Note: Kinda angsty. Hope you enjoy though!

Pairing: Kritz

The only thing you could hear in the clinic was John's deathly loud sneezes.

"Jesus, John, are you sick?" Smitty asked, jumping once again as John sneezed.

"No, I'm not sick! I feel fine!" He protested before sneezing once more.

"Well, you're obviously not fine," Toby scoffed, walking in the room. "You need to go lay down or something, this is ridiculous."

"I am fine!" John protested again. "And I am not gonna lay down! I have a job to do!"

"Well, you're not gonna do it if you're sick! No need to get these people even more sick than they are."

"I'm not sick!" Another sneeze.

"Well then what's wrong with you?"

"Is it allergies?" Smitty asked.

"I don't have allergies," John said, sneezing once more."

"Well, if you're not sick, you're probably allergic to something here. But what?" Toby asked.

"Maybe something one of the patients has?" Smitty asked.

"That's gotta be it. John, take a shower. If the sneezing doesn't stop, I'm putting you out of work and making you lay down."

"I'll be fine," John said, going into a small sneezing fit afterwards.

"Shower! Now!" Toby pushed him off, and John walked himself to the showers, grumbling about how he was fine and sneezing.

In the shower, John's sneezing had stopped for the most part. Toby walked in, knocking on the door.

"Jesus Christ, Toby, haven't you ever heard of knocking?" John exclaimed, jumping slightly.

Toby rolled his eyes. "The sneezing stop yet?"

"Yeah, I think so. Showers do work, apparently."

Toby rolled his eyes once more. "Alright, get done and you can come back out again."

John nodded him off, and Toby left again. Only a couple of seconds after, John began to have another sneezing fit.

Toby came right back into the room. "That's it! You're sitting out today."

"What? No! I'm fine!"

"No, you're not. You're sitting out today, and that's final."

"Oh, Toby, come on," he tried arguing, but Toby had left already. John sighed.

Later, John ran into the office, sweating profusely and scratching at himself, breathing heavily. "I think I'm gonna die," he breathed out.

Toby and Smitty helped him into a bed, getting him a glass of water and piling him up with blankets. "Just rest, alright? We'll figure out what this is eventually," Toby said.

"In the meantime, Matt came over to visit!" Smitty said cheerfully.

John groaned. "What I need is to figure out what's wrong with me, not a fucking psychiatrist."

"Well, he's gonna keep you company while you're bedridden. Don't be rude," Toby said before opening the door, letting Matt in.

Matt smiled at John. "Hey. How's it going?"

"I feel like shit," John said, and Toby and Smitty took their leave.

Matt took a seat next to John's bed. "Heard you been sneezing a lot."

John replied with a fit of sneezes. He groaned afterwards and leaned his head back.

"John, can I ask you something?"

John scoffed. "What, so you can probe my brain?" He shifted in the bed, sniffling and feeling miserable.

Matt smiled and shook his head. "No. I'm just here as a friend today. What's the most prominent childhood memory you have?"

John closed his eyes, thinking. He opened them slowly and looked up at Matt. "I think... I think it was in the summer. Yeah, it was summertime. I was ten. I was with my best friend, Cameron. He was older than me by a few years, but god, he was so cool. I loved the guy, really. Anyways, we were at the dock on the lake. And then... I was in the water. I thought I was gonna die that day, I couldn't swim. And then I felt a hand wrap around my wrist, and it pulled me up. It was Cam. He saved me. If it weren't for him, I might not be here."

Matt sat back in his chair, arms crossed. "How did you get into the water?"

John sneezed and looked at him like he was stupid. "I told you, I fell in."

"You said you just remembered you being in the water."

"Yeah, well... The dock was wet. It was slippery."

"Was it now?"

"Yes. It was. I remember. I must've slipped and that's how I got in."

"I feel like there's something missing from this story," Matt admitted. "Do you remember anything else? Please, try your best."

John bit his lip and looked up. "I remember feeling something on my back before I went in... I don't know what it was, though."

Matt perked up. "Oh? Do you have any idea what it was?"

John shook his head.

"Now, I don't mean to sound rude, but...do you think it could have been your friend?"

"What do you mean?"

Matt paused. "Do you think he could have pushed you in?"

"Cam? No! He wouldn't! He couldn't! He was my best friend, he wouldn't do that. I know he wouldn't."

Matt hummed. "Then how do you explain the feeling on your back? Was it the feeling of you being pushed, perhaps?"

"No!" John began sneezing again. When he stopped, he sat up a little. "He didn't push me! He wouldn't push me in! I loved him. Why would he push me in?"

"Alright, John, calm down. It was just a question. Drink some water if you want. Now, can you calmly relay what happened that day when you really think about it?"

John drank some of the water and sat back into the bed. "It was summer. We were at the dock. It was wet. And..." He thought, and then tears began to roll down his face. "And then Cam pushed me in," he croaked out, and he began to sob hysterically, throwing his head back with his cries. "He pushed me in! I loved him! He pushed me in! Why did he push me in? I loved him! No... I hated him! I hated, hated, hated, hated him!"

"And you couldn't voice your hate to him?"

"No! I loved him," John said quickly, sitting up. "I loved him. He pulled me out of the water and told me I was clumsy. And I just...let him." He sat back in his bed, sniffling.

"Hey, doc, you hear that?" he asked quietly after a few moments of silence.

"Hear what?"

"My sneezes," he smiled, "they've stopped."

Matt smiled. "Well, that's just great."

"What do you think caused it?"

"Well, something must've triggered it. Something you saw, tasted, smelled-"

"Someone came in with soaked clothes," John gasped.

"And that must've triggered your sneezing. You repressed the memory so much, and the smell brought you back." Matt stood up, and patted John's shoulder. "Get some rest, now. You need it."

He walked out of the room and turned the lights off, leaving John alone with his thoughts.