Praetor Reyna's Sick Days
Praetor Reyna never got sick.
She had never taken a sick day since she got in office. She had never pushed work off to someone else while she nursed a cold with chicken soup and never getting out of her pajamas. She had never even called in a fake sick day to go goof off or even just get some well needed sleep.
While there had been days where she set her own hours and allowed herself a little more sleep or even more time to wait for the Dayquil to kick in, she hadn't taken an entire day off before.
Everyone thought that Reyna had an amazing immune system. Some said that she maintained it with weird diets and herbal medicines. Other claimed that she made a deal with a god to keep from being sick. And many of Venus's descendants, who now hated her after the Suzie incident, thought that she must have made a deal with Venus to never get sick but to be unlovable.
But the truth was much more simple than that.
Reyna just simply never took a sick day.
Oh yeah she got sick.
She had a normal immune system and got sick like normal people. But she went on with her life. She took her medicine, packed some tissues, and powered through. It wasn't always the best for her health (actually, it was the opposite of the best), but Reyna loved her job. That should be a good thing, but Reyna didn't know how to stop loving her job. She didn't know how to just stop working.
Even when she was sick…
Jason was the opposite of this.
Jason had been taught the principles of taking care of your body. A general had to be prepared to lead his soldiers into the fight, and Jason was always preparing for that.
He wasn't completely obsessed with health, but he did regard it much more than Reyna did. Reyna could go days without eating, just working and not thinking to eat. And she could just work straight through a cold, even if it prolonged the cold and created more suffering.
When Jason really got sick, he locked himself in his room with his favorite movies and spent the time in his bed waiting out the illness. Jason, though he always complained of it to his friends later, enjoyed his sick time. He got sleep, watched a lot of TV, ate mostly whatever he wanted, and didn't have to change out of his pajamas. His sick time was needed for more than his physical health, he needed it for his mental well-being.
Reyna had never gotten to enjoy a real sick day. She never knew what it was like to wake up in bed and stay in bed, turning on the TV instead of jumping out of bed and getting dressed. She didn't know what it was like to just longue and lazily get out of bed and eat chips and snacks all day, free from duties for the "sake of her health" and because no one would risk getting sick to bring her work.
It was a bliss she had never gotten to experience, and she wasn't planning on it as she realized that she was getting sick.
It started as a sneeze, and it turned into a cough. The cough added a sore throat, and her stomach began to ache soon after.
Before she knew it, she was sick, and she did what she always did. She got out of bed, got dressed, put some tissues and cough drops into her pocket, and took some Dayquil. Then she was out to work, careful not to get too close to people of course, but close enough to get her work done.
No one noticed except for Jason.
Just that morning, as she was opening his front door to grab a poptart from his pantry and make sure he was awake, he could tell at first glance she was sick.
And, immediately, he told her to go back to bed.
"I am not going back to bed, Jason. We have work to do."
"Work I can do. You are sick, you need rest."
"It's nothing. I'll be fine. Now drop it."
Jason would have kept pestering her, but he could see now that it wasn't going to do any good, and he knew how stubborn Reyna was. If he started telling her that she couldn't do things, she would just go and do them. Though he was actually trying to help her, he knew that it would be harming her to keep going.
"Fine, let's get to work," Jason grabbed a protein bar from the pantry, and they started off on their morning rounds.
Praetors had to do about everything from the military, New Rome, the camp, and even the local drama.
First, they went over new plans for the military. They approved purchases for the camp. They did a security check over New Rome, and they had to settle some local disputes during their lunch hour. From then, they just kept on with their duties, but things felt longer, harder, and even more annoying for Reyna.
By that night, when she would have usually been settling in for some relaxing time before bed, Reyna was beat. She took a hot shower instead of a relaxing Roman bath. She skipped dinner and had something from the fridge instead. And, when she would have been on the phone with Gwen or reading up for work, she went to bed and passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow.
