I'll Always Be Here

Flu

3:10 a.m. is what the clock read when Peter opened his eyes and looked at the clock. He wondered for a second what had woken him up but he soon realized it was his wife, she was asleep but she was whimpering as if she were in pain or having a nightmare. Either way Peter decided it would probably be a good idea to wake her up to check on her. The second he put his hand on her arm he could feel the heat radiating off her body and realized she had a fever. He gently shook her arm to wake her.

"Mariska honey wake up" he said softly as he shook her.

It didn't take long for Mariska to open her eyes and look at him. Her eyes were glassy looking she squinted her eyes closed as if she had a headache. "What time is it?" she asked softly, wincing as she spoke. Her voice was raspy and weak

"It's the middle of the night baby you were making a noise in your sleep I thought you were having a nightmare or having pain somewhere" he replied running is hand over her forehead.

"My head is pounding" she said weakly and pulled the covers up to her chin shivering profusely.

Peter felt so bad for his wife, she was rarely ever sick but when she did manage to get sick it was very bad and this was no different than any other time.

Peter could tell right away this was more than just a cold so he immediately picked up the phone and made an appointment with Mariska's doctor without even waiting to see if she wanted to go because he knew the answer would be no so he didn't bother asking.

He was told to they could see her at nine but that was six hours away so he had to do something in the mean time so he got up and got a cool cloth for her head and some Advil for her head and body aches. When he came back into the bedroom Mariska looked like she was about to cry, no one besides him knew she was very emotional when she was sick but he didn't mind he just wanted her to feel better.

"Here baby take this and then you can try and rest okay?" he said handing her the two tablets to take. She took them wincing as they hit her raw swollen throat.

After she took her medicine she laid back down and Peter was a little shocked when she started bawling. He immediately put the cloth on her head then pulled her into his arms and held her tight to his chest.

"What's wrong angel?" he asked softly as he rubbed her back

"Everything hurts, I don't have time to be sick I have a million things that needs to get done before the weekend." she replied sniffling trying to get her emotions in check which only made her cry harder.

"Honey you can't help being sick, everything that needs done can either wait or I can do it" he soothed, she looked so pitiful and it broke his heart to see her so upset and sick.

Mariska calmed down but was still sniffling and looked up at Peter "I'm sorry" she said softly

"For what love?" he asked rubbing her back, she was starting to dose off slowly

"I'm always so emotional when I get sick" she replied and started coughing violently

Peter helped her sit up and rubbed her back "Don't you dare apologize for being sick honey, you just focus on getting well, okay?" he said as he went to get the garbage can in case she needed to throw up.

Mariska nodded as she spat the nasty stuff coming from her lungs into the trash can and made a face of disgust.

Peter smiled and kissed her head and helped her lay back down and get comfortable in his arms then he rubbed her back until he felt her drift off into a deep slumber.

He watched her for a while before he fell asleep himself.

At eight the next morning Peter woke up to the alarm going off and Mariska coughing violently once again. He went to get out of bed but Mariska held on to his arm, she didn't want to lose the warmth his body was providing. She felt awful and just wanted to lay in her husbands arms all day and sleep.