Round 1 Story Title: Offering Care
Author: iff the lurker
Fandom: Primeval
Rating: PG-13 for language
Pairings: Nick Cutter/Tom Ryan
Warnings: Slash (nothing explicit)
Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Impossible Pictures and ITV. I only wish they were mine. And I can promise that I'm not making any money at all off of them.
Summary: Ryan is finally able to look after his sick professor.
Author Notes: This takes place during the first series, prior to the appearance of the aquatic anomaly (episode 3).
Bunny: 76
Feedback: Always welcome. Constructive criticism especially.

Captain Tom Ryan let himself in to the house, trying to keep quiet in case Cutter was asleep. He had a grocery sack in one arm and hastily tucked the keys back in his pocket to catch the door before it had a chance to swing all the way open and hit the foyer wall. All his care was wasted when the sack ripped and several tins of soup and veg hit the floor with a series of loud clunks.

The professor had been sent home sick three days before, and the rest of the team had only just returned from the anomaly site where they'd spent the past week. They'd all been exhausted from the experience, and were lucky if they had a single set of dry clothes among them. For the first time in quite a while, the creatures that came through had been herbivores -- Connor had said something about the late Permian and had even given them a name, but he'd been too busy herding them to have commited it to memory -- and were surprisingly docile, letting themselves be led back home with very little difficulty apart from their sheer number. The real problem had been keeping them from returning to this time while the anomaly had remained open since they were incredibly curious. As soon as the sparkling rip in time had collapsed in on itself, the chilled and soggy yet grateful group of men and women packed up their kit and headed back to civilization, several of them sporting runny noses and froggy throats just like Cutter had on their first evening at the site.

As poorly as the professor had been before Claudia ordered him out of the field, Ryan was almost certain that he hadn't stopped to get food or anything else in. He'd been rather surprised that Cutter had made it home without sneezing or coughing himself off the road, quite honestly. In fact, Ryan had phoned to check on him during change of shift the evening that Nick had been sent home and was relieved to be met by the voice of a groggy, congested, hoarse, but still very much in one piece and comfortably home thank you for asking paleontologist.

With both himself and Hart out in the field, he was well aware that Nick had no one around to look after him, so he'd been religious about checking in on Nick whenever he found the time. For all his assurances though, Cutter had sounded worse and worse every time Ryan had called. The soldier was worried enough that, when he'd returned to town, he'd taken just the time needed to get a hot shower and dry clothing and pick up some essentials before taking himself over to the professor's house.

Trying to make up for the noise from the tins falling, he shucked his shoes near the door and continued on stocking feet to the kitchen. Perishables went in the refrigerator, everything else stayed on the counter so he could check on his lover.

There was evidence of Nick having camped out in the den for at least some of the time he'd been by himself. Empty and half-empty glasses and mugs littered the coffee table, the wastebin was overflowing with used tissues, and one of the throw pillows looked as if it had been beaten into submission more than once and lost every time. He went through to the stairwell and was halfway down the upstairs hall before he heard Cutter's congested snoring coming from...the study? Ryan shook his head and took a look inside.

The professor was at least in the comfortable chair by the window and not at his desk, but he was positioned so that Ryan was certain that he'd wake with a stiff neck. He had a blanket around his shoulders and a second thrown over his legs. A book was open in his lap, a notepad on top of it and he had a pen held loosely in his right hand and an extremely crumpled monogrammed cotton handkerchief in the left. His head had lolled back against the chair and this was not helping his ability to breathe, although from how red and chapped his nostrils were, Ryan rather doubted that he could breathe very well at all. His hair was messier than usual, and looking slightly greasy, and he looked as if he hadn't shaved since he'd left the anomaly site.

The soldier bent down by Cutter's chair and placed a surprisingly gentle hand on his forehead. Not abnormally warm. The fever he said he'd been running must've finally come down a bit after they'd talked last night. 'Cutter? Nick, can you wake up for me?'

The snores stopped abruptly and, after a few seconds and an annoyed scrunching of Nick's face, slivers of bright blue appeared through pale lashes. 'Ryan?' He pushed himself a bit more upright in the chair, blinking furiously -- Ryan figured it was to bring himself back to full consciousness. 'When di'joo get here?' His voice was almost gone, only two or three syllables coming out with any real sound behind them, and from his grimace, Ryan could tell that it was hurting him to talk.

