AHH-COO!

Damn the snow! He may have come from the greater North but that did not mean he was immune from the cold. Adel had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the winter season. He enjoyed the snow, he really did. But once he began to get sick from it, he whole-heartedly wished for the warm weather to come again! He sniffled his bright red nose and pulled his jacket closer around himself. He had bags under his eyes, most likely from the sleepless nights due to the constant headaches he was getting, which was a bit uncommon for the musician.

But then again, the sickness could have been contributed by the fact that he already had a bad eating habit and would go without meals every now and then. He pushed the thought from his mind.

He would have stayed in bed, but he thought--'Perhaps a warm drink could help me.' And it was off to the bar without a second thought. He didn't really care that he could get potentially sicker, Adel just felt that he needed to get out of that room of his. There was only so much of those odd colored walls he could take. He also assumed that Marle could possibly have a different kind of medication for his headaches since his didn't seem to be working at all.

His movements were a bit sluggish as he entered the building, glancing around the area with tired eyes. It was still in the early evening, perhaps he could catch Marle before it got busy. "Marle!" He called out, still clutching his jacket close to himself, "Are you here?" He spoke just a wee bit softer than before.

Since she basically had no one in the bar right now, Marle thought she might do something productive. That thought was immediately banished when her pen discovered a few napkins. Thus, instead of refilling the stock, or washing down the tables and glasses, Marle was sprawled out behind the counter laying on her stomach, doodling random crap on the napkin. The woman even caught herself humming a few times, her mood was good. When she heard the door open though, she couldn't help but think, Is it this late already? It had only felt like a few minutes she had wasted, but it honestly was about two hours. The small pile of napkins next to her confirmed that fact.

Marle gathered her materials and tried to appear like she had been working when popped up from behind the counter holding the drawn on napkins as she started to say, "I...there was a spill behind the counter-" when she who it was though, Marle visibly relaxed. "It's just you, Adel." a small sigh escaped her as she placed the napkins on the counter and leaned her elbows against the wooden fixture. "I thought you were someone who might actually question what I was doing."

A small laugh escaped her but it trailed off as she actually looked at the man standing in front of her. "Goddess," she muttered, "you look like crap." Marle narrowed her eyes at the man and asked, "Are you feeling okay? I didn't get you sick...did I?"

He shivered weakly as he waited for Marle to make her presence known. Adel blinked once or twice before moving towards the bar counter. He was about to lean against the wood when Marle quickly came out, spouting about some spill then calmed down. He rolled his eyes, then let out a low chuckle. He thus pressed his weight against the wood. "Should I be questioning whatever you were doing back there?" A smirk appeared on his lips before it dropped when she commented on his appearance.

Perhaps he should have freshened up before going to the bar. Oh well, he sighed. "Oh do I?" He replied back in a sarcastic tone. "And no." He continued to answer her, "I don't think you got me sick." He spoke, closing his eyes for a moment. His head was still pounding. "Perhaps I could borrow some of your cold medicine? I've seem to have run out." He told her, opening his eyes to look at her with his puffy red eyes. He smiled weakly,

Then he sneezed.

She paused for a moment and glanced around the room, appearing to intentionally be avoiding eye contact with Adel, "Uh...no. No, you shouldn't." Moving her hand towards the napkins, she pushed them off the counter and let them flutter to the floor, figuring she would pick up the mess later. Besides, no customers ever came behind the bar anyway. At his sarcastic tone, Marle rolled her eyes and said, "You know what I mean. You look like crap because your sick, Adel...you don't always look like crap. Normally, you look good....I mean....healthy..." she trailed off, a blush appearing on her face as she rambled on and on. "Well," she said after she composed herself, "that's good I didn't get you sick, at least."

Marle was about to respond when he sneezed again, her eyebrows narrowed once again. "I think you might need more than simple cold medicine. Plus, I don't have any here." Pursing her lips, Marle appeared to be thought before she walked around to the front of the counter and lifted her hand to Adel's forehead. "Goddess, you're even running a temperature. How and why did you even make it here?"

Adel promptly sniffled and rubbed his nose when his sleeve. Normally, he would have scolded himself for doing such an action in front of a lady, but at the moment, he truly didn't care. "Alright then." He shrugged his shoulders weakly, waiting to hear Marle's answer. But she just rambling off about how he looked. Adel just stared at her, tilting his head ever so slightly. He let out a soft groan, closing his eyes to massage his temples. His headache was coming on rather strong. He missed the blush that grew upon her cheeks. "Indeed." He simply replied.

