AN: Well, this is kind of another long one-shot, but I think you'll like it. You know, it's hard writing in accents, but I never thought about sickness as an accent, lol! Yep, in this one, Cindy has the sniffles, so the way she talks is all...well, sniffly. I hope you like it! It's a Cindy first person POV...Don't forget to review!

Reveiwers:

mysticofthepen: Thanks! I know, I love "Austin" too!
acosta perez jose ramiro: Yeah, I kind of thought it would be a great storyline for them: it really captured thier psycology...(sp?)
TVGirl2006; magic15 : Thanks! You know, I was tempted to make it a chaptered fic, but I think I'll keep it to a one-shot, I've got a lot of irons in the fire right now...
Princess Angel Rose: Wow, creepy! Lol! Thank you!
animeromance92; romancejunkie: Wow, thank you so much!
Readrbug21: Aw, I made you all sappy! Well, if mushy is your thing, you're gonna love this fic...
Follower Of The ANTICHRIST: Wow, it's really sad that insulting me is your only pastime. But, to each his own!

Sick Day

Being sick is never fun. I never got sick very often, even as a child- all that athleticsisim running through my veins, I guess. But, this particular bug is proving to be stubborn.

"(Sniff, Hack!) Ugh."

I can't help but make disgusting noises like this- it's not easy to be attractive when your entire body weight (in snot) happens to be dribbling out of your nose.

"You know, Cindy-" He starts, but I interrupt with another coughing fit.

"(Cough! Cough!) Hang on."

I reach for the (millionth) tissue and blow.

"...Ew."

I don't know why I have the particularly nasty habit of glancing inside the tissues I fill, but I do, and then I regret it. He rolls his eyes at me- he doesn't understand this habit of mine either. So I grin and hold it out to him.

"Wanna see?"

An eyebrow pops, reaching upward on his huge head. "Not...really. Why is it that you always do that to yourself?" He says, smile growing as he shakes his head.

I glance down at the pile of filled tissues laying around me. "Ah duno." I say, my stuffed nose blocking my ability to talk. "Maybe ah'm dus bored."

"Well, Cind," He says, as he gathers up the pile of tissues I had been staring at, "you could just let me take care of this."

Now it's my turn for my eyebrow to go up. "Righd." I manage, between sniffles, "An' hab a repead of da sick padch incident?"

He sighs, and rolls his eyes again. I watch as he drops the pile of used tissues into the incinerator. With a fiery 'phoosh', they disappear into oblivion.

"Cind, the patch was designed to make you sick- this is completely different. Besides, that was over ten years ago! Surely you know I've improved since then, right?"

I'm sipping my orange juice now as I watch him.

"...Right?...Cind?"

I try to hide a smile. "Sure. Sure. Hey, can you hanb me a piddow?"

"Sure." He reaches over for a pillow off the easy chair and brings it to me in on the couch... but I can see that wrinkle in his forehead.

He brings me the pillow, and I hold up the OJ glass. "Refrill?" I ask, and he distractedly takes the glass.

"Uh-huh." He mutters, and he takes off for the kitchen. I count silently...one...two...three...

"I mean, you know I could cure you, right? I could do this." He calls, from the other room.

I smile as I lay back into the pillows. It was so easy to press his buttons. And when you're sick for a couple of days, any type of entertainment will do.

"Cind?" He says again, interrupting my thoughts.

"Hmm?" I ask, as I grab the new glass.

"Why don't you let me work on this?"

I take a long sip of the OJ, letting it slide down my throat. I sigh as I look at him, wrinkled forehead and frown making it obvious what he was thinking. "I'll get bwetter on my own." I insist.

He sighs. "But-"

"I know, I know, your inner scientisth is dying to mess with dis virus or whadeber."

He rolls his eyes again. Man, I never noticed how much he does this. But, at least he has a smile on his face. "Yeah, it's the virus I'm thinking about. It couldn't be, I don't know, my wife's health or anything."

"Why, Midsder Neudron, is that sarcadim I hear?"

"Never." He says, with a laugh, sitting down with me on the couch. I lean over toward him, and he puts an arm around me. It's quiet for a while, and I manage to go a few minutes without too many sniffles...that is, until a tickle in my throat makes me start hacking again.

"HACK! HACK!" I say, fasinatingly, into yet another tissue.

