"Well, Ms. Dunbrough, you're sick as well."

"Figures. Caring for Edgar all that time, was bound to happen."

"No doubts... Now, about this bite..."

Boston examined the bite as Merida coughed a little and he moved her arm around to get a better look at it.

"No infection, looks like. Did you put something on this?" She nodded. "What did you put on it?"

"Wee bit of an elixir from my home. Why?"

"Well, considering it's a pretty deep and nasty bite, normally it would bed red and swollen even within this short amount of time mostly just due to it being a bite. The shape and depth of the bite indicates a semi-transformation. The canines are deep, but the shape is small..."

"Is that a good thing then?"

"Yes. Let me clean the wound and if you don't mind, whenever you get the chance, I'd like to look into the ingredients of your little elixir and have some on hand in my bag. Although I am a man of medicine now, I believe in having an open mind about different approaches."

"I ken a bit of the ingredients but ye may have to go to an apothecary to get the rest. Are ye sure ye should be using Old World soothers on ye high-class English patients? I dinnae ken they'd much like ye using a remedy from the Highlands; witches and all." she said with a smirk.

"I'll just say something Latin and they'll be all over it, I'm sure." She chuckled a little bit, coughing into her hand. Boston looked at her for a moment. "Are you and Higgs alright? Your son?" Merida shrugged. "Said that you and Higgs were literally fighting on the floor, hence the bite."

"He hit me first." she said with a glare like a child.

"Ms. Dunbrough..."

"I dinnae ken anything anymore. I kenned I did and now... now I fell all I've done is make things worse! There's a secret I'm missing. I dinnae want all his business an he doesnae want to tell me, but I feel tht without it, I willnae ken his hurt. He just... He willnae talk to me anymore. It's like he's lost his trust in me. He just expects that I'll be leaving him and refuses to try and listen when I tell him I'm not."

Boston wrapped the bite wound with a cotton cloth and then pulled back the sheets to check the scratch that Edgar said she had received. This one was infected, red on the outlines of the scratches and a yellow color to the revealed skin.

"You missed this?" he asked with a raise of the eyebrow.

Merida sat up to see what he was talking about and saw the deep scratches in her thigh.

"Oh... dinnae e'en realize it was there..."

"Does it hurt when I press around them?" Boston did as he had said and Merida hissed from the sting. "I'll take that as a yes. Is this your ointment?" he asked, looking at the small bottle next to Merida.

"Help yerself."

Boston cleaned the wound with medical alcohol and wiped it down and then used some of the ointment she had. She hissed in pain, grabbing hold of Boston's sleeve as the herbs did their work.

"Merciful heaves that burns!"

"I do smell a bit of clove in the mixture." He sniffed it again. "A bit of mint?"

"Ye playing apothecary or ye helping me with my burning leg?!" she growled and then coughed.

"Right, sorry..." He blew on her scratches a little and then put some salve on the scratches, wrapping it up. "About Higgs though... My father would know a bit about what might be going on if you want me to ask?"

"I ken it's something Higgs and I must discuss. Tis his secret; willnae pry to0 much into it too much and have them not completely ken it."

"I understand... Rest up, Ms. Dunbrough."

"Mr. Graves?" He turned back to her. "Ye're turning out to be a fine doctor, like I kenned it. Dinnae ye go running off again from what ye're good at, lad."

Boston grinned. "If I'm as good as you seem to believe, then I believe the term for me would be Doctor Graves."

"Aye, that it is."

***************************

Edgar dabbed the cool rag onto Higgs' face as he tossed and turned in his head, feverish and getting to the hallucination stage. His eyes were red and his face was sunken in, his body fighting sickness. He was covered in sweat and as before, at night, Higgs would turn into his werewolf form and spike the fever higher. The natural higher temperature of the wolf would sometimes cause him to, what Boston called, 'bottom out'. The term referred to the werewolf transformation that would spike the fever so high that it would bottom out his body and turn him back to normal. Normally breaking the fever would be a good thing, but Boston feared this only caused his friend more suffering.

Boston came in and Edgar looked up.

"How is he?" he asked.

"He's tossing and turning in his sleep and he mumbles a lot but except for a few things, I can't really make it out."

"You really shouldn't be in here, Edgar. You could catch this illness again and it would just become a vicious cycle."

Edgar shook his head. "No. They cared for me when I was sick, so I'll take care of them."

"You're a good kid, Edgar... When you grow up, you should be a doctor."

"I'm not smart enough for that, sir. I have to know my letters good and be able to write words and such. No one like me would be able to do it."

"I'm fairly certain Higgs won't keep you from learning. If nothing else, Merida would make him."

"Don't you have to go off and stuff to learn?"

"Well, yes, to boarding school. But you come back throughout the year, so you won't be completely cut off and of course, they could come and see you."

"Maybe... when Mr. Higgs is better."

"Merida..."

Edgar and Boston looked at each other as Higgs mumbled again, indecipherable words.

"How long as Higgs been acting strange towards Merida?"

