Alex stood up from her place at her desk, stretching her arms above her head and twisting back and forth, enjoying the satisfying cracks that emanated from her stiff spine as she loosened the muscles that had been stuck at an unnatural curve as she sat at her desk. She and Jess had had their heads buried in the final copy of a manuscript of one of their biggest authors the entire day, determined to bring it to perfection before it went to print at the end of the week. It took all their collective brainpower to finalize everything before it was distributed for public consumption.

Alex had finally finished her final read, and, in her amateur opinion, it was as close to perfect as it was going to get.

She looked across the office space and saw Jess, forehead in his palm, focus devoted to the words on the pages in front of him, pen scribbling a note here and there. Turning her attention to the Pack and Play adjacent to Jess, she found Ellie looking up at her with a gummy grin and rosy cheeks.

"Hey, goober," she said affectionately, hoisting her out of the array of teething toys and board books and into her arms, frowning once she got a closer look at her. "Hey Jess?"

"Hm…" Jess said distractedly.

"Pretty sure your kid isn't supposed to have green stuff coming out of her nose."

Jess's attention was immediately diverted, his head snapping up and face full of concern. He stood and took Ellie from Alex. Despite her happy demeanor, she definitely had a cold.

"Great," Jess grumbled, running his hand across Ellie's head. At least she didn't feel overly warm, so no severe fever like last time. "She was a little sniffly this morning, but it definitely wasn't this bad."

"Hey, at least you can't blame me this time!" Alex chirped, taking a dramatically large step away from the babbling ball of bacteria in Jess's arms.

"Yeah, whatever," Jess said, yawning, his many nights of working instead of sleeping catching up with him.

Unfortunately, right at that moment, Ellie sneezed.

Jess had barely started to process what had happened when Alex started running across the office and shrieking about how gross it was that his kid just sneezed into his open mouth. Which, fair. It was pretty gross. It wasn't the first time something disgusting had happened in Jess's almost year of parenthood – he'd dealt with more than his fair share of blowout diapers and spit up – but this was bad enough that he had to put quite a bit of effort into not dropping Ellie as he leaned over to spit onto the floor and tried his best not to retch. Ellie, of course, was giggling hysterically at the chaos around her.

"Ohh my God, that's the grossest thing I've ever seen," Alex groaned with a shiver of disgust.

"You should deal with her next dirty diaper then," Jess said in between desperate attempts to get the germs out of his mouth.

"Ugh, now I'm gonna have to figure out what to do with you out of the office!"

Jess set Ellie back in her playpen, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his sweater with a grimace, taking a sip of coffee from his mug and swishing it around before spitting it into his trashcan. "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean'? You're so going to catch whatever she has!"

"It'll be fine, I don't get sick."

Alex looked at him, bewildered. "Your baby – your snotty, germy baby –"

"Thanks, I love hearing my kid described like that."

"– just launched a spray of virus into your mouth! How could you not get sick?"

"My immune system just fights everything off, I don't know. Maybe something to do with growing up in crappy apartments and riding the subway everywhere ever since I could walk."

"The subway is gross…" Alex said. "Still, what do I do if you ever have to be out? Realistically, you'll have to be out someday."

"What do you do when I work from home?"

"Oh. I guess I just answer emails and work on the zine and make any calls that need to be made."

"Right, so…"

"Okay, but what if you're out for multiple days?"

Jess fell back into his creaky desk chair with a sigh. "On the off chance I ever can't make it to work, just… work on tasks and sh—" Jess stopped himself, glancing sideways at Ellie, conscious of how quickly she'd been picking up words lately. "Stuff that you've already been working on, look through any submissions we have, work on the zine. If you run out of things to do, work on your own stuff, practice writing."

"Really?" Alex asked with a sparkle in her eye.

"Writing on your own is important for editing other work in my experience," Jess said with a shrug.

Alex unsuccessfully tried to hide a grin, bouncing on her heels. "Got it, boss."

Jess let out another yawn, this one far less eventful than the previous one.

