A/N This is only about a 5 chapter or so story. I might add more later but they say write what you know and I have been sick and down with the flu and feeling yucky for the last couple weeks plus taking care of my family here too that had been sick too. So, between that and being off work this story came in my head and wouldn't leave me alone till it got out on paper.

I hope you like it. This is very much sweet and hurt comfort type connection here with a little bit of drama. Please take a minute and share your thoughts.

I plan to update my Fighting to Live story next and almost have 2 full chapters ready to go there which are darker and heavier on Emily explaining her past and the injuries more and why she needed to run and how they met etc. They have needed to talk for a while already and so it's not pretty but important.

A soft knocking woke Caroline from her nap on her couch and she turned her head to the sound. It was late afternoon still and she had just laid down maybe an hour ago. She had a long week of home care shifts coming up starting this evening so she was trying to get all the sleep she could before then.

Yawning she stretched and pulled the blanket higher up over her peach-colored tank top and tucked her legs in and shivered a bit thinking maybe with it being fall it was time to pack up her shorts and dig out her fuzzy Pj pants again. But she loved her silky, soft striped Pj shorts and wasn't ready for it to be even close to winter. She hadn't even turned the furnace on yet and it had nothing to do with expense. She was renting the apartment. She just wasn't ready to admit it was that cold out yet. So cozy socks and a blanket was good enough and she was too stubborn to turn on the old radiators just yet. She had nowhere to go till later and it was just that kind of PJ type day to stay wrapped in blankets anyway.

Squinting at the door from across the room she prayed whoever it was would just go away and she could grab a few more hours of sleep. It was probably just her elderly downstairs neighbor wanting to borrow something. She came by every weekend without fail and was clearly just missing family and wanting company. She had visited with her for a couple hours yesterday, so today she just wanted time to herself and felt plenty justified in that.

But no, the knocking came again and this time with a small child's voice. "Please...can you help me?" came the little girl's tiny cry.

Caroline was up and across the room fast, pulling on a long-sleeved thin pastel green shirt, hanging on a chair and swung the door open. That was Roman's daughter's voice! And she sounded scared.

Crouching at the little girl's level she saw her carrying a blanket and dressed in a fully zipped up unicorn onesie. Even the hood was pulled up over her dark thick longer hair as she looked up into her eyes.

Caroline moved her hand to smooth the unruly strands of hair back from the young girl's face and tucked them behind her ear. From the corner of her eye she could see the door across the hall almost closed but with what looked like a child's shoe stuck in the bottom to keep it from locking.

"Hey, Maddie, what's wrong? What are you doing all the way out here? Where is your Daddy?" Caroline asked gently.

The dark eyes of the 6-year-old started watering and she could see she was about to burst into tears. Caroline opened her arms and Maddie threw herself in her embrace and buried her head against her neck.

"I,.. I don't know what else...to do...to help...Daddy..." she whimpered out between sobs.

Caroline was starting to get worried now and stood up with Maddie in her arms and scooped her keys off the table and pocketed her phone. The little girl's arms were vice like around her neck as she locked her door and walked across the hall and pushed the door open.

She hadn't seen Roman in a few weeks or more other than in passing in the hall. They had been neighbors a couple years here and he had even asked her on a date a few months back. And that had led to another and another, but nothing too serious yet.

However work had been busy and then her mom had a bad fall so she had been home for a while and they hadn't talked much and Maddie wasn't adjusting to Grade 1 very well and so her and his time to talk on the phone while she was away at her Mom and Dad's was often cut short by his daughter crawling into his bed and needing snuggles and Daddy time and to be held till she could fall asleep.

So now it had been a little while since they had talked last and connected in any way. She had just come off a busy week of night shifts too and Roman understood that she slept during the day, and it was often the quietest in the apartment complex when kids were in school and adults mostly at day jobs anyway.

Pushing the door open and jumping the still shaking little girl up higher in her arms she was so glad that Maddie had come to find her, whatever the reason. Roman had been there for her in many ways over the few years they had known each other even just as friends since she moved in, right from helping her carry her boxes in on that first day and she wanted to do whatever she could to help him too.

The first thing she saw stepping into the apartment was dishes all over and empty food containers. The garbage by the sink was full and the bag out and tied up and yet another bag started and open and to the side. The sink was full of more and even the dishwasher was open and only looked to be half full and that looked clean but not put away.

