Elizabeth's alarm went off and she sat up feeling terrible. She slid to the edge of the bed and sat with her head in her hands. She felt the bed dip behind her and a hand gently touch her shoulder.
"You okay babe?" Henry mumbled half asleep.
"Yeah." She lied. "Just tired." Elizabeth stood and walked towards the bathroom hoping Henry would by it. Luckily he rolled over and fell back asleep.
Less then an hour later, she was sitting at her desk with a massive headache when Russel came barging in with Blake trailing behind.
"What have you done?" Russel was practically shouting at her. She stood up at her desk.
"Russel Jackson ma'am." Blake hurried out of the room.
Russel continued to yell but Elizabeth only listened for the pertinent information. "Fix it." He finished and stormed out.
She said back down heavily in her chair with her head in her hands. Seconds later, Daisy walked in with the tablet of doom. She looked up to her anxious staff.
"Ma'am you will wants to see this." Daisy stepped forward from the group and placed the tablet in front of the secretary.
She knew her day was about to get a lot more complicated.
After a long day, Elizabeth was feeling much worse. She still had a significant amount of work to do before she could go home. Though Blake had picked up that she was not feeling the best and had tried to get her to leave early multiple times, she decided to stay because she knew if she went home, she would go to sleep rather then finish her work for the day. She finally decided she had done enough for the day when her eyes started to shake and burn. Luckily, Blake walked in as if on cue trying again to get her to leave for the day.
"Ma'am, are you ready to go now? This will still be here tomorrow and all of the pertinent documents have been taken care of."
"Yes Blake. Please call my car." Blake turned and walked to the closet to grab her coat as she spoke, celebrating silently at his persistence in getting his boss to leave.
"It's already down there, ready when you are ma'am." He held up her coat and she pulled it on then took her bags from him.
She stuffed documents into her bag to work on at home and walked out of her office.
"Thank you guys." Elizabeth said as she exited her motorcade and walked towards the house. The lights were on in the entryway it she assumed that her kids were all out with friends on a Friday night. She kicked her shoes off and dropped her bags by the door, before walking straight up the stairs without stopping to look for Henry. She didn't bother turning the lights on in her room but rather just pulled off her clothes, put on a big sweatshirt and shorts, then fell into bed.
"Elizabeth?" Henry thought he heard her come home but she didn't come into the kitchen to see him. He got no answer but saw her shoes and bags by the front door. Henry claimed the stairs in search of his wife, knowing something wasn't right from the text from Blake an hour ago saying she was on her way home because she 'wasn't feeling 100%'.
He found her under the covers shivering slightly in the dark room and got ready for bed before crawling gently into the bed next to her. Elizabeth laid on her side facing away from him but he knew she was already half asleep.
"Babe?" She didn't respond. Henry knew she hadn't slept well the night before and wasn't feeling well now but wanted to talk to her so he could be of more help when she woke up. He shook her slightly and she groaned softly. "How you feeling?"
Elizabeth rolled onto her back but didn't open her eyes. "Fine" She mumbled so quietly he almost missed it.
"Really?" He smoothed her hair back and frowned at the heat coming off of her. "Blake said you left early because you weren't feeling well. What hurts?"
"Nothing" she responded as she began to sit up.
"Wait don't leave. Where are you going?"
"Bathroom." She sat up slowly and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. When she came out of the bathroom, her makeup was removed, and she walked right past the bed, out of the room.
"What are you doing?" Henry asked as he walked into the office. "Come back to bed."
She didn't look up from the papers as she responded. "I need to finish this. You go up, I'll be there in a minute."
"Babe." He tried to get her attention, but she wouldn't look at him. "Elizabeth." He took a step toward her and she finally met his gaze. "You aren't feeling well, please come up to bed with me. You can work on this later."
"I'll be up in a second. Really." She coughed as she finished her sentence, then turned her focus back to the documents in front of her.
Henry gave up, knowing she didn't want to talk but that she would come up when she got too tired to continue. He went back up the stairs to their bedroom and started grading papers as he waited for her.
