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Flu season was back again in Pawnee, bringing along with it the usual wave of congestion, body aches, and fevers. For the last few years, Leslie had managed to avoid once again succumbing to the illness, and she assumed this year would be no different.
She did her best to ignore the signs at first. A sneeze attributed to the dryness of the air. A cough nothing more than spit going down the wrong pipe. Her stuffy nose due to the cold weather.
The first day, her husband watched her warily, remembering her denial the entire time she was last ill. He tried to convince her to eat some fruits high in Vitamin C, which he knew was a long shot. He settled for giving her some Vitamin Gummies, which he disguised as fruit snacks.
He hoped it was just the common cold, her body able to fight it off within a few days. Unfortunately, that proved to not be the case.
He woke up one night to the sound of retching coming from their bathroom. Stumbling to the doorway, he focused his bleary eyes on Leslie paying homage to the porcelain god.
He knelt beside her, pulling her hair away from her face with one hand and rubbing her back with the other.
“God, you have the flu, don’t you?” he asked.
“No, no I don’t,” she tried to argue. “I think dinner just didn’t agree with me or something. I’m fi-”
Her sentence was interrupted by another violent retch as she emptied more of her stomach contents into the toilet.
The pair sat quietly for a few moments as Leslie’s nausea finally settled, Ben continuing to stroke her back and whisper words of comfort.
She asked for a cup of water and some mouthwash, which he quickly retrieved and gave to her as she continued to sit on the bathroom floor.
“You ready to go back to bed?”
She nodded wearily and attempted to push herself up, but her now aching body refused to cooperate.
Without a word, Ben scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to bed. He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, serving as both a loving gesture and a way to check her temperature.
“Babe, you’re way too warm,” he commented as he tucked her in. “I’m gonna get the thermometer and take your temperature.”
Before she could muster the strength to protest, he was back and placing the thermometer into her mouth. Leslie started to shiver as they waited, pulling the comforter around her even tighter.
“A little over 101,” Ben read. “Not high enough where we’d have to worry, but you definitely have the flu. I’m gonna give you something to help with the fever, and I’ll call Ann tomorrow about getting some flu medicine, okay? Also, there is no way you’re working tomorrow. I’m gonna call and leave a message right now.”
"What? No! Ben, I’m fine. I just need to take something and I’ll be good to go.”
“No way, Leslie. You’re too weak to even move, you have a fever that if it gets any worse, I’ll have to take you to the hospital, and you just spent the last 15 minutes throwing up everything in your stomach.”
He pushed her hair away from her damp, sweaty face, his thumb lovingly stroking her cheek.
“It was hell for you the last time you got sick, and I want to be able to take care of you—take care of you the way I wanted to last time. Please? You haven’t taken a sick day in years, and you need to rest.”
Leslie saw the genuine concern in her husband’s eyes and begrudgingly gave in.
Ben placed another kiss on her clammy brow and stood up.
“I’m gonna call out of work for us and get you something for the fever. I’ll be right back.”
As he busied himself with taking care of his sick wife, he didn’t pay much attention to the tickle in the back of his throat, or the headache building behind his eyes.
~~~~~
Leslie woke the next morning feeling worse than she had the night before. The nausea had thankfully worn off, but her head and body were throbbing.
She couldn’t stop shivering and turned over to burrow into the warm body beside her.
The very warm body. The warm, sweaty, shivering body.
Ben let out a loud moan as he woke up, the full force of his own illness now hitting him.
“Oh no,” Leslie groaned, “I got you sick, too. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. Oh God, I feel like I’m dying.”
“I’m gonna try to call Ann.” She let out a forceful, wet cough. “Maybe I’ll just text her instead.”
~~~~~
A half hour later, Ann ran into their room looking panicked.
“What happened? Are you both okay? What’s going on?”
“We’re sick,” Leslie answered.
Ann breathed a sigh of relief before picking up a pillow and swatting at Leslie’s legs.
“What the hell, Ann?”
“Don’t scare me like that again.”
“Didn’t Leslie tell you that we had the flu?” Ben asked.
“No. All I got was a text from Leslie that said Dying. Come help. The future of my bloodline is in your hands. The flu doesn’t exactly jump to mind when I read something like that.”
"Well, I’m sure that’s how I felt at the time.”
Ann just shook her head. “Okay, well you two are lucky. I just so happen to have flu medicine in my bag in the car. I’ll leave you with some and check on you later.Hopefully, I won’t have to admit you into the hospital. We all know how well that went last time.”
~~~~~
Leslie woke up from a nap to find Ben half collapsed on top of her.
“Ben, I love you, but you’re hot and gross and sweaty, and not in a good way.”
“I know, and I’m sorry,” he slurred, “But I don’t have the energy to move right now, also not in the good kind of way.”
“Ugh, you’re lucky I don’t have the strength to argue with you.”
Ben sighed a germ-ridden breath into Leslie’s hair. “I’m sorry I got sick too and wasn’t able to take care of you.”
“That’s okay. I appreciate the thought, and I love you for it. If there’s anyone I want to keep me company when I’m sick, it’s you. Well, actually it’s Ann, but you’re a close second.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“Don’t mention it, but seriously, I need you to get off of me. I’m pretty sure that there’s a tiny gnome trying to break into my underwear drawer.”
~~~~~
“Leslie?”
“Hmm?” came her groggy reply.
“How many people die from the flu?”
“You’re not gonna die from the flu, Ben.”
He sighed. “I could. I feel it in my bones. Life is so finite. We are but overnight guests on this earth, being hurled through an infinite universe. When I do go, I want you to always know how much I love you.”
“That’s oddly sweet and poetic. I love you too. Now, please stop talking so I can sleep.”
After a beat, Ben spoke again. “Leslie, when I die, can you do me a favor?”
“Oh God, Ben, if you don’t stop talking, the flu won’t have a chance to kill you because I’ll have smothered you first.”
“Please, babe, it’s very important to me, and I need to make sure you understand and do this for me. I won’t pass on peacefully unless you do.”
“Okay, fine, what is it that is so important that you won’t be able to pass on to the afterlife?”
He took a dramatic pause. “When I die, tell my brother that he still can’t have my comic book collection.”
~~~~~
Leslie sat cross legged on the bed, blowing on her dinner to cool it. “You know, I think this is the longest amount of time we’ve spent in a bed together without having sex.”
Ben took another spoonful of soup. “Huh, I guess you’re right. That’s a bummer. A day off, spending it all in bed, and we can’t even enjoy it. I miss sex.”
“Hmm, yeah.”
He set his now empty bowl on the nightstand. “You know, some say that intentional abstinence between couples is a good way to strengthen their relationship.”
“Well, some people are idiots.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
“Hey Ben?”
“Yeah?”
“We need to get better so we can have sex again.”
“Hand me some more of that flu medicine.”