Ty watched Seto pull the thermometer and made a face. "Oh boy," he said looking at the temperature. He placed a cold wet rag back on Sky's forehead and sighed.

"How did you manage to catch every sickness in the base in one afternoon? You have Mitch's strept throat, Jason's stomach bug, Ty's bronchitis, Ian's migraine problem, and everything else..." Seto said looking at Sky who smiled sheepishly then groaned as a wave of pain spread through his head.

"How long will he be out of comission?" Ty asked, looking back at Seto.

"Good couple of days, maybe weeks? Actually, no, not maybe. Definitely more than a week." Seto said, Sky snapping up.

"What?!" Sky exclaimed holding his head. "I can't be out for that long!" Seto used his magic to shove Sky back down.

"Yes you can. Team Crafted will work to run the base until you're better. Ty, can you handle the first day?"

"Of course!" Ty said.

"No, he can't!" Sky cried out hoarsly.

Seto rolled his eyes. "You better. I'll tend to Sky and let the team know what's going on. Here's Sky's agenda for the day. Now get to the meeting room. The Bacca tribe Elder's are waiting." he said, handing Ty a sheet of paper.

"What if I need help? Not that I will of course." Ty said, seeing Sky's panicked face.

"Just call me on your earpiece." Sky said quickly before Seto could answer.

"Ok got it. Off to command! I won't let you guys down!" Ty smirked as he walked out the room.

Seto and Sky sat in silence for a bit before Seto piped up. "10$ he'll start a war by 12:00." he smirked as Sky groaned.

~~~~~~

Ty walked into the meeting room to find the bacca Elders waiting rather impatiently. "12 minutes and 23 seconds late, your commander is. What is the hold up?" One snapped.

Ty was surprised. "Oh, Sky isn't going to make it today. He's-"

"Ugh! Rude that one is! Just like the one before him! Shooing us away without even telling us the change of plans!" Another growled.

"No, no! That's not it, he's just really sick today." Ty said finding it hard to say anything. Did they really hust say that about the guy who offered them protection and has saved each of them more than once? Maybe they kept seeing him as some stupid kid loke when he was apprenticed. (another omage to Thalia Kal on DeviantArt.)

"When will he be better?! When can we meet with him?!" The first snapped again.

Ty let out a breath. "Unless you want to wait a couple weeks, he's not atteneding any meeting any time soon. I will be doing his duties for today, whether you like it or not." Ty growled, recruits in the room paling.

The first elder looked at him. "What?" It growled, baring teeth.

A recruit hurried out the room after chatting with one worriedly. "Sorry. That was uncalled for." Ty said getting the message from the guard at the door.

"Indeed, boy. Another stunt like that, and your commander can forget our trade post with eachother all together." He growled.

Ty paled. So much for not letting him down. "Yes, sir. I apologize." he said.

The bacca's leaned back. "Now then, get down to business."

Ty looked at the files Sky had given him.

Bacca Trade Negotiation

The villages and forts beside us are in need of medical herbs and spices. They also need more lumber. Tensions between Bac's and the villages are increasing. Work out some way to lower them.

"The villages and forts around you are in need of spices and herbs. We need you to expand to them."

"No deal."

"What? Why?" Ty said, a bit shocked. He sae their snarls and cleared his throat. "I mean, may I ask why not?"

"The villages too rude. They do not respect our ancestry and our customs. We shall only give to the forts." The first said.

"But the villages need those herbs! They need them for medicine!"

"Only forts."

Ty sighed and turned as Jerome and the recruit walked in. He looked at the elders then at Ty.

"What are you doing here?" the second implied.

"I'm here to help Ty with the trade discussion. He's a bit new to this." Jerome said, sitting down beside a much relieved Ty.

"We can tell. Rude this one is."

Jerome stared at Ty with wide eyes. What did you do!?

Ty shrugged. "The villages and Forts need spices and herbs, but they refuse to give it to the villages."

"Oh yeah. I can understand that. The customs and such." Jerome said.

"Well have you made an effort to teach them?" Ty asked the group.

They said nothing.

"I have an idea, what if we have a festival celebrating Bacca culture? Then it would ease tensions between the two of you." Ty said. Jerome nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, me and Mitch could host it!" He said the tribe leaders looked at eachother.

"Very well. We can have the festival." they said.

"Perfect. I'll set the date and get the village represenatives to plan and get set up." He said making notes in the notebook.

The next hour of the meeting was them popping ideas about the festival and seeming genuinely excited about it. Ty sighed as he and Jerome stepped out of the room.

"Sky deals with that all the time, huh?" Ty asked Jerome who was also sighing in relief.

"Yup. Only a couple of times have they pushed him over the edge, and they apologized greatly after Sky gave them some...choice words."

Ty sighed and looked away feeling bad for thinking those meetings were so easy. His phone buzzed in his pocket.

Adam

Hey, how did the meeting go? Did you offend them? What did you agree on?

Ty texted back quickly,knowing Sky was about to have a heart attack.

"How's he doin'?"

"Hm?"

"Sky. How's he doin'?"

Ty shrugged. "I dunno, he looked and sounded awful the last time I saw him. I promised him I could take his job over until he got better, but I don't think I can. I wasn't trained like he was. I don't have the patience or the training or anything like Sky does."

"I'd say you handled that pretty well." Jerome said.

"Jerome, I almost started a war."

Jerome looked away. "Yeah...but the rest was good for a first timer." he said making Ty smile. "You sure that's all?"

Ty's smile faded. "What do you mean?"

"Like, that's the only thing on your mind? You've been kinda resistent towards Sky lately. He gives you a job and you wait last minute, you don't follow the mission plans on scout trips, you're like the kid that wsnts to act out in class to make the teacher angry."

Ty glared at him. "I have to go." he hissed before leaving Jerome.

"This is hoing to end badly." Jerome sighed.

