Work Text:
Susan wakes up with her alarm, and rather than snoozing it for a few more minutes like she usually does, she immediately reaches over and turns it off. Stretching like a cat, she yawns as she rolls over and reaches out for Jackie, expecting to find her already awake. To her surprise, Jackie’s still fast asleep, sprawled out on her stomach with one arm flung over her pillow next to her head.
Smiling to herself, Susan scoots closer to her and presses a kiss to the back of her shoulder.
“Wakey, wakey,” she says cheerfully. “Time for me to beat you down the slopes!”
Jackie stirs a little and groans. “Five more minutes.”
Susan gathers Jackie’s hair away from her neck and drops a series of kisses along her jawline. “Oh, come on,” she teases her, “you were so excited yesterday. Get your lazy butt up already.”
Jackie responds with a sneeze, and it’s then that Susan realizes that the rosy warmth of her girlfriend’s skin isn’t the work of the pile of blankets she’s currently buried under. She lays the back of her hand against Jackie’s forehead, then gives her arm a sympathetic pat.
“Honey, I think you’ve got a bit of a fever.”
Jackie sneezes again. “No,” she says hoarsely, “I’m good. I’m gettin’ up right now.”
She doesn’t move though, and Susan hums skeptically.
“Mmm-hmm. I’m going to go call Bud and Mags and cancel. You sound awful.”
“No, really!” Jackie insists, finally pushing herself into a sitting position and resting heavily against the headboard. “I’m not sick.” She sneezes yet again and winces as she tries to clear her throat. “They’re normal dust ball sneezes. I just need a shower and I’ll be fine. All the steam will clear me right out.”
“Okay,” Susan agrees, amused. She sits up too and leans in close. “Then kiss me.”
Jackie’s eyes widen. “What?”
“Kiss me,” Susan repeats. “If you’re not sick, kiss me. We’ll go skiing like we planned, I won’t get sick either, and there’s absolutely no way I’ll end up having to reschedule all my OR cases later this week. Kiss me.”
Jackie glares at her for a few seconds, clearly waiting for her to back down, but ends up lapsing into a coughing fit before she can bend her girlfriend to her will. She throws an arm across her face and aims her hacking into the bend of her elbow.
“Okay, fine,” she admits with a pitiful sniffle when she’s done, “you win.” She sniffles again. “I’m sick.”
“No kidding,” Susan says dryly.
“But it’s not fair to use your patients like that,” Jackie grouses. “You know how bad I’d feel if they couldn’t have their surgeries on account of me.”
Susan hides a smile. “You’re right,” she says patiently, “I’m sorry.”
Jackie reaches over to her nightstand and grabs a tissue in just enough time to sneeze again. She blows her nose and looks so miserable that Susan slips a hand up under the back of her pajama top and starts rubbing comforting circles into her sore muscles.
“How about I call and cancel, then I’ll bring you some meds and tea, and maybe even some toast or a banana?” she offers. “You can just camp out here and rest.”
Jackie shakes her head and pulls away. “I can get all that stuff,” she tells her, getting out of bed and heading toward the door. “You don’t have to do it. Plus, it’s boring in here.”
“Alright,” Susan says, following her out of the room and down the hall, “then go sit on the couch and turn on the TV. I’ll bring you everything you need.”
“I said I’ll do it,” Jackie says irritably. “It’s just a cold, it’s not like I’m dyin’ or nothin’.”
“Hey,” Susan says softly when she catches up with her in the living room, “you ran yourself ragged all through the holidays, and this is your body’s way of telling you to slow down and rest. Andy’s with Fred and you’re already off work,” she shrugs, “there’s no shame in putting your own needs first for once in your life. Let me help.”
“You’ve been just as busy as me,” Jackie points out, apparently not having heard a word she said. “And you’re not sick.”
“Yeah,” Susan says, “but I spend a lot of time scrubbed up and in gloves and a mask. You’ve got the unwashed masses walking in and out of the restaurant all day. It’s no wonder you got sick. Sit down and relax. You’ll feel better.”
She’s expecting to at least earn an amused eye roll at that, but Jackie makes a face at her instead.
“Quit bossin’ me around,” she says petulantly, her voice bordering on a childish whine, “you’re not my mother.”
“Thank my lucky stars,” Susan quips. “And actually, you know what? If you don’t sit down on that couch right now, I will personally call you mother, tell her you’re sick, and beg her to come visit you.”
Jackie looks horrified. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would.”
Jackie narrows her eyes at her, and Susan finally caves.
“Okay,” she confesses, “I wouldn’t. But you need to rest, and when I caught that weird twenty-four-hour stomach thing that went through the hospital, you barely let me out of your sight, remember? Let me take care of you. Please?”
