Episode 13 (Serena Season 1)

Eventually Clyde falls asleep, still looking feverish but no longer groaning and twitching.

It seems like the best thing to leave him alone and let him have some rest,

but when I retreat back to my room, Serena's quick to follow.

(And she wasn't any help.)

(She just kept saying she was thirsty but wouldn't leave to get any water.)

MC: "Do you need something?"

MC: "I think everyone else has finally crashed out."

Serena: "And now we can be alone together, can't we? I've been waiting all day."

MC: "I'm tired."

MC: "All I want is to go to bed."

Serena: "But--"

MC: "Serena, come on."

MC: "If you want to be here that badly, then just sit in the chair in the corner and let me sleep."

That seems to placate her and she goes to curl up in the chair, eyes locked on me the entire time.

It's weird to be watched,

but I'm too exhasted after the mess of today to argue as I slip beneath the covers and close my eyes.

I have no idea how long I sleep, but I'm woken by a loud crunching sound,

and when I whirl around in bed,

I see an empty bottle of water from my stash crushed between Serena's hands, another empty one at her feet.

MC: "Hey!"

MC: "I was saving those for Clyde."

MC: "How much did you drink?"

(We're running low on water from the lake since everyone's been sick.)

(Those were the last of the bottles from the ship!)

Serena: "All of it? I told you I was thirsty, darling."

MC: "Then go downstairs!"

Pushing the sheets up off me, I can't help but get up in Serena's face,

wanting something I say to finally get through.

The haze is obvious in her eyes, but I'm too mad about the water being gone to let it go.

MC: "Clyde is your friend."

MC: "He's sick."

MC: "Everyone's sick, including you! And you're the only doctor we have."

MC: "So please try and snap out of it, just for a minute."

MC: "Tell me what to do!"

Serena: "He'll be fine, ."

Serena: "And it doesn't matter as long as we have each other."

MC: "Goddamn it--"

MC: "It does matter! The Serena I know cares about people even if she tries not to show it."

MC: "Every time I was hrut, you were right there."

MC: "And you were taking care of Clyde too!"

MC: "Now you're just..."

Tears spill in a hot mess down my face before I can do anything to stop them,

and Serena just stares at me in confusion.

There's a longing there, trying to understand what I'm saying, but nothing's breaking through.

MC: "I've been hoping you'd make a joke, you know."

MC: "Something to let me know you were still in there."

MC: "The person that I..."

My chest hurts at the realization, heart aching like I've just been shot,

but there's nothing I can do except wipe the tears away.

I'm a little surprised when her arms come around me,

and even if it's not the exact comfort I'm looking for, burying my face in her shoulder is something.

MC: "The person that I fell in love with."

MC: "God, why now? You can't even understand me."

Serena jerks back from me and I'm surprised, breaking our embrace and looking me right in the eyes.

She shakes her head hard, briefly clutching at her temple before drawing in a deep breath.

Serena: "..."

Serena: "...That's not the best confession I've ever heard, but I suppose it counts."

(Wait.)

(Is she... please tell me that was sarcasm.)

MC: "You heard me?"

Serena: "Of course I heard you."

Serena: "Now that my head isn't buzzing like there's a thousand bees in it."

Serena: "I hope that's not why you're crying."

A laugh takes over my next sob, the sound shocked right out of me.

Serena frowns, pressing her hand to my forehead like she's trying to take my temperature.

Serena: "No fever."

Serena: "Do you want to explain to me what's going on?"

I tell her everything that's happened in the last few days between sniffles,

trying to wipe off my cheeks so I don't get anymore tearstairs on Serena's dress.

The whole story comes out in a rush, and I'm not even sure how much sense I'm making.

(But then again, nothing that was happening made any sense.)

MC: "And you were just acting SO strange and I was the only one who wasn't sick,"

MC: "but I wasn't sure if I wasn't sick and--"

Serena: "Strange how?"

Serena: "I hope I didn't leave to try and wrestle any bears."

MC: "No, nothing like that."

MC: "You, uh..."

(How do I put this? I don't want to totally embarrass her for life.)

MC: "You weren't acting like yourself at all.)

MC: "Which is why you followed me in here."

Serena blinks, and I see her glancing around my bedroom like she's trying to put all the pieces together.

After a moment, her face flushes bright red, jaw clenched and teeth grit before she forces herself to relax.

Serena: "Everything's so blurry, but I think I get the picture."

Serena: "I hope my actions weren't too... inappropriate."

MC: "If it makes you feel better, I wouldn't have minded if you were, you know, not sick."

MC: "As long as you meant it."

Serena: "Are you talking about the kiss?"

MC: "Oh thank god, you remember that."

Serena raises a bemused brow, even if a touch of pink returns back to her face.

Her smile is faint, but it's the one I know best, carefully composed.

Serena: "That was very much on purpose, thank you."

Serena: "I've found being indirect with... those sorts of feelings just makes me miserable."

MC: "Yeah, I've been there."

Serena: "Have you now? How many times have you been shipwrecked?"

Serena: "If there's a trend, I should know about it."

MC: "Not about that!"