While Reyna needed to be up and ready for her office day where she had to get all dressed up (not wearing jeans and a comfortable tee shirt was dressing up for Reyna, at least when she was this sick), Reyna's body needed rest. And Reyna's body won the battle and kept her sleeping soundly through her first alarm. She stirred at her second, and the third on her cell phone just made the bed vibrate, not that she noticed.
Jason was prepared to force her to sleep, and he was trying to think of what he could do to get that as he used his key to get into her house. He grabbed a Twizzler from a bowl on a nearby table, and Jason was biting into it as he climbed up the stairs and made his way to her room.
He almost laughed at the sight.
Praetor Reyna was oversleeping and sick. Someone alert the media!
Jason finished up his Twizzler and disappeared into the bathroom where he began to get the cold medicine from the cabinet. While Reyna rested, Jason called on every trick to cure or at least ease a cold that he knew. He mixed the Dayquil with other drinks to make it bearable. He prepared the soup to make later in case she got hungry, and he spent a while on Reyna's laptop writing an email explaining that he was giving permission for Octavian to run the camp for a day. He also quickly wrote another email to Bobby to keep an eye on Octavian.
By the time Jason had finished all of this, changed out of his robe and into an old sweatshirt he had left before, and was bringing the Dayquil drink with Twizzlers up the stairs, Reyna's eyes were beginning to tiredly blink open.
"Jason, what are you doing here?" her voice was tired and her mind groggy. She felt like there was a cloud over her brain, blocking all intelligent thought.
"Making sure you're alright," he put the Twizzlers down on the end table and handed her the drink, "Drink this."
She did. She was too tired to ask why. Once she did, she put the drink down on the end table and tried to sit up. But it was slowly and painfully, so Jason made her lay down again.
"I'm fine, Jason," she rolled her eyes, but she was lying down like he said anyway, "I'll be up in just a minute, and we'll get to work."
"No, we won't."
Reyna's eyes flew open.
"Yes, we will."
"No, we won't. Octavian will."
Now her eyes were turned murderous.
"What did you do, Jason Grace?" she said his name as if it was the dirtiest curse word ever created.
"Well, you called in sick, and I called in to take care of you. Octavian is taking over today, and Bobby is helping him and supervising him."
"You chose Bobby of all people to babysit him?" Reyna moaned, and she sounded like she just might cry.
"He is responsible, and they'll do fine. Even if they don't, you don't need to worry about it now. You need more rest."
"No," Reyna began to sit herself up, but she was slow and her body weak. Jason pushed her back down again, and she glared at him.
"Reyna, you're sick, and you're going to sleep."
"I am not! I have work!"
"Yes, you will because that drink causes drowsiness."
Just as Jason said it, she could feel it sweeping over her.
Jason gave her a look that made it very clear to both that Jason had won. Reyna groaned.
"Go back to sleep," Jason ordered, and Reyna mumbled out something that sounded vaguely of her telling him that she hated him. But he didn't think much about it. He just let her slide back into a comfortable position and put her head back on the pillow. She was pretty much passed out by the time pulled the blankets over her and tucked her in.
The rest of the day, Reyna was a bit easier, knowing that she had lost now.
But she definitely made sure that Jason was paying for her annoyance. That day, he was basically her slave. She was hungry, he got whatever she wanted. She was too cold, he got another blanket. She was too hot and wanted a fan, he got the fan. She wanted a drink, he got it. She wanted to watch a movie, he tracked it down and played it for her. She needed tissues, he got them. They were small things, but she made sure that anything and everything she needed even if she could get it herself was fetched and brought to her by Jason.
It was her way of getting even without actually hurting him. After all, her body had needed this.
By the end of the day, things were calmer between the two. They watched a movie together, and she fell asleep during the credits. Jason cleaned up, put away the snacks, and turned off the movie, and exhaustion began to take him over as he finished up with everything.
He didn't want to go home and leave her alone. The couch was an option. Another option was the room that was supposed to be a guest room and did have a bed, though the bed was surrounded by books, paperwork, and was used as a general storage area for some of New Rome's documents. But, in his tired haze, he found himself climbing into bed beside Reyna.
