Nineteen Days Until Christmas
Eden
"It's just a bit of a head cold," she says, pleadingly. "I'll be fine in no time." Her voice is raspy and sounds like she's been smoking two packs a day for forty years. She had woken up this morning with a pounding headache, a sore throat, and a cough, probably courtesy of Lyric.
"I don't know..." Tenor hedges, looking over at Julius and Luke for backup. "I think we should take her to a doctor."
"I agree," Julius says, nervousness clear in his voice as he hovers next to her in the nest, a bottle of Tylenol and a thermometer clutched in one hand.
She can't summon the will to argue with them anymore.
Her head feels like someone's taken a hammer to it, she can't breathe through her nose, her throat has razorblades in it, and when she coughs it just makes all of it ten times worse.
She looks over to Luke where he's sweeping up pine needles from the Christmas tree he'd dragged in a few days ago and set up next to her reading nook.
"Just let her rest," he says with a shrug of his shoulders. "If she gets worse, we can take her in."
Julius and Tenor grumble about the dangers of fevers and untreated pneumonia, but they do let her go back to sleep after taking her temperature once more and making her swallow two Tylenol pills.
When she wakes again, she's snuggled into her nest with her alphas all around her, purring a low soothing sound.
Her mouth feels like it's been stuffed with cotton balls.
She tries to swallow and winces when it feels like her throat is on fire.
She lets her eyes slide shut again, the call of sleep too heavy to ignore. Being awake hurts too much.
She barely remembers drifting off, only the sensation of Julius' hand sweeping hair from her forehead as she shivers with cold and burrows deeper into his warmth. All of it feels far away now, like a dream she's fallen into and can't quite climb out of.
Sometime later, when she finally peels her eyes open for longer than a second, the world is blurry and the light is dim.
The cottage is quiet except for the crackle of the fire and the soft padding sounds of one of their footsteps, like they're trying to be quiet so they don't wake her.
A hand reaches from behind her to stroke her cheek.
Her skin feels prickly and uncomfortable, both way too hot and freezing cold.
"Eden, sweetheart, are you awake?" It's Tenor's voice, soft and worried.
She tries to answer, but it just comes out as a bullfrog croak. "Mmm."
"Poor baby," he murmurs. "You feel any better?"
She shakes her head, immediately regretting it as her temples throb.
Luke leans over, tucking her against his front and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "She's still warm," he says. "Take some more Tylenol, baby. You'll feel better soon."
She can't even scent them because her nose is so blocked and she whines a little, missing their wood and earth and lily scents.
"Oh, baby girl," Julius' voice joins them then, but she can't summon the energy to raise her head to look at him. Worry etches between his brows when his head floats into her vision. "Here, take this."
A few pills are pushed between her lips, followed by a straw of lukewarm water. Julius holds it steady as she drinks and her throat screams as it goes down. After a few mouthfuls, she pulls back.
"We got you some cough syrup too, you want some of that? Might help your sore throat and congestion?" Tenor's voice behind her sounds equally concerned.
She pushes a feeling of acceptance towards them through the bond, not having the energy to answer physically. Tenor makes a startled noise as she does it, but then a small plastic cup is pushed against her lips, and she lets them pour the foul-tasting viscous fluid in her mouth.
She goes back to sleep just so they don't try to dose her with it again.