~~~~~

Ty made it into the cafeteria to find Sky's sister sitting at the table with a coffee mug in her hands. He took a deep breath.

"Hey Charlotte!" ((not sure what her real name is)) he called,getting her attention.

She looked up and waved. "Hey Ty! Where's my brother?" She asked giving him a quick friendly hug.

"Yeah, uh, about that...he's super sick today and can't make it. So I came instead." He said sitting down beside her.

She groaned. "I knew he hadn't gotten sick yet. Well, uh, thanks for letting me know. I'll grab him a 'get-well-soon' apple."

"Don't do that, haven't you hesrf an 'apple a day keeps the doctor away?'" He chuckled as she laughed as well.

"Maybe a slice of cake then." she laughed. "Just tell him we can reschedule it when he's feeling better, kay?" She said getting up. "It's kind of a personal thing."

Ty nodded. "Yeah, I figured as much. Have you already eaten?"

"Yeah, but we can still talk until you need to leave." She said sipping her coffee and sitting back down.

He smiled. "Yeah sure. So uh, I have a question."

"Shoot."

"Did Adam ever steal the spotlight in your family?"

She laughed. "There was no spotlight to steal, Ty. If you were the center of attention, you were in trouble or about to be taken to the hospital." She laughed half-heartedly. "Is that why you've been acting so funny around him?"

Ty looked up. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about, Ty."

He sighed. "How'd you find out."

"He told me over the phone he was really worried about you. He was sure he had upset you and you were mad at him." she said stiring in some sugar.

Ty looked away. "It's just I feel so unappreciated by him with the way he bisses me around and he's always tired and conplaining about the day with Jason or something. I guess I've been kinda jealous." He said looking away.

She laughed. "Jealous? Ty, he has nothing to be jealous of! He had a pretty crappy childhood, he's suffocating in work, and he's freaking out because recruits are getting mad at him and leaving and the base is getting small. Not tp mention he's worried sick about you."

"Ty, if anything Adam needs the day off. He's so stressed out lately it's hard to see him like he is. That's why you need to be there for him. He so insecure on the inside about his friends and his job, he's gonna break soon." She said looking into Ty's eyes.

He sighed and looked away. "But he's seems like he's always got it together."

"Some people get so good so good at wearing masks they forget to take it off." She said looking away.

Ty understood as he nodded. "I get it now... Because I'm feeling childish, Sky's tearing himself apart worried sick about me."

Charlotte smiled kindly. "Maybe you should talk to him about it tonight."

Ty smiled. "I probably will...Thanks for the talk Charlotte." he said standing up out of the seat.

She smiled. "No problem, Ty. It's good to talk." She said getting her things.

~~~~~~

Ty whistled as he finished the last of Sky's paperwork. He stood up and left Sky's office and went over to said man's room.

He knocked gently on the doorbefore coming in to find Sky playing Candy crush on his phone, looking worse than before. He looked up tiredly and smiled before coughing heavily.

"H-Hey T-Ty..." He said hoarsly.

Ty winced. "Hey man..." he said with a smile. "Feeling any better?"

Sky shook his head no. "Everything either hurts or is just stuffy. I feel awful." He coughed with a smile. "It sucks."

Ty giggled. "Yeah."

Sky smiled. "How was it?" he asked straining to sit up.

"Good. Jerome had to help me with the Bacca's, but in the end we worked out a good way to ease the tension."

"That's incredible Ty! My mistake for not...warning about them." He smiled sheepishly. "And the squid meeting?"

"They didn't bother to show up. Got a message at like, 5:00 saying the weren't gonna make it. You know, two hours later?" he laughed.

Sky snorted and laughed before breaking into a coughing fit making Ty eince and hold him steady, rubbing his back gently. "Th-thanks..." Sky muttered out, laying back down.

"I'm sorry." Ty blurted out, making Sky look up in surprise.

"I've been acting so childish for the past month or so, and now you're sitting here practically dying while I'm sitting in your chair, in your desk, in your job, and I don't deserve that...I never thought once about how I affected you or how tough your job was until today...and...and..."

Ty hugged Sky tightly and began to sob. Sky hugged him back with tears in his eyes. "T-Ty, I'm not gonna die! And it's ok, really! I'm not mad! Really! Really it's not a big deal! I forgive you!" Sky choked out hugging his best friend back.

They stayed like that for 15 minutes or so before Ty let go and wiped his eyes. "Sorry..." He said.

Sky smiled and wiped his. "No, no it's ok. Really." He said, Ty norcing he hadn't atqopped crying.

"Then why are you still crying?"

"Because I thought I had done something that made you hate me! I'm hust so relieved..." He said wiping his eyes. He lied back down on the bed. "Thank you Ty..."

"For what?"

"Making me take a sick day." he smiled as he began to fall asleep.