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When Ellis reaches Annie’s porch late that evening, soft flurries are falling around him and there’s an oppressive cold lingering in the air. His hands are stuffed into the pockets of his wool coat, hoping for some semblance of warmth.
He doesn’t think twice about stepping through the front door of the cottage anymore. Months ago he would’ve knocked, maybe politely waited a minute or two until Annie showed up, bright eyed and smiling, teasing him for being so proper. He knows now they’re well established into their relationship that he doesn’t have to wait for her arrival at the door. She keeps it unlocked for him, wills him inside like she wills him into her heart.
When Ellis steps into the living room, it’s oddly quiet – no lamp is turned on except for the burning of the fireplace, the curtains are drawn shut, and the board game they were playing last night remains untouched on the kitchen table with its scattered pieces. Annie’s luggage is still splayed across the floor, packed away for her visit home to New York for the holidays in the coming days.
Annie is usually down here at this hour, busying herself with a book or cleaning something to pass the time. The fact that she isn't makes Ellis’ heart thump nervously. Could she have gone? Did she finally have enough of this place and him? But no, her luggage is still here and they talked about this just last week–
There’s a faint thump that comes from upstairs that interrupts his thoughts. Ellis is immediately climbing the stairs, two steps at a time.
“Annie?” He calls out. There’s no answer, just silence.
“Annie?” Ellis says again, more sternly this time. He begins to search each room as he reaches the top of the stairs. No sign of her in the bathroom. Nor in the master bedroom. Where the fuck is she and where could she possibly be?
He gently pushes open the door to Ramona’s bedroom, his eyes widening at the sight before him. Annie is curled up on Ramona’s old bed, wrapped up in a blanket and shivering profusely.
“Annie! What’s wrong? What happened?”
Ellis is there in two strides, kneeling before her. She acknowledges him with a slight smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes – they are dim and glazed over with exhaustion. Her face is covered with a thin sheen of sweat, teeth chattering. He reaches to push her unruly waves from her face, feeling for the skin of her forehead.
“Annie, you’re burning up,” Ellis says exasperated.
“‘M sick, I think,” Annie mumbles, closing her eyes as if it exhausts her too much to keep them open.
Yes, he can see that. He reaches for her hands instantly, and they’re clammy and cold in the palm of his warm ones.
“How- How long have you been like this? Why didn’t you try to get a hold of me someway? I would’ve been here hours ago–”
Annie snorts. “S-Silly boy.. You don’t have a phone. Besides, I’m f-fine. I can take care of myself..”
“No, Annie, you’re not fine,” Ellis states matter-of-factly. If she didn’t look so small and sickly right now, he would’ve been angry at her for being so stubborn. Why did she think she always had to act strong in front of him?
Ellis stands momentarily to take off his coat, then drapes it on top of the blanket that is already wrapped around Annie’s shivering body. He tucks it up to her chin and watches as she looks up at him thankfully for momentarily taking away her discomfort.
“‘M s-sorry,” Annie whispers. “I just didn’t want to burden you.”
His heart breaks a little.
“Annie, you’re not burdening me. I’m your boyfriend, I’m supposed to take care of you. I’m supposed to get worried about you.”
Ellis runs his fingers gently over her pallid face, watches her lashes flutter against her freckled cheeks. Her eyes begin to close again and she dozes off, mouth slightly parted as if in a dream. Ellis watches her until her breathing evens out and he knows she is fully asleep. He reaches over to press a soft kiss to her forehead.
“I’ll be right back.” He whispers.
Finding medicine in the upstairs bathroom cabinet is a hassle, to say the least. Ramona didn’t exactly keep this place in order before she left and Ellis is making an even bigger mess by searching for what he needs.
He’s elated when he finally finds some cold and flu medicine hiding in the very back. He grabs it, and makes his way downstairs to begin the tasks he’s set to mind while Annie gets some rest: clean up the remaining dishes in the sink, put the kettle on for some tea, make (attempt) some soup for her even though they both know she’s the better cook between the two of them. When everything is washed up and done, Ellis settles Annie’s tea, bowl of soup, and pills on an old tray and carries it up to her room.
She’s still fast asleep, buried under the heap of blankets and his coat. The golden light of her bedroom lamp casts shadows across her face, and for a moment she looks peaceful – youthful, almost. It makes him smile.
Ellis settles down the tray on the wooden chair beside her bed, and climbs in with her. He gently wakes her with another kiss to her forehead, then to her ear after he brushes the hair from her face.
Annie turns to him, looking up at him with bleary, confused eyes.
“Hey,” Ellis says softly, “I made you some soup and tea. And you need to take some medicine as well to help fight your fever.”
“For me?” She wearily smiles. He nods.
Ellis helps bring the tea to her lips and obliges her to drink, so she does. He feeds her what she can take from the soup, followed by the medicine which she uncomfortably swallows down. Ellis notes the time so he knows when to give her the next dose.
As if exhausted from the whole ordeal, Annie slumps back into Ellis and begins to drift off into sleep again.
It's going to be a long night, he thinks.
The second day Annie feels comparably worse. Her fever is relentless and she wakes up in a cold sweat, embarrassed that she’s soaked the sheets. Ellis tells her repeatedly not to worry about it, not to apologize for merely being sick.
He suggests a warm bath and Annie agrees. Ellis can tell she’s struggling to get out of bed, her legs shaky and weak, so he reaches for her instantly.
“Hold onto me,” He tells her, scooping her into his arms with one hand under her knees and one under her arms.
Ellis runs the bath for her while she sits on the nearby stool. She looks at him tiredly as he helps her undress: peels off her socks, her sweats, followed by her sweater. He holds onto her arm tightly as she slowly settles into the tub. The water envelopes Annie like a warm hug and she closes her eyes, looking defeated.
“Feeling a bit better?” Ellis asks her after a minute or two, level as he sits on the tiled floor. His fingers tenderly run through her wet locks.
“Mm,” she says. “Don’t think I’ve been sick like this in a very long time.”
Her words make Ellis frown, something heavy lingering in the air. He knows that she was supposed to fly home in the next day or two, but with how things are going it looks unlikely. It's already hard enough to be sick somewhere that isn’t completely home or familiar to her yet – he’s just glad she has him.
A rough cough rattles her body and she sighs. He knows what she’s thinking: why get sick now of all times? She promised her dad and Connor she’d be home for the holidays; Ramona was eagerly expecting her too. Now she’d disappoint them by not showing up and inevitably delaying her visit another couple months.
Ellis pulls Annie to his chest, kissing the damp skin on the crown of her head. She snuggles into him and they sit like that for a while.
“I love you, you know?” His words hang in the air.
“I love you too,” Annie murmurs. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
And he does take care of her. Ellis helps her out of the bath again when she’s done, wraps her in a towel and dries her off. He helps her into her pajamas and brushes the knots from her hair, brings her another tea when she’s settled into bed.
It's his favourite thing in the world to take care of her in this quiet space that only exists between the two of them alone.
Getting a hold of a nearby phone isn’t easy, Ellis realizes. When he finally does at the nearby cafe by the lake, he pulls a rumpled note from his coat pocket with a phone number etched onto it.
Ramona had given it to him when she left back in August. Call me if you need anything, she told him then, especially if Annie needs something. I’m only a call away.
He dials the number and nervously waits as the phone rings. It takes a few seconds before Ramona’s voice crackles at the other end of the line.
“Hello?” Her voice is quiet.
“Uh, hey Ramona, it's Ellis. I wanted to know if it's possible if you and everyone else can come down here instead for Christmas?”