Chapter 26

Aélita opened her eyes to find herself looking over at Odd's sleeping form, his blanket no longer covering him as he laid on the folded up cot on the floor. A pain in her stomach reminded her of what woke up her, getting her to turn over in the small space so she laid facing upward. She rested Mr. Pück on her chest, feeling Yumi's arm reaching up just above her head.

Her mind went through what she expected them to have to do that day, mostly trying to repair what Xana had damaged. She thought back to how the ground floor had looked when she had returned with Jérémie, Odd, and Grandmére. The entertainment system had taken its share of the beating, the screen even punched out of the TV. The recliner had been turned over and in the wall behind the sofa there was an indent of what could have been someone trying to go through the dry wall. The family room had the worst damage, in Aélita option. The Christmas tree had gotten beat up in the fight, breaking a few of the ornaments, and the piano looked to have gotten electrocuted.

Somehow only those two rooms had any damage, everyone working together to prevent Michel and Béa from causing too much destruction. They had all worked together to fix up what they could that afternoon, putting the TV out in the trash and helping clearing up the decorations that had broken beyond repair. Today she expected someone would have to go out and get something to fix the hole in the dry wall. She'd see if she could help with the piano, once everyone was awake.

Aélita cringed as her stomach flipped inside her. A part of her knew she was sick. She rested the back of her hand on her forehead, feeling it hot, but instead of wanting the blankets off she wanted more on her.

Yumi shifted, catching Aélita's attention as the girl moved out from under the blankets. She knew Yumi was feeling Aélita's fever. She knew she should get out of the bed at least, to prevent Yumi from catching whatever she had caught. But her body refused to listen to her. She didn't feel like she had the energy to get up. Aélita tried to recall a time when she had gotten sick before but she couldn't.

Her stomach sent her another spasm, getting her to slowly roll herself out from under the blankets. She carefully sat up as a shiver went through-out her. She felt like she was going to freeze. Aélita turned to look at the clock on Jérémie's nightstand to read it was just past six. No wonder it was still a bit dark, Aélita thought to herself. She got to her feet, still clutching Mr. Pück, and carefully walked out of the room. She remembered about the squeak in the door and squeezed herself out, shutting the door quietly behind her. She made her way down the stairs and into the living room, the space the TV had been now empty.

Aélita pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa and wrapped it around herself as she sat down. She had to be sick. She felt terrible. She pulled her legs up under herself, her socks not even feeling like they were even there.

"Aélita?"

Aélita looked up at the sound of her name to see Béa turning from the stairs as she tied her robe around her waist.

"Are you okay?"

Aélita opened her mouth, getting ready to lie to the woman, but nothing would come to mind.

Béa walked over and sat in the seat beside her, brushing Aélita's bangs up to place a hand on her forehead. "Aélita, you're burning up!" Béa exclaimed in a hushed voice. She took her hand off Aélita's forehead and stood up, walking back to the stairs.

Aélita could make out her footsteps going to the bathroom upstairs before coming back down with a thermometer in hand.

Béa pushed the button on the small device, waiting for a beep, as she sat back down in the seat beside Aélita. "Come on, open up," Béa ordered, pointing the metal end at the girl's mouth.

Aélita did as ordered, the thermometer uncomfortable under her tongue.

Béa held the thermometer in place as Aélita struggled to keep her head still. Finally the little device gave off a beep, letting Aélita release the thermometer. Béa looked at the screen as Aélita laid her head against the back of the sofa, closing her eyes. "Yap, you've got a fever."

"Ugh," Aélita let out.

"This hasn't exactly been the best vacation for you, huh?" Béa asked, resting a hand on Aélita's knee.

Keeping her eyes closed, Aélita said, "I still wouldn't trade it."

Béa squeezed Aélita's knee before releasing her and getting to her feet.

"Aélita? Is something wrong?"

Aélita opened her eyes to see Jérémie passing his mother as he walked into the living room and she left, worry on his face.

"She's just got a bit of a fever," Béa offered in a whisper.

Aélita leaned back against the back of the sofa, a shiver going through-out her. The sofa moved as a body sat down next to her. She felt a hand brush through her bangs, a small smile pulled at her face.

"How do you feel?" Jérémie asked, his voice alerting her that he had indeed sat beside her.

"Cold," Aélita stated. Her stomach gave another twinge, reminding her it was still there. "And my stomach feels terrible." She remembered what Béa had said last night, as she was telling them all good night and cursed herself. "Tell your mom everyone still needs to do something fun today," she said, her mind starting to fog as sleep tried to take over.

"That's up to them," Jérémie said, running a hand through her hair.

"And you too," Aélita tried to add.

"Big breakfast, here I come!" Odd's voice exclaimed, getting Aélita's attention. She wanted to turn and look but couldn't find the energy to move from the curled position she had claimed on the sofa. She assumed she had fallen asleep, Jérémie no longer close enough for her to sense him. "Huh? Aélita? Are you okay?"

