell's case, much more than that) he became a lot more patient and willing to tolerate you. He might still get angry or upset but the likelihood of it turning into a fight was lessened greatly. He didn't like arguing with Nell. He remembered how they had argued when she'd accused him of cheating and just knew that he didn't ever want to go through something like that again.

He could have punched something or actually cried out in exasperation when she refused to acknowledge it yet again. Instead, he took a deep and steadying breath. In, out. Calming thoughts. Damn it, this girl was a handful sometimes. He had to literally clench his teeth together to avoid some semblance of sarcasm to slip past his lips. Instead he just jerked his head in what was supposed to be a nod and pressed on. He could do this, he could deal with this, he was not going to get upset. Admittedly his irritation dissipated a little when he noted how uncomfortable she seemed to be. He didn't understand why the hell it was so difficult for her to admit being sick but he hated to make her feel ill at ease--no pun intended. "No," he agreed, "but you sound sick and you certainly look sick--judging by the coughing, sneezing, and the rasp in your voice I'm betting you feel sick, too." He couldn't really remember how he had reacted the first time that he had fallen ill. He didn't know how old he'd been, either. Joshua did not get sick too easily and there were sometimes several years between notable illnesses but he at least knew how it felt. How would it feel if you'd never experienced it before? He wasn't entirely sure.

Joshua rolled his eyes at her. This girl. "Why not?" he asked, and the exasperation started to be much more evident in his tone as he began to lose patience once again. He didn't sound angry, merely as if he were at the end of a very long day and just wanted to be done with it. "It will make you feel a lot better. What is wrong with that?" Hell, medicine was one of the first things he sought out when he realised he was coming down with something. As long as he properly diagnosed something and treated it with the right meds then he always felt better within a few days, sometimes less depending on what it was. He wanted Nell to feel better, too. "Honestly, Nell, do you think I'd suggest something that would hurt you?" He loved her, he wasn't going to ask her to take something for no reason. That was as pointless as downing a pair of Advil when you didn't have a headache. He could just tell that she was sick, anyone could, so he wasn't going to budge in his stubbornness until Nell acknowledged it herself. Wonder how long that'll take? he thought grimly. "I'm not going to say it again," Josh said with a frown when Nell insisted that there was nothing wrong. He had to hold his tongue again when she had to take a 'moment'. "It'll help the dizziness, too," he added, arching an eyebrow at her.

The feeling was inexplicable when Joshua detected the desperation in her voice. This was his girlfriend whom he loved and felt protective over, how was he supposed to make this any better? He was not God, he couldn't just wave his hand and vanish the illness into nothingness. Much as Joshua wanted to be of help to his girlfriend, the only thing he could think of was to get some medicine--seeing as she didn't want to admit that she had anything, that was going to be more difficult than usual. Some people might have wished for a less difficult and complicated significant other but he loved her too much to even consider giving up at this point. "I know,"

He was silent for a long moment after she spoke. The moment she mentioned her sister, it began to sink in that something bad must have happened to take Till away from Nell. He had known that she had a twin and he'd even been aware of the fact that she had died pretty young, thanks to the pictures, but he had not known the full extent of it. Suddenly it made sense--why she was so scared, why she did not want to face this. He felt an overwhelming sort of sympathy and sorrow for her now that he knew what she must have been going through but he was also determined to make sure she didn't go down the same path that Till did. I wonder what she had? He did not ask, for if she'd died of something like pneumonia that would likely only scare Nell all the more. "I won't let that happen," he promised her, taking her hand as a sign of comfort. She was sick, certainly, but Nell was not dying. It could certainly develop into something a lot worse if she continued to neglect it but at the moment she likely just felt like utter shit. He wanted to try and explain all of this to her but didn't want to overwhelm Nell with talk of the taboo illness plaguing her body. Now that he understood where she was coming from, Joshua vowed that he would be a little less careless with the subject. He felt guilty for being so exasperated and angry with her before. I didn't know, he defended himself quietly, but it didn't ease the prickling.

There was a mingled sense of relief and concern when she finally seemed to admit defeat. Joshua was glad that she was relenting and allowing him to help her recover but he also didn't want this to be too much for her. He knew that dealing with one's problems could often take a toll and, especially since her sister had been taken by sickness, he didn't want that to happen to Nell. Promising himself that he'd keep a careful eye on how she was doing until he was sure everything had cleared up, Josh considered his reply. He didn't want to admit to her that there wasn't exactly a cure-all for the flu. He had known this from the beginning but at the same time, he was a boy who had grown up with a doctor. Dad always hesitated to give us too much meds for the flu and it looks like that's what she might have, he remembered. Donovan had insisted that they try to use natural recovery first so that the side-effects didn't hit them. Josh had only suffered from the flu once--it was much easier to treat a cold, in which case he just took the closest thing to a cure-all to ease his symptoms. Telling Nell this seemed like a bad idea. "Well, since you don't want to take too much medicine," he said, taking a different approach to it, "I know some pretty good remedies that aren't... well, medicinal. But they still work," he added reassuringly. Hopefully. He was worried that he might not be going about this the right way--a doctor would be able to tell whether or not she should try anti-viral medications or over-the-counter drugs. Dad would have known, he thought, and it made him feel oddly hollow for a moment.

