I do not own any character except for Salia and Taru! That´s all I have to say. Enjoy!

"AUGH! GRISELDA! BABA! WHERE ARE YOU!" Rumpelstiltskin was yelling from his bed as he coughed repeatedly. "FOR GOD'S SAKE SOMEONE PLEASE COME HERE!" His voice echoed all around the castle but no one answered. Rumpel rubbed his forehead and lifted his head from the pillow. He could hear the voices of the witches inside the castle but no one heard him at all. He grunted dropping his head again on the pillow and rubbed his eyes.

"Good morning your highness!" Salia said when entering to the room from the window.

"Salia" Rumpel coughed. "I´m so glad to see you! Come here please."

"Yes your majesty?"

"I feel terrible…."

"You look terrible!" Salia said placing her hand on Rumpel´s forehead. "Wow! Your head is boiling!"

"My throat hurts, I can´t breathe, I feel all kind of pains all over my body…" Rumpel said with a whiny voice.

"Well, it seems you caught a big flu, sir." Salia crossed her arms. "You must stay in bed for a while."

"PERFECT!" Rumpel growled. "And what now! I can´t believe it! I can´t be in this condition!" He said pulling his hair desperately and coughed his lungs out by his screaming.

"Shush now, you must rest, sir." Salia said covering Rumpel´s body with the blankets. "Please, allow me to take care of you until you get well."

Rumpel growled, cuddling himself on the bed and rolled his eyes while he closed them. "Okay…" He sneered.

Saliaflew immediately out of Rumpel´s room and went directly to the kitchen. With a big slam, she opened the door and started digging through the food deposit.

"And what exactly are you doing, dragoyle?" Griselda said crossing her arms. "You are not trying to steal our food, are you?"

Salia frowned as she placed all the ingredients on a table. "Your majesty Stiltskin got sick and I´m preparing some soup for him."

"Preparing soup?" Griselda chuckled. "And you know how to cook?"

"Of course I do. I´m not stupid." Salia huffed.

"Tch, whatever, just don't try poisoning the food."

Salia growled. "And what does that mean?"

Griselda didn´t pay attention to Salia and left the kitchen chuckling. Salia just shrugged and started cooking.

Meanwhile, Rumpelstiltskin was on his bed, grunting and coughing, quite angry because of what has happened to him. Of course, winter was near and the weather was cold enough to freeze the whole castle. Anyone was easy target for any sickness in this times of the year. "Ow my head…" He coughed. He moved from side to side, moaning in pain from the uncomfortable headache he had. "AGH I´M DYING! IM DYING!" Rumpel screamed as he covered his face with his hands.

"Calm down! It´s just a flu." Salia said with a bowl of hot soup.

Rumpel grunted. "What is that you have on your hands?"

"Chicken and onion soup."

"Agh, I´m not eating that!"

"You´ll feel better if you eat it, sir!"

"I´m not hungry!"

Salia frowned and walked towards Rumpel, who was covering his cold nose with the blankets. "With all respect sir, but I offered myself to serve you while you are sick and you accepted, so you must do as I say whether you like it or not." She took a chair and sat beside the bed. "It´s for your own good."

Rumpelstiltskin stared at her and rolled his eyes. "Fine." He sat straight, resting his back on a big and comfy pillow. Salia handed him the bowl with steamy soup and took a breath. It felt good, the warmth of the steam lightened his headache and made his dizziness disappear. He faked an annoyed glare at Salia and took a small sip. The taste was a marvelous feeling as he drank the soup. He hated to admit Salia was right. "It… it tastes good." He mumbled. "Nice soup you have made."

"Thank you sir." Salia smiled. "Once you are done with the soup, you can rest. Don´t get out of the bed or the cold breeze will make your sickness grow."

Rumpel nodded and cuddled himself between the huge and soft pillows. Salia smiled and closed the windows. In a bowl full of water, she blew a small amount of fire on it and placed it beside the bed. The warm steam would make sure to keep the room warm enough. Then, she walked away closing the door carefully.

"Oh! Before I forget!" Salia said opening the door again. "If you need me, just ring the bell I left on the table next to you." She winked and closed the door. But just before Salia could walk a few meters away from the door, she hears the loud sound of the bell ringing from the inside of Rumpel's room. She shrugged and walked in again tilting her ears.

"Uhm… you need something, sir?" She said.

Rumpel giggled. "Nah, I was just testing it."

xxXXoOoOoOoXXxx

Salia walked outside the castle and was heading to the town. She wrote a small list of things she needed for a secret flu healing recipe she learned from the dragoyle sorcerers. It was something simple, but it must be prepared with a great amount of rare ingredients.

