Disclaimer - I do not own D Gray Man

A/N - I would once again like to thank the wonderful people who submitted reviews for the last chapter: MuffinStealer A.K.A Moth, crazy DGM fan, Arceus the Creator, Morfanerina, Mesonoxian, AnaInTheCorona, Noah of Faith, Bree, key46812, Jenaminya, fan girl 666, Bloody Fang - Your NightMare, LyssiBug, SSA Nicholas Reid, PeanutAngel, usuilove21, fluffikins, mysticwolf1896, and LilyMoonstone! Thanks again guys, you're all awesome!

Chapter Twenty-One - Comfort

For the next two weeks Mana spent all of his time caring for his desperately ill child. Despite the medicine that Dr. Baker had left for him Allen's cough grew worse and his fever persisted. All in all, the little boy was absolutely miserable. And Mana was so worried about the brown haired child that he actually began sleeping on a pallet in the floor of the child's room. He wanted to be as close to Allen as possible at all times. That way he could listen to Allen's breathing and assure himself that his child was still alive.

Because his greatest fear was losing the boy that he had come to cherish. Allen really felt like his son at this point and Mana knew that he would be completely lost without him.

The little boy was the center of his world.

So, after giving the little boy his medicine and tucking him back into bed, Mana crawled under the covers in his makeshift bed. He fought back a groan as he listened to his joints popping in protest. It wasn't exactly comfortable, in fact it was about as far away from comfortable as it was possible to be, but Mana could deal with it. Because he wanted to be close to Allen just in case the child needed him in the night.

It took him a little while but Mana finally managed to drift off into a somewhat troubled sleep. This had been the normal routine ever since that first night after Allen's diagnosis of influenza. After that day Mana hadn't been able to get a decent night's sleep. His dreams were haunted by visions of a pale and lifeless child although the features were so blurred that he couldn't tell if it was his child or someone else's.

Although in his heart he knew that it was Allen. And that thought absolutely horrified him; so much so that he actually began to cry.

The man tossed and turned on his makeshift bed, troubled by the dreams that had came to haunt him once more. However his eyes popped open reflexively when he felt a small hand touch his face in a gentle caress. Gazing up he saw that Allen had crawled out of bed and had came to comfort him, kneeling beside him with a concerned look in his eyes. The little boy held a tiny hand to his face; he had actually wiped a tear from Mana's cheek.

"I was crying…" Mana thought to himself as he pulled himself into a sitting position. Then his somewhat confused brain focused on the fact that Allen was actually out of bed. And the little boy seemed more lucid than he had in several days. "Allen…"

"You sad Mana?" the little boy asked, his voice hoarse from illness and lack of use. There was a concerned expression in his gray eyes as he gazed down at his uncle. It wasn't often that he saw Mana cry and he was worried.

"No Allen," Mana said, reaching out and wrapping his arms around the boy's slender body. The illness had taken it's toll on the already small child; having been unable to eat anything other than broth, Allen had lost a substantial amount of weight. This had been yet another source of concern for the child's uncle since, despite the huge amount of food the child could eat, he hadn't really had any extra weight to lose. "It was just a dream. I'm actually happy."

This statement seemed to confuse the little boy and he gazed at his uncle as though he thought that the man had lost his mind. Which wasn't an entirely new concept; Allen gave him those kinds of looks quite frequently. "Why?"

"No reason," Mana replied, once again hugging the child that he held in his protective embrace. He didn't want Allen to know exactly how close to death he had came so he chose to keep the reason for his happiness from the child.

"You weird," Allen muttered, allowing his uncle to hold him. He still felt ill and the feeling of Mana's arms around him was comforting.

"I know," Mana said with a smile. "So how are you feeling?"

"Okay," Allen replied, wiping a stray lock of hair out of his eyes. "Hungry."

And that was the best thing that Mana had heard in nearly two weeks. During those horrible days when Allen's very survival had been questionable he had refused all food. He didn't want anything and Mana actually had to force him to drink water. That was the part of the boy's illness that had concerned him the most. The seriousness of the situation was put into sharp perspective when Allen refused food.

The boy NEVER refused food.

"What would you like to eat?" Mana asked as he got to his feet and scooped the child up into his arms.