'Just a few minutes ago. The anomaly finally closed. How are you doing?'

'Better--' The 'r' caught in his throat and threw him into a coughing fit that, by the time it ended, had Ryan wincing in sympathy.

'I can see where your voice has got off to. If this is "better", I'd hate to have seen "worse".'

The look Nick gave him was pure exhausted misery. Ryan thought right then that he'd do just about anything to keep from seeing it again.

'When was the last time you took anything?'

Nick sniffled as well as he could manage, then rubbed at his nose with the handkerchief. 'Dunno. Hour, mebbe hour and a half ago. 'S what knocked me out.'

'Doesn't seem to be doing much beyond knocking you out. Although your fever's down.'

'Hasn't broken yet. snf If it doesn't, it'll be back snfff back up by sunset.' His nostrils were quivering and his gaze was getting more and more unfocused as he spoke.

'We'll worry about that when it happens.' Ryan moved the books from Cutter's lap to the desk, careful not to displace any of it, then offered Nick a hand to help him stand up. 'C'mon...you're gonna get stiff sleeping here, and you don't need that on top of everything else. Bedroom or den?'

Nick put a hand on the soldier's chest and turned away, burying his face in the handkerchief that had definitely seen better days. 'h'IHFFFshhh! h-ih'IFFsssshhh! snf HFFshhh!' The professor's sneezes were as quiet as his voice, although Ryan could never figure out how he kept them that way when they could be almost powerful enough to bend him in half. 'IFFFshh! IHFshhuh! huhh...h-ih...FFFsssshh! h'IHFFshh!' When he'd finally sneezed out whatever was setting him off, he leaned against Ryan with a moan.

'Bless you.' He winced again. 'You really do sound awful.'

'Thanks for tellin' me. I had no idea.' Cutter's attempt at deadpan sarcasm just sounded tired.

'Bed, Nick. Unless you'd rather the couch...?'

'Wha'd you wake me up for if you're just gonna make me go back t' sleep?' he asked peevishly.

'You're not a very good patient, are you?' Ryan sobered up at the pathetic glare that Nick gave him. 'You would've hated me if I'd let you sleep for very much longer in that position. And I brought some food in too.'

Nick grimaced. 'Really not hungry.'

That made Ryan look closer at him. 'You been sick?'

'No, just...can't smell a thing, makes everything taste like shit. 'N it hurts.'

Ryan combed fingers through Cutter's hair. 'My poor professor. It can't taste that bad. And I'll make sure it's something soft so it doesn't hurt so much. But you've got to eat something or you're not gonna have the strength for your body to fight this.' He pulled Cutter upright and let his lover lean against him as they walked towards the bedroom.

Nick made a face of distaste. 'If you're about to tell me you've got chicken soup, you can leave right now.'

'Not a fan?'

'Not since I was about ten and m'mum tried t' force it on me when I had been sick.' He shuddered. 'Didn't stay down for long and I haven't been able t' touch the stuff since.'

The soldier filed that away for future reference. 'I'll find something.' Ryan helped Nick get settled in the bed, and puttered around for a bit straightening the place up. Hands full of dishes that had piled up, he turned back to Cutter on his way to the door. 'You need anything while I'm downstairs?'

The professor was already starting to doze again. 'Jus' s'm tea? Honey. N' milk.'

'Wouldn't've given you milk even if you'd begged for it. Not with that cough. Be right back.'

Seeing how poorly Nick was made Ryan wish he hadn't had to remain at the anomaly site so long. Yes, Cutter knew how to take care of himself, but being left completely alone while you're sick is never fun. At least when he was under the weather, the lads from his unit would check up on him, so he was never truly alone, and from Hart had told him, he usually did the same for Nick. But with both of them otherwise occupied, what if Nick had gotten worse than this? Ryan had been hospitalized himself during training exercises only a few years ago for a chest cold that had turned to pneumonia because he'd been too stubborn to admit that it was anything more than a slight chill. The camp medic had given him one of the worst tongue lashings he'd ever gotten after he nearly passed out just walking across the canteen at supper. It made him much more nervous about his lover's health than he otherwise would've been.

