Sick and Tired

"Okay, boys," Laxus began as he walked back and forth in front of the living room couch, hands clasped behind his back. "What are the rules for when Mommy's sick?"

"Um," Pike, his youngest, hummed. "No eating things that aren't food."

Mace, his nephew (by marriage he might add), only blew his brown hair out of his eyes with a giggle. "That there are no rules!"

"Wrong," Laxus said, coming to a stop to stare at them. "There are definitely rules. And Pike, you don't eat things whether I'm in charge or Mira is. Or hell, even if the dog was in charge, you don't eat things! We've gone over this." Huffing, the man thought for a moment before saying, "Any other guesses?"

No. Not from those two. If he was going to be rude about it, then they didn't wanna play with him.

Nathan, however, the eldest of the three, only sat there on the other side of the couch, glaring at Laxus. He knew the rules of Mirajane being sick and knew them well.

The first and most important was, of course, that they weren't allowed to bother her. In the new house, that meant that they weren't even allowed to go into her room and wake her up. Short of one of them cutting their arms off or something, Mira was to be left alone so she could rest.

Nate hated that rule. A lot! How could Mirajane get better if he wasn't there nursing her back to health? If you asked Mirajane, she'd tell you that she very much so wanted her boys there, but mean ol' Laxus didn't see it that way. Something about how they'd only stress her more or some other stupid garb like that.

Bah!

No one could make Mirajane feel as great as Nate could. No one.

She was his mother. And he was her favorite. No doubt about either of those. Mira needed him.

"No?" Laxus was still prompting. "No guesses? Alright, then I'll tell you. The one and only rule is that I am in charge. Which means no going to bother Mirajane or whining because I'm mean or-"

"Laxus, what are you doing? Because I know it's not bothering the children."

The man in question didn't even turn around as someone else entered the living room. Only growled.

"Gramps," he complained. "I'm talkin' to my boys right now, so if you would kindly-"

"When you were a boy," Makarov went on as all three boys, at the sound of his voice, jumped up to go use the man for protection, "I couldn't get you to behave for anything. Did you know, Nathan, that your father used to-"

"We brought you here for your own good," Laxus growled. "But you interrupting me is about to make it to your detriment."

"Laxus is being mean," Nathan told his grandfather who only patted him on the head. "We don't like him as much as Mommy."

"Don't call me by my first name, you brat," Laxus complained as Pike only wrapped his arms around Makarov with a giggle. "And you better stop undermining me, old man."

"I'm not undermining you," his grandfather defended. "At all. If Mirajane is sick, they shouldn't bother her. But they don't need you acting so rudely to them about it. And besides, if you really wanted to do your wife some good, you'd take them out of the house for a bit so she could truly get some peace and quiet."

Laxus blinked. Then he glared. "You don't think I was already planning that?"

No. But the man only hummed before patting each boy on the head and saying, "How about you go and get ready for the day, boys. You don't think you can go out in your nightclothes, do you?"

Considering the older two tried their hardest to take after their fathers and, even in the cold, only wore their underwear to bed (albeit theirs were covered in superheroes), they really couldn't. And Pike didn't want to get his doggy jammies dirty, after all.

It took some time for them all to get ready. Laxus had to change too, doing so as quietly as possible as he entered he and Mirajane's bedroom. She was in there, of course, with her faithful mutt sleeping at her side, and didn't stir in the slightest as he moved around. The boys were very busy as well, trying hard not to wake her up.

Except for that argument over the bathroom where Nate wanted to take a shower and Pike was trying to brush his teeth and Mace had to pee. That argument went on for a good ten minutes until Laxus came to break them the hell up. And shut the them the hell up as well.

Those three…

Laxus went to go wake Mirajane up before they left though, to inform her of what they were doing.

"I'm gonna go take the boys out to the market," he told her as she only blinked sleepily up at him. "Alright? And I set some juice on your nightstand. Right here. See?"