He sighs...again. "Why are you so stubborn?"

I smile at him after I blow away the evidence of another snotty moment. "Ah'm a Neudron?" I say, and I bat my eyelashes at him as we laugh together.

"Well, I guess that's as good a reason as any." He says, giving me a half-hug as I take another sip of my OJ.

We sit in silence again until I sigh, snuggling closer. "You know, Jimmy, id's not dat ah don't dhink dat you could cure dis."

He looks at me with a half smile as he waits for me to finish my latest coughing spree. "Really? What is it, then?"

"Ah...miss you." I say, looking at my lap.

He tilts his head in confusion as he brings a hand to my face. Lifting my head so he can look me in the eye, his voice comes out concerned. "What do you mean?"

I shift a little in my seat. "Well," I start, quietly, "You'de been working a lod ladly..."

"And?"

"And ah miss you, dad's all." I say, with a shrug.

"Cind," He says, with just a bit of a smile, "Why didn't you say something?"

I shrug again. "Ah dunno. Da world neebs you."

He shakes his head. "The world can wait."

I start to smile at this. "Nod always."

"Yes, well, barring impending world doom, it can."

"Danks." I say, sarcastically- but with a growing smile.

"Hey, if the world implodes, so do we."

"...Good poind."

He laughs at this...or maybe he's laughing at me, as I fill another tissue. "Ugh, gross!" I exclaim, as the snot goes right through the dumb flimsy thing.

He starts to laugh harder- until I throw it at him.

"Ech!" He exclaims, trying to dive out of the way, without success. "Gross is right." He peels it off his now snotty shirt and tosses it into the incinerator.

Now it's my turn to laugh- which I do, until it throws me into another coughing fit. He comes back over to the couch as my cold and I hash it out.

"HACK! HACK! (sniff)"

He sighs one more time as he sits back down. "Aw, Cind." He says, as he puts an arm around me. "You didn't have to get sick to get my attention."

"Huh", I manage, as the coughing subsides, "Coulda dold me dat before ah got sichk!"

He chuckles a little, and I give it a moment before I join him. I love this, sitting, being held in his arms, doing nothing. Even if I am dribbling all over myself (and him). Ew.

"I love you." He says, out of the blue, and I'm reminded of why I love him, too.

"Ah lub you, (sniff) doo." I say, followed by a sigh. Its so much less romantic with a headfull of draining snot.

"You know," He says, as he plays with a stand of my hair, "I was actually planning a surprise for you."

"You were?"

"You see, I was planning on taking a week or two off work."

"Uh-huh..."

"And I was thinking..." He stalls, and I know he's toying with me.

"Oh, jus dell me already!" I demand, with a laugh.

"Well, maybe we could go somewhere...tropical."

"Dropical?" I repeat, with a wistful sigh. "Dad sounds gread!"

"Yeah! Just think of it, Cindy. You, me, a waterfall under a cloudless sky. It's been too long."

"Uh-huh!" I agree, as I close my eyes.

"A deserted, uncharted island...the wind blows, the birds sing, and there we are, sand in our toes."

"Mmm... ah wish we could go righd now!" I say, sighing again.

"We will, Cind, we will. There's only three more days in the work week- then we're gone!"

"Dey're really gonna led you go?"

"What are they gonna do, fire me?" He asks, with a laugh. "It's easy enough to get another job."

"When you're a geemeeus." I remind him with a smile.

"Yeah, this big head has perks sometimes, you know." He teases, poking me.

"Only dree days." I whisper to myself.

"Yep." He says, and I wait for him to finish. "...of course, we can't go if you're all...dribbly."

I try to force a glare toward him, but a laugh comes out instead. "Id ain'd easy being me." I whine, good-naturedly, and he laughs. I look at him, and he grins wide, giving me his best immatation of a blue eyed, hopeful little kid.

"Oh...all right." I finally say, giving in. "Go make wid da sciembce."

"Really?" He asks, just like a little kid, and I have to laugh at him.

"Yeah, yeah. Justh mabe me bedder quick."

"Your wish is my command." He says, and after a kiss on the forehead, he's gone, down to the lab to work his magic.

I sniffle. It's no fun being alone and sick.

But for a tropical island, a cheerful husband, and an end to the sniffles, I'll compromise.