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“You are sick,” Anne sighed, handing over a tissue.
“I don’t get sick,” Derek protested as he sneezed.
“Your immune system is horrible,” she added, handing over the box of tissues this time as Derek blew his nose.
“My immune system is awesome.”
“You’ve been sick for almost two weeks. Who gets a cold in the middle of summer?”
“Me, apparently,” Derek answered before letting out yet another honking nose blow.
“I told you to stay away from those germ breeders,” Anne grinned, joking.
“My nieces are not germ breeders.”
“And just how did you get sick again?”
“I was babysitting.”
“And were they sick?”
“Not when I was watching them.”
“But the day before they had been...”
“Yes,” Derek replied, not struggling to see her point. “Both of them had been sick the day before, but they were bouncing around later that afternoon.” He took her teasing as it was meant and was already plotting his revenge.
“Oh, to have the immune systems of our youth,” Anne sighed while shaking her head.
Derek took a minute – a sneezing fit had struck him – before he could reply. “You aren’t sick,” he pointed out.
“I have a better immune system than you do.”
“Apparently.”
“I also didn’t have a niece sneezing in my face,” she added, unable to resist. “Here’s some orange juice.”
“I had some this morning.”
“You need some more.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Anne rolled her eyes in response. “Do I really look like your mom?”
Derek looked her over before shaking his head. “Thankfully, no.” He kept his real thoughts to himself.
