(no subject)

[gonna_live]

Kaylee knows what's to come: if she's not careful, if they're not lucky, everything will settle in his lungs and he'll die.

Kaylee isn't going to let that happen.

Kaylee sends a wave.

hey jordie this is kind of an emergency and I need you to trust me and not ask too many questions so check out the attached vid.

he is real sick with the damp-lung which he said you call CPB here. I will tell you how he got it once we can talk face to face but if you know what it is like in adults at all we do not have the time to waste with me getting all the germs off me and coming out to you and that's even assuming I could leave him alone which I can't and you know why. you are not safe from this unless you got the second shot simon says. he did not which is why he is like this now. I have seen folks through this illness before and I can do it now but there are things I need.

if you can get these to our door we will owe you so many favors. and I will give you answers I promise.

- something to make you cough up the yellow stuff
- nickel chrome wire 80-20
- a real big stock pot, big as you can find
- enough plastic sheeting to cover a bed tent-like, and I can splice them together so don't worry about a whole one
- paracetamol because we are running low
- soup
- juice
- something cool for his throat and sweet too
- crackers for the soup
- tissues
- mag salts (they might have a different name? i don't know? they're the ones you soak in and it relaxes you for a bit and takes the ache out)
- coffee and a lot of romance stories or if you can't bring yourself then something good to read because he is sleeping a lot

please please please let me know. I will find another way if you cannot. and I can set up a temp account and give you access to it if you want. let me know. and if you are bored you could even get the shot ha ha.

thank you jordie

The return wave comes, and it's short:

I'll be there this afternoon. Let's talk through the door. No answers now.

I have an appointment for the vaccine tonight. You call me if you need anything regardless.

See you soon.

She runs her hand over her face again, looks down at the plans, nods, and minimizes the window.

***

Kaylee touches Simon's forehead. It's a lot cooler.

"Hey. Handsome. I got something for you."

Jordie came by, and came through: there's a steaming cup of coffee on the bedside table. (It's not the only thing that's steaming. Kaylee's in shorts and a tank top, and her hair's frizzed. A lot.) She feels like a new woman.

"Come on. You got to wake up. Simon."

Comments

[gonna_live]

Kaylee pauses for a moment after she stands to consider this.

"It's got to be some kind of inside joke." She shakes her head. "You'll see."

She picks her way around the edge of the bed, giving the stock pot a wide berth, and slips between the two layers of plastic and out of the room.

[simon_doctor]

Simon takes another swallow of water while he's waiting.

Inside joke? he wonders.

[gonna_live]

She returns a moment later carrying what appears to be a folded blanket. There's a piece of paper in her other hand, which she holds out. "This was on top."

In a terrible, barely-legible scrawl:

I expect to get this back.

Meanwhile, Kaylee's unfolding the blanket. It's dark brown, with a lighter-brown pattern on it (and medium brown shading).

It appears to be a monkey who is also a cyborg shooting down a helicopter.

She holds it up for his perusal.

[simon_doctor]

Simon ... stares.

And begins to laugh.

[gonna_live]

"...looks like I called it," Kaylee says, and drops the blanket on him.

[simon_doctor]

He's still laughing, and doesn't slack off until the cough starts to threaten in earnest.

"I don't believe it," he manages finally, his voice weak with residual effort. "She actually made it. That must have been ..."

One last tiny puff of laughter escapes his lips.

[gonna_live]

Kaylee sits down gracefully and picks up her coffee again.

[simon_doctor]

"Years ago," he says, by way of explanation. "There was ... some video, I don't even remember the name of it. And Jordie invited all of us over to watch it together."

He runs his fingers over the handmade blanket, tugs it a little closer.

"It was the kind of thing with chases and explosions and a lot of unrealistic gunfights. And --" Amused. "A cyborg monkey. Which was central to the plot, I think."

[gonna_live]

Kaylee looks bemusedly from Simon to the blanket.

"Well."

"I guess I read stuff that don't give me much room to talk."

[simon_doctor]

"And once it was finished ... all right, strictly speaking, while it was going on and once it was finished ... we were arguing about it. How much sense it made, or not, and whether the things that happened in it were even physically possible. And I think Dunash made some interesting points about the story's moral compass...."

He's smiling, distant and fond and reminiscent.

"But Jordie kept saying things like, who cares, did you see the part where the monkey shot down the helicopter, that was the best thing ever."

[gonna_live]

"I'm with him," Kaylee says. "Talkin' during vids is rude."



"Unless you got somethin' funny to say."

[simon_doctor]

"This was after," he says.

"And the whole time, Rika was crocheting a baby blanket with a double-helix pattern on it, as a present for a friend. And at some point Jordie asked her if she would make him a blanket with a cyborg monkey on it."

He doesn't laugh this time, but there's a note of it in his voice. "And I guess she did. It must have been a surprise."

[gonna_live]

"Certainly not what you'd call a traditional gift," Kaylee agrees.

[simon_doctor]

That gets another (slightly raspy) chuckle. "No, but -- I meant it was a surprise for him, because she didn't tell any of us she was making it."

Pause.

"Or at least she hadn't," he adds, just a touch too lightly, "the last I heard, that year."

[gonna_live]

Kaylee's gaze sharpens.

"Meanin' that's about when you left," she says.

[simon_doctor]

"A little while before," he says quietly, "yes. About a month or two before I stopped talking to people."

He's running his fingers over the blanket again, feeling its smooth-pebbled texture.

"I wonder when she gave it to Jordie. I'll have to ask him."

[gonna_live]

She nods.

"You know -- he's gettin' himself vaccinated tonight, he said. Just in case."

[simon_doctor]

Simon nods. "That's probably wise. ...I should wave him."

[gonna_live]

Kaylee eyes him severely.

"If I let you do that you have to promise not to study."

[simon_doctor]

He blinks at her for a moment, and then slowly winces and presses two fingers to the corners of his eyes.

Muffled: "I don't think I could, yet. I've already lost three days."

[gonna_live]

"...and you've been reviewin' this stuff since January and you're all kinds of smart," Kaylee points out. "It'll be okay."

[simon_doctor]

A very small but very heartfelt groan.

"The exam is in ... a week and a half," he mutters. "All right. There's still time."

Beat.

"Not now, though. I promise."

[gonna_live]

"Okay," Kaylee says, and produces it from under the bed.

"...can I ask you a favor?"

[simon_doctor]

"Dangran."

He waits to hear her out before reaching for the datareader.

[gonna_live]

She nods to the far side of the bed. "Mind if I take over my spot for a bit? -- and I only want to sleep as long as it takes you to send that. Will you wake me up?"