That day, Sara and Nick didn't plan to get together. Instead, Nick just called Sara at her apartment around five in the evening. He only had to let it ring once and then he heard her pick up.
"Hello." Nick thought her voice sounded weak.
"It's Nick. How are you?"
"Sick."
"What?"
"Oh I got home and started feeling like crap. So I checked my fever and I have one so now I'm laying down, feeling sorry for myself and on top of that my head is pounding."
"Oh I'm sorry." He said with sympathy filling his voice. "Is there anything you need?"
"You."
He laughed into the phone and said, "I can be there in a matter of fifteen minutes if you need me."
"Well actually I need you to do something for me. Could you go to the store and get me some more Advil? I used Tylenol but it isn't working for me that great so I want to try something different."
"Oh yeah sure."
"It needs to be extra strong."
"That bad eh?"
"That bad."
"All right, I'll be there in twenty, twenty-five minutes."
"Sure. Bye."
"See ya."
He heard a click and then he hung up. Nick grabbed his coat and went out the door. He drove to the nearest drug store, went in, bought the Advil and then went back out to his car.
On his drove over to Sara's apartment, Nick listened to some old tunes. For some reason, that kind of music always made him feel relaxed and calm.
When Nick got to Sara's apartment complex, he parked his car and then walked up to her front door. He knocked but then opened the door himself, not waiting for Sara to get up and answer it herself because of how sick she sounded over the phone.
"Sara?" Nick softly called out. She wasn't in her living room so she was probably in her bedroom.
"I'm in here." Came the scratchy reply.
Nick followed her voice and sure enough she had been in her room. She was laying down on her bed, covered up with the TV on but muted. She didn't look that far from awful. It's crazy how someone can feel perfectly fine and then in the next few hours, goes from feeling fine to feeling like total crap.
He sat down beside her on her bed and took her hand in his.
"Hey." He said softly while giving her a small smile. "Here is your Advil that you asked for." He said while taking the medicine out of the plastic bag from the drug store and placing the bottle on her night stand.
"Thanks."
" No problem. Hey, what is your temperature? Have you checked it lately?"
"No. The last time was about and an hour before you called. Maybe I should check it again."
Nick handed her the thermometer that had also been on her night stand and he placed it in her hand. She pressed a button to turn it on, waited until a flashing ready sign came up and then put it just inside her ear.
"One hundred, four degrees." She said while looking at the thermometer after she had taken it out of her ear. "I haven't taken anything in more than four hours. Could you get me out two of those pills?"
"Sure." Nick opened the bottle, took out two pills and handed them to Sara. She pushed herself up a bit, took the bottle of water that had been sitting on her night stand and quickly swallowed the pills. Once she had them down, she laid herself back down on the bed.
"So do you know what you have?"
"Just the flu I think. Fever, headache, sick to the stomach, and just feeling gross. All the sure signs of the flu."
"Thats the flu all right."
"Nick, will you stay a while? I know I have germs and all. And you . . ."
"Nick gently placed a finger up to her lips to hush her and said, "I'm staying, no questions asked."
"Thank you. Lay down over here." She said while nodding to the other side of the bed.
Nick went around and laid down on top of the covers beside her.
It wasn't long before she fell asleep. Nick went to sleep too. He didn't know how long he would be there so he thought that he should take advantage of being able to sleep. Sara obviously wouldn't be working tonight but he would be.
About two hours later Sara woke up. Just after she did, so did Nick.
"Sara?" Nick said with a confused look on his face.
"What?"
"Your lips look swollen?"
"Is that why they hurt?"
Her lips didn't just look swollen. They looked really, really swollen. Twice the size that her lips would regularly be.
When she talked, her words were coming out garbled.
"Oh my god. What are your allergies?"
"Um, only penicillin. Oh my god, I'm not having an allergic reaction am I?
"It's looking that way. Did you ever take Advil before?"
"Not before just now, why?"
"Well I'm thinking that maybe you're allergic to the Advil."
"That is crazy. It's so commonly used."
"Still, did you eat or drink anything else new lately."
"No."
"Oh god. Well do you have any benadryl?"
"I think so but you'll have to check in the cabinet in the kitchen." Nick got up from the bed and went to leave the room when he looked at Sara and said, "Which . . ."
She cut him off by saying, "The farthest one to right on the top."
"Right."
He left Sara's bedroom and went into the kitchen and murmured to himself, "Farthest cabinet to the right on the top."
His eyes scanned the cabinet until his eyes came to the one Sara had told him. When he opened it, he saw many different over the counter medicine bottles. Luckily one of which happened to be benadryl. He grabbed the pill bottle and went back into Sara's bedroom.
"Did you find it?" Came out the garbled question.
"Yeah, luckily you had it."
He opened the bottle and took out two tablets and put them in Sara's hand. She grabbed the water and quickly swallowed the tablets. She was anxious to get red of the fat and hurting lips.
"Nicky's you don't have to stay if you want to leave you know. Shift starts in only . . . what is it now, um an hour and a half. You should go get ready to go to work."
"Sara, I'm not sure if you should be left alone. What if the swelling doesn't go down?"
"Nick. It will okay."
"You don't know that."
"Nick. I'll be fine. Really."
He was now sitting next to her and holding her hand. "All right but from now on, you take Tylenol and you should have another dose of benadryl later on."
"Nick I know. Really I will be fine. Don't worry about me."
He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. Then he sat back up straight and said, "Well did you call in sick at the lab yet?"
"No but I will."
"Kay, don't forget too though."
"Stop worrying. Really I will be fine. And that is an order."
"All right, all right." Nick said.
"Is there anything you need me to do before I go?"
"Will you get me another bottle of water from the fridge and get my some chicken noodle soup?"
"Sure, which . . ."
"The cabinet, farthest to the left on the bottom." She said with a smile.
"I'll be back."
Nick went back out to the kitchen, got out a can of soup, found the can opener and a bowl, opened the can of soup, put it into the bowl and heated it up. He got a paper towel and he found a spoon. Then he took the soup into Sara. He then went back to the fridge, got the bottle of water and then went back to Sara's room and placed it on her night stand.
"Can you eat with the swollen lips?"
"I'll do my best." She said with a gap-toothed grin or the best grin she could manage with her pathetically swollen lips.
"Don't forget to call in sick."
"I won't. I promise."
"I'll call you tomorrow to see how your doing and if you need anything you can call me."
"All right. See you later."
"Bye." He leaned down and gave her another kiss on the forehead. "Rest up."
"I will."
Just as Nick was leaving the room, Sara said, "And Nick . . ."
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for taking care of me."
He gave her a smile and blew her kiss. Then he left her apartment to go back to his house to get ready for work.
TBC . . .I know first hand what it is like to have your lips swollen very badly because of an allergic reaction to Advil. Sara's Advil allergy was actually inspired my myself. Hope you liked this chapter and please R&R.