"April, will you please slow down?" Jackson called out.
"You know that I can't do that. We're leaving for my parent's tomorrow." She insisted with a shake of her head. Two suitcases were laid out across their bed and she had taken over for packing for everyone in the family despite the fact that Jackson had attempted to stand up for himself multiple times. The way that the holiday itself seemed to affect her and being a bit of a control freak was mild compared to the effect that the prospect of seeing her family had. She was a nervous mess.
There was no doubt that April loved her parents and her sisters, even if they didn't always exist on the same page. They were a little more traditional in their beliefs than she was. It had taken them a while to warm up to the idea that she was at one point a divorced and single mom, but then when she and Jackson had gotten back together again and remarried, they had been much faster to accept the idea – citing that they had never really been divorced in the first place, that it was just a rough patch. Maybe there was some truth to that given the way they had always behaved around one another, but legally, it wasn't the truth. She had given up on that particular argument with them, though. It just meant that she occasionally had to walk on thin ice.
"I'm perfectly capable of packing for myself and Harriet. We're only going to be there for a couple of days, remember?" He prompted her. She shook her head, hair dislodging and falling in her face. "I know you don't feel well. You should sit down so you're not sick at your parent's."
"I'm fine," she resisted sniffling, not wanting to prove his point.
"Then look at me." Jackson challenged, his arms folding across his chest as he stepped toward her.
Her hands focused on the sweater that she was folding. "I'm fine." She repeated herself.
"Babe…" He touched her elbow gently as she placed the sweater down in the suitcase. April let out a loud sigh before she turned to look up at her husband. "Hey there, Rudolph," he greeted her with a sheepish smile.
"Shut up," she grumbled as her lips formed a pout. "It's just a runny nose. I blame the freeze yesterday."
"A runny nose and you've been sneezing. I haven't missed that." He corrected her gently. Jackson placed his hand on her forehead and felt her temperature, then gently feeling her glands. She didn't put up any fight against it even if she didn't lighten up on the pout. "You're lucky that you don't have a fever. How about you at least let me pack Harriet's stuff so she doesn't catch your cold?"
"Fine," she sighed. "I've been wiping down everything with Clorox so she doesn't get anything." She admitted.
"So you admit you are sick," Jackson chuckled, pushing hair away from her eyes. "Why don't you lay down and rest for a little while, okay? I'll go pack up Harriet's stuff for the trip and I'll make you some tea." He offered.
"Yeah, okay," she agreed.
He moved both suitcases off of the bed and onto the floor, lingering in the room as April kicked off her jeans and pulled back the covers of their bed and curled up beneath them. She looked small as she laid down on her side and pulled her knees into her chest. Jackson adjusted the sheets around her and made sure that she was tucked into them snugly. Even if she was likely contagious, he bent down and pressed a sweet kiss against her forehead before he went to do what he said he would.
Since Harriet was down for her afternoon nap and he didn't want to wake her, he went to the kitchen to make her tea. It took a moment of sorting through the different type of packets that she had before he decided on chamomile. He added a bit of honey to sweeten it and hopefully, soothe her throat if there was an irritation there.
When Jackson returned to their bedroom, April's eyes were shut and relaxed, her breathing steady although a little noisier than usual from her nasal problems. He smiled softly and opted not to disturb her, placing down the hot cup of tea on her nightstand before leaving her alone.
As he moved down the hallway toward Harriet's nursery, he could hear the sound of his daughter giggling. She had woken up on her own and apparently not needed either one of her parents to entertain herself – a good thing on a day where April was feeling under the weather, it would make it easier for him to go back and forth between the two of them. He knocked on the open door of her nursery gently to grab her attention before he stepped in.
"Hey, ladybug," he smiled at her. "What are you doing?"
"Princess party! No stinky boys." She crossed her arms and pouted. "Where's Momma?"
"She's taking a nap," he squatted down next to her daughter. "I won't interrupt your party. But can I pack for tomorrow? Remember, we're going to go to see Grandpa and Granny?"
