Amy practically jumped on her phone when she saw the caller ID.
"Reagan?"
"No. It's Jack."
"Oh," Amy sighed voice filled with disappointment. "Wait. Why do you have Reagan's phone?"
"Reagan's sick. I think she needs you, there's only so much I can do for her you know?"
"Wait how sick? Cancer sick or?" Amy said panic clear in her voice.
"No. Just severe flu sick." Jack reassured. "Sweats, headache, high temperature, nausea, sneezing the usual."
"That doesn't sound too good." Amy hummed.
"Well she is doped up on meds right now, so you should come over," Jack's voice suddenly had a sly tone to it. "She isn't exactly going to turn you away is she? You can talk her ear off and she will have no choice but to listen. So…what do you say?"
"I don't think that is a good idea, I don't think she would want me there right now." Amy decided.
"You're wrong," Jack replied before hanging up.
A few seconds later Amy had received a text message with Reagan's new address.
Amy pulled up to a row of houses. It was much more cosy in terms of appearance, smaller, more compact, very…Reagan. Jack's Land Rover was outside indicating that this was indeed the correct address. Amy had been good about giving Reagan space, she hadn't seen Reagan or tried to contact her since she kissed her a week ago so she decided to really psych herself up with a rousing pep talk before walking up to the front door. Before she even knocked Jack had thrown the door open, clearly eagerly awaiting Amy's arrival.
"How is she?" Amy whispered following Jack's lead. Amy didn't get a good look at the new place, just a quick glance at the walls that now housed a few of the posters that Amy had seen in Reagan's previous bedroom.
"She looks like crap," Jack replied in a hushed tone while shutting the door to the kitchen. "Sit," Jack gestured to a wooden fold out chair and sat herself on the one opposite to Amy. Amy drummed her fingers nervously on the walnut table separating herself and Jack.
"So. I was making soup but now you are here you can take over. I don't think Reagan and I are at the stage where I can hand feed her. But you, her girlfriend can." Jack smiled before turning Amy's attention to the boiling pot on the stove. "Everything is pretty much done, it just needs a few more minutes. I'm gonna head out, I trust you can find the bowls and cutlery yourself, get yourself acquainted with the place."
Jack stood up and smoothed her dress before heading toward the kitchen door.
"Wait!" Amy stood up quickly and rushed over to Jack. "Are you sure she will be okay with me here?" Amy asked uncertainty clear in her voice.
"Amy. Trust me on this, she misses you." Jack stroked Amy's arm with a soothing swipe and then pointed to a closed door to the right of them "She's in there by the way, that's the living room." Jack pointed to the room to the left of them "And that's the under the stairs cupboard. Now go and tend to the soup before it boils over. Oh, here." Jack pulled out a tub of Vicks Vaporub. "This is a miracle worker. Alright, bye Amy." Jack gave an encouraging nod to Amy before leaving.
Amy sighed nervously, she was on her own now. Amy slowly stirred the soup nervously, she wasn't much of a cook, she would live on toast if she could, so being in charge of a large pot of soup was very nerve wracking for her. Glancing at her watch Amy decided it was time to serve the soup. It took a few tries to find where the plates and dishes were stored and a lot more tries to attempt to scoop the soup into a bowl without spilling it, in the end the food was served without too much destruction.
Amy carefully pushed her way into the dark living room. Fosters House Of Imaginary Friends was on the TV, the volume was turned down to almost nothing and the glow of the TV illuminated Reagan who was slumped over on the settee with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Amy placed the tray of soup on the coffee table in front of the TV and turned on the light. Reagan didn't even flinch, probably had no idea where she was and what was going on really. Her body was damp with sweat, her wet hair plastered to her face and she had visible dark circles beneath her eyes.
"Reagan?" Amy whispered sitting next to her girlfriend (?). "Reagan?" Amy tried again when she got no response.
"Mmm?"
Amy reached over and placed her hands either side of Reagan's neck. Definitely burning up.
"I'm cold and the light is making my headache worse." Reagan complained, her eyes still closed, her body still slumped.
"I have some soup here for you," Amy said not quite sure how to go about feeding it to Reagan.
"Amy?" Reagan croaked opening her eyes just enough to see if she was hearing things.
Amy gave a small smile of relief. "Yeah Reagan. It's me."
"What are you doing here?" Reagan asked not really able to raise her voice beyond a croaked whisper.
"Jack called me," Amy said leaning over to pick up the tray of soup.