Then Marle finally began to talk about the medicine and he really hoped that she would have some. But when she said no, Adel's shoulders slumped a bit. "Oh, okay then." He spoke, "Thank you anyway." He was about to turn and walk when Marle pressed her hand against his forehead; it felt cool and Adel sighed softly. "For starters, I walked." He replied with a soft chuckle, "And I came to see if you had any medicine. And since you do not, I suppose I should be on my way."

Adel certainly didn't seem like himself, there was just something...off about him. And Marle only thought that because she considered the man her closest friend here on the island, even with the arrival of Ian in the past seasons, it was nothing more. Nothing more. And the thing she was more curious about..was why she was so intent on proving this to herself. His disappoint showed when she said the medicine was home, Marle bit her lip but immediately stepped in front of Adel when he was about to leave.

"There is no way you are going out in that weather like this." She gave him a look and then grabbed his hand and led him through a door next to the storeroom. It revealed a break room of sorts with a small record player, a few books and loose sheet of paper scattered on the tables around, and a couch against the far wall. Pointing to the couch with her free hand she sad, "You are going to rest on that couch. And while you are resting, I will go to my house and get the medicine." Her tone of voice suggested no room for arguments, and she pulled him over closer to the couch and gave him a light push in that direction. "And I'm not leaving until I see you at least trying to sleep, Adel."

When Marle stopped him, Adel just gave her a questioning look, "I've surived this kind of weather before, Marle. You don't have to worry about me." He told her as she grabbed his hand, basically dragging him into a back room. "Marle, this is unnecessary." He whined then finally became quiet when she pointed to a couch and instructed him to stay there.

He plopped down on the couch and stared up at Marle, appearing a bit stunned that she was all of a sudden so commanding. He couldn't really recall a moment where she was so bossy--it almost intrigued him a little bit. He leaned back against the couch, "It's been impossible to get sleep lately." He told her, resting his head back. He spent a few nights just tossing and turning in bed. He blinked once or twice and rubbed the right side of his face with his right hand, letting out a soft groan. "If I really must try then." He grumbled, closing his eyes.

"You're my friend...of course I'm going to worry about you." She said in response to his comments, there was absolutely no way she was letting him leave again to just made his cold horrible. "Goddess, being sick makes you uncharacteristically whiny." Marle walked around the room, appearing to look for something. She came back to the couch with a blanket and threw it at the man sitting there. "Thank you for trying so hard for me." she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

Afterwards the woman grabbed her coat and wrapped a scarf around her neck. "I will be back in twenty minutes at the most. If you are not here, I will hunt you down and force the medicine down your throat." Marle stared at him with a raise eyebrow in order to make a point and then walked to the door to let herself out. "Lie down at the very least." she muttered before exiting and making her way out of the rather empty bar with a few words to the waitress on hand.

Adel sighed softly, not wanting to put up some sort of fight with Marle, knowing that she was probably going to win at some point. He just stared at her with a pout on his face--which he agreed was pretty uncharacteristic of him, but he didn't care. He wanted to be back in his own back and attempting to sleep there. He snorted softly at her threat and slumped his shoulders, "Alright. I'll stay." He paused for a moment, "Be careful." He spoke in a hushed tone.

When she left, Adel fixed himself on the couch and actually did try lying down. He fixed the blanket over himself and twisted around a few times before actually relaxing. For a moment, he actually did get a little bit of rest but suddenly woke up and realized that he had managed to twist himself into a bit of a knot of a blanket. He grumbled under his breath and closed his eyes once more, even if he was just waiting for Marle to get back to the bar with medicine in hand.

While the sun was actually out now and the temperature was relatively pleasant, Marle still hated walked in the snow sometimes. Especially after being the warm bar, the cold was not her friend at the moment. After entering her house, Marle didn't even bother to remove her coat and scarf, she just walked quickly into the bathroom and grabbed the bottle of cold medicine, that had been her best friend only a few weeks again, and went back out into the winter wonderland once again. Thankfully, the bar hadn't caught fire, gotten robbed, or had a slew of customers in the past twenty or so minutes. That was at least a bright side to the whole matter.

She opened the door to the back room slowly, not quite sure whether Adel was asleep or not. The woman tried to be as quiet as possible while shutting the door and walking into the room...when her boots decided that now it was time to slip on the snow that had pooled on the floor. With an annoying squeak she slipped forward almost falling flat on her face, but managed to catch herself on the arm of the couch, hoping that she hadn't woken up the man who was sleeping on the couch.