"Go home, old man. Your kid's sick and you're obviously exhausted, plus it's Friday. I'll close up."

"Don't call me old man," Jess said, annoyed both at the title and that Alex had a point about him being tired. "I should get Ellie home though. She should rest."

"Sure, Ellie needs rest," Alex said with a snicker.

"Shut up," Jess snarked as he packed up Ellie's belongings and got her strapped into her stroller. "You're coming to Ellie's birthday party in a couple weeks, right?"

"Hell, yeah! I'm not missing that kid's birthday!"

"Great, I'll mark you down as a yes," Jess said with a hint of sarcasm. "Night."

"Night, Dad!" Alex called after Jess as he walked out the door.

"Stop…" Jess groaned, throwing his head back.

Jess trudged home, feeling like he was pushing Ellie's stroller through mud. He hated to admit to himself that he was dragging a little, but Ellie was out cold and Jess was starting to envy her freedom to sleep on the trip home. He figured it probably wasn't a great sign that he was jealous of his infant daughter. He'd been trading sleep for work and devoting what was probably too much time and energy to the manuscript lately, but they weren't bringing in many new authors lately and this book had a chance of getting the Truncheon name out and about.

Thanking the higher powers that their building had an elevator, Jess leaned against the cool wall and absentmindedly pushed Ellie's stroller back and forth to keep her asleep, before getting off at his floor and staggering into the apartment to find Rory cooking dinner and smiling to herself.

"Hey, you," she said with a snort.

"What's so funny?"

"I just got off the phone with Alex," Rory said, biting her lower lip to stifle her laughter.

"Hey, it was not funny!"

Rory just started laughing harder.

"You try having Ellie launch a snot rocket into your open mouth and see how you feel!"

"Ew!" Rory cackled.

"Exactly!" Jess unbuckled Ellie, now awake and chatty, from her stroller and lifted her up where she kicked gleefully despite her runny nose and ruddy cheeks.

Rory beamed as Ellie threw her weight towards her mother and shrieked with joy, practically launching herself into Rory's arms. As Rory planted kisses all over Ellie's tummy, Jess wandered over to the stove.

"Whatcha making?" he asked, peering into the large pot, breathing in the homey aroma of herbs and spices and broth.

"Sookie's chicken noodle soup. Supposedly it has actual magical healing properties."

"Good for Sookie, but I'm not going to get sick."

"Okay, honey," Rory said in a placating tone.

"I'm not!" Jess insisted.

"Whatever you say! Who knows, maybe I'll get sick and then hey, at least we'll have magic soup. And Ellie can have some of the little pieces of chicken and veggies!"

"Sounds like a plan," Jess grumbled. "Wanna do b-a-t-h time first?"

"Sure, it'd be good to steam her sinuses a bit," Rory said, bouncing Ellie in her arms. As Rory got Ellie ready for her bath, Rory watched Jess out of the corner of her eye. He already looked tired and a little pale, dark circles under his eyes. As much as she enjoyed being right, she didn't want Jess to get sick. She worried about him – always pushing himself to work harder, to be a better partner, a better father. All she wanted him to know was how much she loved him as he was.

After Ellie's bath they got her to bed and served up some soup for themselves, eating it in a comfortable silence. Jess yawned no less than five times – Rory kept count.

"Why don't you head to bed?" she suggested gently. "I'll clean up."

"Nope, you cooked, I clean," Jess said, his voice quiet.

Rory frowned, sighing in frustration. "How about we clean together?"

Jess nodded silently as he stood from the table and moved into the kitchen, his sluggish movements only raising her concern further.

"You okay?"

Jess nodded again, ladling the soup into a storage container. "Just tired."

Rory wasn't convinced, but also decided not to push it further. "Okay. I wash you dry?"

As far as Rory could tell, the second Jess's head hit the pillow, he was asleep. She turned out the light and climbed into bed next to him, curling up behind him and wrapping an arm around him, feeling the warmth of his body, the strength of his muscles. She gently combed her fingers through his hair, working out the tangles in the waves, taking in the scent of his shampoo. Even in his sleep, he relaxed into her touch, inhaling deeply. Rory smiled softly, pressing a kiss to Jess's shoulder.

