Prompted on tumblr by an anon: "Hey I am sad anon again. Can it be a worried Newt over sick Tina (it can be morning sickeness or just a cold). Thank you so much!"
This started with Newt taking care of Tina and then became sick!Tina helping Newt with the new edition of his book, and then back to sick!tina followed by fluffy!newtina so…? I hope it's alright!
This is quite early in Newt and Tina's marriage, so I hope you enjoy!
"'m fine, honestly…"
"Tina, you have a rather high temperature," Newt stated, somewhat fretfully. "You've been coughing and hacking all night, and your voice is going…I think you've got the flu."
His wife frowned half-heartedly at him. "No, I haven'…jus' a cold. I can go to work still…" She paused to sneeze; he looked concerned. "Urgh. Jus' bad cold."
"I'm definitely cancelling my meeting with the Mr Worme," He muttered, rolling up his sleeves. "The new manuscript will just have to wait… I'll get you some Pepper-Up potion and some tea, but I still think the best thing you can do is to sleep."
"No," She disagreed, and she seemed slightly more desperate now. "I don' get sick. I never get sick, Newt, 'm fine…I can…" She stopped speaking again and coughed violently, wheezing slightly. "Mercy Lewis."
"Tina…"
"Alrigh'," Tina relented miserably, sagging in defeat. "I'll owl in – jus' for today."
She allowed him to drape a blanket over her, despite the fact her cheeks were burning bright red and her temperature was high; Newt retreated downstairs for a few minutes to make some tea, and when he returned he carried a tray with two mugs, toast and a vial of Pepper-Up potion.
"Wha' are you-?"
"Why, I'm going to stay with you, of course," He said, rather matter-of-factly. "You don't honestly expect me to leave you on your own?"
Tina raised an eyebrow. "Bu'…the mee'ing for the book…"
"I've owled Mr Worme," Newt assured her. "We'll have to reschedule the meeting for another day. Now, this might make you feel a little better." He uncorked the vial and handed it to her. "You'll probably still feel a bit rotten but…well, it's better than nothing."
She did still feel rather stuffy and ill, but she didn't bother saying anything; the two of them quietly ate the toast he had brought up together and drank their tea. The warm drink cleared her sinuses slightly, much to her relief, but she still felt utterly awful.
"Newt," Tina murmured once they had finished eating. "I don' wan' you to catch anything…"
"Oh, I'll be fine," He dismissed, waving a hand at her. "I've had worse than the flu before, believe me: I just want to help you get better, love. Here, I'll get the washing done – you rest."
There was no arguing with him – he would be stubborn on this matter, no matter what. With that in mind, Tina huffed half-heartedly and pulled her robe tighter around herself; she was freezing for some reason, despite the fact she had a soaring temperature, and she was suddenly glad she had gone to bed in her usual vintage pyjamas the night before (as opposed to one of the lacy slips her sister had gifted her for her wedding night…the idea still made Tina blush like a schoolgirl).
Even when ill, though, she didn't want to rest; part of her knew it would be for the best to allow her body to recover so that she could get back to work sooner…but the other part didn't want to have to take days off. She wanted to be successful, and as she was still so new at the Ministry she felt that it was necessary to work hard to prove herself. A day off would do her no favours.
It wasn't too long before her husband returned, this time with two fresh cups of tea, a pile of papers and a quill; when she raised an eyebrow at him, he gave a shrug. "I need to finalise some edits on the new manuscript – some of the information on Augerys needs updating."
Tina took the tea gratefully and watched as Newt settled himself on his side of the bed; he was barely dressed, the top of his shirt open and his sleeves pushed up to his elbows, deliciously dishevelled. He set to work immediately, his quill moving over the page to cross out certain sections and scratching out certain notes; she could only observe, rather captivated by the sight of him concentrating diligently.
"Can I…?" She sneezed violently, nearly spilling her tea. "Mercy…Can I help?"
Newt cast her a glance, somewhat unsure. "Well…I would love very much for you to help, I would-" He was cut off by another violent sneeze. "But I think you should focus on resting…a nap perhaps?"
"'m fine," Tina gritted out, and she put her mug down on the side-table with slightly too much force. "Le' me help, Newt."
"Alright," He sighed, and he passed her some papers. "I've made some notes already, but I still need to come up with the phrasing for the book…if you start to feel tired, though, don't feel obliged-"
"I've go' it."
Despite the fact her head was pounding, it felt rather nice to be sitting beside him as they poured over his latest manuscript. Tina knew that she wasn't as acquainted with the creatures in his book as he was – most of them she'd never even seen – but as she read over the passages she couldn't help but feel herself start to smile; it was like reading it for the first time again, and it brought back memories of the first time she had read her husband's book. She could clearly remember sitting in the apartment she had once shared with her sister, engrossed with the copy he had given her (as promised) – just like then, she read the words with his voice in mind, smooth and comforting.
For a while, they worked together quietly as they looked through the half-edited manuscript; it was rather nice, a calm kind of peacefulness settling over them. It was only as she was reading about the Niffler that she felt her eyes start to droop against her will, a wave of tiredness rushing over her.
Newt seemed to realize and put down his papers. "I think you should get some sleep, Tina – my mother always insisted that sleep is the best thing to do when you're ill."
