A/N Own Nothing, Woohoo a new reviewer. I am glad that someone else is reading the story.
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I put the medicine and ginger ale on Jareth's bedside table and told him not to take any of it yet. I asked him if he had a thermometer and he told me to go and check the medicine cabinet. He had someone else buy a bunch of supplies for him when he moved in so he wasn't sure what he had.
I went into his purple bathroom and looked around. The shower/Jacuzzi looked really nice. I wondered if he would mind if I tried it out. The green bathroom had one too but it was a little smaller. I searched through the cabinet and found a really nice looking digital thermometer. I took it into Jareth.
"I'm Nurse Felicia. I will be taking care of you today. Now open your mouth and hold this under your tongue."
Jareth looked at the thermometer for a minute. I think he was going to refuse like a baby but he let me put it in. While I waited I measured out the green liquid medicine. Jareth started to get impatient; he kept glaring more at me the longer it took. The beeping made him jump and I grabbed it quickly and looked at it. He was at 103.
"I think that means you need to see a doctor."
"No"
"You know I am not really a nurse right? I only know how to give you over the counter remedies."
Jareth shook his head. I let it go. If the medicine didn't bring it down then I would force him to see a professional. He took a sip and was disgusted. I had to hold it up to his mouth to get him to drink it.
"Jason takes medicine better than you do." I said, scolding him for his childish behavior. I looked around and made sure he had everything he needed and then went to check on the kids. They were watching some cartoon I didn't recognize. I watched for a few minutes and then went back to Jareth. He was sitting in bed with his arms crossed.
"You need anything else? If not, I'll take the kids back home and check back in the morning if you want." His face looked sad for a minute and then he looked at me with sad eyes.
"Stay for a little while?"
I smiled. He was a big baby like any other sick man. I sat on the bed next to him and pulled the covers up around him. He was slowly falling asleep and soon he was leaning on me. I tentatively put my arm around him waiting for a reaction but he didn't seem to mind. I held him quietly for what felt like a long time before he asked me a question.
"Do you believe in the Labyrinth?" His words were slurred. I think he was trying to stay awake.
"No, but I believe that you think it's real and that's fine with me." I felt him shake with what might have been anger but it just made him cough a lot. "I can lie to make you happy if that's what you want."
When he finally composed himself he spoke again, "No, I don't want you to lie to me. I wish I could prove it to you. My magic is limited up here. I would give you your dreams."
I smiled. "I haven't had any dreams recently. I told you I was having dreams of going into the labyrinth. Hoggle refused to take me to the castle, but Didymus was going to show me. I never made it because the dreams stopped."
"I want to be the one to take you to the castle. That won't be for awhile though. Wait for me." That was the last thing he said before going to sleep. Well, it was the last conscious thing he said before falling asleep. He ended up lying with his head in my lap. I ran my fingers through his hair and rubbed his back every time he would wake up coughing. It seemed to help him drift back to sleep. A few times while he slept he would speak but it was hard to understand most of it. Three phrases stood out, stupid goblins, Sarah, and Felicia you precious thing.
It made me happy that I got mentioned in Jareth's sleep talk and that he called me precious, but I was still jealous of Sarah. I couldn't stop myself from keeping a tally of who was best and Sarah was always winning.
It was just a bit past the kid's bedtime when they snuck into Jareth's bedroom. They asked when they were going home and I told them that we were staying and the two of them could share the bed in the other room. They were good kids and went right to bed and I stayed sitting up in Jareth's bed the whole night.
The next morning I was incredibly stiff. I had slept the entire night sitting up. Jareth was cuddled into my leg using it as a pillow. I tried to slowly move out of his grip without waking him but it didn't work. He woke up coughing and I got him more medicine while he tried to make it stop. I popped the thermometer back in his mouth to find that it did go down to 100. That was a start. I gave him the daytime medicine and got myself up and dressed.
Jareth tried to get dressed as well saying that he had a lot of work to do today. I had to put my foot down. "What is so important that desperately needs to be done? If you keep your eye on those two, I will go and do it and you stay home."
I could get used to Jareth not being able to argue with me. When he got upset he couldn't breathe and so he couldn't argue. That didn't stop him from trying though. I stood there and tapped my foot until he was done coughing and could tell me what I had to do. He glared at me while giving me a list of the essentials that needed to be done today. I promised him I would get it all done and that I would leave the leftovers in the fridge on little plates for lunch. I was glad to find that Jareth's kitchen was actually stocked with cups, plates, and pans and such. It was only missing food.