Maddie lifted her head from Caroline's shoulder and looked around too as if to confirm that she did the right thing coming to find her.

Caroline hugged her tighter and nodded. "It's going to be okay sweetie. " She cupped her head and pulled down the hood and kissed her hair. "We need to find Daddy. Where's Daddy Maddie?"

She pointed down the hall with a shaky hand, still holding tight to her soft pink blanket. Caroline jumped her up again and with her sock feet she padded down the carpeted hallway towards the back bedroom.

Roman had invited her in before but not to his bedroom. They had, well she had wanted to take things slowly. He more than respected her past and her crappy relationships that had been too physical and hadn't ended well.

She seemed to attract the wrong type of guy on more than one occasion, and they were never abusive or anything and they knew what no meant, but she could not help but feel like they didn't even hear her. That they got bored of her because she didn't just give them what they wanted fast enough, and she wanted a connection with more depth.

So, she kind of swore off dating for a while and focused on her work and her friendships and just ignored that nagging in her heart that she wanted someone to really understand her and hear her, to find a love like her parents had. They had been happily married for over 30 years and that was unheard of in her circle of friends or even with people from work or their families. Sure, they had their ups and downs and had lived their marriage vows in every sense of the word, but they were still together and fought through things and Caroline wanted a love like that, if it existed for her.

That was before she had started to get to know Roman even a little deeper than just passing in the halls.

Being friends with Roman had been a breath of fresh air compared to the guys just wanted to get her to put out. It felt like a good and solid foundation to be friends first with him. He was sweet and kind and always put his daughter first. They hadn't talked much about his past yet, but she could tell he had been wounded too and had walls up around his heart.

Caroline was not sure what she would find past his bedroom door now too, but it was more than clear that this little family needed her help. Roman was sick, how sick, she had no idea till she saw him but being a single dad, she had no idea how long he had coped like this without asking for help or even why he didn't reach out to her himself.

The light was off, the blinds pulled tightly closed as they entered, only a sliver of light coming through at the edges. The bed was all rumbled, Kleenex box, pail, garbage can full of tissue, clothes scattered everywhere, bottles of medicine and vitamins all over the dresser. She could see pizza boxes and boxes of ginger ale and empty cans in the garbage there too.

The light under the door in the ensuite bathroom alerted her that she would finally find him there and Maddie slid down from her arms and dropped to the floor and pushed the door open.

"Daddy?" the little girl's small voice called out as she walked in the bathroom.

Caroline was not sure if she should follow right away or give them a minute. She listened and in seconds Roman's deep voice replied.

"Baby, is your movie over? So sorry my stomach is still so upset. You probably want something to eat?" Roman sounded so out of breath.

"I'm coming Princess. I'll make you some supper," he practically gasped out.

"No, Daddy," Maddie was crying more now. "Everything hurts you too much. I brought help."

And before he could argue at all Caroline stepped into the doorway and saw Roman crouched in a ball against the wall, leaned on the tub, one arm around his daughter as she curled up in his lap on the floor by the toilet.

His head lifted, his dark eyes squinted up at her and she offered him a sympathetic smile back. The young dad's long thick hair had always been so soft and now looked stringy and tangly hanging by his pale face.

"Caroline," he breathed out.

She knelt down beside them both and looked so sadly at him. "Oh Roman." Reaching out a palm to his face, she tucked a strand of hair back and nearly jumped back feeling how warm his skin was.

"God, Roman you are burning up," she whispered and felt all over his cheeks and forehead and caught the slight whimper from his throat as he nuzzled her hand against his cheek. She saw too a sheen of sweat on his bare shoulders with him wearing just a white muscle tank. The gray shorts he had on too looked damp from sweat.

She stood up and rinsed out a washcloth at the sink and turned it on as cold as it would go, wrung it out and brought it back to him. Laying it on his forehead she spread it out to cover as much of his skin as she could.

"Maddie, hold that there okay? Just for a minute. I will be right back." Caroline instructed and saw the little girl help hold it even as Roman was still cradling her in his arms.

Caroline slipped out of the room and into the more brightly lit hall and quickly dialed her boss. After a few minutes of arguing she had arranged for another week off. Yes, she had just taken time off to be with her parents. But there had been other girls at work begging for the extra shifts and more time and so she had gotten everything arranged.