"Okay." Harriet huffed loudly. "Be quiet." She ordered in a bossy way only a three year old could.
A small laugh slipped through Jackson's lips at his daughter's stubborn attitude but he complied with what she wanted. Moving over to her dresser, he pulled out a few outfits that he knew April would approve of. They were festive, almost all items that she had bought in the last month. She loved to shop for holiday outfits. None of it would take up too much space in their suitcases, but he knew what potentially would.
"Do you remember what Mommy and I told you about packing for the plane? You can't bring too much." He addressed her, squatting down to her eye level. Harriet huffed, arms wrapping around the stuffed bunny in her arms.
"Just all my animals," Harriet declared as she looked around. Jackson sighed.
"How about we just pick one or two animals?" He suggested, his brow raised. "Remember, Grandpa and Granny have lots of real animals at their farm. You can see the real thing."
"Big animals?" She asked.
"Uh-huh," he nodded. "Instead of bringing your stuffed pig, you can see a real, big, stinky one."
"Like you!" Harriet shrieked with laughter, pushing at her father playfully. "Stinky at Grandpa's. No stinky at my princess party."
"Alright, alright, you win," Jackson chuckled. "You have your princess party and I'll get my big boy stinky self out of here." He gave her a wet, noisy kiss on the cheek that made her laugh loudly before standing up to walk out.
Carrying out the clothes that she would need so he could pack them into his suitcase, Jackson was quiet as he stepped into his bedroom again. April appeared to still be sleeping and he couldn't tell if she had drunk any of the tea that he had made. He put Harriet's clothes inside of his suitcase before pulling a few more things out of his closet and a nice pair of shoes, putting them in and packing it up. He would let April deal with her own suitcase unless she asked him to or agreed upon his suggestion. He moved his own quietly to the side against the wall so it wasn't in the middle of the room.
The bed shifted beneath him slightly as he got on top of it with her, leaning past her to look at the tea. There was a slight line just above the top of where the tea was – she must have had a sip or two of it and gone back to sleep, at least. Something was better than nothing. The real test would be seeing if he could get her to take a little DayQuil.
April groaned slightly as Jackson laid down on the bed next to her, her husband still on top of the sheets. She stirred after a moment and her eyes fluttered, slowly looking over her shoulder to see him there.
"Hi," she mumbled, wiping the back of her eyes. "How long was I asleep?"
"Not very long." He answered, beginning to rub her arms. "I packed up Harriet's stuff. She was very bossy about having no stinky boys in her room while she was having a princess party."
The redhead laughed. "You're not even that stinky today."
"I know, right?" Jackson chuckled, relaxed. His thumb drew circles across the back of his wife's shoulder. "I hope the tea is okay. I put a little honey in it because I thought it might help with your throat some. I noticed that you didn't drink very much of it."
"No, it's fine. See?" April reached over and picked up the cup, taking a long sip from it and swallowing. "It's good. I just took a sip and fell right back asleep again. I didn't realize how tired I was until I actually laid down. Having that late-night shift and waking up early normally doesn't bother me so much, but today, it just took it out of me." She explained with a shake of her head.
"That's what happens when you're sick." He pointed out. "Do you want to take some DayQuil? I'm pretty sure that we have that or Theraflu in the medicine cabinet. If not, I can run to CVS."
"Oh, no, it's fine. I'll take a little NyQuil before bed and be as good as new." She insisted.
"If you're sure," he murmured, pressing a kiss on the back of her neck. "Oh, you're a little sweaty."
"Sorry." Her face scrunched up, rubbing the back of her neck. "I'll shower before bed. I guess I curled up under the covers a little too much." As she spoke, she pushed the duvet down but kept the thin sheet covering her body.
"I don't mind," he commented. "Do you want me to pack your bag for you?"
April shook her head. "No, it's okay. I'll just do it after I shower or in the morning. It's fine."
