--"Have you had many brothers, Spirit?"

--"More than 1800," said the host.

--"A tremendous family to provide for," muttered Scrooge.

John stirred in the narrow infirmary bed, and Rodney stopped reading and glanced up to find John's eyes open, sleepy but more aware than yesterday.

"Dickens?" he whispered.

Rodney nodded.

"But, it's nowhere near Christmas."

"Yes. Well. I've never had the opportunity to ask you about your particular literary taste. You seemed to me to be the sort who would enjoy Dickens."

"I do, huh. Why is that?"

"Well, *I* don't know. A kind of, 'please sir, may I have some more' quality. Sort of, well, Dickensian."

John smiled, and Rodney smiled back, helpless to control it. It was good to have him back. The discoloration in his face had faded almost completely, but John was still careful around most people to keep his arms hidden. Not around Rodney, just around most people. Rodney, who had a few things to say to John when he'd recovered, thought this was a good sign. In the meantime, he spent every spare moment in this godforsaken chair; talking, reading, playing chess...whatever John needed. It was easier now that John was awake sometimes, although Rodney won more chess games when John was asleep.

"That line's not from 'A Christmas Carol,' John pointed out. "As a matter of fact, I'm not sure it's even Dickens."

"Yes it is. Oliver Twist, actually, but this is all I could get my hands on."

"You mean, it's not your book? Where did you find it?"

Rodney shifted a little uncomfortably, "Cadman, actually." Not that he was embarrassed about Cadman; after all, what she'd done with his body when he wasn't in control wasn't his own fault, but it was still a little, well, awkward. The kissing and all that.

He continued, before John could comment, "Dickens was never my cup of tea...all that suffering; it's so depressing. Although I did see the movie with the Muppets. That was really, um, good. In a childish sort of way."

Instead of mocking him, which Rodney expected, John's eyes lit up, "Yeah, I saw that. It was cool."

There was a pause as they both considered the Muppets.

"Although," John went on, "I was a little freaked by all the talking food. There was this apple that screamed, 'Help! I'm being stolen!' That was a little disturbing. I mean, how could you eat screaming food?"

"THAT you found disturbing? Mr. 'I Was A Bug-Man?' afraid of a little talking FRUIT?"

John chose to ignore that. "What page were you on?"

Rodney picked the book up again, "62."

John's eyes were closing again, but he whispered, "You don't have to stay. I mean, not if you're not into Dickens."

"But you like it, don't you?"

"Yeah. Except for the screaming fruit."

Rodney gave a dismissive sniff to the screaming fruit. "I can't stop now. We haven't even gotten to Miss Piggy. Drink some water before you fall back to sleep." And he handed John a glass, holding it carefully until he was sure John had it.

And he turned back to his book and read aloud:

--"'Spirit,' said Scrooge submissively, 'conduct me where you will.'"

THE END