Nell jerked him out of this moment of uncertainty when she asked about the very thing he had been pondering. "Maybe," he admitted, because he did not want to lie and say 'no' in case things took a turn for the worse and she ended up having to see a professional. "Probably not," he added, once again trying to be the optimist in this situation. Nell seemed so freaked out by this that he wanted to make her feel as if she had a better chance of recovery. She does, he thought fiercely. I'll make her better. Of course, in the end it was going to be Nell's immune system that did the fighting but he was at least going to stick around and make sure she took good care of herself. He'd make sure that she ate and drank a lot, that she slept, that she didn't get any worse... all of that. "I grew up with a doctor," he pointed out with the slightest hint of a smile. It was not bitter, he was not trying to take out his anger toward Donovan. He was trying to help his sick girlfriend, he'd think about his anger toward family at another time. "I've gotten the same thing as you before and I never had to leave the house. Didn't even need drugs for it." He was telling the truth, but then again that could also have been the help of his strong immune system.

The request was rather strange but Joshua was not going to question it. If it was going to make her feel more at ease with this, well, so be it. "Noted," he said with a nod. He frowned slightly in curiosity when she pulled out a square piece of paper, not realising what she was doing. "What's that for?" he asked her. He knew about her folding but it did not immediately click that it was origami paper. Joshua knew that he should really be going to pick up some stuff for her but he also knew that Nell wasn't able to come with him thanks to her illness--much as he didn't want to leave her alone, he knew it was necessary. "I'll head out to the store," he told her. "You'll need to eat and drink a lot of water. I could get orange juice, too," he added thoughtfully. That always helped. "Do you want anything to eat in particular? Even if you don't feel like eating it's always best. I can make anything you want, just name it." He wanted to make this as simple and effortless as possible. He was not sick, he was fine, so if he handled the hard labour then she could focus on getting better.

Though she said it as a question, Joshua nodded but did not clarify what the mystery illness had been. He knew Nell was naive about a lot of things but if she was aware that there was no cure for influenza then he didn't want to scare her. Just because there wasn't a known cure didn't mean it couldn't go away on its own. Joshua's had, after all. Besides, the fact that Nell had told him this was her first time getting sick meant that she had one hell of an immune system. She would fight it, he was confident in that. "It's probably best to stay inside," he said apologetically when she expressed a desire to get out of the house. He could understand the hatred of being cooped up indoors and the fact that Nell lived alone made it worse but he also knew that lots of rest and laying down was the most productive thing to fight off the infection. "Tell you what," he said decisively, "I'll stay until you get better, alright? Then you don't have to worry about getting too worked up." As this was Joshua, he wasn't just offering to come over after school and make sure that she was alright. He would have done that anyway seeing as he lived here, too. He was literally going to sever all of his plans for the next week or so and practically sit vigil with her. Joshua's protectiveness drove him to do some pretty strange things but he was set on this decision and thus was pretty determined to stick with it.

Joshua blinked at the paper crane as he remembered her telling him something about this all that time ago in Tim Hortons. That was the day I asked her out, he remembered. His lips twitched as he reflected fondly on the memory and then he dragged himself back to the less favourable present. Things had been so much less stressful back then. Stress might have had something to do with Nell getting sick, he mused, knowing that nausea and vomiting were rarely symptoms of influenza. "How many do you have now?" he asked. Joshua was actually interested in his girlfriend's strange folding hobby. He thought it was almost adorable that she still held onto almost child-like wishes like that but he didn't say as much. He also wasn't aware that she'd folded them with her sister. From what he remembered she'd just told him she learned from a book, she had over eight hundred, and a story she'd heard about a girl with leukaemia. He was very glad that she didn't have something that detrimental, no matter how bad the illness might have felt to the girl herself. Influenza could be deadly, it could get worse, but he believed there was a much stronger chance of recovery than death. He could stick to that optimism for her sake.

"For Vitamin C," he clarified when she questioned the orange juice. Of course, studies were conflicted on whether that actually helped but oranges were healthy either way and keeping healthy definitely helped fight off illness. He'd get the Coke syrup, too, just because she had mentioned it. Joshua was not used to clarifying the correct amounts of food for someone with a non-vegetarian diet but he figured he'd do alright if he just bought what Nell usually ate and asked her questions about how she cooked it and the like. She was healthy until now, it can't hurt. If another vegetarian were to fall ill he'd know immediately what to do for them but he'd adapt with this because it was Nell and he wasn't going to give up just because she ate meat and he didn't. "It's easier to face foods when they're your favourites," Josh pointed out. He did stay at her place but he hadn't obsessively paid attention to the things that she was eating. He knew from his own experience that he preferred eating favourites rather than just downing whatever was for dinner that night. His mother had always catered to this without his asking whilst his father would make sure he took care of himself. Thinking about the care they used to give him just made him miss the comforts of home. He still spoke to his mother, but Donovan... Don't think about him, he thought as bitterness rose like bile to his throat.

Smiling at her, Joshua shook his head. "I have a car, I've got the time, it's no trouble," he said. Really, it wasn't. Joshua had a built in desire to look after his friends and as Nell was more than that it was amplified tenfold. He would do anything to make sure she was alright. Hell, he'd faced her father in order to comfort her. We've been through a lot. It was funny. A year previous he had been dealing with Angel and a job and an apartment--he never would have thought he'd have anyone to face things with. Joshua had never considered the possibility of a partner. Now it was hard to consider a life without Nell, which was why he blocked out thoughts of the trial as much as possible. "I'll be back soon," he told her. Normally he'd have kissed her in farewell but he was not stupid, he knew that was practically begging to get sick himself. Instead he rested a hand briefly on her shoulder and then headed for the door. Around an hour later he was back--he'd hit a bit of traffic returning to the apartment but he'd at least been able to find everything he needed. Dropping off the bags he flexed his fingers for a moment and then turned to Nell. "How's the folding mission coming along?" he asked with a bit of a grin. Unbeknownst to Nell he had cancelled his plans for the week when he'd been out, not wanting her to protest. He hated being dishonest but he also didn't want her to argue with him about it. "Do you want me to make you something now, or...?"