Tina wanted to disagree, but she just didn't have the energy; reluctantly, she handed him his manuscript drafts back and allowed him to help her under the duvet. It was far too warm for her liking, but she felt herself starting to drift off almost immediately. "Jus' five minu'es," She mumbled with a yawn.
"Of course, dear," He said, voice full of both amusement and affection as she fell asleep in front of him.
She woke up to a running nose and a hacking cough sitting in her chest.
Newt was ready with a ridiculous amount of tissues and a mug of tea (kept warm by a charm) as she spluttered and gagged, patting her on the back and wiping her nose; she tried not to go red, reaching to take the tissue from him. "I've go' it, Newt, please…"
As Tina blew her nose, she made a noise that sounded more alike to an Erumpent than a normal human being; her couldn't help but grin as he looked away, amused despite himself.
"I mus' look awful," Tina sighed miserably.
"No," Newt disagreed, quite unperturbed. "Not awful…unwell, yes, but awful might be a push."
She huffed, blowing her nose again. "How's the book coming?"
"Nearly there, I'd say… I'm just debating what's relevant and what's not, really. Your suggestions really helped," He added quickly, knowing it might make her feel slightly better; after a moment, he grinned at her. "Perhaps you should consider a change of career?"
"Yeah, righ'," Tina snorted, slumping against the headboard of the bed.
By the time dinner rolled around, Tina was rather sick of being stuck in bed; insisting that having the flu did not mean being unable to walk, she ventured down to the kitchen to eat. It was a rather watery vegetable soup, nothing appetising at all, but Newt insisted that it would make her feel better in the long-run. Once they had finished eating, he offered to do the washing-up again and told her to have a sit-down on the sofa in the front room. Aching and too tired to put up a fight, she agreed and left the kitchen.
Once he had finished the dishes, Newt set off for the front room; he'd offer her another mug of tea, discuss something that needed discussing, and then attempt to coax her into a good night's rest, he decided. Being sick had made her somewhat more agreeable, so perhaps it would be easier to convince her than it would usually.
"Alright, Tina, I was wondering… Tina?"
To his surprise, his wife was curled up fast asleep on the sofa; he knelt down in front of her and gently pressed the back of his hand to her forehead – her temperature was burning right through her, and he hoped it wouldn't be too long until it broke. Her cheeks were flushed, eyelashes fanning out, mouth open as she breathed uneasily…despite the fact she was ill, he couldn't help but find the image rather adorable.
"Not to worry," Newt murmured, standing up; he reached to take the blanket that was folded over the back of the sofa and opened it out. He draped it over his wife carefully, not wanting to wake her up, and then leaned down to press a soft kiss to her cheek. "You sleep, love. We'll talk later."
Tina barely stirred as he left the room, still snoozing peacefully.
It took a couple of days for her to feel well enough to return to work – and a part of her didn't want to go back, really, because despite the fact she loved her job it had been positively wonderful to spend some time with her new husband. They really hadn't spent a lot of time together at all in the last month and a half they had been married, too occupied with other matters such as work and an upcoming war…it would be bittersweet returning to those things after such a lovely couple of days together.
He watched her as she dressed that morning, looking somewhat uncertain for some reason; it was only when she sat on the bed to tie her shoes that he cleared his throat.
"I wanted to ask you something," Newt suddenly said. "The book…it's going to be the first edition published since we got married."
Tina raised a brow at him. "So?"
"Well, usually when a book is published there's a section at the back about the author," He mused.
She knew this – she had read over the "About the Author" page countless times before they had entered a relationship, hoping to learn some more about him and his past experiences.
"Do you know what it says at the moment?"
She nodded – in fact, she had read the book (especially the author's page) so many times she had memorised it. "Yeah: it talks about your mother being a breeder of fancy hippogriffs, and how you used to work for the Ministry…then something about traveling to look for new beasts."
"Indeed. It's just that recently I thought it…it might be time I updated it," Newt informed her, and he gestured to the manuscript on the chest of drawers across the room. "This is only a rough idea, of course…I wanted to have your permission first…"
Still having no idea what he was talking about, Tina moved across the room to pick up the stack of papers, flipped to the back page, and began to read: it was exactly the same – until the very end.
Scamander continues his research and work in the field of Magizoology, traversing the world to collect more information for new editions of his current bestseller, 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'. When not travelling, he resides in Dorset with his wife Porpentina.
"Newt…"
"I hope you don't mind," Newt murmured, and his cheeks were slightly pink. "It's only a small sentence, just a little something…I just thought…"
Before he could finish explaining himself, however, she was embracing him and burying her face into the crook of his shoulder. "Thank you," She breathed, and he could feel her radiant smile against his skin.
"So…you have no problem, I take it?" He joked, and he grinned when she laughed. "It's nothing overly grand or romantic, I'm afraid-"
"You don't understand," Tina interrupted, and when she pulled away she was looking rather awestruck. "A part of me has wanted to read that in your book for years."
"That we reside in Dorset?"
She rolled her eyes fondly, shaking her head. "No – that I'm your wife."
Blame the new edition of the FBAWTFT textbook :3 (TINA IS STILL ALIVE AND WELL BLESS MERLIN)