Still consistent!

Day 5: "oh my god, you're burning up" + hurt/comfort

Enjoy!

Chimney woke to the sound of violent retching coming from the bathroom. His girlfriend was no longer next to him and he spotted the light on in the bathroom. He jumped up, running to the bathroom. Pushing the door open further, he found Maddie hunched over the toilet and a trail of what looked like vomit, staining the white tiles, leading to the toilet.

As he walked over to her, bare feet carefully steeping around the mess, he remembered that the two of them had dinner before at a new place on their date last night. They didn't eat anything out of the ordinary and he felt fine, so this might not have been food poisoning. He touched her bare shoulder. Her skin was burning to the touch. "Oh my god, you're burning up."

She turned from the toilet, peered up at him, face pale. "I'm okay," she croaked, voice hoarse. Maddie pushed herself back from the toilet into a sitting position against the side of the tub, sighing at the cool ceramic.

He said as he walked to linen closet to get a towel for the mess and a wash cloth for her.

"It was probably something I ate," She tried weakly. "Sorry about the mess."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." He went about wiping the mess, disposing of the towel in the hamper when her was done.

He wet the cloth with cold water and sat down next to her on the floor. Maddie noticed what he was fixing to do and tried to push his hand away. "Come on Howie, you don't have to do—" Chimney ignored her and went about dabbing the rag across his forehead. "God that feels good."

"You were saying," he smirked, continuing to rub the rag across her forehead and down her face.

Maddie stopped him, trying to push his hands away. "Babe, stop, I'm fine. The nausea has already passed," her voice still held the same weakness, "plus I have an early morning shift. What time is it anyway?" Maddie pushed herself up with shaky hands. As soon as she got to her feet, she almost lost her balance. He quickly got up to catch her.

"You are not going anywhere, especially not to work. It's 40 degrees outside, you can barely stand right now, let alone drive. I can't, in good conscience, even think about letting you go to work." Chimney's tone was as firm as he could muster to her.

"Come on, you're going back to bed" Chimney felt a bit of victory at the fact that Maddie didn't fight him on it. He held on to her until they reached the bed. She climbed on the bed and sunk into the mattress and he pulled the sheets and comforter around her.

"So warm," she mumbled into the pillow.

Chimney went back into the bathroom to do a slightly more thorough cleaning. Once finished, he grabbed the thermometer, cough syrup, Tylenol, and a glass of water, placing all of it on the bedside table. Maddie's even breathing let him know that she'd gone back to sleep. He switched off the baby monitor, so it wouldn't wake her and decided to go check on their daughter.

He walked across the hall to the nursery, to find his baby still asleep. Careful not to disturb her, he leaned over the side of the crib and lightly touched her forehead. Thankfully, her skin was dry and cool to the touch, signaling that she hadn't caught whatever her mother had. And he didn't want her to catch it, so he should probably make arrangements for her to stay somewhere else. He sighed as he thought about his only available options, making a mental note to call them. He watched her sleep a few moments more before walking out of the room.

Looking in on Maddie, she was burritoed under the covers, so he closed the door and let her rest. Chimney went towards the kitchen to make him some coffee, knowing she's not going back to sleep anytime soon. He eyed the counter clock. 6:02 am. He'd give until after he finished his coffee to start making the necessary phone calls.

He took slow sips of his mug as he thought about which one he wanted to call to take care of Jee-Yun, he sighed inwardly as he came to a decision. He sat the empty mug down and grabbed his phone from the couch. First calling Sue to let her know that Maddie wouldn't be there. He was already off for the next couple of days so he didn't need to worry about calling in. Then he called Albert, as he was one of his only options to possibly care for Jee-Yun. To Chimney's surprise he picked up almost immediately.

"What's going on?" Albert asked, probably just waking up.

"Why do you think something's happened?"

"No one calls this early in the morning for no reason." He did have a point.

"Nothing happened. I do need a favor, though."

"At six in the morning?"

"Can you to take care of Jee-Yun?"

"I knew something happened. You and Maddie had a fight or something? What did you do?"

"No, we didn't have a fight. Wait, why do you assume it's my fault? Never mind, don't answer that. Maddie's sick and I just don't want to risk Jee-Yun getting sick as well."

"She's okay, right?"

"Just a stomach flu. She'll likely be alright by tomorrow or the next day."

"Oh, okay, yeah I got you."

