Cold.

Blackness.

Cold.

Blackness.

Warmth?

Warmth.

Feeling.

Shivering.

Warmth.

I cuddled into the warmth and received a sharp hiss, before it cocooned itself even tighter to me. I let out a sigh of relief as my whole body trembled, and I felt someone rubbing my back while murmuring soothing words.

I didn't understand a single word they were saying until much later. My body was still slightly shaking, but it wasn't as bad as before. It was more of a few remaining chills popping here and there.

I heard a deep full sigh, a groan, and then a slight loosening of the warmth around me. I slowly tested every single joint in my body, and winced when my toes and fingers ached as I curled them.

"Charlotte?"

My eyes slowly peeled open and I came to see Ian's face inches away from mine. I swallowed some saliva, trying to wet my parched throat, and had a hard time believing he was smiling down at me.

"How are you feeling?"

I shivered slightly as a slight chill ran through me, and I felt his hand rub my back. The softness of the sheet rubbed against my bare back, and I froze when I realized I was practically naked underneath the blanket. My eyes widened, and my breathing stopped when I felt his bare skin on my bare skin.

"Charlotte? What's wrong?"

"Why am I naked?" I whispered so softly, he might as well not heard me. But he did.

He raised an eyebrow and gulped loudly. "Well you aren't completely naked. Neither am I."

"That's not what I asked." I was still whispering.

He sighed and rubbed his hand against my back when I began to shiver again. "You were practically frozen to death when I found you Charlotte. The fire would have not defrosted you in time and it's not like we have a heater in this god damn cabin. Body heat is the best source of heat, for anyone who is in your condition," his voice lowered a tad at the mention of these words, "when no other source of heat is around. If your blood had flushed too fast to your heart, you could have died."

I gulped, not even looking at him. So he was the shadow I had seen. He had undressed me. He had snuggled with me, trying to keep me alive. With a groan, I turned around, and faced the burning fire. My face immediately felt the heat, and I sighed in relief, feeling my muscles relax a bit. His arms were loosely around me, but that was the only part of his body that was touching me. Thank goodness.....

"Thank you," I murmured a few minutes later while I still stared at the fire. My body felt weak, and my drooping eyes were getting impossible to keep open. He responded back, but by that time, I was already under, finally feeling the consequences of my stupidity.

*

*

~Ian's Pov~

I couldn't believe she had done that. I had told her to come in, but her stubbornness got the better of her and now she was laying here, shivering for her life.

I could tell she had fallen asleep again when she didn't respond to my question. Plus her even, hard breathing was making me wonder if there were going to be any other illnesses besides her shivering.

As I stared off into the fire, keeping myself close to her trembling body, -but not too close to become uncomfortable for both of us- I cursed our parents for their stupidity. Why on earth did they decide to send us to this place, for two entire weeks nevertheless! Did they think we would magically come together, fall in love, and then pop some kids? Just because I was trying to be nice to her so this whole year we wouldn't go with us snapping at each other, didn't mean I wanted her.

Damn parents. Playing Cupid when they themselves sometimes had trouble with their marriage.....

A soft cough snapped my eyes down, making me frown in concern. She coughed two more times before she curled up into a tighter ball and hugged herself as the blanket only got looser around her. With a quick swipe, I ran the back of my hand against her forehead and hissed as I felt her temperature.

"No... no you can't get sick! We have no medicine!" I would know. I had to clean up the mess she had made from breakfast when I came inside to warm up the place. There wasn't even a first-aide kit in this goddamn place!

I groaned and quickly got up, wrapping the blankets tighter around her. Within seconds, I was back into my scattered clothes and pacing back and forth, pulling my hair in frustration.

What to do... what to do.... Damn you parents! Damn that guide that took the only vehicle to get the heck out of here!!!

I knew I couldn't move her away from the fire. The bedroom itself was much colder than here, plus it was much faster to run into the kitchen. But we couldn't sleep on the floor. Well I couldn't. And there was no way I would make her sleep on it as well. No one deserved to sleep on the floor, enemy or not. The couches were too small for our bodies; trust me, I had to dangle my feet over the arm just to be able to stretch. So where the heck where we-

My eyes snapped to the room and I quickly looked back at her. Without another thought, I picked her up, placed her on top of a couch, and began to move stuff. It took me much longer then I wanted, since I had to keep on feeding the flames ever so often and Charlottes cough had me checking up on her every time, but after a while, I finally did it.