For lack of other ideas, he scrambled some eggs for the two of them and turned a roasting pan into a makeshift tray to carry their lunch to the bedroom. The professor hadn't managed to fall asleep while he'd been downstairs, or at least hadn't stayed that way. He had what seemed to be a clean handkerchief draped over his steepled hands, covering his palms, and his breath was hitching furiously.

'Bless you,' Ryan said, quite matter-of-factly, and was rather surprised when Nick, after one last inhalation and a pause, suddenly relaxed in exasperation with a sniffle.

'Bastard. Y' chased the damned thing away. 'S gonna be playing wi' me all afternoon now.' At this rate, Ryan was going to have gotten more glares from Cutter in a few hours than he had the entire rest of the time they'd known each other.

'If I give you your tea, will you forgive me?'

Cutter rubbed at his nose again, a crease of irritation between his brows, and murmured, 'I'll think about it.'

Ryan set the tray down in the middle of the bed and sat down on the other side of it, putting one hand on Cutter's shoulder and rubbing his thumb in circles along Nick's collarbone. Tension the professor didn't consciously know he was carrying started to melt away and he leaned in towards Ryan with a sigh.

'Tom, look, 'm sorry for acting like such a shit...just feel like...like something that's been dead on the road for days.'

The soldier placed a kiss on the top of Nick's head and scooted in closer to let Cutter lean against him. 'You don't need to apologise. I don't know a single person that can come over all sunshine and light when they're feeling as horrible as you sound like you're feeling. Now eat what you can and then we can both try to get some rest in.'

Nick finished his tea and managed most of his egg, but it was slow going since he was unable to get any air in through his nose, and his progress was frequently interrupted by coughing or further teasing from the sneeze that Ryan had chased away. After ten minutes of the professor doing nothing more than pushing the last few gelatinous globs around on his plate, Ryan took the dish from him and set it on the nightstand along with his own and slid under the duvet.

When Ryan pulled Nick closer, Cutter looked distinctly uncomfortable at the thought of curling up together. 'You probably shouldn't...don' want you to catch this.'

Ryan rolled his eyes. 'Cutter, I spent days with you in close quarters after you'd started showing symptoms. A fair number of the lads were sounding pretty rough by the time the anomaly closed, we all were in each others' space constantly for the last week, and the weather was not exactly helping matters. If I was going to come down with it, I would have before now.'

'I'll keep you awa--'

'I don't think a stampeding herd of elephants running past my head could keep me awake right now. I doubt you're going to be able to keep me awake. At least not unless you keep making excuses to keep from getting comfortable. If I didn't know better, I'd think you'd gone off me.' That last bit was said with a smile quirking the corner of the soldier's mouth.

'Bastard. You know damn well that I haven't.' Nick finally flopped down with his head on Ryan's shoulder and pulled the covers up to his chin. Unfortunately, however, as soon as he'd relaxed, the tickle that had been teasing him throughout their meal finally came back with a vengeance, and with not quite enough warning for Nick to get his arm out from under the weight of the duvet.

'h'IFshhhh!' The first sneeze ended up aimed right into Ryan's shoulder. The soldier couldn't think that Nick would've done that on purpose after his concerns that he not pass the illness on to Ryan, so he kept from making any comments. Not that Cutter would've been able to pay him any attention right then. 'snfff IPFshhh! h-h'PFFshhhuh! FFFshhh! snf huhhh-h'ih h'FFshhhhh!' By the third one, Nick had finally untangled himself from the covers and had cupped the handkerchief over his nose and mouth, saving the soldier from any further baptising.

'Tha's really startin' t' hurt,' Nick whispered, not having uncurled from the foetal position that he'd been thrown into.

'I can imagine it would. You've only been doing it for days now, and those aren't exactly muscles you can keep in shape with regular exercise.'

'So y' mean 'm safe fr--' He cut himself off with a yawn. 'Fr'm you tryin' t' drag me t' run wi' y--' Another yawn, and this time Ryan thought he could hear Cutter's jaw popping. 'Ev'r' mornin'?'

Ryan chuckled. 'Trust you to come up with something like that. Yes, you're safe. Now try to get some sleep.'

The only reply he got was a gentle snore.