Within seconds, he was also fast asleep, and the tired pair enjoyed restful deep sleep together.
It was about ten when Reyna woke again, and she let out an annoyed grunt as she realized that she was still not ready in Jason's book to go back to work. As she woke up, she was beginning to prepare herself for another day of being stuck in a house with Jason doing everything to make her feel better.
She had to admit it was sweet, even if it did annoy her.
But then again, that was basically Jason.
He did follow all of the rules. He was sweet and caring, and he was completely adorable sometimes. He did nice things, thought of other people, and he even put up with Praetor Reyna. To everyone, he was a nice boy. And, particularly to girls, he was a nice boy that they all wanted to be their boy.
But there was more than his perfect appearance, propriety, kindness, and smarts.
For one thing, he could be a complete shmuck! Yes, he was sweet. He did nice things. And he was great at his job. And, yes, his annoying things were quite a bit down. But, once you got to know him, he could also be completely annoying.
For example, Reyna's nicknames: Rey-Rey, General, Queen, Prae-Prae Rey-Rey, Shorty, etc.
For reasons Reyna didn't know and never would admit, she kinda liked it though…
As Reyna was beginning to really wake up and able to think straight, she noticed something heavy on her waist. Then warmth on her back. And finally Jason's nose on her neck.
Reyna wasn't exactly sure how respond, so her body did it for her.
It was a combination of what she knew she was supposed to do (roll her eyes), what her brain said she should do as she was probably contagious (wince at the thought that he wouldn't be able to work and she would have to take care of him), and what a weird part of her wanted (a smile and a blush).
Finally though, her anger for the second thing took over.
She kicked him in the leg.
Jason winced as he was pried from sleep.
"What the Pluto was that for?"
"For you sleeping in my bed with your arms around me! Haven't we been over this?" Reyna yelled, "And wouldn't you think not to do this especially when I am sick?!"
"I fell asleep in here, calm the Jupiter down," Jason sat up.
He ruffled his hair and looked at the clock.
I better write an email to Octavian, he thought.
"Oh great, not only did I have a sick day, I had two," Reyna plopped her head on the pillow, "It'll be the talk of the town."
"Wait until someone hears that I slept here. The rumor mill will go crazy," Jason smirked.
Reyna kicked him again, and he let out another wince.
"Will you stop doing that?"
"When you stop acting like an idiot, I'll stop."
"So you'll never stop," he mumbled, standing up and ruffling his hair.
Reyna stared at him as she began to think about Octavian running everything.
Reyna felt a chill run down her spine, and her stomach felt like it was about to empty its contents but not for a cold this time.
She rolled over to where her face was in the pillow and she moaned.
Jason almost laughed, knowing what was wrong with her.
They hadn't been friends for very long, but he could tell everything about her. Just hearing her moan, he could tell what was wrong, what she was thinking of, and typically how to get her mind off of it.
With working together and seeing each other all the time, they kind of had to know everything about each other. Sometimes, they didn't even need to talk. They knew what the other was thinking what to do, and particularly what not to do so as not to evoke anger from the other.
But they somehow managed to find new things to learn about each other, new things that annoyed them about each other, and new things they also liked about each other.
This was not one of those things though.
Jason could tell she was thinking about work (a very easy guess when it came to Reyna), and she was thinking about Octavian (even easier). She was wondering how he was doing as a leader (a worry Jason shared), and she was thinking about killing Jason for making her stay home and let Octavian do his job.
"Calm down, General Rey-Rey."
Reyna glared at him.
She hated being called Rey-Rey. And she hated being called General. Put them together and you might as well have just started digging your own grave.
"Bobby is watching Octavian, and you, my dear, are still sick. And you are mad at me, so I will let you have what you want today. So, Reyna, what do you want?"
"I want to go to work."
"Hot chocolate it is."
Oh my God! I have had this thing forever, working on it occasionally, but I didn't really think about it. I am so sorry it took so long.