Once Bitten

Denial (12)

MK did manage to make the soup once she'd fallen asleep again, waking her up to help her eat some only for her to take a few spoonfuls before going green in the face and then going pale, MK recognized the look as he grabbed the bin from the corner of the room and handed it to her, wincing when she threw up in it and rubbing circles into her back as she started crying again, utterly miserable. 

MK could do nothing but murmur reassuring words to her that meant nothing as she finally stopped and laid back down, sweat on her forehead that was just as hot, if not hotter than it had been when she'd first woken up. 

It made MK nervous, extremely nervous, and her unable to hold down food was really stressing him out, feeling jittery with his nerves like he was one step away from a breakdown. Not that he had time for one of those at the moment.

He helped her take a couple of sips of water before cleaning out the bin in the bathroom sink, looking inside the cabinets for any children's medicine that might help. He found cold medicine, reading and re-reading the label a dozen times to make sure he understood what it was for before ultimately coming to the conclusion that it couldn't do any harm to give it to her, especially considering he didn't know what she was ill with. 

He ignored the voice in the back of his head that screamed that he knew exactly what it was and that no household medicine would do anything and MK was just watching the inevitable at this point, helpless against this apocalypse. 

He ignored that voice though, shaking his head because he didn't believe it. 

It was a normal illness. It was. 

With that thought in mind, MK helped her take the recommended amount of the medicine, helping her drink some water afterward before she laid back down, her face pasty and paler than the last time he'd seen it. He stayed with her after that, reading her some books that she wasn't really listening to and comforting her when she started complaining about her stomach again. 

It made sense that she was feeling sick because that's what that was and when she complained about being hungry MK knew it was because she hadn't been able to keep anything down all day so it made sense. It did. 

He didn't have a thermometer and keeping an eye on her fever was tough because how was he supposed to know what to do if it got too high? Was it too high? How was he supposed to tell? He frowned and placed the back of his hand against her forehead again, wincing at the heat and sighing heavily and the helpless feeling that crawled through him. 

He remembered that using a cold, wet cloth could help so he went and got that, laying it over her forehead and holding her clammy hand as he leaned down on the bed, crouched over, and listened to her breathing as it got less and less steady throughout the day. 

"I'm hungry." She complained in her few moments of lucidity and MK nodded even though her eyes weren't focused on him, brushing her hair out of her face. 

"Do you think you can hold down something to eat now? I can reheat the rest of the soup or get you some biscuits if that's better?" He offered softly but she didn't seem interested in the thought of food, only holding her grip on his hand.

"Kiddo?" He asked again when she didn't respond after a minute and finally, she nodded, closing her eyes and muttering out a small, 

"Okay," in a tiny voice that had MK's heart aching.

"Okay sweetheart, I'll be right back." He told her softly, pressing a kiss to her forehead before leaving, bringing his hands to his face once he was in the hallway and breathing out a heavy breath. 

This was fine. Everything was fine. MK had this. 

When he brought the food up the same thing happened again as it had last time and MK was beginning to freak out. Bai He was seriously unwell and MK didn't have the knowledge to know what else to do or how else to help.