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Miserable. Miserable and tired was all that Alicent felt while coughing out her lungs in bed. She thinks one of the kids picked up something from school and spread it to her. The theory made sense; schools are a Petri dish. It was a miracle that the kids didn’t get anything.
Thankfully, her brother had already offered to take the kids so she and Criston could celebrate Valentine’s Day. But unfortunately, her high temperature threw a wrench in such plans. He had to cancel their reservations for the restaurant they went to on their first date.
Her phone on the nightstand began to ring and she saw his face on the screen.
“Hello?” Alicent asked, sounding rather groggy.
“Mind if I come over?” Criston replied. “I know you said you were sick, but I thought you would like if I took care of you.”
“You’d do that?”
“Well, yeah.” He said, sounding somewhat surprised by her response. “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t do anything to help out? Especially on Valentine’s Day of all days.”
“Okay, but aren’t you worried about getting sick?”
“I’ll risk it.”
“Okay…uhm, you remember where the spare key is, right?” She said, coughing midway through the sentence.
“Underneath the welcome mat.” He said. “I’ll be there in about an hour. I just need to head to the store first.”
“Okay, thanks. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
And with that, she hung up and waited for his arrival. Sure enough, he was at the house an hour later. Alicent could hear cabinet doors and the refrigerator opening up. It was another five minutes before Criston came into her bedroom with water, saltines, and some medicine.
“How’s the fever?” He asked, placing the items on her nightstand.
“It’s a low-grade fever but I still feel like shit.” Last time she had checked was around thirty minutes ago.
“Eaten anything at all?”
“Had some chicken noodle soup for lunch. Not much since then.”
“Got it.” He nods. “I’ll make us some dinner and we can watch a movie if you want. Does that sound good?”
“Yeah, that sounds nice. Thank you.” She gave him a small smile as he gave a quick kiss to her forehead before leaving the room.
While waiting for him to return, she called Gwayne to ask about how the kids were doing. Apparently, they were fine and had done their homework, rather begrudgingly Gwayne had added.
Criston came back in carrying a wooden tray with two mugs of tomato soup and some grilled cheese.
“It may not be from a fancy French restaurant, but it is something my mom would make when I was sick.” He sets it next to her before climbing into bed and begins to fish for something in his pocket. He pulls out a small velvet jewelry box. He opens it to reveal a single pearl on a gold chain. “I know it's not as ornate as some of the other jewelry that I’ve seen you wear, but I thought you’d like it.”
“Oh, honey, I love it.” She says with a smile. “It’s perfect, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He said. “And I promise that I’ll take you out to a nice, romantic dinner once you’re feeling better.”
“You really don’t have to do that. I’m just glad that you’re here to take care of me.”
“Well still, you deserve to feel special.”
“I’d kiss you right now if I didn’t feel gross right now.” Alicent says before taking a bite of her food.
“Don’t worry, I know you’ll make it up to me later.”
Alicent turned her head over to see Criston with a slight smirk on his face.
“Oh, hush.”
Once the food was finished, he took the tray back into the kitchen while she got changed for bed. When he came back, they settled into bed and picked out some random movie to watch. And despite trying hard not to, she still fell asleep halfway through the movie.
All in all, it was a pretty great Valentine’s Day, even if Criston told her that he was sick just a mere few days later.