Tim smiles as he walks into the recreation room and sees his friends. But his smile fades when he sees their worried faces.

"Oh, my God, Photograph!! Where ya been? We were getting worried about you. We went by your room and you weren't there. Avi thought maybe you were abducted by aliens and wanted to call 911 but Austin wouldn't let him. Austin thought maybe you and Virgil went somewhere cause he can't find him either. I wanted to call the hospital to see if you had gotten sick but then I realized that we were in a hospital. So where you been, huh?" Adam says all without taking a breath.

Tim chuckles as he takes his notebook from his pocket. He didn't mind Adam's rambling. It gave him time to think of something. Truth was, he and Chance were up late making love and had overslept this morning.

'Tina wanted to see some of my photos. She's going to hang some up in her office and in the hallway.' Tim writes and hands the note to Adam. Which really wasn't a lie.

"Wow! That's super cool. Whoa, wait a minute! What is that on your neck? You got the measles or something?" Adam asks as he pulls Avi and Austin back. Tim feels of his neck. He didn't realize that Chance had 'accidentally' left a large love bite on his neck. "Is it contagious? NURSE!! NURSE!!!"

"Adam! Hush, Sweetie. Why are you yelling?" Jenika asks as she walks into the recreation room.

"It's Photograph! He's sick. He's got the measles or the bubonic plague. Is it contagious? Are we all gonna die? I'm too young to die!!" Adam yells.

Tim, himself, was even beginning to panic. He had no knowledge of the hickey and was really scared that something serious was wrong.

"What are you talking about?" Jenika asks as she walks up to the group of friends.

"Right there on his neck." Austin points but Adam pulls his hand away.

"DON'T TOUCH IT!!" Adam screams in a panic.

"Let me see, Timmy." She says as she starts to move his hand that was on his neck.

He shakes his head and steps back. If it were something contagious, he definitely didn't want her getting sick.

"Don't worry, Hun. I've had all my shots." She smiles. 

He slowly moves his hand from his neck. She brushes back his hair and sees the large hickey.

"Oh." Jenika says as she starts to smile.

"Is he going to die? How long has he got? Should we quarantine the building?" Adam threw questions as fast as he could think of them. 

"Geez, Adam, will you give her time to talk?" Avi says as he shakes his head.

"Tim is not going to die any time soon. He's not sick or has any disease." Jenika says as she rubs her thumb over the hickey.

"Well, what's wrong with him?" Austin asks.

"Nothing. Uh, it's just a skin irritation. It'll go away in a day or two. It's nothing to worry about." Jenika smiles at Tim. "As a matter of fact, Tim, if you come with me, I have some ointment to put on it so it won't itch. Boys, Y'all wait here."

Tim nods as Jenika takes his hand and leads him down the hall to the nurses' station.

"Have a seat, Sweetie." Jenika says.

Tim sits down on the couch and nervously looks around the room.

"Timmy?" Jenika smiles as she sits down next to him and takes him by the hand. "Do you know what a hickey is?"

Tim nods his head.

"I take it that you were with Chance last night?" She asks softly with a smile.

He nods and hangs his head. It suddenly dawns on him what she was talking about. He quickly raises his head and his jaw drops as he rubs his neck.

"Bingo, you have a very large hickey on your neck." Jenika giggles. She gets up and walks over to the counter and comes back with a band-aid large enough to cover the bruise. "We'll put this over it so no one else will be asking questions."

Tim pulls his hair back so she could place the band-aid.

"I'm just glad that none of the guys know what a hickey looks like or there would be a million more questions." Jenika laughs as she pats Tim on the leg. "You can go now, Sweetie."

Tim nods and gives her a quick hug before leaving.

Jenika shakes her head with a slight roll of her eyes. Her and Mr. Chance needed to have a talk.

~~

"Well, good morning." Chance says as he opens his door.

"We need to talk." Jenika announces as she pushes past him and walks into his apartment.

"Okay? Do come in." Chance chuckles as he shakes his head. Deja Vu.

Jenika glances down at the bed that had not been made yet. It was evident that more than one person had slept in it.

"Would you like some coffee?" Chance politely asks.

"Thank you. That would be nice." Jenika says as she follows him to the kitchen and sits down at the table. "I want you to know that I just spent the last thirty minutes trying to convince Adam that Tim was not dying from the Bubonic Plague."

"What?" Chance chuckles as he hands her a cup of coffee.

"He saw the hickey that you left on Tim's neck." Jenika says, with raised brows.

"Oh. OH!" Chance says as the realization hits him. "Oh, my God. I didn't think."

"Exactly. Chance, these guys don't know what a hickey is. They were in a full-blown panic. Tim didn't even realize that you had left one and he was even panicking." Jenika says. "And I didn't even know that you two had moved to that stage of your relationship."

"Yeah." Chance answers with a soft smile as he glances around at the tangled sheets on the unmade bed.

"Needless to say, Tim was quite relieved to know that he wasn't dying." Jenika giggles.

"I bet. What did you tell the others?" Chance asks as he sips his coffee.

"I told them that it was just a skin irritation. I think they believed me. I put a band-aid over it to keep anyone else from asking about it." Jenika says. "But you need to be more careful. You are not dealing with ordinary minds here. They have no idea what is going on up here in this apartment."

~~

Tim walks back into the recreation room. Adam and Austin had gotten interested in a movie that was playing on the television. Avi was sitting alone at a table with a game of checkers in front of him.

Tim walks over to the table and looks down at the checkerboard then gives the bearded man a questionable look.

"Before you think that I've gone completely bonkers, let me explain." Avi chuckles.

Tim nods as he sits down at the table.

"Austin and I were playing a game of checkers and they started a movie that he wanted to watch. Sooo, he left Virgil to finish playing for him. I've been sitting here for some time now and the jerk hasn't moved not one checker." Avi laughs. "Care to join me?"

Tim glances over the board and then moves a checker.

"By the way, I'm not as naive as the others. I know the difference between a skin irritation and a hickey." Avi says quietly as he moves his checker. He smiles as he looks up at the shocked look on Tim's face. "King me."

*********

Please, VOTE and leave a COMMENT!!