Minor Inconveniences

Hamster Down

Author's Note: I seem to be on a bit of a roll with all these TG3 fics I'm churning out......I love having inspiration again!

Anyway, this monster was inspired by two sets of prompts on Tumblr; the first by grab-an-idea, and the second by anonyony1. Both (obviously) centered around sick-fics and prompts for such. So here we go! Probs will be a 3-4 chap fic this one, there's just one image that I can't get out of my head for the end, and I really want to write that.......but we gotta make 'em suffer first!

Disclaimer: Still don't own.......but would love to meet one day........*sigh*

*****

Summer 2008, during studio recordings for Series 11

They say you're not supposed to get the flu in the summer. Well actually, as one member of the Top Gear trio was about to find out, it turns out you can. And it's just as unpleasant as ever.

It had started with an awful cough that had kept him up most of last night, which meant that he had ended up oversleeping and had then arrived at Dunsfold Park almost an hour late (to much complaining and mocking from his two colleagues), nursing an aching chest and a pounding headache.

Still, could be worse.

It just so happened that they were in the middle of the studio recordings for the eleventh series of Top Gear and today they were shooting the studio segments for episode three. The films were great this week - Jeremy's road test of the Bentley Brooklands is as entertaining and mad as ever, the Alfa Romeo challenge just superbly brilliant as usual, and the guests they'd booked - Rob Brydon and James Corden - sure to be a treat for the audience both in the studio and at home.

By the time they were through with rehearsals, he felt awful. Once makeup had been applied and they'd changed into the clothes they'd present the show in, he felt even worse. By the time the audience arrived and they were getting ready to record, he was thankful that he wasn't needed until after the first film.

Just needed to get through today, he promised himself, and then they don't need you until Monday next week. Just get through today........I mean, come on......how hard could it be.......?

*****

Richard was beyond relieved when Jeremy finally called their guests to the stage for this show's 'Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car' segment, because it meant that he could disappear and possibly curl up somewhere dark and quiet and be left to die in peace.

No such luck with that last part, but he would take what he could get, and he forced his feet to move forwards in the direction of the door to the hangar.

Wincing as the bright, summer sun hit his face, he couldn't help but shiver a little as the breeze lifted his fringe off his forehead. Or maybe that was the chills that were currently taking over his body, he didn't know.

Of course I had to get sick on the one day we have a heap of studio stuff to do, he growled to himself, suddenly hating the added studio bit they'd added in the middle of the show (the bit they'd just filmed). It had taken more takes than usual thanks to a few mind-blanks on his part, which had made him feel even worse and he could see that it was making the crew and his co-presenters quite frustrated as well (which he also hated).

The end result was that he felt utterly dreadful, and wanted nothing more than to lie down and be alone so he could sleep forever.

Stumbling suddenly as a wave of dizziness overtook his vision as he walked, Richard caught sight of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye as he straightened up, panting slightly.