Never Have I Ever…shared a kitchen

*disclamer*-may contain implications of Neil thinking un-innocent thoughts.

As Rio sniffles and rolls over in bed, I sit on the edge of the bed and watch her worriedly.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask.

She open her mouth to answer but she just sneezes and groans a bit, curling into a ball and pulling the covers over herself with a miserable look on her face. Without waiting for her to answer, I put a hand on her forehead to see if I can gauge her temperature.

Her skin burns under my hand, and I pull back quickly and say, "Rio, you're really sick! What happened? You were fine yesterday!"

From under the covers, she peeks out at me before admitting, "I went outside while my hair was still wet…I'm just a little feverish, that's all."

For some reason, I doubt that was all she did; narrowing my eyes, I wait until she sighs and continues, "Okay…so maybe Tina and I were walking by the river yesterday and I tripped and that's why my hair was wet…"

"Uh-huh. Next time just tell me that from the start, alright?"

Turning, I shrug my coat on and move towards the door when I feel her grab the back of my coat. Struggling to prop herself up, she coughs again before asking, "Where are you going?"

Moving back towards her, I push her shoulder gently until she lowers her body back onto the bed and lies still under my touch. As patiently as I can, I wait until she stops protesting before I tell her, "I'm going to get help so you can get better. You're pregnant, it is NOT the time to be getting sick."

Her nose crinkles as she frowns before she orders sternly, "Not Klaus, he'll be mad and tell me I have to take care of myself! It's just a cold! Who knew that the river would be so chilly anyways…it's already spring…"

Giving her a look, I reply scathingly, "Of course not Klaus. I don't like talking to him, you know that. No, I was going to get one of the girls…I was thinking Felicity, she's good at cooking. She can make you soup and take care of you since you don't seem to be in too bad of a condition."

When Rio hears that, she seems to wilt and I lower my eyebrows in confusion before sitting on the edge of the bed again. Raising a hand to brush a few strands of blond hair from her sticky forehead, I say softly, "Hey, what's with that look? You love Felicity's cooking!"

Rolling over so that her back is to me, she crosses her arms and pouts quietly, "Yeah, but….I…I want you to take care of me."

As the words process in my brain, I stare at her in silence before she peeks over her shoulder to look at me, her blue eyes expectant as she waits for me to say something. For some reason, the way she's looking at me has me wanting to blush and quickly I look away before standing up and muttering, "Alright, alright, I'll stay and take care of you. What do you want me to do?"

For some reason, I don't ever remember a kitchen being this complicated. While I reach over to a nearby drawer to see where all the utensils and bowls are kept, I mumble under my breath to myself; Rio's been spoiling me by cooking every day since we got married, and as a result it's been awhile since I've stepped into the kitchen.

To add to my confusion, Rio seems to have added new things-the fridge is much bigger than before, and her recipe book is heavy enough that I worry about dropping it on my foot and breaking my bones. Rifling through the pages of the book, I finally find the recipe I'm looking for and begin to gather the ingredients and utensils I need.

As I start to cut the vegetables for the soup, I almost cut my own finger off when I hear Rio say, "Need some help?"

Turning my head, I see her standing in the entry way of the kitchen, the blanket wrapped around her like a protective cloak as it completely covers her and trails across the floor. I lower the knife in my hand and ask, "What are you doing? You're supposed to be resting!"

She pouts at my scolding, biting her lip and shuffling her feet before mumbling, "Want to help."

When I see that expression on her face, for a second my chest seems to freeze up and I find it hard to breathe. Since marrying Rio, I've had more heart issues than I can count on one hand in the past year.

Quickly I turn around and stare at the food I'm cutting up, saying curtly, "You can't help. You're sick. Go back to bed."

Much to my surprise, her arms slide around my middle and she leans into my back, snuggling her face into it as she murmurs, "Want to help. I'm not THAT sick."

"J-just go back to bed."

"No!"

"RIO!" I say, flustered and exasperated at this point. "PLEASE. I'm begging you."

Of course, she doesn't listen to my request or the pleading sound in my voice; she practically drapes herself across my back, pressing her body to mine as she tugs on my sleeve and whines, "Neil, lemme help!"

I make the mistake of looking down into her face-her cheeks are flushed pink from her fever, but the blue of her eyes is as clear as ever, and her lips form a small perfect 'o' as she stares up at me with a pleading look on her face.

Quickly, my eyes dart down to see that the blanket has slipped from her shoulders, leaving her neck and shoulders exposed. Following a single strand of hair, my line of vision falls to her pajama shirt, where the top two buttons remain open to expose just enough skin that any desire I had is immediately amplified.

Before I even realize what's going on, I hear myself saying, "If you really want to stay, I guess you can."

"Really?" Blond hair spills across my arm as she tilts her head to smiles up at me. "I can stay?"

Slowly I take a deep breath and nod, stiffening when she squeals in happiness and stands on her toes to give me a quick kiss on the cheek. When she lets go and heads for the fridge to grab some food, I release the breath I was holding and stare intensely at the vegetables, as if it will help me get used to the idea that I'm sharing the kitchen with my wife for the first time since we've been married.

For as long as we've been together, it's strange to think that not once before this were we ever in the kitchen at the same time.

Cooking becomes increasingly difficult to focus on when her hips continuously bump into mine as she shuffles around the kitchen, and when she passes me the small area of the kitchen practically forces us onto each other.

Her body is overly heated and flushed as she's sick, but at this point I'm sure my own face and body could match hers in temperature.

As I turn and put the pot on the stove, she smiles weakly at me and shifts to give me some more space, the shirt falling a bit more to expose her right shoulder as she does so.

Goddess alive, if this counter was cleaner and she wasn't sick…

I must be staring at her hungrily, because she looks at me curiously and says, "The food will be done soon, Neil. You don't have to wait that long…"

A blush floods my face at having been caught, and quickly I avert my gaze to the soup, reminding myself that she's sick and that I'm supposed to be helping her get better.

Oblivious to my thoughts and desires, Rio gloms onto my arm and hugs it happily, saying, "I like cooking with you. We should share the kitchen more often!"

I resist the urge to smirk as I lift one hand and trace a finger from her jaw up to her cheek.

I never knew sharing a kitchen would be this hard.

Lol so it's been awhile. But I'm only on the second week and I already have test so writing has been put aside until just now XD

Rio-you're not helping XD Just stop, before you make Neil's head explode.

Anyways I hope this was enjoyable :) The next one is going to be a prelude to the birth event, so stay tuned! I have that one written out so I may actually post it within this next few days, if not by the end of next week :) Until then, thanks for all the reads and reviews, and hope to see you next time too! :)