"Shush," Béa's voice ordered, coming from the kitchen doorway. "She got sick in the night."

"Sick?" Ulrich asked, his voice coming from beside Odd.

"I think she caught a stomach virus," Béa offered.

Aélita heard the three move into the kitchen, their voices only pitches of sound to Aélita's ears now. A hand on her shoulder got her to open her eyes and look up to see Jérémie dressed for the day.

"Come on, let's get you back in bed," Jérémie said, a gentle smile on his face.

Aélita pulled her legs out from under her and forced herself up to her feet. She clutched Mr. Pück tightly, the blankets tangled at her fingers, as Jérémie put his arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry," Aélita mumbled as she let him lead her up the stairs.

"Why?"

"For ruining the day," Aélita said, the best she could get to how she felt.

"You've just caught a little bug," Jérémie said, leading her into his bedroom. Aélita started to go back to the cot she and Yumi had slept in when Jérémie steered her to his bed. "Take mine. A real bed'll be better for you."

"But I don't wanna get you sick," Aélita tried.

"I've gotta strong constitution. I'll be fine," Jérémie said, pulling back the blankets. "Come on."

Aélita sat down on the bed, a small part of her reminding her she was going to be in Jérémie's bed. She laid down as Jérémie walked over to her cot and pulled off the blanket he had given her as a Christmas present. He walked back and laid it at her feet as he pulled up the blankets already on the bed to her shoulders. He laid out her new blanket over top the comforter, making sure it didn't go above Aélita's chin.

"Do you want Mrs. Pück too?" Jérémie asked, just noticing the doll still in the window.

"Please?" Aélita shrunk herself into the blankets. She felt bad about making Jérémie do all of this for her as she watched him go over and pick up the doll.

Jérémie pulled the blankets back so he could put Mrs. Pück under the blankets next to her and smiled at Aélita. "There. Anything else?"

Aélita wanted to say 'you' but held her tongue. She shook her head, quickly saying, "Thank you."

"Can I come in?" Yumi's voice asked, getting Aélita to turn her head towards the door. Without waiting for a verbal acceptance, she walked into the room with a glass of milk and a plate holding a slice of bread. "Mrs. Belpois thought you could use a light breakfast."

The sight of food turned her stomach as she watched Yumi sit the glass and plate on the nightstand. Yumi looked over at Aélita, a smile pulling at her cheeks. "You may not feel like eating, but you need to keep your strength up to fight it."

"Thanks, Yumi," Aélita offered, pushing herself up so she was sitting up. She moved both of the dolls so they were on the wall side of her and picked up the plate, hoping she wouldn't get crumbs in Jérémie's bed.

"I better get back down there," Yumi said, looking at Jérémie. "Your dad should never have offered whoever got the broken cot a big breakfast. Odd's got French toast, bacon, eggs, and grits, whatever that last one is."

"It's made from corn. It's from the states, I think from the south?" Jérémie offered, sounding unsure. "A'nt Jane and George like them."

"Okay," Yumi shrugged. "Don't forget to get yourself some breakfast."

"Don't worry," Jérémie said as the girl left the room. He turned back to Aélita, seeing she hadn't taken a bite yet. "Try to eat," Jérémie said. He opened his mouth to stay something more only to debate about it before asking, "Do you want me to leave?"

"No!" Aélita said quickly before adding, "At least… stay while I eat, please?"

Jérémie smiled as he sat down at the foot of the bed. "Okay."

Aélita picked up the piece of bread only for a twinge of pain to appear in her chest, taking her off guard. She put a palm in-between her breasts to push at the pain, mad at herself for being so helpless right now.

"Oh, your ibuprofen," Jérémie realized, quickly standing up. He rushed out of the room, calling over his shoulder, "I'll be right back."

Aélita took her hand away from her chest and looked back at the bread, knowing Jérémie still wanted her to eat and if she was to take the ibuprofen she needed food in her. She forced herself to take a bite of the slice of bread, her stomach rolling at the idea of having anything in it. By the time she was swallowing, Jérémie was rushing back into his room, a pill bottle in his hand. He stopped next to her in bed and shook a pill out, placing the bottle next to her glass of milk. She took the pill from him, saying, "Thank you, for taking care of me."

"Aw, you know I don't mind," Jérémie offered, sitting back down on the edge of his bed.

Aélita reached over and grabbed the milk Yumi had brought her and downed the pill. She sat down the glass and asked, "What is everybody doing today?"

"I know what Mom was planning on doing has gotten postponed," Jérémie started.

"Not because of me?" Aélita asked, distracted out of taking a bite. She forced herself to go ahead and eat the slice of bread as Jérémie shook his head.

"Mom wants you to be there, hopefully you'll be better before the end of break and we can still go," Jérémie said. "For now, Yumi's mom offered to help Dad fix the hole in the dry wall, Ulrich's dad said something about helping fix the ornaments that had gotten broken, and I think I'm gonna try and see what I can find out about where your mom is."

