Victor woke up to the sounds of Maggie being sick. He yawned and flipped on the light beside him.
"Sweetheart?"
"Yeah?" Maggie's voice sounded raw.
"Not feeling good?"
Maggie looked pitifully at him.
"I'll get you some soda and a clean nightgown. I'll be right back, My Maggie."
Victor came back to find Maggie curled up on the floor.
"Wouldn't you feel better in our bed?" Victor asked.
"Mmm, no. Don't want to move."
"You can't stay there. Your muscles will feel worse in the morning. Do you want a shower?" Victor rubbed Maggie's back.
"Yeah…could you join me?"
Victor raised his eyebrow.
"None of that. I just need support in the shower and prefer not to use the grab bars when I have a perfectly good support system in my husband."
"Why don't I draw you a bath?"
After her bath, dressed in a clean nightgown, Maggie yawned.
"Do you want to call the doctor in the morning?" Victor asked.
Maggie sighed.
"Hey, this might not be a setback. But the meds are still being played with," Victor said.
"I know. I was just hoping I was going into remission. I was feeling better."
"You will. But it will happen."
"I know. It's just…" Maggie was frustrated.
"You want to be the dynamite redhead Maggie Kirakis and not the sick Maggie," Victor said understandingly.
"Yeah," Maggie yawned.
"Well, just relax and sleep. I'll be here."
With that statement, Maggie's eyes flew opened.
"Victor! You're supposed to leave for New York in two days to meet with that new author."
"Brady or Lucas can do that," Victor reassured her.
"Honey, you've been working on this for two years. This is the Greek book, right?"
"Yes, but Brady can handle it."
"This is book you haven't stopped talking about since we started to date. You should go," Maggie said.
"My wife's sick. I'm not leaving you," Victor kissed her head.
"Sarah can take the days off. Or I'll call Melanie."
"Melanie left for Europe to visit Carly two days ago, remember? And Sarah's not a real doctor. Besides, Brady can deal with it. He's a quarter Greek."
"Sarah's a real doctor. Alice and Tom almost had to sell the cabin to cover her last year of med school. Not to mention the extra two years Mickey and I coughed up for undergrad. She's….just not a people person," Maggie said.
"Really? Hadn't noticed that," Victor said sarcastically.
"Victor, I'll be fine. I'll call Julie," Maggie said.
"Maggie…"
"You can go and make more money and buy your wife more jewelry in Paris," Maggie teased.
"I will do that anyway," Victor tweaked Maggie's nose.
"Honey, I'll be fine. How many days will you be gone?"
"Three days. I also planned to meet the CEO of ELQ to see if they will be involved with the family business book, although I think they're having problems right now," Victor said.
"It is only three days and at least half the time, I'll be asleep," Maggie said.
"Well, Sarah can take time off, right?"
"Yes. And the boys are around. It's fine." Maggie kissed Victor.
"I really don't want to leave," Victor looked at his wife.
"If I don't get worse in the next two days, you will."
Two days later
"Are you sure I can go?" Victor rubbed Maggie's back.
"Yes! And maybe when you get back, I will feel good enough for…certain events," Maggie turned her head for a kiss.
"Well, in that case, I will hurry right back," Victor smiled.
"You better."
Maggie woke up four hours later. How she could go from feeling so good to feeling so bad in such a short time? She dragged herself into the shower.
"Mom?" Sarah asked.
A moan answered her.
"Not a good day?"
"Uh-uh. I wish I haven't pushed Victor to go," Maggie sighed.
"Well, if you want I can try to get off on-call."
"You probably won't get call in and I can always call Julie," Maggie said.
"O.k. I'll let you sleep unless you can eat," Sarah said.
"Maybe some soup later."
"O.k. Love you."
"Love you, too." Maggie rolled over and went back to sleep.
Three hours later, she was woken up by Sarah, carrying a bowl of pasta and tea.
"Hey, sweetheart. No one died, yet?"
"Not yet. I thought you might be sick of soup. Can you handle pasta?"
"Yes! I am so sick of soup," Maggie laughed.
"Well, here you go. Are you feeling better?"
"A little bit. I'm still tired."
"Should we call the doctor?" Sarah asked.
"Honey, it's just a side effect of the drugs. If I don't feel better in a couple days, I'll call. But all I want to do sleep."
"Will do. Just let me sleep."
"O.k. I love you, Mom," Sarah kissed her mom.
"I love you, too."
Sarah sighed as she hung up the phone. Of course, her co-worker's wife had to go into labor today. She ran through her contracts and finally reached someone.
"Will! I'm so happy to reach you!"
"Hey, Sarah. Is something wrong with Aunt Maggie?" It was odd for Sarah to call him.
"Yes! I mean, no, not really. I just need someone to stay with her and I was called into work and I can't reach anyone else. I know you probably have class, and I hate to ask, but could you stay with Mom?"
"Yeah, sure. Victor has wireless, right? I can just have my friend Skype me in and I'll have Kevin email me notes. It's cool. I'll be fine," Will reassured his cousin.
"Thanks."
"I'll be there in five."
Maggie opened her eyes when she felt Sarah's hand on her.
"Sarrie?"
"Hi. I need to go to work but Will's here and you can call me on my cell. Is there anything you need?"
"'I'm just tired. When will you be back?"
"I don't know. But I told Will to call Lucas or Hope if he needs to. You'll be o.k.?" Sarah looked at her mom.
"Yeah. Love you honey." Maggie rolled over and closed her eyes.
Sarah returned to where her cousin was setting up his homework.
"Mom's asleep for now and there's food in the fridge. Thanks for doing this, Will."
"Not a problem." Will settle in to his homework.