Episode 4
Sevastyan pulled out his phone and ran a search. “Thirty-eight-point-nine Celsius,” he muttered. “That’s too high.” He leaned over Lisa and rolled him onto his back. “Lisa, answer me.” Lisa tried to pull away. Sevastyan slapped him gently on the cheek with his fingers. “Lisa.”
Lisa’s eyes fluttered. He looked up, confused, tried to cough, and rolled to the side, choking. Sevastyan steadied him.
Rei’s shoulders tightened and his belly churned. His eyes moved from Lisa to Sevastyan and back.
“He’s weak. Probably caught something on the flights. Let’s hydrate him. Watch him. I’ll be back.”
Sevastyan left and came back with a cup of tepid water. Rei helped lift Lisa. Sevastyan cradled the feverish man’s head and held the cup to Lisa’s lips. Lisa turned his head away, twice.
Rei cupped Lisa’s cheek. “You need to drink, please, A-sa.”
Lisa swallowed mutely and opened his mouth, letting Sevastyan get some of the water inside. He swallowed, coughed, and tried again. Rei stroked his cheek to express his gratification.
Lisa twitched and held his stomach. Sevastyan snatched up the blanket and held it under Lisa’s face. In Rei’s arms, Lisa jerked and then heaved, emptying his stomach into the impromptu bowl of fabric. Rei turned his face away, his own stomach clenching against the smell.
Master?
Rei forced himself to look back. Sevastyan still held the blankets open, the middle sagging with vomit, waiting for Lisa to stop heaving. Without a word, Sevastyan gathered the blankets up and took the entire mess to the bathroom. Lisa slumped against Rei, shivering.
Rei stroked his back and held him, still breathing shallowly against the smell.
Sevastyan returned with a wet washcloth. He handed it to Rei and nodded at Lisa’s face. “If you can get him to rinse his mouth . . .” Sevastyan’s voice trailed off as he took in the way Lisa was almost pinning Rei to the pillows.
If his master ordered him to, Rei would try to escape. Rei held his breath.
Sevastyan shook his head. “Keep him there. I’ll find a bowl in case he vomits again. Maybe there’s a pot in the kitchen. Then we’ll get him to rinse his mouth and I’ll find a clean sheet. If he’s going to be holding you, no more blankets till the temperature comes down. He’ll burn himself out.”
Rei nodded. Sevastyan grimaced and set about handling his own list of tasks.
Lisa’s fever did not come down over the next hour. Instead, it rose to thirty-nine degrees Celsius. Sevastyan sat on the edge of the bed looking at the thermometer and shook his head.
“If he can’t keep water down, he won’t keep down medication. He needs fluids and we have to lower his temperature.”
“How serious is it?” Rei whispered. He had an idea, but he needed his master to say it.
“He’s weak from not eating.” Sevastyan sighed. “If we can’t control the fever, it’s very serious, but there are ways.” He stroked the hair back on Lisa’s face and shook his head. “I’m going to make some calls. I’ll be in the living room. Do you need the bathroom or food?”
“Water, please?” Rei said. “And the bathroom.”
Sevastyan helped Rei extricate himself from Lisa’s clinging limbs. Lisa muttered random words in German, Russian, and English, the English heavily accented. He wouldn’t let Sevastyan touch him but curled up into the empty space Rei left.
It hurt to leave him there. Rei rushed through brushing his teeth and using the toilet.
He wiped away the worst of the sweat and hurried back.
Sevastyan had put a towel down on the mattress and found a fresh sheet.
Rei accepted his hand up onto the mattress.
Lisa reached for Rei as soon as he was close.
“Towel under you,” Rei coaxed. Lisa allowed Rei to pull him to the side, and Sevastyan pushed the towel between him and the mattress.
Rei settled with his back to the headboard, two pillows to support him from behind, and cradled Lisa between his legs.
Sevastyan laid the sheet over Lisa. He leaned in and pressed his lips to Rei’s forehead. “I’ll bring water in a bit.”
Rei lifted his face and Sevastyan lingered, letting Rei brush a caress against the stubble on his cheek. He smiled tiredly and left the room, pulling out this phone.
Lisa was a hot, heavy weight between Rei’s legs. Rei rested his hand on Lisa’s shoulder and rubbed gently. Somehow, his touch seemed to be grounding Lisa through the confusion of the fever.
Sevastyan returned with a water bottle sometime later and disappeared again. When he came back there was strain in his face. “I’m going out to pick up medication.” He placed Rei’s phone within reach. “Call me if anything changes.”
Ellisandre
Ellisandre’s phone rang late-morning. They were at the office, going through Linda’s calendar. The lock screen read Bal. They answered at once, giving Linda a nod and stepping out of the meeting.
“Vast.”
