Chapter Text
Every noise was too loud. They pulsed in Mal’s ears and made her head ache. She lay curled on her bed with the covers pulled up over her head because she hadn’t had the energy to get up to pull the shades closed. Outside her door she could hear kids thundering up and down the hall shouting at each other. She wished they would just go away. Their voices cut through the silence and pierced her sensitive ears. Groaning she curled tighter in on herself and willed them to go away.
The only thing that managed to do for her was send her into a violent fit of coughing that lasted several minutes. When it finally calmed her throat felt raw and sore as if she’d just swallowed a bucket of nails. Miserable she gave in to her discomfort and lay there wishing Evie hadn’t gone away for the weekend. She could have made the stupid kids in the hall shut up.
Somehow she managed to doze off into a restless sleep. She tossed and turned, waking up several times to cough until her lungs ached before drifting off again. Her dreams were ominous and unsettling. They left her drenched in a layer of cold sweat that made her shiver even under her thick blanket.
The door to the room creaked open and the sound of footsteps crossing the room pulled Mal out of her sleep. She tried to open her eyes to see who had come in, but the sun was too bright and stung her sensitive eyes. She groaned and closed them.
“Mal?” Mal’s heart skipped a beat at the sound of Evie’s voice. She tried to turn in the direction of it, but that only made her cough more. She tried to sit up, but the movement made her head spin. She swayed dangerously as her coughs shook her whole body.
Before she could fall off the side of the bed a pair of hands were there to steady her and ease her back down. They rubbed gentle circles into her back until her coughing was over. Mal managed to crack one eye open enough to see Evie’s concerned face close to her own.
“Have you been like this all day?” she asked.
Mal nodded.
“Why didn’t you call someone?”
“I’m fine,” Mal croaked her words punctuated by a small cough that proved the opposite.
Evie pressed a hand to Mal’s forehead. “You are not fine. You’re sick.” She stood and crossed to the nearest set of curtains and pulled them closed, then circled the room closing the rest of them.
Mal couldn’t help but sigh as darkness filled the room, and she could finally open her eyes. It was still too bright, but not near as bad as before.
“I just need to lay her for a bit, and it’ll pass.”
“No, you need medicine and fluids,” Evie retorted. Before Mal could try to argue Evie disappeared into the bathroom and returned a moment later with a glass of water and a bottle of pills.
“E, no,” Mal protested when Evie set the pills down on the table beside the bed.
“You have a fever. It’s either you take these or I call the nurse.” Mal moaned and pulled the blanket up over her head, but Evie already knew she had won.
“Fine,” Mal grumbled. Evie shook out two pills, handed them to Mal, then helped her sit up enough to take a sip of water. As soon as she took one drink, Mal realized just how thirsty she had been. The cool water felt nice on her sore throat and before she realized it, she’d drank almost the entire glass.
“I don’t know why you always insist on being so stubborn,” Evie said pretending to be exasperated as she helped Mal settle back into her pillow.
“Because it’s more fun.”
Evie shot her a stern look as she turned to walk to her desk where she had a few sewing projects to finish up. Mal tried to grab for her, but she was already too far away.
“Stay with me,” she pleaded. Her cracked, breathy voice made Evie’s heart melt. She turned to see Mal with her cheeks bright red from the fever making the most pathetic pout that pulled at all the right heart strings.
“Okay, but you have to promise to rest and not be difficult,” Evie replied. Mal gave an enthusiastic nod and sent herself into a fit of more coughing, but Evie was there, sliding in under the blankets next to her to hold her.
When her coughing subsided she rolled until her head rested on Evie’s shoulder, and Evie wrapped her arms around Mal. She ran her fingers through Mal’s hair and made sure the blanket was pulled all the way up to her chin. Feeling more content than she had all day, Mal burrowed further into Evie’s shoulder and closed her eyes.
“Try to get some sleep,” Evie whispered as she lightly brushed her nails up and down Mal’s arm.
“Mhm,” Mal mumbled. She let her body relax into Evie’s touch as her breathing evened. The rhythmic beat of Evie’s heart vibrating up through her drowned out all the other noises from the hall and lulled Mal into sleep. With Evie holding her and the medicine kicking in her sleep was much more peaceful. She slept through the afternoon in Evie’s arms.
The sun began to set and Mal woke up coughing, but Evie was there to hold her and rub her back until they subsided.
“Feeling better?” Evie asked after she helped Mal take a few more sips of water.
Mal settled back into her arms and traced unintelligible patterns into Evie’s arm. “If I say no, will you stay with me?”
Evie laughed and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll stay with you no matter what you say,” she promised.
“Then yes, a little better.”
“Good.” Evie pressed another kiss to the top of her head. She let her head rest against Mal’s. They both fell asleep to the sound of each other’s steady breathing and spend the rest of the evening pressed together in their bubble of warmth.
As Mal drifted off, she mused that being sick wasn’t so bad if it meant getting to have Evie take care of her.