"Love you," she whispered to his sleeping form, before curling up and falling asleep herself.

Rory woke before Jess the next morning to the sound of Ellie babbling over the baby monitor. Set on letting Jess rest as long as possible, Rory climbed out of bed careful not to disturb him and went to work getting Ellie, who was now barely even sniffling, changed and fed and then bundled her up to run a quick errand.

When Jess eventually woke up, he felt like death warmed over. Or not even warmed over, considering how violently he was shivering. Did death feel like a throbbing pain from your head down to your toes, in every single joint and every single muscle? A stabbing sensation in your throat and a nose so blocked up it seems as though you might suffocate? He bundled himself further into the blankets, desperate to stop his body from vibrating with cold, but not ten seconds later he felt as if he was radiating heat from his core outwards. He tried to turn over in bed to see if Rory was next to him but only managed to flop onto his back with a miserable groan.

He hated how pathetic he sounded.

The bedroom door creaked open and Rory's head popped through the gap.

"How ya doin'?"

"Uhn…" Jess moaned in response.

"Want some magic soup?" Rory offered, sitting on the bed next to him and running a hand over his forehead. Jess leaned into her hand, savoring the coolness of her palm on his feverish skin and the comfort of her gentle touch.

Jess swallowed with a wince, shaking his head.

Rory frowned in sympathy, mentally making a list of supplies she needed to bring with her on her next trip into the bedroom, starting with a thermometer and some cough drops.

"Kid got me sick," Jess croaked.

"Yep."

"Ugh…"

"Yep," Rory chuckled, continuing to run her fingers through Jess's sweaty hair. The soothing feeling of her nails on his scalp almost brought tears to his eyes and he squeezed them shut, refusing to cry at something so stupidly simple.

He felt miserable.

"This sucks," he said, sounding far whiner than intended.

"I know."

"She wasn't this sick!" Jess said, his voice disappearing as he attempted to increase in volume.

"She's been sick a whole lot more recently than you. Plus, she gets antibodies from the good ol' boob milk. Why, do you want some?" Rory offered with a smirk.

Jess screwed up his face. "I'm good, thanks."

Rory snickered, standing up and ducking out of the room before coming back with a grocery bag, a cool washcloth, and a glass of ice water complete with a bendy straw.

"I stocked up on flu supplies this morning."

"You did?"

"Figured it was a good idea in general, but after yesterday I had a feeling we'd need them sooner than later. Ellie and I had a little adventure to the drugstore before I put her down for her nap."

"Smart woman."

Rory emptied the bag onto the nightstand, pulling out cold medicine, cough drops, saltines, Vicks vapor rub, and got to work.

"Arms up," she ordered.

"What?"

"Up!"

Though confused, Jess obeyed the command, seeing clearly that Rory was in go-mode. Once his arms were up, his shirt was gracelessly pulled over his head.

"I'm flattered that you find me attractive when I feel like a sentient ball of phlegm, but I'm not really up to any funny business right now."

"Oh shut up," Rory laughed. "Once when Doyle was sick, he ended up in our dorm room in Paris's bed and Paris called her nanny over to help get him well. Nanny slathered him in salve and while I don't have Nanny's salve, I do have vapor rub, which Mom used to put on my chest and feet when I was sick."

"Feet?" Jess asked, eyeing Rory dubiously.

"She swore it helped with the cough and I actually think she may have been right," Rory said, recalling the late nights in childhood of coughing so hard her head hurt and her mother coming to the rescue with her little tub of Vicks. She was sure she beat every flu and cold thanks to that and her mother's insistence on cuddles and crappy daytime TV.

