"A Father's Care"
Archie and the doctor wheeled Sakura to the dining room, followed closely behind by Thomas and Rebecca. As they neared the dining room, Sakura started to get nervous.
"It's okay, baby, you didn't choose to get sick, it just happened. The team will be surprised that you got sick and will feel sorry for you, but that will be all. I'll tell them that you're sick before we take you in so that they won't gawk at you so much if you'd like." Archie reassured Sakura.
Sakura nodded, "Thanks daddy."
Archie smiled, "No problem, baby."
Archie paused for a minute before he said, "Oh….. I can't believe that my little girl is sick……."
Thomas nodded as did Rebecca at Archie's words. Thomas walked beside Sakura's bed and pulled the covers up some more so that she was snugly tucked in. Sakura seemed a little surprised at how well her group leader was taking care of her considering that she was new to everything that went on in Team Aqua.
Archie smiled, "Aw……. Thomas takes good care of you too."
Sakura looked surprised.
"And don't worry, I had him promise that he would do his best to not let anything happen to you and he's keeping his word." Archie told Sakura still smiling.
Sakura calmed down and Thomas looked at Sakura slightly surprised that she felt a little nervous around him. Though Thomas could understand that mostly, however he hoped that she would become more accustomed to seeing him around and wouldn't be so nervous around him as more time passed. They now reached the door to the dining room and Archie stroked Sakura's hair before he entered the room to explain to the team that poor little Sakura had relapsed back into her sickness. Whilst Archie was doing that, Thomas kept watch over Sakura until her father came back since he had promised him that he would take care of her while he was away from his little girl. A few minutes later, Archie emerged from the dining room and came over to his little girl and kissed her on the forehead.
"Mmmm……. Thanks daddy……" Sakura said, her voice sounding somewhat distant.
"Shh……. Rest baby, everything will be okay……" Archie told Sakura lovingly while he stroked her hair.
"Archie, how did the team react to hearing that Sakura got sick?" Thomas asked while looking at Sakura and how weak she seemed to be since the illness she had caught seemed to be in control.
"The team was shocked. They couldn't believe that anything else could happen to her." Archie replied, still stroking Sakura's hair.
"I think her illness is in control at this moment." The doctor said looking at Sakura sadly.
"But can you cure her?" Archie asked.
"I can, but it'll be a difficult fight for her and she'll need to get plenty of rest." The doctor replied.
Archie sighed in relief, "That's good. I don't want to lose her……"
The doctor nodded, "Don't worry, I won't let her die and I'll do my best to help her get well."
"Good." Archie said, still stroking Sakura's hair.
"Let's take her on in." Thomas said.
Archie nodded, "Yes, we should…… They're waiting to see her again. Plus they're worried now that I told them that she got sick."
Archie and the doctor took Sakura into the dining room and Rebecca and Thomas followed a few minutes later. As soon as Sakura was wheeled into the room, the team stopped talking and looked at Sakura, hardly daring to believe at how sick she looked. Archie and the doctor wheeled Sakura over to the table and positioned her so that everyone could see her. The team tried not to gawk at her, but that proved impossible since little Sakura seemed so very ill that they couldn't keep their eyes off her.
"Okay….. The birthday girl is back, though this isn't exactly what you expected since she's very sick and weak." Archie said, his gaze falling back on his little girl.
The team all nodded with their eyes still on Sakura.
"Mmmm, daddy?" Sakura asked weakly.
Archie came over to Sakura and moved her so that he was holding her in his arms, "Shh…… Daddy's here, baby. Do you feel like having some birthday cake?"
Sakura nodded weakly.
"Good, though first things first……. You can't have birthday cake until the birthday song has been sung. Okay, everyone except Sakura sing the birthday song." Archie said.
The team tuned up and started to sing and it went something like this:
"Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Sakura,
Happy birthday to you,
And many more!"
Sakura smiled weakly after the team finished singing to her. Archie now brought the cake over to Sakura and had her blow out the candles. Then he took the knife that sitting near the cake and cut Sakura a medium size piece and placed it on a plate and brought it over to Sakura.
