I woke up this morning feeling like absolute Hell. My throat was fuzzy, nose running, and I had a high fever. I couldn't bring myself to do anything, let alone get out of bed. I looked at the alarm clock and it read 6:15. I knew Mulder was already wide awake, so I thought I would give him a call. I don't take very many sick days, so I felt that he would let me off the hook this time and cover for me. Hell, I've covered for him so many times; he doesn't have much of a choice.
I reach over and grab the phone, hitting speed dial. I hear his familiar voice within two rings. See, told you he was awake.
"Mulder," he answers.
"Mulder, it's me. I'm not feeling well today, and I was wondering if you would cover for me," I mumble. It's no fun talking with a sore throat.
"Of course, Scully. Are you going to be alright," he sounds concerned. My heart melts. He's my favorite person.
"Yes. I am going to be fine. I just need some rest. I'll live," I tease.
"Okay, if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me," he assures me. I know he means it too. Mulder would go to the moon and back for me, so I don't doubt him.
"Thanks, Mulder. Behave at work for me," I joke.
"I'll see what I can do. Sleep tight, Scully."
I hang up the phone and fall immediately back to sleep. I'm not sick very often, so when I do get sick, it hits me hard.
When I wake, I look over at the alarm clock and I see that it is noon. I slept for six hours. I can't say that I am surprise. I try to wake up a bit, checking to see if I am feeling better. My throat isn't as fuzzy, just a bit sore. I know I still have a fever. I can always tell when I have a fever. I am freezing, and I feel completely useless.
I feel drained, and I know it's because I haven't eaten. If I want to heal fast, I need to gain my energy back. Throwing the blankets off of me, I immediately feel the cold air hit my body. I violently shiver and make my way to my robe. And that's when I hear it. I hear my front door creak open. I panic. This is it, I have to fight my attacker sick. Great. I might as well just wait for him to come and kill me.
I can hear the footsteps come closer to my bedroom door, and I freeze. It hits me. How does the attacker know that I am in the bedroom, let alone home? It must be Mulder checking in on me. A phone call would have been nice. My door creaks open and I see Mulder.
"Scully, you're awake."
"Mulder, what are you doing here. You scared me half to death?"
"I tried calling, but you didn't answer. So I thought I would come check on you."
I walk over to my phone and sure enough, I have three missed calls from Mulder. Damn, I was out.
"Oh, sorry. I must have been in a deep sleep."
"Well, do you need anything while I am here?"
"Not really. I was just about to get something to eat."
"Well, if you want to lay back down, I can make you some soup," he suggests.
"You don't need to do that for me, Mulder. I can fix something myself."
"Absolutely not. Get back into bed, and I will bring you your soup. I insist."
"Alright, I won't fight you," I say, taking off my robe. I don't like people taking care of me, but I was feeling tired again and I didn't have the energy to argue.
Once I laid down again, I felt relaxed. I was so relaxed, I fell back to sleep. Mulder was gently shaking me awake, with a bowl of soup in hand.
"Scully, soup is ready. Are you still hungry, or should I save it for later?"
"No, I will eat it now. I am starving. Thank you, Mulder."
"Sure. Anything for you," he says with a sweet smile.
I polish off my bowl of soup, and hand it back to Mulder. He takes it, and I can hear him walking into the kitchen rinsing it out. He heads back into my bedroom as I am sinking back into my covers.
"You feeling okay," he asks, reaching his hand out to my forehead. It is a sweet gesture, something my mother always did, and I close my eyes feeling his cool hand.
"Scully you are burning up. Have you taken anything."
"No, I never got out of bed," I slur.
I hear him race into the bathroom, rummaging through my medicine cabinet. He finds my Ibuprophen and brings it over with a glass of water.
"Here, take this. It should bring down the fever," he offers.
I pull myself up, kind of. I swallow down the water and medicine and feel my eyes burn with a fever. I have to go back to sleep. And that's what I did.
I wake up to see Mulder looking at me.
"Mulder, you're still here. Shouldn't you be at work," I asks, seriously concerned.
He chuckles at me, and I crinkle my eyebrows together clearly confused.
"Don't worry about me, Scully. I am seriously concerned about you. You were talking in your sleep, and you're sweating badly. I am going to take your temperature, don't even try fighting me," he says. And if Mulder is even a little worried, being his carefree spirit, I know I should be worried.
I sit up quickly, and wait for him to get back with the thermometer from my cabinet. I open my mouth and he gently sticks the thermometer under my tongue. We wait for it to beep and when it does, we both go silent.
"Scully, the Ibuprophen did nothing. You're temperature is incredibly high. We have to get this down. Tell me what to do," he panics.
" Is it bad, Mulder,"I say, knowing I obviously slurred. It has to be bad.
"It's not good. It's 103.5. Give me some ideas, Scully."
"Don't know, Mulder. Too tired. I need to fall back to sleep," I slur, trying to drift off back to sleep.
"Okay, Scully. You lay back down, and I am going to run you a cool bath," he gently warns me.
"Alright, but put bubbles in there," I tease, trying to calm him down.
Ten minutes later, which feels like eternity, I am being lifted. Mulder is carrying me to the bathroom. He sits me down on the toilet, and I am shivering now. He must notice.
"I know it's cold, Scully. But we don't have much of a choice. I am going to take your pajamas off, and then I'll put you in your bubble bath. Okay?" I give him a nod, I think.
"Alright, here we go. We will start with your shirt. I hope you wore your sexy bra, Scully," he jokes. I know he is feeling uncomfortable. I feel bad for him.