"I'm not five, Lax," she whispered, voice extremely hoarse. "Thank you though."

Nodding, he said, "We'll go out and get some stuff to make soup."

"You don't have to-"

"I do have to," he insisted. "And besides, I have to make them something for dinner anyways."

"I guess that's right."

"Gramps is still here," he added as he turned to head for the door. "In case you need anything."

Mirajane snuggled down into the bed with a sigh. "Like I would ever bother Master with-"

"I know," he said, grinning over at her. "But he made me say that."

"Ah."

"I won't be gone long," the man assured her. "And if the dog's bothering you-"

"Laxus, leave us alone." She shut her eyes once more as her mutt didn't move from his spot in, well, Laxus' spot. But really, it was his spot. He just let Laxus keep it warm sometimes. "And can you pick up some tea while you're out?"

"For you? Anything."

"Mmmm."

It wasn't hard for Mirajane to drift off after that. She did hear Makarov mucking around the place though and only wished she didn't have such a severe headache so that she could use her headphones to block the noise out. All of her ached, however, and the only relief was sleep.

The next time she awoke, some time had passed and she was just lying there, on her side, staring over at where Pike was standing, at the side of her bed.

"Hi," she whispered softly as he only stood there.

"Hi."

"What are you doing?"

"Waitin' for you to wake up," he told her. The boy had recently gotten a hair cut and, with it so short and spiky, it was taking an adjustment to getting used to. His hands were clasped behind his back and he almost looked nervous. Mira had no doubt that her husband had threatened them that if they got caught bothering her, they'd be in big trouble.

"Why, baby? Are you okay?"

He nodded before moving to hold something out to her. It was a card, from the looks of it, and with a groan Mirajane sat up to look at it.

"Wow," she complimented as Pike lost some of his anxiousness and bounced in place, clearly excited. "This is really...something, baby."

"Uh-huh." It definitely was. Reaching out, he pointed at the face of the card. "I wrote that."

"I can tell."

"I didn't even ask Nate or nothin' on how to spell it."

Considering it said 'Git Well Son' she wasn't too shocked by that admission.

"It's beautiful," she said.

"Open it!" Another bounce. "Mommy."

"I am," she told him with a slight grin. The dog had woken up then and only shifted in bed with a loud breath. He wasn't feeling well either, but that was more his usual pains than anything special. "Wow, Pike. Did you draw this, honey?"

"Uh-huh. All 'lone." He leaned over the side of the bed to stare at it with her. "You like it?"

"I love it. Is this me? And you? And there's daddy and Nate and Mace and… What is this, Pike?" Mirajane pointed to the stick figure that looked like it was standing on it's head, if not hovering a bit. "In black?"

"That's Bickslow," he said.

"Why's he upside down?"

"Why wouldn't he be?"

And then they both just stared at one another for a moment and, with a shake of her head, Mira gave in. Then they went through the other stick figures that were there, rounding out Pike's family with his Aunt Ever, Uncle Elf, and, of course, Freed. Not to mention Gramps and the mangy old mutt. For some reason, Pike had given Makarov yellow atop his head for his hair, which Mirajane found odd at first, but figured that the old man had probably instructed him to do so.

Sounded extremely likely.

"Pike," they heard someone yelling about then. It was Laxus. "Where are you?"

"Uh-oh." Pike patted his mommy's arm and blew his doggy a kiss before hightailing it outta there.

Mirajane only giggled though, spending another few moments staring at the card, before moving to set it up on her nightstand where it would remain for a few days until she finally put it in the drawer with all the boys other 'artworks.'

Just as quickly though, she was diving back under the covers as the shivers set in, and tried to sleep some more. It wasn't easy, however, and she mostly just laid around in bed miserably for a good hour before she must have passed out. That was the only explanation as the next time she opened her eyes, the sun was setting outside it seemed. What had woken her up though was still very much so standing at her bedside.

"Nate," she whispered. "What are you doing?"

