A/N: Time for some much needed Valentine's fluff, hopefully just short & sweet. Hope you all enjoy & I'd love to know what you think.

Happy Valentine's Day


Sickeningly Sweet

Another wave crashed over her, her lungs contracting under the amount of pressure as she coughed continuously. She peered from under the covers through her hooded eyes, her hands grasping from beneath the covers in search of another tissue as she fought the overwhelming build up in her nose. Her fingers fell upon the soft material and she brought it to her nose as the sneeze finally escaped. She sighed in frustration, tossing the now offending object into the trash as she sunk back into her linen cave.

Her puffy eyes flickered slowly, the dim lighting of the room suddenly too much to bear as she finally closed her lids thus fleeing to the fantasy world that awaited her slumber. No sooner had she locked her lids there was muffled knocking at the door. Throwing her textile habitat to the floor, she forced herself to her feet pulling a throw blanket around herself as she sluggishly strolled to affronting noise emanating from the front door.

Releasing her hand from the constraint of her blanket, she reached out to grasp around the cold hard metal of the handle pulling it open to reveal the visitor. He stood leisurely in her doorway, his shoulder leaning against the framework. He looked as good as always and Andy noted had she not been feeling like this her lips would probably already be in the process of assaulting him. He shot her devilishly dimply smile as though reading her thoughts.

Clearing her tickly throat she attempted a smile "I thought I text you Sam"

"You did" he confirmed.

"So….?"

He pushed through the small gap between her and the door frame, bringing with him a range of different shopping bags.

"Please come in" she mumbled between small yet loud coughs.

Making his way through her living room he headed for her kitchen, placing the bags upon the counter top. She followed after him lethargically, setting herself upon one of the bar stools, "So….?" She repeated, continuing their conversation from the doorway.

He began rifling through the one of the bags, "I stopped at the pharmacy and got a few things for you to take…" he half explained, turning to find a glass and place it beneath the now running water at the sink, "and there's some medicine that opens the airways, or something like that" he continued, turning back with the glass and handing it to her, "Here, take two of these.." he began, popping two tablets out of its container and passing it to her, "and then one measure of this" he finished, pouring the right amount into a small medicinal cup.

"I..uh…okay" she agreed and complied with his commands.

"So…?" she tried again as he began burrowing back into his bags.

He lifted his head with a raised eyebrow and she in turn indicated with a motion of her hand,s and a rather rowdy sneeze, to his being here.

He completely ignored her questioning as he spoke, "You should be in bed" he pointed out.

A flash of irritation and bewilderment passed through her pained orbs, "I was… you...uh… you were the one wh-"

"McNally" he ordered, as he handed her the fresh box of tissues and bottle of orange juice he had brought with him.

"But…I…" she sighed as he began pushing her towards the bedroom, "I'm not getting an explanation am I?"

"Nope, now bed" he ordered, gently easing her into the room, flashing a smug dimply smile her way before shutting the door as he left.

She simply stood staring at the now closed door with a look of complete confusion etched upon her poorly features. Normally she would have fought him, hitting him with every question and comment until he would break, but today she couldn't help but let it pass as a new wave of exhaustion washed upon her.

She sighed and shook her head at the door before turning back to the welcoming bed. Placing the glass and tissues on the bedside cabinet, she couldn't help but smile to herself at the small simplistic gestures Sam often made. Easing herself back into the comforting covers she allowed the pained muscles to relax into the moulding mattress, sighing to herself in contentment as once again her lids gently eased shut.


She felt the persistent tapping at her shoulder and locked her eyes closed tighter, attempting to brush the bird away. Yet it continued and she sighed heavily as she opened her eyes to reveal the bird, or rather Sam crouched to her side attempting to nudge her awake.

"Hey" she croaked, sleep and the cold evident in her voice.

"Hey" he greeted, handing over the half empty glass of orange juice.

Taking a small sip she smiled appreciatively as she handed the glass back over, "How long have I been out?" she asked quietly.

"Two hours give or take" he explained as he ran his fingers through her hair, brushing it away from her clammy forehead. "Think you could eat something?"

"I suppose I could try" she sighed melodramatically before another round of coughing took hold of her body.

"You okay?" Sam asked, bringing her into a sitting position and placing himself on her bed.

She nodded "You said something about food?" she reminded him.

"On death's door and you still want to be fed" he shook his head with a small smirk, "C'mon."

She smiled with as much enthusiasm as she could muster as he helped her from her bed, handing her the old pink fluffy robe that she often wore around the house. Placing it around her shoulders, he grasped for her hand and pulled her out of the door behind him.

Her sore eyes welcomed the dim light that radiated from the dining room as she stood behind Sam. She quickly reminded herself that the room held no lamp nor had any dimmer switches and found herself side-stepping from behind Sam to gasp at the view in front of her.

