Takes place in the Orphanage AU

"How are you feeling?" Sice whispered to the lying woman in front of her. Only a groan came as a respond as Seven hugged her blanket tighter and threw it over her head with only her nose sticking outside.

"Well then." Sice patted with one hand over the blanket mess and crawled out of the bed. "I'll be right back."
Stretching and yawning a bit, she made her way out of the house.

It was way too early for her, the sun hadn't even risen yet, a few birds chirped outside, but nothing more. Getting up that early was very unusual for her, but the love of her life was sick for whatever reason, so she had to take care of everything Seven had to do.
The priority now was getting some delicious food done for her poor sick girlfriend, otherwise she couldn't forgive herself and wouldn't be so worried about her health state. Seven was barely sick, she actually had a quite good immune system which was very fortunate when working with a lot of kids.

"Okay, okay …" Sice fumbled with the back of her head as she entered the kitchen. "What can I do, hm."

Letting her eyes wander around the room and eying the ingredients she had, she came to the conclusion that a hot soup was the best she could do for Seven now. She didn't need much of it, so the stuff she had would be enough. The problem was she didn't had enough ingredients for the breakfast for the children and she promised them to make pancakes today. Normally every few days she would go to the nearby market and buy fresh food, and today was the day and she even had planned to go, but with a sick girlfriend in the bedroom and a horde of kids waiting for food … that wasn't a good idea at all.
Sice let out a frustrated sigh. She couldn't leave the orphanage, she had to do it later then. Somehow.

"Alright let's do this." And with that she began making the soup.

It didn't take long until the first children got up and wondered where Seven was. She was always up when the first children decided to leave the bed and started their day. But not today and that was very strange to them. They hadn't realized that Seven was a bit sickish yesterday, it just went straight over their head and so they wondered what was going on.
But that Etro Seven taught the kids well and the older ones promptly took care of the younger ones, so every kid had the chance to get ready for the day. But the curiosity was too big for them, they wanted to know what was up. It was a strange situation after all, it never happened before.

Sice hummed a playful melody as she stirred the stock with the ingredients she had, a few vegetables and leftovers from the meat yesterday should do it. She forgot the time around her and only concentrated on the food she was making. Of course she didn't only make food for Seven, she did try to make breakfast for the children, too. At least with the few eggs and milk she had, the rest had to wait.

The smell of the lovely food didn't get unnoticed by a few children, who immediately decided what was going on. Seven was still not out and when there was a smell of food that meant Sice was up. And when Sice was earlier up that Seven, things were definitely strange.
The kids took the opportunity to lurk in to the house of Seven and Sice, it always had unlocked doors after all, so that was no problem. Sticking their head inside the kitchen they noticed Sice, still in her pajamas and swinging the wooden spoon. It wasn't that unusual to see Sice in the kitchen that way, but the kids still were confused about the whole situation.

"Mom?" A kid poked his head around the kitchen counter, his hands grabbing the edge of the furniture. Sice was startled by the sudden noise, she hadn't even realized that kids came in.

"Hey kiddo." She turned around and noticed the other two. "You all up already?"

The children looked at each other, worried.

"Well yeah. Everybody is up already."

Sice got to a halt. "Wait, shi-" No Sice, no swearing in front of kids. "I mean, it is that late?"

They all nodded.

"Well okay …"

She turned around again to the stove as the pot on it made bubbling noises. The soup was almost ready and the pancakes in the pans, too.

"What are you cooking – oh!" One of the children climbed up the kitchen counter and eyed the stove. "Are those pancakes? Mom makes pancakes!"

"Yes, I make pancakes, like I promised." Sice grinned at the reaction. The kids sure loved her pancakes. Though her smile faded slowly. "But I don't have enough eggs and milk to make enough for all of you."

"Oh."

The oldest of the three kids stepped forward. "Why is Mommy not up? Did something happen to her?"