"Mulder," I look him in the eyes. "I'm not wearing a bra. Now get me into the bath tub. I don't care what you see," I quickly spit out. I was feeling worse and worse by the minute.
"Not a problem, Scully," he says, pulling my pants off quickly. He lifts me with one arm under my legs and the other supporting my back. I rest my head against his chest, preparing myself for this cold water.
He slowly sets me in, and I gasp when I hit the water. "Mulder, it's freezing," I complain. I don't mean to, but it's extremely cold against my fevered skin.
"I'm sorry, Scully. But we don't have much of a choice. Unless you want to head to the hospital, this is it," he says, sadly.
"No hospital. I won't whine anymore. Just want to stay home," I relent.
He laughs at me then disappears. He is back in an instant, to my relief. He has a small cup in his hands, and I am confused for a second.
"You can whine as much as you need. We only have to be in here for ten minutes. I am going to pour some cold water over you, so lean back and relax."
I lean back as he instructs, and watch him closely. Dunking the cup into my bathwater, he fills it up, and then brings it up to my neck. Slowly, he dumps the water out, and I shake with the chills.
"If I would have known that this is what partners do, I would have signed up years before he joined me," he teases, trying to calm me.
"Oh, Mulder. But what if they assigned you some boring, reserved agent. Or even better, what if they assigned you a male agent?"
"Yeah, you're right. I guess I got lucky with you, partner," he says whole heartedly.
"And don't you forget it, buddy," I tease.
After about ten minutes of cold water and light hearted banter, I am more than over it. I'd say he was too. The water was starting to get even colder, and I was starting to shake dramatically.
"Okay, times up. I am going to run and get you some pajamas, then we can put you back in bed." I shake my head, quickly agreeing.
He comes back to the bathroom in record time, my silk pajamas and underwear in hand.
"Hope you don't mind, Scully. I went through your underwear drawer. Quite the selection," he teases, and I let out a little laugh.
"Fox Mulder, you better erase all of that from your memory," I shoot back, feeling better already.
"Not a chance. That was the highlight of my day, Scully. Don't take that from me."
"Fine. Get me out of here, Mulder. I can't do it anymore."
He readies a towel for me on the toilet seat and makes his way over to me. Reaching under my arm pits, he gracefully pulls me out of the bath.
"Alright, I am going to pat you dry. Just stand right there. It should only take a few seconds."
Mulder grabbed the towel off the toilet and as promised, gently patted me down. Working his way from my neck down to my legs. He was completely respectful, but I caught a faint blush on the back of his neck and ears, which was very flattering.
"Okay, Scully. Let's put your shirt on really quick. Are these pajamas okay, I didn't even ask."
"Those are perfect, Mulder. My favorite actually."
He puts the shirt around one arm and then through the other, quickly buttoning it up. Reaching down to the toilet seat, he grabs my underwear. I see he chose the cotton pair. I smile at him and he smiles back at me. He chose my most comfortable pair, which means he thought everything through.
"Okay, Scully. Here goes the underwear," he warns, more to himself. I could care less. I don't feel well enough to care.
He takes the wet pair off quickly and then slides the new pair on gently. At that moment, I felt great. Fresh clothes were always the best. He then slid my pajama pants on and a pair of socks. I was finally fully clothed and ready to go back to sleep.
"Are you ready for bed," he asks.
"Almost, I need to use the restroom really quick. Give me a few minutes," I ask.
"Sure, I will be right outside," he assures me. I smile back, but there is no way he is helping me use the bathroom. I'd rather die.
When I come out of the bathroom, I see him making my bed.
"Hey, I thought I would put some clean sheets on for you. You sweat pretty badly on those others," he says, smiling.
"That's really sweet. Thank you, Mulder. Fresh sheets are the best," I say, gratefully.
"Not a problem, partner. I just want you to feel better."
"Climb on in," he says, lifting the comforter. "Let's check your temperature before you fall back to sleep, though."
"Alright, if we must," I whine.
After taking my temperature, we find that the bath did help quite a bit.
"Hey, we got your temperature down to 101.2. That's not too shabby, Scully," he says, proudly.
"That's good, Mulder. If you give me more Ibuprophen, it'll probably help too."
He makes his way to the kitchen for water and the pills. At this point, I am trying to cozy my way into my bed, but having no such luck.
"Here, take these," he offers me. I take them and chug the water, trying to rehydrate my body. He notices that I am having a hard time getting comfortable, so he tries to help out.
"Would you like help, Scully?"
"Well, I am just cold and I can't get comfortable," I whine again, making it quite the habit. But, I am sick and frustrated. The little girl is coming out in me, and she's sick.
"Alright, hold your horses," he walks around to the other side of the bed, kicking off his shoes. I am too shocked to say anything. I just look over my shoulder at him, watching his every move. He lifts the covers and slowly slides in, turning on his side to face me. So I turn on my side, looking towards him. We pause for a second, not really knowing what to do.
"Are you okay with this, Scully?"
"Yeah, Mulder. This is perfectly fine. Just keep your hands to yourself, unless you want to lose them," I warn.
"Well, I am sure it would be worth it, Scully," he jokes, and I lightly smack him, scooting closer.
I rest my head and a hand on his chest and throw a leg over his. I can't be completely sure, but I immediately feel fives times better. As I start to doze off again, I feel Mulder put his arm around me and being rubbing small circles on my back. I release a long breath and fall asleep.
THE END!?
Should I continue or leave it?
