Soul Mates?
Part 3
Her arms full of groceries, Natalie managed to free up enough fingers to press the doorbell outside of Miles' apartment. A moment later she heard him call out, "Just a minute!" which was immediately followed by a fit of coughing.
As soon as the door was thrown open, she stepped inside saying, "I stopped to get you some food and stuff in case you didn't have anything worth taking the effort to fix."
"You didn't have to do that," Miles protested reaching to relieve her of her burdens.
She quickly waved him off. "I've got everything. I even stopped and picked up some of the homemade vegetable soup at Max's Deli. Now go lie down and I'll fix you some supper," she said firmly.
He had started to head back to the couch when another coughing fit almost doubled him over. "Okay," he replied a little hoarsely.
"Go to bed. Now. I'll be in as soon as I get the soup in the microwave.," Natalie instructed, "And no reading materials. You need to rest, not study."
"Yes, Mom," he replied, giving her a tired smile and headed for the bedroom. After quickly changing into sleep pants and an old T-shirt, he crawled into bed and pulled the covers up over his head.
It didn't take Natalie long to get the purchases all put away and set a small bowl of the soup in the microwave and turn it on. While the soup was heating, she headed for Miles' room and sat down on the edge of the bed, peeling back the bedding enough to brush the damp hair off his forehead. "How do you feel?' she asked gently.
"Like crap," came the muffled response as he pulled the blanket back and turned to face her.
"I'll get you some aspirin for your fever. Do you feel sick?" Natalie asked as she stood up.
Miles took careful check of his varied symptoms; aching head, cough, sinus, fever, body aches. "Nope. Don't feel nauseas at all," he replied.
"That's good. I'll get the aspirin and some water and then your supper," the doctor said and headed for the bathroom to get the items as well as his thermometer.
By the time she returned, Miles was sitting up in the bed. Taking the thermometer out of her hand, he said, "You know you could always ask Connor to go with you. Or even Eva."
"I thought about Stephen but I'm not sure if it's his weekend with jack. Doesn't hurt to ask, though," Natalie replied. She watched as he stuck the thermometer in his mouth and when it beeped, she quickly withdrew it. "101.5. Not too bad but you might as well just call in sick the rest of the week." Laying aside the thermometer, she handed him three aspirin and the glass of water.
Miles quickly swallowed the aspirin and water and handed her the empty glass. "Thanks, Nat," he said, settling back in the bed.
"I'll bring your supper," the doctor said and headed to the kitchen where she quickly prepared a tray with soup, crackers and a bottle of apple juice. Returning to the room she set the tray on his lap. "There's more soup in the fridge that just needs heated up when you feel like it."
"This is enough for tonight," the young man decided as he spooned up the soup. "You don't need to stick around and watch me eat. As soon as I finish I'm just gonna go to sleep anyway."
"All right, Miles. Take care and I'll see you on Monday," Natalie said.
"Have a good time, Friday," he replied between sips of the soup.
"I definitely plan on doing that," Natalie assured him. Giving the younger doctor one last look, she left the bedroom.