DISCONTINUED

Chapter 2

*** A/N: Chapter / scene song from playlist - DEMONS AT THE DOOR (Sleeping Wolf) ***

Julia emerged from her typically long hot shower, surprised to find Garreth still in bed.

"Hey honey. It's getting late."

"Ugh. I feel cruddy" Garreth replied, not bothering to move other than to part his lips enough to let those few words escape.

"Really? Bummer. What's up?"

"I dunno Jules. I just feel like I've been hit by a truck. Or how I imagine that would feel. I'm achy all over and exhausted."

Again, there was no visible movement from where Garreth was lying face down in bed.

"Awww, sorry Hun. Sounds like what I had last week. You know, when you were uttering words of sympathy like 'it can't be that bad', 'I'm out of clean underwear' and 'what's for dinner?'."

"Ugh."

"Since I'm nicer than you and always have been, I actually feel sorry for you. Look, even though this is almost certainly a case of 'man flu', take the day off work. You never take a sick day. It's Friday. Stay home. Take a long weekend. Rest up and get better."

"Ugh."

Julia kissed the top of Garreth's buried-in-his-pillow head, then quietly left the room, switching off the lights and closing the door on her way out.

Sixteen-year-old Luna, Julia and Garreth's only child, was fumbling her way to the bathroom as Julia walked down the hall.

"Good morning sunshine!"

"Ugh."

"Nice to see you've inherited your father's monosyllabic ways. Your future husband will be thrilled. You don't feel sick too do you?"

"Who's sick?"

"Your Dad."

"No. I'm fine. Just fighting my daily battle with morning."

"OK. Good. And good luck. Speaking of waking up, do you want me to leave the espresso machine on for you when I'm done with it, to keep it warm?"

"As good as that sounds, I probably shouldn't. It'll stunt my growth."

"Dear, you're like, what... 5'7"? Just how tall do you want to be?"

"Good point. Yes. Please. Leave it on. Thanks."

Luna disappeared into the bathroom and Julia headed downstairs. She only got as far as the landing before she heard little footsteps following her. It was Mack, their 6lb Chihuahua-Yorkie cross.

"Hey there little man, I was wondering if you'd sleep in this morning. How are you feeling?" Mack had been to the vet the previous day for his annual checkup and shots. "Glad to see you up and about. Nothing can slow down Big Mack, unlike your Daddy who's in bed with a case of the 'I'm a man and I feel a little off today so the world must halt while I recover' sniffles. Come on boy... let's get you some breakfast!"

Julia waved the media screen on as she walked into the kitchen, hoping to catch the morning news while she had breakfast, but her usual channel seemed to be off the air, preempted by some pending public health and safety announcement. While that might have been unnerving for most people, seeing as both her and Garreth held fairly important positions as research scientists at the Oregon Scientific Institute, she was pretty confident that if there were a public health situation dire enough to be of real concern she would have heard about it by now. Besides, these announcements were becoming an annoyingly frequent occurrence.