Once in the freezing room, I yanked the remaining sheets away from the mattress and began to pull whatever I could back to the spot I had made in front of the fireplace. I made sure everything was feet away from the open flame, and even threw the gate up to prevent any of the big logs from rolling off before I placed her down on the makeshift bed.

Another quick swipe to the forehead told me her temperature had just gotten higher within the few hours I was working. With a groan, I stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed the first hand towel I saw. I ran it under water, cursing when my warm fingers touched the icy liquid, then quickly brought it back to her.

"Why are you so damn stubborn Charlotte?" I whispered as I slowly dabbed the cold cloth over her forehead. "Why?"

*

*

~Charlottes pov~

Pain.

Headaches.

Chill.

Hot.

They all rotated in turns, making me want to cry some tears from my dry eyes. The cough that escaped from my burning throat only made the headache worse, and I groaned.

"Char.... Char..... eat...... otte..... on!" I felt something warm pressed against my lips and they slowly opened with great effort. Hot, liquid slowly filled my dry mouth, and I automatically swallowed, tasting chicken. ".....open up."

I groaned and curled up even more into a ball, feeling something shift on my forehead. I heard a deep sigh, water dripping into more water, and then something cold being dabbed on my forehead for a few seconds.

"Come on Charlotte. You need to eat."

It took me a while with the ache in my body, but I managed to peel my eyes and look at who was talking to me. Lifeless, blue eyes looked down at me. The dark bags were prominent on his face, especially with his pale complexion. All in all, he looked like shit.

He coughed twice in his elbow -spilling a little bit of whatever he had on the bowl in his hands- and then looked back at me.

"Come on. You need to eat."

I could barely understand him over his stuffed nose. I myself couldn't breathe through my nose as well, so I knew how he was feeling. But how did he get sick so fast? It's only been a day since my dumb act, right?

"Charlotte...." he groaned and placed the bowl on the floor. I just then noticed the difference of the room; every piece of furniture was off to the side, and the single mattress we were both on was in front of a dying fire. There was a huge pile of ash off to the side, and another pile of what looked like toilet paper away from it.

"Charlotte look at me." I looked back at him to see him finish blowing his nose and then throwing the paper with the rest I had just seen. "Char-"

I gasped as his figure just slumped next to me, exhaustion clearly written on his face. I quickly sat up, groaning when the room spun while my body screamed out in pain.

"Ian...." I whispered out, having no energy to raise the volume of my voice. "Ian...." I shook him and sighed when I got no response.

Great. Now he was sick too. I could still feel a fever all around my body, but it was manageable; it was nothing compared to the pain I had experienced from some of my stunts.

It took some effort, but I managed to move his heavy body closer to the dead fire. I basically zombie walked the three steps towards the fireplace, and sneezed multiple times when I began to move the ashes with the stick. Many coughs and groans later, I had a fire going, and a brand new headache forming on my temples.

How long has it been? Has he been taking care of me and himself for more than two days?

My thoughts were answered by the mess I found in the kitchen. Scraps of vegetables all around the counter, pots and plates here and there, and empty water bottles on the floor since the trash can was overfilled.

What had happened?

His strong coughs and groans from the other room made me shuffle back and wrap the sheets even tighter around him.

"You took care of me, now I'll take care of you," I whispered as I rubbed his burning forehead. If only I could now muster the energy to do it.....

___________________
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Welp.... there you have it. I have a monstrous headache right now, so I apologize if it's all funky and stuff.

I believe Ian just earned some trust points, huh? *smiles* Who would have ever thought he would do that?

Anyways, like I said in the previous chapter, if anything is unordinary, just go along with it. I'll fix it and make it more believable once I go back and edit it. For now, I just want this show on the road and make it interesting for y'all! Lol

Days, events, and things like that will be answered in the next chapter. Don't know when that will be, but comment your top three favorite candies if you want another update soon. Mine are snickers, Twix, and the ferrero rocher chocolates ahaha. I HATE dark chocolate *shudders*

Comment. Vote. Love. Share with friends!!

Thank you!