Work Text:
Tyler knew the storm had hit its peak when Kate finally coughed herself awake. It wasn’t just a little morning throat-clearing - this was the deep, wet and rattling kind that made his own chest hurt just hearing it. She groaned, rolling onto her side and blinked blearily at her phone.
Tyler watched her, knowing this had been building for the past few days. A hidden cough burst here and there, a sniffly hour before bed, a few sneezes and some tissues hidden in her pockets, he knew she was trying her damndest to keep herself from going under or letting anyone realize she didn’t feel good.
There was nothing Kate hated more than slowing down and he knew that it was only a matter of time.
Like nothing was wrong, she slung the blanket off herself and placed her feet on the floor. She sucked in a wheezy breath and cough a few more times.
“Where do you think you’re goin’ soundin’ like that?” He drawled from his spot, still partially asleep himself.
Kate sniffled hard and shoved some of her hair out of her face. “I have stuff to do.”
“Like what? It’s Saturday.”
She wouldn’t look at him. “Important things.”
“Uh-huh,” He sat up, eyeing her critically as she pushed herself to her feet. She looked downright miserable in the dawn light - her eyes were bleary, nose red, and hair askew. But as she took a few steps and sounded absolutely winded by it, Tyler became fairly concerned. “Kate.”
“I’m fine,” she wheezed.
Tyler flung his own blankets off and crawled over the bed to her side. He climbed off the bed and before she could protest, he pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. A quick press of his lips to her temple confirmed it.
“You’ve got a fever, darlin’.”
She swatted at his hand. “I’m just warm.”
“You’re burnin’ up,” he corrected, keeping his hand slid around the back of her neck as she tried to wriggle away. “Damn, baby, how long have you been hidin’ a fever?”
And why hadn’t he noticed sooner? Her hesitation spoke volumes and he sighed, stomach sinking. “How long?”
She cleared her throat again and sniffled pathetically. “Pretty sure it started last night. But I was so tired and I just wanted to go to bed!”
“And you know you’ve been fightin’ off a cold for days now,” he chided. “Kate, you sound terrible.”
“I thought it would go away on its own,” she grumbled. “I don’t have time to deal with being sick. I’ve got more work to do on my observations and putting the sensors up outside and I’m still trying to work out the new website for our business -”
“No,” Tyler interrupted. Rarely did he ever say no to her. One look at her was usually enough to have him wrapped right around her finger. But when it came to her health, he refused to budge. He could be just as stubborn as she was. “No, all that can wait. I think we should go to the doctor’s now.”
“Tyler, no,” Kate dragged a hand down her face.
“Kate, yes.”
“I don’t need a doctor, I just need -”
She broke off into a fearsome coughing fit, bending forward slightly with the force of it. Tyler raised an eyebrow as she finally straightened up. She glared at him, eyes watering, as if he was personally responsible for her own lungs betraying her.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” she snapped.
“Darlin’, pretty sure half your lung is on the floor,” he said dryly. “C’mon. Get dressed. You’re goin’.”
She stared at him, eyebrows furrowed.
“I’ll call your mother,” he added.
It took little convincing after that, though Kate complained the entire way through the process of getting dressed and ready to go. Warmly tucked into one of his sweatshirts and some sweatpants, he corralled her outside to the truck to go to urgent care.
-
The visit was efficient.
Doc took one listen to her chest and ordered some tests. One x-ray and culture later, they determined Kate had a minor case of bacterial pneumonia. With a weakened immune system from her cold and having wandered out recently on a college campus to help collect data with the meteorology program, she’d found a way to contract the illness. They found she would be okay being sent home with strict instructions for rest, staying hydrated and a prescription of antibiotics. Luckily, Doc assured him, they’d caught it quite early and they didn’t expect Kate to be affected for weeks on end - so long as she followed recovery instructions.
And that was a whole different story.
Tyler made sure she took the first dose before they even left the parking lot, then drove him with one goal in mind - getting his stubborn, sick wife to actually rest.