"Are you sure? If you can't-"

"It's my niece, I always have time for her."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

"No problem. I'll be there to pick her up in about an hour."

He put the phone down on the counter. He decided to get Jee-Yun packed up to spend the next couple of days with her uncle. As soon as the door opened he heard his daughters cries. He got her situated with a fresh diaper and some clean clothes. He packed a baby bag, feed her, and now they were on the couch waiting for Albert to arrive.

"Okay, Jee, look after your uncle. Make sure he doesn't do anything crazy."

It didn't take Albert long to arrive. He had been more than willing to keep Jee-Yun as long as needed. Chimney promised to keep him updated as he kissed her goodbye, through his mask, and handed her to him with her bag. Even though he does it often, he'll never be used to handing her off to others. But it was necessary. He saw the two of them off and then it was just him and Maddie.

Heading back to their bedroom to check on Maddie, he expectantly found her still asleep. Peeling back some of her covers, her touched her to find her skin still over heated and clammy, still running a fever. He put another cold compress to her forehead before putting the covers back over her as she groaned and shivered.

Leaving her to her rest, he decided to take care of some things around the apartment. Before he knew it, six hours had passed. Walking back in the bedroom, he found Maddie awake, "hey, how you feeling?"

She groaned and sniffled, "hot, cold, achy, nauseated. I hate being sick."

"I have an idea." He went into their bathroom and drew her a bath, knowing it would help soothe her. He pulled her from their bed, stripped her of her damp clothing, and sat on the side of the tub as soak in the water and steam. "Better?"

"Much. Even better if you join me."

"I think I'll sit this one out. As soon as you're better, though..."

"That's quitters talk."

The water cooled and Maddie got out, returning to their bedroom, taking medicine, and sitting up in bed. Chimney went into the kitchen to make her some mostly broth chicken soup and tea. He placed the soup, crackers, and some green tea with lemon and honey on a tray and brought it back to her.

"Wow, I should be sick more often," Maddie commented as he placed the tray in front of her. When he got close she'd leaned in to kiss him, but immediately thought better of it. "Right, no kissing."

He kissed her on the forehead. "You'll be better soon enough," he said as he sat in bed next to her. They fell silent for a moment as she ate a bit, but preferred the tea more than anything else.

"Is Jee-Yun napping? I actually can't remember if I've even heard her today," Maddie broke the silence.

"You probably haven't. I turned the baby monitor off so you could rest. She's actually not here. She's staying with Albert," Maddie's eyes widened and she went to respond, but he stopped her, "so she wouldn't get sick. I didn't have any other options. It was between him and Buck," her face softened a little, "and as much as I know they both love their niece, which would you have chosen?"

Maddie didn't say anything as she grabbed her cellphone of the table. It didn't take long to figure out who she was calling as the FaceTime rang.

"Maddie! How are you feeling?" Albert answered the call.

Before she could answer they heard, "Mads, hey! Say hey to mama, Jee." Buck. They saw him stroll into Albert's kitchen, holding Jee-Yun.

"Buck?" They asked simultaneously, "what are you doing at Albert's? Maddie asked.

"Oh, when I called him he told me that he was taking care of her because you're sick. Since I was off today, I decided to come over and help out. She could always use some time with her favorite uncles. Isn't that right, JeeJee?"

Maddie had to smile as she watched her baby brother interact with her daughter. "Well, I just wanted to see her as I haven't today," Maddie told him, "stay out of trouble. Call us if you need us."

"Will do."

"We've got everything handled here. You just focus on getting better. I'll have her back to you in a couple of days." Albert added confidently.

"Thanks again for taking care of her."

"That's what family's for."

Maddie ended the call and tossed her phone on the bed between them. "They'll be fine, right?"

"I mean between the two of them, how much trouble could they get into?" Maddie looked at him. For the most part, they trusted their brothers to handle to responsibility. They would still be periodically checking on them, making sure everything was okay.

"I trust them to make sure they take good of her." Chimney agreed.

Seeing that Maddie had eaten and drank all she was going to, he removed the tray. Taking it back in the kitchen. He came back and returned to his place on the bed, Maddie taking the opportunity to snuggle into his arms.

"I apologize in advance for getting you sick," she sniffed and yawned, "thanks for taking care of me.

"Worth it," he kissed her forehead, "you never have to thank me. That's what I'm here for."

A little indulgent sick fic for your morning. Let me know what you think!