He was never late. You could set a clock by the man.

But on this Friday morning, Danny Williams was growing more and more anxious as he watched the minutes of the clock tick past. 8:00…8:20….

"Has anyone heard from Steve?" he questioned Kono and Chin as he stepped into the common area.

Both frowned. "He isn't here yet?" Kono asked, raising her eyes to his office.

"No. Strange, right?"

Both cousins agreed. Their boss was usually in the office much earlier than necessary, and was very rarely even just on time. Danny decided to give the man ten more minutes.

By 8:30, Steve still hadn't come in and Danny was nearly beside himself with worry. He made the call with a sense of dread in his stomach. Something was wrong, he was sure of it.

After a few rings, more than usual, a raspy, tired voice finally answered.

"'lo?" Steve croaked, wincing both at the sound of his voice and the pain speaking caused.

"Steve?" Danny asked in concern. "You okay? It's late, and we were worried."

For a minute, Steve contemplated lying and saying he was fine, just to be able to get off the phone and escape Danny's questions. But lying took thinking, and thinking, this morning, was beyond exhausting. The truth was easier and required much less effort.

"No. 'M sick. Meant to call in."

"Sick? Sick how? What's wrong?"

"I dunno. Everything. Everything hurts. Stomach. Head. I'm cold," he hesitated for just a second. "Think I picked up whatever Gracie had."

Well, crap. A sense of guilt washed over Danny. On Tuesday, Grace had gotten sick at school. Rachel was at a conference with Stan, and he had to be in court. There was no one else to call, and Danny had been beside himself. Steve, ever the superhero, had offered to pick her up and keep her until Rachel could get to his house. When Rachel arrived that night, Grace had been extremely well cared for. Even though she was having trouble keeping anything down, Steve had patiently and slowly made sure she stayed hydrated. Rachel walked in to see her little girl comfortably cradled in her uncle's arms as he sat in the recliner and they watched their fourth Disney movie of the day. Rachel had sung his praises to Danny all week, and Danny in turn had tried to express his thanks to Steve. He was grateful to have a friend like that. Grace's flu had passed quickly, and this morning she was back to her normal self.

Now, though, it seemed like his friend was the one in need.

"When did it start?"

"Felt a little off last night, but slept til 3. Threw up for the first time then." Steve sneezed, then sniffled miserably on the other end of the line.

"Man," Danny commiserated. "You've thrown up more than once?"

"Yeah."

"Make sure you're drinking, even if you don't feel like it. You got a fever?"

"I dunno,"

"What? You haven't taken your temperature? Why in the world wouldn't you check that?!"

Steve's patience was fading. Playing 20 questions was not what he wanted to do this morning.

"Thermometer is downstairs. Can't go get it right now."

Danny immediately felt even more guilty. The guy was admitting to not even feeling well enough to walk down the stairs? This was bad.

"Okay. Tell me what I can do to help."

"Nothing," Steve mumbled. "Just wanna sleep. 'M fine."

"Like hell you are," Danny huffed. Stoic superSEAL. "This is my fault. I'll be there in a half hour, okay?"

"Nobody's fault, Danno." Steve sighed.

"Well, I'm still going to see you through this. It's no fun being alone when you're sick. See you soon."

Without giving Steve a chance to disagree, Danny hung up, then walked into the bull pen to let the others know what was going on with their boss. "He's sick," Danny explained, "with what sounds like the flu. Got it from Grace, probably."

"Ah, man," Chin responded. "That sucks, brah."

"Yeah. He sounds bad. I'm going to head over there and take him some stuff. It sounds like he hasn't made it downstairs yet, and he's been up since 3. Can y'all handle everything here for a while?"

"Absolutely," Kono replied. "You just go take care of the boss. We'll come by after work and bring dinner."

"Will do. See you then." Danny said, wondering what SEALs liked to eat when they're sick.