Milk & Honey – A Noise/Miranda One-Shot
When she was sick he had spent every minute he could by her bed. When the fever had set in, he'd made ice packs or cold flannels to put on her forehead. When she had completely lost her voice he'd made sweet, cool drinks with Jerry to soothe her throat. When she'd got her voice back enough to start telling him that he'd get sick too, he told her not to worry and handed her nourishing soups.
"If I get it too, you'll just have to look after me."
She took a certain amount of pleasure in forcing him to bed when he started to complain of being dizzy and hot.
She took over doctor's duties for him herself, reminding him that it was her fault he got sick because he'd caught it off her.
Unfortunately she discovered that she was nowhere near as good at playing nursemaid as he was. Her homemade ice packs had a tendency to crumble and drop fragments of ice everywhere, getting everything damp. He told her he found it refreshing through a laugh that was more than half cough.
When he took a turn for the worse, she slept on a pallet in the same room, nearby and ready to help him. He never woke her up for help but she felt better for it anyway.
She started to fear she'd poisoned him with her far inferior soups. He never finished them but always croaked a polite apology when he had to leave them on the bedside table unfinished. Concerned, she asked Jerry to test one once. He'd said it was an accident when he choked and knocked the bowl onto the floor but Miranda was certain he was just sparing her feelings. He'd offered to make her a new bowl quickly but she declined. Noise had devoted all his time to getting her well again and she was going to do the same for him, unaided.
It was whilst she was sleeping alone that she remembered something from her youth. Whilst she was working for a nouveau riche merchant family, the children and herself had caught a sickness that attacked the throat and made it hard to swallow, much like this cold. She remembered little of the time, having been caught up in a fever, but she did remember the children's nurse taking care of them. When it was too hard for them to swallow normal food she'd brought them a dish that managed to soothe their throats, cool them down and calm the wracking cough. Inspired by the memory she slipped out of the room and ran down to the kitchen.
When Noise next woke up, she was perched on the bed beside him holding a bowl.
"Open your mouth."
He obeyed weakly, slightly worried about what this new concoction held in store. Carefully, Miranda fed him small, chunks of bread soaked in milk and honey, that slipped down his parched throat without pain. She sang a little as she fed him gently. He smiled and relaxed, secure in the hands of his clumsy angel.
A/N: I kinda hoped this would turn out better. I'd intended to update more frequently but the net has been down in my complex this weekend.