The group piled into Denny's car and drove over to his apartment. In the back of the building was a greenhouse/shed thing that he used for his insane experiments.

"Um, Denny?" Lucia frowned. "Did you really paint a lightning bolt on the side?"

Denny blinked. "Yeah. I like it."

"Honey, I love you, but it's tacky," Lucia chuckled, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Denny sighed. "I know, but I just want to be cool," he pouted.

"I like it," Jonah grinned.

Lucia moved over to Monica. "And that's the guy you like?" She whispered.

Jonah and Denny high-fived. "Thanks for backing me up, man," the latter grinned.

Lucia and Monica both shook their heads.

"Ready to go inside?" Jonah chuckled.

"Sure," Monica smiled shyly.

Lucia quickly nudged her. "Stop that."

"What? He just asked," Monica whispered.

"I meant, stop smiling like that," Lucia whispered back. "He's going to know you like him, if you keep it up."

"I doubt it. He's so blind."

"Woah. Is that a pumpkin?" Jonah laughed when he stepped inside. "That thing's huge!"

Lucia rolled her eyes. "Again, why on earth do you like him?" She asked Monica.

"He's cute. Why do you like French Fry Man?

"Potato Guy," Lucia sighed. "And I like him because he's got a nice personality. He's sweet and funny and caring and smart."

"There you go. That's why I like Jonah."

"Hey, Denny! What's this plant over here?" Jonah asked with great interest.

"No! That's poison oak!" Denny slapped his friend's hand away. "I can touch it, but you can't."

"Why?" Jonah whined.

"Because I'm doing it for science. Besides, I'm ninety-eight percent sure I'm immune to it and poison ivy."

"But it's pretty."

"Stop it."

"I want to touch it."

Denny sighed. "I don't want you to touch it."

Lucia chuckled. "It's like an all new version of Who's On First."

Denny smiled some and pushed his friend farther away from the plant.

"Can I at least touch the poison ivy?" Jonah grinned. "That won't do anything, right?"

"Yes, it will! Let me do the experimenting."

"I thought that was a myth," Jonah frowned.

Denny sighed and shook his head.

"Maybe Jonah shouldn't be in here," Lucia chuckled. "Go ahead and start the experiment, Denny."

Denny nodded and took a bit of the poison ivy plant, ground it up, and rubbed it on his arm. "Alright. I have to just wait a few minutes."

Monica sighed. "This'll be fun."

Denny smiled and then sprayed some Windex on himself to test if it would stop the itching.

His friends watched carefully as, despite his effort not to, he began to itch his arm where the poison ivy had touched him.

"Looks like that Windex is really working for ya," Lucia chuckled.

Denny's face began to redden.

"Are you okay?" Monica frowned.

"Um....about that two percent of possibly not being immune...I am not immune."

"Quite clearly," Jonah chuckled.

Denny itched all over as tears welled in his eyes.

"Um...guys?" Monica frowned. "He might need help."

"Denny, do you have calamine lotion?" Lucia sighed.

Denny nodded as his arm began to swell.

Lucia ran into the apartment as Jonah helped set his friend sit.

"Um, I don't think that's normal," Monica frowned. "Why is your arm swelling?"

"I don't know. Maybe he's having a bad allergic reaction?" Jonah frowned. "Call someone. We should take him to the hospital or the doctor or something!"

"Okay. Just try to remain calm," Monica nodded, handing him her phone and sitting down beside Denny. "Call 911."

Jonah called 911 and asked what he should do.

"I'm sending an ambulance now. Just try to keep your friend calm and if the allergic reaction is as bad as you say, don't try to treat it until a doctor has looked at it. The only thing I'd recommend doing is putting calamine lotion on it," the dispatcher said. "The ambulance is on its way."

Lucia raced back in. "Got it. Jonah, who are you calling?" She frowned.

"911. I think it's a really bad reaction."

"Alright. Let me have a look," Lucia nodded. "You guys can't touch his arm. It'll still have the urushiol that causes the rash. I know for a fact that I'm not allergic, so it won't affect me."

Both Jonah and Monica nodded and stepped away.

"Denny, you're going to have to stop itching, okay?" Lucia said softly, putting a hand on his. "You're just going to make it worse."

"I can't!...It's so itchy," Denny moaned.

"I know, Honey, but you've gotta stop. If you don't, you can break the skin and then it'll get infected."

Denny sighed and tried to cease itching the forming rash on his left arm.

"Here," Lucia nodded, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Just don't move, okay? You can squeeze my shoulder if you need to, but don't move your hand."

Denny nodded and closed his eyes.

Lucia began to apply the lotion. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah."

Lucia looked him over and could tell he was starting to get nervous. "Just stay calm. It's going to be alright."

