A/N: Gail reprimands Rory. Requested by Anonymous on Tumblr.
I uploaded this earlier and it was all code so hopefully this one works!
Gail is about to leave work when her phone starts ringing in her pocket. She smiles when she notices who's calling 'Hey Hol, I'm just getting ready to leave work, how was your day? Are we still on for dinner tomorrow?' 'I'm sick' Gail can practically hear the pout in Holly's voice 'Oh, what's wrong? 'I think I have the flu, I hate to ask because I know you were supposed to get drinks with the guys tonight but would you be able to come over and mind Rory?' 'Honey of course, I'll be there in 30 minutes'.
Holly answers the door to Gail looking more miserable than she has ever seen her 'Babe, get into bed, I'll take care of Rory and you just get better ok?' Gail gives her a peck on the cheek and ushers her into the master bedroom. 'Has Rory eaten? Have you?' 'No, he's just been playing since we got home, I didn't have a chance to make anything' 'OK, don't worry about it, just try to relax, I won't poison him'. Holly wanders over to the bed, Gail tucks her in with an adoring kiss to the forehead 'Don't you dare get out of bed' 'mmmmk' Holly responds already half asleep.
Gail leaves Holly after a moment and goes down the hallway to find Rory in his room with what Gail can only assume is every single one of his toys thrown on the floor, 'Well that explains what kept you so quiet little man, hi Rory' 'Hi Gail' he responds, his face the picture of petulance. 'Why'd you make such a big mess?' 'Dunno' 'well how about you get this cleaned up and then we make some dinner together?' 'NO I don't wanna' Rory glares at Gail. Gail begins to wonder what could possibly be going on to make the normally beyond sweet little boy act up so much. 'Rory, you doing ok?' he ignores her and continues sitting among the mess he has made but not playing with anything. Gail attempts to draw on what kind of punishment she has seen Holly put in place on the rare occasions Rory has acted out before. 'OK Rory, I'm giving you a warning now, and if you don't start cleaning up then I'm going to have to put you in a time out'. Rory continues to completely ignore her. She waits a full minute to see if she can break him, she's a police officer for God's sake! But he is a stubborn as they come and refuses to move. 'OK that's it Kid, you're going in time out' Gail goes to pick him up and then he breaks, completely freaking out and shouting 'NONONO, leave me alone! You can't give me time out! STOP' Rory is screaming and crying and Gail is completely out of her element and very worried, she doesn't have a huge amount of experience around children this small, and she has never seen Rory like this. She is silently hoping Holly has taken medicine to help her sleep, if not she is definitely not getting the rest she needs with Rory screaming like he's being murdered. Gail puts Rory down on his bed and lets him shout and wriggle around to get out some of his energy before pulling him up beside her 'Rory, you need to calm down. This is completely unacceptable behaviour'. Rory takes a few deep breaths and stops shouting, and it is then that Gail notices the flush in his cheeks and the heat radiating off his little body 'Rory, are you feeling ok? I think you might have a temperature'.
His short tantrum has completely taken it out of him so Gail scoops him up and brings him into the bathroom, sure that Holly will have a thermometer and probably any other medical junk any parent could ever need. Sure enough she quickly finds the thermometer and pops it into Rory's mouth, with the minimal response she gets from the boy Gail figures he must be feeling quite awful, and sure enough the thermometer reads 100o F when she takes it from him. 'OK Bud, I think we have an answer for why you were acting so weird, you must be feeling rotten. You must have caught whatever your Mum has' Gail chats to the little boy as she runs him a bath and gets him tucked up in bed, Rory is uncharacteristically quiet the entire time. Once he is settled in bed after taking some cold medicine Gail goes about cleaning up the remnants of Rory's tantrum.
Once Gail has tidied Rory's room and made a quick dinner for herself, with leftovers in the fridge in case either of her patients wake up hungry, she pokes her head in to check on Holly who is snoring softly and adorably. Gail grabs some pillows and blankets and heads back to Rory's room, sure his fever will probably wake him throughout the night. She gets settled on the floor next to his toddler bed and quickly passes out, hoping she managed to avoid catching the bug herself. Rory does wake during the night but spots Gail on the floor and simply slides out of bed and cuddles up next to her before falling back asleep.
This is how Holly finds them the next morning, feeling like a new woman after an undisturbed night's sleep. She looks down at the two adorable faces sleeping soundly and feels her heart swell for this incredible woman who came into her life out of nowhere and managed to make it better than she ever could have imagined. Gail starts to wake up and spots Holly standing by the door 'hey, how are you feeling? You look much better' Gail says, her voice still a bit rough with sleep 'I love you' Holly whispers. Gail is taken aback 'Wh-what?' she stutters out. 'I love you' Holly repeats, a smile blossoming on her face. Gail never expected the first time they said I love you would be while Rory was attached to Gail like a limpet in his sleep and that he and Holly would have the flu, but it kind of fits with their little life, it's messy, but it's theirs and it's beautiful. 'I love you too Holly'.
A/N 2: Thank you so much for the support for this story. It has been truly wonderful :)