"You mean him being mean to her? Um, well... Mr. Higgs' uncles came to visit us and one of his uncles is cursed really bad. He was even worse than Mr. Higgs! Merida didn't like that he was treated so badly by everyone else and made it her mission to help him. I think Mr. Higgs got jealous that she was helping him so much and then I think he thought she'd just go and that's all he's been saying about her."

"Merida... please... Don't go... I'm sorry..." Higgs mumbled in his sleep.

"Despite the obnoxiousness, he has a place in his heart for her just as much as she has a place for him." Higgs' eyes fluttered open and Boston smiled. "Hey, welcome back."

Higgs gave him a tired smile. "That's my line." he said practically in a whisper. "Why are you here?"

"I came back for the holidays and find whatever this matter is that's going on between you and Ms. Dunbrough."

He looked away. "She hates me..."

"Who? Merida?"

"Yes... I'm cold..." he said, although doing the opposite and shoving the covers away from him.

Boston pulled them back up, but Higgs moaned the tore them from the bed, tossing them to the floor. Boston made a face as Edgar giggled about Higgs' oxymoronish fever behavior.

"The fever is getting to him. We need something to cool him down more... Do you know if there is an icehouse in town? I can't remember if they made one or not?"

"I think so... I see them riding those little bikes when Merida and I go."

"Go to Lady Margaret's home and see if they can help you get a block of ice for me. Also an ice pick so that I can chip away at it and make ice water. The wolf's temperature is what's making this worse. Regular spring water won't touch the fever..."

"Ice, got it!" he said, jumping down and heading for the door.

"Whoa, wait!" Edgar turned back. "Can you write?"

"Only my letters, not words. I can't spell."

"I need you to get Merida to spell out what's in her ointment as well as maybe something she might know for a fever."

"Right! Ointment! Fever! Chicken! Got it!"

He ran off as Boston ran his fingers through is hair when he realized what Edgar had said. Wait, chicken? Higgs moaned and grabbed Boston's arm.

"I'm so hot but I'm so cold... I don't understand what's wrong with me."

"Well, I have a theory but I don't know if you'll comprehend it at the moment."

"I think I can..." he said, rolling over to face him.

"Father said that when Edgar was sick, you turned into the vampire and fed on him. I believe that's when the sickness entered into your body. But, from father's assessments on Lord Jamison, he concluded that the vampire is immune to sickness. Normally, if you had just been in contact with Edgar, you wouldn't have had a problem, but you fed on him, taking in sickness within his body. That being said, I believe the illness did affect you, but instead of flaring up it stayed in your body, building in intensity until you turned into a werewolf. Again, the werewolf is immune to sickness from an outside source, but since it was already inside you, your humanity activated the sickness but the temperature of your lycanthropy has escalated it to a higher degree. The only reason you aren't dead as of now is due to you being a werewolf."

"Oh..."

"You got none of that, did you?"

"Not really..."

"So... you and Ms. Dunbrough... are you two no longer friends?"

Higgs turned over and moaned again. "She's my friend..."

"Then why did you have such a bad fight with her?"

"She's going to leave me..."

"Why do you think that?" Higgs didn't answer so Boston shook him a little. "Higgs, what makes you think Ms. Dunbrough will leave you?"

"Because I'm a monster dressed up like a man... even you ran away from me..."

"I didn't run away from you." Boston said with a frown. "I went to do schooling so that I could help you."

Higgs shook his head a little. "No, I mean you denied what I was for so long... You were forced to see it..."

"Is that what you think of Merida?"

"No..."

"Then... what is it? I get you've got a fever but you don't really make any sense in general."

"No matter what happens, Boston, no one ever truly stays because they want to. There's a reason they're here. Some out of guilt, others out of duty, others for both... That's all it is... Leave me alone, I want to sleep."

He settled in his covers as Boston watched him and eventually Higgs was sound asleep, breathing evenly. He had a point but Boston had a feeling that that was the issue here: Merida had no reasons to stay other than because she genuinely wanted to help him and it confused Higgs. It was a good enough reason for Boston, who knew he was the 'out of guilt' party Higgs was talking about. He loved Higgs like a brother but his friend was right, he had denied who he really was and then went off to become the doctor he should have been out of guilt. Boston covered his friend up to his waist and waited for Edgar to come back.

*****************************

About an hour or so later that day, there was a knock on the door and Boston opened it. Edgar came in with Fuchsia behind him pulling a small sled.

"Here's the ice you asked for." She said, sliding it across the floor and into the kitchen.

"You couldn't get someone to bring it to us?" he asked, closing the door.

"He said he would but when we told him where he said it was cursed and he wasn't going to bring it. So we got him to lend us a sled and we hauled it. Well, I hauled it, Edgar was holding everything else."

"I was gonna do it but I'm big enough yet..." he said, looking down. "I'm not strong enough."

Boston touched him on the head. "I'm sure you tried your best and there is no shame in that. One day you'll be able to do things like that with no problem. In the meantime, are you here for long Fuchsia- er, Miss Northumberly?"

Fuchsia turned her head at that but said, "As long as I like for today. Tomorrow I have to get ready for a ball or some silly thing mother said I need to attend. Apparently, I am 'getting up in years' when I'm only three and twenty and she wants me to find a husband."