“That’s different,” Jackie insists. She pauses her argument long enough to grab a tissue from the box on the nearby end table and blows her nose again. “I’m a mom, I’m used to takin’ care of whiny sick people.”
Susan rolls her eyes at her. “Susan McKinney, M.D.”
Jackie lets out a frustrated huff. “You cut ‘em open while they’re asleep, though. You’re not the one nursin’ ‘em back to health. So that doesn’t count.”
Susan heaves a sigh and switches gears. “You know what?” she asks slowly. “You’re right.”
“And another thing,” Jackie says before stopping and giving Susan an incredulous look. “What?”
“I said you’re right.”
Jackie blinks at her. “I am?”
Susan nods solemnly. “You’re the very first sick person I’ve ever been around who’s actually conscious. This is a major turning point in my career. Will you please be my guinea pig? If you live through it, I’ll write a paper on our experience, get published, and make millions. I’ll even give you half.”
Jackie sneezes again. “I’m not gonna win this, am I?”
“No,” Susan says honestly. She points to the couch. “Sit.”
Jackie eyes her warily. “Fine. But I want a shower first, then I’ll sit.”
“Promise?”
Jackie holds up three fingers in a gesture Susan knows she learned from Andy. “Scout’s honor.”
“Okay,” Susan agrees. “You shower, I’ll call my brother, then you’re going to sit your butt on that couch and not move unless you need to use the bathroom. Deal?”
Jackie finally gives her a small smile. “Deal.”
One phone call and a quick breakfast later, Susan walks back into the living room to find Jackie sitting on the couch freshly showered and wearing sweatpants, warm socks, and a worn-out University of Chicago t-shirt.
“Thief,” she teases affectionately.
Jackie’s cheeks flush. “I wanted to be cozy,” she explains with a sniffle, “and it smells like you.”
Susan sets a cup of tea on the coffee table in front of her along with a packet of cold medicine and a bottle of water, then leans in and plants a kiss on the top of her head.
“You’re my favorite,” she says, settling next to her on the couch.
“Your favorite what?”
Pulling the afghan off the back of the couch, Susan takes her time arranging it over their laps before giving her a fond smile. “Just my favorite.”
Jackie rolls her eyes and smiles back. “Did you call them?”
“I did,” Susan confirms, “and they both say that they hope you feel better soon. But for that to happen,” she points first to the cup of tea and then to the bottle of water, “you need to pick a liquid and hydrate. And take a couple of those pills. Doctor’s orders.”
Jackie obediently reaches for the cold medicine and pops two of the capsules out of the foil packaging, then swallows them with a couple of sips of water.
Susan nods her approval. “Good. I don’t have to check under your tongue, do I? Andy had to have learned that trick from somewhere.”
Jackie chuckles, then winces and turns her head, coughing into her shoulder. “He got that one from D.J.,” she sputters when she comes up for air. She grabs the water bottle again and drinks deeply, only twisting the top back on and setting it onto the coffee table again once it’s almost empty.
“Okay,” Susan tells her sympathetically, “I think that’s enough chatting for now. Are you hungry?”
Jackie shakes her head and stretches out, burrowing down into the couch and resting her head on a throw pillow down at the far end. She tugs the afghan closer to her chin, nearly pulling it off Susan completely. “No, let’s just watch TV for a while.”
Susan grabs the remote off the coffee table, then hands it over. “This might be a good time to catch up on your soaps.”
“I don’t want to have to concentrate on all the plotlines,” Jackie tells her as she turns the TV on and flips through the channels until she lands on an old rerun of I Love Lucy. “Lucy’s good.” She tosses the remote on the floor and glances back over at Susan. “Do you think they’re mad at me?”
It takes Susan a moment to realize who she’s talking about. “Why would they be mad at you for being sick?”
Jackie shrugs a shoulder. “Because we’ve had this trip planned for weeks, and I ruined it. You and James are hardly ever free at the same time, and now we’re probably never gonna get to go.” She pauses and nibbles pensively at her bottom lip for a moment. “Maybe you should just go without me.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Susan assures her. “I’m going to sit right here and make sure you’re taken care of.”
“But I’m just gonna lay here and watch Lucy and probably fall sleep again. You shouldn’t miss out just ‘cause I got sick. You work so hard all the time, you know, and now you’re supposed to be on vacation, and instead of enjoyin’ it, you’re stuck here with me.”
“Hey,” Susan says softly, giving her leg a squeeze. “Enough, okay? I’m staying right here with you because I want to. I wouldn’t be able to have any fun while you’re stuck at home feeling so awful anyway. The whole point of the trip was to spend time with you.”