"Do you want me to feed it to you, baby?" Archie asked her since she didn't appear to have much strength left in her.
"Mmmm, daddy? Can you feed it to me?" Sakura asked weakly.
"Sure thing baby. Can you sit up to eat?" Archie replied.
Sakura tried to sit up, but couldn't so Thomas helped Sakura sit up and piled Sakura's pillows behind her to give her some support while she was eating. Now that Sakura was sitting up, Archie took a fork and cut a piece of cake off her slice into a bite-size amount and brought it towards Sakura's mouth. When the bite was close enough, Sakura opened her mouth and Archie fed her the bite and Sakura accepted it and chewed it up and swallowed it. Once Sakura did so, her eyes widened in surprise at how cake tasted like.
"Do you like it, baby?" Archie asked her.
Sakura nodded and Archie smiled.
"I knew you would like it once you tried it." Archie told Sakura as he gently touched her face.
The team now served themselves a piece of cake before they turned back to watch Archie feed his little girl. Archie cut another bite off her slice and fed it to Sakura and she chewed it up and swallowed it too. The rest of the team began eating their slices of cake while they watched Archie feed his little girl. Archie continued to feed Sakura her slice of cake and this continued until Sakura had swallowed her last bite of her piece of cake. As soon as Sakura finished eating, Thomas moved her pillows so that she could lay her head back into them and her father helped her lay back down and covered her up so that she was now snugly tucked in. The rest of the team finished eating their pieces of cake at this same moment right after Sakura had been tucked in again. The doctor came back over to Sakura's side and took her temperature with his hand, and sighed grimly since she now had a high fever.
"Archie, we must get her back to the infirmary, her fever is so high that it could cause her to have brain damage if we don't get it down quickly." The doctor said trying to stay calm.
"Daddy!" Sakura said, clearly scared.
"Shh…… Calm down, baby, the doctor knows what he's doing. He's one of the very best, I made sure I hired a good one when that task came to my attention." Archie assured his daughter lovingly.
Sakura tried to calm down but was still slightly frightened at what the doctor had said.
"And don't worry, baby, I wouldn't put you under his care if I didn't trust him myself."
Archie and the doctor now wheeled Sakura out of the dining room and took her back to the infirmary and put her back into her bed there, and Sakura snuggled down into her covers and held her doll tight while her dad sat with her, hoping that he could make her feel better with him just being there beside her.
"Mmmm……… Daddy?" Sakura asked and then yawned shortly after she had spoke.
"Shh……. You need to sleep; it's the only way to get you well. Sleep will help you heal, and that's exactly what I want to happen since I want you to get better." Archie told his little girl as he tucked her in some more.
"Mmmm……. Okay…….." Sakura closed her eyes and fell asleep in a few minutes, since she hadn't really been aware of how tired she actually was.
The doctor now left the room and went to get an IV and a couple of shots and a cold compress to help bring her fever down and to keep her from getting worse. A few minutes later, the doctor returned carrying the necessary items and he brought them over to Sakura and set them on her bedside table. The doctor now took the IV and her medicine bag he had brought for her and put Sakura on the IV, he then took her medicine bag and hooked it up to a stand. The doctor now took the compress and put it on her forehead as her father looked on in silence. The doctor now took one of the four shots and pulled Sakura's arm out from under her blanket and administered it, but Sakura didn't stir.
"My poor baby………" Archie said looking at his little girl with love in his eyes.
"Yeah…… The poor thing, but don't worry she'll get better, I'll make sure of that." The doctor assured Archie.
"Okay, good." Archie replied sounding relieved.
The doctor now gave Sakura the rest of the shots before he eased her arm back under the covers. Archie now kissed Sakura on her cheek and then sat down beside her. Shortly after Archie had taken a seat the doctor sat down beside Sakura as well so that he could monitor her progress. Sakura continued to sleep peacefully considering how sick she was, and to both her father and the doctor this was a good sign; though it would still be awhile until Sakura regained her former strength and could move on her own without help, though only time would tell for sure how long this would take.