She ran back to her place and grabbed her charger and ran around with a bag to pile her weighted blanket in and heat pack and scooped up any and all meds and oils that might help and grabbed some ice packs from her freezer too. Caroline tried to think if there was anything else she might need to help Roman get better and figured she could get anything else later too.

Hurrying back over she peeked back in the bathroom to see Maddie slowly moving the washcloth over her daddy's face and neck as he had his eyes closed. The scene was so touching and so sweet but at the same time she did not want to know how much that little girl had already faced by herself here or how long she had been taking care of Roman or trying to without any help.

Pushing the door back open more she moved back in the room and knelt down again. "Okay you two, I'm yours now. No work. No commitments. I took some holiday time, and I am going to help you get better here."

Roman pulled his eyes open and met hers. "You didn't need to do that. That's not fair to you..." he gasped slightly and started coughing before slowly catching his breath again. "For me to take your holidays," he finished weakly.

Caroline frowned back at him so sadly seeing him hardly able to breath. "And this is fair to you? As a single dad and how well you take care of her? Who will take care of you? You look like have been strong far long enough already."

Roman looked like he was too weak to fight her on anything and half smiled gratefully. Maddie's tummy growled then too, and she looked surprised.

Caroline smiled at her and then back at Roman. "How about I get you something to eat and then I see about helping Daddy with his fever? K Maddie?"

She nodded rapidly. "Anything but PB and J please..."

Roman laughed but then laughing turned into coughing again and coughing looked like it hurt his throat and he started gagging and Maddie jumped off his lap this time as he wasn't able to catch his breath and clung to Caroline's neck and was shaking again.

Leaning over the toilet he gagged more but it didn't look like anything was coming up.

Caroline stroked her fingers through his hair and saw it hanging all over getting in the way and she moved Maddie off her lap and untied her own ponytail of mid length blonde hair and pulled his hair all back in a loose bun at the base of his neck and away from his face.

Roman leaned his head on his one arm on the side of the toilet and tried to catch his breath again. "Thank you." He closed his eyes and kept gasping. "My throat is just so sore and there is nothing left in there but bile to come up. Nothing stays down either."

He looked to Maddie and tried to smile. "And yeah, while I've been sick, we kind of have been living on PB and J, at least the last day or two."

Caroline stroked his face once more and smiled at him. "Then let me take care of her Roman. I will be right back, okay?" He nodded and closed his eyes again.

Standing back up and Maddie was already reaching to be picked up again. So, she carried her back out of the room and down the hall and into the living room. She had heard Roman say he had got her watching a movie so maybe she could try that again.

In a few minutes she had gotten Moana started and went to the kitchen to get some food for her. She figured she would leave any sort of cleaning up till both of them were comfortable and sleeping and Roman was far from any kind of relaxed yet.

Caroline made sure Maddie had everything she needed and pulled up the blankets around her and tucked her in tighter and kissed her head. "I'm going to go check in on Daddy okay sweetie?" She nodded.

"Thank you so much Auntie Care," Maddie smiled, taking a bite of her banana. "I'm so glad I found you."

Caroline smiled back. "You were so brave coming to look for help for your Daddy sweetie. I'm always here for you."

A song started and Maddie turned her attention back to the TV and kept eating and taking big sips of her water bottle of apple juice.

Heading back down the hall Caroline saw Roman was halfway between the bathroom and his bed once she got there and crawling on his hands and knees and had Maddie's sparkly blanket wrapped around his shoulders. She ran the rest of the way across the room and was at his side in an instant in the near darkness.

"Hey, you didn't have to go all that way yourself. I told you I am here to help you." Caroline tilted her head down to find his more than exhausted brown eyes looking back at her just before his head fell to the rug and he just lay there in the middle of his bedroom floor.

"Maddie?" he whispered, and she saw him starting to shake.

"She's fine. I tucked her in watching Moana with a nest of blankets I found in your storage ottomans, and she wanted porridge and orange slices and bananas and had the biggest bottle of apple juice I could find."

She ran back to the bathroom for the cloth again and found it on the tiled floor and soaked it cold again. By the time she got back Roman was fully curled up in a ball on the floor and shivering more too.