"It hurts," Denny whimpered.

"I know. Take a deep breath and just try to think of something else," Lucia nodded.

Denny tried his best to take his mind off the urge to itch, and Jonah and Monica watched Lucia work quietly.

It wasn't long before the ambulance arrived.

"I'll ride to the hospital with Denny. Monica, you and Jonah follow in his car, okay?" Lucia sighed, handing them the keys.

Monica took them and nodded. "Okay. We'll be right behind you."

Lucia nodded and hopped into the ambulance before they drove away.

Monica and Jonah got into Denny's car and drove behind the ambulance towards the nearest hospital.

"If you had touched the poison oak, it could be you in there," Monica sighed.

"So?" Jonah shrugged.

"That'd be awful!"

"Not really," Jonah chuckled. "Riding in an ambulance is on my bucket list. I planned to knock myself over the back of the head with a shovel, but poison oak or poison ivy might be a better alternative."

Monica sighed and pressed harder on the gas peddle.

—————

"Hey," Lucia sighed, hugging Monica. "He's still in with the doctor. He was having trouble breathing which is freaking me out."

"He'll be fine. I'm sure of it."

"Poor guy," Lucia frowned. "He started getting really scared by the time we got here. We really need to get him to stop with these experiments."

"They are getting dangerous."

Just then, a doctor exited the double doors. "Excuse me. Are you Dennis Jospeh's friends?"

"Yes," Lucia nodded.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that he'll be fine. He just has a severe allergy to poison ivy. I'm going to prescribe some antibiotics to help with the rash and other symptoms," the doctor nodded. "We're going to discharge him once his breathing returns to normal."

Monica and Lucia breathed sighs of relief and Jonah nodded. "Thank you, Doctor," he said softly.

"We also gave him an intramuscular injection of a corticosteroid," the doctor added.

Lucia turned white. "You did what?!"

"What's wrong?" Monica frowned.

"Denny's afraid of needles, remember?" Lucia sighed, putting a hand to her head.

"He was unconscious, so we had no problems," the doctor stated.

Lucia breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Wait. Unconscious?!"

"Yeah. He conked out as soon as we told him what we were doing."

"Great," Lucia moaned. "Can we see him?"

"Right this way," the doctor nodded, leading them down a hall.

Denny was coming to as they walked in.

"Hey," Lucia said softly, grasping his hand. "How do you feel?"

Denny sighed. "It stopped itching."

"That's good," Lucia nodded. "You sleepy?"

"Yeah."

"You can go to sleep if you want," Lucia chuckled. "I'll stay right here."

"Thanks, Luci," Denny smiled a little before closing his eyes.

Monica sighed and looked over at Lucia. "Should I make him cookies?"

"That's your answer to everything," Lucia chuckled. "And he'd love that."

—————

"Ready to go?" Jonah asked Denny with a sigh.

Denny nodded. "Just no needles."

"Of course not," Lucia smiled, wrapping an arm around him. "They gave you the shot after you passed out. When they told me, I nearly had a heart attack."

Denny sighed. "Sorry about this, guys."

"It's alright," Monica shrugged.

"Now, what lesson have we learned today?" Lucia chuckled.

"Don't have poison ivy around?" Denny frowned.

"Or poison oak. And don't experiment with either," Jonah chuckled.

"Aw man."

"You have a severe allergy. I don't want you to end up dead," Lucia sighed.

"But I want to prove science."

"Then find a way that won't kill you," Monica chuckled.

Denny huffed.

"Come here," Lucia frowned, hugging him tightly. "You could have died today."

"But I didn't."

"But you could have," Lucia sighed. "Please don't do that again."

"I guess."

"Thank you," Lucia smiled. "You want to go home or grab a bite to eat?"

"Go home...I'm really tired."

"Alright," Lucia nodded.

The group quickly made their way down to the car and Lucia sat in the back seat with Denny.

"So," Monica sighed, "let's play 'What's the Next Stupid Thing Denny's Going To Do?'"

"Ooh, I love this game," Jonah grinned.

"Hey!" Denny huffed.

"Leave him alone, guys," Lucia frowned.

"I bet he's going to try to figure out a way to make his car peanut butter powered," Jonah chuckled.

"Ooh! Even better! He's going to try to make his fish breathe air," Monica chuckled.

Denny huffed again and crossed his arms.

Lucia put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just a tad embarrassed."

"Don't be. Things like this happen all the time. It's a part of being a scientist."

"I just wish it didn't happen."

"Is it because it happened in front of her?" Lucia whispered.

Denny blushed. "Maybe."

"She won't care," Lucia said softly. "I mean, she cares, but not that you failed."

Denny sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"We're all just glad you're okay," Lucia smiled.

"Thanks, Luci."