TAGS INCLUDED/ADDED: (Vomiting! Headaches! Cramps! Crying! Alone! Fever!)

This isn't as long as my other two! It's probably about half as long.

When Merritt had gone to visit an old friend from New Jersey two weeks ago, none of the horsemen expected him to bring any form of an illness or virus back. Merritt, obviously, went down with it first. Two days later, Jack went down. Another day later, Henley became ill. Daniel did what any respecting human would do:

He isolated himself away from them all. He would wear a face-mask neck shield things and disposable gloves when he deep-cleaned the apartment every night, while they slept. He wasn't doing it for them, they should have been more careful. He would use a bleach-based spray for the work surfaces (it was meant for food preparation areas) and clean all the door handles with it. Daniel would then hoover all around the room and put any dirty tissues in the bin. Daniel then bleaches the toilet and scrubs the sink. He then pours (probably too much) bleach into the offending bins and leaves them overnight.

Then, he showers and goes to bed. By then, it's around 1 in the morning. He can normally hear footsteps walking around near 9/10 am, but he just rolls over and goes back to bed. Daniel doesn't actually leave his room for the whole day unless he needs to pee or go out for food.

So that's why he is unpleasantly surprised when he catches the same stomach virus as the others about a week after Henley does. Daniel opts to stay in his room for the first 3 days as all he has is nausea and a bad headache. Merritt is the first one to recover. So, he took over the cleaning duties every night and he made sure that his friends were kept properly hydrated and fed.

Daniel soon moved his sick fort to the front room (Henley and Jack were still quite sick with it) and watches trashy tv with them. Jack is at the tail end of the virus, meaning all his has is a super bad headache and small fever. Henley and Daniel are camped on one sofa (the larger one) while Jack is lounging in the small armchair and Merritt is sleeping by the window, much like a cat. By the 4th day, Daniel had permanently moved himself to the bathroom. The others were more recovered than he was, but still ill.

Henley was nursing her headache in her bedroom when she heard the bathroom door shut and lock again. She needed to get some aspirin anyway, so she walked up and out of her room, fighting off a dizzy spell as she moved. Spotting Merritt and Jack in the front room, she knew that it was Daniel who was suffering in the bathroom again. It wasn't a nice stomach virus, but at least it was only vomiting. Henley grabbed an aspirin, swallowed it with a gulp of water and pressed her fingers to her temples. "If it's any consolation, Heners, we both got a killer headache when ours was nearly finished." Merritt said from somewhere in the front room. Henley didn't say anything, but sighed deeply. She then proceeded to walk to the bathroom and gently knock on the door. "Danny? Are you still in there?" She asked, equally as gently. There was a small shuffling sound and the sound of the toilet flushing before the door clicked open. "Sorry, do you need to use it?" A raspy voice asked. Henley stopped herself from gasping at the sight of her on-and-off lover. The bags under his eyes were so dark, it looked like someone had punched him, repeatedly. He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, his hair was damp with sweat, and he was as pale as a sheet. Henley shook her head, "No, I just thought you could do with some company." She spoke, quiet enough so the others couldn't hear her, but loud enough so Danny could. "I'm good. I've not actually puked for the last hour, but I feel like I might. I'm sure you don't wanna see that." He made a move to push the door back, but Henley pushed it back open. Danny didn't resist, and if that wasn't an indication that Daniel was really sick, nothing was. "I'll sit with you. You've helped me with my hangovers before. It's no worse than this," Daniel looked up at her through red eyes, "But your fear of germs?" Henley wiggled herself in and pushed the door shut. "I don't mind. I can always shower again," She clicked the lock shut and sat down on her knees. "C'mon, let's at least make your sick cocoon worthy of sleeping in."

It's not that Daniel didn't appreciate Henley coming in to sit with him while he threw up meals from last week, but he didn't like showing weakness.

He's the lead-horseman, he should be stronger than Atlas himself, and not be brought to his knees begging for death as he leans over the disgusting toilet to dry heave pointlessly for the 18th time that hour. Henley was there, playing with the hair at the back of his head and rubbing his back while he puked.

Daniel hadn't actually eaten anything solid in the last 12 hours, but he had eaten soup. That was brought back up as quickly as it was digested. Henley tried to make him eat some crackers and take some aspirin, but his body rejected it quicker than normal.

His stomach continued to churn and twist and bubble ominously while he tried to take a small nap, which Henley had suggested. "You really should try and sleep, Danny. You haven't really slept much recently." She whispered, trying not to aggravate his already pounding head.

Daniel's eloquent response was a sickly belch which had him throwing up Mondays dinner. Everytime he puked, Henley would flinch slightly. Daniel pulled away from the toilet and rested against the sink cupboards with a groan. He used a paper towel to wipe his mouth. "Henney, you don't need to stay here if you don't want to. I know this is gross," He would say. Henley would dampen the cloth in the cold water, put it on his neck and would sigh. "I don't disagree with you, but you need the help. You don't like Merritt enough to let him do this, and you don't know Jack enough either. You barely let me do it, much less the others."

A sharp cramp would rip it's way through his body and he would be left bending over at the waist, breathing heavily. "Danny?" Henley would ask, reaching her hand out to him. He'd wave her off. "It's fine, I'm sure it's just my muscles."

This is how it went for the next 3 days.

Daniel eventually stopped puking as much, but didn't stop. Henley had left on the Tuesday, nearly a week after Daniel had fallen ill. Daniel moved from the bathroom to his bedroom, still with a bin in case he needed to be sick and couldn't make it to the bathroom in time. He used the group's iPad to watch his Netflix and message them if he needed anything. Jack had dropped in with his meds and some water every now and then, while Merritt dropped off some toast and crackers. Henley had come in during the nights and massaged his temples and the base of his neck to ward of the migraine brewing in the back of his head. This gave him a few hours of sleep every night, but ultimately, Daniel never expected her to stay up all night massaging him. When Daniel's fever hit on the last 4 days of his sickness, it hit him hard.

Henley was in Danny's room, again, massaging his temples to help him sleep more. He just about slept enough before he was ill, now he was barely sleeping at all. Henley could feel his temperature rising, so she went to dampen a cloth in the bathroom. As she got off of the bed, she heard a noise she never expected to hear from the Daniel Atlas: a whimper. His hand blindly reached out for her. "Don't leave me alone as well," he pleaded. Henley felt her heart clench. "I'm just going to get a damp cloth to help your head, I'm only in the bathroom." She gently spoke. "Promise you'll come back?" Daniel whimpered. "I promise," Henley replied. She made sure she was extra quick getting the damp cloth.

Placing it on his neck and continuing with her massage, Henley began thinking. "Danny, why did you think I wouldn't come back?" Daniel glanced up through fever-glazed eyes. "You're gonna think it's stupid," he mumbled, looking away again. "No I won't, I promise," Henley quietly spoke. "My parent's left, my siblings left, my friends left... even you left." Henley's thoughts screeched to a halt. "Wait, you thought I wouldn't come back from the bathroom... because I quit as your assistant over 3 years ago?" She couldn't help the incredulous tone that her body produced. "See, I told you it was stupid." Daniel sniffed and shifted slightly. "Just because I quit as your assistant, does not mean I quit as your friend, Danny. We've been though too much, and you've told me too much for me to just leave. I'm not going anywhere, anytime soon. I swear on my life,"