Kate, predictably, was still resistant. As soon as they got home, she tried sneakiness. She wandered off the couch when he’d gone to the bathroom and into their office to organize some mail. But her coughing fit alerted him and with a sigh, he’d entered the room and scooped her right up.
“I don’t need to be manhandled,” she said half-heartedly against his chest. She was still extremely warm against him.
“I’m not manhandlin’,” he assured her. “I’m wife wranglin’. There’s a difference.”
“Hmph.”
He lowered her to the couch and pulled a blanket down around her. He grabbed the pill bottle he’d set on the stand and the water he’d grabbed earlier. “Tylenol for your fever.”
She swallowed the pill and leaned back on the couch, letting out a long, suffering sigh. “Fine. I’ll rest for a little bit.”
“Uh-huh,” Tyler sat down beside her, turning the tv on. He found some random movie and turned the volume low.
Kate made a little show of sighing again, but then she leaned away from the arm of the couch and instead leaned into him with an exhausted sniffle. He started to run his fingers through her hair and just like that, her resistance melted immediately.
Kate barely stirred when Tyler got up from a brief nap. She was usually a fairly light sleeper, especially when she wasn’t feeling great - shuffling around, sighing, rolling over in protest of anything and everything. But now, she just lay there, curled into the couch blankets, her breathing heavy and congested.
He crouched beside her place on the couch and brushed his hand against her forehead. Still too hot.
“Darlin’,” he murmured, smoothing back some hair from her face.
She made a small noise of painful protest, her eyebrows raising pathetically, but she didn’t open her eyes.
“C’mon baby, show me them pretty eyes.”
Kate swallowed thickly, her eyes slowly blinking as she stared up at him. Her eyes were glassy with fever, hurt written all over her expression.
“Hey,” she rasped, her voice scratchy and small.
Tyler’s chest ached. She had no fight left in her, no stubborn insistence that she was fine.
“Thatta girl,” he praised gently, brushing his knuckles along her cheek. “How you feelin’?”
Kate blinked slowly again, like she had to think about it. “Not good.”
“I bet,” He agreed, smoothing his hand down her arm. But she pushed him away softly.
“Sensitive,” she said apologetically. “Aches.”
“Sorry, baby,” He knew the feeling, that too-warm feeling of nettles under the skin with every touch or shift of clothes. “Think you can get up?”
Kate exhaled heavily, already protesting with her whole chest. “Why?”
“You’re burnin’ up, Sapulpa. I wanna get you in the shower, see if that helps cool you off a little.”
Kate huffed weakly but didn’t argue. That alone had him more concerned than anything. He helped her sit up with as little touch as he could. He knew by her hunched form walking that the headache and pain in her chest was keeping her from moving too quickly as they headed slowly for the downstairs bathroom.
Luckily, the shower seemed to help, even if she complained about the lukewarm temperature. He sat on the toilet to make sure she didn’t fall - or fall asleep. He was pretty sure she was sitting on the floor of the tub, shivering.
“Just a little bit longer,” he said softly.
Tyler pulled a towel from the shelf and when he gave her all the all clear, she shut off the shower head and opened the curtain. She looked like a bedraggled rain cloud of misery. He wrapped her up swiftly and held her close for a moment. She was shivering.
“Me - meanie,” she grumbled under her breath.
“Yeah, I know.”
Tyler left her there for a moment to grab the clothes he’d run up to grab earlier. He helped her get into the softest clothes he could find - a thin t-shirt of hers, a sweatshirt of his, and some sweatpants. He managed to get her to take a little more Tylenol, worried that the first dose hadn’t been enough for her fever. He got her more water, got her to actually drink more water, and then back to the couch.
He grabbed a brush from the bathroom and brought it with him too. She sank into his arms, curled into his chest and he gently began to brush her hair. He was careful not to pull or brush her skin too much, knowing it probably would feel like hell.
But Kate let out a long breath. “Mm. S’better.”
He smiled a little at that, his fingers wetted by the ends of her hair as he brushed. Finally, he set the brush aside and kissed her head.
“You stink a little less now, too.”
Kate let out a weak, breathy laugh and nuzzled closer. “Shut up.”