Laying the cloth on his head again she felt him jump slightly and turn his head up to her. "Hey, do you want me to help you back into bed? Can you make it that far?" She had leaned in closer to his face and to her surprise he grabbed onto her hand as she wiped the cloth along his neck.

Caroline sat on the floor and Roman had pulled his head into her lap, his other arm stretched out across her legs and clinging to her thigh.

"Sorry," he breathed out. "Everything hurts."

She stroked his face with the cloth more. "It's okay Roman. It's okay. I'm here. How's your stomach? Right now?"

"Better," he whispered. "A little less spinney. I threw up more, so it always feels better for a bit after."

"Maybe we should get something in you for that wicked fever then, now so it might stay down?" She could already feel him nodding and so she slipped carefully out from under him. "First let's get you in this bed."

And with a little bit of maneuvering and her arms under his shoulders, a couple grunts and groans later and she had gotten him laid down and tucked in under the blankets, keeping the pail close and the cloth on his head.

Caroline grabbed any and all the bottles scattered around the room and brought them to the bathroom and then only turned the light on once the door was closed. Examining everything she settled on the one that would handle the most of his symptoms and opened up another can of ginger ale and headed back to the bedroom.

"Here you go. Try this and then let's see if you can just rest a bit and get that fever to settle down. I am going to go check on Maddie."

Roman nodding pulling himself to sit up and took the two capsules and the can to take a few sips and then passed it back to her. He sunk back into the pillows. "Please come right back, please."

She smiled and nodded at him and within a minute had peeked in and seen Maddie relaxed and still watching and snuggled deep in the blankets. Coming right back to him she replayed what she had seen and saw him sigh with relief.

"Don't worry about her Roman. You need to focus on getting you better." Caroline said standing by the side of the bed. She wasn't sure what to do from here or what was okay or not.

He wasn't a client of hers and even then, home care clients she took care of she sure as hell did not crawl into their bed with them. She gave them their meds, took them to the bathroom, helped them even in the tub or get dressed or things like that.

She wasn't even sure what level boyfriend girlfriend they were either and they hadn't even kissed. Not really. A peck on the lips at the door but nothing deep yet.

Roman pulled his head up from the pillow and she saw him looking at her. "Care I'm not going to bite, and neither is this bed. Please come here. I promise I would never take advantage of you."

It was so dark in the room, but she could swear that he was pouting at her despite the level of pain he must be in, and she found herself nodding and slowly sliding herself onto the bed beside him and sat up opposite how he was laying against the pillows.

He pulled his weak body over a bit more, giving her more room and offered her the pillow next to him, gently pushing it toward her. She could see he was holding in more pain as he moved and saw the pain all over his face still too.

Caroline leaned back on the headboard and turned her body toward him, helping him wipe the cloth over his face more. "What, can I do?" she mumbled into the air between them. This was much different that caring for her clients, and she found herself stuttering slightly just watching his long lashes fall closed at her touch on his face.

Roman curled up tighter in a ball on the bed again and she wondered if his stomach was hurting more. She pulled one of the pillows down.

"Here, hold this tight and then pull your legs up and keep the pillow tucked tight against your stomach. We need to try to keep those meds down. I will be right back once more k?" Caroline said again.

He tilted his head up and looked weakly up in her eyes and without even really thinking she had kissed his forehead and heard him whimper again before his eyes fell closed.

Slipping out of the bed she just went just around the corner into the hall where she had left her bag. She had already put the ice in the freezer but now quickly went to warm up the hot pack in the microwave in the kitchen. Maddie was still watching the movie quietly and looked like her eyes were getting heavy as she laid lower in the blankets and hadn't even seen Caroline as she went by.

Before she was back in the bedroom, she got her bag of oils too and scooped up the peppermint and brought that to the nightstand along with the warm rice pack.

"Okay Roman can I try something to settle your stomach more too?" she whispered crawling back in beside him. He nodded and she gently pulled the pillow away from his stomach. "K, lay on your back and then lift up your shirt. "

He slowly shifted his body and groaned at moving and pulled the blankets lower and pulled the muscle tank up, exposing his abs. Caroline opened the bottle and saw him watching her and she poured some of the peppermint oil onto his still more than hot skin and rubbed it in with her fingers, spreading the oil around. Then she laid the warm pack on top and made sure he held onto it.

