"Hey, sweetie. How are you? You're not looking so good." "Uuuh. Yeaah. I feel sick." Raven was shivering. The room wasn't warm. Jennifer pulled herself the rest of the way into the room and pulled the door mostly shut after her, leaving just a sliver of light. She felt Raven's forehead. Hot. No surprise there. "It's snowing outside." Raven nodded. "How long have you been sick?" Jennifer worried. With the final exams this week, she hadn't had time to find Raven in days. "I... I don't know? A couple days?" Raven looked like she was going to panic. "It's okay. Sssh." A couple days, feverish. Jennifer cursed. "Stupid classes getting in the way of what's really important." Raven smiled weakly again. "You're hot. You need something to get rid of that fever. I bet it's flu. Half my class had it a couple weeks ago." Raven shook her head. "You really need something. Fever like that, and not staying warm. You could get really sick." "I don't... you don't have..." Raven trailed off, looking particularly drained. "I'll be back." Jennifer's mind spun, trying to figure out how to help. The market back on Brook street would have something that would help with the fever at least. And maybe some crackers and soda. She slid out of the little room and hurried to keep herself warm. Can't call dad, can't call Grandma. Looks like medicine from the store and whatever to keep her warm. She sighed. 'Raven who?' was not a question she wanted to answer today, and doubly so not right now. Back down the alley. She jogged across the silent side-streets, watching the few cars on Brook Street as she passed. Another block. She jogged out to Brook Street and into the market. She shook her head in amazement. Even on a day like today, the sea of people inside hadn't seemed to abate. She slid into a line that seemed to be heading toward the aisle where the medicines were kept. Someone was mopping mud that the crowd dragged in, and she was amazed that he had room to move among the tiny aisles and crowd of people. She realized she wasn't quite sure what to look for and scanned over labels looking for words like "fever" and "flu". She tried to make sense of the packaging, and found a decent sized bottle of something generic. A woman with a small cart and squeaky boots pushed past her and she nearly fell into the shelf. She wondered if this store ever paused, and figured it probably didn't. She finally made her decision and the throng caught her up the moment she let it. She eyed crackers and snatched them on her way to the register, then spied a few cans of soup just out of her reach. She fought the line backward to reach them, and then stood in the line. She smiled at the cashier, and she smiled back. She looks nice, thought Jennifer. "For you dear?" The cashier was smiling at her softly, and gestured at the medicines. "For my fri... for my girlfriend." What the hell. She's my girlfriend, or close enough. I can admit it, I guess. The cashier flashed her a grin, and Jennifer thought that it might have meant more than she caught. She shrugged and paid, took her bag and slipped back out into the cold. The jog back to the church seemed to take forever. The road and the alley were both getting slippery, and Jennifer hesitated to run any faster. She wasn't used to the icy footing. If this keeps up, she thought, I'm going to need better shoes. She slipped back inside. If you can call it inside, she thought to herself. I guess it counts. It's ten degrees warmer than outside. Raven was where she had left her. If it was possible, she thought, looking even more pale. "Raven." No answer. "Raven!" She stirred and didn't quite wake. Jennifer knelt by her and gently rocked her shoulder until she woke. "You came back!" Raven looked genuinely surprised. "I thought I was dreaming!" The surprise just made her look even more fragile. It unnerved Jennifer just how much that made her feel inadequate too. "I got medicine. I hope it helps. And crackers. And soup." "Soup?" Jennifer smiled softly. "I can get you soup. . . You have a can opener, right?" "Front pocket." Raven tried to sit up. Her breath was more ragged from the exhertion. Jennifer fished into the pack and pulled out the can opener. It was old, she could tell, and beat up. Just a single flap of metal with a hook. She looked at it for a moment, trying to figure out how to use it. Raven tried to explain. "Church key." She mumbled a little after, and gestured with her hands. Jennifer