In Sickness And Health

tags: sick fic, sick!danny, caring!steve

Danny felt absolutely miserable.

The blonde Detective glanced at the clock on his nightstand and saw it was nearly four thirty a.m. His body ached, and he had a fever and was sweating and yet he felt chilled to the bone. His stomach was cramping and there was sharp pain shooting through his abdomen. Danny felt nauseated as well, nausea that, after a moment turned into an intense desire to run to the loo and vomit into the toilet. He flung back the covers, leaving it all piled on top of Steve and made a mad dash out of their bedroom and in the direction of the loo, just barely making it in time.

Danny's mouth was still hovering over the toilet bowl when he saw the bathroom light go on above him. "You okay?" Steve asked, ending his question with a yawn.

"No," the blonde said groggily, not sure if he was going to vomit again. Danny waited a moment. "It must have been something I ate."

"You are the one who likes the shrimp lo mein at that dodgy Chinese food place," Steve said, coming into the room and kneeling down next to his husband, rubbing Danny's back. When the blonde lifted his head up again, Steve went to the sink and wetted a washcloth and brought it to his husband to wipe his mouth. "You might have food poisoning. I'll see what I can do to make things easier for you."

"Thanks babe," Danny said, wiping his mouth with the washcloth. Steve left his husband then alone as the blonde debated whether he wanted to leave the loo and go back to bed or just camp out by the toilet. The roiling in his stomach was almost enough to convince him to ask Steve to bring him a pillow and a blanket and to get through this by the toilet.

Steve came back a few minutes later, his mobile by his ear. Danny was only half listening but it appeared he was talking to a doctor. When he hung up he looked over at Danny. "There is a prescription waiting for you for bismuth subsalicylate, I'll pick that up later this morning, along with some loperamide in case you have diarrhea. And I'll stop off at the market and make sure we have broth, fruit juices, soft foods, vegetables, bananas, rice, applesauce and bread for toast. That was what the doctor recommended."

The blonde nodded weakly. Steve offered him his hand and Danny took it to get up, and he leaned into his husband before Steve helped lead him back towards the bed. God, he felt awful. Danny felt lightheaded and weak, and all he wanted to do was get back into bed and curl up and die. Steve got him into the bed and then went out of the room, and then a few minutes later he came back with a wastebin and set it next to the blonde's side of the bed. "You're going to take care of me, aren't you?"

"That was part of our marriage vows," Steve said, pressing a kiss to Danny's forehead. "In sickness and in health, remember?"

"All right," the blonde said, giving his husband a weak smile. Steve moved away from the bed and Danny shut his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, ignoring his roiling stomach and sense of nausea. Eventually he drifted off to sleep again. When he woke up again the blonde felt a smidge better, but not much. Danny opened his eyes and smiled at his husband. "Hey babe."

"Hey," Steve said, sitting on the edge of the bed, "here, I got your medicine if you need it and I can bring you a glass of water or juice, whatever you think you can handle. The doctor said you're supposed to replenish your fluids."

Danny nodded slightly. "All right," he said. Steve got back up off the bed, leaving their bedroom, and Danny sat up slightly and looked at the medications in his hands. The blonde knew the bismuth subsalicylate was going to taste abysmal but it would most likely help. He should probably get something to take the taste out but for now he just wanted to take the medicine so it could start working. Danny unscrewed the lid of the bottle and took a swig. Yes, he knew he should have measured it out but a guess would be good enough.

When the blonde was done Danny settled back into the bed again. Food poisoning was awful. He hoped he never had to go through this again. He felt weak and had a headache and there was still nausea to deal with, plus there was still pain in his gut. Danny honestly felt like death warmed over. If he never went through this again he'd be grateful.

A short time later Steve came in with a plate of food, consisting of two pieces of toast with light butter, a small bowl of applesauce and a banana. "Hopefully this will settle your stomach," he said.

"Thanks babe," Danny said, sitting up more. He took the plate and bowl from his husband and slowly began to eat. He didn't have much of an appetite, but it was something. He was going to make sure he kept some of the food down if it was the last thing he did.

"Would you rather have water or juice to start with?" Steve asked.

"Juice," the blonde replied.

Steve nodded. "All right." He reached over and rubbed his husband's leg lightly. "If you need anything else, let me know."

"I will," Danny said. He gave Steve a smile. "You always seem to take care of me, you know."

"I know," Steve said, giving the blonde a small grin in return. "But I do love you, and I am your husband, so you should expect it, I suppose."

"I suppose I should," Danny said. "I'll return the favour one day, I promise."

"I'll hold you to it," Steve said. He squeezed Danny's leg and then got up. "I'll be back with your juice in a moment."

The blonde nodded. "Thank you," he said. Danny watched his husband leave and then went back to the food. He was incredibly lucky to have Steve in his life, the blonde realized. And he would never, ever forget that.

ooOoo

This one's for thesweetpsychopath on Tumblr, because she did a beautiful thing. She created the new profile picture for my own Tumblr steve-bangs-danny and it's also the new cover of this collection.