Only Chad

Sonny Munroe lay on her dressing room couch covered by a thin red blanket, miserable. Her hair was tousled, her eyes watery, and her nose red. No doubt about it, Sonny was sick. On top of that, the rest of her cast was out shopping, it was storming heavily outside, and her mother was out of town on a business trip. She blew her nose for about the billionth time that day.

"Gross. Ugh! Why can't this cold just pass so I can go home?"

Just as she was getting resettled into a deep slumber, a certain three-named jerkthrob stepped through the door.

"Missing me, Random?" Chad sauntered into the dressing room with an air of overconfidence.

"In your dreams Coop-achoo!" Sonny sneezed loudly, causing Chad to raise his eyebrows.

"You okay?" Was that concern she heard? No way. Chad Dylan Cooper did not do concern.

"I'm sick, Chad. How okay can I be? Now leave me alone." Sonny flipped over to face the back of her couch and snuggled into fetal position.

"Well, my dear," Chad whispered arrogantly, slowly moving closer to the ailing girl, "we can't have you starting a flu epidemic in Condor Studios, can we? How about I stay here and take care of you?"

By now, Chad was seated comfortably on the armrest of the couch and was stroking Sonny's hair soothingly.

"What? Chad I don't have time for these games. Will you just stop bugging me? Plus, why do you even care?"

"Uhhh… well, I just don't want you to, um, make anyone else sick. Yeah, the faster you get better, the less likely it is that you'll, uh, get one of my Falls actors sick."

Sonny raised her eyebrows at Chad's fruitless attempt to disguise his caring. "Sure, Chad…whatever…" She never had a chance to finish her thought. Chad rushed out of the room too quickly.

" Stupid jerk,"Sonny murmured, laying her head back down on her pillow. "Acts like a chivalrous gentleman and then rushes out. He's probably having a good laugh with his castmates about how awful I look. Only Chad would do that. Only Chad."

After a record setting sneezing fit, the sick actress set her head down on the couch and massaged her temples. To her surprise, Chad pushed open the door holding two plastic grocery bags. Sonny mentally slapped herself for doubting him.

"Sorry I left," Chad said, reading her mind. "I wanted to grab some stuff for you." Raising the two bags onto a table, he unloaded some grape cold medicine, a thermos, a thermometer, three more boxes of tissues, and a washcloth.

Sonny smiled weakly. "Thanks," she croaked quietly. "You do not know how much this means to me."

Chad smirked. "Well, Munroe, I actually do. This just means you owe me along with all of the other favors you never gave me."

"Like what?" Sonny's face contorted into a grimace as a throbbing pain pulsed through her head.

Chad moved over to comfort her, but decided against it. No way was CDC starting to care. He just was preventing the actors over at the Falls from catching a cold. Oh, who was he kidding? His heart ached for Sonny, who's adorable sneezes and painful-sounding coughs made him cringe. Stupid cute.

"I don't know…"he said in response to her question, "weird beard, fake date, I could go on. But let's forget about them philanthropic actions of Chad Dylan Cooper for just a second, shall we? I want to take your temperature."

Sonny was about to protest, but she couldn't speak (whether she was too dumbfounded by Chad's uncharacteristically concerned demeanor to talk or had just merely lost her voice was unknown).

"Open up," Chad said softly.

Chad slid in the thermometer without any trouble. He tried to fight the sensation of happiness that came from being anywhere close to Sonny's lips.

"Hmmm. 100.9"

Sonny wrinkled up her nose. "It's not awful, Chad. Anyway, it's almost 6:00. Go home." She hoped that she didn't sound too harsh.

Chad shook his head no. "Even if you weren't sick, I don't like the idea of you staying in the studio alone," he said. "It's not safe."

"Aww, does Chaddy care," Sonny asked, blushing slightly.

"Nope! And on that note…" Chad stood up. "I have to go. There's a Mack Falls marathon on tonight and I can't miss it. Feel better."

And with that, Chad kissed Sonny on the cheek.

"Bye Sonshine. I'll be in my dressing room if you need me."

Sonny touched her cheek gently, sparks flying in that cliché way that they do when people kiss (even if it wasn't on the lips).

Only Chad could make me feel this crazy she thought. Only Chad.