With a soft smile, she began massaging the strong-smelling balm into Jess's chest. The overwhelming aroma actually started to open up Jess's sinuses and for the first time all morning he started to feel less suffocated, and the cool sensation of the Vick's was therapeutic against his warm skin. Once Rory decided Jess had a sufficient amount of vapor rub smeared onto him, she pulled a fresh t-shirt over his head and poured a dose of cough syrup into the little plastic cup. It was thick and sickeningly sweet going down Jess's throat and he was immensely grateful for the ice water chaser.

"Eat some crackers or the medicine will upset your stomach."

"I'll be fine," Jess rasped.

Rory shot him a stern look.

With a sigh and an eyeroll, Jess relented. "Fine, hand over the crackers."

As he nibbled at the saltines, Rory ran the washcloth over his forehead. The cold was one of the best things he'd ever felt in his life and his eyes fluttered closed.

When they opened, even though it felt like he'd just blinked, the light filtering in through the window had shifted dramatically. It seemed to be sometime early evening and Jess couldn't believe how long he'd slept. He felt the tiniest bit less achy, but the chills had returned with a vengeance. He reached over to the nightstand to grab his water, ice long melted and glass sweaty with condensation. Taking a long drink, he relished the coolness against his raw throat. Forcing a few more crackers down, he dosed himself another serving of cold medicine, swallowed with a grimace, and proceeded to succumb yet again to his heavy eyelids.

The next time he awoke, Rory was getting ready for bed.

"Hey sleepyhead," she whispered with a smile.

"Hey," Jess said roughly. "'time is it?"

"Almost ten."

Jess blinked in shock. "I slept all day?"

"Just about. You obviously needed it," Rory said, perching on the bed next to him. She put a hand to his forehead and hummed in satisfaction. "Way cooler than earlier."

"Whaddia talking about, I'm always cool," Jess said, his congestion making his words sound mushed and distorted.

Rory snorted. "Sure, you're a regular cucumber."

Jess huffed out a raspy laugh that seemed to trigger an aggressive reaction in his lungs, resulting in a coughing spree that made his windpipe burn and his head throb. When he finally caught his breath, Rory gestured with the balm.

Once massaged and medicated, Rory tucked Jess into bed with a kiss to the forehead.

"You get the whole bed to yourself, Mister. I'll be on the couch."

"What, am I too gross for you?"

"No offense, but yes, I don't want the plague."

Jess held his chest, mock wounded. "You hurt me. I'm hurt."

Rory laughed. "I set up the extra baby monitor so if you need anything, just groan."

"Uhhh…" Jess groaned, a slight smirk present on his face.

"Yes?" Rory asked, one eyebrow quirked.

Jess gestured her closely, hand weak and floppy. Rory shook her head, amused, and leaned in closer to him.

"Whatcha need, sickie?" she whispered.

"Kiss?"

"If you think I'm kissing you on the lips when your breathing sounds like Darth Vader, you're insane."

Jess pushed out his lower lip in a pout and Rory rolled her eyes.

"Compromise. I'll kiss you, but on the forehead. Deal?"

Jess thought, weighing his options. "Deal."

Rory smiled and leaned in, pressing her lips to his forehead. Her lips were soft on his hairline, sending goosebumps across his body. He closed his eyes at the contact, inhaling deeply and exhaling shakily. As Rory pulled away, Jess turned his head into the crook of her neck, nuzzling her pulse point.

"Stay?" he whispered against her skin.

Rory softened at how small Jess sounded. She eased herself against the pillows and pulled Jess into her arms where he settled, arms around her middle and one knee in between her legs. Rory raked her fingers through Jess's hair and ran a hand up and down his back. His face was hot and clammy against her skin, his body quivering with chills off and on. Her heart ached for him, briefly wondering how rarely he got comfort like this when he was sick as a kid. It brought tears to her eyes and she had to blink rapidly to stave them away.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hm?"

"Did you have any favorite sick foods when you were little?"

"Sick foods?" Jess asked, coughing a little.

"Yeah, like I only like mashed potatoes and orange Gatorade when I'm sick."

"Good to know," Jess said with a smile that Rory could feel on her neck.

"So?"

