It was like any other day, really. They would meet at McClaren's for a few beers after work, Barney would try to hook Ted up with somebody, but Ted wasn't really interested. Just a normal day, right? No. Not for Ted Mosby. Something was off about him on this particular day, and the rest of the gang was concerned. Except Barney. Barney figured Ted just needed a woman, but that wasn't the case. They had waited at McClaren's for Ted to show up, and he finally did show up about an hour later. Barney wanted to play "Have You Met Ted", but Ted wasn't in the mood. Ted just sat in the booth, nursing his bottle of beer, pretending to be interested in what the others were talking about. After about forty-five minutes, Ted decided he wanted to go back upstairs to his apartment. He wasn't feeling too good, and he just wanted to go to bed.

"But, Ted, it's only nine o'clock," Robin said, looking at her watch.

"I'm tired, okay? I'll see you guys tomorrow."

With that, Ted left the bar. The others all looked at each other in concern.

"What's with him," Marshall asked.

"Like I said, he needs a woman," was Barney's reply.

Lily shook her head. "No, it's not that. Ted's usually not like this."

"Maybe he had a bad day at work," was Robin's guess.

They all agreed that was probably it, and figured tomorrow he would feel better and tell them what was wrong. It was probably nothing. Ted usually wasn't the type to get depressed about anything. No. They weren't worried. Yet.

MEANWHILE...

Ted was in the bathroom, vomiting into the toilet bowl. He was amazed that he was able to keep it down in the bar. Sure, he ordered a beer, but the others didn't seem to notice that he wasn't drinking it. Just the smell alone made him want to be sick right there and then. Once he was done, he flushed the toilet, and brushed his teeth, got a drink of water, and went to bed. His body was freezing! He ached all over.

Ted cried himself to sleep.

THE NEXT MORNING

Marshall and Lily sat at the table, eating their breakfast. A bowl of Cocoa Puffs. They were still in their pajamas. It was Saturday, and they had the day off. They were both reading different sections of the newspaper.

"I wonder if Ted's feeling any better," Marshall asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I heard him get up in the middle of the night, and he was throwing up."

Lily dropped her spoon into her bowl.

"Okay, I've lost my appetite."

"That's why he was acting so weird last night. He has a stomach virus or something."

Lily stood up. "I'll go check on him.

Lily walked into Ted's bedroom, and saw Ted was still sound asleep. He had the blankets completely wrapped around him. Lily walked over to him and felt his forehead. Oh, poor guy! He was burning up.

"Ted, wake up," Lily said in a gentle voice.

"Mmm?"

"I need to give you some medicine to break your fever."

"I'veafever?"

"What?"

"I have a fever?"

"Yes."

Ted slowly sat up, but even doing it slowly made the room spin. Lily brought Ted some medicine, as well as a thermometer. She knew he had a fever, but it didn't hurt to check was it was.

"Oh my gosh, Ted! It's 103.4!"

Ted didn't care. All he wanted to do was go back to sleep. Lily asked for Marshall's help, and together, they put Ted in the bathtub. The water was freezing cold! Ted tried to jump out, but they told him no, they needed to cool him down. Once he was cooled down, they put him in clean pajamas and then put him back to bed.

"Thanks a lot, guys, now I'm even colder than I was before!"

"It was for your own good, Ted," said Marshall.

They let Ted get some more rest, and then went to shower and get dressed. Normally, they would go down to McClaren's or maybe catch a movie on their day off, but not today. They were worried for their friend whose fever was really high. Barney and Robin came over and asked if they wanted to hang out, and Marshall told them about Ted's fever.

Barney would normally get queasy at the thought of somebody else being sick, but Ted was his best friend and he would feel too guilty if he left. Robin decided to stay, too. Yes, Ted was a grown man, and the fever would go down soon, but the group couldn't help but be a little overprotective of him. He was the nicest guy in the world, and wouldn't feel right leaving him alone while he's sick.

A little later, Lily went to check Ted's temperature again. It was only down a couple of points. Well, it was better than nothing. Instead of making Ted get into another cold tub, Lily used a cool wash cloth and ran it across Ted's forehead. They would all take turns coming in to check on him, and Barney almost had a panic attack when Ted threw up on him. Robin couldn't stop laughing at that.

Barney and Robin didn't leave until later that night. It was almost midnight when they left. Marshall and Lily were getting ready for bed, when they heard crying coming from Ted's room. They quickly went to see what was wrong. Ted wasn't just crying. His whole body was shaking! He was screaming.

"Please, no! Please! God, no!"

Ted was having a nightmare. Marshall and Lily were able to bring him out of it.

"Ted, sweetie, what's wrong," Lily asked.

"Those guys are the reason I'm sick," Ted said, breaking into a coughing fit.

Marshall got him a glass of water.

"Thanks, Marshall."

"You're welcome. Who got you sick?"

Ted layed back against the pillows.

"Can I talk about it later? I feel like ass."

"You look like ass, man."

"Marshall!"

"Lilypad, he said it first."

"I said I feel like ass, not that I look like ass."

"Oh."

They agreed to let Ted go back to sleep and he could tell them when he felt better.

Luckily, the next morning, Ted's temperature was down to 98.6. Perfectly normal. He was even feeling a little bit better. He was still a little weak but not too bad. He was able to eat some dry toast and drink some Ginger Ale. Barney and Robin came back over and were so glad to see that their friend was feeling better.

Ted was ready to tell them how he got sick.

Ted had just got off work, and was on his way to McClaren's when two big men approached him. They cornered him and chased him, and when they caught him, they tried to drown him in a water fountain. For no reason. It was amusing to them. The temperature outside was only twenty-five degrees, and the water was like a huge chunk of ice.

Luckily, somebody saw what was happening and called the cops. The cops arrested them, and Ted was checked out at the emergency room. He was released and went home and slipped into dry clothes and then came down to the bar. He hadn't gotten sick yet, but he was still shaken from what had happened. He was almost killed! Ted didn't get sick until he got back to the apartment.

Lily and Robin both started to cry. Marshall hugged Ted, and Barney patted him on the shoulder. Ted cried, letting it all out. His friends assured him that they were there for him.

After a few weeks, Ted was feeling better and the nightmares had stopped. It was a scary thing that happened, but Ted was just grateful to be alive and that he had his four best friends.

Sure, there were a couple instances where he would space out thinking about his horrible ordeal, but he knew that he wasn't alone, and his friends were there to have his back.

THE END