Coming Back - (2 Parts)

[Guest bingo]

Notes: I'm new on this forum, and I was absolutely delighted when I saw a Wonderfalls story as I skimmed through the older posts. I enjoyed both the story and the reminder of how fun that short-lived TV series was, and so I was inspired to write something myself.

For those who haven't seen the show, this story does contain spoilers. It is set after the series concludes. Cold symptoms enter the story when the POV shifts to Eric.

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The stuffed squirrel tilted its head at Jaye. "Don't be late," it said cheerfully, in a high pitched, cocky voice.

"Late for what?" Jaye asked, frustrated. "For work? 'Cause I'm heading there right now, and the only thing delaying me is you."

"Don't be laaate," the squirrel repeated, a smug tone in its voice.

"Late for paying taxes? A few specifics would be helpful here."

"No no no. Don't be late."

"Well, at least you were willing to negate my guess. For you, that's practically cooperating. So let's see. Late for taking out the trash? For meeting my friend Mahondra for drinks? For discovering my purpose in life?"

The squirrel shook its head at each guess.

"How about for that date I don't have?"

At that, the squirrel became greatly agitated. "Don't do it. Late late late late, don't be late."

Jaye stared, transfixed. "Do you mean Eric's coming back?" she whispered.

"Late late late," the squirrel chattered away.

Jaye picked up the phone, handling it carefully. She phoned the retail store where she worked, and told her manager, "I, ahhh, I can't come in."

"Jaye! You're due to start in ten minutes! You know that if you call in sick you have to call two hours in advance. Are you even sick? You don't sound sick."

With effort, Jaye restrained herself from saying something rude. "Please," she said in her best wheedling tone, "I swear it's really important, and I'll make it up to you, honest."

"Well..."

He took a bit more coaxing, but at last he grudgingly agreed to cover for her.

Palms sweating, she took a quick look at herself in the mirror. She considered changing into something more flattering than her work clothes, but the squirrel piped up again, "Don't be laaate." Jaye swallowed and muttered, "Right." Abandoning thoughts of her appearance, she rushed off to the train station.

She had no idea if the squirrel really meant that Eric was coming back. The messages the animals gave her were often mysterious, often turning out to be based on some obscure pun, or some situation that she couldn't truly understand until after she had already guessed wrong, done something foolish and made a mess of things. Yet the one consistent thread in her dealings with the animals was this: if she didn't try, things got worse.

This time, however, she needed no coaxing. If Eric were truly coming back, she couldn't wait to see him. Despite that, she found herself a nervous wreck.

Eric had come to Wonderfalls for his honeymoon. His marriage never made it past day one though; before he and his new wife even shared a single night, he came back from a quick trip to pick up dinner to find his wife going at it with the bellboy.

Devastated, Eric had abandoned his old life, including wife, job, and apartment, in order to lick his wounds in Wonderfalls. He took a job tending bar at Jaye's favorite retreat. Gradually, tentatively, they had begun to fall for each other. But when Eric's wife Heidi tracked him down, Eric felt a moral obligation to try to make things work.

And so Jaye had let him go. It had been an impossible tightrope to walk, trying to love him enough so she did not hurt him with indifference, and yet be strong enough to send him away free and clear. It was no wonder that despite her best efforts she had sometimes said and done foolish things, things she was afraid would still come between them.

If he was even coming.

"Stupid squirrel couldn't even tell me what to expect, had to go and act all smug," Jaye muttered. "What does a stuffed squirrel know about getting your heart broken?"

Jaye parked and settled in to wait at the train station. With a sigh, she realized that she still didn't even know if she was on time.

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The train kept bringing him closer to Wonderfalls, but the closer he came, the more Eric regretted setting out on his trip. Oh, it wasn't the journey itself which bothered him, merely the timing.

When he set out, he was still feeling some lingering symptoms from a cold he'd suffered weeks ago, so he hadn't thought twice about the slight sore throat and cough. Nor had he given a thought to his headache, believing it to be stress induced. But once he was on the train and couldn't turn back, his symptoms had worsened rapidly. Soon it became clear that he was dealing with a brand new virus, not the aftermath of the old one.

His nose began to run, which he would have endured better if he had anything to blow it with. He sniffed back as much as he could, but sniffing wasn't sufficient, so he found himself forced to wipe his nose repeatedly on his shirt sleeves like a child. He muffled sneezes against his shirt sleeves as well, but since they were already growing unpleasantly damp, he stifled his sneezing as best he could. His throat began to burn, and he found himself coughing more and more.

He glanced impatiently at his watch. One hour left. He would have liked to catch a little extra sleep, but he felt too miserable. Instead he

looked out the window and let his mind drift.

He hadn't been brave enough to call Jaye in advance. He didn't know what reception to expect, though they had parted on good terms. He knew he had treated her badly, though not by choice.

