Title: The One When Danny Is Not Sick

AN: I feel horrible and this took me ages to write but just like Danny I do not have a fever and by my own definition I am not sick. Just like Danny isn't sick either.

Word Count: 2, 187

Daniel knew the moment he woke up that something was very wrong. Something had happened. Something that could under no circumstances happen. Not now. He barely had the time to live as it was what with everything going on with the Eye. He definitely didn't have time to get sick. A cough that made his entire body shake reminded him that Daniel had no say in the matter. He could control a lot. Maybe even the weather, but he didn't know for sure. But he couldn't control the germs or when they chose to invade his body.

"Fuck me, fuck you, fuck everyone…" he sighed.

He rarely got sick but when he did it never developed into anything more than a vicious cough, a sore throat, an aching chest and his eyes became suddenly tender and sensitive to light. It was painful and tiresome – he could take both one, two and three naps when he was ill – but it never turned into a fever. He only got a vicious cold and because of that he couldn't convince himself to take the day off. So, Danny did what he would have done every other day. He put his clothes on while occasionally coughing to the point where it sounded as if his lungs were making a run for it and leaving his body. Then he brushed his teeth, pulled a comb through his hair, grabbed his deck of cards and headed for the door. And when he came out Henley and Merritt were the only ones awake. Thank god. Neither of them would nag at him about staying home and resting up. And even if they did Danny wouldn't feel bad about completely ignoring them.

"So, that lovely sound of mucus and bacteria came from you, Atlas." Merritt mused as he took another mouthful of coffee.

Henley frowned and looked at him from toe to head.

"I'm not sick." Daniel said as he took his normal cup – under the watchful eyes of Henley – and filled it with water and then added the teabag.

Daniel walked to the other side of the room. From the corner of his eye he could see Henley visible relaxing the further away he walked. When he stood by the door she looked almost completely relaxed. He if anyone understood her fear of germs. Not that he was afraid of germs but he was to a certain extent afraid of the uncontrollable, the things he couldn't do anything about.

"No one said that you were sick." Merritt answered.

"Yeah well…" his throat ached and he Danny coughed violently to the point where it sounded as if he had been smoking feverishly for the past two weeks. The coughs seemed to come from the very core of his body. "If Jack asks, I'm not sick. I'm fine. And I'm going to rehearse for a little bit. Got that?"

Merritt nodded and gave him a lazy smile. "You're not sick Atlas, we got it."

Daniel closed the door behind him and Merritt winked at Henley. "He looked like death."

"Well, he sure didn't look like love."

Merritt rolled his eyes but gave her a laugh. One laugh. "That's almost funny. Maybe you do have some comedic talent after all."

"So, how long should we give him until he passes out from exhaustion?" Merritt walked to the fridge and squinted at the different shelves as if that would make the food look better than it had been when he looked through it for something eatable only minutes earlier.

Henley laughed. "Oh no, Danny doesn't do passing out. He will push and push until his immune system is completely caput and he looks as if he is pretty much standing on the brink of death. He will go to the end of the world before even thinking about relaxing and trying to get better."

"That does not surprise me."

"Is Danny sick?"

Both Henley and Merritt flinched from the voice of Jack. Neither had realized that he had woken up, much less left his room. But there he was wearing a white t-shirt and faded jeans. Only the slight red mark on his face and the slightly dazed expression on his face showed that he hadn't been awake for very long.

"He just has a cold." Merritt answered. "There is no need to get all worried kiddo."

"Did he tell you that?" Merritt nodded and Jack rolled his eyes. "Have you met Danny? If he says that it's a normal cold, then it's probably something completely different. The man's a compulsive liar. He lies about everything to everybody."

"Except you." Merritt commented easily without missing a beat. "Which means that you need to tell our grand leader that he needs to sit this one out. Because Henley won't be able to focus with him spreading germs around him like the fountain of bacteria that he is and I won't be able to focus if he's going to cough as if someone's attempting to break his lungs from the inside. But since the man won't listen to us. You'll have to tell him that we need him healthy and also he annoys us."

Jack rolled his eyes again. "I don't think he'll take to kindly to that."

"Which is why you're going to tell him. I mean technically he told us that we weren't allowed to tell you that he was sick before he left."

"He left?" Both Horsemen nodded and Jack cursed under his breath. "It's real fucking hard sometimes to believe that I'm the youngest one of us. Where did he go?"

Henley replied. "Rehearse."

"He's a stupid man." Jack muttered under his breath as he put his shoes on.

Merritt nodded. "I agree kiddo. How that man has survived this long is beyond me. Now, when you do go and yell at Atlas to stop being a stubborn germ-infected moron will you be so kind as to tell him that we – meaning neither Henley or I – said that he was sick?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Jack nodded. "I'll tell him."

