Work Text:
AH CHOOOOOOO
‘Daddy!’ Mia covered her ears. ‘You’re loud!’
Malcolm sniffled loudly as he reached for a tissue. ‘Sorry, lass.’
‘You scared me.’
Malcolm loudly blew his nose. ‘I’ll try not to scare you next time, lass. ‘ He ruffled her hair as he sat back down at the kitchen table. ‘How’s that homework going?’
‘Shush, daddy. I’m thinking hard.’ Mia shot him one of her stern looks. ‘You upset me now I have to start over.’
‘I’ll leave you to it then.’ Malcolm smiled and went back to reading his latest column for the paper. Gracie played just in the other room, surrounded by her colouring books and assorted crayons. The three year old was so caught up with her colouring that she hadn’t even noticed Malcolm sneezing.
~~
That evening, getting into bed with Dani, Malcolm’s nose seemed like it wouldn’t stop running. He blew his nose for what seemed like the hundredth time. ‘Fuck. My nose feels like it’s about to catch on fire.’
‘How on earth did you manage to catch a cold?’ Dani turned to him in the bed. ‘You’re at home all day.’
‘Except when I go to the school to drop off or pick up the lass. How Mia’s not ill herself is beyond me.’
‘Looks like she got my stronger genes then.’ Dani couldn’t help tease him. ‘And here I thought Scotsmen were tough men.’
‘I’ll show you tough!’ Malcolm grabbed her suddenly and pulled her onto his lap. Just as he was about to kiss her passionately, he had to quickly turn away to sneeze loudly once more.
Dani wriggled out of his arms. ‘How about you get over that cold before you get amorous.’
‘Cruel woman.’ Malcolm grabbed another tissue, blew his nose and then took a dose of cough syrup. ‘I’ll remember this.’
‘I’m sure you will.’ Dani gave in and kissed him on the cheek before curling up against him under the covers.
~~
Malcolm’s nose was a bright red after another long day of constant blowing and it hurt like hell whenever he did have to blow his nose. His sneezing had gotten more frequent and he felt chilled to the bone. Dani had left for work earlier, reluctant to leave him alone with just the girls. ‘Go, I’ll be fine. It’s Saturday. The girls are both still asleep and I don’t have to take them anywhere for a change.’
‘If you get any worse.’
‘It’s a sodding cold, love. I’m not dying.’ Malcolm shooed her away out the door.
In the temporary peace and quiet, Malcolm got himself a fresh cup of tea and went to the front room. Even with a sweater on and thick socks, he still felt cold and he wrapped his hands around his mug of tea more to be warm then to actually drink it.
Little feet padded their way down the stairs and into the kitchen. ‘Daddy? Can we have cereal?’
With a groan, Malcolm got up from his warm spot on the couch. ‘Yes, lass.’
‘Daddy! Up! Want hug!’ Gracie toddled quickly to him with her hands up.
‘Gracie, not this morning. Daddy’s sick.’ Malcolm fended off his youngest girl’s affections for the moment. ‘How about fruity ohs?’
‘Yeah!’ The girls spoke in unison.
He got them settled at the table to have their breakfast while he sipped at his tea. ‘Eat, Gracie. Don’t throw it.’
‘Play, daddy!’
‘Not play, Eat.’
‘Daddy, your nose is pretty!’ Mia reached over to tug on his nose.
‘Ouch.’ He winced at her tug. ‘Please don’t do that, lass.’
‘Oh no. I’m sorry, daddy.’ Mia slid down from her chair and stood beside him, she drew him down to kiss him on his cheek.
‘It’s okay, lass. Just don’t be hard on my nose right now.’ Gracie was tugging on his trousers and he picked her up to set her on his lap. ‘Mommy will be home early today so let’s just have a quiet play day today inside, okay girls?’
‘Play, daddy!’ Gracie threw her arms around him, hugging him.
‘We can colour together. Come on, Gracie. Time to brush our teeth then we can colour.’
‘I want colour.’ Gracie agreed and went with her older sister back upstairs.
Malcolm sagged slightly, feeling drained already. ‘No day off for daddy.’ He mumbled, drained his mug and began to make himself a fresh cup.
~~
‘Want purple.’ Gracie held her hand out expecting Mia to hand her the required colour crayon.
‘Ask nicely, Gracie.’ Mia reminded her sister.
‘Purple, please?’
‘Here’s your purple crayon, Gracie.’ Mia handed the bright purple crayon over to her sister.
‘Tank you.’ Gracie smiled and went back to colouring in the picture of a dog.
Malcolm sat quietly on the couch, dozing off and on between random bouts of sneezing followed by blowing of his nose. His misery just deepened as his nose throbbed painfully after each session with a tissue. He had pulled on a second sweater to try and finally get warm but he still shivered. He finished his current cup of tea and tucked his cold hands under his arms to try and warm them up.
‘Daddy okay?’ Gracie had sat back from her colouring and watched him.
‘Daddy’s just got a cold, little lady.’
‘I help daddy!’ Gracie beamed and ran off.
Malcolm barely registered her little feet padding on the stairs and then back down again. Minutes later, Gracie was back in the front room, dragging her favourite blanket with her. ‘Daddy warm.’ She pulled herself up onto the couch and clumsily draped her blanket over his chest. The pale pink blanket, dotted with pink and purple kittens, did absolutely nothing to warm him up.
‘Thank you, Gracie.’ He smiled at his daughter and then found himself being smothered by his daughter as she threw her arms around him.
‘Warm, daddy.’
‘My little lady.’ He put an arm around her, helping her settle against him. ‘Careful though. Don’t want you catching my cold.’
‘Not cold.’ She declared. ‘Warm, daddy.’
Mia put down her colouring. ‘Daddy?’
‘Yes, lass?’
‘I know what you need.’ Mia declared and got up. It was her turn to race upstairs to her room. She came back down with a book in her hands.
‘What you got there, lass?’ Malcolm asked.
‘I’ll read to you. Like you did for me.’ She insisted on sitting on his other side, opened the book until it rested part on her lap and part on his. Gracie was more than happy to stay where she was and listen to Mia read to them both.
It wasn’t the blanket that did the trick for Malcolm but it was the two warm bodies of his daughters that warmed him up until he found himself dozing off.
~~
Dani had left work early, concerned at how Malcolm had looked that morning when she left. She had asked her assistant manager to cover the extra time for her. On the way home, she picked up some cold medications at the pharmacists. Tomorrow was her scheduled day off so she also picked up some soup mixes to make for Malcolm.
Opening the door, Dani was not greeted by her two girls racing to her. Instead, she saw her family on the couch. Malcolm, his head tilted back on the couch and his mouth open as he slept. Gracie had curled up on his lap, her blanket pulled around her, and Mia had her head resting on Malcolm’s chest.
Dani smiled, left them sleep and went to the kitchen. Chicken soup would do them all a world of good.