“I need a favor,” Sevastyan said. His voice was tight and it sounded like he was walking outside.
“Ask.”
“IV saline. How could I get it?”
The fine hairs on Ellisandre’s back stood up. The previous day had been rough, but Sevastyan shouldn’t have needed another IV after all that. “Give me your status and location.”
“Not for me. Someone else.” He bit the words off as if he didn’t want to say that much.
Ellisandre glanced back through the glass wall at the meeting. “I can get it for you. Meet me.”
“It’s not for me.”
“Prove it.”
Sevastyan cursed. “How fast can you have it?”
“Tell me what kind you need.”
“IV saline. For dehydration.”
Ellisandre checked the clock at the end of the hallway. “Give me two hours.”
“I can be by the elevators of the parking garage across from your office in two hours, floor two.”
Ellisandre grimaced. There was a lot that Sevastyan could hide from them, meeting in public. “Men’s bathrooms, second floor of the mall.” Ellisandre named cross streets two blocks south of Linda’s office.
“Two hours,” Sevastyan said. He hung up.
Ellisandre took the phone away from their ear and checked the screen, confirming that their boy had really just hung up on them.
He was crashing hard. They’d meant to give him a few more hours before checking on him.
He should have still been asleep. But if he was up scouring the city for medical supplies, he wasn’t caring for himself like he should have been after what they’d been through together the previous night.
But—for the low, low price of saline—they’d have him in their hands in two hours.
Linda’s private doctor would be amenable.
She’d been willing to make medical supplies available previously for at-home care.
Ellisandre dialed the doctor’s direct number.
It went to voicemail. Ellisandre leaned against the wall and checked their messages and email waiting for a call back. It came in ten minutes.
“Ellisandre?”
“Rosie, need to ask a favor.”
“Always, doll, ask away.”
“Can I buy IV saline off you?”
“How much? Just the normal saline, D5NS? Or do you need LR?”
“Both, two liters each.”
“Send a courier over for it. It’ll be boxed up at the front desk like a turkey.”
Ellisandre rolled their eyes. “You’re a lifesaver.”
“Literally a doctor, doll. Tell me something I don’t know.”
Ellisandre snort laughed. “Save that lip for Linda.”
“Nope. Linda’s a good girl. You’re the bitch who insists on drawing their own blood.”
“Your phlebotomist was trained by chimps.”
“My phlebotomist doesn’t have ice in his veins for when holy terrors like you show up. It took two donuts to make him stop shaking.”
“Hire sturdier staff.”
“Try not scaring my staff.” Rosie chuckled. “Now get off the line. I have patients.” The phone clicked off.
Ellisandre shook their head, leveraged themselves upright off the wall, and headed to the front desk to have a courier sent for.
Ellisandre
They arrived early to the mall, but Sevastyan was already there.
He headed for the men’s bathroom as soon as Ellisandre turned down the corridor.
Ellisandre lengthened their stride and went in after him.
No one else was in the restroom. Sevastyan didn’t look back.
He kept walking and entered the handicap stall at the end.
Ellisandre followed, closing the door behind them. Sevastyan turned around. He was dressed for the cold. The wind had gotten to his unshaven cheeks, making him look rough.
Ellisandre held up the bag with the saline. “Convince me this isn’t for you.”
“It’s not.” Sevastyan shook his head. He pulled off his gloves and flexed his hand, turning his wrist over and showing Ellisandre his veins. “I’m fine.”
“Yesterday was rough.”
“Early this morning.” Sevastyan grimaced, then looked down. “I’m taking care of someone.”
“And you can’t take them to a hospital.” It wasn’t a question.
Sevastyan gave the barest shake of his head, confirming the statement.
Ellisandre handed over the bag. “Show me your chest.
Their boy took the bag, looked around, found nowhere to set it, and handed it back.
He tugged off his gloves and worked open the front of his coat.
There was a sweater and a shirt beneath that.
He pulled them up, showing the same bandaging Ellisandre had fixed on him less than twelve hours before.
Ellisandre laid their hand against his chest, feeling his temperature and the pulse of his heart. He felt healthy. Stressed but stable.
“You should be asleep.”
“I will. As soon as I get this started.”
Ellisandre nodded. “Text me this evening. If you don’t, I’ll hunt you down.”
Sevastyan’s eyes crinkled up at the edges, the barest amount of amusement. “I’ll text.”
There was nothing else to say. Even though keeping him here soothed something inside, it wasn’t soothing their boy.
“Go. Take care of what you have to. Then rest.”
Sevastyan bowed his head in acknowledgement and opened the stall, slipping out. Ellisandre waited a full two minutes and went out after. Sevastyan was already beyond sight by the time Ellisandre re-entered the corridor.
Rei