He grinned and held her to him, until her breath evened out and she was asleep once more.
-
As the day wore on, Tyler settled firmly with Kate on the couch and her fight against the high fever, in league with the Tylenol, was making her body switch between a furnace and an icebox every so often. One minute, she was burrowing into him, stealing his warmth like a freezing little barn cat, and the next, she was groaning about being too hot, hair plastered to her forehead and fighting the blankets with a huff.
He just rolled with it, adjusting everytime she shifted, rubbing slow circles on her back when she shivered and giving her space when she kicked him away. He flicked through some channels at a low volume, half-watching while keeping an eye on her, waiting for any sign that the Tylenol had finally won out.
Eventually, Kate sat up on her own in the corner of the couch she claimed hers in her sweaty delirium. She blinked sluggishly, looking a little more like herself - still exhausted with a sickly sheen, but at least aware of the world.
“Look at my pretty wife,” he cooed, swiping back some strands of hair from her face. “How you feelin’?”
She stretched and yawned and then coughed a fit before groaning. “Like I got hit by a truck. No, like I got hit by a truck and then it backed up to finish the job.”
He reached over to press a hand to her forehead and was relieved to find that it seemed a little cooler than earlier.
“Think you can eat somethin’?”
Kate scrunched her nose a little, like she wanted to find an argument, but then nodded. “Maybe a little.”
He kissed the side of her head. “Good. I’ll get you some soup.”
He heated up one of the little cans of chicken noodle they had, something warm and homey and easy on the body. He brought the bowl to the couch with an old table tray they’d stolen from Cathy, where she sat up nicely watching some sort of sitcom.
“Eat what you can, darlin’.”
She gave him a doe-eyed glance and rattled out a thank you.
He left her to her independence and headed for the bathroom to grab her old clothes and throw them in the wash. While he was at it, he did a few small chores. He tidied up the kitchen a bit, sorted through the mail that Kate had been after earlier, checked emails and then got himself a snack all while listening for her.
When he finally came back, most of the soup was gone, the bowl abandoned on the table tray. Kate had curled back up on the couch, sound asleep, her body half-wrapped in a blanket she probably warred with at some point.
Tyler smiled, shaking his head fondly as he set aside the table tray for the time being and crouched to tuck the blanket more firmly around her. She barely stirred, just shifted slightly and sighed in her sleep. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, swept a finger down the bridge of her nose and settled back in by her legs, prepared for another potential round of freezing, sweating and complaining. But for now, she just slept and that was enough for him to relax.
-
Tyler had completely fallen asleep with Kate having flopped over to lay in his lap. The tv quietly hummed with some late night rerun in the background. He woke to her suddenly shooting up off his lap, her body trembling like she was buried in snow instead of a few blankets. The fever meds had worn off. They’d been asleep for quite a while.
Tyler swept his hand across her back, already having planned to dose her up again when his phone went off, but before he could even move to settle her back in, she was seized with a deep coughing fit.
Kate barely got a breath in before another round hit, her whole frame tensing against him. The sound of it made his chest ache - it was rough, deep and clearly painful.
“Easy, baby,” he murmured, rubbing a firm hand between her shoulder blades. “Don’t hold it back.”
She braced her arms on her lap as she wheezed between coughs, trying to get air. When she finally caught enough breath to speak, her voice was raw. “Hurts.”
His heart shattered into about a million pieces.
“Oh darlin’,” He reached for the glass of water on the coffee table. “Drink.”
She gave him a miserable look but took a few slow sips, pausing when another reactionary cough shook through her. Tyler kept his hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles.
“Doc said you gotta keep them coughs productive,” he reminded her, voice soft but firm. “Doesn’t do you any favors to hold it in.”
Kate groaned and leaned back against him once more, taking another long drink. “He’s a sadist.”
Tyler was unable to help a chuckle escaping and kissed the side of her head. “Yeah, well, guess I am too. Let me go find that humidifier we’ve got somewhere. That might help.”