"Morning love." Taru walked towards Salia and embraced her with one arm. "What are your plans for today?"

"Well, Mister Stiltskin got terribly sick and I´m taking care of him." Salia sighed.

"Sick? Is it a dangerous sickness?" Taru said worried. He looked down to the list on Salia´s hand and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, judging by the amount of ingredients, I can guess he´s got a flu isn´t it?

Salia nodded.

"You will take a while trying to find these ingredients, Salia, and if you are taking care of Mister Stiltskin you should be with him all the time."

"I know dear." Salia and said. "But I need to do this for him and I don't know who else can find these things." She suddenly realized it and lowered her ears.

Taru raised an eyebrow and a small grin appeared on his face. "Salia, you innocent creature, that´s why I adore you." He laughed. "Let me help you find them. You stay with Stiltskin and take good care of him. Ok?"

"Sure thing, Taru." Salia smiled embarrassed. "Oh, tell the others about Mister Stiltskin´s sickness, I´ll ask him what can they do while he´s resting."

Taru nodded. "No problem."

xxXXoOoOoOoXXxx

Salia walked back to the castle and went back to the kitchen. A couple of witches and a dragoyle were there eating the rest of the chicken soup. She sighed and continued her way to the food deposit.

"Hey, hey Salia!" The dragoyle said. "Who did this soup? Tastes good!" He said taking a big slurp from his bowl.

"Yeah." Salia giggled. "Thanks."

"What´s the matter darling?" One witch said. "You look a little upset."

"Rumpel is sick, he´s got flu. But not a big deal you know, I get a little worried in these situations."

"Oh right." The other witch said.

"Anyway..."Salia added."I´ll make some tea for him. Oh and by the way, I guess you all have a day off until Rumpel feels better."

"Sounds good to me." One witch replied.

Salia raised an eyebrow. "You sound quite pleased to know Rumpel is sick."

"Well, sort of, I´m actually here for the power and riches. Who cares about him anyway?"

"You´re serious? You´re not even grateful?"

"A little actually. If it wasn't for him, we would be back in The Crown's Nest living far from the rest of society. But on top of that, I don´t like him."

"Me neither." Said the other witch. "He´s aggressive, obsessive and he´s a little... 'cuckoo', you know." She said wiggling her finger in circles next to her head.

The dragoyle just stared at the witches with a surprised expression as they laughed loudly, standing up from their chairs and walking out the kitchen. He shrugged and climbed outside the window.

"Witches..." Salia sighed.

xxXXoOoOoOXXxx

Back in Rumpel's room, Salia walked towards the door and knocked a little. There was no response so she opened the door and took a peek. Everything was peaceful and pretty warm. Salia entered the room and closed the door behind her. She walked close to the bed and noticed the bowl of soup was half empty. Rumpel was sleeping, snoring due to his sickness. Salia placed the tea cup next to the soup bowl and stared at Rumpel for a moment. She felt bad after listening to what the witches said moments ago in the kitchen.

Since she´s supposed to take care of Rumpel all the time without taking her eyes off him, she decided to stay in the room, doing nothing but sitting next to him. The time passed and Salia started to feel tired. It was afternoon already and Rumpel was still sleeping peacefully. Salia´s eyelids were falling, she couldn´t stay awake anymore. She climbed carefully over the bed trying not to wake Rumpel, she laid next to him in a catlike pose. She then fell asleep.

A couple of hours passed after Salia fell asleep. Rumpel opened his eyes slightly and gave a great yawn stretching his arms and back. He rubbed his arms trying to warm himself and coughed a little. Something moved next to him and caught him off guard scaring him a little. Salia was sleeping like a loyal dog on his bed.

"Hm? Oh you´re awake, sir." Salia yawned, stretching her limbs. "Did you sleep well?"

Rumpel tilted his head in confusion. "Y-Yeah. Uhm, why are you...?"

"Oh! I didn´t mean to bother you sir! I was watching you and I was a little tired and..."

"No, no, it´s ok. Owww my throat!"

"Oh I made some tea a few moments ago, it must be cold now." Salia stood up from the bed and took the tea cup and blew some fire under it making the tea get warm again. "Drink it carefully, it´s hot."

"Thanks." Rumpel said taking the cup with an awkward shy expression. "I feel strange you know."

"Hm? And why is that?" Salia tilted her ears.

