Baby you're sick, I want your love

The rain fell for what seemed like an eternity, flowing down the glass window panes in rivulets, and then wide rivers, joining into each others’ tracks before the entire window was covered in a sheet of waterfall. Caitlyn watched a small droplet trickle down the glass, reflecting a familiar red silhouette, blurred by the rain. She sighed, shut her laptop, and went to open the door. 

Her girlfriend looked absolutely miserable, curled into herself as the rain lashed unrelentingly down her jacket. She had a hoodie on, thank Janna, but a few stray strands were dripping in water, the ends trickling down her unnaturally red face. 

“I did tell you not to go to work,” Caitlyn admonished gently, ushering her in.
“I am not sick, Cait,” Vi replied testily, which would have been more convincing if her reply was not immediately followed by a loud sneeze. 

Sighing, Caitlyn wrapped a blanket around her and sent her girlfriend toddling down the corridor to their room. “Why are you home so early then?”

Vi rolled her eyes, which were starting to take on a glassy, misted appearance. “The people at the gym sent me home. They’re scared I’m going to infect the customers. Infect the customers? With what?” 

“The virus you are currently hosting in your cells?” She steered her girlfriend through the bedroom door and next to the bed. 

“It doesn’t have to be a virusss,” Vi said, speech slurring as Caitlyn helped her out of her soaked clothes and put her into a freshly ironed pajama set. Then she grabbed her by the waist and lowered her down horizontally on the bed. As she fluffed the pillows to place under her head, Vi stuck her finger in the air and continued to babble. “It could also be a bacterial infection.”

“Of course, darling. I’m not a doctor,” she said soothingly. “But I do think that either way, you should really take a rest.” 

Vi squirmed, batting Caitlyn’s hands away. “I don’t need a rest.” As if to prove a point, she shot up ramrod straight, throwing her hands up in the air in triumph before a sneezing fit overtook her and she slumped back into the sheets. “I’m perfectly–” Vi sneezed again “--fine. See?”

“I’ve seen enough,” Caitlyn said sternly. “Now be good and stay under the covers. I’m going to get the radiator set up in here and you’re going to take some medicine before you have a nice, long sleep.”

“Really?” Vi asked, dazed. “But you only do that when you’re sick.”

Caitlyn sighed. “Because you’re sick, Vi,” 

“But I’m not sick, cupcake. Getting sick is for weaklings,” Vi declared. 

“Hush, Violet,” Caitlyn said, then softened her tone a little upon seeing the small pout on Vi’s lips. “Let me take care of you, okay?” 

Vi huffed, but then nuzzled closer to Caitlyn’s side. 

“Good girl,” Caitlyn hummed, brushing strands of wet pink hair out of Vi’s eyes. Making sure Vi was well swaddled under several layers and would be unlikely to kick them off anytime soon, she went to the kitchen and opened the cabinet they had reserved especially for medicines. 

She picked out the packets of paracetamol, ibuprofen and some sour cherry cough drops and poured a coloured pill of each into her palm. Just in case, she also took out the nasal spray. Vi hated using it, but even she had to admit that it worked wonders with a stuffy nose. 

She returned to their room with the medicine and a cup of warm water, where she found, to her dismay, Vi was sitting up in their bed, staring at her. 

Caitlyn pressed her stubborn as fuck girlfriend back down into the covers. “Stay down.”

Vi flashed a cheeky smile that would normally look rather ruggedly attractive on her, but in her delirious state it stretched into more of one a disoriented drunk would wear when they tried to hit on Caitlyn in bars. “Ooh, make me, cupcake.”

“Absolutely not,” Caitlyn said firmly. 

“But I’m not sick!” Vi whined. She grabbed Caitlyn’s wrist and stared up at her with wide, unfocused eyes, trying to pull her downwards. “I’ll prove it to you.”

Caitlyn snatched her hand away and shoved the cup into Vi’s open hand. “Normally, that would be irresistible, but I will not be fooling around with you when you’re sick. I have an important conference at the firm tomorrow, Vi. Also, you’re barely conscious.”

Her girlfriend picked up the paracetamol and studied it carefully, her eyes flashing with recognition. “You Brits think that paracetamol solves everything.” 

“You take paracetamol when you have a fever,” Caitlyn said patiently, pressing the back of her palm to Vi’s forehead and wincing. The skin was burning. “And I was right. You do have one. Now take the medicine, alright?”

She watched as Vi stuck out her tongue and placed the blue and yellow pills on it, foggy grey eyes rolling backward as her eyes closed. Caitlyn caught her before she could collapse sideways, pressing the water to her lips. 

“Bitter,” Vi half remarked, half complained. 

Caitlyn rubbed her shoulder sympathetically. “Have a cough drop,” she offered. “It’ll taste sweeter.” 

Vi opened her mouth expectantly. Caitlyn sighed and pressed the gummy pink tablet on her tongue. When she did, Vi closed her mouth around them and sucked . 

Caitlyn withdrew her fingers as quickly as possible and wiped them on a tissue, feeling her cheeks burn. “Vi,” she said sharply. “Behave, please.”

Her girlfriend looked like she was going to protest, but then couldn’t seem to find the strength to muster an argument. 

“I know you don’t like to look weak in front of other people, but I’m your girlfriend, Vi,” she reached for Vi’s hand and clasped it. “Please let me take care of you, okay? You don’t have to pretend. Not with me.”

Vi’s fingers twitched where they were fidgeting on the bed. For all of the years Caitlyn had known and loved her, she was adamant about maintaining a strong, reliable appearance, the anchor to a young Powder and now fully-grown Jinx, her adopted brothers and Ekko. She understood why, of course. They had had a difficult childhood bouncing from living on the streets to foster home to foster home until Vander took them in, and because of it Vi was constantly accommodating others before herself while hiding her own internal storms. Vi was the strongest and the bravest person she knew, but Caitlyn wanted her to know that she didn’t just love her for those qualities. She loved every single part of her, including the more vulnerable ones Vi liked to keep hidden from the rest of the world but was willing to bare to Caitlyn alone. 