He reluctantly pulled away, leaving her with her water and headed for the hall closet where the cleaning stuff was. They’d tucked the thing away somewhere when they’d first moved all their stuff in and it took him a minute to dig it out.
By the time he returned, Kate was curled into her blankets, her hood pulled up, half-awake and clearly exhausted still despite sleeping most of the day away. He set up the humidifier nearby after checking the filter and filled up the container. He flipped it on until a gentle mist started filling the air.
Then he went back and collected his thermometer and the Tylenol and came back to Kate. He crouched beside her. “Alright, baby, let’s see where you’re at.”
She let him check it without fuss, too worn down to argue. He cradled her face and swept his thumb under her eye, holding the thermometer until it beeped.
“Still a little warm,” he determined. “But not climbin’.”
He handed her the safe amount of pills and she took it with water. She sagged back again and watched him as he tightened back up the bottle and stood. Another brief coughing fit hit, but it passed quicker and sounded a little clearer.
She reached a hand for him and hearing her silent request, he found a cozy position and she crawled up onto his lap again, tucking into his arms. She was very warm and shivering and he held her as comfortingly as he could until they both fell back asleep, the night surrounding them.
-
By the time the first early rays of morning light slipped through the curtains, Tyler stirred to find Kate still cozied up, but her skin wasn’t nearly as warm as it had been when she went to sleep. Instead, she was damp with sweat, hair sticking to her forehead, and - if the deep sigh of indignation at his shifting was any indication - potentially a bit grumpy again.
“Ugh,” she muttered, shoving away at the blankets. “I feel disgusting.”
“You’re still as beautiful as ever,” he replied back easily, even as she planted a foot in his stomach and shoved herself away from him.
“I am, not,” she insisted, with a push of her foot on the word not. “I’m sweaty and gross, Tyler.”
“And your fever finally broke,” he pointed out, patting her knee. “You wanna go take another shower?”
Kate nodded and stood up on her own, wincing and holding her head as if plagued by a bad headache. “Yeah. I can do it.”
He watched her carefully as she made her way slowly to the bathroom and got to his own feet. He wasn’t going to hover, but he certainly wasn’t above following her to the bathroom.
“Don’t fall asleep in there,” he called after her. It earned him a half-hearted middle finger before she shut the door.
Tyler chuckled and got to work, going to switch out the dirty laundry and replace it with the blankets they’d slept with last night. He replaced new blankets on the couch and took care of the soup bowl from the night before. His stomach was growling angrily at him too and he swiftly ate a bowl of cereal while he waited for Kate to return.
By the time she emerged, damp-haired and dressed in a cooler set of comfy clothes, she looked a little more human. She was still pale, still tired, but her eyes weren’t quite so fever-glazed.
“I’m hungry,” she announced, playing with the sleeves of her oversized sweater.
“Granola bar and fruit?” He offered, gesturing towards the counter.
Kate hummed in approval and he reached for the things he needed. It wasn’t long before he had a fruit spread out, paired with her favorite dark chocolate chip granola bar. As she ate at the island stool, he brewed some tea and honey for the both of them. Kate managed to eat most of her little snack before she cupped her tea and headed for the living room again.
Feeling suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to make her happy amidst her suffering, he made a side trip to the office and grabbed the laptop. With his own tea also in hand, he headed in and set up the computer on his lap.
“What’re you doing?” She asked, sitting cross-legged on the couch.
“I figured while you’re awake, we can look through some of our work stuff,” he offered.
Kate raised her eyebrows at him with surprise. “Work stuff?” she squeaked.
“Just light work,” he warned. “Figured a little bit of brainstormin’ for that first responders workshop couldn’t hurt while you’re feelin’ up to it.”
She looked at him like she couldn’t believe he’d offered it. But he knew her - he knew she didn’t like to feel unproductive. Especially now that it felt like they were on a roll with life. He figured she’d push sooner or later when she thought she could get away with it. He’d rather steer her towards something light, if he could.
She set her tea on the coffee table and tugged her blanket over her legs. Past the exhaustion, she looked excited.
“Okay. Here.”
