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Maya crinkles her nose up, trying to figure out if her nose is stuffy because of whatever laundry detergent this Air BnB host uses.
Or the weather.
Or dust.
Or literally anything that doesn’t mean she’s sick.
Her throat says otherwise though.
And her belly.
And her head.
She’s supposed to be teaching her wife how to ski this weekend. They should be laughing while they tumble down the slopes, Maya should be placating her wife with promises of hot chocolate and sex in their cabin in the evenings.
Instead she’s lying here feeling like her head is stuffed full of cotton balls and her belly is doing somersaults.
Maya sighs heavily but to her dismay it produces quite the violent coughing fit and she rolls onto her side, her eyes streaming with the effort of it.
“Hey, bambina,” Carina’s concerned voice cuts through the coughing and Maya flinches at the feel of her hand on her back. “You’re okay, deep breaths.”
Eventually the coughing subsides and Maya rolls onto her back, trying to breathe deeply without it scratching her throat again.
“Stai bene?”
Maya nods determinedly. “Yeah, something just caught in the back of my throat.”
Even though she’s staring at the ceiling Maya can still feel her wife’s critical gaze giving her a once over.
“Your little red nose isn’t very convincing.”
“I’m cold.”
Carina reaches out to feel her forehead before Maya can detangle herself from the sheets and bat her away.
“Your forehead says otherwise.”
Maya huffs, provoking more coughing and a burn in her throat.
“I’m fine,” she croaks again, turning to Carina and giving her a weak smile even though it makes her head feel even more blocked up.
Carina raises her eyebrows but gets out of bed anyway and Maya whines at the rush of cold air that it lets into the bed.
“Where are you going?”
“To get the thermometer from the first aid kit you insisted we bring.”
“You never know!”
“Is that you admitting you’re sick?” she asks as she comes back into the bedroom brandishing the thermometer.
“...No.”
Carina doesn’t reply, instead kneeling back on the bed beside her not-sick wife and sticking the thermometer in her ear, pulling a face when she sees the number.
“You, my love, have a fever. We are not going anywhere.”
Maya pouts, untangling herself from the blankets and sitting up, although she immediately regrets it when her head pounds from the movement.
“I can’t stay in bed all day.”
“You can move to the sofa,” Carina shrugs. “But you definitely need rest today, and for me to spoil you. Besides I think even if you were not sick we probably would not go out today.”
Maya slides out of bed and immediately regrets it, shivering hard at the cold air and grabbing onto the nightstand to steady herself. “Huh?”
“We’re snowed in, it's so deep it's halfway up the front door,” Carina explains, wrapping a blanket around Maya and then guiding her by the shoulders into the main living area of their cabin.
“Carina that's barely snowed in, I would still go out skiing in that,” Maya states as she sees the snowdrift up against the glass of the front door.
“Of course you would, you're a sturdy cupcake.”
Maya stops dead in her tracks and turns around to frown at her wife in complete bewilderment.
“What?”
“Did I get an idiom wrong again?”
Maya nods faintly. “I think so but my brain is so foggy I can't even work out what you were aiming for in the first place.”
She keeps moving towards the couch - standing up is a lot of effort, apparently.
“Umm how do I explain it … It's like when you are really strong but I think there is also a food in the idiom?”
Maya scrunches her nose in thought as she burrows herself into the soft, cosy couch and creates somewhat of a blanket nest. “Oh, did you mean tough cookie?” she suddenly realises, settling herself finally.
“Yes! Oh these stupidi American idioms, so strange!”
Maya smirks at her wife's little rant as she watches her walk into the kitchen - she secretly hopes Carina never masters the world of American idioms.
She doesn't ask what Carina is up to, knowing she'll probably get a half answer when Carina is clattering around with pots and pans - plus, that kind of answers Maya's question anyway.
Instead, she burrows into the blankets further, watching the snow still slowly swirling down outside.
A few minutes later her wife appears, carrying a mug of suspiciously coloured liquid that she presses into Maya's palms.
Maya frowns down. “What is it?”
“It's peppermint tea, it's not poison,” Carina chuckles. “Your first aid kit has all the things for injuries but nothing for sickness. So I am going to hope that these host people have some good things and we are going to rely on some home remedies.”
“Home remedies?” Maya asks faintly, still staring down at the cup of tea.
“Sì, things my mamma did to look after Andrea and I when we were small.”
“I thought you were a doctor?” Maya asks, still confused.
“I am,” Carina explains, sitting down next to her with a hand on her leg. “And I do believe that modern medicine can do a lot more than home remedies, but at the same time they have their place and there is research that backs things up.”