Reagan eyes followed Amy's actions. "I'm going to kill her."
"You can do that after you eat this," Amy reasoned.
Reagan lifted her arm and it fell straight back down, it felt like lead and there was no way she was going to be able to feed herself like she had hoped.
"Do you want me to? Should I feed you?" Amy asked cautiously.
Reagan sighed nodding her head sheepishly before lulling it in Amy's direction.
Amy nodded and lifted a spoon full of soup to Reagan's lips. Reagan couldn't even, or wasn't able to slurp it off the spoon so Amy kind of just tilted it into her mouth. It continued this way until the soup was finished and Reagan closed her eyes immediately, like the effort of swallowing was tiring for her. Reagan's head fell onto Amy's shoulder and Amy felt a surge of joy course through her body, she knew it was mostly because Reagan was too tired to hold her head up but she would like to think that some part of Reagan wanted to lean on her. For the next couple of hours Amy watched cartoons while Reagan slept peacefully on her shoulder.
It was 7:30pm when Amy decided it was time for Reagan to shower and get into bed, she pulled Reagan's arms to get her onto her feet and gently guided her toward the stairs. Every step was tiring for Reagan and she was relieved when she finally made it to the bathroom and was gently lowered onto her toilet seat. Amy returned with towels and clean night clothes from Reagan's bedroom and ran a hot shower. All of Reagan's clothing were damp from her sweats so Amy threw them into the dirty basket, then she pulled Reagan to her feet and gently encouraged her into the bath.
Reagan didn't have the energy to clean herself so she just stood there wearily while Amy gave her a quick wipe down with a flannel. When she was finished Amy dried Reagan's hair as much as she could with the towel before working on Reagan's body.
"Do you feel any better?" Amy asked while pulling a vest top over Reagan's head before rubbing a generous amount of Vicks onto her chest.
"Cleaner, less stuffed up" Reagan smiled tiredly. "Thank you."
"Good," Amy replied pulling Reagan's shorts up around her waist.
When Reagan was dressed Amy grabbed her hand and led her toward the bedroom. Pulling back the sheets Amy waited patiently while Reagan gently lowered herself into bed, then Amy pulled up the blanket and pressed a kiss to Reagan's forehead.
"Don't kiss me," Reagan groaned. "You're going to get sick."
"Well then you can come over and look after me next time," Amy laughed. "I'm gonna head off now, do you need anything else?"
"Stay."
"What?" Amy asked eyebrows raised in surprised.
"Stay with me?" Reagan asked slowly blinking her large brown eyes at Amy.
"Okay. I'll stay." Amy said much more cooly than she actually felt. She stripped down to her underwear and walked over to a speaker that had Reagan's iPod slotted into it. "BANKS - BEDROOM WALL" Amy read out loud to herself. She hit play on the song that was already five seconds in, a pleasant bass filled the room:
'My arms are open for you look at me now
Baby if you want you got me
I know you're broken darling and I won't let you down
Baby I've been waiting for you'
Amy looked over at Reagan to see if the music was too loud. When Reagan didn't appear to respond Amy crawled awkwardly into bed beside Reagan. Making sure to keep her distance but still being close enough to let Reagan know she was there.
'I know you like acting like you don't care
But I can be distant don't want to be distant anymore
Darling look at me standing here
This is my promise, cross my heart promise, this is all yours'
After a few moments Reagan rolled over onto Amy tucking her head into the crook of Amy's neck, her hands resting on Amy's chest. Amy wrapped her arms around Reagan rubbing her back because she read somewhere that it cleared congestion not because she wanted an excuse to touch Reagan intimately.
'See these feelings are outta control
Talk about losing losing all my shit for you
Cause I've been thinking about thinking about
Putting my body body body on top of you'
Reagan lifted her head a little. It seemed to Amy that she was thinking of something to say, but thought better of it and let her head fall back down.
'You know how I see you, we should be one
Cause I already told you baby
Last time that I tried to sing you this song
Couldn't get the words out baby
My arms are open for you look at me now
Baby if you want you got me
I know you're broken darling I won't let you down
Cause baby I've been waiting for you'
"Amy?" Reagan spoke into Amy's neck.
"Yeah?" Amy whispered. By now she had one hand in Reagan's hair, the other still working on her back.
"You're a really good girlfriend." Reagan mumbled.
'"I try." Amy smiled listening to Reagan's breath even out as she drifted off to sleep.