"Nah, nothing really special. It´s just that you seem to care a lot about me. Unlike the witches of course." Rumpel scratched his chin.

"We all dragoyles do, sir. We owe you big time."

"Oh please, I just made you sign a silly deal so I could become a king..."

Salia cocked an eyebrow and lowered her ears. "You mean you don´t care about us?"

Rumpel turned his eyes at Salia snorted. "Errr to be honest, I didn´t care about you at first, but as the time passes, I´ve started to feel sympathy for you. I... guess..."

Salia huffed and sat on the bed with her feet on the edge. She wagged her tail and crossed her arms. Rumpel bit his lower lip and drunk a little of his tea. His eyes looked away from Salia and he grunted uncomfortably. "Bah, don´t tell me you´re now all emotional because I told you this!" He coughed.

"Actually, no." Salia said. "I´m used to that, sadly. And don´t give me that look, you know you don´t really think that..."

"Tsch, whatever..."

An awkward silence filled the room. Salia crawled on the bed and took her feline position again with her back at Rumpel and she started wagging her tail. Rumpel stared at her for a moment while he drank his tea. He rolled his eyes and sighed, reclining his back on the pillows.

"You don´t have to worry about me..." Rumpel grunted.

"And why not?" Salia raised her head.

"No one else does and then you suddenly come up with this obsessive interest of taking care of my sickness..." Rumpel gasped hardly and started coughing his lungs out.

"You´re telling me that I must not care about you just because others neither do? You are acting a little dramatic don´t you think? Or maybe that flu is messing with your head." Salia laughed.

"Nyehehe..." Rumpel mocked her and covered his eyes with his arms.

Salia glared at Rumpel. She stretched her body and sat next to Rumpel covering herself with her wings, using them as a blanket. She stared at him with a smile. Rumpel noticed the weird presence and opened one eye.

"What?" He said.

"What made you so grumpy?"

"Eh?"

"There must be a reason for you to be always cursing on people and you are always a little, well, aggressive. Had a hard life?"

"Oh sure I had a hard life!" Rumpel sat straight and rested his arms on his knees. "Everything was perfect for me until that ogre ruined it!"

"Well, I know that story of you and Shrek, but there must be something far away in your past that made you choose this life. Don´t you think?"

Rumpel´s eyes opened wide and he stared down to his feet. "Ehrr, well… m-maybe."

"Maybe?" Salia smiled.

"What´s your point?" Rumpel growled.

"I just have curiosity. Besides, I think it may be good for you to talk about yourself with someone."

Rumpel kept staring at Salia´s eyes with his eyes wide open. He bit his lower lip and curled his fingers around his ankles. "Uhm well... ok." He sighed. "First of all, I had a good family. I spent more time with my father though, we we´re like best friends. Oh yes! My father was a deal maker too! It´s family tradition."

"Really?"

"Yup. My father was very famous and everyone wanted to see him. Oh yes… and he was respected." He sighed with a tender smile and rested his elbows on his knees.

"How was your childhood?"

Rumpel´s smile disappeared a little and he lowered his head. He rolled his eyes and sighed with an annoyed gesture. "Meh…" Crossing his arms and pouting a little he coughed. "Let´s say I was not accepted…"

"Bullied perhaps?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Something typical in humans:" Salia huffed.

Rumpel remained silent for a moment, still with his arms crossed tightly. "Nrrgh…" He growled. "Long story short, I was always everyone´s laughing stock because of my height."

"Just because of that?" Salia cocked an eyebrow. "Psh, not a big surprise."

"What do you mean by that!" Rumpel yelled and stood up in one jump.

"I wasn't talking about you."

Rumpel sneered and took a deep breath. He sat down and crossed his arms again. "Ok, now that you know, what do you expect me to do? Become nice and gentle?"

"I doubt that could happen. I just thought this could make you feel better."

"Well it didn´t! I hate talking about my childhood. I did this just because I knew you wouldn't stop poking me with questions."

Both remained silent for a moment. Salia was annoyingly wagging her tail. Rumpel just scratched his head and sighed.

"You can leave now." He huffed.

Salia frowned and moved away from the bed. "Fine. Use the bell if you need me." She said.

"Just go away!... Leave me alone."

Salia walked out of the room and sighed. "Forgive me sir." She said before closing the door. Rumpel was about to yell again, but he couldn't think of a proper insult for her. He grunted and placed his hands on his eyes. "Oww. My head!" He stretched his arm trying to reach the bell next to him and started to shake it desperately. "SALIAAA!"

The end. Chapter two? Maybe. I need your opinion. :)