"I's callin' your name," he told her with a grin, gripping a bowl of something in his hands. "Mommy."

"I noticed," she yawned.

"I's supposed to come in here and see if you were up," he went on before holding out the bowl. Mirajane could see some sort of clear soup in there. "If not, I's supposed to just come back later."

"Then why didn't you?" Mira asked.

"Because I love you. And mean ol' Laxus won't let me see you." Nate even gave her a pouting face then. "He's real- Hey! Pike gave you his card? That sneaker."

"Nathan, don't call your brother a...sneaker," Mirajane said, though she was smiling a bit. "Or call your father Laxus."

"You call him Laxus." He was shoving the bowl off on her then before reaching around in his shorts pockets for something. Mirajane only moved to set the bowl on the nightstand as well. "Here, Mommy. Mace and I made you stuff too. He went home already, but wanted me to give it to you when you got up."

Mace's was a nice, folded sheet of paper on which the boy had written her in cursive (it was his favorite way to write) about how much he loved her and that he wished she felt better. It was riddled with misspellings and illegible writing, but Mirajane grinned at it regardless.

"And this is mine," Nate said, moving to hand her a crumpled up piece of paper. The best for last, after all. "You like it?"

Nathan had just written (in very defined and careful lettering) 'GIT BETTER NOW' as well as drew a smiley face.

Maybe Nate had helped Pike with his card...

Grinning at her, he said, "You like mine best, right?"

"Nathan," she giggled even though it hurt her throat, head, and entire body. "I love them all equally."

Yeah. That's exactly what she said when she meant that she loved his the most. Trust him, he just knew.

"Try my soup," he suggested then. Mirajane noticed that the dog was gone and figured Laxus had gotten him up at some point to use the bathroom. Nathan wasted no time in clambering over her to claim the vacated spot with a grin. "I made it all alone."

"All alone?" Mirajane repeated. "Nathan?"

"Well… Yes. I did."

Heh.

"Mmmm, let me try it, okay?" Mirajane moved to set her new pieces of 'art' next to Pike's card before picking up the bowl of soup once more. "No crackers?"

"Oh, yeah." More rustling around in his pocket before the boy produced a handful of crumpled saltines. "Here you go. Let me-"

"No, that's alright." Mirajane held the bowl higher when he tried to dump the crumbs (mixed in with lint and...was that half a posted note?) into her bowl. "It's great without them. Mmmm."

"You haven't tasted it yet."

"I can just smell."

Shrugging, Nate moved to shove the crackers (and other things) back into his pocket. "Is it as good as somethin' you'd make?"

"Mmmm," Mirajane hummed as she spooned some up. After forcibly swallowing, she said, "It's a bit salty."

"Yeah. I know!" He seemed really excited by that. "Stupid La- Daddy wouldn't let me put anymore in the pot. I know how much you like salt."

She frowned. "You do?"

"Uh-huh. You're always puttin' it in stuff. I figured I'd pour a whole bunch in your bowl when La- Daddy wasn't lookin'." Nate seemed proud of himself. "Did you need some more? I can go get-"

"No, no," she was quick to say. "And when is it that you've seen me put so much...salt on things, Nate?"

"You always put salt on stuff you're cookin'," he said. "Don't you?"

Sure. She also put a plethora of other seasonings. Not just so much of a single one. Ever. In her life.

"Of course," Mira lied with a grin. Nate was staring so expectantly at her that she had to suffer through another spoonful. "Mmmm. And so much salt on top of all this meat that your father put in here that was already salt enough no doubt is just...swell. Thank you, baby."

"You're welcome." Nate grinned. "Is it making you feel better?"

It was making her attention shift from her horrible headache to her forming stomachache, if that was what he meant.

"Sure."

"I can get you more," he said. "After you finish-"

"I said to come in here and give her the soup, you brat," they heard from the hall then as the bedroom door was opened. "Not come in here and-"

"Don't call him a brat, Laxus," Mirajane said with a frown over at her husband as he came into their bedroom. "It's not nice."

