Better Partner Next Time Around

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story. Merely having a little fun with them.

Summary: Kotetsu's been running himself ragged as Wild Tiger and it's finally caught up to him.

Warning: Use of language.

"Another job well done boys. Granted Barnaby seems to be the one pulling all the weight around here, but you did well too Wild Tiger. Might I have a few words with you before you go Barnaby? You can go Wild Tiger."

The spokesperson for Wild Tiger and Barnaby Jr. said before moving around his desk to speak with Barnaby alone. Tiger barely gave them a look before he slowly made his way out of the office. He was so tired. He could barely keep his eyes open. He was also pretty sure he was running a fever. He kept feeling hot one minute and then cold the next during their fight with the androids that were loose on the city. Barnaby Jr. gave one ear to the spokesman, but he watched as Tiger walked away. He could tell something was wrong, he just wasn't sure what it was.

"Hey Ben? Any chance I could get a ride home?" Kotetsu asked tiredly into the phone.

"Hey! Sure man. Anything for my favorite hero. You know that. I'll be there to pick you up in five." Ben responded and hung up the phone.

Kotetsu made his way to the elevators and pressed the button for down. He was just glad he was the only one on the lift. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes a minute. He was so sleepy, he was willing to sit on the floor and rest there. When the lift got to the bottom floor, he slowly opened his eyes and made his way out of the building. Thankfully Ben was waiting for him at the curb.

"Hey, you alright? This last battle get to ya? Do I need to drop you to the hospital instead of home?" Ben asked worriedly.

"No no. I'm just tired. Gonna grab some shut eye and be right as rain tomorrow." Kotetsu said and leaned his head against the window of the car when Ben started for his home.

It only took about fifteen minutes to get there, but somehow Kotetsu managed to fall asleep.

"We're here. You make sure you go straight to bed."

"Thanks. How much is it?"

"After you saved us today? No charge. Just take care of yourself. Call me when you need me again."

Kotetsu nodded and turned to walk the rest of the way towards his place. He was nearly there when a dizzy spell over took him. He reached out for something to catch his fall, but there wasn't anything there. He hit the ground fairly hard and just allowed himself to lay there. He wanted to close his eyes, just for a minute. He wasn't bothering anyone, but he knew he couldn't stay out on the cold ground. With a sigh and a wince, he pushed himself up to his knees. He started to fall back down, but two arms caught him.

"Tiger? What's wrong? Are you drunk? You don't smell like alcohol. Let's get you off this ground and inside."

Kotetsu blinked. He was confused and tried to help whoever it was trying to help him, but to no avail. He realized they were inside after a bright light hit him in the face.

"Come on. Lean against me. There you go. Man, you're burning up. Let's get you to the couch."

Kotetsu sighed as his back hit his couch. Finally, he was laying down.

"Hey. Hey! Can you hear me?"

Kotetsu moaned, but he'd allowed his eyes to close and they decided that weren't opening again.

"Come on man. I need you to work with me or I'm taking you to the hospital."

Whoever it was sounded bossy. Kotetsu knew he didn't want to go to the hospital so he forced himself to open his eyes.

"Bison?"

"Yeah man. Come on. Take these pills. We've got to get that fever down."

Kotetsu was confused and it showed on his face. Bison had taken a few minutes after getting Kotetsu to the couch and went in search of something he could give to Tiger in order to get his fever down.

"These were the only pills I could find in the house that weren't expired. Even then, these were pretty close and they're your last ones."

A shiver ran down Kotetsu's back as Bison helped him sit up enough so he could take the pills. Once he'd chased them with water, Bison helped him to lay back down and ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm not sure I shouldn't take you to the hospital anyway."

Kotetsu didn't respond. He merely shivered some more and Bison went to find a sheet that he could lay over the prone man. Frowning, Bison looked through his hero numbers and called Barnaby Jr.

"This is Barnaby."

"Hey, any chance you could swing by the store for some medicine or swing by Tiger's so I can get some while you watch him?"

"What? What's wrong with Tiger?"

"He's come down with something. Found him on the street trying to get up. His fever's pretty high. I just gave him the last two pills he had in this place that wasn't expired."

"I thought something was off. Sure, I'll stop by the store. What are his symptoms?"

"Right now, a pretty high fever. I'm about to make him more comfortable now. You may want to get something for pain too. This looks like it hurt."

Bunny frown in confusion.

"What looks like it hurt?"

"I've begun taking his shirt off and he's got a pretty big bruise on his side. Hold on. Don't fight me man. I'm trying to help you."

Bunny guessed that last part was to Tiger.

"I'll get the medicine and whatever else I think he may need and head your way."

"Thanks. Sorry about this."

"Not a problem. We're all friends. I'm just sad that as his partner, I didn't pay that much attention after I noticed something was wrong."

