“Ash… Ash, get up.”

A mumbled response.

Spencer rolled her eyes and lightly put her hand on Ashley’s shoulder, giving it a light shake. “Babe, talk to me, not the pillow.”

Ashley didn’t budge. “… an’t moof,” she said a moment later, her words distorted from the old-fashioned down pillow her face was buried in.

Sighing, Spencer put both her hands on Ashley’s side – the side farthest from her – and pulled, rolling the girl onto her back.

The girl simply lay there for a moment, her eyes blinking three times a second. When she realized that her pupils weren’t going to shrink like they should, she slung her arm over here eyes.

“The light,” she grumbled, barely audible, “it burns.”

“Stop being dramatic,” Spencer chided, un-amused.

“’m not,” Ashley protested. She tried to take a breath through her nose which was, for some reason, blocked, causing her to cough. “Can’t breathe,” she said softly.

Spencer’s brow furrowed and she began to worry. She reached over and laid her hand lightly on Ashley’s forearm – the one covering her eyes. She pulled her girlfriend’s arm from her eyes, making Ashley groan and put her other arm where the first was.

“No,” Ashley said in a simple fashion. She didn’t whine, wasn’t aggressive. The word wasn’t even drawn out; it was just “no.”

Something was definitely wrong, Spencer decided. Ashley rarely spoke without some sort of emotion.

“Ash,” Spencer called softly. “Hey, can you look at me?”

Slowly, the arm covering Ashley’s eyes slid down from her face and rested below her neck. She looked up at the other girl, one eye closed, the other half-lidded.

Spencer’s brow was raised in concern as she looked down at the smaller girl. “Can you tell me what’s wrong?” she asked while lightly brushing brown locks off the ghrl’s forehead.

Ashley cleared her throat then winced. “Feel bad,” she said in the same small voice she had been using before. She swallowed and tried to get the dry feeling out of her mouth. “Cold,” she added as she burrowed further under the covers with a shiver.

“It hurt to talk?” Spencer asked, noticing that Ashley was only using single words or short phrases. She got a nod in response. “Okay,” the blonde said, “then don’t talk right now.”