Suddenly

Fever

Grace awoke slightly disoriented. She wasn't quite sure how she had ended up back in her bed. Slowly, the memories of her panic attack and the call to Hannah rushed back to her mind. She would have felt slightly embarrassed, if not for the pounding headache that was currently assaulting her brain.

She slowly lifted herself from the bed, her foggy mind wondered where Ayla was. Her eyes glanced towards Goose lying at the end of the bed, eyeing her warily.

"Where is she?" She asked the dog, her head so bad. She felt a little lost and discombobulated. She couldn't shake a strange feeling from her brain that she wasn't quite able to understand.

The moment she stood from the bed, her stomach churned. She didn't have to reach the bathroom before she vomited all over her bedroom floor.

"Good thing that's hardwood." She mumbled to herself as she slowly made her way into her bathroom, feeling another round of nausea surge in her belly.

As she sank down in front of the toilet, she felt warm hands holding her hair back.

"Gracie?" It was Hannah, her voice seemed far away.

She wanted to answer, but every time she tried another round of vomit erupted from within her.

After a good five minutes of heaving, Grace leaned back against the tub. Hannah quickly wiped her face down with a wet rag.

"Aylie?" Grace questioned, her head felt too heavy to even lift to meet Hannah's. She just wanted to know her baby was okay.

Though she had a million questions, Hannah knew now was the time to keep reassuring Grace and keep her calm. The massive panic attack earlier had obviously wrecked havoc on her already delicate system. The last thing she wanted was to possibly throw her into another.

"Sleeping, Grace, its nearly ten o'clock."  She reassured softly, "Do you think you're done? Let's get you up, wash your mouth and get you into bed."

Grace barely lifted her head to acknowledge the question. "M'kay." She mumbled, just before another wave hit her and her head was once again hovering over the toilet.

Hannah felt her heart break slightly as sobs began to accompany the heaving noises coming from Grace's throat.

All she could do was slowly run her hand up and down Grace's back and keep her hair out of her face.

"It's okay, you're okay." She whispered. She wasn't sure if she was trying to reassure herself or Grace. All this puking, and the earlier breakdown had really shook her up. She was worried and she didn't like seeing Grace like this.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Grace sat back on her heels. "Maybe I'm done." She felt completely and utterly exhausted.

Hannah, who had quickly cleaned up the previous mess on the bedroom floor, and grabbed a change of clothing for Grace, raced forward to help her stand.

"Can you stand?" Hannah asked after waiting a few seconds for Grace to stand on her own.

The taller woman nodded, then actually tried to lift herself off the ground. When she fell back against the tile, she gave a miserable sob. She just felt so bad!

Hannah's arms were around her in a flash. The younger woman slowly put her arm around her shoulder and helped lift her off the floor. She stumbled slightly, practically all of Grace's weight was leaned against her. Once she finally shuffled the two of them over to the sink, helped Grace brush her teeth and started leading her to the bedroom, she too was beginning to wear out.

"Almost there, Gracie." She encouraged as she practically dragged the other girl to the bed.

"I feel awful." Grace mumbled, her head lolling onto Hannah's shoulder. "Why do I feel so bad?" Her voice was impossibly small, it hurt Hannah's heart to hear her sound so defeated.

"Shh," she murmured softly as she helped Grace lay herself down on the bed, for the first time since arriving in the room to find her puking, she could feel a certain warmth radiating from her forehead.

Fever.

She made a mental note to look up Grace's symptoms as soon as she was able to get her settled. Right now all she was worried about was allowing her to get some rest.

No sooner did she get Grace laid down, did Ayla's soft whimpers begin to resonate through the otherwise quiet apartment. Grace made a weak move to go to her daughter, knowing she needed her. Hannah gently pulled the covers over her shoulders and pushed her softly into the bed.

"Sleep, I've got her." She whispered.

Grace relaxed slightly, allowing herself to sink into the bed, her head hurt so bad, her stomach still churned. If Hannah was here to help with Ayla, then she would accept. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

----------------------------------------

Hours later, Hannah sat in a living chair she had quietly drug from the kitchen into Grace's room. To say she was worried was quite the understatement. She had been googling all sorts of different illnesses to go along with the symptoms from today, all of the worried her. Multiples times in the past few hours she had half the mind to bundle Grace up and get her to the nearest hospital, but right now she was resting, and most of the sites had told her that rest would be the best thing right now. 

From her spot at the end of the bed, she heard Grace moan uncomfortably and reposition herself in the bed.

"Han?" Her voice called, it sounded weak and raw from her earlier bout of heaving.

"I'm here, Grace," Hannah rushed forward grab her hand.

"Aylie?"

Hannah smiled in the dim light of the room, no matter how bad Grace felt, she still put that little girl above herself.

"Sleeping comfortably, she went right back down after you fell asleep. I am going to call Mamrie in the morning to see if she can take her so I can get you to the doctor." Hannah subconsciously began to gently run her fingers through Grace's hair as she spoke.

"Ma-Mamrie? She is mad at me."

Hannah's brow furrowed slightly. "Nonsense, she already said she would take her. I spoke with her earlier. You are our main priority right now, Grace."

Too tired to continue her argument, Grace pulled lightly at Hannah's hand.

"Lay with me?" She asked pitifully, all she wanted right now was to be held. She felt so horrible.

For a brief second, Hannah thought about turning her down to save her own feelings. But, she pushed that thought aside and climbed into the bed behind Grace. Her arm slung over her waist, pulling her as close as possible to her chest. She could still feel the fever coming off her over heated skin, but for right now, this was okay.