Jaye's friendship had helped him get through the tough times after Heidi's betrayal. And her thanks for that was for him to leave her in order to return to his wife. He knew he had done the right thing in trying to fix his marriage. Yet there was no way around it; the right

thing to do had also been hurtful to someone he loved.

Now things were over for good with Heidi. All his best efforts had come to nothing, and the divorce papers were signed and filed.

The urge to sneeze pressed on him, and with effort he managed to stifle it. Doing so made the throbbing in his head worse.

He rubbed wearily at his forehead. He realized with irritation that stifling the sneeze had been pointless; the tickling urge was back and he simply couldn't fight it off. He found himself taking rapid, gasping breaths. Hehh, ehh, ehh, ehhshoo. The first sneeze was followed shortly by three more quick, harsh sneezes that jerked his whole upper body forward. It sent spikes of pain through his temples, and when the sneezes passed, he had no choice but to breathe through his mouth, searing his already raw throat. His nose was simply too stuffed with congestion and he had nowhere to blow it.

"I won't call her," Eric thought suddenly. He'd just go to a motel room and hole up overnight. Then he'd head back home in the morning, and come again in a couple of weeks, when he was feeling better. Reconnecting with Jaye might well take some effort, and he just didn't have the strength for it. He felt tired down to his bones.

Though it made him feel a bit of a coward, the decision took the pressure off, and he relaxed a bit. At least, he relaxed until more sneezes caught him. The sneezing and rapid breathing that went along with it started him coughing, and once the dry hack started up, he had trouble bringing it under control.

He wished for a glass of water, a kleenex, a cough drop... but all he got were surreptitious stares from the other passengers. No doubt they resented being exposed to his germs, but it wasn't something he could help.

At last the train pulled into the station. Eric found himself moving slowly. Despite his eagerness to find some tissue, followed by some cold medicine and a warm bed, he was simply too weary to move very fast.

Once he finally disembarked, a familiar vehicle caught his eye. "Jaye's here?" he thought, astonished. He couldn't imagine how she had found out. Perhaps it was merely coincidence and she had come for someone else.

No matter. If she had actually come to the station, he wasn't so much of a coward that he would try to sneak off without speaking to her. He found his heart beating faster, but despite all his nervousness, a slight smile of anticipation crossed his face.

There she was, slowly heading his way. He strode toward her, ignoring the throbbing in his skull. She looked at him tentatively.

"You left," she said, but her voice made it a question, not an accusation.

He looked at her seriously, and put all the truth of his feeling in one simple phrase. "I had to leave so that I could come back."

<to be continued>

[The Sneezster]

Poor guy sounds like he needs some looking after.

I look forward to the looking after.

[Guest bingo]

Poor guy sounds like he needs some looking after.

I look forward to the looking after.

He certainly does, and here it comes.

[Guest bingo]

Part 2

With that, they were in each others arms. Her embrace felt like gentle rain on dry thirsty land. He would have loved to stay there for hours, but all too soon, other needs intruded.

"Scuse me," he mumbled. His shoulders jerked as he tried to hold off the sneezes, but it was a lost cause. They came whether he liked it or no. "Hehhh, ehhh, etchoo! hetcha, etCHHA!" He forced himself to take a couple of deep breaths, his nose still tickled fiercely. He sneezed twice more, loudly, "Hettch ettchhH AA! ehhtch tCHHA!" Once the fit passed, he pressed his fingers to the base of his nose, as if he could force away the congestion and irritation.

"Come on, sneezy," Jaye said with gentle amusement. "I have kleenex in my car."

He gave her a quick, grateful nod, not trusting himself to speak just yet.

Jaye led him to her car, and urged him inside. She scrounged a box of tissue from somewhere in the back seat, and handed him the entire box.

After doing so long without, the simple chance to blow his nose brought an almost humbling amount of relief. He filled several tissues before he finished. He found himself embarrassed to do so in front of Jaye, but his need was too great. His hands were nearly shaking by the time he finished and looked back at Jaye.

"You really look beat" she said with concern.

"I feel it," he admitted. "I didn't mean to show up in this state; it only came on after I left. I wasn't going to call you-"

"Eric!"

He hadn't meant to admit that last, and he wondered anxiously if she would be hurt or angry. But her voice was mock-stern, lecturing him in an amused rather than an upset tone.

"You didn't get on a train and come all the way out here in order to NOT see me, did you?" she demanded.

At that, he couldn't help but smile.

"No," he admitted. "I really, really didn't. But I didn't intend to show up like this, and I didn't want to expose you either," he said hesitantly.

She made a dismissive noise. "Exposure to cold germs is just part of everyday life. If you come down with ebola or bird flu, then we can start talking quarantine measures."

"I'm pretty sure it's not flu; I don't think I have a fever. Or not much of one, anyway."