"Yeah," Nate said as he only cuddled against the woman's side. "It's not nice."

"Look you little-"

"Laxus, go away," Mira complained. And then, with a stricken look, she said, "I have to finish my soup."

"She likes it," Nate said with a nod. "And I told you to put more salt in it. So I did without you knowing and she said that she loves it! So there!"

"Stop yelling at me, you little-"

"You stop yelling at me!"

"Enough," Mirajane told them both. "I don't feel well."

Snuggling up to her, Nathan only stuck out his tongue as Laxus looked about ready to go find some scissors to cut it off.

"Go start on your own dinner, boy," the man finally said. "Gramps and Pike are eating without you."

"I wanna eat with Mommy."

"Are you sure? I think Gramps said something about letting Pike sit in his lap-"

"What?" Just like that, Nathan was leaving Mirajane behind. "Bye, Mommy. I'll see you after I eat."

"No, you won't," Laxus called after him, going to shut the door once he was out it. "Brat."

"Lax, can you do something for me?" Mira was asking then, glancing over at the man.

"Already got the tea on for you, demon."

"Not that," she said, holding out her bowl then. "Nate, like, dumped an entire salt shaker in this and I-"

"He what?" Growling, he came over to the bed. "That little sneaker."

At least she knew where Nate got it…

"Don't tell him I told you," she was quick to say. "If he sees you getting me more, just tell him that I finished all his. Please?"

The man only grunted, moving to take the bowl. Mirajane smiled at him though as, shifting the bowl to one hand, he moved to rest a hand against her head, checking for a fever.

"You're still hot," he reported.

"Thanks."

"I'll be back," he said, backing away with the bowl. "Without the salt."

"Please and thank you."

When Laxus came back bearing soup, Mirajane gulped it down rather quickly as the slayer only went into their adjoining bathroom to run her a hot bath.

"It's ready when you finish," was all he said as, with a long sigh, he headed back out of their room to go wrangle the boys in. Bedtime was upon them and, well, that was never easy.

Never.

The bath, however, was perfect and Laxus brought her some tea while she was in there, which was just as great. She neglected to tell him that he had, once again, bought the wrong type, as he always did, because he could never seem to remember the very simple brand that she liked, but sometimes it was just the thought that counted.

From the silence in the bathroom, however, she could hear Laxus chasing Nate around their house as they argued over whether or not it really was bedtime or he was just lying. Nate felt like he was lying. Not without good reason. Laxus had a pretty bad habit of that.

One of the biggest problems of their new house was, well, that it was so big. They were used to the tiny apartment where it was easy to corner and corral the boys when they were misbehaving. Nate was just so fast and Pike was extremely squirrely. If one didn't want to get caught, they wouldn't.

It was eventually Makarov, from the sounds of it, that forced Nathan to just go to bed and, though there were tears, not ten minutes after he was shut away in his room, they ceased and he no doubt was asleep.

Mmmm. Mira was glad she missed that one that night.

When she slipped out of the tub, the woman only put on one of her husband shirts and a pair of sleep pants before, finally, leaving the bedroom to get more tea.

She ran into Makarov in the kitchen though.

"What are you doing, Master?" she asked, glancing at the stack of papers that he was going through at the kitchen table. "Work?"

"Another day, another horrible amount of irreplaceable damage done to a town that Natsu was sent to save."

She would have giggled has she felt well enough.

"Well," she hummed as she went to refill her cup. "There's always hope that one day he'll grow out of it."

"At this stage in life," he grumbled in response, "I don't see myself living to see that."

"Oh, Master. Don't say things like that. You-"

"What are you doing out of bed?"

And Laxus was coming into the room with a scowl already plastered on his face.

"I," he continued as he came over to her, "was going to bring you more tea eventually."

"It's fine, Lax. I couldn't stay in bed forever."

"No, but you could have until you felt better."