"Uhh… I guess canned chicken noodle soup and lime Jell-O."

"Lime?" Rory laughed. "That's like the worst flavor of Jell-O!"

"Is not!" Jess argued back.

"Fine, since you're sick, I guess I'll let you win."

"Huh. I should get sick more often."

"Don't even joke, I need my healthy Jess back. You need to get better. That's an order, okay?"

"Aye aye, Captain…" Jess said sleepily.

Rory let out a puff of breath in a laugh. "Go to sleep, Mr. Smee."

"'m not Smee…"

"Shh…" Rory hushed, holding Jess a little tighter.

Slowly, Jess's breathing slowed and evened as he fell into sleep and once Rory was sure he was out, she carefully extracted herself from his grasp and went to go get settled on the couch. But she didn't leave without one final kiss on the forehead.

The night was restless, Jess waking up multiple times throughout the night shivering, sweating, and coughing, Rory waking up every time she heard any kind of noise over either baby monitor, and Ellie being stressed and knowing something was off with her parents. She cried and fussed the entire trip to and from the corner store the next morning to replenish supplies and refused to nap anywhere except attached to Rory. Since Rory had things to do, she set up Ellie in the baby carrier wrap where she finally conked out.

As Rory was finishing heating up some lunch, she heard a shifting sound on Jess's baby monitor, and quickly turned off the stove before going in to check on him. She found him lying uncovered on the bed, sheets soaked with sweat, his face pale and pained.

"Hey," he croaked.

"Hi," Rory said, her voice soft but troubled. "Wanna try a shower?"

Jess nodded slightly before pulling himself out of bed and towards the bathroom, every movement seeming to take great effort. As the shower turned on, Rory got to business changing the sheets and opening the window.

Jess hated how exhausted he felt. Just walking to the bathroom made him out of breath, and he had to shower sitting down, afraid he'd pass out of he stood too long. Still, the steam seemed to help his lungs a bit, and it felt heavenly to not be covered in sweat for the first time in a few days. He smiled to himself when he climbed out and saw a fresh change of clothes sitting on the bathroom counter, a post-it with a heart drawn on it stuck to the folded shirt.

Normally, he hated being taken care of. He didn't like burdening others and felt like he could take care of himself. But somehow, Rory made it feel kind of okay to let someone else take care of him for a change.

When he trudged back out of the bathroom, Rory greeted him with a nest of blankets on the couch, saying the room needed to air out for a bit and that it might do him some good to sit up for a little while. When he nestled himself in the blankets, Rory brought him a tray of food.

"Chicken noodle soup and lime Jell-O?" he asked with a crooked grin.

"Everyone deserves to have their comfort food when they're sick," Rory said, returning his grin and opening her own Jell-O-o cup, taking a bite and grimacing.

"You don't have to eat it just because I like it," Jess snorted.

"Thank God," Rory said, garbled past her mouthful of bright green gelatin.

Jess only managed to eat a couple bites of Jell-O and a few sips of soup before he went back to bed, falling asleep the second he was under the covers. Rory checked on him before making her own bed on the couch that night, and the unease she'd felt over the past couple days just increased as he slept through her turning on the lights, getting changed, and adjusting the blankets around him. Sure, he was a deep sleeper, but this was to an extreme she hadn't seen before.

The next few days passed similarly, everyone exhausted and simultaneously on edge and just doing the bare minimum to survive. Pajamas were worn instead of "going out" clothes, plenty of easy-to-make junk food was consumed, and copious amounts of TV was watched.

It was taxing on Rory to have to take care of not only Ellie, whose first molars seemed to be coming in, ever the early teether, but also take care of Jess. It took a physical toll on her, yes, having to attend to the needs of three people including herself, but even more than that it took a mental toll. She was used to Jess just kind of pushing through. Through stress, fatigue, heartache. The fact that he had been in bed for multiple days and was actively asking for help was more than a little concerning.

