Edward sighed and patted his stomach, shutting the apartment door behind him. "What a filling meal that was, huh Gingersnap?"

"It sure was, Ed!"

"Well when I saw that they put in a new sushi place down the street, I knew we had to go." Edward chuckled.

"Yeah…" Ginger wrung her paws together and averted the boy's golden eyes as he set her down on the coffee table. "I loved the tuna you gave me, but…"

"But what?" Edward shrugged off his red jacket and kicked off his boots before he bent down on his knees in front of the coffee table so he was almost at eye level with the ocelot. "What were you gonna say?"

"Well I-I think you ate too much sushi, Ed. And you ate all those spicy California rolls even though I told you that you shouldn't! They smelled sorta funny…" The ocelot wrinkled her nose at the memory of the scent.

"Those rolls smelled all right to me!" Edward gave her a reassuring smile. "But you think I ate too much sushi? I think I ate just the right amount…" He gently scooped Ginger up and gently held her against his full stomach, which felt tight and warm under her paws. "Don't ya think?"

Ginger giggled as she playfully batted her paws at the boy's tank top. "But Ed, I can hear your tummy gurgling! What if it's upset?"

"Naw, that just means it's full and needs some cuddles!" Edward cradled Ginger in his palm and brought her over to the couch for snuggles. Although Ginger asked several more times if he was okay, Edward continued to reassure her that he was just fine.

But as the night went on, Edward soon realized he did not feel fine. Everytime she asked, his response became much less confident.

"Are you sure you're okay, Ed?"

"Positive!"

"But those California rolls…"

"I'm fine, don't worry."

"Your belly is making a lot of angry sounds."

"I'll be okay…"

A few hours after they got home, Edward started to feel tired and weak and even a little feverish. After they got ready for bed together, the boy slept fitfully with an upset stomach and nausea. With help from Ginger's soothing paws on his tummy, he finally fell into a deep sleep sometime after midnight.

-

When Edward woke up in the morning, Ginger crawled onto his cheek and peered into his eyes. "How do you feel, Ed?" She whispered.

Edward blinked until Ginger's fuzzy image became clearer. "Ugh...I feel worse." He groaned and turned his cheek so that Ginger rested on his nose.

"Ed, you look so pale...and your forehead is burning up! I think you need to go to the doctor's!"

"Nah, I'll be fine. I probably just have a cold, it won't last long."

"I really think you should go, just in case! When you get up, you can call Yuki so she can come pick you up! I wouldn't want you to walk outside in this weather…"

"No, really, I'm okay. I just need some more sleep… Thanks anyway, Gingersnap." Edward mumbled gruffly as he closed his eyes again.

Ginger frowned when she heard the boy's deep breathing. "Ed…"

When Edward woke up again, there was a ghostly white figure sitting on the edge of his bed with a steaming mug in its paw and a tiny brownish shape sitting on its shoulder…

"YUKI?!" Edward yelped in surprise and quickly pulled the comforter over himself. He realized his mistake of moving too quickly when his stomach turned and his vision blurred from a fresh wave of dizziness.

"Ed, relax! I know you sleep in your boxers." Yuki stood up and placed the mug on his bedside table. "If you can sit up, you should take a sip of tea. It'll help with your upset tummy, okay?" The snow leopard reached out and rubbed his belly with her paw pads. "Are you still nauseous?"

"Yeah, my stomach hurts and it's upset - ugh, why does everyone insist on treatin' me like a kid?" Edward mumbled, slowly pulling the comforter over his head. "Wait...how'd you get in here anyway?"

Yuki chuckled at the boy's muffled voice. "I have a spare key to your apartment now, remember? When Ginger called me and told me she was afraid you might have food poisoning, I drove right over here!"

"Ginger...called you?"

"Yeah!" Ginger nodded and curled her tail behind Yuki's neck. "Earlier, I climbed onto the kitchen counter, got the phone off the hook and dialed Yuki's number by pressing the buttons one by one with my paws! It took me over an hour...but it was worth it because I just want you to feel better, Ed. I'm worried for you."