The wooden table at the centre of the dark room held four lit candles, framing a beautiful bouquet of roses that sat in small red vase. Next to it leant an enveloped card, sitting above what seemed like a dvd. Her eyes scanned the two plates that lay either end of the table with a Chinese carton sitting upon them.

She turned back to Sam who now stood behind her with his hands in his pockets, "What's this?" she asked with nasal voice.

"I planned on taking you out for the night, I don't know if you remembered but it is Valentine's Day" he explained casually.

"So…" she pushed, her hands reaching into his pockets to intertwine their fingers.

"So I thought that if my girl couldn't be taken to her Valentine's dinner, then the dinner would come to her" he explained, pulling their hands from his pocket to dangle in front of them.

"But you hate Valentine's Day" she pointed out.

"But you don't" he responded, placing a quick kiss to the red sore tip of nose.

She smiled before turning back to the thoughtful gesture that lay before them, feeling him move their intertwined hands so that his arms wrapped around her waist.

"This is really…." She trailed off.

"Cheesy, tacky, naff?" he offered his thoughts on the holiday rather than his own gesture.

She felt his rough jaw line scrape softly against her neck as he spoke and she chuckled lightly, attempting to avoid a new bout of coughing from beginning. "No… it was sweet" she declared.

"Sweet…huh?" he asked smirking smugly to himself.

"I'm not going to say it again, we don't need your ego getting any bigger" she laughed as she pulled away from his grasp, before the tightening in her chest returned with another coughing attack.

Catching her breath, she leant in and pretended to breathe in the scent around her, "Y'know if I could smell right now, I'd probably tell you that the Chinese take-away smells delicious."

"Oh it does" he confirmed.

"And I'd probably tell you that this roses smell as beautiful as they look" she continued as she made her way over to them, her fingertip running over the red petals.

"I should hope so! Prices of these things on Valentine's Day, I swea-"

"Oh and The Notebook" she squealed, cutting him off.

"Yeah well I thought you may want to watch it after our food."

"Oh" she smiled happily, suddenly feeling her eyes becoming watery although it had nothing to do with the cold.

"Yeah well just don't expect to sit through the whole thing without a beer in my hand"

Moment effectively ruined, she thought to herself although she couldn't wipe the smile from her face. "Deal" she agreed. He watched as her eyes continued to scan the table as though it was a hallucination as a result of her earlier medication. "So Chinese, huh?" she peered up at him through her puffy eyes.

"Please McNally, I don't want you to starve." He rushed over, dramatically pulling her chair out for her.

She made a point of saying her thanks.

They both found themselves hurriedly tucking into their cartons, neither realising their hunger until they had found it satisfying their empty stomach.

She eventually made it through the meal; taking a lot longer than usual due to the amount of coughing and sneezing she had to endure. But he took it all in his stride, attempting to match her for every mouthful, making sure she had enough water and tissues at hand.

She finally managed to drag him to the couch, "Pass it here" he ordered softly as he took the dvd from her, making his way over to the dvd player resting atop the tv. Placing it in, he turned back to see her huddled under the blanket quickly flicking a corner back to allow him access beside her. He accepted with a smile to himself, grabbing a beer along his way.

He settled in beside her as the opening credits rode across the screen, and he felt her lift herself from his side slightly. "You okay?" he asked, fully prepared for a sneeze or cough.

"Yeah… Yeah, perfect. Just… thank you, this was really nice… sweet" she told him softly.

He smiled, "Just don't let it get around okay?"

She playfully punched his shoulder with as much strength as she could assemble in her unwell state. He grabbed her hand as it collided with his arm, intertwining her fingers and gently tugging on her hand. She obliged to the invite into him as he lowered his head, "You know if you kiss me right now, you're probably gonna catch this" she warned.

"That's okay, I know this hot copper who I'm sure will be more than happy to take care of me" he explained.

"You do huh?" she asked, leaning into him further.

"Yeah, see she owes me one for giving her a perfect valentines" he continued.

"She does, huh?" To which he nodded in reply, "Sounds like a pretty perfect boyfriend."

"You should let her know that" he leaned in further, allowing his cool forehead to rest against her clammy and warm one.

She shook her head slightly against his before closing the gap between their lips. He caught the back of her head with his hand, his fingers finding their way through the mass of brunette locks. Their lips moving simultaneously in a gentle yet telling kiss, before he pulled away slightly. He grazed his lips back across her chapped lips quickly, before moving them to her sticky forehead. Pulling her back into his side beneath his arm, he smiled to himself as she nuzzled further into him and he moved his hand to trace delicate patterns to the skin of her arm under the cover of the blanket.


An hour later found them in the same position, the tv muted by the loud snoring emanating from the warm body pressed into his side. He drained the remnants of his second beer bottle, before peering down at the figure to his side. Her normally light snoring now tainted by the cold that racked her body, her cute button nose currently stained red and her kissable lips chapped and pained. As another loud snore rang through the apartment he smiled to himself, brushing a strand of hair from her face he couldn't help but think he could get used to this sickeningly sweet holiday.