“And your brother and Maggie,” Jackie adds immediately before she turns her head and sneezes into her shoulder. “Ugh,” she groans as she blindly reaches behind her for another tissue from the box on the end table, “I hate bein’ sick.”
Tissue acquired, she blows her nose again and then focuses her attention back on Susan. “We were all gonna hang out.”
Susan nods sympathetically. “I know, I was looking forward to seeing them too. But it’s their cabin, so they’re just going to go without us this time. The season isn’t over, so we might still be able to figure something out. And if not, there’s always next year.”
“You really don’t mind?”
Susan rests her head against the back of the couch and smiles at her. “Cross my heart and hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye.”
Jackie chuckles and playfully shoves a foot into the side of her leg. “And you really don’t think they’re mad at me? You’re not sparin’ my feelings?”
“Mags expects a full report on my Florence Nightingale skills,” Susan says dryly. “If I fail at this, she says that she and Bud are keeping you after we break up.”
Jackie smiles again. “I knew I liked her.”
“She’s pretty fond of you too,” Susan says honestly, “they both are.”
She lifts Jackie’s feet onto her lap then, pulling off her socks and getting as far as pressing her thumb into the arch of her girlfriend’s foot before Jackie lets out a stuffy moan.
“Oh, that feels nice. You’re really pretty good at this whole bedside manner thing, you know.”
“Well, they don’t let you perform surgery if you flunk Common Cold 101,” Susan points out with a chuckle. “There’s even a specific exam.”
“Are the foot rubs on it?”
“That was the practical portion,” Susan confirms without missing a beat, “we all had to demonstrate our technique on the instructor’s feet.”
“Smartass,” Jackie accuses affectionately.
Susan blows her a kiss from the other end of the couch, making her grin.
They sit in companionable silence for a while, watching Lucy crush grapes with her feet while Susan continues to rub Jackie’s. Susan gets so into the show that she doesn’t realize that Jackie is even still awake until her hesitant voice comes from the other side of the couch again.
“Suze?”
“Mmm-hmm?” Susan asks, turning to look at her.
“I’m sorry I was so stubborn earlier.”
Susan smirks at her and gives one of her toes a tug. “That’s alright. I won, didn’t I?”
“It’s just that nobody’s ever done this for me before,” Jackie continues quietly. “Or at least not without makin’ me feel like some kind of huge inconvenience, you know?”
Susan’s heart sinks. Unsure of what exactly to say to that, she simply gives Jackie’s leg a pat. “Well,” she says slowly, “they should have done this for you. Everyone deserves a little extra attention when they’re sick.”
Jackie is still studying her carefully. “I just didn’t want you to be annoyed at me for bein’ needy.”
“You’re the opposite of needy,” Susan tells her. “And even if you were being needy, I still wouldn’t mind because you hardly ever are.”
“But I - ,” Jackie starts again.
“Honey,” Susan interrupts her softly, “how about you just let me love you?”
Jackie nibbles at her bottom lip again. “Okay,” she finally agrees quietly, “Suze?”
“Mmm-hmm?”
“Will you play with my hair?”
The question is tentative and vulnerable, but Susan gives her an encouraging smile.
“Come lay your head in my lap,” she says, waving her over.
Jackie doesn’t waste any time switching position, snuggling as close as she can get and letting out a contented sigh once she’s comfortable. Before long, she really is asleep, and Susan continues to gently comb her fingers through her girlfriend’s hair with one hand while she carefully reaches for a book she’d previously left abandoned on the coffee table with the other. Perfectly content to stay exactly where she is, she focuses on making a dent in her book until Jackie stirs again.
“Oh,” Jackie says once she’s fully awake, sounding anxious as she tries to sit up. “How long was I out? I’m sorry!”
Susan uses an arm to gently keep her in place. “Shhh,” she soothes. “Honey, it’s fine. I promise. It’s only been a couple of episodes of Lucy. You can stay here as long as you want.”
Jackie eyes her skeptically for a moment, but must ultimately decide to trust her, because she relaxes back into place.
“You’re really comfy,” she murmurs, almost too quiet to hear.
Susan laughs. “Thank you. How’re you feeling? Any better?”
“Kinda.” Jackie grabs the water bottle from the coffee table and finishes the rest of it, then tosses it back to where it came from. “I feel less stuffed up.”
“Good. Are you hungry yet? You really should eat something.”
Jackie wrinkles her nose. “Not yet. And you really stayed here the whole time I was asleep?”
Susan just smiles. “Where else would I be?”