Chapter Text
“No I’m serious Nora, I don’t feel well” Emma half screamed half sighed into the phone, she was currently on the phone calling in sick to work and Nora her shitty boss was being a bitch like usual.
“I don’t care Emma you are coming in, you’re probably making it up anyway” came the response from the other side, Emma sighed and reluctantly began to make her way out of bed still on the phone to Nora.
“Can I at least have an early mark” Emma began to say but the last part didn’t really make its way out, instead the sound of vomiting made its way through to Nora’s side.
“Alright fine, I don’t want this” was all Nora could say before hanging up, Emma had dropped the phone at this point and was lurching hard into the toilet for the second time that day.
Paul had overheard the ruckus and had rushed into the bathroom, he was now sitting on the floor as well rubbing little circles on Emma’s back while also moving little baby hairs out of her face.
“You okay?” Was all he could say, to which Emma only responded with a small groan.
Paul got up and began to leave the small bathroom.
“Wait where are you going?” Emma desperately called out.
She knew he had to go to get ready for work but she wanted him there to comfort her for the most amount of time that he could.
“I’m going to go call in sick to work” Paul responded making Emma’s heart swell, though that wasn’t the only emotion inside of her, along with it came guilt and worry. She knew it was important for him to go to work and he only had so many sick days available.
“No, you need to go” she eventually worked up the courage to say.
“What, why?” Paul responded partly confused, partly sad that she didn’t want him to stay home with her.
Emma could read his face like a book and felt bad but it didn’t stop the guilt of keeping him here just for her benefit, so she explained.
“I want you here with me, more than anything, but I know it is important for you to go and you only have so many sick days.”
Paul felt much better at that response but still was unsure what to do.
Eventually they came to a decision and Emma was back in bed, Paul tucking her in.
He was going to go to work still but he had plans to come home slightly earlier if he could.
Paul was about to leave the room for the last time but thought quickly of what he could do for Emma.
“Would you like me to get you anything to eat?” Paul asked.
Emma thought for a second, “Uhhh some blueberry pancakes sound really good right now”
Both of them seemed a bit shocked at her response. It was a weird answer coming from Emma. She had strong opinions on blueberry pancakes.
To her, blueberries were delicious and pancakes were delicious but together they were both ruined.
Paul eventually was able to bounce back from the shock and the image of the fridge bounced into his head, but he could see no blueberries.
“I don’t think we have any blueberries, is plain fine?” He regretfully told her.
Emma shrugged “I guess so, blueberry pancakes just sound so good right now”
Paul watched as she slid back down in bed and sighed with content, off he went to make pancakes.
Emma ate the pancakes very quickly, practically gulping down the food and with that need covered and no work to go to, she quickly fell back asleep.
That was the last sight Paul saw of Emma before he left. He tried to keep that image in his mind the whole time he was writing his weekly reports at work, to keep him from going insane.
When Paul opened the door to their apartment that night after coming home from work he saw what he could call his favourite sight in the world. Emma was asleep again, on the couch this time in a cocoon like fort of blankets.
He smiled to himself and quietly crept to the kitchen to put away the groceries.
Emma woke up as Paul placed the takeout on the kitchen island.
She let out another groan letting Paul know she was awake and pulled the blankets closer to herself.
“How are you feeling Em?” Paul asked when he heard her. Emma only groaned again.
Paul chuckled at her response.
“I bought dinner”
“Hmm” was all Emma responded with.
“And I picked up a punnet of blueberries” Paul added holding up the the packaging only to put back down straight away as he realised she couldn’t see it over the back of the couch.
Emma sat up at that, “Seriously Paul who calls it a punnet?”
“Hey, that is what they are called”
“Dork”
Paul felt his cheeks turn to what he could only imagine was a light shade of pink as he continued to put away the groceries. ‘Dork’ was a common name calling from Emma, to someone else it may look like she was making fun of him, well she partly was but Paul knew that deep inside of her she loved him and all his dorkiness.
Paul brought her over a plate of food and together they ate the well prepared meal of takeout.
“How are you feeling now anyway?” Paul asked nudging her shoulder with his.
Emma shrugged with a quirk of her lip, “better I guess? Probably will be all gone by tomorrow.”
It was not in fact gone by tomorrow.
As Emma woke up the next day a few seconds were able to pass before she was on the bathroom floor, the toilet seat up.
