Sick Day, by Angel Negra, Power Rangers

[angel_negra]

Title: Sick Day
Author: Angel Negra
Rating: PG
Fandom: Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue
Summary: Carter has a very protective team.
Dedicated to: KK, cause she's awesome.
Author's Notes: So I'm out sick, and got to talking to KK about what Carter would be like sick, and this came out of it. Thanks to Shurimon for the beta!

It's Chad that notices first. Chad's always up before anyone else anyways, and Joel sleeps like the dead. Carter and Chad will take turns waking him up on the days they have early training. And when Joel does wake up, he refuses to consider himself awake before he's showered and shaved.

So it's Chad, when he's just come back from swimming with the fish and Marina, who notices that Carter's sniffling a bit. Chad, like the rest of the team has long since learned the art of asking Carter about himself. "You okay, Carter?" he asks, ignoring Carter's actual words and paying complete attention to Carter's body language. And Carter's body was saying he felt a little groggy and under the weather, but was planning to tough it out.

Chad smiles and pretends to believe it when Carter says he's fine. Then he checks that Joel's awake before going to find Kelsey. Days like this required back-up.

Kelsey's just waking up herself. Chad can never figure out how she can be so energetic during the day, but take so long to wake up. He tells her his suspicions while she yawns and rubs her eyes. Then she nods and says, "Hang on." She retreats into the girls' room, and within seconds, Dana is being pushed out so Chad can repeat the story while Kelsey gets dressed.

Dana's more attentive than Kelsey, though Chad's sure it's just her mothering instincts kicking in. She asks questions like, "Was he sneezing or coughing last night?" and "Was he breathing through his mouth a lot in his sleep?" and "Did he look flushed? Like he had a fever?"

Chad, as well as the rest of the team, has long since learned to pay attention to these things with Carter. And not just because Dana's trained the rest of them well. Carter is too used to brushing off his problems so that he doesn't bother anyone. So he answers Dana's questions with, "He was coughing a bit, but not much." and "Yeah, he was. And he was kind of restless too." and "A bit. It's hard to tell with his red shirts."

As they're finishing, Ryan comes up and declares, "I think Carter's sick." Which settles it for Dana and Chad, because Ryan's the least practised in observing Carter. So if he can tell, it's obvious.

Dana raises her morpher. "Joel! Get out of the shower and respond please."

"What?" Joel sounds annoyed.

"Carter's sick. I need you to-" She looks at Ryan. "Where was he?"

"Doing maintenance on his Lightspeed Cycle and sneezing," replies Ryan immediately.

Dana nods. "Go pull him away from his Cycle and get him back to bed. Ryan and I will meet you there with supplies."

"Alone?" says Joel doubtfully. And Chad knows what he means. Carter's a big guy, even if he never takes advantage of his height and weight.

Chad leans closer to Dana's morpher. "Kelsey and I will meet you there."

"Roger," says Joel and cuts the connection.

"Meet him where?" asks Kelsey as she comes out of the girls' room.

Ryan looks over at her. "You guys are getting Carter back to bed."

Kelsey nods and does a quick about face, darting back in then out of the room, holding up her helmet and roller-blades with a grin. Chad grins back because it's a good idea. The faster they move around Carter when he's sick, the easier it is to get him places they need him to be. The speed distracts him.

Chad and Kelsey head down to the Cycles' Bay, while Dana grabs Ryan and heads towards the Med Bay. When Chad enters the Cycles' Bay, he sees that Joel has beaten them there. He pauses to watch for a second. Joel is trying to pry Carter's hand off of a wrench, talking the whole while. From the body language, Chad knows it's one of Joel's lectures about working while sick. From Carter's body language, Chad can tell that Carter's trying to brush it off, hoping that Joel will stop worrying.

Exchanging a look with Kelsey, Chad smiles. Kelsey smiles back, rolling her eyes. She skates up to the guys and deftly yanks the tools out of Carter's hands. Carter freezes in surprise, staring at his empty hands. Chad uses the opportunity to swoop in and, after trading a confirming look with Joel, grab one of Carter's arms while Joel grabs the other. Between the two of them, they pull Carter to his feet and start to push him towards the door.

Carter digs his heels into the ground. Right on cue, Kelsey darts in, yanking the rag out of Carter's pocket. It startles him enough that Chad and Joel are able to get him moving. "Bed. Now," says Joel firmly.

"Guys, I-" Carter blinks as Kelsey circles them quickly. "I'm fine."

"Sure you are," says Kelsey gently by his right shoulder then she pats him on his left shoulder.

Carter tries to turn to follow the movement, but Chad tightens his grip and pushes Carter along. They'd learned their lesson about letting Carter spin the one time he was nauseous from his flu. Joel and Chad keep him moving in a straight line for their room. Kelsey keeps circling steadily, distracting Carter and occasionally darting ahead to clear the path.

They get to the door of their room and right on cue, Carter digs in his heels to protest. Which is when Dana and Ryan get there. Ryan's arms are full of cough syrup bottles, a thermometer, water bottles and Dana's med kit. Dana walks right up to Carter, crosses her arms and glares at him.

Carter tries to protest, but he sneezes instead. Dana presses the button to open the door to the boys' room. She points inside. "Bed."

Sighing in defeat, Carter walks in. Chad pats his shoulder sympathetically. Dana has the scariest glare on the team, Joel always says it's because she learned it from Captain Mitchell. The rest of the team files in behind Carter.

Dana walks straight into the sleeping area, grabs a set of Carter's pjs and hands them to Carter. Carter flushes, taking them. He looks over at Kelsey then back at Dana. "Umm..." he says, his face getting redder.

Dana rolls her eyes and walks towards the door, grabbing and pulling Kelsey along on her way out. "We'll be right outside."

"What?" says Kelsey, giving Dana a blank look as she glides out of the room.

Carter glances at Ryan shyly before giving Chad a pleading look. Chad smiles in sympathy and trades a look with Joel. Joel nods and moves to help Ryan unpack everything Dana made him carry. Chad shoos Carter into the sleep area and pulls the curtain. Something else they'd learned when Carter caught the flu, never leave him alone while changing. Chad still winces when he thinks about the cut Carter got on his head after tripping.

Luckily, Carter's much more stable this time, and within a couple of minutes, Chad's pulling the curtain back again. Joel slips by him, holding the thermometer. Chad heads for the door and opens it. "It's safe to come in," he tells the girls.

Dana heads straight for the med kit. "Joel, he's got the thermometer under his tongue, right?"

Kelsey rolls her eyes as she comes back in. "I don't know why he's so worried about me seeing something," she says to Chad. Chad smiles. "It's not like he's my-"

"Kelsey, Ryan?" says Dana. "Can you guys grab some soup and apple juice from the Mess?"

Ryan nods. "What kind of soup?"

"Not mushroom," says Chad, in perfect unison with Kelsey, Joel and Dana.

Kelsey grins and tugs Ryan's arm. "Come on."

Chad shakes his head in amusement and follows Dana into the sleeping area. She pulls the thermometer out of Carter's mouth and eyes it. Chad blinks as five straws appear in his vision. Oh, right. "Is it the longest one or the shortest one that means we watch Carter first?"

"Short one," replies Joel as Chad picks a straw and pulls it out.

"Hey," says Carter, sitting up. "Guys, come on. I'll be fine-"

Dana pushes him down on the bed and glares at him again. Carter sighed and settled into the bed. Chad shared a grin with Joel. Carter was lucky to have them.

End.