Tancred stared at the ceiling. Normally, he could see the rather boring scene clearly, but his vision was somewhat blurry due to his squinting. He couldn't help but squint a little bit because he was too tired to open his eyes any wider otherwise.

He sniffed. Once, twice. Three time's the charm. His nose wasn't blocked with mucus and snot and whatever else might be causing him breathing problems. Of course, he knew the stuffiness will come back soon enough, but he already rubbed his red nose until it started to peel from lack of moisture.

It stung a bit.

Tancred wearily flickered his weak gaze to the window, which was much more entertaining than the ceiling in his opinion. He sighed at the brightness of the outside world, the world where he couldn't step foot out onto until he recovered, and to him, time passed on agonizingly slow so he couldn't imagine how long it would take for him to get better.

"Man...why do I haff ta get sick on da sunny day?" he muttered bitterly to himself, his voice too weak to carry itself across his room even. "I bet I coulda go poke fud at Bonth for a bit." 'Bonth' always hung out at the Pet's Cafe with his good friend Benjamin and his dog Runner Bean. Tancred imagined that Charlie and the others were laughing around a table, watching one or two of Gabriel's gerbils dig around in their food, attempting to make a tunnel in the shallow bowl while accidentally kicking the other.

Maybe Emma was with them.

Tancred moaned. Usually, a breeze would pick up whenever he felt like longing something (or someone) but then again, a breeze always picked up whenever he felt anything. But he was sick, and when he got sick, his endowment was horribly weakened to the point where he could barely blow a piece of paper off his desk.

Tancred sniffed. His nose was stuffed again, just like he predicted.

Sighing, he slowly lifted his warm, sweaty arm from his side and reached up for a tissue. The tissue box was full this morning. It was-what time was it? Tancred allowed his gaze to settle on the digital clock beside the tissue box for a hesitant moment.-nearly noon and already he knew the weight of the tissue box decreased drastically.

While he blew his nose, careful not to rub the tissue because his nose would sting again if he did, he heard a few knocks on the door. They were casual knocks, not the pounding he would usually hear from his dad.

"Cub in mom!" Tancred croaked as loud as he could manage, but his voice ended up cracking and his throat dried up instantly. Well thunderstorms...he'll have to get yet another glass of water.

The door opened a crack and his mom poked her head in. "Tancred, dear, are you feeling any better?" she asked quietly as to not give Tancred another migraine. Mr. Torsson's pounding on the door was enough to give Tancred a splitting headache that lasted hours. After that, Mr. Torsson was sent away so that his son would have peace.

"Do I look bedder?" Tancred asked thickly. "Wadder please."

Mrs. Torsson nodded. "Alright, I'll go get you water. You certainly sound like you need it. However..." Mrs. Torsson glanced behind her. Why she did, Tancred had no idea why. He didn't really care at all; he just wanted water. Well, actually, if he wasn't sick at all, he would have no need for a glass right there and then.

"Someone's here to pay you a visit," Mrs. Torsson continued, smiling back at Tancred.

Tancred gave her a blank stare. "Mom, I just need wadder."

Mrs. Torsson raised an eyebrow at him. "Alright, I'll get it." Then she stepped out of his view, back into the hall, and though Tancred's hearing was weaker than usual, he managed to make out her gentle words, "I'm not sure if he wants to see anyone right now, Emma. You can leave the cookies here and..."

Emma? Cookies? That was never a bad combination.

"Mom!" Tancred called hoarsely. "You cand sen Emma ind."

There was a small laugh and then a, "Never mind, Emma. Go on ahead," followed. The door opened a little wider and there was Emma Tolly, her long golden hair tied neatly to the side, soft blue eyes that met his gaze, and her small smile that lit up the room despite it being somewhat shy.

Tancred sincerely hoped that his face was already pink from his cold, but just in case it wasn't, at least he had something to blame his flush on.

"Hello, Tancred," Emma greeted softly, approaching his bedside with a basket in hand. It wasn't in Tancred's range of view but he knew there were cookies inside. He could even smell them; they had to be fresh out of the oven.

"Hey, Em," Tancred said weakly. He didn't dare raise his voice more than he had. He still hadn't drank his water and he was afraid his voice would crack even more. "What's ub?"

Emma scanned the room for a chair and when she spotted one, she placed her basket on it and returned to his side. "Umm, nothing much really," she said, "Everyone misses you, Tancred. They're going to come visit really soon."

Really soon? So that meant his alone time with her was limited.

"Defind 'really soon'," Tancred said slowly.

Emma blinked. "Perhaps tomorrow or later this afternoon," she answered.

Oh. Well that was plenty of time.

There was a small silence that follow, and Tancred started to get a little awkward. He had to say something; awkward silences were not good at all. He glanced at the chair where Emma had placed the basket of goodies and said, "Can I have a cookie?"

Emma laughed but she faltered and cleared her throat, reddening. "Ah, sorry. I couldn't help but laugh."

Tancred tried to grin at her but it was weak, and he knew it. Nevertheless, he said as smoothly as possible, "Can I help it if I'b that hilarious?" That went better than he thought; he was sure it would come out sounding nasally but it didn't. He gave himself a mental pat on the back.

Emma considered the thought and said, "Sure. Cookies don't really do any harm to sick people, so I suppose you can have some."

Tancred struggled to position himself upright as Emma retrieved the basket. She saw him struggling and hastily placed the basket on the floor, rushing forward to help him. "Here, allow me." she said quickly, propping up his pillow and helping him adjust.