MC: "I've just only kind of done the dating thing off and on, I mean."

MC: "And emotions can be scarier than rabid capybaras."

MC: "Especially at the wrong time."

Serena: "Does it feel like the wrong time?"

MC: "...Not anymore."

Serena's hand comes up to my cheek, thumb wiping away another tear,

and I look her right in the eye, confirming that the haze is gone.

It's confirmed when she tilts my haed up and pulls me into a firm kiss,

holding me there until my breath catches.

Serena: "How's that for proof I'm in my right mind?"

A. I might need more proof.

B. Even better than the first time.

C. That's cheating.

---

A. I might need more proof.

MC: "Hmm, I don't know."

MC: "I might need more proof just to make sure."

MC: "Science is all about being able to repeat your results, right?"

Serena: "Oh, clever."

---

I throw my arms around Serena's shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug,

and after a moment of stiffness, she returns the embrace.

Her fingers work in soothing circles between my shoulder blades and I nearly collapse into the feeling.

MC: "I'm so glad you're back to being you."

Serena: "So am I."

Serena: "Everything was just... warm and distant."

Serena: "I couldn't even connect to the words coming out of my mouth."

Scary as that is, it proves that I must still not be sick.

I can't imagine why I'd be the only one not to get the disease,

but I'm in control of myself and this is exactly where I want to be.

MC: "Sure it can't be passed on by kissing, doc?"

Serena: "If that was the case, I'd have to ask what Clyde and TK have been doing behind our backs."

MC: "Okay, fair point."

Serena: "So I don't think you're in any danger."

That seems to be an excuse to draw me back into another kiss,

but I'm not complaining, lips parting the moment they meet hers.

After spending a while lying in Serena's arms, I feel a lot more like myself.

She's not particularly snuggly but is content to let me rest against her while she strokes through my hair.

(She probably needed to recover too after spending so long being sick.)

Serena: "Are you feeling better?"

MC: "Yeah."

MC: "I'm still worried about Clyde though."

Serena: "I hope he hasn't been trying to attack any other animals."

MC: "No, but he passed out earlier and seems to have a fever--"

I yelp as Serena suddenly gets out of the chair, jostling me from her lap,

and barely have staggered to my feet before she's out my door and heading down the hallway.

Serena: "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

MC: "He was sleeping! I wanted to let him rest."

We're not even halfway to Clyde's door when I hear a loud groan from TK's room.

Serena ducks inside there without knocking,

and I see TK curled up on his bed, pale and sweaty just like Clyde was hours before.

TK: "Nn..."

Serena: "Come on, let's get you under the covers."

TK doesn't refuse, but can't do much in the way of helping as Serena lays him down to rest,

checking both his pulse and temperature.

Her deep-set frown tells me how serious it is,

and when she drags me back into the hallway after turning off the light, I'm getting nervous.

MC: "Is he going to be okay?"

Serena: "I still need to figure that out."

Serena: "I assume Clyde's in the same state?"

MC: "Yeah, it happened to him first."

MC: "...Which means it's going to happen to Arthur and Logan too, right?"

Serena: "That would be the natural progression, yes."

Serena: "Time and lots of fluids are the usual cure for a fever,"

Serena: "but if it's severe enough, that won't make a difference."

MC: "But you got better."

MC: "And for some reason I never got sick."

MC: "So there has to be a solution there."

Serena: "Our million-dollar question."

Serena: "We were all in the same shipwreck, we've been eating the same food and breathing the same air."

MC: "We all went into the ocean."

MC: "And Arthur's the only one who actually had an animal hurt him."

Serena: "If it was contagious by skin contact, you'd be sick as well."

(Definitely by this point.)

(Ahem.)

Serena: "Some innate resistance is possible, but I can't test for that here."

(Come on, self! There has to be something.)

A. What about the firewood?

B. Something in the temple?

C. I can't think of anything.

---

B. Something in the temple?

MC: "Could there have been something in the temple?"

MC: "I've seen documentaries about archaeologists getting sick in old tombs and stuff."

Serena: "Then you definitely would have gotten sick, considering where we fell into."

---

Serena's brow knits and she goes quiet, staying deep in contemplation until her eyes snap wide.

Serena: "The water."

Serena: "It was sealed before I drank it."

MC: "Yeah, because it came from the ship."

MC: "I still had some left."

Serena: "I had no idea."

Serena: "Everyone else has been drinking from the lake supply."

Serena: "Did you do that at any point?"

MC: "I mean, we went swimming together..."

Serena: "But have you been drinking it for days?"

MC: "No! I--"

MC: "...The bottled stuff tasted better, so I was tyring to drink it while I still could."

Serena: "That's it."

Serena: "The lake must be contaminated."

Serena: "It actually might explain why all the local animals are acting strange too."

Serena: "Plenty of diseases can affect multiple species."

MC: "So we need more clean water."

Serena: "Enough to flush their systems out."

Serena: "It worked for me, even if I wasn't at the most severe stage."

Serena: "How much bottled water do you have left?"

My blood goes cold, realizing one of the last things I'd yelled at Serena before she'd gotten better.

MC: "None."