Long Away

Chapter 13

The next morning, Ben had to get up for work after only three hours of sleep. His nerves had kept him up long past midnight. With the energy levels of a beaten up sloth he slouched into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. As so often he wished coffee would have the same energizing effect on him as it did on others, but with his adhd it was quite the opposite. He chugged down the water when the door to Roger's room flung open. Without looking at Ben, he spurted to the bathroom. His face was pale and he was covering his mouth with his hand. Concerned, Ben followed after him. Roger didn't have the time to close the door behind him before collapsing in front of the toilet and throwing up.
Ben rushed to his side to hold his hair out of his face.
"Please go, you don't need to see this," Roger whimpered between shallow, shaky breaths. Ben gently brushed his hand over Roger's back.
"Shh... It's okay. Did you not take the food well?"
"I don't think that's it," Roger said before throwing up a second time.
"I'm sorry," he murmured.
"Don't apologize for being sick, silly." Ben felt the temperature of Roger's forehead. He frowned.
"I think you have a fever." He went to grab a washcloth from the cabinet behind him and drenched it in cold water.
"Must be my nerves. I get feverish sometimes after big things happen. It was the same after my first performance," Roger explained. Ben handed him the washcloth.
"That's a shame," he said as Roger cleaned his face. "I was going to ask you on another date, but I guess if that's how your body reacts, I'd better not." Roger's eyes went wide.
"No, no, you can take me on a date, I'll be fine." An amused smile snuck on Ben's face.
"I was just kidding. Of course I will take you out again."
"You'd better," Roger said. "Do you think you can take over my shift for today?" Ben nodded.
"Of course. Can I do anything else for you? Should I call up the doctors office?"
"No, it's fine. I just need to sleep it off."
Ben helped him up to flush the toilet and wash his hands. He kept his eyes on Roger while he was brushing his teeth, in case he would get dizzy. When he was done, Ben escorted him back to his room.
"I'll bring you some water," he said and went to fill another glass. He placed it on Roger's nightstand and made sure he was tucked in tightly, then he sat down at the edge of the bed. Roger could barely keep his eyes open when he looked up at him. Ben brought his hand up to Roger's face and lightly caressed his cheek.
"Rest up, precious, I'll be back in the afternoon and make you some soup if you're still not well by then."
"You don't have to."
"But I will," Ben insisted.
"Thank you," Roger whispered. Ben leaned in to give him a forehead kiss.
"Sleep tight."

~~~~

Ben's shift at the shop was rather uneventful. There weren't that many costumers, but he managed to sell a fair amount of clothes before he locked up the store at one pm for the usual half hour break. Freddie would get here soon, then he could go home and check on Roger. He was just cleaning up when Freddie came through the door.
"Hey Ben!"
"Hey Freddie. How were your classes?" Freddie made an irked face. "Not any more exciting than usual," he said. "Rog wanted me to tell you you really don't have to come home for him. But I'm guessing you want to, is that right?" Ben nodded.
"If you don't mind."
"I don't. But I do want to talk about some things first, can we sit down in the staff room for a few minutes before you leave?", Freddie asked him.
"Sure." Ben sat down on the sofa while Freddie took off his coat.

"Okay, first order of business: Deaky. I found his address and phone number. What's our next step going to be?"
"Oh, uh... Good question," Ben admitted. "I mean, he did join the band on his own the first time. If you want to speed things up, maybe we should just make sure he hears about us now?" Freddie paced up and down the room, nodding profusely.
"Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking. The question is, would it be very suspicious if we just showed up in front of his house..."
"Uh? Yes?"
"Hear me out. We could hang up flyers around his house. If he happens to walk past us, we ask him directly. That should be fine, right?" Ben shrugged.
"I guess."
"Perfect. Can we do that tomorrow after work?", Freddie asked.
"Fine by me."
"Good. Second order of business: Your whole time travel situation. Brian might be able to help us figure out what's going on. I mean, astrophysics, spacetime, out of all of us he should definitely know the most about that stuff."
"That's right. But what are we supposed to ask for?"
"Would you be terribly opposed to the idea of letting him in on your secret?" Ben shot Freddie a skeptical glance.
"Do you think that's a good idea? He probably wouldn't even believe it." Freddie shrugged.
"It's worth a try, isn't it? Worst case scenario is we have to pretend it was a prank."
"I'm not so sure if that is the worst possible outcome, but I guess we can try to ease him into it somehow," Ben said.
"Good, let's do that then. One last question before you go. How do I find the right Jim Hutton?" Ben let out a sigh.
"Freddie... We've talked about this."
"No unnecessary intervening with timelines?", Freddie nagged. "Then how come you get to date Rog?" Ben froze.
"I... Never thought of it like that."
"Yeah, no shit. So, how do I find him?" Ben's mind trailed off. He knew Freddie didn't mean to imply that he and Rog shouldn't be dating, but now that Ben thought about it, it really was a bad idea. If they stayed together, Roger wouldn't be able to have his kids. Not to mention Ben was still trying to find a way back to his time. That would mean leaving Roger behind. An uneasy feeling came over him.
"Ben?"
"Oh, uh... I don't know. I'm sorry," he stammered. Freddie didn't look convinced.
"No, really, I don't know," Ben said. Freddie let out a dissatisfied noise.
"Will you help me figure something out?", he asked.
"I will think of something," Ben murmured. What he was actually thinking about though, was if he should really continue his romance with Roger, or break up now before they both got too attached to each other.

***
Hey guys! I figured I would ease you in with some lighter drama before we get into the real bad stuff. Let that be your warning going forward...

Tay