"I appreciate the gesture guys but I really don't think you have to worry about me. I just need some sleep…"

Yuki sighed and twitched her long tail. "Ed, Ginger and I are both animals in case you haven't noticed it ya silly goose, which means we can literally smell your sickness! I know you're afraid, but you're going to have to trust our instincts." The snow leopard sat back down on the edge of Edward's bed and pulled the covers off his head so she could see his pale face. "C'mon dude, you're basically a cub to me and I'm not letting any cub of mine stay sick. Now...will you please let me take my poor, sick cub to the doctor?"

Edward gazed up at Yuki's muzzle and managed a small smile. "...Okay. But let me get dressed first."

"Can do. Ginger and I will wait for you in the living room!"

When Edward stumbled out of his room a few minutes later, looking pale and bleary-eyed, Yuki stood up from the couch and held Ginger out in her paw. "Good thing Ginger called me when she did, Ed, you look like you can hardly walk."

Edward nodded weakly and carefully took Ginger from her, putting her in his pocket where she could stay safe at the doctor's office. "Sure, but I'm nervous and that's making my nausea a whole lot worse." He grumbled.

"C'mon buddy, let's get you some medicine for that fever so you can make it to the doctor's. You'll be out and feeling better before you know it."

In the waiting room, Edward slumped in a chair and shielded his eyes from the bright light above him as Yuki checked him in.

"Whew, hospital smell is always too strong for my nose. It's no wonder you see a lot of animals with a weak sense of smell working here." Yuki chuckled as she sat down next to Edward. "They'll come get us soon."

When a nurse came out to take Edward to an examination room, Yuki walked back with them to keep Edward comfortable during the appointment.

"Have a seat, Edward. I'm Doctor Romanov."

"Nice to m-meet you," Edward sat down on the examination table and, intimidated by the doctor's strong Russian accent, quickly straightened his back.

"You are feeling nauseous?"

Edward nodded. "I-I ate some sushi at a new restaurant yesterday and I started feeling sick last night, a couple hours after I had the sushi."

Doctor Romanov asked the boy a series of questions and wrote down a summary of what he said on a piece of paper.

"Edward, it doesn't look like you have food poisoning or the flu, but I think you have some sort of stomach bug. You should feel better by tonight or tomorrow evening, but I am going to give you a flu shot just in case. Since you're human, you're in danger of catching a more serious illness from us."

Edward froze at the word "shot."

Doctor Romanov stood up and headed for the door. "I'll be right back, in the meantime take off your black jacket and make sure your arms are bare." The lioness opened the door and walked out of the examination room, closing the door behind her.

Edward quickly stood up, became too dizzy, and fell back onto his seat. "I have to get out of here. I don't need shot!" His voice was hoarse and panicky.

"Ed, what's wrong?" Yuki got up and stood near the boy, wrapped her long fluffy tail around his back to comfort him.

"Ed doesn't like needles, he's afraid of them…"

Yuki looked down at Ginger, who had poked her head out of the boy's pocket and was clinging to his pocket as he anxiously bounced his leg up and down. "Oh, that's right…"

"Ed, it's going to be alright. It might hurt for a few seconds but then it'll be over before you know it! Yuki and I are both here for you, okay?"

"She's going to have to use my left arm...I won't be able to use it for a while and my left hand is my dominant." Edward grumbled. "Ugh, my stomach hurts so much and all this is only making it worse…" He groaned and leaned forward with his arms wrapped around his stomach.

"You might feel a little better if you try to relax, Ed. You're so tense that it's making your stomach hurt more...just take a few deep breaths." Yuki murmured as she softly rubbed Edward's back with her paw.

Edward hugged Yuki's fluffy tail to his chest to keep himself from anxiously wringing his hands together, but the door soon opened and the sight of Doctor Romanov with a syringe in her paw was nearly enough to make Edward faint right then and there.

"This won't take long, and then we can get you outta here."

Yuki stepped back but squeezed Edward's hand as Doctor Romanov came forward and cleaned a portion of his left shoulder with an alcohol wipe.

When the syringe came close to his arm, Edward flinched and leaned away from the sharp needle like it was a poisonous snake. "I-I don't need it, I swear!"

"Look at the needle, it's very thin and it won't hurt if you stay still."

"Just get that thing away from me!"

Although Edward saw Yuki holding his right hand and felt Ginger cuddling his tummy from her place inside his pockets, he still felt trapped and scared in the small white room. "If I wasn't feeling like crap I'd wheel kick that window and get the hell out of here…" he grumbled.

