"We did." Johnny was sitting on the couch, wearing little more than a pair of boxers. Sweat beaded on his skin and he shivered despite the fact that his entire body was flushed to a fiery red. "Apparently, this cold - if you want to call it that - is doing something to my flame."

"Really?" Curiosity peaked, Reed came closer. "Do you mind if I do some tests?"

"Yes." Johnny hunched further onto the couch. "I mind. I'm not a guinea pig. I'm sick."

"Doctors do tests."

"You're not a doctor. Well, okay, you are, but you're not the kind of doctor that's allowed to poke and prod at me."

"Actually, Johnny, that's sort of what I do on a regular basis." Reed sat down on the edge of the sofa, eyebrows lifting at the aura of heat surrounding Johnny. "You don't have control over your body temperature."

"Sorry."

"Are you drinking fluids?"

"I had an IV but it melted." Johnny's lower lip stuck out in a pout as Reed pulled out a small silver disk. "What's that?"

"Thermometer specially calibrated to handle your body's thermal abilities, up to and including supernova, though I'm hoping to keep that from happening."

"Be one heck of a sneeze."

"I'd prefer to not have Manhattan be a casualty of a severe case of the sniffles." Reed sets the disk against Johnny's neck and frowns at it. "Hmmm."

"Hmmm what? What does 'hmmm' mean?" Johnny strained to see the reading. "Am I going to blow up? Am I going to melt my couch? I like this couch, Reed." He started to say more then stopped, sneezing again. Flames shot around the room like a pinball, causing the paint to blister and peel away from the wall, the edges singed. "I'm going to need to redecorate."

"It'll give the bimbo of the week something to do." Reed pulled out a syringe and a vial, ignoring Johnny's look of pure horror. "I'm using a special metal alloy so the needle won't heat up when I puncture your skin."

"You're not puncturing my skin."

"Yes, I am."

"I was kidding about leveling Manhattan."

"You might have been. I don't know that your body is." He slid the needle into the vial and filled the syringe. "I'm afraid it's a chance we can't actually take."

"I'll hold my sneezes in."

"And blow off the top of your head." Reed freed the needle and tapped the air bubbles out of it. "And who knows what would happen to your power if you were seriously injured." He glanced at Johnny and sighed. "I promise it won't hurt too much."

Johnny's lower lip slid out in a pout. "I want a lollipop afterwards."

"I think something to suck on can be arranged."

His pout melting into a grin, Johnny raised an eyebrow. "Did you just proposition me, Richards?"

"I think your fever has made you delusional." Reed struggled to hide his smile as he pierced Johnny's skin with the needle. "Would I do something like that?"

"Ouch." Johnny rubbed the spot as Reed disengaged the needle. "And, God, I hope so." He leaned his head back on the pillow and looked at Reed until the drugs kicked in. "Holding you to it, you know."

"Get some sleep, Johnny."

"Don't go."

Reed reached out and guided Johnny's eyes closed, tugging the flame-resistant blanket over him. "I won't."