"A warm drink?" Aly asked.

"What sort?" she asked.

"Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, something else?" she asked further.

"And I'll bring you a bottle of water as well." she said.

"After that, I'll order in the sandwiches." she went on, before pausing.

"And preferences, or just go with whatever?"

"......." Aly was silent as she watched him drift off.

"Eke..." she said quietly.

She then proceeded to go and make him some piping hot tea, putting it in a special mug so it would stay hotter longer, as well as a bottle of ice-cold water.

She set it on the table in front of the couch, as well as some tissues and lozenges for his throat.

With that done, she sat down in one of the chairs and browsed through the sandwich shop's takeout menu, wondering what to get.

About 5 minutes later, Aly stepped into the room.

"Oh, you're awake." she said.

"Was wondering when that would happen." she chuckled.

"Anyway, you hungry?" she asked.

"The sandwiches arrived about 20 minutes ago, and they're still pretty toasty warm." she told him.

"Just an hour." Aly replied.

"It's still early afternoon." she told him.

"You weren't asleep for that long." she went on.

"Are you all right?" she asked. "How are you feeling?"

"....." Aly was silent as Eke said what he did, and left.

She didn't know what to do here.

She was concerned.

But she knew she couldn't do anything about this. Could she?

She just sighed and sat down in one of the chairs, pondering the current state of affairs.

".....dozed off?" Aly asked.

"You mean literally or figuratively?" she asked further. "Because falling asleep in the shower is dangerous." she added.

"And they're no longer warm." she then said.

"You were up there for 2 hours." the girl continued.

"I can throw some in the toaster over briefly, though. 5 minutes and they'll be warm again." she offered with a small smile.

"...." Aly was silent, before going and bringing him the platter of sandwiches.

"Here." she said.

"And you're exhausted? That's... a bit concerning." she went on.

"Maybe it's the start of a cold?" she suggested.

"You WERE sneezing earlier."

"....hm." Aly muttered.

"Your dreams." she said.

"Maybe." she said further.

"Admittedly, this is all very confusing to me." she told him.

"I don't know what all is going on, or anything. This just seems to be one screwed up situation."

"Well, we do understand." Aly responded.

"But it would be nice for you to no longer suffer like this." she went on.

"It hurts to think that there's really not much we do to help you when you get like this." she admitted further.

"...but I know you can't help it." she said.

"And I know you don't mean it." she then added with a small, but sincere, smile.

"Eke?" Aly asked, but Eke was gone.

"......" she was silent, and bit her lip for a moment, before sighing.

"....no." she said to herself.

"No, I need to trust him." she told herself further.

"I need to have faith in his judgement."