Willow groaned and threw her arm out to turn off the loudly beeping alarm before manoeuvring herself and wrapping that same arm around the body next to her. Tara let out a small whimper.
"Will..."
"Shush, baby, it's okay," Willow mumbled sleepily when she heard her wife's raspy voice call her name; her eyes closed and head pressed into the blonde's neck, "I always set it for a few minutes early, remember? We have some snuggle time."
Willow heard Tara clear her throat followed by a loud, grated cough. She lifted her head and blinked a couple of times to focus her eyes, then frowning when she saw her wife's pale features.
"Hey, baby, you don't look so good," she said softly and put the back of her hand against the taller girl's forehead, "Oh honey, you're burning up."
Tara closed her eyes as they stung against the light and coughed again, covering her mouth as she did so.
"I don't feel well," she said, groaning and sniffling as her voice came out as a congested squeak.
"I think you have the flu, love," Willow replied quietly, placing a tender kiss against her wife's temple, feeling the heat emanating from her, "Stay there, okay? I'm gonna get you some tea."
Tara just managed a murmur of understanding and Willow quickly got off the bed, making as little movement as possible and closed the curtains that hadn't been closed the night before to stop the harsh light from shining in before running down the stairs, putting the electric kettle on, then reaching for the house phone and pressing one of the speed dial numbers.
"Hi, Michelle?" she asked when a voice on the other line picked up, "It's Willow. I'm okay, thanks, but, um, Tara's not. Oh no, nothing serious, I just think she has the flu. She's all fever-y and cough-y and anyway, there's no way she'll be able to go into work today. Okay, I'll tell her. Thanks, Michelle. Bye."
Willow hung up before quickly dialling another number and holding the phone between her ear and the shoulder as the kettle boiled, taking a mug down from the cupboard as a voice came through the other end again.
"Hey, Xander, it's Willow. Sorry for the early call, but I'm not gonna be able to come into work today. Tara's got the flu, so she needs me here. But I have my laptop here, I won't be able to do as much as in the office, but if you send me on the deets for any info you need, I'll do as much as I can," Willow said as she poured water in on top of the teabag she'd put in the mug, then frowned as she heard Xander's response to what she had said, "Yes, I did say deets. No, I don't think it's too 2003! Look, Xand, I really don't have time to debate whether my usage of slang is outdated or not, Tara's really sick. Okay. Thanks, buddy. I owe ya one."
Willow hung up the phone and went to the refrigerator, pouring a tall glass of orange juice and taking that and the mug of tea and carrying it upstairs. She saw Tara had fallen back asleep and quietly placed the drinks on the nightstand before tiptoeing into the bathroom and opening their medicine cabinet, taking out the bottle of Advil and the thermometer before returning to the bedroom and sitting on the bed.
"Ooff," Tara coughed, waking up and looking around in confusion.
"It's okay, honey," Willow whispered, opening the bottle of pills and retrieving two of them, "Just take these pills and drink a little and you can go right back to sleep. Rest is good."
Tara wordlessly took the pills offered to her and sipped as Willow held the orange juice up to her mouth, feeling too unwell to do anything but comply with what her wife was saying until she caught sight of the alarm clock on the nightstand.
"Work," she croaked and Willow just shook her head.
"I called, baby, don't worry, I told them you won't be in. Michelle says to feel better."
Tara crinkled her brow.
"You'll be late."
"I'm not going in," Willow replied, putting the orange juice back on the nightstand, and grabbing the thermometer, "My wife needs some TLC."
Tara was about to protest but Willow just gave her look and she smiled as best she could.
"Love you."
"I know," Willow smiled back, placing the thermometer in the blonde's ear and pressing the button, "I love you, too. Oh boy, 101.6°. Yea, definitely the flu. Okay, those Advil should help with your fever. What else hurts, honey?"
Tara groaned slightly.
"Everything."
"Oh baby," Willow replied, sympathetically cupping her wife's cheek, "Sleep, okay?"
Tara nodded against the hand on her cheek and felt the redhead place another warm kiss on her temple.
"I'll keep checking on you," Willow said, standing up and tucking in the covers around her wife before opening the drawer of the nightstand and pulling out a pack of tissues, "You're gonna need these. And your juice is there. I'll take the tea back down 'cause it's probably gone cold, but just yell if you need anything."
Tara nodded again wordlessly, the scratchiness of her throat meaning it hurt to talk. Willow sat back down for a moment and placed soft kisses over each of the blonde's eyelids.
"That's my girl. Now, close those beautiful baby blues."
Tara gratefully let her eyes fluttered closed and felt Willow stand up, placing a final kiss against her head.
"Love you," Willow whispered against the taller girl's hair before straightening up again and walking quietly out of the room and down the stairs.
"Whoops," she said to herself as she looked down and realised she was still wearing just the tank top and pair of pyjama bottoms she'd gone to sleep in the night before, "Oh well. Not gonna disturb Tara now to get changed."
She put the kettle back on to make herself a cup of coffee and retrieved her laptop from the living room, letting it load while she made the coffee, absently thinking on the few other times Tara had been sick in their years together.
The first time had been the December after they'd moved into their dorm together in college. It had been raining heavily all month and Tara had had an outdoor class with one of the more liberal professors of the college and they had gotten caught in a rainstorm, leaving her bedridden for two days with a heavy cold.
