Other than using the bathroom, Steph moved very little from the couch. She mostly alternated between sleeping and watching TV.

The cold medication that Alex made her take helped with the symptoms. While she was still coughing, Steph didn’t look as bad after a few days. Ryan had been nice enough to get them a couple of bags of groceries, as well as restocking their supply of Sudafed.

“Time for some more meds,” Alex told Steph as she pushed a capsule out of the packaging.

Steph sighed as she paused the game and lowered her Switch controller. “You’re a great pill pusher, babe. Have I told you that?”

Alex smirked. “You have.”

“Keep this up, and you might take Charlotte’s place as my favorite drug dealer.”

“Life goals.” Alex walked around the couch, dropping the pill in Steph’s outstretched hand. “You beat that game yet?”

“You don’t ‘beat’ Skyrim,” Steph corrected, popping the pill into her mouth and swallowing it with water from her glass. “You just play until you can’t find any more quests to finish. Then you work out your murder-hobo impulses on the closest town.”

“Sounds therapeutic.”

“A little. I like to pretend that the screaming villagers are people I hate.” Steph coughed into her fist again, a short hacking noise before sniffling. “Sometimes if I find someone I really don’t like, I soul-trap them into a gem, enchant them into a ring, then drop them into the river where they can be lost for all of time.”

“… babe, that’s a little concerning.”

“Hey, that pretentious little prick Nazeem can go fuck himself.”

Alex’s phone rang before she could ask further questions. She pulled it from her pocket to check the screen. “It’s the Urgent Care.”

“Oh, shit.” Steph pushed herself upright. “Put it on speaker.”

She did so. “Hello?”

“Hi, Miss Chen, this is Debbie from the Urgent Care. We met a few days ago when I tested your girlfriend for COVID?”

“I remember. Did the test come back?”

“It did. Is Miss Gingrich there?”

“I’m here,” Steph called out. “What’s the verdict?”

“Well, Miss Gingrich, I’m sorry to say that your test was positive. You’re Haven Spring’s first COVID-19 patient.”

“Cool.” Steph coughed again. “Do I get a t-shirt? I feel like I should get a t-shirt.”

“You do not. How are you feeling?”

“She’s still coughing a lot,” Alex answered. “But I’ve been pumping her full of Sudafed, so it’s not as bad.”

“Her condition isn’t worsening at all?”

“Not really.”

“Then she’ll likely get better in a few days. Still, please keep yourselves indoors for the full two weeks.”

Alex nodded. “Do, uh, I need to get a COVID test?” she asked hesitantly.

“Are you feeling sick?”

“No.”

“Then I wouldn’t worry about it. But it’s possible that you did catch it, and you’re one of the forty percent of cases that are asymptomatic. So you still need to quarantine for the full two weeks, just like Miss Gingrich.”

“And…” Alex hesitated. “That’s it?”

“That’s it. Is there a problem?”

“No. It just feels like as big of a deal as this thing is, there should be more than just, you know, stay away from people and drink fluids.”

“This virus is bad, but only two percent or so of cases require hospitalization. And most of them are the elderly, or people with pre-existing medical conditions. Your girlfriend is young and healthy, so unless she takes a drastic turn, I would expect her to make a full recovery.”

Alex sighed in relief. “Good. I’ve grown kind of attached to her.”

“I imagine so. Do you have any other questions?”

“Nope.”

“Have a good afternoon, then.”

She hung up and slipped her phone back in her pocket. “Sorry, babe, no life insurance payout for you,” Steph remarked with a smirk.

“You don’t have life insurance.”

“I could. You don’t know.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “You told me a few months ago that you don’t even have health insurance. Which is stupid, by the way. You expect me to believe that you’ve got life insurance?”

“… fine,” Steph grumbled as she took another sip of water. “Not like you’ve got health insurance either.”

“I aged out of the foster system, babe. I’m covered under the ACA for free until I’m twenty-six.”

“You are?”

“Yep. Try again.”

“Huh.” Steph leaned back in her seat. “We never talk about little stuff like that.”

Alex furrowed her brow as she finally took a seat on the other end of the couch. “Like what?”

“Insurance. Health stuff. Finances. That sort of thing. Do you even know that I’m allergic to strawberries?”