laughed gently and tried to clasp Raven's hands and settle her down. She pried at the can, and eventually figured out how to push just right to make it cut. Geez, I can see why they invented the electric kind, she thought to herself. "No-chicken noodle. I'm sure it's better warm, but you know." Raven smiled again and struggled to say "It's fine." Jennifer put the can in her hand and helped her lift it up. Sipping the soup took most of her concentration. Half the can later, she mumbled "So tired." Jennifer helped re-pile the blankets, trying to keep out the worst of the cold. She gently rolled in next to Raven, and pulled the beat-up bedroll, still attached to Raven's backpack and opened it, curled it around the two of them. She shivered, getting cold herself. Raven's fevered body felt good nestled next to hers. A few moments later, they were both asleep. * * * Jennifer woke up, disoriented and stiff. She blinked and tried to figure out what time it was and where she was before she remembered Raven being sick, that she was in the room in the back of the burned out church. She groped for the door, for Raven, tried to get her bearings. She was alone. She pawed the door open, and it didn't get any lighter. She squinted in the dim light and made out the doorway to the church office. She stood up slowly, every joint hurting, and limped out into the main room of the church. "Raven?" "Raven?" She saw her silhouette, holding herself up by the back of one of the remaining pews. The snow outside the half-open door was reflecting enough light to make out that much at least. "Uh?" Jennifer tottered closer, stiff muscles still rebelling. Raven? Raven turned toward her. "I had to stretch. It hurts so much." A shiver shook her body and she nearly fell. Jennifer caught her and helped push her back upright. "You okay?" "I... I dunno." Raven seemed shaky, but she /was/ standing. "What time is it?" "I.. I dunno." Jennifer squinted at her watch, and thought she made out 6pm. Shit. Her father would be out looking for her if she wasn't home soon. She wondered how it could be so late. "Sleep more?" she asked Raven. "Yeah." Raven sounded more tired than Jennifer had ever heard. Jennifer helped support her back to the makeshift bed. "I have to go." "Mmmmhm" Raven was nearly asleep already. Jennifer closed the door after her, leaving Raven in the dark. She tiptoed out, trying not to disturb the snowy silence. She shivered. Damnit, she thought. Now I really am under-dressed for this. The night air was cold in a way she was totally unprepared for. Humid, bone-chilling. When she stepped out of the church, there was enough of a wind to make any pretense of staying warm an impossibility. She stamped and tried to figure out what to do. Busses don't run very often this late. As if 6pm is late. Call dad? He's going to be angry I wasn't home. She saw a bus pass on Brook street. Damnit. Half an hour until the next one. That made up her mind. She walked up to Brook, then along it, scanning windows for something open. Coffeeshop was just closing. That'd do. She shivered as she stepped in. "May I use your phone?" "Sure dear. You mean to be out in that weather dressed like that?" "No, I was out all day, and it's colder now. I wasn't going to be out this late." She dialed her father and sighed. "Dad?" She paused. "Yeah, it's me, Jennifer. I'm down on Brook. At the coffeeshop. Yeah, it's cold, half an hour to the next bus." She slammed the receiver down. "He hung up on me!" "Geez, you okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine." Jennifer fumed. "I just have to figure out how to get home in this cold without freezing." "Where do you live?" "Panoramic." The barista nodded. "If you can hang out ten minutes, I'll be done here. I live in the riverbottom past there. I'd be glad to drive you." "Really?" Relief must have flooded Jennifer's face, because the barista said "Dear, of course!" They pulled into Jennifer's driveway. The porchlight snapped on, and Jennifer winced, imagining her father standing just inside the door, watching angrily. The light looked harsh and piercing with the ret of the house dark. "Thank you." "Of course!" She waved as she closed the car door, took a breath and hurried inside. The cold was more friendly than her father, perhaps, but it would be a toss up as to which was more forgiving. Her father was sitting in the wooden chair in the hallway, glaring at her. "Hi, dad." "Where have you been?"