[For Chuck and Ellie]

[piemakerprince]

It had been three days, four hours and give or take ten minutes since Ned and Chuck had woken up to what was now deemed a proper heatwave where there should have been snow. There was nothing for it but to survive the best they could in their hut, which, when one came right down to it, involved as few clothes as possible. This was not the problem,

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[agirlnamedchuck]

It had been hard for the girl named Chuck who was touchy-feely by nature, certainly not nurture to acclaimate herself to both the facts that she could touch the Piemaker and now the fact that touching him in certain spots with a certain lack of clothing could get them into an itchy rashy mess. It was the sort thing at Aunt Vivian always warned against, saying that touching would lead to no good and indeed it hadn't, but at the time it had felt so good.

"Hi Ellie," greeted Chuck reddened hands artfully tucked behind her back. "Ned and I have to talk to you about something. Do you a minute?"

[the_support]

While Ellie never disliked seeing the two of them, she had to admit, she was surprised to see them both wander into the clinic. Putting aside what she was doing - it'd been a thankfully slow day - she turned in her chair to face them.

"Of course," she said, looking between the two of them with a curious expression. Motioning to two empty seats nearby, she added, "Would you like to sit?"

[piemakerprince]

Ned couldn't help the wince at Ellie's suggestion of sitting down no more than he could help the itch along his back he was valiantly doing his best not to scratch.

"I don't think sitting down is a very good idea right now," he said, and looked to Chuck.

[agirlnamedchuck]

Frowning as well, Chuck nodded in agreement taking one look at the chairs and shaking her head. Sitting was indeed the very opposite of what she felt like doing.

"No, I think that wouldn't be a good idea at all," she agreed. "We erm, we need your medical expertise."

[the_support]

"Oh," she said, looking between them again, eyebrows knotting in confusion. She reached over to grab two unused medical files, then looked at them. "Okay then. What sort of symptoms do you have? Is there something specific that's wrong?"

That they couldn't sit down indicated that maybe there was.

[piemakerprince]

Ned did his best to keep his discomfort (of the emotional kind) at bay; either he or Chuck would have to tell Ellie, and the embarrassment was guaranteed no matter whose lips the words came from.

He shook slightly, doing his best not to scratch an itch that shouldn't be scratched.

"There's-" he took a look around to make sure they wouldn't be overheard, and then leaned in anyway. Ned sighed, then pulled up the sleeves of his shirt to show Ellie the red, irritated skin. "It's in...other places."

[agirlnamedchuck]

Deciding that like many things awkward, irritating and embarrassing it was better to just give in and let it proverbially (and literally) all hang out, the girl named Chuck pulled her arms from behind her back as well.

"Not super, awful awkward places, just...places that you don't really want it to be."

[the_support]

It didn't take Ellie long to piece together what probably happened after she realized they had matching rashes. She'd seen far, far more embarrassing things happen to people while doing that in her line of work, and she managed to keep a straight face as she gently took Ned's arm to inspect the rash, all the while not actually touching the spots that were affected.

"It looks like a pretty common allergic reaction. Have you two..walked through the jungle lately?" she asked. It was the nicest way she could think of questioning their activities.

[piemakerprince]

Ned looked over a Chuck, and nodded. "We, um, walked," he answered. It took quite a bit of willpower to look away from Chuck and back down at his arm.

Walked was the reason Ned liked Ellie so much; he knew she was using a euphemism, and she knew they knew she knew she was, but she knew enough to keep it at that.

[agirlnamedchuck]

Nodding her head again, focusing rather fixedly on the up and down motions of the bobbing motion rather than on the desire to scratch the irritated red skin of her arms, Chuck shoved her hands into the pockets of her shorts.

"Yes, we walked and we well, frankly, there was some rather thorough exploration of the foliage as well."

[the_support]

"That's what I thought," she nodded, letting go of Ned's arm and heading to where the supplies were kept in the clinic. Hearing their response, it became pretty clear her initial guess was right. She allowed herself a small smile as she searched where the tree oil was kept, though it was gone by the time she was facing them again.

"This should help with the rash," she explained, handing over two small vials for each other them. "Tea tree oil. Just put a dab on any rash you have, and it should ease the itching."

[piemakerprince]

Ned took his almost reluctantly. He didn't see where one tree would cure there where another had been what ailed them, but he wasn't going to go against doctor's orders.

"So, how long will there be itching? Because it's not pleasant." As if it could be anything but.

[agirlnamedchuck]

"Tea tree oil." Chuck smiled at the simple cleverness of the entire situation, eager to be distracted by new knowledge instead of by the itchiness that had consumed her skin. "How wonderful is that. I just love a good herbal remedy."

[the_support]

"It won't go away overnight," she cautioned, as she wrote a bit in the file she'd grabbed. "One to two weeks it should clear up completely, however. Along with the oil, I would suggest you put some ice on the areas for a little while, then let the spots dry out naturally. It will speed up the process of getting rid of the allergic reaction."

[piemakerprince]

"One to two weeks," Ned repeated. Where Chuck found some way to latch onto the good in any situation, Ned tended not to focus on the bad, really, but he very rarely found the good right away, either.

There was nothing good about being in discomfort for over a week for something that had been so pleasant at the time.