She reached for the laptop, but he snagged it out of reach. “One condition. You have to be honest about when you’re feelin’ done.”
Kate squinted at him, clearly debating her answer. He leveled her with a look, one that said he wasn’t going to budge on this and after a beat, she sighed dramatically.
“Fine,” she relented. “But you can’t call me out the first time I yawn.”
Tyler set the laptop between them, smirking. “I can manage that.”
She rolled her eyes but her fingers were already on the trackpad, scrolling through their shared notes. He watched as she scanned through what they’d had outlined so far, her expression shifting into something a little more focused, a little more herself. The sight of it eased some weight off his shoulders; she hated being down for the count and if it gave her a little bit of joy, he was more than happy to oblige.
They bounced a few ideas back and forth, keeping it easy and nothing too deep. Tyler made sure to nudge her towards her tea every so often and she drank it without a word.
But it wasn’t long before her responses to him started slowing. She wasn’t quite nodding off, but he saw the signs - the way she blinked longer than necessary, her fingers stilling on the keyboard as if forgetting what she was about to type.
Tyler let it go a few more minutes before shifting the laptop off her lap. He warded off her reaching hands and shut the top, setting it on the coffee table.
“That’s enough,” he said, voice gentle.
Kate frowned. “But -”
“No buts. You did good, but you’re about two emails away from fadin’, sweetheart.”
Kate looked up at him through sad eyes, but she didn’t argue. He nudged the laptop further away from her, suspecting a ruse of puppy eyes made to distract him and leaned back. He patted his chest in invitation. “C’mere.”
Kate tried her best to look obstinate but her lips twitched at the corners. She unfolded herself and eased herself along the front of his body. He pulled the blanket up over them and settled a hand on her lower back, massaging smooth circles up her spine. Her body slackened bit by bit, her weight settling against him. The little sigh she let out was all the confirmation he needed to prove he’d made the right call shutting things down.
“Not fair,” she mumbled against his chest. “You’re too comfortable.”
“Would you rather I be uncomfortable?” He teased, turning his fingers into a crawl up her back, in a soft tickle.
She squirmed and pinched his hip before settling entirely. They lapsed into quiet, the hum of the humidifier and the low tones of the tv filling the space. Tyler found the right channel and kept the volume low. The sound of Forensic Files now warred with the humidifier and Kate squinted at the tv from his chest, making a soft noise of agreement, as if it was even too much to speak.
“Knew you’d wanna listen to somethin’ weird while you dozed off,” Tyler murmured into her hair. “Pretty sure this show only appears when you’re sick anyway.”
She chuckled against him, but it was weak. He could feel the heaviness of her breaths against his chest, the achy-limbed tiredness weighing her down. Even with her fever breaking, the pneumonia was making every little thing an effort. He pulled the blanket tighter around her and noted the fine tremor at the end of each breath. He’d have to keep an eye on that and make sure it didn’t get worse.
“You’re not worried?”
He was surprised she wasn’t asleep yet. Then, he was confused by her words altogether.
“‘Bout what?”
“Getting sick,” she sniffled, words slurring. “I’m probably pretty contagious.”
Understanding replaced his confusion.
“Darlin’, if I was gonna get sick, I’d probably already have it. You’ve been breathin’ and hackin’ over me for days.”
She made a huff of protest, but it was too half-hearted to be convincing.
“Besides,” Tyler shifted his voice to something a little more tender. “I don’t care. You’re the only thing right now that matters. If I catch it, I catch it. Just means I’ll get to laze around on you.”
Kate laughed, but it dissolved into a coughing fit. Tyler rubbed slow circles between her shoulder blades, waiting it out with her. When she finally caught her breath again, she let out a long, dramatic groan.
“You won’t be saying that when you actually get sick,” Kate breathed.
“In sickness and in health,” he quipped. “You have me. I have you.”
Kate hummed against him, sleepy and content, despite her shivers and coughs and exhaustion. Her nose was tucked into the curve of his collarbone and he knew she was about to sleep again, letting her body do its work in fighting off the illness.
“Love you,” she whispered.
Tyler’s heart squeezed a little.
