I've never done anything like this before; uploaded a fanfiction before. Thought I'd give it a try.
This is a one shot that I just started to write some months ago when I was sick myself... Turned out to be a great way to get things out of the system.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters!
Kara woke up, feeling strange. She quickly remembered she blew out her powers the other day, which led to a bad cold, but other than that, something was very off.
She was sweating. It was incredibly warm in the room. However, placing the duvet aside, she squealed. It got icing cold. That was also when she realized her arms didn't feel as usual. They felt weak. Like they were made of jelly. And thinking about it, her legs felt the same way.
Fear started to grow inside of her. She had never felt anything like this before. Was she dying? Was this another kind of test to see how well she could handle living as a human being? Had she actually gotten her powers back and now she was actually surrounded by Kryptonite? Kara sneezed again and was forced to blow her nose. No she definitely hadn't gotten her powers back.
Despite her jelly arms, Kara picked up her phone and did the only thing that seemed reasonable at this moment. She dialed her sister Alex's number, not thinking about what time it was.
"Kara?" the newly awoken sister answered from the other side of the phone. " Did something happen? It's 4:40 in the morning, Are you okay?"
"No, I'm dying," Kara unwillingly said.
"I doubt that," Alex replied, since her sister didn't sound like she was in any danger, except from the cold that made her voice sound different. "Now, tell me what's happening."
And Kara told her all about how she woke up. Sweating, freezing, having body parts made of jelly and everything else that she was feeling.
"Wow," was Alex's response. "Sounds to me like you're having a fever."
Kara remembered that Alex used to have fever sometimes when they were younger. But she didn't really knew what it meant except that those were the days when Kara had to go alone to school and that Alex used to be much less talkative. She wasn't sure how to feel now, really.
"Now, what do I do?" Kara asked her older sister.
"I'd say you take a pill to ease the fever."
Kara had no idea what kind of pill her sister meant, and Alex quickly changed her mind.
"You stay in bed and I'll come over," was the new answer and then they hung up.
"I wish you'd told me how awful this feels," Kara sighed when Alex showed up, 30 minutes later. She was carrying two big plastic bags and one smaller.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm so glad you got the extra house keys. I am positive I'mma break in half if I stand up," Kara sighed.
"It's not as bad as a broken arm though, is it?" Alex tried to comfort.
"Almost."
"Here," Alex said and handed her a pill. "Do not do anything with it until I come back. I will get you a glass of water."
Kara stared at the little white pill as Alex went for a quick turn to the kitchen.
"What do I do with it?"
"You swallow it. Do not chew it. Swallow it in one piece together with the water."
It took some tries and Kara got an awful taste in her mouth, but eventually she had successfully gotten the pill into her system.
"It should kick in soon. Then you'll feel better," Alex said.
"Please, don't leave me," Kara peeped. Alex had no plans to.
"Didn't you get sick on Krypton?" she asked and cuddled up beside her younger sister.
"Yeah, but not like this. It didn't feel like this at all."
"Well, now you know how it feels to be human," Alex smiled.
"Yep, and I do not envy you."
It took a good 20 minutes before Kara finally started to feel a little better. But she got really tired.
"That is good," Alex told her. "The key to getting well is sleep, rest and drinking a lot of water." Kara didn't mind. She happily closed her eyes and felt herself doze off on Alex's shoulder.
When she woke up, it was already bright outside.
"Work!" Kara yelled. "Alex, I need to go to work, why didn't you wake me up?"
"Lay down, you don't have to go anywhere," Alex said with a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Just call Ms. Grant and tell her you'll be home today." She handed her the phone. Kara did as she was told but she didn't quite understand why.
"I thought this was it? You know, I do feel a lot better."
"That's because you took that pill. It makes you feel better for a while. Doesn't mean you're actually well. You might still infect someone. Now, what did Ms. Grant say?"
"Something about this being the second time in less than a year I became sick and that I'm getting good at this." She sneezed.
"Bless you. Here, take something to drink."
And so it went on. Kara spent the following hours sleeping, sneezing, drinking and sleeping some more. The only times she stood up was when she needed to use the bathroom. And when she did, she felt like she was gonna break in half or jelly out all over the floor.
Around Lunch time, Alex insisted of Kara eating something small. But out of three pot stickers, only one and a half of them were gone when Kara decided she was finished with her meal.
"Wow, you're really sick, aren't you?" Alex said, half jokingly, half worried.
"They taste funny," Kara pouted. Alex nodded.
"That's what fever does to you, I'm afraid. At least, try to eat that half poor little thing," she said and pointed to the half pot sticker lying on Kara's plate. Kara did as she was told and then fell back to her pile of pillows.
"Ugh… Alex, when does this stop?"
