A/N: There will be more substance in the next few chapters. For now, enjoy Matt whump.

Also, I realize that I wrote out Brett's name as "Brent". I'll have to go back and fix it.

Ch. 13

Chapter Text

Matt ended up staying at Claire's for the evening, if only because she wanted to monitor his condition. She felt confident that Matt's senses about the baby being alive were accurate, but she feared for his own health.

When they'd first found him, he'd felt very warm, yet was always shivering. Clearly, he was getting sick. At the time, Claire was more worried about checking him over to make sure that he wasn't dying, so she'd focused on that. Now, though, things were getting worse.

As the night progressed, Matt went from shivering to coughing and shivering, then to outright shaking. He hadn't admitted to being in any pain, but the speed at which he downed the Tylenol that Claire had given him said otherwise.

At around eight o'clock, Matt had a temperature of 99. Not too high. Claire wasn't worried. But by two am, it had reached 101 and he'd begun to vomit the little that he had in his stomach. Claire wanted to take him to the ER, but Matt begged her not to. It was a difficult choice, but in the end, she decided to let him stay. She could probably get his temperature down herself.

When six am rolled around, she placed a phone call to Jessica. After hearing the details of the situation, the doctor promised to be there soon.

00

Jessica entered Claire's apartment and instantly heard the sound of someone retching. She followed the sound until she arrived at Claire's bathroom. She found that the door was unlocked and pushed it open. Claire was sitting on the edge of her bathtub, gently rubbing Matt's back as he vomited.

The man was pallid and frail looking. He didn't have a shirt on and the way his bones stuck out immediately set off alarm bells in Jessica's mind.

"Thank God you're here," Claire greeted her. She looked worried, which in turn made Jessica nervous. Claire usually kept together pretty well.

"Yeah. No problem," Jessica murmured.

She was surprised when Matt didn't seem to respond to her presence at all. Usually he was very alert, though she supposed that he might be too sick to notice. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before Matt stopped vomiting. When he finished he pushed himself back, then swayed, nearly face planting the toilet seat. Jessica and Claire managed to catch him just in time.

One touch to Matt's skin told Jessica how bad he was.

"He should really be in the ER."

"No…" Matt answered, his voice hoarse, "Please, no."

"He doesn't want the attention I guess," Claire said, though she agreed with Jessica's analysis.

"Yeah. Okay." Jessica looked Matt over once again. "You'd better not die. If you do, I'll be in serious trouble." Her tone was half joking, half serious.

"You know, I had a similar conversation with him a while back," Claire replied.

Jessica rolled her eyes, not at all surprised.

"Let's get him to your bed. He needs to cool down and he needs some fluids. Matt," she said, resting a hand on his shoulder. "We're going to help you stand up, okay?"

"I can walk," he protested.

"How about we skip the part where you try to walk and fall over and cause yourself more injury and you let us help?" Jessica shot back.

"Ugh." Matt's shoulders slumped further. A moment later, he reluctantly allowed Claire and Jessica to help him to his feet.

Slowly and carefully, they led him over to Claire's bed. Matt sighed as his skin touched the nice, soft sheets. He'd been on the couch for most of the evening. The bed was far more comfortable.

"I take it you've tried ice packs?" Jessica asked, batting Matt's hand away as he tried to grab at the comforter. "We need to cool you down."

"I'm already freezing," Matt croaked. The truth was, he gone back and forth from hot to cold all night. Right then, he was cold. In another fifteen minutes he'd probably be sweating.

"I had some on him before he got sick," Claire grabbed a small box from her nightstand and took out three instant-use ice packs. She broke them open and handed two over to Jessica and kept one for herself.

"You get his left armpit and his neck, I'll do his right."

Jessica nodded in agreement and the two women put everything into place. Matt groaned as the cold hit his body and began to shake.

Frowning, Claire pulled a sheet over him.

"It's okay, Matt. We're gonna get you feeling better soon."