Tancred felt absolutely dizzy as he sat up, but he could live with it as long as Emma held onto him and looked at him with those concerned eyes. For some reason, it was really appealing to him.

"Can you really sit by yourself? Do I have to hold you?" she asked nervously. "Maybe I shouldn't let you have cookies after all. Maybe you can wait until later when you're better."

"Nossense," Tancred coughed, holding onto her arm to steady himself. "Cookie please."

Emma hesitated. When Tancred held out his hand, palm up as if asking for something, she smiled worriedly at him. "You're just like a puppy," she said softly. "Well, can you at least let go for a second so I can reach down and get you your cookie you so dearly want?"

Tancred released her arm and balanced himself by leaning on his nightstand where the almost empty tissue box and his digital clock lay. Then Emma held out her arm again when she grabbed a few cookies and he gladly hung back onto her.

"What kide?" Tancred asked.

"Chocolate-chip; the classic." Emma said, breaking off a small piece. It broke easily and looking at its features, it seemed really fresh and inviting. Emma inspected his mesmerized trance and smiled. "You like sweets, don't you, Tancred?"

"Hey, a cookie is a cookie." he said casually. Then, without warning, he felt a sneeze coming out. Panicked, he turned his head violently to his left, away from Emma and the precious cookies, and sneeze so violently that it echoed in the room.

Now his throat really did hurt and to his horror, his nose had chosen that time to start running. Not only that but the sudden turn of his head caused up nausea and he uttered a groan.

Emma threw the cookie back into the basket and immediately laid him back down, her hand resting on his sticky back (that was when Tancred realized he shouldn't have laid in bed on his back all day and instead, should have changed positions from time to time to avoid perspiration in a single area), and eased him back down.

"No cookie," she said sternly as her soft voice would allow it.

"But...but..." Tancred sniffed again and frowned. He really wanted that cookie.

"No buts," Emma said. Her eyes swept over him, her eyebrows furrowing in concern. "I should go see if your mother got you your glass of water yet,"

Tancred scoffed hoarsely. "Knowin her, she forgot,"

Emma sighed and picked up her basket, placing it in the far corner of his room. "Just in case," she said warningly to him when she noticed that his eyes followed the basket wistfully.

Emma left the room and left Tancred alone with the cookies.

And man did they smell good.

Tancred rolled to his side, facing the cookies. Stretching out his left arm towards the basket in the far corner, he took a deep breath and tried to get the wind to cooperate with him. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, his sheer wanting of sweets caused a small breeze and pushed the basket a little closer to him.

Delighted, Tancred tried again. Since his spirits were raised considerably, the wind became a little stronger. Perhaps, a little too strong.

The basket flipped over and out tumbled the cookies onto the floor, to Tancred's pure horror.

"NOOOOOO!" Tancred hissed. "Not da cookies! Oh, oh! Five secod rule!" Desperate, Tancred fell out of his bed and, shaking off the dull pain and the headache that started to pound in his head, he wiggled himself towards the basket.

Finally reaching his destination, Tancred eagerly grabbed for them and took big bites. It was easy to chew; they were soft and still warm. It was the swallowing that was somewhat difficult, seeing that his throat was still dry. Speaking of dry throat, he needed his water; what took them so long?

While he was working on his fifth cookie, he heard footsteps outside his room. That was when he realized what kind of scene Emma or his mom would see if they walked in right now.

Scrambling to the side of his bed, Tancred only managed to lie beside it, but he had no time to climb back up. Looking back, he saw Emma staring at him from the doorway with a glass of water in hand. Staring at her, Tancred felt a bead of sweat roll down his face. Then he glanced down at the abandoned basket of cookies in the middle of the room, several feet away from where they were placed by Emma.

"Tancred..." Emma said slowly.

"I sneezed and fell," Tancred blurted.

Emma blinked. "And what happened to the cookies?"

"They fell too,"

"So why aren't they in the corner then? Surely they couldn't have fallen five or so feet."

Tancred's bottom lip quivered. "They missed me Eb. You can't keep a mand and his cookies apart, Eb, you just can't!"

Emma sighed but Tancred saw that she was fighting a laugh. "Alright then, Tancred. Don't strain yourself," she said, her lips twitching upwards into a smile. She placed the glass of water on the nightstand and helped Tancred back up. It took a while, seeing that Tancred was much taller than her, but she did it, which impressed Tancred.

Emma handed him the glass of water and went back to rescue his cookies. Luckily, he was able to save them from the germs due to the five second rule and had hurriedly placed them in the basket before he feasted. Of course, Emma probably wouldn't have approved but what she didn't know couldn't hurt, right?

Emma watched Tancred as he drank his water and ate the rest of his cookies. She shook her head, amazed. "How do you do it?" she asked him.

"Do what?"

"How do you cause this much trouble while you're sick?"

"Trouble?" Tancred repeated inquiringly. Chewing two cookies at once, he said, "Nossense. I did notting wrong, Eb. I did good for the cookies."

Emma titled her head. "What good did you do for the cookies?"

"I saved them fromb a long life on da shelf, undeatend and left to rot." he said cheerfully.

Emma laughed and Tancred grinned. "Seriously?" she asked.

Tancred shrugged. "Sure, why not? They're good cookies Em. You'd be a great wife. You can't keep us apart."

Emma might have thought 'us' was Tancred and his cookies, but Tancred wondered if she would ever get the message underneath.