Influenza
Chapter Five
Disclaimer: Nah, don't have claim to 'em.
A/N: I didn't even realize that I had put a date in an earlier chapter... Oops. Oh well, let's just say the later date is correct, and the earlier was a fluke.
Also, I'm going to take this moment to establish that Olivia is simply sick with the flu. I had meant to say so in my previous chapter, but I guess I forgot. Anyway, it's just the flu- granted, a very extreme case of influenza... but nothing sinister going on here. I'm not creative enough to make up a more serious illness.
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When he woke next she was still sleeping, in his arms, pressed up against him in a spooning position. A scowl appeared on his face, he had hoped that while she slept she would have moved away from him, but that wasn't possible. For that to happen he would have to be a lucky person, and Elliot Stabler had no luck what so ever. With a snort he gently pulled away from her, but she shifted in her sleep, and once again hid her face in his chest.
Great. Just great. Once again he began to pull back from her, only to have her cuddle closer. He just couldn't catch a break today... and it was still morning! With a sigh he gave up trying to move without her knowing so and gently shook her awake. "Olivia..." he called out to her softly. "Wake up."
She mumbled something and hid her face in his shirt, pressing tightly against him. He scowled, that wasn't exactly what he had planned on.
"Liv," he called out, a bit louder than before. Once again she mumbled, but instead of scooting closer she snaked an arm around his waist and laid her head on his chest.
Not good. He was getting way to comfortable with this. There went the nice way of waking her up.
Elliot quickly rolled away from her and she fell gently against the bed because of it. That woke her up. Her eyes blinked open and she gave him a confused look, apparently she hadn't been expecting to be waken up like that.
"You hungry?" he questioned, hoping she hadn't realized that they had been so close. A shake of her head was his only answer and he sighed. "You need to eat something, Olivia."
"I don't feel hungry," she stated simply. "Maybe later..."
Sure she would.
"How do you feel?"
She shrugged, "I'm fine."
Like he was going to believe that. He sent her an incredulous look, "Do you want some Tylenol?"
A shrug, "If you think that it's necessary. You are the parent here, anyway. But, I feel better."
He snorted with amusement. Sure, she felt better, but she still couldn't muster up enough strength to get out of bed, or to eat something. "Then you won't mind if I test that opinion, will you?"
She scowled, knowing that he wanted to take her temperature. "Fine, whatever you want."
Oh, that was the wrong statement, considering the position he had just been in.
It took him a second to realize that she was smiling at him, obviously the look on his face had tipped her off to the fact that he wasn't thinking doctorly thoughts. He rectified the situation, putting a frown on his face, and walked over to her side of the bed, grabbing the thermometer from the coffee table. "Good, open up."
This time she didn't smile, but he could tell by the look in her eyes that she had known of their earlier arrangements. Damn, he had been hoping she had been passed out the whole time. Of course, he knew he wasn't lucky, so he shouldn't have been surprised. With a slight scowl he stuck the thermometer into her mouth and waited for the beeping to sound. Not long after that it did and he pulled the device out, her temperature was 100.5. Not exactly good, but much better than 103.
"Ok, so maybe you are getting better..." she grinned in triumph. "But, you're still running a fever."
"But, it's better than before?" she questioned, taking the thermometer from his hand.
"Yeah- so you should take those Tylenol, it could break your remaining fever." He left the bed for a minute and ventured into the kitchen, where the regular Tylenol was sitting on the dining room table, right where he had left it the night before. When he made his way back out to the living room she was sitting up in the bed, flipping through the TV channels with the remote, an annoyed look on her face.
"Why is there never anything good on Saturday's?" she questioned, throwing the remote down on the bed beside her and taking the Tylenol from his hands, as well as the water he had gotten from the fridge. She swallowed them quickly and looked up at him with a slight smile, "So... if my fever is gone by tonight does that mean you'll leave me alone?"
She was just joking, he could tell by the amusement in her eyes, and he decided to play along. "I don't know... you never trust the flu. I might just have to call the Captain and tell him that you're too sick and he shouldn't even consider allowing you back to work for days..."
A scowl appeared on her face, "You wouldn't," she challenged.
He grinned and shrugged his shoulder, "Parent."
That was all he needed to say, really. Of course he would- he had three daughters and a son that he had probably threatened like that many times before. Crossing her arms over her chest she leaned back and eyed him suspiciously. He was joking as far as she could tell, his smile reached his eyes and lit them so bright that you'd either have to be blind or a homosexual woman not to be drawn in by them, and, being neither, she found herself lost in deep blue of them.
He cleared his throat a few seconds later and she realized that she had been staring. Her cheeks flushed and she panicked to find something else to do, then decided on picking the channel changer back up and flipping through the stations once more. A chuckle of amusement escaped his lips, but he said nothing that would embarrass her, mostly because she hadn't spoken of their earlier sleeping arrangements... yet.
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By three o'clock in the afternoon her fever had broken, for the first time since he had been taking care of her. He was hopeful, he admitted, but he knew there was a chance that it would come back. Olivia, however, was adamant that she was better, no matter what he said, or how good his past experience in such occasions was.