"That's it. It should help the dizziness and help settle your stomach and hopefully let those meds work and not come back up." She pulled the blanket in more over his lower half and he curled himself into her body too.

"Mmm, it feels tingly. Is it supposed to feel like that?" Roman mumbled smoothly, nuzzling his nose in against her side.

Caroline felt tingly too but for a very different reason. Everything felt very intimate, laying here in Roman's bed, even with him sick and so warm from the fever and in pain, his body was so close to hers and she was not denying she liked it.

"Where...um else...does it hurt Roman?" she was totally stumbling on her words, feeling his beard and goatee rubbing against the side of her body. He might not even be aware he was doing it and was curled in tight around the warm pack and seemed to be relaxing against her, like finally something wasn't hurting as much.

"My head is still pounding pretty bad from all the coughing and puking," he replied. He lifted his one hand from between them and he found her hand and pulled it up to his face, tracing the lines around his head, guiding her hand with his own on top of hers.

"I can feel it right here, all the way around my eyes, like right behind my eyes are just throbbing with pain. And I have hardly slept in days from one thing or another just not letting me actually sleep without pain to get better."

Caroline watched him holding her hand in his, just gently showing her where it hurt. His hand dropped from hers to go back to holding onto the warm pack on his stomach, but his touch had already given her shivers and she struggled to remember all the places he had said still ached.

She still had some peppermint oil on her fingers from rubbing it on his stomach and shifted herself so she was leaning partway over him on the pillow and could rub across his temples and forehead and the bridge of his nose and eyebrows. She used the cloth to wipe the rest of the oil off her fingers, making extra sure she didn't get any oil too close to his eyes and then rubbed slowly and carefully around his eyes one at a time, pulling the skin up and away, gently rubbing the eyelids and underneath. Once she had done the one eye, he tucked his head more between them to give her more room to do to the other and laid more on his side right against her beside him.

Roman's one arm that had been holding the warm pack tight to his stomach wasn't needed to keep it in place anymore and Caroline almost gasped aloud to feel his arm slip up around her waist and it just lay draped up over her as she kept rubbing his face and then up into his hair and down his neck too.

She lay her head down beside his and realized he was breathing deeper now too. Was he asleep? He looked so peaceful finally after the pain that had been in all over his face since the minute she had gotten there already.

Caroline smiled at how completely beautiful he looked, and she barely knew him, yet it felt like their relationship and connection had grown in leaps and bounds in just this one evening so far.

She had wanted to check on his daughter again thinking the movie she had put on was definitely over by now but Roman had a secure hold on her side in his palm now. Not just draped over her, but his hand had slid to cradle her cloth covered hip. It was like even in sleep he was making sure she stayed right where she was.

Well, she could give him this, letting him hold onto her, even for a few more minutes and let him sleep. Caroline snuggled in lower on the pillows herself and laid his head by her neck. He was still so warm, and she pulled the cloth over and put it back on his cheek.

Everything felt so good. So soothing and she tangled her fingers in Roman's hair as she felt the rise and fall of his chest as he laid against her. She had never been this close to him. Never fallen asleep in his arms

Thinking right then she didn't think she had ever fallen asleep in a man's arms before. She never let the other guys get that close. Messing around in an evening with a few of her exes it was always the same song and dance of her having boundaries and them just daring to cross them. There were not many others, but they had never made to a night with her even just to sleep. She had never felt that safe with anyone to do that.

The man with his palm spread over her hip right now, his head on her chest and breathing so deeply and so peacefully felt like the most right thing in her world right then. He felt safe and different. If only he hadn't been hurt so much in his past that she was scared that maybe, he wouldn't ever risk his heart opening for someone else again.

She had been soothing so much in him physically all evening but emotionally she had no idea if there was any chance for them. A real meaningful chance or if life would just keep getting in the way.

Caroline sighed and kissed his head and tried to push the thoughts away and just sleep. Roman shifted and groaned and rubbed his head more against her throat and she let her eyes fall closed, cupping the back of his head and stroked his hair more.

"Shhh, just sleep you are okay Roman. I'm right here," she mumbled against his hair. She felt his hand pull her in more at her waist, his arm wrapping tighter around her, but he didn't say anything, and she closed her eyes and fell asleep.