She finally came to bed an hour and a half later, expecting Henry to be asleep but found him awake still grading papers on the bed.
"Hey." He looked up to lock eyes with his very exhausted wife.
"Hey." She crawled into bed next to him but stayed distant, as far in her side of the bed as possible. He watched his sick wife try to cover her feelings by staying distant from him but he knew her too well for that. She was so used to taking care of herself and everyone else after her parents died that when Henry tried to take care of her, she pushed him away. When he talked to her about it, she would just tell him that she didn't like to be babied. He knew this about her when he married her but he always tried to get her to let him take care of her for a change. She always stepped up to care for everyone else, she deserved at least that much.
Henry put the papers away and slid over to spoon Elizabeth from behind. She tensed at first but then relaxed slightly into his touch. Her breathing sounding slightly labored, as if she was in pain. She shivered though her could feel the heat coming off of her. He walked into the bathroom and got a cool washcloth in an effort to lower her temperature.
"Here babe. Can you roll onto your back please?" She groaned but obliged slowly. He lifted her head up and slid behind her so her head was in his lap, then pressed the cool washcloth to her forehead. She started to protest but he shushed her gently as he rubbed the washcloth over her face. She slowly relaxed to his touch, falling asleep in his lap.
Elizabeth woke with a start when her alarm went off the next morning. Henry had re-situated after she fell asleep so he was now next to her rather then behind. She peeled herself out of the comforting arms of her husband and stood though she was feeling worse this morning. She felt very wobbly and light-headed but continued. She made her way to the bathroom and got ready for another long day of work.
Henry woke hours later to an empty bed and no sign of his wife. She had gone to work even though she was feeling terrible. He checked his phone for a text from her but found one from Blake instead.
"The secretary is looking rather pale today and seems to be feeling worse then yesterday. I have lessened her workload for the day and she should hopefully be able to leave early pending a disaster."
Henry sighed at the screen. She always had to be so damn stoical. Powering through sickness and pain rather then admit she wasn't feeling well and trying to get better. She never complained about pain, Henry always had to find it out for himself then pull the details out of her.
Elizabeth arrived home later then Henry had hoped but earlier then normal. He heard her kick off her shoes in the foyer and drop her bags, but nothing after. He walked into the living room to see Beth standing completely still, staring off into space.
"Babe?" No response. "Elizabeth." Still no response. He touched her arm and she finally met his eyes. Henry tried to read his wife but she quickly looked away and began walking towards the office. He followed at a distance, giving her some space, but close enough that he could be there for her. She sat in her chair then bent down and began throwing up in the trash can. Henry was shocked at first but then ran to her side, holding her hair and rubbing her back until she finished.
"You okay babe?" She sat up slowly.
"I think so." Beth spoke so softly he would have missed it if he wasn't looking at her. Henry pressed his hand to Elizabeth's head, trying to get a read on her temperature. She quickly pushed his hand away but not before he could grow worried at how high her fever was.
"Lets go upstairs." He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet before she could protest. She was so exhausted and weak that she had to focus all her energy on not falling as Henry drug her up the stairs rather then resisting. She crawled into bed under the covers but couldn't seem to get warm. Henry pulled pajamas out of the dresser for her but laid them on the bed rather then make her stand up. They could change later. For now she was shivering as her fever confused her nerves so henry crawled into bed next to her. He placed another cool washcloth over her forehead but Elizabeth reached up to push it off.
"Let it be. Your temperature is too high right now. Just go to sleep. Let me take care of you." He pinned both her hands by her sides then cuddled in closer to her.
"I don't need you to baby me. I'm fine." Still protesting help. She wanted to be independent, no rely on someone else to provide for her.
"You can't pretend that you're fine when you aren't. That's not a marriage" Henry was getting angry now. Why couldn't she just let him take care of her for a little?
"Fine. Let's just go to sleep." She tried to make a peace offering even in her half-slumber before finally drifting off to sleep.