Title: Shan-Shu Series; Humanity Strikes!
Author: Scorch
Posted:
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Rating: PG
Category: Humour
Content: C/A
Summary: Angel experiences humanity.
Spoilers:
Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Distribution: AO, Cal n Lil’s place
Notes: This is the start of my second Ficcage Quest! Series 2, Fic 1.
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Shivering constantly, Angel pulled his bed sheets tighter around his body and snuggled under the warm double layering of duvets. His skin was pale, his eyes were rimmed with puffy redness and his head was aching constantly. Blinking away the dizziness that had occurred when he moved underneath the covers, the ex-vampire gingerly placed his head on the fluffed-up pillows, sniffling.
Blinking at him, Cordelia held the thermometer up for her to check what his temperature was and looked back at the sorry wreck laying pitifully in bed. So his temperature was up by three degrees, that was not the end of the world right? “Angel?” she started to speak to him.
“Not so loud baby” Angel whispered as he rubbed his watering eyes, “My head’s hurting again… Can you turn off the lamp please? It’s making my eyes water. Thank you” he sniffled and snuggled down a little more.
The brunette walked calmly around the bed to turn off the lamp so there was only the dim light coming from the lamp on the other side of the bed. “Better?” she asked lightly, looking down at him sorrowfully. The only part of him that was visible was his head and the pouting lower lip. “You know, you might feel better if you got out of bed” she suggested.
Shaking his head as much as his headache allowed, Angel denied her suggestion vehemently. “I can’t Cordy, I feel too weak” his voice came out in a hoarse whisper as he turned puppy eyes squarely on her. “I-I’m cold again, can I have another blanket please? O-or maybe some tea?” shivering to prove his point. Never in his life had he felt so bad, if he had known this was what humans had to deal with he would have stayed a vampire.
“Of course you can have another cup of tea” Cordelia told him sweetly as she gripped the thermometer tightly. “Would you like anything else while I’m up?”
“No… That’ll help”
“What else do you want Angel?” she asked, gritting her teeth as she slowly came to her wits end.
“N-nothing, the blanket and tea will be fine. Thank you for taking care of me baby, I don’t know what I’d do without you” Angel thanked her in his hoarse, tortured voice before snuggling down until only his eyes were left peeking over the duvets.
Her grip tightened on the thermometer as her frustration with his babyish attitude, “You want something else, what is it?” Cordelia asked forcing the growl of annoyance to stay out of her voice. What was it about men? Why did they continuously make big deals out of every little thing?
Pouting up at his ex-seer, Angel blinked pitifully and owlishly as he replied to her forced caring smile. “I-you shouldn’t have to do this Cordy, I-I understand if you want to leave…”
“Angel, you’re not freaking dying!” she finally gave in, yelling out her frustration and throwing the thermometer carelessly on the floor. She immediately felt guilty when she saw the hurt look in his eyes and the defeated slump of his shoulders under the duvet covering. His pout got bigger, his eyes seemed to glaze over with tears and his nodded timidly “Look” Cordelia spoke in a more reasonable tone, “I understand what you’re going through…”
“You c-can’t understand Cor, I f-feel so weak and dizzy and c-cold all the time” Angel countered her understanding words. “I’ve never seen you be this ill, if you w-were then I would have taken care of you” he was shivering again and his fingers curled around the edges of the blankets to pull them away from his face. Now he was getting hot again; the hot and cold continuously changed, and Cordelia said he wasn’t all that ill. If he wasn’t that ill then how come he felt like he was dying?
She wanted to differ so much but thought better of it, “You’re right” Cordelia agreed with him solemnly. “Humans have only been trying to cure the sniffles for years” though her words didn’t sound sarcastic he knew they were.
“Are you sure t-that this is just the sniffles? B-because it feels a little more serious than just the sniffles… Are you sure it isn’t something like Pneumonia?” Angel gazed at her with eyes that pleaded with her for sympathy. “I have all the symptoms; watery eyes, sore throat, my head hurts, I’m hot and cold a-and my body aches”
Trying to resist the urge of dragging him out of bed, Cordelia displayed her most sympathetic smile. “I’m sure it’s not Pneumonia Angel, its just a little cold. You’ll feel better tomorrow now is there anything else you’d like?” she held off the urge to add master to that.
“I-I’d be really grateful if you could get me another hot water bottle… B-but only if you don’t mind” the deep brown orbs were wide and full of pain, his pouting lower lip was on the verge of wobbling and his cheeks were puffed up as he continued to look at her.
“Okay” enough was enough, she was not going to let him fester away in that bed another day longer. “That’s it” Cordelia blew out a puff of frustrated air. “You want a hot water bottle, you can get out of bed and get it yourself because you do not have Pneumonia, Pleurisy or lungworm. You have a damn cold Angel, you’re not dying!”
Lowering his large brown eyes away from her frustrated and annoyed expression, Angel bit his lower lip and slowly pushed the blankets off his aching body. “You’re right” he agreed, his voice croaking with his sore throat. Gingerly, he got out of bed and reached out his aching right arm to get his robe off the chair. “I’ve had worse than this when I was a vamp…” his words broke off as he began to cough and sat back down on the bed.
Cordelia watched it all in disbelief. The world’s former most dangerous vampire was acting like a baby… Actually, now that she thought about it, she wasn’t all that shocked.
When he’d finished coughing, Angel began shivering again and tugged his robe tighter around his aching body. “Are you c-coming down stairs?” he was yet again staring up at her, blinking owlishly and pouting.
“Yes, I’m coming downstairs with you” she wanted to see how Gunn and Wes would react to his ‘Pneumonia.’
Nodding carefully so as not to aggravate his hurting head Angel stood up and placed one hand on the small of his back, rubbing gently. “I love you, thank you for taking care of me Cordy” he repeated through extra coughing. Walking in baby-steps to the bedroom door, he threw a glance over his shoulder, “J-just to say thank you, I’ll make you a cup of coffee” he continued to rub his back, cough and those puppy eyes just wouldn’t go away.
“Oh for the love of me when I was a Higher Being” Cordelia almost sobbed to the ceiling, “Angel, just get back into bed would you? I swear to God you’re acting more and more like a man every damn day”
The End – of this one!