"It's hard to say. It seems like you got a regular cold, so it should be over pretty soon. If you rest a lot, you might even feel better later today or at least tomorrow." But that wasn't good enough for Kara.
"I hate this! I hate this, I said. I hate not being in control of my own body. I hate having you to be here like some kind of stupid baby sitter, I hate missing work and I hate not being able to enjoy my Pot Stickers! I won't wait until tomorrow, I want my powers back now!" She was so angry she was almost shaking. Alex put a comforting arm around her.
"I know, Kara. I know. It's okay."
"I said I hate having a stupid babysitter!" Kara yelled in her sister's face.
"Kara, nothing will get better because you throw a tantrum."
"No, you don't understand! I feel helpless. Hopeless, even. I am not in control over my own body and whatever it is doing to me, it's scaring me! Maybe it's not a big deal for you, you've had whatever this is before but I have not. I have lost so much, starting with my family, that day they sent me off here. Then the one thing that I could count on while being here, my powers, went out. Again! Last time my powers went out, there was a man dying because I couldn't fly him to the hospital. I just had to watch him die, Alex and I can not live the rest of my life, watching people die before my eyes."
Alex hugged her sister tightly. She understood now. Kara was scared that her life had taken a turn once again. That she would lose more than she already had. Over the past 13 years she had built up who she was supposed to be on this planet. A Superhero. And with that gone, everything she had worked so hard for would just be gone. Just like her home planet. Just like her parents. She would have to build her life up a third time and Alex could totally see why this was so frightening to Kara. And most certainly, with all that fever going on, it probably tripled that fright.
"You know what," Alex said. "You are scared, and that is totally okay. I am right here next to you and I won't let anything bad happen. Eventually your powers will get back and until they do, I will be here for as long as you need me. Whether you want a stupid babysitter or not."
Kara was about to argue to this, but a major cough attack replaced her words.
"Let's check your temperature, shall we?" Alex said when Kara calmed down and her head rested lifelessly on the older sister's shoulder. She had already prepared the thermometer and put it on the nightstand farthest from Kara.
"So that what this thing is for?" Thinking back, on their teenage years, Kara remembered Alex having to use a thermometer like this when she was sick. It made her back away. "If you're thinking I will let that… thing, get anywhere near my butt hole, you're deadly wrong, Danvers!" she shouted and struggled to get as far from the thermometer as possible. As far as she remembered, Alex had been struggling with this and those thermometers were at least two times smaller in size than the one Alex had brought now.
But Kara was lucky. Alex showed her how to check her temperature from her ear instead. It turned out she had 103°F and that was one hour after she took her last pill.
Kara turned out to be the over extremely cranky kind of sick. She didn't wanted to eat and she didn't wanted to sleep. She hit Alex with all her strength, (which wasn't very much, but still) when she came too close and she pouted like a three year old when she went too far away. When Alex had to use the bathroom once, Kara disappeared under the blankets and when she got back, Alex found her curled up like a puppy that was frightened to get lonely. And this was nothing compared to when Kara was the one that needed to go.
It wasn't until Alex forced her sister in a tight grip, held her close, that Kara calmed down. It was just like when they were younger and Kara woke up from a nightmare. Alex or Eliza would hold her tight with her head resting in their lap. They stroke her over her head and Eliza used to sing a song that she also sang to Alex when she was younger. Alex, however used to think that it was silly to sing for her one year younger sister but she didn't feel the same now.
She sang to Kara, just the way her mother had done. She did everything her mother used to do, and added her free hand to hold onto Kara's. It calmed the Kryptonian. Her muscles relaxed and she squeezed her sister's hand back.
Kara must've fallen into some kind of Super sleep because she didn't wake up until the following morning, feeling the smell of popcorn. Looking around, she found Alex sitting in the living room with a big bowl in her lap.
"That's unfair, I also want popcorn!" Kara pouted from back in her bed. Alex's face lit up.
"How are you feeling, Kara?"
"A bit better actually," Kara said with a smile. Alex had been right. A good night's sleep made wonders. "I still want popcorn, though." Alex lit up and hurried on her feet.
"These are from yesterday. I'll make new ones.
Ten minutes later, Alex handed over a big bowl of newly made, delicious popcorns to her sister. Kara had only screamed a little over having to use the popcorn maker, which was a progress for her. (She still usually preferred having her popcorns made by heat vision.)
"Having unhealthy breakfast is one of the perks of being sick," Alex explained.
"But I'm an alien."
"Indeed, but for the time being, you're just as vulnerable as any human being." Kara shrugged.
"I'm still more awesome than you," was her reply.
The rest of the morning, Kara was eating popcorn and watching Youtube videos with her sister. When she yawned for the tenth time, Alex decided it was time to do something else. She turned the Ipad off and let Kara rest against her shoulder.
