(Author's note: I forgot to thank my anonymous reviewers in my last chapter. Thanks, vampiregirl2009! Remember, sign in and I'll send you a personal reply!)

Things had settled down now in the apartment, and we were used to each other's habits. In the mornings, Kase was the first one up, and if she was in a good mood, she'd make breakfast for "her boys". She'd gotten quite good at scrambling eggs, and was ready to make a stab at French toast--it didn't look that hard, she said. And it sure beat another morning of cold cereal.

But this morning, I hadn't seen her in the kitchen, even though it was getting close to nine o'clock. It looked like Kit and I might have to make our own breakfasts, if she didn't get up soon.

I was concerned that she might be avoiding us for some reason, though I couldn't think of anything I might have done. Or Kit, for that matter. He was going out of his way to be nice to her lately, and on top of that, we had done all the cleaning without having to be reminded once. So I wasn't sure what the problem was, but there was only one way to find out.

The bedroom door was closed, so I knocked. "Kase? It's me. You awake?"

"Go away," she grumbled, and there was something wrong with her voice.

"You okay?" I wanted to come in and get a better look at her, but according to house rules, I couldn't unless I had her permission. It didn't sound like I was getting it any time soon.

"I wanna sleep," she moaned, and this time I could hear it clearly.

"Are you . . . are you sick, K?" She hadn't been sick in years. But then, before I came here, I hadn't been sick in about as long, and then all of a sudden it seemed like I was sick all the time. The flu . . . that nasty stomach thing Kit and I had both had . . . and let's not forget about the cold I got in the rain. I didn't want all that to start happening to Kase now. Maybe what we all needed was an immune booster.

"I don't know," she said, although it came out sounding like I duh doh. Yep, she sure sounded sick, all right.

"Let me come in and I'll take a look at you, okay?"

"Okay." I heard her sniff and then cough. I hoped that whatever it was she had wasn't too serious, because I didn't want to catch this thing, although I probably would anyway since we spent all our time together.

It was a risk I was willing to take, though. I turned the doorknob and pushed the door open just enough to see her lying in the middle of that big bed, coughing her head off. I went to her and brushed a strand of sweat-soaked hair out of her face. She probably had a fever as well as the cough, and I mentally upgraded it from cold to flu.

"You're gonna be okay," I said soothingly, stroking her cheek. "I'll get you some medicine and then you can sleep for a while."

"Breakfast," she murmured.

"We can get our own breakfast."

"Dishes."

"I'll make sure they're washed up. Don't you worry about a thing. I've got everything under control."

She made some kind of hacking, choked sound that at first I thought was a cough but which I realized was supposed to be laughter. "Yeah, right," she rasped. "When I get up, this place'll be a disaster area."

"I'll stay on top of it. You need anything?"

"Just you, baby. Just you."

I kissed her on the top of her head. "I'll be back, beautiful. Don't go anywhere."

Whatever she said to that was lost as I went out and quietly closed the door behind me.

"She okay?" Kit asked.

"I think she's got the flu. We still got that medicine?"

He shook his head. "Used it up the last time you were sick. I meant to get more, but . . . stuff happened."

"Guess I need to go to the store, then--"

"I'll go. Just give me the list and I'll get it."

I looked at him. "You sure? I can do it."

"You stay here with her. I'll go. Make a list of everything we need, and I'll get it all at once."

"You don't have to do this--"

"Len." He put a hand on my arm. "She needs you. Besides, I'll be right back."

"You might want to get dressed first," I said.

He looked down at himself, as if he had forgotten he was still in his PJs. "Oh. Right. You get to work on that list, and I'll be right out." He went into his room, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Once he was gone, I got out the pad and a pencil and started thinking of the stuff we would need. Medicine, of course . . . soup . . . juice . . . and some more of that herbal tea that always made me feel better. And then there was the usual stuff like milk and bread and toilet paper . . .

By the time Kit was ready to go, I had the list all ready for him.

"You need some money?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I've got it covered."

"Don't be long," I said. "She really needs that medicine."

"I know." He grabbed his jacket and his helmet and went out the door.

I thought Kase would be sleeping when I went in to check on her, but she was lying awake, coughing and looking terrible. She felt warm when I laid my hand on her face, and I made a mental note to see if I could find some ice and a clean towel or two. Not to mention a few boxes of tissues, considering the way she was sniffling.

"Hey," I said. "Let me go get you some Kleenex."

"Doh't do be ady fabors," she snuffled.

Great. I had forgotten how crabby she could be when she was sick. "That medicine is on its way, okay? Just hang in there a little longer."

She threw a pillow at me.