Aélita swallowed the last of the bread slice and smiled at Jérémie. She reached for her milk as she said, "To think, she might still be alive."

"I hope, one day, you'll have your family back," Jérémie offered.

"Then our Christmas will really have a lot of people," Aélita said, thinking of having both Jérémie's family and her own all together as she took a sip of her milk.

A meow got their attention as Manchot jumped onto the bed, over the foot board. Her little black nose twitched as she held her mouth open to take in a scent. She pointedly meowed again at Aélita before making her way to a spot next to the two dolls and curled up, resting her muzzle on her paws.

"I think she wants to take care of you too," Jérémie offered.

Aélita ran a hand over Manchot's head and down her back, the cat giving her comfort as she started to purr. Aélita froze, her hand staying at the base of Manchot's tail, as her stomach did a quick flop. "Oh no," Aélita mumbled, some instinct telling her to get up now. She quickly put the glass back on the night stand and got up, smacking blankets at Jérémie in her hast. She heard him exclaim something but was already out of the room by then. She ran straight for the bathroom and lifted the toilet lid just in time to see what had been her breakfast again. She braced her palms on the toilet seat as the white mix of liquids and solids made its way forcibly into the bowl.

The mix stopped escaping her, leaving her coughing as she dropped to her knees. She felt a hand rubbing her back only to feel a wave of embarrassment come over her at how Jérémie was seeing her. She let out another cough, finding herself dry heaving now that her stomach had emptied itself. Something trickled down her chin, getting her to reach a hand to the toilet paper.

"Here," Jérémie offered, reaching down to give her a folded pad of toilet paper he had already gotten for her.

"Thanks," Aélita croaked out, her voice feeling horse, as she grabbed the pad to wipe her mouth. She threw the paper into the toilet and pushed herself up to her feet only to have to pause, leaning with her hands still on the toilet seat, as the world took a spin for a moment.

"Careful!" Jérémie exclaimed, grabbing her with a hand on each of her hips as she realized she had started tipping towards the sink.

Aélita closed her eyes, trying to regain her balance. "Ugh, I hate this," she muttered. It felt like she had just come out of the pool after being in water for half of the day. She opened her eyes and let go of the toilet seat, standing up so she could put the toilet lid down and flush her breakfast away. Only then did she feel Jérémie release her.

Aélita turned to the sink to wash her hands and mouth, when Akiko poked her head in the door.

"Fell any better, Aélita?" Akiko asked.

Aélita took her cupped hands and caught some water before splashing it up at her face. Without looking at Yumi's mom, she said, "A bit."

"Here, take some Pepto and get some rest," Akiko said, handing Jérémie the pink bottle. "You're doing a great job trying to take care of her."

"Thanks," Jérémie replied as the woman walked away from the bathroom.

Aélita grabbed a small washcloth sitting beside the sink, not caring if it had been someone's or not, to dry her face off. She put it back on the counter and leaned against it for a moment, closing her eyes. She felt Jérémie rubbing her back again and turned to look at him. "I hate being sick," she said simply.

Jérémie let out a laugh. "I think everybody does," Jérémie offered. He took his hand off of Aélita's back and opened the Pepto bottle, sitting the cup it came with on the counter. He poured out what she needed and handed her the measured out dosage. "Here. This should help."

Aélita took hold of it, keeping a hand on the counter. She put it close to her lips only to pull a face at the close to, but not quite, peppermint smell. Closing her eyes, she quickly downed the medicine, forcing herself to swallow before letting out a "bleck."

"The worst it tastes, the more likely it'll actually work," Jérémie said, taking the cup out of her hand. He reached in front of her to rinse it out and sat it on the counter next to the bottle as he added, "At least, that's what Mom would tell me when I was a kid."

Aélita realized she wanted to see Jérémie when he was a kid, though all the pictures out in the family and living rooms were rather currant.

"Come on, let's get you back in bed," Jérémie said, putting an arm around Aélita's shoulders to steer her out of the bathroom.

Aélita leaned against his shoulder as she walked beside him, a mix of feeling weak and just wanting to be close to him being her excuses. She let Jérémie lead her to his bed and waited while he straightened the blankets, Manchot having to make a new nest for herself. Once Jérémie was done, she crawled into bed and looked up at him. She could feel exhaustion taking over and, as her eyes closed, she tried to say, "I love you, Jérémie." She thought she felt something touch her forehead but didn't know what as the darkness enfolded her.

AN: Sorry, Aélita, but I still wanted you to get sick.

AÉLITA: It's not fun.

AN: But Jérémie taking care of you is so cute! ^^

AÉLITA: True. He is cute.

JÉRÉMIE: *poking his head into the room* Did I hear my name?

AN: Nothing Jérémie.

JÉRÉMIE: Uh, okay… *retreating back away from the room*