Summary: A short little one shot that popped into my head randomly about Bella getting a cold with a little bit of pointless fluff thrown in. Set before New Moon and Eclipse.
'thoughts'
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Twilight. They are of Stephenie Meyer's creation and hers alone.
"ACHOO!"
I groaned as I blew my nose for what had to have been the 500th time since I had woken up that morning. I had had a slight headache the evening before which had grown progressively throughout the night. Edward had put his foot down and insisted that I get some sleep so it didn't turn into a full blown migraine threatening to leave for the night should I refuse. Since that was something that I most definitely didn't want happening I gave in and settled in for what had to have been the most restless night of sleep I'd ever had in my life, Edward there or not. Unfortunately I had not woken to a blissfully clear head completely free of unwanted headaches. No, instead I had waked to what had to have been the worst cold in my life.
'Cold...' I thought. The word "cold" just didn't seem to cover it in my mind. I was an achy, clammy, feverish 'Was that even a word?' snot covered, hacking mess. Thank God Edward had left before I woke up. But seeing as he was Edward, he was bound to show up early to make sure that I had in fact gotten over my headache. He was in for a rude awakening.
I shuffled and stumbled around my room trying to get ready without killing myself and make myself look some what decent in the process. However, after five failed attempts at trying to hide my runny nose; which at this point could be compared to my bathroom faucet, I knew it was no use. I half fell down the stairs, clinging to the railing and somehow managed to find my way into the kitchen. Charlie was sitting at the table drinking his usual cup of coffee and reading the paper.
"Morning, Bella." Charlie said to me without looking up. I grunted an incoherent response and shuffled to the cabinet where we kept the cereal. The grunt I made was apparently not the response he was expecting for he looked up as I shuffled slowly past.
He let out a low whistle. "What happened to you? You look like death on two feet."
"I'm fine." I mumbled. Or what I thought was 'I'm fine' at least. It sounded more like random slurs of the tongue. It was at this point the door bell rang and I groaned silently under my breath. I did NOT want Edward to see me like this.
Apparently Charlie had gone to answer the door while I wallowed in my misery for the next thing I knew he and Edward were walking through the doorway into the kitchen.
Edward had a small smirk on his face like he was trying to hold in a laugh. I glared at him, well tried to at least. When your eyes are half swollen shut it tends to make it difficult to glare in any means possible. This seemed to amuse him even more. I must have been paying even less attention than I thought because the next thing I knew Charlie had his hand on my forehead and I was jumping in the sudden shock of being touched.
"Maybe you should stay home today, kiddo." Charlie said to me in a softer tone than usual. "Your head feels like a furnace. Plus you look like you could collapse any second, more so than you usually do." He smirked at his little joke. I felt like punching him in the nose.
"I'm fine, Dad." I tried to assure him. "I feel completely fine, I swear."
They didn't buy it.
"I have to agree with Charlie on this one, Bella." Edward told me. He sounded sincere, even a little worried. Probably thinking of the damage I would cause should I be let out of the house in this condition. I tried to glare at him again to no avail. It seemed like I wasn't going to win this argument no matter how hard I fought. It was best to give up and surrender to the painstakingly boring bed rest they seemed so adamant on.
I sighed and nodded my head slightly; however, even this small movement seemed to set of another wave of pain in my unbearable headache. As I grinded my teeth together and awaited the pain to subside a bit I heard Charlie tell Edward that he would help me back upstairs and that Edward should just head on to school. I looked up in time to see Edward slowly shake his head.
"You'll need all the help you can get to get her upstairs. I'll leave once we have her a bit more settled." He flashed me his smirk that I loved so much while Charlie took a moment to decide whether or not to except his offer. He seemed to come to the conclusion that Edward's help would be needed for he gave him a small nod.
They got me up the stairs and back to my room in no time and I was soon lying on my bed fully clothed. I didn't have enough strength to change into pajamas.
As they were walking out the door Edward turned as said, "I'll call you after school to see how you're doing okay Bella?" I nodded weakly and he returned a small grin before heading out the door.
Charlie turned to me, "Did you want me to stay home from work to help?"
I smiled the best I could before I answered, "Nah, Dad. I'll probably just be sleeping the whole day anyway. Its okay, go to work I'll be fine."
He looked relieved at my answer and told me to call should I need anything. I weakly nodded my response and watched him retreat out of my room shutting the door on the way out.
I listened as he walked back downstairs and out the door, locking it behind him. About a minute after I heard his cruiser drive away I felt someone sit lightly on the edge of my bed.
"You know you really do look like crap." Edward said to me with a smirk on his face. "I can feel the heat radiating off your skin all the way over here."
I tried to sit up and open my mouth to snap a response at him but he lightly pushed my back down onto the bed before I could even be considered leaning on my elbow. "Uh, uh you're not getting up today for anything."
I huffed at him and curled up into a ball on my side. "Why aren't you at school?" I asked him.
"And leave you here by yourself in your condition? Please, not going to happen."
He lay down by my side and wrapped his arm around my waist, grabbing my free hand. I could already feel the icy, cold of his skin cooling the searing, heat of fever on mine.
He smiled at me, "Just think of me as your own personal ice pack."
I smiled up at him and curled into his side allowing the coolness of his skin to soothe my fever. 'Maybe bed rest won't be so bad after all…' I thought to myself as I slowly drifted off to sleep.
Meaningless I know / but I hope that you enjoyed it all the same
Let me know what you thought!
-Shelly-