After getting Ellie down for a nap and checking on Jess to find he was asleep, Rory fell heavily onto the couch. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew there were things she needed to do; pick up Ellie's toys, put in a load of laundry, do the dishes, get some work done. But once sitting down in the quiet apartment on the comfy couch, her bones suddenly felt like jelly, her eyes dry and heavy. Before she knew it, she was waking to the sound of Ellie fussing through the speaker on the monitor. A quick glance at the clock told her it was already after four in the afternoon and her eyes widened in shock, realizing she'd been asleep for more than an hour.

She dragged her heavy limbs off of the couch and went into Ellie's room to get her up and changed and set up with toys in the living room. Then it was off to check on Jess. At a quick glance, it looked as if Jess was sleeping peacefully. But further inspection caused Rory's heart to jump into her throat. Jess was breathing shallowly, wheezing with every inhale. His eyebrows were pulled together, his fists clenched tightly around the sheets even in his sleep. Rory glanced at his water cup and took note of how little had been drank since she'd given it to him that morning.

With a knot in her stomach, Rory reached for her phone and called the closest thing to a medical professional she knew.

"Hell—"

"Paris, I—"

"Rory!" Paris said cheerily. "I've been meaning to call you lately. Listen, do you think Lorelai would be able to give me some wedding planning tips?"

"Paris—"

"Or maybe I should talk to Emily? Because this whole frilly, white dress and planning who's going to sit next to who is all completely foreign to me. I actually find myself wishing I had listened to my mother—"

"Paris!" Rory shouted into her phone.

"What?"

"Jess has the flu o-or something, he's really sick, and it hasn't been that long but—"

"Symptoms. Go."

Rory breathed a slight sigh of relief. "Fever, chills, cough, aches, sore throat."

"Okay, it sounds like a regular flu. What makes you worry? He's a grown man, he'll kick it."

"He's just… he's sleeping a lot. And wheezing when he breathes and he's actually asking for help. Letting me take care of him."

That seemed to change Paris's mind. "How high is the fever and how's his fluid intake and output?"

"Fever hasn't gone higher than 102, but he hasn't really been drinking water. I've been giving it to him, but I didn't notice until today just how little he's drinking. And output?"

Rory could practically hear Paris's eyes roll. "How often has he been going to the bathroom?"

Rory blinked. "Um. I'm not sure… only maybe like once or twice a day?" Jess had only gotten out of bed a handful of times in the past few days, and she wasn't in the habit of tracking his trips to the restroom, but she was sure it should probably be more than it was.

"Okay, it sounds like he's probably pretty dehydrated. And the wheezing and fever make me think pneumonia. Now, take a deep breath and don't freak out."

"You telling me not to freak out makes me more likely to freak out!"

"Gilmore!" Paris snapped. "Get it together!"

"Stop yelling at me!" Rory cried.

"I will when you stop acting like a baby!"

"I'm not acting like a baby!"

"Yes, you are!"

"I have a baby, I know what they act like!"

There was silence for a moment as Paris scoffed and Rory took a deep, shaky breath.

"There, I heard you breathe," Paris said, resulting in an eye roll from Rory. "Jess needs to be taken to the hospital."

Rory's head fell into her hands. She knew that was probably coming, but hearing Paris say the words made it too real.

"Rory? You there?"

"I'm here," Rory said in a small voice. "E.R.?"

"Yeah. He's more than likely going to be fine, but you don't want to mess with dehydration and breathing issues. Better to let the medical professionals help out. Okay?" Paris said, her voice firm but gentle. The fleeting thought of Paris actually being a really good doctor crossed Rory's mind.

"I'm scared," she whispered, her voice shaky.

"I know."

Rory quickly brushed away the tears that had escaped and put on a brave face. "Thank you, Paris."

"Of course. Keep me posted when you can?"

"You got it."

A/N: Jess has taken care of Rory a lot lately. Now, the tables turn... (don't worry, he'll be fine). Also, a quick note in case anyone is worried: it is not covid, I hate covid, it will NEVER EVER BE COVID. Carry on :) thank you for reading and reviewing!