Tomorrow turned into the next day, then that turned into the next day and before you know it Emma had missed about a week of work, with Nora threatening to fire her if she didn’t come in right this minute.
So there Emma stood, by the coffee machine, green apron on, over a tight pair of black shorts, much tighter then Emma remembered, with an accompanying tight white blouse. Her hair was a mess, sitting up in her signature messy bun style, little wisps of baby hairs covered a part of her face, that wore an expression that could tell a thousand words.
One like “I hate my job and I hate you” or To put it simply “fuck off.”
It was clear to say she was not having a good day, she had already vomited about 10 times today, about 4 of which happened while she was taking an order.
Nora and Zoey, her annoying coworker/ manager seemed to avoid her, probably of fear of catching whatever she had, but they didn’t say anything to her and mostly left her to deal with all the rude customers herself.
It was only when Paul came in for his scheduled coffee break that she smiled for the first time since leaving him way earlier this morning. Paul really was the only thing in her life that made her smile. Well not just Paul, Tim, her nephew, could make her smile when she saw him, reminding her of the times Jane would cheer her up after a fight with their parents or after a bad day at school. Or there was professor Hidgens, her crazy professor, when he would pull her aside after class to talk about her day or to tell her a new idea for his bizarre musical.
Only few in her life she could name, but Paul, he was different, he could make her smile just by being in the room, no words spoken just the knowledge that he was there made her happy.
She really was so lucky to be able to call him, hers.
Emma had called out that she was going on break after making both her and Paul a coffee and they both chose a booth fairly out of sight from the back room and main entrance. Only few customers sat at tables around them but they were mostly focused on their laptops to overhear two sappy lovebirds.
Paul and Emma exchanged a serious of “I love you’s” and “I missed you,” the typical conversation starters and both of them leapt into conversations about their days and annoying coworkers.
Paul was talking about how Ted had started a huge commotion in the office and had made Paul’s day a living hell.
Emma disliked Ted, she had only met him a few times but she could tell he was an asshole, and according to Paul her evaluation was correct.
Emma was resting her head on her hand and she could feel herself closing her eyes every so often, her eyelids being too heavy to keep them open.
“Maybe you should go to the doctors” Paul suggested as he watched her do this.
Emma being stubborn began to protest.
“It’s just a bug” she had said.
Paul wore an unreadable facial expression at her response.
“Okay” was all he could say.
Paul looked down at the time on his phone and sighed.
“I better go”
Emma groaned but both of them got up nonetheless and said their goodbyes.
It was back to work for both of them.
Paul sat at his desk writing reports while distractedly thinking about anything but work, the main thought being Emma, he missed her but that wasn’t his only thought regarding her like it usually was. Instead the thought of her being sick this week was ingrained in his brain, it wasn’t totally out of the ordinary, I mean sure Emma was rarely sick so maybe that was why it felt so weird, but something about it this time just didn’t feel right, Paul couldn’t quite place it.
Somehow Paul managed to complete his work early and clocked off for the day desperate to get home and see Emma.
Paul was the first one home so he began to scavenge the fridge to see what he could whip together into a meal.
He eventually settled on heating up chicken schnitzel, some mash potatoes and peas and corn on the side. A fairly simple meal to make for days like today where he really couldn’t be bothered to cook.
He listened to a podcast as he cooked reminding him of Emma again and how she would call him a dork for listening to a podcast instead of music like everyone else.
But he unsurprisingly didn’t like many types of music and a podcast did the trick of relaxing him after a stressful day.
Seemingly perfect timing, Emma had burst through the door as his podcast finished and he had served up two plates of food. She flopped on the couch in a slightly over exaggerated way but Paul knew she seriously was exhausted.
Paul heard Emma’s muffled groans and plastered a sad smile on his face.
“Ugh! I bloody hate Nora, and Zoey” she cried out, saying Zoey with a mocking voice.
“They force me in when I’m sick, then get mad with me for being rude to customers” she said signing air quotes around the last part. “And don’t even get me started on the customers, they fucking complain that our service is horrible and they get mad at me for vomiting, like I can’t help it!”
“I can’t wait till I can quit” she added after catching her breath.
Emma was almost finished community college and when she graduated she vowed to quit her fucking job at beanies.
Paul let her rant, humming, nodding and sighing where appropriate.
When she was finished she leaned into his side and sighed.
“How about some dinner and an early night?” Paul asked to which she nodded.
“Okay.”