"I'm sure you helping him now will more than make up for it. We'll see you when you get here."

Barnaby nodded, then realized that Bison couldn't see it.

"Yeah."

They hung up and Barnaby quickly got his car keys and wallet and made for the nearest corner store.

"Hey, I'm gonna get your pants off now. Stop trying to fight me."

Kotetsu tried to fight, but he just didn't have the strength. That and he was really tired. Bison got his pants off and frowned when he saw another bruise on Tiger's hip.

"I'm not gonna find out how far that goes down, but it looks like it hurt."

As if to reassure him, Tiger wince and tried to pull away from him.

"Barnaby's on his way with more meds for you. You get some sleep."

Tiger merely tried to find away to get more comfortable and fell into a deeper sleep. Give or take a few minutes, it had taken Bunny forty minutes to get supplies and then make his way over to Kotetsu's place. He knocked softly as he thought Tiger may be asleep. Bison answered the door and showed Bunny in.

"How's he doing?"

Bison sighed and shook his head. There was a bowl with water and a towel in it on the coffee table. Bison had been trying to get Tiger's fever down, but it wasn't working very well.

"Let's hope you got him some good stuff. If not, we'll have to get him to the hospital."

Bunny brought out the bags he had been holding and gave one of them to Bison while he took the others to the kitchen. He made quick work of putting everything away while Bison sat at Tiger's feet and tried to figure out what to give him first.

"Kaede... please. I'm sorry I work too much... Kaede? Kaede!"

"Kotetsu! It's okay. You're only dreaming."

Bison grabbed the washcloth and wiped it over Tiger's forehead, removing all the sweat he could, but Kotetsu was producing more.

"Who's Kaede?"

Bison turned his attention to Bunny and the glass of water he walked in with. Bunny gave the glass to Bison who took it and looked to the medicine he'd finally decided on. He helped Kotetsu sit up and take the medicine, chasing it down with water and laid him back down again.

"Let's hope this works, 'cause if it doesn't..."

They both watched Kotetsu twitch and groan as if he were fighting something they couldn't see.

"So who's Kaede?"

Bison looked back at Barnaby and just looked at him a minute.

"She's his daughter."

Bunny looked shocked for a minute then gave a small smile and shook his head.

"Guess we'll give the medicine time to work and check on him a little later. I've got him if you've got something else you need to go do. Probably should let the others know that Tiger's out of commission for a while."

"Yeah, I guess I should go."

"Thanks for the meds. I'll be sure to let him know you were a big help."

Bunny frowned a little at the last statement, but said nothing as he turned to leave.

"I left him soup and some other foods you only want to eat when you're sick."

Bison nodded and turned his attention back to Tiger when he cried out. He ran the towel over his forehead again and sighed.

"Thanks again. Have a good night."

Barnaby Jr. nodded and turned, leaving the apartment. He took a deep breath once he was outside. He didn't envy Bison's loyalty to Tiger, but he thought he should feel bad because he hadn't asked to stay as Tiger's partner. He called everyone to let them know about Tiger and that any calls for him would have to be given to himself or the others. There were many well wishers and Blue Rose offered to check on him when she wasn't busy. He told her to take that up with Bison and she sounded surprised that he wasn't the one taking care of Tiger. Bunny sighed once more and made his way to his own home. Once he got there, he took a shower and got ready for bed.

"I gotta take him in. He's not getting better. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was getting worse."

Bunny had received this message from Bison a week after he'd delivered the items to Tiger's home. He'd been so busy as a hero he hadn't taken but one day out of that week to check in on his partner.

"How is he? Any change?" Bunny asked.

Bison looked up from the magazine he was reading to see Barnaby at the door to Tiger's room. He looked over at the man laying in the bed and sighed.

"He's been better."

Bunny nodded and stepped inside the room. He walked over to stand beside Kotetsu and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You hang in there old man."

"Not... o-old."

Bison dropped his legs from the bed and leaned forward. Bunny looked down at Tiger.

"Tiger!" Bison exclaimed.

"Old man."

Kotetsu winced slightly and turned to see where he was.

"Damn."

"Sorry man, it was bad."

Bison looked at Kotetsu for a moment and Kotetsu looked back at him before sighing. He then turned his attention to Bunny.

"How ya feelin'?" Barnaby asked.

"Like I got run over by a truck. What happened?" Kotetsu asked.

"You got sick and Bison here had to take care of you." Barnaby said.

Kotetsu sighed and leaned back against his pillows.

"Don't worry. You'll be back to your old self again."

"… not old."

Bison and Barnaby laughed softly as Tiger fell back to sleep.

"He'll be alright." Bison said.

Barnaby merely nodded before taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

"I'll be sure to be a better partner next time."

Bison nodded at Barnaby's words.

Thank you for reading. Leave a review if you desire. Until next time...