This one-shot idea hit me out of nowhere and I thought "why not?"
This takes place sometime after the epilogue of Clockwork Princess.
"Tessa," Jem moaned, walking out from their bedroom in their apartment to their kitchen. He was wrapped in a blanket, and his dark hair was messy. Similarly, his eyes were red and watery.
Tessa turned around at him, her smile fading when she saw him. "What happened to you?"
"I don't know!" Jem sighed, breaking off to cough. Tessa jumped at first; there had been a time where Jem coughing had been terrifying, because of his illness, but he no longer had the drug in his system. He wasn't dying, but he was obviously a little sick.
"Well, what hurts?" Tessa asked, taking a sip from her mug of tea. He coughed again.
"My throat hurts." Jem said dejectedly. "I have a headache. I can't breathe through my nose."
Tessa chuckled; she knew exactly what was wrong with him.
For the first time in a hundred and thirty years, Jem had a cold.
"What is it?" He questioned with a tilt of his head, more curious than demanding.
"Oh, Jem." Tessa told him. "I think you have a cold."
Jem sneezed suddenly. "I don't remember colds being this miserable."
She brought her hand to his forehead, frowning when she felt that he had a slight fever.
"You stay here, I'll run to Walgreens and get you some medicine." Tessa said.
Jem frowned. "I don't want to be left here alone."
"You can come, then."
"I don't usually keep medicines in the apartment because warlocks rarely get sick," Tessa remarked as they entered the drugstore. "Maybe this is just my wake up call to get some."
Jem smiled wearily. "What do you recommend? I've never taken any mundane medications."
She grinned nostalgically as they approached the cold and flu aisle.
"Remember that time," Tessa smiled at the memory. "Will had a cold, and he acted like it was way worse than it was, just so that he'd have an excuse to see you."
"It worked though." Jem's eyes shone with reminiscence until he sneezed.
"You're going to need tissues," she noted. "And something for your cough."
He sniffled and cleared his throat as the pair made their way down the aisle and Tessa picked up some cough syrup.
"Is that it?" Jem asked in amazement. "That one bottle of liquid can make this go away?"
Tessa laughed. "Oh, by the Angel, no. There's no cure for a cold, this will just help your cough, to make you a little less miserable."
"Oh." He said dejectedly, then, a few seconds later, "How long do you think this will last?"
"I'd say about a week." She answered, adding a thermometer to the shopping basket. "Don't worry, though, you'll only be this miserable for a few days. Then it becomes bearable."
Tessa grabbed three boxes of tissues off of one of the shelves and put them in their shopping basket.
"Are we going to need that many?" Jem asked, sniffling.
"Better to have extra than not enough." She told him, picking up some cans of chicken noodle soup and throwing them into the basket as well. "Let's see... We just need orange juice and Tylenol and then we'll go home."
After collecting the last two items, they got in the car, Tessa driving and Jem in the passenger seat. Within two minutes, Jem had fallen asleep, his head resting against the window. Tessa pulled into their destination and gently shook him awake.
"Let's go get you to bed." She said gently.
As soon as they entered the apartment, Jem laid down on the couch and made it clear that he wasn't moving, so Tessa retrieved some blankets from the closet and wrapped them around him.
Tessa started taking their stockpile of cold remedies out of the shopping bag.
"Cough syrup, for your cough, obviously." She said, placing said item on the coffee table next to the couch. "Tylenol, for your fever and headache. Tissues, no explanation needed."
Jem grinned in amusement.
"Orange juice, because vitamin C is good for colds. Chicken noodle soup, because it's supposed to make you feel better." Tessa continued, putting each item on the coffee table. "And a thermometer. Let's check your temperature."
She opened it up and read the directions, then turned to Jem.
"Open your mouth." She instructed. Jem obliged, and she slid the thermometer under his tongue. "Then hold this under your tongue until it beeps."
When the thermometer did beep, Tessa took it from Jem.
"100.4," she told him. "How are you feeling?"
"Rotten." He coughed into the sleeve of the sweater he was wearing.
"Here," Tessa poured a capful of the cough syrup and handed it to him. "Take this. It'll help your cough."
Jem tried to down the medicine, but he gagged. "What is that?"
"It's grape." She said.
"That is not grape." He said in disgust, then managed to swallow the cough syrup.
Tessa then got up and brought him a glass of water and the Tylenol. "Now swallow this. It'll bring your fever down and help your headache."
Jem looked confused. "Do I chew it?"
"No," Tessa suppressed a laugh. She had forgotten that Jem had never taken pills before. He'd only ever had the yin fen, and that was in the form of a powder that he dissolved in water. "Just put it on the back of your tongue, and keep swallowing the water until the pill goes down."
After some difficulty, he managed to get all of the medicine down. Tessa then placed a box of tissues into Jem's lap.
"I'm going to make you some soup." She told him. "Hopefully it will help, and the medicines will take effect soon. I hate seeing you so miserable."
Jem sniffled and smiled at her. "You're an excellent caretaker, Tessa."
She kneeled down to his level and kissed him. Jem looked incredulous.
"Why'd you kiss me?"
"Because I love you, Jem, we're engaged." Tessa reminded him.
"But I-I'm sick!" He exclaimed, then doubled over coughing.
"Jem, warlocks don't get sick." She chuckled, getting up and heading to the kitchen to heat up some soup.
When she returned, with a bowl of chicken noodle soup in one hand and a glass of orange juice in the other, Jem was blowing his nose, already surrounded by used tissues. He balled up the tissue he'd just used and tossed it onto the pile of all of the other ones. When he saw her, his mood brightened noticeably.
"How are you feeling?" Tessa asked.
"Better now that you're here." Jem answered croakily. She carefully handed him the bowl and set the glass down on the coffee table. "Did you make this? It's good."
"It's from a can." She chuckled. "I'm glad you're feeling a little better."
Once Jem had finished his soup and the orange juice, Tessa tucked the blankets around him and propped his head up with some pillows. She put the back of her hand to his cheek to feel for a fever.
"Your fever has gone down." Tessa told him, running her hand through his hair. Jem smiled, though it was clear in his expression that he was still miserable. "Still feeling lousy?"
He nodded, sniffling. Jem really was a pitiful sight right now; his eyes were red and watery, his nose was red and irritated, his hair was sticking up every which way, but most of all he just looked gloomy.
"Oh, you look pitiful." Tessa chuckled. "Come on, show me a smile."
Jem's expression stayed gloomy and miserable, so Tessa tried a different approach. She sat down next to him on the couch, readjusted the blankets around him, and began to talk of the past. All of the happy memories of the London institute, and of Will, and their kids.
"Will once tried to convince the kids that ducks were evil," Tessa said. "It worked until I stepped in."
Jem cracked a smile. "That's such a Will Herondale thing to do."
"There's a smile." She grinned. Jem's mood had definitely brightened. "I knew I could cheer you up."
He yawned and rested his head on one of the pillows. "You always cheer me up."
"Get some rest." Tessa kissed his forehead and got up, leaving Jem on the couch to sleep.
He hadn't had a cold in over a hundred and thirty years, but she knew that despite how miserable Jem was now, it in no way compared to his illness before all this.
I really have a soft spot for Jem...
Reviews are greatly appreciated!