"Yeah, she got sick and that is why I can't go to the market to buy new food." Sice slowly stirred the soup again and turned off the stove for that plate. "She would kill me if I leave you alone."

The children began to chuckle. Oh they knew about how Seven could be to Sice if she did something stupid, especially when it came to the children.

"We could go to the market! That way you can stay here and take care of Mommy and we bring you the food you need!"

Sice stopped in her tracks. This was actually a brilliant idea, but if Seven found out she sent kids to the market, alone, she would be screwed. Very much so. The children weren't allowed to go alone to the market, the way to that was still a bit dangerous. But … otherwise she couldn't finish the breakfast and the kids would be hungry all day and night.

She scratched her head and sighed.

"This is probably a very bad idea, but I think I have no choice."

"Does that mean we can go?"

"Yes." The kids beamed and bounced. "But!" The cheerfulness stopped. "No side trips and only buy things I tell you to buy. And please," Sice whispered now. "Don't tell Seven, she wouldn't have allowed that, but I trust you."

"Okay. That we can do! What should we buy?"

"Here." She handed a list with various things written on it to the oldest one and a bag of gil. "I wrote everything on it and how much you need to buy. I think you three can handle it, or not?"

"Of course!" The kids giggled and made their way outside the house.

Sice sighed again. Oh Etro let that be the right thing.
Eying the soup she prepared for Seven reminded her what she actually wanted to do. Seven was still lying sick in her bed and waited for Sice to come back. She tasted the soup one last time before pouring it onto a plate and grabbed a spoon, making her way now to the bedroom with steady feet.
Carefully she opened the door with one hand while balancing the plate with the other one. Almost dropped it, good job Sice.
Seven was still huddled under the blankets the hugged tight. She was a bit shivering now and Sice started to worry.

"Hey." Sice slowly placed the soup on the night table and slowly let herself down beside Seven on the bed. Again, she run a hand over the blankets to feel the shivering body under her. Seven poked her head out, slightly startled by the light change. Her purple eyes were glassy and her cheeks burned red, probably from the fever she had.

"Hey." It was only a low voice, she wasn't able to bring anything else out.

"I made you soup. Can you sit up a bit?"

Seven nodded a bit and crawled out to lean herself against the headboard. Oh soup was the best thing right now. Slowly Sice lifted the spoon up to her and Seven gave her a weak smile at the attempt to feed her and she accepted it gladly. Spoon after spoon Sice fed her with the delicious hot soup, carefully taking note how Seven acted. She was weak, but the hot fluid flooded through her whole body and calmed her down a lot. Sometimes, only a bit soup could make the biggest changes.
Soon the plate was empty and Seven crawled under the blankets again and Sice chuckled at the sight. She already looked better than a few minutes ago and she was sure after a good sleep, she could get on her feet again.

"How are the kids?" Seven asked in a relaxed voice after a while. Sice was still sitting beside her and massaged Seven's temples with her thumb.

"Oh they are fine. They could handle themselves very good alone actually."

"You didn't help them?"

"Uh no, I prepared food, so …"

"Mom! We are back!"

The sudden voice of one of the kids surprised both of them. Sice slightly jumped as she remembered that she send the kids to the market. Oh shit.

"Back?" Seven looked at Sice with curious eyes. "Back from where?"

"Uh you see …" Oh no, this was bad.

"Sice?"

But Sice couldn't answer, because the door swung open and the three kids she send away prior stood in the door frame with bags of the food they brought.

"Hey Mom, we brought the food you wanted us to buy! … Oh, hi Mommy."

Sice slowly removed herself from the bed she was sitting on, because this was a very bad situation for her now. Dammit I told them not to tell her!

"You stay here until you explain to me what you have done."

"Um, we place the food on the counter," A kid exclaimed and all three backed away again. This situation was too intense, "… later then!"

"Sice, you still have to explain this to me. What did you do."

"Well, you see, I …"

And that is how Sice was never in charge of the children again.