Matt didn't respond. He didn't dare move. He was feeling sick yet again and he feared that any movement would make it worse.

00

Over the course of the next hour, Jessica did a series of exams. She took Matt's temperature, shaking her head when it came back at 100.8. It was down a small bit at least. She checked his skin turgor to check if he was dehydrated. He was, so she and Claire set up an IV, hooking it onto a nail in the wall where a picture had previously been hung.

After that was taken care of, it was time to check on the baby.

"He says he can still feel her moving," Claire informed her.

Jessica raised an eyebrow.

"I believe him," Claire added.

"It's possible that it's still alive. Whether or not there's been damage, though…" She trailed off.

"Let's take it one step at a time."

The doctor nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. You're right. Would you mind grabbing my other bag from the living room? I'm going to do an ultrasound on him."

"You brought an ultrasound machine?"

"Sort of. You'll see."

Claire nodded and headed out, returning with the bag a moment later.

Jessica rummaged around in it, pulling out an ultrasound wand, a bottle of gel and something that looked like a smart phone.

"Is that what I think it is?" Claire asked, sounding almost excited.

"Yep. A Mobi SP1. It'll give us a general idea of how things are going, at least."

"I've heard about those! Mind if I watch?"

"Help me prep him, then you can watch."

Jessica plugged the wand into the device while Claire gloved up and spread ultrasound gel on Matt's stomach. He moaned as she did this, enjoying the coldness of it. He was feeling hot again.

"Alright," Jessica told him, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "I'm going to do an ultrasound to see how the baby's doing."

Matt nodded, but said nothing. His eyes were clenched shut. He regretted his movement a second later, feeling bile rising in his throat, but managed to push it back.

"It won't be the best imaging, but we can see if it's still alive."

"She is."

Jessica blinked.

"He thinks it's a girl," Claire explained.

"Right. Okay. Here we go."

Claire stood back and watched as an image came over the device. Both women studied it for a moment, Jessica moving the wand around a bit to get the clearest picture possible.

"Well, you were right, Matt. It's alive."

Matt half-smiled.

"Told...you.." He replied, swallowing back bile again.

"Can you tell its gender?" Claire asked.

"I think it's a girl. Obviously I'd like to confirm on a machine in my office, but that's what it looks like on here. You may have been right about that too, Matt."

"Heh."

"Everything seems okay, on here at least, but I'd really prefer to do a more thorough ultrasound."

Matt twitched, and Jessica thought, for a second that he was going to answer. Instead, he sat up and promptly vomited on himself, the sheet and on Jessica. She moved her hand and the machine out of the way just in time.

"S-sorry," he gasped, breathing heavily, "Couldn't control it. Sorry…"

"It's okay," Jessica replied, repressing a sigh. "It happens."

Matt was still feeling sick, too sick to feel overly embarrassed.

"Take a shirt from my dresser," Claire offered. As she spoke, she was reaching around for the garbage can she kept near the bed. When she found it, she handed it over to Matt.

"Thanks," Jessica replied. She found a suitable shirt and made her way to the bathroom to clean up.

After she left the room, Claire's shoulders slumped. Matt had begun to vomit again and he'd managed to pull out his IV.

"Guess we're going to have to give you something to help the nausea," she said, rubbing his back. "I'll see what Jessica thinks is safe. Really, though, you should be in the hospital."

Matt spit into the waste basket. His stomach muscles were still tight, but he didn't think he was going to be sick again for a while.

"I'm sorry to inconvenience you both so much. If I go everyone will find out."

The sad, pleading look on his face made Claire feel bad. She knew she shouldn't - Matt was being an inconvenience, not to mention how he was putting both her career and Jessica's at risk. Still, he was her friend, and he truly seemed afraid.

"It's okay. We'll do our best, just… Keep following our directions. Deal?"

Matt handed the basket over and laid back down.

"Deal."