Moonlight

06 |New Feelings, New Favorites|

Luna glances at her door when she hears it open, Bruno stood at the doorway with her plate in his hands. He gives her a gentle smile "Hey Luna. I brought you dinner, in case you were hungry." He says. Luna shakes her head "No thank you Papa." She mumbled.

Bruno places her plate down on her nightstand before sitting on the edge of her bed. He brushes her hair strands back, he notices her skin felt warmer than before "Díos mío, you're burning up." Bruno hisses worriedly.  Luna leans against his thigh and whimpers "I don't feel good..." Bruno kisses the top of her head "I know mariposa. Your fever just got a little higher. I'll give you your medicine and I'm sure you'll feel better in the morning."

"It's not that." Luna sits up and fiddles with her hair "Abuela didn't yell at me but it feels like she did, I don't understand why I feel so weird." She says. Bruno sighs "Oh mi bebé. It's because what your Abuela said hurt you. It's a normal feeling." He explains. Luna feels tears prick her eyes again "Am I really a disappointment?" She asks.

Bruno hugs her tightly "No Luna. No, don't ever think that. You're not a disappointment. What your Abuela said was wrong." "Then why did she say it?" Luna looked at him with such pain that it tore his heart in half more "I don't know mija. Let's not worry about it more tonight though. How about we go to bed? I'll tell you a bedtime story. Your favorite." He smiled.

Luna wipes her nose "The one with the pirate?" She questions "Yes mija." Bruno carefully picks her up and lets her rest her head on his shoulder. He walks out of her room and starts to head to his room when he's stopped by Pepa. The thunder cloud over her head had managed to die down to a regular grey cloud after dinner.

Pepa looks at Bruno then at Luna "How is she doing?" She asks, "She's pretty hurt from what Mama said. Her fever spiked too." Bruno rubbed Luna's back when she whimpered again. Pepa looked at him ashamed "I'm sorry Bruno. I know Luna doesn't like it when people yell, I didn't mean to yell at Mama but I got so angry when she said that."

"If you got angry, you should've felt what I felt." Bruno says, Pepa nods "You come get me or Julieta if something goes wrong, ok?" "Yes Pepa." Pepa kisses the top of Luna's head "I hope you feel better mi sobrina." She says. Luna mumbled something against Bruno's shoulder, he chuckles "Goodnight Pepa." He says "Goodnight Bruno."

Bruno heads up the stairs and gently tucks Luna into bed, he gives her medicine then re-wets the cloth and places it on her forehead "Do you still want me to tell you the pirate story?" He asks. Luna yawns "Yes please." She says. Bruno nods and begins to tell the tale, noting how Luna was already falling asleep close to the beginning. She fell asleep before the character boarded her first pirate ship.

Bruno tucks the blanket more around her and kisses her forehead, "Goodnight mi Lunita." He whispers before blowing the candle out on his nightstand.

Later that night, Luna has a nightmare. At least, that's what it felt like to her. All she remembered was fire and people screaming before she woke up in a cold sweat in Bruno's arms. She was shaking violently, tears streamed down her cheeks as she sobbed in his arms. Bruno rubbed her back comfortingly "You're ok, you're ok. It was just a bad dream." He whispered.

He wipes the tears trailing down her cheeks, Luna realizes that she's sweating a lot "Why am I sweating so much?" She whined. Bruno looked her over "It might be your fever. Let me see." He feels her forehead and cheeks, sighing in relief when her skin felt much cooler than earlier "That's ok. Your fever just broke. Your body is just trying to get back to its normal temperature." He explained.

Bruno gives Luna a bath and helps change her into new pajamas, she wipes her arms again and looked at Bruno confused "How come I still feel sweaty?" She asks. Bruno chuckles "Well, your body is still trying to cool down. It makes sense that you're going to sweat still." Luna grumbles to herself.