Chicken Noodle Soup [a one-shot]
TITLE Chicken Noodle Soup
AUTHOR Jess (St. Aelphaba on fanfiction, somedayxxbway on livejournal)
RATING K+
WARNINGS Mild language, femslash! :D
DISCLAIMER If I owned Grey's Anatomy, this would have appeared on your screen, fool!
SUMMARY Callie gets sick and Erica takes care of her. This story is written in a way that they could be friends OR they could be something more, depending on how you interpret it. It could take place at any moment, be it right after their first kiss in the elevator scene, before that, after that, after the seeing leaves scene, anything!
NOTES Pleeeeeaseee review? -puppy dog eyes- This is my poor attempt at writing in 2nd person. Let me know what you think!
You wake up, wondering where the hell you are and why your back hurts so bad. You moan and sit up, feeling the pain of each muscle screaming. You do not scream youself, for you feel another presence nearby. A smooth female voice fills the air, calling your enters the room, carrying steaming mug, and a strong smell of cinnamon and honey finds your nose. It is at this point that you realize just how thirsty you are.
"Callie, you're awake!" Erica says, surprised. You just nod. Your throat is too dry to talk. Erica frowns and rushes to your side, handing you a big mug of tea. You hate tea, but this tea now looks better than a huge bucket of KFC would. The tea nearly scalds your throat, but you don't care because it still makes you feel better.
As soon as you guzzle down the tea, you take Erica's hand and croak, "thanks." Erica nods and sits next to you. She props you up and feels your forehead.
"Still hot," she says. "Not good. You were really out of it last night. Do you remember what happened?"
"I don't remember anything in the morning," you say as blurs of whatever happened whiz through your mind in one tangle of color.
"Actually, er...it's one in the afternoon." Erica smiled and you hide your face, embarrassed to sleep so late and keep her waiting.
"Sorry," you mumble. "So what happened?"
"Don't worry, I'm not too surprised you don't remember. You were really out of it. Last night we had planned to go to Joe's, but you were complaining of a headache, so I drove you here. You had a temperature of 103 degrees and there was no way I was letting you go hme alone. I got you some medicine and put you in bed. You crashed right away."
You nod at the information and suddenly take in your surroundings. You had slept, tossing and turning, in Erica's bed, and you're now completely sweat-soaked. You realize you're wearing nothing but your underwear. You manage a squeak and pull the covers up. Erica chuckles a little.
"You were hot," she explains. "I took your clothes off for you. As I said, you were really out of it. Too out of it to undress yourself."
"You sure you weren't trying to pull a move on me?"
"Very funny."
You decide that because it's Erica, it's okay, but you keep the covers up anyway. Besides, you're teeth-chattering cold.
"Do you mind if I take a shower?" you ask.
"Take as long and you want," Erica replies. "Your clothes are about to go through the laundry, so if you want, I'll wash your undergarments too."
Leave it to Erica to say 'undergarments' and take herself seriously, you think, laughing to yourself. You feel a little embarrassed to be having anyone but yourself wash your 'undergarments,' but you say, "okay."
You get up and trudge to Erica's bathroom, slowly stripping of what little is on you on the way. You are seriously lacking in energy, and now you don't really care if your owqn best friend sees you naked. Perfect strangers have, before.
As you enter the bathroom, Erica calls, "I'll put these through, then I'm going to the hospital. I've gotta do rounds and check up on some things, then I have the day off. I'll be back in about an hour."
"All right," you say, smiling at her. Inside you feel like shit, but somehow you feel better knowing someone is there to take care of you on her day off.
You feel dizzy and grip the sink to balance. You wish you could throw up, but you haven't eaten anything in hours. You turn on the shower so it's steaming hot and hop in. It feels so good that you only leave when you are all wrinkly and the water is cold. You realize that you don't have a towel, so you use Erica's, taking in her sweet pea scent. You wonder where Erica slet, since you had her bed. Probably the couch.
You find that the laundry isn't done drying yet, so you keep Erica's towel secure around you and head to the kitchen. Erica has left chicken noodle soup for you on the stove. You smile to yourself.
I love her, you think happily. Chicken noodle always gives you an appetite, even when you feel as lousy as this. You find your phone on the table and text her:
chickn noodle soup? if u were here id kiss u
You take a bowl of soup and gobble it up, and take seconds. Erica replies.
i know. -smooches-
You laugh. You really love that woman. She knows just what to say and do, even over a text.
After you finish your second--or was it third?--bowl of soup, you find the couch Erica had slept on and lie down on it. You wrap yourself into her blanket, sniggling into her scent, and drift off to sleep.
When you wake up, Erica is sitting next to the couch, stroking your hair absentmindedly while watching some sort of politcal debate. Her hair is wet and you realize she must have taken a shower in the cold water that was left, with no towel since it was currently wrapped around you. She notices you're awake.
"Hey." She smiles. "You're temperature's down to 99, so you're almost compltely--" You interrupt her to bring her into a bone-crushing hug. She chokes a little, so you loosen up, and she attaches herself to the hug. The two of you stay there for a long time. When you release her, there are tears in your eyes.
"I know I'm not pretty to be around when I'm sick. I'm grumpy and I don't say anything. Usually people just leave me alone in bed all day until I feel better...but you have taken care of me all day, which I don't think anyone's done for me since I was ten. Thank you so much," you say.
"I would do it any time," Erica says, meaning it.
"I would do the same for you," you say. "Although I hope you never feel as crappy as I did anytime in the near future. But...I do need to repay you for that chicken noodle soup. Nothing makes me feel better like chicken noodle soup. So I definitely owe you..." You smile and so does she.
"I'm thinking..." you say. "When I am all better...maybe I will give you that kiss."
.