After standing there for a few moments, she walked over the table and poured out a small amount into a glass and set it on the table next to a glass of water. Now, all that was left to do right now was wait. She felt like a creepy stalker just sitting there and staring at Adel, but that was all she had at the moment.

He could have sworn to have heard someone come into the room and Adel made no move to check (simply because he couldn't move). He tried relaxing more, as if to give off the appearance that he was indeed sleeping but was in fact awake. He managed to completely relax his body until something jerked the couch to the point where he would have jumped from under his blanket, but was currently wrapped in the cocoon of it. So he stayed quiet, unsure of whether or not if it was Marle.

Adel waited for a moment and finally let out a sigh, making it look as if he was just waking up, "Marle? You're back already?" He mumbled, trying to look over his shoulder with loop-sided glasses on his face. He paused for a moment, "Did you jerk the couch?" He questioned, a bit curiously really.

"Uh, yeah." she said to his first question, "The medicine was actually were I had left it for once." Marle joked with a smile as she shifted positions in the chair slightly. Honestly, she still felt like a creepy stalker at the moment, but Adel didn't need to know that now...did he? At his next question, Marle narrowed her eyebrows a bit and stammered out, "I...I might have...maybe tripped and almost fell on the couch..." a light shrug took over her shoulders as she looked around the room. "I didn't think I moved it that much though...maybe you were dreaming?" The suggestion was certainly half-hearten, even she knew she had disturbed the couch.

Marle coughed, eager to move onto other matters. "Here." she said motioning to the medicine, "it will either knock you out for a few hours or make you a little loopy, I honestly couldn't tell you. Either way, in about twenty-four hours you'll feel like your normal self again." With a smile again, she stood up and handed the glass containing the medicine over to Adel, while holding the water glass in her hand nearby.

Adel merely nodded, "Well, that's good." There was an involuntary shiver from under the blanket cocoon. Things suddenly went blurry for a moment, but Adel quickly regained himself--perhaps he was just overtired. He missed what she had said about her tripping over the couch and merely yawned and replied with, "I see... Perhaps," to cover up and merely shrugged.

He tried to turn, but was once more stuck. He felt a bit embarrassed, but he managed to suck up his pride, "I'm a little stuck, Marle." He spoke, hoping that she would catch on and help him out of the wrap of a blanket. "But thank you." He spoke in a slightly hushed tone, "I appreciate this, really."

She was puzzled for a moment or two as she echoed, "Stuck? with a confused look, and then it dawned on her. "Oh!" setting the glasses down on the table, she moved closer to the couch and bent over doing her best to maneuver the blanket that Adel had manage to get himself caught in, it was quite the awkward situation and she wasn't sure why. "Uhm, I think it might be caught under you..." she trailed off, praying that he would be to reach it someone and unravel it. "Can you get it?"

Adel moved around a little bit to help Marle out, but to no avail. He pressed his lips together and tried to reach the spot that Marle was talking about but couldn't seem to reach either. "I'm sorry, but no." He responded and his face flushed a bit--though he wasn't sure if he was just feeling more sick or it was the embarrassment building up from the pit of his stomach. "Do you mind...?" He asked.

A blush quickly spread across her cheeks, "Uhm...I g-guess not." she immediately yelled at herself to pull it together, this was no big deal. It was not big deal. Right? Somehow, the reassurance didn't come to her. Biting her lower lip, she reached underneath Adel near his chest and managed to find the culprit and smiled a bit as she muttered, "Here it is." Marle pulled the corner out on the opposite side of the couch and reach across to pull it, when suddenly the floor started acting up again. Marle managed to gracefully slip on her wet boot and land on top on Adel. "Oh Goddess!" she cried, her face a bright crimson now, "I'm so sorry, Adel!" However her boots kept slipping as she scrambled to get herself upright.

Adel closed his eyes for a moment to ease the beating pulse in his head and he had missed the blush that flashed on Marle's face. He merely nodded when she agreed to try to unravel him. Hopefully it would be a quick and painless process, but for the two of them, it never worked out that way. Adel suddenly felt a new weight shoved upon him, "Oof!" He gasped, quickly opening his eyes to see Marle on top of him. Had his face not already been flushed, Adel would be rather red in the face as well. He began to try moving around as well, trying to both get Marle off of him and to get out of the blanket. "I-It's alright, Marle!" He quickly replied, pushing the blankets from around him.