“Love you too, baby,” he murmured, pressing another kiss to her head.
He let their words settle between them. No matter how many times he heard it from her, the words never lost their weight. He’d never get used to the way it felt, being loved by Kate.
Even now, sick and out of sorts as she was, wrapped up in a mess of blankets on his chest, she could still knock the breath right out of him. The fact that she loved, built a house with him, married him - it was enough to make him believe he must be doing something right.
Her breaths slowed as sleep crept back in. He brushed some more hair off her face, following the curve from her temple, into her hair, then down her spine. She was warm, but nowhere near the fever she was running yesterday.
He let out an easy breath, content to just hold her, to be the one taking care of her. This was what it meant to him the day he married her; even promises he made long before that. He loved all of it. Chasing storms, building a life together, but also the quieter, unglamorous moments like this. Holding her while she didn’t feel good, taking care of her, being a place for her to rest when she needed it.
He could hear the raspy sound of her breathing, feel the way her fingers had subconsciously fisted into his shirt, like even in sleep, she trusted him to be there.
And God, he would be.
-
Two days later, Kate was insisting she was fine. Nevermind the lingering congestion, the occasional rough cough, the wheezing when she ran up the stairs, or the fact that she still sniffled every few minutes. She was done with resting and Tyler could feel the battle brewing the second he found her trying to haul a basket full of clothes from the laundry room to the stairs.
Tyler leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching her with an exasperated, lazy smirk. “Darlin’.”
Kate didn’t even look at him. “Don’t start.”
“Not startin’ nothin’,” he said swiftly, though he was already pushing off the wall to step closer into her space. “Just tryin’ to figure out if you plan on takin’ that upstairs on your own.”
“I don’t need to be coddled,” she grumbled half-heartedly. She huffed and tried to adjust the way she was holding the basket of clothes, looking suspiciously out of breath.
Tyler reached out and plucked the basket from her like it weighed nothing. “I know. But you need to keep takin’ it easy before you backslide.”
He set the basket on the lowest stair and stepped closer, his hands falling to her waist. His fingers slipped just under the hem of her sweatshirt, her skin warm. “How about you start smaller?”
She raised a brow. “Define smaller.”
“Well,” he murmured, his voice dipping quieter as he brushed his fingers along her waist, still easing her closer until their hips were flush. “You’re still all sniffly. Could use another hot shower.”
“I just took one this morning.”
He hummed and leaned in, letting his lips graze the shell of her ear. “Yeah, but I was thinking . . .” His fingers curled against her skin, teasing, coaxing, voice all honey and low heat. “We could take this one together.”
He had her attention now.
Tyler felt the way she stilled, her weight shifting a bit as she was second-guessing the idea of protesting further. She pulled back just enough from him to meet his eyes. She was skeptical. “That’s cheating.”
“Maybe,” he admitted shamelessly, grinning. “Or maybe I’m just very persuasive. I happen to know that warm water is real good for congestion.”
He dipped his head and brushed a kiss under her jaw, slow and easy. He followed it with a kiss at her throat, tender and soft. “Helps loosen everythin’ up.”
Kate exhaled through her nose, a little amused, a little exasperated, but he could feel her melting now against him. “You’re annoying.”
She was giving it a valiant effort at this point. But he could see right through her facade.
“Mm,” He pressed another kiss to her throat, up to her cheeks and nose. “But I’m right.”
This time, she laughed and her eyes lightened and it was all the permission Tyler needed. Before she could change her mind, he lifted her off the ground, one arm secure under her legs and the other supporting her back as she let out a breathless, startled noise.
“Tyler!”
“What?” he said innocently as he began to climb the stairs, steady and strong. “Ain’t my fault you’re so stubborn, Sapulpa. Gotta make sure you actually take it easy somehow.”
Kate laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed. She didn’t even argue, instead tucking her face against his shoulder and pressing a kiss there. Tyler just smiled, carrying her the rest of the way, more than happy to make sure she really took her time recovering.
He took his husbandly duties seriously and he didn’t intend to let her down now.