"Real food," Allen replied, his gray eyes focused intently on the face of his uncle. He hadn't been fond of the chicken broth that Mana had given to him during his illness and he didn't want anymore of that.

He wanted something good.

"We'll see what we can round up," Mana said with a smile as he carried the little boy out of his room. He would have to find something that was easy on the stomach as well as tasty so that he could keep Allen happy.

Because that was the most important thing.

Once Mana had given Allen breakfast he gave him a dose of the medicine that the doctor had left and then put the child back to bed. He was still running a fever and Mana didn't want to take any chances with his health. Because, while it was true that Allen seemed to be feeling better, he hadn't recovered just yet.

Of course Allen wasn't happy about being put back to bed and the little boy made no attempt to keep his displeasure a secret.

"Mana," he whined as his uncle attempted to tuck the blankets around his small body. He fought against the blankets but Mana resolutely tucked them in around him despite his protests. "I don' wanna go to bed!"

It was bad enough that Mana had forced him to drink that bitter medicine but now he was making him go back to bed.

Allen was tired of bed.

And irritated over this entire situation.

"I know Allen," Mana said, forcing himself to be stern with the child even though he wanted to give in. To be completely honest he was almost happy that Allen was making such a fuss because it meant that the child was recovering. Meant that he was going back to his normal personality which was hopefully a sign that the danger had passed. "But you need to get some rest and recover your strength."

Allen gazed at his uncle's face, trying to determine whether or not he would be able to get his way in this. Judging by the uncharacteristically stern expression in Mana's eyes, Allen realized that he wasn't going to win this battle.

So the child leaned back against the pillow, a grumpy expression appearing on his face as he crossed his little arms over his chest.

"Don't look at me like that Allen," Mana said as he walked over to the bookcase and grabbed the child's favorite book. He was fighting the urge to give in to the child's demands but he knew that he needed to remain firm this time. It was for the child's own good. There was a chance that the little boy would relapse if Mana allowed him to get out of bed too early. "It's not that bad."

"Is too," Allen said sullenly, arms still crossed over his small chest.

Mana chuckled, grateful even for Allen's bad mood. If the child had the energy to put up this much fight then the chances were good that he would soon make a full recovery.

"Tell you what," Mana said, sitting down beside the child on the bed and leaning his back against the headboard. He gazed at the child as he opened the book that he held. "Dr. Baker is supposed to come by to check on you later today. You can ask him if you can get up."

Allen frowned, thinking about the elderly man who had came by to see him several times. The man who had known his father. "He won' say yes."

"Then I guess you're stuck kiddo," Mana said, sympathy in his voice even though he was the cause of the child's irritation. He knew that it was hard on Allen being forced to stay in bed but hopefully it wouldn't be for much longer. "How about I read your favorite book?"

Allen nodded although he still looked unhappy about the situation. He liked for Mana to read to him but he would much rather get out of bed and do something fun.

Smiling at the disgruntled child Mana cleared his throat and began to read. Allen's attention was focused on the pictures however, halfway through the book, the child's breathing evened out, signaling that he had fallen asleep.

Which of course made Mana smile and shake his head ever so slightly. Despite his protests about being forced to stay in bed it was obvious that the child was still weak and needed rest.

"Get well soon little one," Mana whispered as he smoothed the boy's hair away from his face and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

Mana got to his feet, placing the book on the nightstand as he did so. He quickly cleared away the blankets that he'd used to construct his makeshift pallet, leaving the floor uncharacteristically clean.

"I'm sure it'll be a mess soon enough," Mana thought to himself as he left Allen's room and made his way downstairs.

He was still concerned about his child but the fact that Allen's fever had gone down along with the fact that he'd eaten breakfast did wonders for him. The boy was feeling better so hopefully the worst of the illness was past.

"I hope I don't have to go through this again," he muttered as he made his way down the hall to his own room. He hadn't been sleeping well and decided that, since Allen was asleep, he would take a little nap.

Hopefully that would make him feel better and take away the dark circles that had appeared underneath his eyes.

"I hope so," he thought as he lay down on the bed, not even bothering to change clothes or pull down the covers. "Because I'm starting to look like a raccoon."

That thought amused the man in his sleep deprived state and Mana drifted off to sleep with a small smile on his face.

Hopefully the worst was behind him now.

A/N - hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you so much to everyone who has left a review for this story. Your support is greatly appreciated.