Jack mastered many things when it came to magic and for most of his tricks he didn't even need any cards. Jack's best trick and his most valuable talents – at least according to him – was his ability to follow people and remain unseen. Daniel – who didn't enjoy it when Jack did it with him – was completely unable to spot the young man even when he was trying to. Jack didn't doubt that Danny would be even worse at it now but he quickly realized that he wouldn't be finding out.

Danny's lungs had begun protesting even before he made it down the few sets of stairs that separated him from the world outside. It was only a short walk to where they spent most days rehearsing their magic and the actual plan. There was a lot of rehearsing going on. By the time that Danny made it there his entire chest ached and it felt as if he had been swallowing buckets of sand just for the fun of it. He wasn't sick. He just had a cold. Granted, it was one of those colds that would knock him off his ass but it was just a cold never the less. Danny looked at his wristwatch. There would be at least an hour until the others came down and when that happened there were a lot of other things they needed to perfect instead of his tricks. So, he leaned against the wall and looked at his reflection in the mirrors on the opposite side of the room as he shuffled the cards between his hands. Danny couldn't see himself as clearly as he preferred to but the idea of having to walk all the way over there – even if it was just a few steps – to make sure that he could see every move he made wasn't reason enough to do it. He could feel that his movement was more sluggish than normal and it almost made him want to put the deck of cards down and tear his own hair instead.

"There you are."

"Hi Jack, you're up early." Danny responded with a smile as he tried to ignore the way the scratch in his aching throat annoyed him more and more every second that went by without him coughing. "Where's the others?"

Jack crossed the room. Unlike Danny he didn't like beating around the bush. He found that the best offense was not a good defense. A good offense was a good offense and that was it. If you were going to solve a problem, you didn't do it by ignoring the issue and talking around it. You solved the problem by confrontation and by going straight to the core.

"Merritt told me that you aren't sick. Apparently, you told them that you weren't sick and that means that you are probably feeling very bad right now." Jack said when he stood in front of Danny. It took a few seconds for the other man to do the same and when he did he pushed his hands down his pockets. – Danny rolled his eyes. – "And that means that you shouldn't be here. You should be lying down, getting plenty of fluids and getting better. Also, I'm the youngest of the group. Not that knowledge or common sense has anything to do with age but I still find it ironic that I'm telling you this."

Danny smiled despite the sigh. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised. You're a very caring person, Jack Wilder. You just sometimes forget and we aren't always good at reminding you."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere Atlas." Jack said with a laugh. "So, you'll come back home with me and give us the day off?"

"God no," Danny laughed. "I told you. I'm not sick. I just have this stubborn cold. It looks much worse than it is." Just as he spoke his throat showed its disapproval of the scratching that had been slowly driving him crazy and he turned around to cough against his arm. He could see the look of disapproval on Jack's face. And suddenly it felt as if someone was pulling on his heartstring and it wasn't because of the coughing.

When he stopped coughing, Danny turned around again and gave Jack a weak smile. "It also sounds much worse than it is."

Jack crossed the arms over his chest and shook his head. "Yeah, you're no good. Come on Danny, you're not in any shape to perform any kind of magic. You're not even in shape to be out of bed."

"I don't have time to be sick." Daniel said as he mimicked the stance Jack had taken. "We have so much left to do and we need to rehearse to make sure that nothing goes wrong."

Daniel was normally the one in power. He was the one who took control of the situation and sometimes did things that the others didn't like but most of the time had to put up with anyway. Because most of the time his plans worked. This was the first time that Danny found himself in a situation where he was not the one pulling the strings. Or to be specific, in several situations where he wasn't in control to be honest.

"Danny, you're not going to fail. The show is going to be fine." Jack took a step towards him and grasped his hands. "Now, come home with me and lay down. We can afford taking one day to rest and just relax."

Danny looked down on Jack's hands. He didn't pull away but he gently withdrew them until he could gently run the tip of his fingers up and down the palm and Jack's fingers. He frowned and hesitated before he spoke. And when he eventually did speak the words were almost too low to be heard.

"I'm not nervous about my tricks."

Jack smiled. "You don't have to be worried about me. I'm going to be just fine. I trust you, Danny."

Daniel smiled. He was just about to lean into Jack, their lips were just centimeters away from each other, when he suddenly pulled away and doubled over as he coughed violently again. His face was paler when he went back up again and in between every fourth or fifth breath he frowned and put his hand on his chest as if that would help stabilize his lungs.

Jack barely managed to contain his smile. "So, are you coming home with me now so that we can relax and you can focus on getting better instead of making this place inhabitable to Henley?" Danny nodded and took Jack's outstretched hand. "You're a really stupid man sometimes J. Daniel Atlas. What would you do without me?"

Danny laughed before he answered but that didn't make the severity of his words less clear. "You don't want to know the answer to that." Jack didn't answer and Danny glanced over at him as they walked out the door. "I love you."

Jack winked at him. "I love you too, stupid."