"I'm proud over you," she told her little sister.
"For what?"
"As you said yesterday. You have been through so much. You lost your powers twice. I would've been scared too."
"I freaked out yesterday."
"That's okay. I know why you did it. I know you can't afford to lose your powers permanently. You need to save people, Kara. That's who you are. For you, it won't help to have the heart of a hero. You need to be able to act on what your heart is telling you."
"Do you think they'll ever come back?" Kara asked with a worried frown.
"I know they will."
The two sat in silence before a huge smile appeared on Kara's face.
"Did you really stay here all night?" she asked.
"I slept on the couch," Alex smiled.
"You could've slept in the bed with me," Kara offered. "The bed is much more comfortable."
"Well, I wouldn't know, because I would end up sleeping on the floor," Alex teased. "You have no idea how wild you are in your sleep, have you?"
"I was just trying to be nice," Kara pouted and they shared a laughter.
Another of the perks Kara had by being sick was that she could watch endless movies on her own choice, (normally, she and Alex ended up in big arguments about what to watch) while Alex acted as her personal butler. Kara got to get up to sit in the couch today and she got to eat Pot Stickers for the second day in a row, with popcorn for dessert. Today her apatite was better and she inhaled six Pot Stickers in a row.
"Alex, I've finished this movie!" Kara shouted when the credits for the third movie started rolling. "I wanna see another one!"
"Okay, what do you wanna see next? Inside Out?"
"Noo, that one always makes me cry."
"Then I guess we'll have to go with Tangled. Unless you wanna watch Netflix."
"I've seen Tangled so many times," Kara pouted. "And it has to be DVD. It's much cozier.
"You know what?" Alex said and scuffed Kara aside to make place to sit in the couch beside her. "We'll watch Inside Out and get through it together. The end makes me emotional too."
On the third day, Kara was as good as recovered and she was ready to go to work. But Alex insisted that she would have to stay home at least one day entirely fever free. Alex, however got called in for an emergency at the DEO so Kara was left alone in her apartment. She was disappointed to see the last Pot Stickers were already eaten and that she would have to make her own dinner today. But she quickly made a pasta salad and sat down to re-watch some of the movies from yesterday. She also took the time to paint.
That was something she had always loved but with the work at CatCo and flying around being Supergirl all day, she hadn't done it in a long time. She did miss her powers but there was something satisfying about having a day off, not feeling too sick anymore, and still not have to worry over anything.
And Alex was the one to thank for all this. If it wasn't for her, she would probably be very much less alive. She smiled when she thought about that times Alex saved her the last year. From the Black Mercy and from space, that time Kara went to save the Earth. This was the 3rd time Alex had saved her life. And yet, Kara was the one that was considered a hero. But a hero could simply be someone who came to look after you when you were sick. Now, Kara decided, she had to do something for Alex. She wasn't allowed to get out, but she figured a quick walk to the boutique across the street couldn't hurt her. So she cleaned her painting brushes - promising herself she would take time for this soon again - and went to get the ingredients for Alex's favorite dish.
Alex came home around 8pm with a big bag of candy and another movie for them to see. But Kara was nowhere to be found. She assumed she must be in the bathroom, taking one of those long hot showers that she was so fond of, but there was no one in there. Alex hoped Kara hadn't gone to work after all, because when they last saw each other, she had not even been close to be in the condition to work. Alex started to become worried. Three painting brushes and an unfinished painting sat on an easel next to the bed. Kara never used to let her paintings stand free for everyone to see. She would at least turn them facing the wall.
Continuing the search for her lost sister, Alex saw the TV was still on. This was also really uncommon for Kara. She never kept any electronic things in the house on while she was gone.
"Kara, where are you?" Alex asked under her breath, ready to turn off the TV.
"… the death of four firemen trying to save a burning building right outside National City. Four firemen had already lost their lives when Supergirl came to the rescue…" the newscaster reported from the TV.
"Supergirl?"
On the TV, it was shown how Kara used her freeze breath to take out the worst fire, then flying in to save persons trapped in the high building. Alex smiled in relief. Everything Kara did had her worried. When she was ill, Alex worried about her health and when she was out Supergirling, she worried about Kara's safety. It was hopeless, but Alex wouldn't want it any other way.
Kara was destined to be a hero and Alex was proud to let her have that one thing in her life. But even heroes got off track sometimes and Alex was also happy that she could be the one helping her sister through this. In one way it felt like she had been Kara's superhero for the past few days and now she knew why Kara was so determined to help people. It really made one feel amazing to know that you made something for others. Especially if that very person was the city's big hero, and more importantly, your own little sister.