The next thing happened so fast. He was able to get one arm free, but as he tried to pull it back towards himself, he hooked it around Marle and pulled her close to him. And by freeing his arm, he had been able to twist his body around and had pulled her down with him. He had fallen right off the couch and brought Marle down on top of him. "Ouch." He grumbled, "Are you alright?" Not even realizing that she was on top of him.

OhGoddessOhGodddessOhGoddessOhGoddesssOhGoddessOhGoddessOhGoddess

Her thoughts were scattered around, running together, and just chaotic in general. If possible though, her voice was in much worse shape. "Uhm......uh.......I-uh....." Marle's voice sounded a bit higher than normal as she attempted to get out a sentence. It was impossible. Being this close to Adel, their faces were practically touching, it was not good. She could barely think straight around this man in the first place, and now here she was lying on top of him.

OhGoddessOhGodddessOhGoddessOhGoddesssOhGoddessOhGoddessOhGoddess

"I'm....I'm f-fine." she said, feeling her face tone down a bit. Marle was sure she looked like a bright red tomato right now, Goddess, it was even uncomfortable to try and change positions. "I...I think the....the...." she couldn't remember the word for medicine. She was twenty-four and she couldn't remember the word for medicine around this man.

"The uhm...stuff I gave you is working..." the woman attempted a smile, "We...we should m-maybe move you back to the couch." The first coherent sentence in probably a five minute period. Good job Marle James. Good job. Biting her lip Marle attempted to get up but found Adel's arm around her made things a little difficult. "Uhm...Adel," she mumbled feeling her face grow red again, "could you maybe move your arm a bit? I mean...you don't want to stay in this position forever..right?" a bout of nervous laughter escaped her.

Truth was, she really did not want his arm to move.

She was stuttering. Why in the world was she stuttering? Adel would never know and he merely let out a soft groan, not realizing his arm was still around Marle. But then she finally managed some coherent words and Adel relaxed--at least she was okay. "Good," he replied. But then she began to stutter--again! He would honestly never understand Marle.

He chuckled softly at her comment, "Well, that's good. I'd like to be out of your hair as soon as possible. I don't want to be a burden longer than I have to be," he told her and she went to move. When she couldn't move, he realized that his arm was still around her. With a blush on his cheeks, "Ah, excuse me," he mumbled, pulling his arm and waited for her to get up.

Once she did move, Adel sat up and was able to slowly move himself back on to the couch, "I'm sorry," he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"You're not a burden, Adel." she said as she gently stood up back on her apparently useless feet. Stupid snow, making her boots wet..cause of course it was the fault of the snow. "Do you really think I would be attempting to take care of you if I thought you were a burden?" a small smile appeared back on Marle's face as she was back to a standing position and waiting to see if Adel needed any help.

While she waited in the silence, Marle straightened out a few things that had fallen or been knocked over in the awkward blanket incident, when she stopped suddenly and turned back around to face Adel, an expression of shock on her face. "What in the world do you have to be sorry for? You didn't ask to get sick." She sat down on the small open space on the couch and looked straight at Adel as she spoke, this time without stutter. "You know, if it was anyone else I probably would have just sent them to the clinic...just because I consider you an extremely close friend and everything." Marle added the last part in haste before she added with a little playful tap on Adel's knee letting her hand linger there, "I'm just glad you decided to risk getting me sick over anyone else."

Adel mindlessly shrugged his shoulders, pressing his lips together in a thin line, "No matter," he replied as he watched her move to a standing position. "Perhaps you felt bad for poor little ol' Adel," he mocked an innocent look and proceeded to push himself up from the floor. "But thank you, nonetheless, really. If you didn't, I'd probably be one step closer to an early grave."

He sat back down on the couch and his face tinted a rosy pink, "I-I mean for pulling up to the ground with me. But now that you mention it, I am sorry to have brought you to this." He then listened to her and latched his fingers together in his lap, twiddling his thumbs for a moment. So they were close friends? Adel smiled to himself--he could live with that, he thought. Then her hand lingered for a moment on his knee, which made Adel rethink his last thought--or perhaps were they close to being something more? He decided to test it and placed his hand on top of Marle's gripping it gently with a smile. He laughed, "Well, when you put it like that, at least then I would be able to return the favor then. And help you, of course."