Maya hums, feeling a little bit more on board but also still somewhat like her wife is going to start mixing potions like a witch with a cauldron. “Like what?”
“Well,” Carina starts, her eyes sparkling a little and Maya smiles at her wife’s genuine excitement. “Lemon and honey have properties that ease a sore throat, and hydration is good generally because it thins out the mucus.”
“Eww.”
“Shh, I’m educating you. Steam and moisture do the same thing, a hot shower or hovering your face over a bowl of very hot water is particularly good if your sinuses are blocked, which I think they are because you keep rubbing under your eyes like you’re in pain.”
Maya shrugs non-commitally, because her wife is right but she’s not sure she wants to admit that out loud yet.
“Maybe we give it a try with just a bowl of water rather than a shower, it’s a bit easier.”
Carina is looking at her gently, and Maya has to say, her sinuses are so congested that it’s bordering on painful and if it even gives her a little bit of relief…
“Okay…”
“You don’t need to sound so scared bambina, I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”
Maya laughs and leans in for a small kiss. “Can I also have some breakfast?”
“Mmhmm. Oatmeal?”
Maya nods, smiling into the second kiss that her wife gives her before she disappears into the kitchen.
It’s around 5 minutes later that her wife reappears with two bowls of oatmeal sprinkled with nutmeg which smells incredible, even through Maya’s blocked nose. They eat together quietly and then Carina goes back into the kitchen to wash the dishes and heat up some water.
“It might be easier if you come and sit at the table bambina.”
Maya nods, slowly disentangling herself from the blankets and then bringing at least two with her and sitting down on one of the dining chairs with a shiver. Her body is getting increasingly achy and she’s not a fan of it so she wraps the blanket around herself tightly as she watches Carina carry over a bowl of steaming hot water and a small tea towel.
She places it down in front of Maya and then sits down next to her.
“Do I just … put my face over it?”
“Sì, it might feel a little hot but try and persevere, it will help the pressure in your sinuses, I promise. And we can put this towel over your head to trap the steam in and it will work even better.”
Maya is still suspicious because she’s not sure how just simple steam will help clear the pressure in her head but her wife is a doctor and apparently knows a lot more about home remedies than she does. Plus, she’d trust Carina with anything, she can trust her with this, so she slowly pulls the bowl closer and leans her head forward.
Maya wasn’t prepared for quite how hot it would be. Which seems silly, considering she runs into burning buildings for a living, but fire is a dry heat, not humid like this is, and it’s very rare that she feels that heat directly on her bare skin.
“Carina, I don’t know-”
Maya lifts her head up and looks at her wife, her cheeks tingling with the residual heat.
“I know it feels strange, but this is what I always do when I’m congested and it always helps. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to but it will help, the first few minutes are always the worst.”
She glances at the bowl, and then back to her wife.
“Maybe without the tea towel for now.”
“Certo.”
Maya nods and then leans her head back over the bowl again, trying to breathe evenly through the first few moments of discomfort. It is uncomfortable but that’s mitigated slightly by Carina’s hand on her lower back and drawing soothing patterns.
After a couple of minutes though, Maya starts to notice a difference. Breathing is a bit easier and the painful pressure behind her eyes is starting to fade into the background.
“Helping?”
“Mhmm.”
“It’s another couple of minutes later that she feels something happen and her nose suddenly feels a lot clearer.
“Carina?”
“Yes?”
“Do I have snot coming out of my nose right now?”
There’s a long pause, which Maya isn’t a fan of.
“Sì, vieni qua,” Carina commands softly so Maya lifts her head. She’s expecting to be handed some tissues but instead Carina swoops in and wipes it away for her.
“I’m sorry, that’s so gross,” Maya apologises, looking at her wife guiltily.
“Maya, I deliver babies for a living, I’ve seen so much worse. Now put your head back.”
She doesn’t have the energy to argue so she follows the instructions and leans forward again, breathing deeply.
She stays there for another ten minutes or so until the steam stops rising and the water cools down. At that point she sits up, grabbing the towel to wipe the moisture from her face.
“Has that helped?”
Maya nods, grabbing some tissues to blow her nose and make the most of the cleared airways as she can. “It did … thank you for convincing me to do it, I had no idea that was even an option.”
Carain shrugs, picking up the bowl and tipping the water down the sink
“Allora, there’s one more cold remedy that we haven’t tried and requires almost no preparation.”
“Hmm. And what would that be?”
“Cuddles with your wife.”
“I will put up no arguments against that remedy.”