"See? No worries. I'll bring you home and feed you soup."

That thought was simply too alluring to resist.

He nearly dozed off in the car, but the trip was a short one, and soon they arrived at her trailer. Getting up out of the car brought on a little head rush, and he had to steady himself against the door before dragging himself the short distance inside.

Jaye brought him water and cold medicine. He drank thirstily despite the pain of swallowing.

"See, I already have cold medicine left over from the last time I needed some, because everybody gets colds," she informed him in her best you-had-better-listen-to-me tone. Clearly she was still intent on heading off any guilt he felt for exposing her. He smiled at her a bit shyly.

"Now why don't you lie down for a bit while I heat up some soup," she continued.

Eric protested briefly, but he was so thoroughly exhausted that he couldn't resist the temptation long. He stretched out on her bed, and before he knew it he was deeply asleep.

He drifted back to wakefulness slowly. Finally the urge to sneeze forced him to sit up a bit, and he realized where he was.

"Haahh... ahhh.. ehhtcha, tcha, tcha," he sneezed in quick short bursts. Jaye had thoughtfully placed the tissue box within easy reach, so he blew his nose quietly.

"How long was I out?"

"A couple of hours," Jaye said matter-of-factly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Don't be. Sleep is good for you. You obviously needed it."

"I guess I did," Eric said sheepishly.

"I kept the soup warm. I hope you like chicken, because I forgot to ask you before you fell asleep."

"Does anyone not like chicken soup when they're sick?" he asked, smiling.

"Well, vegetarians, I guess. But you aren't vegetarian. At least you weren't when you left. You haven't turned vegetarian since then, have you?"

He shook his head, amused. "Can I help you with anything? You don't have to wait on me."

She turned to look at him, placed her hands on her hips, and started up with her best lecture voice. "I want to make one thing clear, mister. You are sick, and you are going to be fussed over. There will be fussing. Colds have to be looked after. Why, I had a friend who didn't take care of his cold, and it turned into pneumonia! Not that it was his fault. Or mine either, for that matter. There were extenuating circumstances involving an injured cat, a severe thunderstorm, a broken down vehicle, and a power outage. But there will be no extenuating circumstances regarding you, understood? I won't permit it!"

He laughed, then winced when the laughter brought on the painful hacking cough he'd been fighting. But unlike on the train, he was able to soothe the cough with a drink of cool water, and it passed off quickly.

"Oops, I guess making you laugh is out. Except you shouldn't laugh, because I'm completely serious."

"So I see," he said, amused at her phrasing but deeply touched nonetheless. The soup felt wonderful on his throat, and the cold medicine had eased the headache and congestion a bit. He still felt awful, but the bone deep exhaustion was easing. Some of it was that he'd just had the most restful sleep he'd managed to get in weeks. But he realized that much of it was something uncoiling inside

him. He'd been weary in spirit as well as in body, and Jaye's warm welcome and practical kindness, offered up when he had been braced to face awkwardness or even hostility, moved him nearly to the point of tears.

Things with Heidi had been so awkward for so long. It wasn't exactly that Heidi didn't love him. It was more that Heidi saw only herself. He tried so hard to pierce her insecurities, to get her to see him, but nothing worked.

When he had come down with a cold, she had constantly fussed at him rather than over him, pestering him repeatedly without doing anything actually helpful. Part of it was no doubt a cover for her squeamishness; she could not help but wrinkle her nose at his messier symptoms. He had tried to be discreet about sneezing and blowing his nose, but there was only so much he could do to control the need.

Part of it was a desire for his approval for how well she took care of him. And part of it was just plain and simple impatience for the inconvenience of his illness to be over with. She would bring him some little thing such as a cough drop, then demand to know a short time later if he was feeling better. As though sucking a cough drop for ten minutes would magically eliminate the virus from his system... finally he had claimed to be feeling better just to get some peace. That proved a poor strategy, for he then found himself dragged out to see a movie. He forced back sneezes to avoid disturbing the other patrons, while Heidi watched the show oblivious to his misery.

Afterwards she had wanted to go out to a fine restaurant, and when he gave in to temper and irritably snapped that he was sick and needed to get some rest, she burst into tears. Then followed drama about how she was doing her best, how unfair he was to lie about being better and then blame her for it afterwards, and about how he didn't love her.

That was the crux of what drove them apart; her persistent accusations that he didn't love her, coupled with behavior that made her increasingly less lovable. Rather than try to earn his affection, she constantly faulted him for his lack of it - and yet, she ignored his genuine attempts to reach out to her.

The breaking point didn't come while he was sick, instead it came after he was mostly recovered. He came home one day to find Heidi waiting in their apartment with a female prostitute in order to offer him a threesome. It was so far removed from his actual desires, so callously indifferent to the pain he still felt from her early infidelity, that he realized she would never know him. That she would demand endless love, yet offer none back.