The second time had been in the fall when they moved into their apartment and Tara had started her job – she'd caught a stomach bug from one of the children she'd been working with and couldn't keep anything down for almost four days before recovering.
The third time Tara had been having recurring headaches that manifested harshly one night, making her physically ill. Willow had rushed her straight to the emergency room, the doctor there diagnosing migraines, most likely stress-related from the particularly heavy caseload Tara had had at that particular time. Willow had demanded she take a week off work to unwind and the migraines hadn't made an appearance since.
The last time had been just a couple of weeks before they'd gotten engaged and Tara had gotten laryngitis, leaving her practically unable to speak for almost a week.
Willow, in stark contrast, never got sick. Apart from the occasional sniffle when she was a child, she'd never caught any bug or flu that was going and had only had to see the inside of a hospital once when she was 7 and had fallen off her bike during the learning stage, resulting in a fractured arm. She figured she just had a really good immune system and happy she did so because it meant she got to give her then girlfriend the care she needed and was just as happy to do the same for her now wife.
Stupid January in upstate New York. Making my girl feel all blech-y.
Willow sighed and sipped on her coffee as she logged into her work email and saw Xander had sent her a note requesting whatever she could find for on a local business. She dragged a stool over to where she was standing and sat on it comfortably as she started doing what work she could from home.
She got so lost in what she was doing, she didn't look up from the screen until the 'low battery' sign popped up in the corner and she noticed it was already lunchtime.
"Shit, Tara."
She jumped up and rushed her laptop into the living room, plugging it in to charge before running back into the kitchen, getting a few things together, then going up the stairs and sitting on the side of the bed, Tara's eyes fluttering open at the movement.
"Hi, angel," Willow whispered with a smile, "I brought you some toast. How're you feeling?"
"A little better," Tara said quietly, though it looked like it pained her to speak still and her voice was completely congested, "Thanks."
She carefully sat up against the headboard and took the plate offered to her, lightly nibbling on the toast.
"Let me check that fever," Willow said, getting up and repeating the action she'd done earlier, putting the thermometer in her wife's ear and frowning when she read the reading, "Still up. Okay, we'll keep you on a steady dose of that Advil and plenty of drinks."
Tara couldn't help a small smile.
"Okay, Dr. Willow," she said before sneezing loudly, "Ow."
Willow plucked a tissue from the pack on the nightstand and held it against her wife's nose, gently wiping it. Tara's head turned at the tender action, not feeling babied or silly like some might but just much loved.
"Why are you taking care of me?" she asked, her voice thick with emotion and cold.
Willow just smiled and dropped the tissue on the nightstand.
"'Cause I married ya. Snots and all."
Tara dropped her head coyly and the redhead lifted her chin up with her fingers, leaning forwards for a kiss but the blonde quickly pulled back.
"You don't want my germs."
Willow scoffed playfully.
"Nonsense, I never get sick. Now lay one on me, sugar."
Tara giggled and accepted a soft kiss.
"Now how's that toast going down?" Willow asked, lightly stroking her wife's cheek, "Settling your tummy at all?"
Tara nodded and put the plate, almost all the toast gone, on the nightstand.
"Good," Willow smiled, "Think you could sleep a bit more? I can go out and get you some magazines if you want or get you comfy on the sofa if you wanna watch some TV but sleep would be best, you'll get better quicker."
"I could sleep," Tara replied before a sharp shiver went through her.
"I'll get another blanket," Willow said when she saw the shiver and rushed out to retrieve one from the linen closet in the hallway, covering Tara with it when she returned, then handled the Advil bottle again, "Two more of these, beautiful girl."
Tara swallowed the pills with the juice on her nightstand and lay back down against the pillows.
"You're the best," she said with a rasp as she settled.
"'Cause I have the best," Willow replied, tucking in the blankets in around her wife again, "Now, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite!"
"I'll try," Tara said sleepily as deep coughs rose from her chest.
Willow placed her lips against the blonde's temple and left a lingering kiss there until the coughing stopped and she felt Tara slip into slumber. She quietly changed into jeans and a t-shirt and went back downstairs, making her own lunch and eating at her laptop as she continued to do the work she could.
When she'd done what was possible from her own laptop, she closed her laptop and turned the television on to a low volume, smiling slightly when she saw Oprah was on, getting flashbacks to her years of unemployment when she'd watch the chat queen to alleviate boredom.
She absently watched the TV and didn't even feel it as she began to drift off herself until a loud bang from upstairs made her eyes fly open and she leapt out of her seat, rushing up to Tara, her eyes widening in alarm when she saw there was nobody in the bed.
"Baby?"
"I'm here," a meek voice came from the other side of the room and Willow skidded over, seeing her wife lying in a heap on the floor, holding her head.
"Honey, what happened?" she asked as she crouched down and gathered the blonde in her arms.
"I sneezed really loudly in my sleep," Tara replied, nasally and foggily, "And then I was on the floor. I think I fell. I hurt my nose."
Willow wiped some hair away from the blonde's brow and leaned forwards to place a gentle kiss on her reddened nose.
"Let's get you back into bed, princess," she said, helping her wife up and back onto the mattress, "Maybe lie in the middle in case you get any more sneeze-y attacks."
Tara shuffled into the middle of the bed as Willow went to pick up the pile of used tissues on the nightstand to put them in the trash.
"Willow, those are all really germy."
Willow just shook her head with a smile.
"Baby, I told you. I never get sick."
And then she sneezed.