Gabriel - Sick Day (Patreon)

“Here.”

I opened the window of my home to a large mug of something steaming and foul being shoved into my face.  When I tried to move out of the way, the mug followed me, floating right in front of my eyes, the stench of it making them water.

“Gabriel,” I coughed. “Stand down. What is that?” I waved a hand in front of my face, retreating into my little home. Gabriel was a rather big man, and for him to climb through the window was going to take more than a minute. It was the tiniest reprieve from whatever he was trying to shove at me.

“You will drink this.” A leather lined cup was held steady as he awkwardly tried to get inside my house. If I hadn’t felt like my head was on fire, I may have even laughed. As it was, he was going to spill whatever that concoction was, all over my floors, and then I was going to have to live with that scent forever.

“I don’t want whatever that is,” I told him.

It was with that, that he tipped through the window, somehow managing to land gracefully and keep a hold of the strange mug. Standing, he straightened himself out, running his free hand down his navy uniform. “You said you were ill.”

“I am.” I had been coughing for a few days, and last night I was pretty certain that I was destroying whole swaths of a district with the amount of pain that I was in. I had contacted Gabriel, afraid of what I had unconsciously done. Maybe he was here to tell me that the silk district was underwater. “Is the market okay?”

“I have individuals patrolling, looking for lost sections. So far, nothing has been reported.”

My shoulders sagged in relief. “Good. That’s good. I–” My lungs seized as I nearly doubled over, hacking up an awful amount of phlegm. Though I couldn’t remember it, I was certain by now that I had swallowed a flaming sword in some ill-fated feat of magic. My head was swimming, on top of the raw throat, and I couldn’t tell if I was laying down or standing up any longer.

When Gabriel’s arms wrapped around me, curling me towards his broad chest, I had to kind of assume that I had been about to face plant onto the floor, only making matters worse.

“Sorry,” I muttered, burying my face close. The sound of his heart beat steady just beneath his uniform.

“To apologize for being sick is an odd and completely unnecessary thing. It is I who should be apologizing. Clearly, the other day when you said you were fine, you were not. I should have told you that you were misinformed and followed you home to take care of you.”

I frowned. “I saw you the other day?”  When Gabriel’s grip tightened on me, I realize that now was maybe not the time to joke. Even in my fevered state, I could see the worry creasing at the corners of his eyes. Lifting my hand, I cupped his cheek, feeling the rigid tension of his jaw. “It’s okay,” I told him. “I’m going to be okay. I was more worried about the people in the market.”

“Yes. Well. They are fine.”

He didn’t actually know that, but I had a feeling he also didn’t care. When it came to my well-being, Gabriel always put me above anyone else.  Because there was no Night Market without me.

Gently, he lowered me onto my bed, grabbing the extra comforters and piling them on top of me. When I started to cough again, he propped me up with more pillows than I even realized I had.  And once again, the foul smelling drink was shoved under my nose.

“I am going to need to pull rank on you and require you to drink this.”

My nose wrinkled up in revulsion. “You don’t have rank on me. So no.”

“In any situation, when a commanding officer is unfit for duty, the line of responsibility passes to the next in charge. As the Warden of this market, that would be me.” Puffing out his chest, he looked down at me. “I am officially declaring you on hiatus from all Night Market duties until you are actively fit enough to make clear and concise decisions. I will be taking over. Now, drink.”

I just stared at him. Trying to think if I had ever heard him talk to my as such. “You’re kind of sexy like this.”

He said nothing. Never a man to be distracted by flirtation. Instead, he patiently held out the mug, silently vowing not to move until I had finished off whatever was in the brew. It was most likely better that I didn’t know.

Snatching it from his hands, I readied myself and took a big swallow. It was a testament to how quick Gabriel’s reflexes were because he caught the mug before I could throw it across the room. Sputtering, I looked at him in betrayal. “No,” I told him. “That’s poison. That is not anything that is good for anyone.”

“It is. And you will be drinking it. Even if I have to hold you down.” Despite the firmness to his words, he sat down next to me, kicking off his boots in the process. “It is a blend of all the local herbs and spices for detoxing a body from any foreign ailment. And while it may taste like the excrement from a sewer demon, I swear to you, it will make you better faster than anything else in this market.”

“Sewer excrement?”

“There is none in there. I did have it tested. It only tastes as if it were such a horror.”

“Gabriel,” I nearly whined.

Sighing, I caught the roll of his eyes as he took a large sip of the concoction himself. He didn’t even flinch.  “There. Now you cannot say I am torturing you. Drink this.”

Knowing this was a battle that I had surely lost, I once again grabbed it from his hands and began drinking it down.  “You could have at least said please.”

I was surprised when he caught me by the chin, tipping my face upwards. Slowly, he pressed his lips to mine, tongue licking the taste of the medicine from my lips. “Please,” he murmured.

I shivered. But dutifully drank the rest of what he offered.

When I was done, he placed the mug aside, pulling the blankets further over me. “Now, I want you to rest. I am going to cook you some soup and clean your house.”

“Clean my house?”

“Yes. It is a nice gesture to do for someone when they are not feeling well.”

I caught his hand as he went to leave the bed. “Or you could just stay here with me,” I whispered.

“I really think a fastidious house would be better for your recovering.” Upon the look on my face, however, he sighed. “But perhaps I could make an exception to the rule. Just until you fall asleep.”

He snuggled in close then, wrapping his arms around me and tucking my head beneath his chin.  As much as I loathed to admit it, whatever he had given me was making me feel better. My headache was beginning to ebb, and the knife in my throat had all but disappeared.

Before drifting off, I felt a small kiss on my temple. “I will protect you.”

I smiled. “My Warden,” I breathed. Feeling safe in his arms, I fell asleep.