"That's what you said about being sick," Jackson pointed out. "And you are not particularly fine. The fact that I got you to actually lay down about it means that you must feel even worse than you're actually letting on."
"That's not true," she tried to lie. "I just don't want to be any more miserable than I have to be for as long as we're going to be at my parents. They are already really good at getting under my skin when they want to be and I don't want to be extra snappy with them if it's over nothing." She explained. "But my legs and back are kind of sore if you're feeling generous enough to rub them?" A quick distraction.
"I can do that," he agreed easily. "Flip over onto your stomach and I'll start on your back." He instructed.
Listening to his words, she slowly turned over so that she was laying on her stomach and had her cheek against her pillow, looking at Jackson. He shifted so that he was sitting on top of his knees and placed both of his hands on her back, beginning to gently massage through some of the sore and stiff muscles there. A content groan escaped from her lips as he started. It wasn't something that she asked of him very often but she adored getting a massage from Jackson, even if it had to happen at a moment like this when she was feeling less than stellar. Maybe she would have to ask for it a little more frequently.
Her breathing began to even out a little more, tempting to fall asleep though she wanted to stay awake so that she could enjoy it. She wet her lips and let her mind reel through everything that needed to get done before they left for her parent's farm tomorrow.
"Did you pack stuff for Harriet's hair?" April asked, shifting her hips slightly. "The ponytails that match her dress?"
"Yep." Jackson popped the syllable and nodded his head. "Everything she needs is in there."
"Thank you, babe," she murmured. "Your hands work magic."
"You've said that before," he smirked.
"Well, your hands work PG magic just as much as they do R-rated magic. I enjoy both equally." A goofy smile softened her cheeks as she looked at him, watching his face with amusement.
"Equally? Damn." He swore. "That's insulting."
"Oh, hush," she shook her head against the pillow. "My back is sore and that feels like the most amazing thing possible right now. Let me have this moment. I want to die with you rubbing my back like this."
He laughed loudly. "I think we're a little far from that."
"A little," she agreed with a sigh. "But I hope I wake up tomorrow feeling better. Otherwise, I don't know how I'm going to survive being with my parents and sisters the next few days. They'll eat me alive."
"I'm not going to let that happen to you, baby, I promise." A huge, toothy smile stretched across his lips and he gave an amused shake of his head.
Jackson was well aware that her parents and her sisters could both be quite a lot to deal with from time to time, and he was lucky that her parents actually liked him this time. The first time that he had gone to visit them at their home, shortly after they had run away from the supposed wedding to Matthew, it had been tense. Now, they were undoubtedly much more relieved that they were together instead of separated. He knew from what April had said that there was nothing good about how they had reacted to it. He hadn't seen her sisters since the wedding itself and he could only hope that they were going to take it easy on him, but really, there were no guarantees with any of them.
Hopefully, Harriet would be the star of everyone's attention and affection.
"Are you sure that I can't try and talk you into taking a little DayQuil? You know that you're going to feel at least a little bit better once you do. Don't tell me a common cold killed off the doctor inside of your head. That'd be a shame," Jackson teased, tickling his fingers against her hips gently. She squealed, just a little too tired to let out a proper laugh.
"I guess I'll take some. Just let me nap until it kicks in. Half an hour and then I'll be up and at 'em. I don't want Harriet to realize I'm sick. I know she loves Doc McStuffins and her lamb, but I prefer to play pretend for that." Her eyebrows crinkled up with her request.
"Of course," he agreed with a nod. He pressed a kiss against her temple before getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom to get the DayQuil out of the medicine cabinet for her. He measured it out into the cap before pouring it out for her.
Sitting up just enough to take it, April swallowed it and made a face, quickly following it with some of the tea. "Thanks," she murmured, wetting her lips and trying to get rid of the taste. "Wake me up in half an hour. Seriously, okay?"
"Sure." Jackson bent down, giving a kiss on her forehead this time. "Sleep well, Rudolph."