Fevered (Mick, PG-13)

[librarian_7]

Just a short piece, filling in some thoughts from a very familiar scene.

Disclaimer: In case anyone's wondering, I don't own Mick.

Fevered

I'm hallucinating.

I've got to be hallucinating.

Leni came in and leaned over me. She said something. I couldn't understand what--it was meaningless. Noise. All I could hear was the red beat of her pulse. I could almost feel the big vein throb in her throat.

I bit her. I promised to protect her and her baby, and I bit her. Her blood tasted bitter, like ashes in my mouth.

I'm pretty sure I killed her. If I turned my head, I'd see her lying on the floor. Abandoned in no star motel hell. What a place to die. I couldn't have killed her, right? But I can't hear the heartbeats anymore, just a roach crawling through sticky liquid on the floor.

If I turned my head, I'm pretty sure I'd see her body lying in a pool of blood.

And then what? Roll out of the tub and start licking the last of her lifeblood off these filthy tiles?

I don't want to turn my head. I don't want to see her. The ice helps some. Not enough. I need more ice, but I can't send her for more now.

Wait, though. I remember--I think I remember--screaming at her to get out. If I killed her, I wouldn't have done that, right?

Right?

Maybe she's safe, maybe she's in the other room.

Why'd she have to come in here, anyway? What was she thinking?

She has no idea what you are, St. John, remember?

If I bit her, she knows now.

Think. Think hard. What's real? What's not?

She told me, she leaned over me, to tell me Beth was coming.

Yeah, and for that, I killed her.

I'm pretty sure I killed her.

Okay, I hope to God I'm hallucinating. But--which part of it was real?

Life? Or death?

[Luxe de Luxe]

wow, Lucky, Fevered is right! You catch that scene too well. Poor Mick losing it.

[allegrita]

I love this--he doesn't know what is inside his head and what's outside it. And he's so sick that he doesn't realize that, if he'd actually drained Leni, he'd feel a lot better than he does!

What torture. Pooooor Mick.

[helloeeze]

Poor Mick!

[francis]

Oh Mick.
He's so out of it.
How is it that I love to read about Mick hurt? I'm weird.
This is so great.

[cassysj]

Poor Mick. You really capture a depth of emotions. It's not easy being Mick.

[wpgrace]

You really captured the look in his eyes, the frantic quality of his face and body language, the pain and anguish and impulse in his voice during that bathtub scene...

Soooooo... what's going on in his brain when he hears Beth enter and feels her pull his head out of the water??

[Phoenix]

Poor Mick.

[librarian_7]

You really captured the look in his eyes, the frantic quality of his face and body language, the pain and anguish and impulse in his voice during that bathtub scene...

Soooooo... what's going on in his brain when he hears Beth enter and feels her pull his head out of the water??

grace, are you asking for a sequel? (boy, some people are never satisfied.)

But thanks, hon, and to all the other commenters...I was lying in a hotel bathtub the other night, and, well, got to thinking. (for the record, it was a considerably nicer bathtub than Mick's no star motel hell.)

Lucky

[wpgrace]

You really captured the look in his eyes, the frantic quality of his face and body language, the pain and anguish and impulse in his voice during that bathtub scene...

Soooooo... what's going on in his brain when he hears Beth enter and feels her pull his head out of the water??

grace, are you asking for a sequel? (boy, some people are never satisfied.)

But thanks, hon, and to all the other commenters...I was lying in a hotel bathtub the other night, and, well, got to thinking. (for the record, it was a considerably nicer bathtub than Mick's no star motel hell.)

Lucky

Moi? Thinking about a sequel???? I know we already have some stories about that incident... it just seemed a natural sequel for your story here, since you're already in his head... and he's bound to only get crazier and more traumatized the longer he sits in the tub, bloodless and all...

But I am DELIGHTED to know your OWN recent tub experience was something of an upgrade...

[librarian_7]

We'll see, grace, we'll see. I seem to be deep in the land of half-finished fics at the moment.

Lucky

[wpgrace]

Not SUCH a bad land to be in... you must have all sorts of lovely stuff going on, all at once, in your head.
Josef will enjoy each and every one of those adventures, eventually. And so will we.

[janicevictoria]

Lucky, that was great!; I never get tired of reading anything to do with the 'Fever' episode. Loved your take on it!

[jen]

Wonderful! You took a few lines and expounded on the fact that Mick's perceptions of reality were fortunately way off at the moment.

Delicate flower indeed.

Very well done@

[librarian_7]

Thanks, jen. Sometimes the short scenes pack the most punch. And we have so much to work with, with Mick and ML!

Lucky