"I wanted to get up. That's all."

"Leave her be, boy," Makarov complained from the table as Laxus only glared at him. "You bothered the kids all day, you yelled at the dog, and then you were just so rude to me when I-"

"You suggested making some sort of spicy, exotic soup instead of the one that I had already planned on making," Laxus complained. "You know, because Mirajane was sick? Something that your suggestion would have only made worse?"

"See? Rude."

"Gramps-"

"You guys are giving me a headache," Mirajane said as, with her tea refilled, she turned to leave the room. "And where's my dog, Laxus?"

"Peeing in the backyard or something. How should I know?"

"Get him fed and then put him in Nate's room, alright?" Mira took a sip of the tea. "And ooh, I have to go tell the boys goodn-"

"Mirajane, you better not wake them up."

"Never."

"I mean it. And go back to bed! Do you even want to get better?"

Desperately. But she didn't want to lose her sanity in the meantime.

Both boys were already sleeping, but Mirajane still pressed a kiss to Pike's head and, as Nate slept on the top bunk in his room, only reached up to gently pat him on the tummy. There was nothing she hated more than missing out on time with them.

Or admitting that Laxus was right. Which he was. She needed to get back in bed and fast. The bath had soothed her a bit, but she was starting to get extremely cold again and had no problem with rushing to snuggle back under the covers on her bed.

Maybe things would be better in the morning.

She was awakened before that though, around eleven that night, when her husband finally came to bed. He did so in the most obnoxious way possible, immediately moving to press his hand to her head and cheeks the second he was in the bed.

"Lax?" she croaked out miserably. "What are you doin'?"

"Just checking," was all he said as he frowned in the darkness. "You're still sick."

"Thanks for the update." When he tried to kiss her head, she moved away. "I don't wanna get you sick."

"I don't care." He kissed her anyways, but Mira only stared at him. She'd woken up ill that morning and, well, now that she was full-fledged sick, she didn't want to spread it to him.

"Maybe I should sleep on the couch," she suggested with a frown. "I don't want you to-"

"Why would you sleep on the couch?" he complained as he only settled into the bed. "You really paint me as a jackass, you know that?"

"I just know that you won't sleep on it."

And he wouldn't. Not anymore. She used to kick him out to it all the time, but about a year ago, he'd been having so many back problems that he just flat out refused. She could sleep facing away from him, berate him the entire time, or even just glare the whole night at him; he didn't care.

He was not going to the couch.

For anything.

...Well, except for last month when he got so drunk at the hall that Freed and Bickslow had to help him home…or the time before that when he'd been rather cranky and said that her dinner had sucked...or…

Okay, so yeah, sometimes he slept on the couch, but not without good reason. Like life or death.

"I would before I made you," he told her gruffly as he stared up at the ceiling. "Besides, Nate's bottom bunk is free. If I felt like you'd get me sick, I'd go sleep there."

"I guess that's true."

Except for when she kicked him to the couch. Which didn't happen. Often. But when it did, if she said couch, she meant couch.

Mirajane was a monster.

Erhm, a demon.

When they both settled out for the night once more, she rolled away from him, which was odd, but he figured she didn't want to breath on him or something stupid like that. To remedy this, Laxus only shifted closer to her side of the bed and snuggled up to her back.

"Lax-"

"Shuddup," he grumbled halfheartedly. "Those boys made me so damn tired today. They're impossible to deal with."

Given that she did so every day, alone, as he was out on jobs, while also balancing time at the bar, she found this to be rather false, but only moaned. "I'd bet. Now let me go."

"Never," he breathed. "Silly demon."

She shivered as he nuzzled against his neck. "I go in and out of being extremely hot and extremely cold because of my fever, so I'm going to be tossing and turning a lot."

"Bring it on."

"Laxus-"

"I wanna just hold you for a bit." He kissed the back of her head. "Okay with you?"

Slowly Mirajane relaxed into him and shut her eyes once more. "Okay with me."