"What? What did I do?"

"Go away!" Sniff, cough, hack, sneeze. Poor baby, I just wanted to lay there and cuddle her, but clearly she was not in a cuddling mood. In fact, she looked like she wanted to hit me, and I still didn't know what for. I was torn between letting her alone and intervening to help her get better.

Then I heard the door open and close, and I felt a huge sense of relief. "I'll have that medicine for you in just a few minutes," I said.

"Whadeber."She meant "whatever," but she was so stuffed up that she couldn't speak clearly. Not to worry, I speak fluent Head Cold.

"You want me to bring you some lozenges or ginger ale or something?"

"Just leabe be alode!" Ooh, boy, was she in a bad way. She needed that medicine now or she'd be impossible to live with.

"I'll be back," I said, and went out to find Kit unpacking the grocery bags.

"I got everything except that vitamin supplement," he said. "Three clerks and a manager helped me look, and we couldn't find it."

"We'll get it later," I said. I saw the box of medicine and grabbed it up. "She needs this right now."

"Can I do anything?"

"You can start heating the water for the tea," I told him.

"Should I put the soup on, too?"

"Not yet. We can always heat that later. First things first."

When I came in, she moaned, "What dow?"

"I'm just here to give you your medicine. Calm down, hon," I said, cracking open the seal on the bottle. It was tougher than it looked. The little tear-away notch just wouldn't tear. I finally had to use my teeth to get it open, and then I poured the liquid into the little cup and handed it to her. She stared at it for a moment, as if she wasn't quite sure what to do with it, but then she gulped it all down at once.

"Ugh," she said, her face crinkling up in disgust.

"It works, trust me. You'll feel better in no time."

Just then Kit came in carrying a cup of tea. "Here you go."

She looked at him. "Whad's this?"

"Herbal tea with honey. It'll help your throat feel better."

She gingerly picked up the cup and took a sip. "This is good. You bade dis?"
"Yeah. We take care of each other here. You just lay back and let us do everything, okay?"

"Why are you doig dis?" she asked.

"So you can get better and then take care of us when we get sick."

She smiled. "You're so cute, Adam."

As soon as she realized what she had said, she looked up at him in horror. "I'b sorry," she snuffled. "I didd't bead to--"

"It's okay," he said. "You're sick. I won't hold it against you."

"Ohgay," she said, and started shivering,

I climbed up onto the bed beside her.

"Whad are you doig?"

"Keeping you warm."

"Whad if you ged sick?"

"I'll be fine."

"Fabous lasd words," she said, but she let me stay.

Then I felt the bed shift and looked over to see Kit lying on her other side. "We're just trying to help you," he said. "You know, the whole taking care of each other thing."

She just sighed, which brought on another coughing fit. I rubbed her back until she could breathe again.

"Thagks."

"We'll just lie here with you till you fall asleep," I told her.

"Ohgay." She was too worn down by now to argue about anything, so she just turned over on her side and closed her eyes. I lay there and stroked her hair until her rhythmic breathing told me that she was sleeping.

"Okay, Kit," I whispered, "we've got stuff to do. Let's get--"

And then I noticed that his eyes were closed, and heard his own slow, deep breathing.

"Or we could just stay here for now."

I settled back down on the bed, and before I knew it, I was asleep too.

When I woke with a start, I didn't know what time it was. The bedside clock told me we had been sleeping for over four hours.

Moving carefully so I wouldn't wake Kase, I slid out of bed and went around to the other side. Then I gently nudged Kit awake. "Come on, let's get that soup started."

He coughed and then wiped his eyes. "I thig I'b sig too."

Great, I thought. "Looks like soup for two, then. I'll be right back."

It didn't take long for the soup to finish heating up. While I waited, I took the tray tables out from behind the couch and carried them into the bedroom.

"Almost ready, guys," I said, and then I saw how they were lying there together, curled around each other like clinging vines. His head was on her shoulder, and her arm wrapped around his waist. They looked so cute, it was hard to believe these were the same two people who were sniping at each other just a few weeks ago.

This was what Kit had meant about taking care of each other. Even as they were both so sick themselves, they each looked out for the other. I couldn't help going, "Awwwww . . ." in spite of myself.

By now it was nearly four-thirty. And I felt like I had lost a whole day, between sleeping and getting everything else done. I went to make myself some tea . . .

And then I started coughing, and it felt like I couldn't stop. I sat down and lowered my head, and finally I could breathe again. But now my throat felt like someone had attacked it with a cheese grater, and my head was pounding like the bass line of a disco song.

Oh, no, I thought. Who's going to take care of me?