"Ed, please, you have to look at me." Yuki watched the boy ditch several more attempts from Doctor Romanov, and even tried to turn his body toward her with her paws, but without any luck. "Ed, look at me!"

"I DON'T WANT A SHOT, GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"Ed, listen! Your mother would be very proud of the young man you've become, in your world or ours."

It was a last ditch effort to get Edward's attention, but it worked. The boy whipped around and stared up at the snow leopard, his eyes brimming with tears as he sat frozen and speechless before her.

In the moments that the boy was still, Doctor Romanov took Edward's arm and slid the needle into his shoulder. He flinched slightly but barely felt a thing.

"Very good." Doctor Romanov removed the needle and put a bandaid on Edward's arm. "I'm going to give you a break while I write a prescription for your nausea." And she got up and left them alone in the room again.

No one said anything, but they didn't feel like they needed to speak. Yuki helped Edward put on his jacket and coat before she sat down next to the boy and put her arm around him.

-

Doctor Romanov came back with a few pieces of paper in her paw, all of which she handed to Edward. One paper was a prescription for the medication, while the other was a packet that had his height and weight, along with a few paragraphs about 24-hour stomach bugs. "If your symptoms worsen or don't go away in a day or two, call us and make another appointment. Feel better soon."

When the appointment was over, Yuki drove to a local pharmacy and had Edward's prescription filled out. Afterwards, the snow leopard took Edward and Ginger to her house and told them they could stay the weekend while Yuki nursed Edward back to health. That night, Yuki made toast with peanut butter and a bowl of chicken broth with crackers for Edward since he hadn't eaten all day. When he said he didn't have an appetite and refused to eat, Yuki quietly left the room to let Ginger handle it.

"I can't believe you don't want to eat anything, Ed…" Ginger wiggled out of the boy's pocket, crawled over his stomach, and sat down on his chest. He had stretched out on the couch after walking through the door and hadn't gotten up since. "It's not good to go a long time without eating. Even if you are feeling sick, you should at least have a few bites of toast."

Edward gave the ocelot a little pat on the head. "Thanks, Ginger, but I don't feel like eating right now." But after a bit of persuasion and the ocelot's adorable and soothing tone of voice, he finally ate a few crackers and at least three spoonfuls of broth. He slowly drank a cup of water, and gave Ginger half of a cracker smeared with peanut butter from the toast.

After repeatedly licking the roof of her mouth for a solid five minutes to get the peanut butter off (and when Edward had stopped snickering at her feeble attempts) Ginger crawled up to the boy's neck and snuggled up in the collar of his jacket.

Edward closed his eyes as he petted Ginger's head with his fingertip, and a weak smile stole over his lips when he heard her purr. "Ah Gingersnap, I want you to know I would've eaten you a while ago if I didn't feel like I'm on a never-ending merry-go-round set to warp speed and about to lose my lunch at any minute. I don't know how but my nausea has gotten worse."

Ginger giggled at the reference to Star Trek, a favorite show of his to watch from Yuki's collection. "Well look at the bright side! You'll feel better soon, and when you do eat me again it'll be twice as good because you weren't able to do it for a couple days!"

"True…" Edward relaxed into the couch and the room was silent for a moment. All that could be heard was the sound of Yuki making her own lunch in the kitchen. "Then again, ginger soothes upset stomachs…"

"True!"

"Ginger, soothe my upset stomach and make sure that tiny amount of food I ate stays where it is, okay?"

"Wait, I thought you said-"

Edward scooped Ginger up and carefully pushed her into his mouth.

Although the ocelot could smell the sickness on his breath, she was relieved when the boy quickly gulped her down. She squeezed down his throat and landed on a pile of mushy crackers in Edward's mostly empty stomach. The boy said nothing as he waited for her fur to work its magic on his tortured insides. Meanwhile, Ginger moved into her favorite "corner" and cuddled up in the folds, listening to the rough sloshes and gurgles his stomach and intestines were making.

"It's working, Ginger…now I don't feel like I need a bucket by my side at the moment." Edward sighed in relief and rested his left arm over his belly.

A little while later, Yuki came back in with a sandwich and a glass of water in her paws and sat down on a chair near the couch. She turned on an episode of Star Trek for Edward and listened, chuckling, to his mumbled commentary until he fell asleep.