"Well, most women are married when they are eighteen and usually have had children by now..."

"Are you agreeing with her?"

"No, I'm just saying that's why she's pushing you..."

"Well how am I supposed to trust any man in my life when my father and brother turn into different creatures all the time? Not that I'm saying that in a mean way, I'm saying that from a practical standpoint. Just like them, finding someone accepting and alright with the transformations is going to be a tough thing to deal with. I mean, my mother's parents won't even talk to her because of her decision to marry my father and I don't think I've ever seen them."

"That's a shame... Well, if you please, could you start chipping at the ice so that it doesn't melt all over the floor and put the chips into bowls? Your family has an icehouse, yes?"

"Yes but... I'm afraid to go down there alone." Fuchsia admitted.

"You and Edgar start hacking at the ice and when I'm done checking on those two, I'll accompany you to the icehouse."

She nodded as Boston went over to Edgar, who was pulling out different plants and setting them on the table.

"I don't know which one is which, but the plant man gave them to me from my list. I hope it's right... I don't write too good either."

Boston looked at the crude handwriting of the little boy but the words were legible enough to not screw things up for someone reading the list.

"Alright then. I'll go and ask Merida how to make some of this. When you're done sorting things out, help Fuchsia with the ice."

He nodded and Boston went to go check on his patients.

*****************************

Merida was wrapped up in her blanket, coughing harshly. He waited for her to settle down and then pulled back the cover to take a look at her leg. It looked like it was alright for now. She coughed harshly again and moaned, waking up and turning over. She spit into the chamber pot beside the bed and then flopped back into bed, breathing heavily. Seeing Boston, she looked over at him fully.

"What are ye doing in here?"

"I just came to check your wounds, nothing much. We got a block of ice and we'll use the cool water to help with fevers and such... I may have found an answer to your question earlier."

"What question?"

"About Higgs' issue with you leaving."

"Mmm... what did ye find?"

"He mentioned something to me while I was caring for him; he said that almost everyone stays because they feel guilty about something or because they have to. I'm going to add that possibly also, in regards to you and other outside forces, it's to gain something from him. You aren't that sort of person and I think it confuses him that you stay because you want to. He feels that you have to have a motive for staying other than because you want to and whenever that motive is fulfilled (which he can't figure out) you'll leave him."

Merida stared at the wall for a moment and then breathed in shakily.

"Aye, that's a good reason... When we're better, I'm going to have a serious talk with him so we can get back to normal. Jealousy doesnae look good on him and anger isnae my color..."

She fluttered back to sleep and Boston smiled a little. At least someone is comprehensive during their fever... he thought.

********************************

Later that night, Merida felt something in her bed and opened her eyes. It was pitch black so she really couldn't see but she felt someone climbing in her bed. She thought at first it was Edgar but the weight seemed too much for him. She turned and let the moonlight adjust her eyes.

"Mr. Higgs?"

He didn't say anything as he settled down next to her and snuggled into the pillows. She turned over and looked at him as best as she could. She could feel the heat radiating off of him and she touched his shoulder.

"Mr. Higgs, what are ye doing here?"

"I'm cold." He said softly.

"Ye use that excuse often enough for me to ken ye arenae cold."

He didn't answer her and she touched his forehead, finding it extremely hot. She moved his hair back from his head and he opened his eyes, the yellow irises catching the moonlight.

"Ye need to get back yer own bed, Mr. Higgs. We're both sick and yer too hot."

"I don't want to be alone anymore."

Merida wasn't sure if he was talking about now or figuratively. The only information she could gather from his expression was the low set of his eyelids over his lupine eyes, which were slightly glazed enough to tell Merida that he may have been delusional. She wasn't exactly up to mental prowess either, but she didn't feel like fire.

"Please... don't let me be alone anymore... I'm sorry I'm not a good employer and I'm sorry I turn into weird things and- and..."

Merida felt his face and found tears were pouring from his eyes.

"Mr. Higgs-"

"I hate begging and I had pleading, but you're all I've got, Merida Dunbrough... You're the only friend that I can trust in the whole world and if you leave... if you go, I don't know what I'll do. Please... please stay with me a little longer... I can pay you more, if that will help, I- I just... I shouldn't say it and eventually you'll probably use this against me-"

Merida put her hand over his mouth to keep him from talking. She kissed his forehead softly and then kissed his eyes and his cheeks.

"It willnae matter to ye until ye arenae so sick anymore, but I'll still tell ye now: I love ye, Higgs Northumberly. Not romantically, but as a brother, a part of my own family. Ye're my employer and ye're my friend and I dinnae have very many of those that are truly that. Ye are verra special to me and I would give the world for ye. To see ye like this, to see ye in pain and confused about who ye can trust, it pains my heart. I ken a bit about it all now, but ye have to trust me to understand a wee bit more. When all this is over, ye have to talk to me truthfully. I willnae leave ye and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Do ye believe me, Higgs Northumberly?"

"No... How could I believe that when everyone else who has said that has done just that?"

Merida smiled in the dark and turned back over to her side of the bed.

"Because I'm not like most people, am I? Go to sleep, Higgs."