Chapter Two: Suspicions and Deductions

-x-

"You sure you don't- *cough* - godda abbointmen' - *sniff* - with Crowley?"

Halt barely looked up from where he was adjusting some arrows. "Yes I'm sure. Why?"

Gil sniffled and dropped onto the couch. Apparently, being sick meant he couldn't do anything outdoors in that weather. So Halt set him to sweep the floors, wipe the table, fix his room, clean the pots, and do just about anything that his mentor said would take his mind off his killer headache.

Apparently, doing his chores might as well do his body some good, so he wouldn't feel too weak from being ill – which is what lying in bed all day would tend to do.

Gilan had a niggling suspicion that Halt was enjoying this a bit too much.

"Nothing. Jus' wondering." He glanced out the window. The sun was shining brightly, though it was clearly windy. Still, he thought morosely, it was a nice day for a fair.

A few more moments of silence passed.

"This is so boring!" Gilan groaned, throwing his arms up and slumping back on the couch. He regretted it when the sudden movement made his head throb more. He'd gotten a lot worse in the last couple of hours, and he wasn't faking it anymore either. The chores did not help, he thought moodily. That didn't mean he wasn't trying to milk it for all it was worth, though, but that proved to be a difficult task if Halt was convinced he'd be better by midday. Seemed like Gil's constant coughing and sneezing and moaning about his throbbing headache didn't exactly prove to his mentor that he was too sick to venture outside and that Halt should just go and do whatever he needed to.

That didn't mean he didn't feel well enough to go to the fair. He definitely did. He just had to get rid of Halt for a good few hours, but that was proving difficult, what with his mentor practically forcing medical broth down his throat every hour. He needed a distraction, and a good one at that.

It was times like these that Gilan wished Crowley would send one of those highly important and confidential messages that sent Halt away for days.

"This is your entire fault," he griped now to his mentor, who finally looked up so he could give the youth one of his famous eyebrow-raised skeptical looks.

"And how exactly is you falling ill my fault?" he queried, raising the eyebrow higher at the smirk on Gil's face.

"Because," Gilan paused for a cough. "You're the one who made me sleep outside in this freezing weather. For three nights. Hence making me sick." He nodded somewhat proudly at his brilliant deduction.

Halt stared at him, then said gruffly, "In that case, it's your own fault you slept outside. Maybe next time you should think before making a wisecrack comment."

He knew as soon as the words left his mouth it wasn't the right thing to say.

Gilan's smirk grew wider. "But I'm an apprentice. I'm not ready to think!" He'd always wanted to use that back on Halt, and now he couldn't wipe the triumphant look off his face as the Ranger glared at him but otherwise ignored the comment.

Boring? Who said this was boring? If being sick meant he could sit there and tease Halt without worrying about being chased around for it, heck, he'd take the chance any day!

Well, almost any day. Today was not a day that he wished to be stuck indoors.

And then – watching Halt write a reply to some important letter – Gilan was struck with what he saw as a damn brilliant idea.

He just needed a bit of time alone…

-x-

A'N: -hides- I know, I know, it's horribly short! Heck, this is the shortest chapter I've ever posted up. But I didn't want to keep you guys waiting, and I thought this might answer a few questions as to whether Halt believes that Gil is as sick as he's making himself out to be. Might. You decide for yourself – is he fooled by Gil's 'acting', or is he secretly having a laugh behind his apprentice's back and enjoying his 'payback' by assigning him so many chores?

And no, I won't tell you the answer.

So yeah. I just thought I'd post this up already, 'cause I'm redoing the next bit seeing as it didn't exactly live up to my expectations, and it's an important scene. I don't wanna post that up if it's crappy.

Sorry, again, for the shortness; though to be fair, this is supposed to be a short fic anyway. Or, like a really long one shot divided up into sections. Either one..

Anyway, don't forget to review! Special thanks to the three who did review last chapter: MidnightBloom17, Dodo.123 (give your laptop a kick from me if it's still not working :P), and the un-signed-in ME. Least amount of reviews I've gotten on a chapter in a looong time xD Can't say I'm used to seeing only three reviews. Make me happy and review this one, please? 0:-)

(This A/N's gunna turn out longer than the chapter… O.o)

~izzy :D