Challenge #72
Title: Examination
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Simon/Kaylee
Word Count: 492
Challenge: Cold
Notes: a very last minute burst of inspiration for this challenge, thanks go kurukami :) Also my first post here! *waves*


"I'm not feeling very well."

Simon, who had been scrawling an inventory list onto a scratch of legal paper, glanced up to see Kaylee standing in the doorway of the infirmary, an ill expression painted over her normally cheerful features. "Oh?" he said, beckoning her into the room. "What's wrong?"

"I think I have a cold." She sniffed, and ran the sleeve of her jumper under her nose before hopping up onto the examining table, as Simon closed the door and grabbed his stethoscope.

"Congestion?" he asked, peering with a small flashlight into her ear.

"Yup."

"Cough?"

"Sometimes."

"Sore throat?"

"Just a little."

He pressed the stethoscope to her back. "Take a deep breath."

She inhaled, her chest rising, then falling abruptly when she let it out.

"You might be wheezing." Simon frowned, polishing the end of the stethoscope on his sleeve. "Can you take off your shirt?"

"Mmm hmm." She yanked the jumper of her head, letting it fall to her lap, and Simon pressed the stethoscope onto her back just under the bright purple bra strap.

She inhaled sharply. "It's cold," she whimpered.

"Sorry about that." He breathed hot air onto the end of the instrument, but rather than taking it away from her back first, he let it linger there, and his breath floated over her skin. She shivered.

The cool metal disappeared, and suddenly his hands were on the side of her neck, gently massaging with his fingers. "Your lymph nodes seem okay," he murmured.

"Mmmm hmmm." Her neck was stretching back slightly, as if leaning into his touch, and his head seemed to be getting closer and closer to his fingers, until his nose was brushing the top of her hair.

"I think it's just a cold," he told her, his voice a bit of a squeak, and then cleared his throat. He started to move away, but she caught his arm.

"I'm feeling better already," she said.

His fingers were suddenly gone from her neck, replaced by his mouth, and his hands pressed into the curve of her abdomen, spinning her so that he stood between her dangling legs.

The stethoscope clanked to the floor, staring up with a steel-gray eye until covered by one of the articles of clothing that were beginning to fly haphazardly around the room. Still sitting on the table, she clung to him as they joined, and it wasn't until afterwards that he climbed up with her, allowing her to curl her body into his arms.

"You're sure you're feeling better?" he asked, stroking her hair.

"You know I wasn't really sick."

He kissed her forehead. "This is silly, you know. We should just tell them. No sense making excuses, pretending, playing games."

"You don't like my games?" She grinned up at him. "I thought you might enjoy playing doctor."

"Just open your mouth and say 'ahhhh'," he demanded, and as soon as she did, he silenced it with a kiss.