She was feeling so much better, in fact, that she had been up for nearly an hour without having to sit down and rest. Elliot was in the kitchen, doing paperwork, and while he was occupied she spent her time cleaning up around her apartment- since she had been neglecting it for the past few days. When he came out of the kitchen at a quarter after four the living room was spotless (although she had left the couch bed down) and if he had gone into the bathroom to check it he would have found it newly cleaned as well. She, however, was already sitting back down, even though she didn't feel the immediate need to at that time.
"Wow," he said, looking around. "Somebody got bored."
Olivia shrugged, "There was nothing good on TV."
He nodded and glanced at his watch, "You feel up for Chinese food? Or, more soup?"
After thinking about it for a minute she decided that noodles couldn't be that hard to keep down. "Chinese is fine with me..." she replied, "if that's what you want."
Elliot shrugged in reply, "It's easiest, unless you want pizza."
A look of disgust passed over her face, Chinese maybe, but pizza was definitely a no at the moment. "I'll stick with my first choice."
He chuckled, having already known that she would be in no mood for pizza. "Alright, I'll go order some Chinese... Peppered Steak?"
She nodded, "And Chicken Fried Rice."
"Of course," he smiled. "I'll be right back," then he disappeared into the kitchen. Five minutes later he was back in the living room, sitting next to her on the couch bed. "So... anything good on?"
Olivia just scowled.
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When the clock struck eight o'clock her fever still hadn't gone up, it was staying at an even 98.8 degrees- which he had no objections to. They still hadn't found anything good on the TV by five, so they had decided they would watch movies. And, not just any movies, chick flicks. Of course, he had wanted to watch action movies, but she had argued with him- she was sick and it was her house, she picked the movie. And, being in the mood that she was in the only thing that would appeal to her were chick flicks.
So first, they watched a classic- Bed of Roses. It had been forever since she had seen it last, and she had forgotten how much she loved the movie. After that was over she pulled out My Best Friends Wedding, one of her favorites. Elliot had objected a bit- well, a lot to watching Bed of Roses, but not so much to My Best Friends Wedding. It had only been a little over half an hour since they had put the movie on, however, when she realized why he hadn't objected. Elliot's loud snoring took her thoughts away from the movie, and she couldn't help but laugh softly because of it. He was passed out asleep, sitting with his back against the false headboard of the couch bed.
With a sigh she turned off the TV, it was just as well, she was beginning to feel tired, too. With an amused smile she turned towards him and gently shook his shoulder. He jolted forward at the touch and looked at her bewildered. "You fell asleep," she informed him, her small smile growing larger at the look on his face.
"What time is it?" he questioned, looking around the dark room.
"Just after eight," she supplied, knowing the next place he was going to look was his watch. No use in wasting his time, anyway. "I'm going to go to bed, too... you stay out here- I'll head off to my room."
"Do you feel any better?" he questioned tiredly. It was apparent to her that he was forcing himself to stay awake in order to make sure she didn't need his help. That was why he was there anyway- to help her. A fat lot of good he would do asleep.
She shook her head, "I feel fine."
He scowled and she realized what she had said.
"Ok... I feel perfectly normal. How's that? I think I kicked it. I'll take some Tylenol, just in case, alright?"
He nodded and laid his head back down on the bed, sure that she was telling the truth to him. Within a minute his breathing had evened out and she knew that he was sleeping.
In all truthfulness, she should have been worried about him, instead of him being worried about her. Her fever had broken early that afternoon, and had yet to come back, so she was fairly certain she was through with the flu. But, how quickly he had gone to sleep, and how tired he had looked was a bit unnerving to her. However, she brushed it aside as simple exhaustion. She knew, of course, how hard the job could be and how much it took out of a person. It was high time he started showing the effects of working too much, he wasn't superman, and both of them knew that.
As she had promised she took the Tylenol and then headed off to her bedroom, crawling under the cold sheets, and making a face as the cool fabric made contact with her warm skin. Within seconds her body heat had turned the covers warm and she felt herself drifting off into dreamland.
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She was surprised when she woke up during the middle of the night, in her pitch black room. Not only because she had figured that since her illness was gone she would once again sleep the whole night through, but also because of the reason she had been awoken. Which, it took her a few minutes to even realize exactly why she was awake.
But, it was soon made apparent to her when a painful, wet cough erupted from the living room. It wasn't her coughing, it was him. She quickly slid out from underneath her warm covers and made her way into the living room. He was still asleep, although hardly peacefully, on the couch bed. As she walked over to him he started coughing once again and when she got close enough she could see beads of perspiration on his forehead and cheeks.
"Elliot," she called out to him gently, pressing her hand over his forehead. She drew it back, unnerved. He was burning up.
The noise hadn't woken him, so she spoke to him again, "Elliot... I need you to wake up for me, ok?"
His eyes fluttered open and he looked over at her confused, "...Liv?" he asked, his voice thick and forced.
She nodded, running a hand through his hair lightly. "You're not going to be happy with me- but I think you've got the flu..."
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A/N: Some of you people are just TOO smart for your own good. Of course, I was going to wait a bit longer before making Elliot sick, but I figured What the hey... give them what they want. So... there it is.
Let me know what'cha think :)