“You are?”

“Have you ever seen me eat them?”

“No, I guess not.” Alex pursed her lips and nodded. “Good to know.”

“What about you?”

“Something called Sulfa. It’s a thing in certain meds, but it’s never affected me.”

“That’s still something I should probably know,” Steph pointed out. “I mean, if you’re in an accident and unconscious, I don’t want to tell the doctor the wrong thing and get you killed.”

“Yea, that would suck.”

“Agreed.” Steph took a slow breath. “I’ve also got nine grand in student loans that I’m still paying off. And my credit score’s not great because I was ducking them for a couple of years.”

Alex’s eyebrows shot to the top of her head. “Seriously? You tried to duck out on student loans?”

“It was easy, when I was touring with my band. I didn’t really have an address for them to find me at.” Steph sighed. “We didn’t pull in much money. It was easier to pretend that they didn’t exist. But when I finally settled here, they managed to track me down, and I had to make a deal that included paying penalties. It used to be worse.”

“Forget that.” Alex pulled her phone back out. “What’s your bank info? I’ll give you the nine grand right now.”

Steph was already shaking her head. “No way. I can do it myself.”

“Babe, I’ve still got a bunch of money from SubTerra that I’ve barely touched. I can afford it.”

“So can I, now that we’re living together and I’m not paying rent. I don’t need you to bail me out.”

“But-”

“Put your damn phone away. It’s my fuckup, I’ll fix it.” Steph coughed. “My dad already tried to give me the money too. I can handle it.”

“Babe, you don’t have to,” Alex protested. “I can help. Besides, you don’t need a tanked credit score.”

“I have one credit card, and that’s it. No other loans, and no plans to need a high credit score any time soon.” Steph shrugged, coughing into her fist again before sniffling. “What about you? Any dark financial secrets I should be aware of?”

Alex sighed as she slowly put her phone away. “No.”

“Really?”

“I’m not very materialistic, and I always saved for everything I brought. I only had one duffle bag of stuff when I got here, and the most expensive thing I owned was my cell phone. I didn’t even get a credit card until a few months ago.”

Steph furrowed her brow. “Why?”

“It became a thing when I was buying into the bar, that I didn’t have a credit score. The bank understood when I explained, but they still told me that I should get a credit card and work on it. So I did.” She shrugged. “I only use it a couple of times a month, to buy snacks or whatever.”

“Mm.” Steph nodded. “… I just realized that we got here from you giving me shit about health insurance. I think our ADHD took over.”

Alex smirked. “You really should get some, you know.”

“I don’t want to contribute to big pharma’s stranglehold of the insanely-hiked medical prices that ravage our country.”

“A set of X-Rays costs, like, three hundred bucks if you pay for them yourself.”

“… I’ll look into it.”

Charlotte: How’s Steph? She doing better?

Alex: Much. Her fever broke a few days ago, and she hasn’t coughed since yesterday.

Charlotte: Good. I miss hearing her banter over the radio.

Alex: So do I, believe it or not. It’s not the same listening to her in person.

Charlotte: When are you guys coming back?

Alex: Our 14 days is up the day after tomorrow. So after that.

Charlotte: Even though she’s better?

Alex: I don’t know if I’m asymptomatic. And I don’t want to be responsible for anyone else getting sick.

Charlotte: You really are a good person, Alex. I wish more of the country was as decent as you.

Alex: Aww, stop it.

Charlotte: Seriously. Shit, I wish more of Haven Springs was as decent as you.

Charlotte: I saw a guy curse out a cashier at the grocery store when she told him to pull up on his mask, so it covered his nose. He called her a sheep.

Alex: … what a prick.

Charlotte: I know.

Alex: How’s Ethan? Still doing online school?

Charlotte: He will be for the rest of the year. They don’t want to bring any of the students back before summer. He is seriously jonesing to get out of the house.

Alex: Does he miss our D&D sessions?

Charlotte: He says yes, but not Steph cheating.

Alex: She says “the dice giveth, and the dice taketh away”.

Charlotte: I don’t think her laughter was necessary when he fell off the bridge.

Alex: “Maybe not necessary, but appropriate.”