Nicholas shook his head at Mattie, gratefully taking the pills and putting them in his mouth before taking the glass of water and swallowing it too. He handed the glass back to Jake and relaxed into the couch again. "Thank you," he muttered to him, worried his voice would betray him if he tried to speak at normal volume.

He looked over at Mattie and Cole. It seemed like Cole had fallen asleep now, and probably rightfully so. It was dark outside. Nicholas wanted to check a clock or his watch, but there were neither. His watch was still lying on the top shelf of his dresser.

Looking up at Jake, he quietly asked, "Do you h-have a shirt I could borrow?"

Jake nodded and disappeared into his bedroom while Nicholas waited, looking at Mattie. He frowned, eyes drooping. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to drag you into anything. I didn't mean for us to almost get killed twice in one day. I didn't mean any of it. I just wanted help. I can't survive by myself. I'm a wimp. I've always been a wimp," he looked down in shame. "I couldn't save my sister even though I knew how to. I was hoping for something that obviously wasn't going to happen, and now two people that I love are dead because of it, and now you have to worry about me and a baby."

Before Jake came back into the room, Nicholas quickly whispered again, "I'm sorry."

---

There were several nice dress shirts available in Jacob's wardrobe; however, he wasn't about to lend one to this kid. Instead, he checked his dresser's drawers and found a black t-shirt with the name of some washed up band across the chest, logo below it to boot. When he went back into the living room, the two of them seemed tense. He thought he'd heard low voices, but he wasn't the type to eavesdrop. Instead, while he'd been looking for a shirt, he'd started humming.

"Here," he said lowly. "Sit up."

Nicholas obeyed, pushing himself to a sitting position. Jacob pulled his jacket off of Nicholas, which had been wrapped around him, and carefully helped him take his shirt off. He balled it up in the jacket, cautious in handling it as he didn't want to touch the blood of the infected arm. Then, he helped Nicholas put the t-shirt on. When it was on, Nicholas laid back down and relaxed. It seemed like the pills were kicking in.

"I'll be right back," Jacob said to Mattie. He went into the bathroom and picked up a clean wash cloth, absentmindedly trying to soak it with water under the faucet before realizing it didn't work anymore. He grumbled lowly and went into the kitchen, soaking it instead with a water bottle. He brought it back out to Nicholas and started wiping his face with it.

"Gotta get that blood off," he said. "You know, you remind me a lot of my little brother."

Nicholas grinned a little bit, and then groggily said, "Funny, 'cause I'm actually a big brother."