When he finally called things quits for good, she did at least have the good grace to know it was over.

In contrast, Jaye didn't pressure him to be well. Instead, her easy, unselfconscious gestures and gentle teasing gave him permission to be sick. Just knowing that he did not have to pretend, that he could give into illness and that he would be allowed to rest was a tremendous relief.

He found he couldn't take his eyes off her. As she cleaned up the kitchen, she became increasingly aware of his gaze, finally asking, "What? What?" It would only hurt Jaye to hear him talk about Heidi, and he also knew that Jaye had a difficult time accepting compliments. So rather than fully explain, he merely said, "I was just thinking of how beautiful you are when you take charge."

She grinned, blushed, looked away and then couldn't resist looking back. "I guess it's good that you think so, since I do have that tendency." He did not break off his gaze, and his heart swelled as her smile grew wider and wider. Then she said something that caught him completely by surprise.

"I was just thinking that you're awfully cute when you sneeze."

"When I sneeze?" he asked, bewildered.

She nodded shyly. "You look so open and vulnerable."

Sneezing was a vulnerable moment, but not by choice. He could see that her confession embarrassed her a little, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings, but nonetheless he couldn't help but say a bit bitterly, "The last thing I feel is cute. I just feel a mess."

"But that's just it," Jaye said earnestly. "We're all a mess when we're sick. But there's a, a," she paused to think, "a certain dignity about the way you endure it. The way you carry yourself... it shows a certain attitude. It says that if someone else were sick, you would offer them consideration, kindness, and respect, and so you expect to receive these things from others." By now it was clear that she was talking about more than sneezing, and Eric listened intently as she continued.

"But more than that, it reflects a certain conviction that that's the way things ought to be. So even if you don't get that consideration, you'll still not only show it to others, you'll still be open to seeing it in others. You'll still look for the best, not the worst."

Jaye couldn't have chosen a better compliment. What she said summed up the attitude he strove to hold so well. He felt he often fell short of it, but if Jaye could see it in him, he must not have failed entirely.

The depth of his feeling showed in his eyes, and they found themselves embracing again. "Are you still a wait-for-marriage kind of guy?" Jaye asked huskily.

"I tried that, but it didn't work so well. So I've decided to wait for something better."

"Oh?"

"Love."

"Then you waited just long enough."

Despite their feelings, they didn't take things any further that night. Neither of them wanted to rush something meant to be special. Besides, Eric was genuinely sick and exhausted. But that conversation allowed him to stay and rest at her place without feeling like he was intruding on her privacy.

He woke in the night due to congestion and the need to sneeze. He sat up and tried to take care of things quietly, and managed to muffle the sneezes. "Ehhssh, ehhsh, etchh." But as before, the sneezing started him coughing. Though he held a pillow to his face, the dry hacking still sounded loud against the quiet night. Jaye came and sat next to him and started gently rubbing his back.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"None of that," she said sleepily. I warned you to expect fussing, so you're just gonna have to deal. Too bad I miscalculated though."

"Mmm?"

"It IS bird flu. Too bad it's too late. We'll just have to die together."

He fought back a chuckle.

When he trusted himself to speak without coughing, he said, "I realize it probably doesn't sound like it just now, but I am actually feeling a little better. And I appreciate you looking after me."

"Thank the squirrel," she said as her eyes drifted shut again.

That made no sense at all, and he decided she must still be half asleep. But for some reason he glanced over at her stuffed animals, and a cocky cheerful squirrel caught his eye. Surely it was due to fatigue, but he could have sworn the squirrel winked.

<I'm not quite sure if there will be more. I hate to end it before Eric makes a fuller recovery, but the intent of the story was to show Jaye taking him in, so I'm not sure if I have a good followup from here. I hope people liked it!>

[Guest starlily23]

Though I've never heard of Wonderfalls, I really liked it. I hope you continue, I'm interested as to what will happen next.

[angora48]

Welcome, bingo! Really nice story - I thought you did a very good capturing Jaye and her Jaye-ness. I especially liked "f you come down with ebola or bird flu, then we can start talking quarantine measures." SO Jaye! It's fun how she's taking care of him.

I'm the one who wrote the other Wonderfalls story. I hope you enjoyed it - I'm a total sucker for Aaron/Mahandra.

[sneezedreamer]

YAY! Someone wrote a Wonderfalls story...I love that show...and I loved your sneezy Eric. I realize that you're probably not going to continue, so I guess I'll just say - WELL DONE!

[scent]

YAY! Someone wrote a Wonderfalls story...I love that show...and I loved your sneezy Eric. I realize that you're probably not going to continue, so I guess I'll just say - WELL DONE!

Very cute. Sounds like he could use some good old chicken soup.