A little laugh escaped her, "Yeah, I didn't care at all that you might have been slowly dying, I just felt sorry for you." Marle couldn't help but squirm a little bit as he continued to talk and stutter, it was just so unlike him that she became a little uncomfortable herself. Not a bad uncomfortable though....just different. She wasn’t accustomed to having this feeling, it had honestly been a long while and Marle honestly hadn’t thought she would even have the opportunity to feel like this all over again. ”It’s really no big deal…” she muttered under her breath trailing off at the end though.

Just as she was about to remove her hand and move anywhere else, she felt Adel’s hand suddenly cover her own with a surprising grip. Her breath left her for a moment and she just sort of sat there with a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. ”And what exactly do you think you would do to return this favor?”

Adel slumped his shoulders slightly, "Good to know that I have your pity," he replied in a flat voice. So she felt sorry for him--not exactly what he wanted to hear, but she probably meant it in a friendly manner, so they were still friends of course. He let out a soft laugh and smiled weakly. Then his stutter came out--which was a little strange because Adel wasn't one to stutter so easily. What was it about Marle that actually put him off of his game? But then he let out a soft chuckle then looked down at his hand on top of Marle's. There was a quick moment of silence before Adel could find the words to respond to her question, "Well..." he began, "Whatever, I suppose." He shrugged, "Whatever you need."

She became a little confused as she hadn't really detected a trace of sarcasm in his comment, "Adel...I didn't mean it like that..." Marle trailed off, not quite sure which direction she was going to take it anyway. Goddess, why did it always seem like she lost her train of thought around this man lately? It was crazy, and a little annoying...not all the time though. She bit her lip and felt her face flush, a lot, the heat almost went through her entire body at this moment. She couldn't even really make eye contact him with him, it just felt that weird. Marle swallowed a bit, unable to really make a coherent sentence for a few moments after mulling over what he had just said. "Ah....I really don't....don't...I mean...maybe we...I...." Oh Goddess, the stupid stuttering! Why in the world couldn't she do this? To perhaps the awkward moment less awkward she laughed a little nervously and said, "I...I think it's the fever talking Adel."

Adel perked up a brow and weakly shook his head, "It's quite alright, really." A weak smile grew upon his lips and he shrugged his shoulders. They both were a bit out of place, which Adel found a bit odd but he tried not to think very much of it. But he noticed a blush on her face and he found himself curious once more and let out a soft chuckle, "Are you feeling alright, Marle?" Then she started speaking again, but it was a little hard for him to understand and he pushed his brows together. "I suppose if you don't want my help though, it's fine." He shrugged his shoulders then took his hand from hers and put it back into his own lap. "Perhaps."" He shrugged once more.

She knew it wasn't right though, something was off...she just couldn't really place it. It had felt off for a long, long while, there was just this thing that was between them. It wasn't a bad thing, it was just something...stupid vague feelings. Marle had honestly thought she would never feel them again, and here she was trailing off in her thoughts with every other word and taking a little too much time to think about the man in front of her. It felt like she was starting all over again, but maybe that was a good thing. She licked her lips, her nervousness increasing in the awkward situation. "Me?" she asked, cursing her voice for cracking near the end, "I'm...I'm fine." Obviously, that wasn't true at all. "Well..." she said trailing off once again, on the verge of admitting something out loud it seemed. "Maybe...I'm not feeling alright. But it's not something that's really that sudden..." her voice grew quieter near the end, her confidence and sudden bravery fading. "NO!" Marle cried a little too loudly at his sudden statement, she lunged forward placing both her hands on Adel's knees now and sitting a lot closer to him all of a sudden. "That's not what I meant."

When Marle said that she was alright, Adel felt a part of him relax, which he found a little bit odd but paid no attention to it. "Good." He stated, but then she continued on and he felt his smile falter slowly. He listened to her and jumped back slightly when she exclaimed her protest. Adel's eyes grew a bit and he felt his stomach drop. Why was he feeling like this? He was sick. That was all. Then suddenly her hands found themselves on his knees and she was much closer to him. For a moment his breath actually hitched and he blinked.

"It's fine, Marle. I understand." He dropped his knees from their bent position and moved away from Marle. "I understand." He pulled himself up from the floor, coughing softly. "I should leave. I don't want you to get sick on my behalf. Thank you for taking care of me." He spoke, watching for her for a moment before walking back towards the front of the bar, grabbed his coat and left.

He thought he understood, but he didn't. He didn't know what he felt. He was just a fool.