This time, she managed to lay Vi down onto the bed without encountering any resistance.

“I’m just going to be outside, okay?” Caitlyn whispered. “Call me if you need anything.” 

Vi sniffed in response, then passed out. Caitlyn brought the thick blankets up to her chin, then brought her fingers to her lips and pressed them to Vi’s forehead. They called it the classic “social-distancing kiss”, which they tried to adhere to (valiantly, mind you) for a while during the pandemic and kept as part of the routine whenever one of them were sick. Satisfied as deep, slow breaths filled the quiet room, Caitlyn closed the door quietly and padded back out into the living room to continue replying to her emails. 

2 hours and a very draining Zoom call discussing court strategies with her team later, Caitlyn heard the bedroom door creak open, followed by rather loud shuffling sounds. Presently, Vi appeared in the kitchen behind her. She was wearing the fluffy magenta robe Caitlyn had gotten her for Christmas, and the heavy blanket was wrapped around her shoulders, trailing behind her like a queen. Well, a very sickly queen at that.

“Caitlyn?” her girlfriend called pitifully. 

“Yes, darling?” Caitlyn shut her laptop and squeezed her eyes shut, the glowing blue rectangle of her laptop screen embedded behind her eyelids. Letting out a large breath, she hoisted herself up from the crook her spine had carved out into the couch and stood upright, walking into the kitchen to look Vi over. 

Her nose was now a bright red, probably indicating a very painfully stuffed nose. In contrast, her lips now looked very pale. Though her eyes still looked quite glassy, they seemed more focused and sharp, which Caitlyn took as a good sign. 

“Cupcake, I think I’m sick,” Vi announced pitifully. 

Caitlyn sighed and ruffled Vi’s pink hair. “I said that last night when you kept me up with all your sneezing and sniffling.” 

The pink haired woman stuck out her bottom lip in an impressive, pitiful pout, grey eyes large and glistening. Caitlyn always marvelled whenever Vi brought out her “puppy eyes”. Despite being a 23 year old adult, she managed to look incredibly naive and innocent, blameless in the same way a 5 year old would be.

“But I’m very glad you’ve finally come around, darling,” Caitlyn said. “Do you need anything?”  

“You,” Vi said, smiling. 

Caitlyn ducked her head so she couldn’t see the red flush creeping up her cheeks. “Vi, you know I want nothing more than to be in bed with you right now, but I have to work and you have to rest.” 

“I’d rest better if you were with me,” Vi insisted. 

“You’re being very clingy today,” Caitlyn remarked. 

Vi looked rather offended. “Should I not seek the comfort of my beautiful girlfriend when I’m feeling so shitty?”

That actually made quite a bit of sense. 

After another long, puppy-eyed stare, Caitlyn caved. “Fine.” She poured some hot water from a thermos into a mug and pressed it into Vi’s cold hands. “But take this in with you and drink all of it.” 

They traipsed down the hallway hand in hand and then burrowed under the covers. Vi was always incredibly warm–but now she felt like a furnace nestled in Caitlyn’s embrace, heat radiating from where she’d slotted her leg between Caitlyn’s. Her feet, on the other hand, were ice cold, and Caitlyn had to fight the urge to pull away, but she knew that would hurt Vi’s feelings, even if she didn’t say so outright. She looked at Vi worriedly. Her fever was still going strong and didn’t seem like it was going to break anytime soon. 

“Darling,” she said, soft voice cutting through the initial silence. Vi pulled away by just an inch so she could look up at her. 

“Yeah, cupcake?” she rasped. 

“Nothing–just–please wear a jacket when we’re out next time.” They’d gone out for dinner with Jayce, Mel and Viktor a few nights ago. The restaurant was situated on a rooftop in Zaun, and had all the roguish charm Zaunite establishments uniquely exhibited, as opposed to Piltover’s ostentatious high-end dining. As the night went on, as Caitlyn had predicted, it got quite chilly. Viktor and Mel had had the sense to bring jackets and Caitlyn was in one of her trademark turtlenecks, so she was fine. Jayce and Vi, however, did not share the same precautionary attire, and were wearing sleeveless tops that made Vi’s arms look very nice (not that that was relevant). Caitlyn had tried to persuade Vi to wear the jacket she’d come equipped with just in case this was going to happen, as did Mel and Viktor with Jayce, but the duo had just stubbornly refused. 

“If you’re talking about when we went out with Jayce and the others, I really wasn’t feeling cold, cupcake. For Janna’s sake, it was boiling that night.” 

“Maybe because you and Jayce got into a wrestling match,” Caitlyn scolded. “But the evaporation of sweat causes you to lose body heat, and the fact that you were only wearing a tank top in 14 degree weather definitely didn’t help.” 

“I only wore it because you said I looked hot when we bought it.”

“You are always hot to me, Violet, but I would appreciate it more if the heat was not from you burning up from a fever.” 

Her girlfriend looked at her, silver-blue eyes glinting. “So do you think I’m hot now?”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes, not wanting to deign that with an answer, and rested her chin on the top of her girlfriend’s crown instead. “No more talking. Go to sleep.” 

“I just had a 2 hour nap,” Vi said.

“And you can always sleep more,” Caitlyn said adamantly. Her father was head surgeon at the leading hospital in Piltover, and he’d always emphasised the importance of sleep for the immune system, so Caitlyn wasn’t going to doubt his teachings. “Now hush, darling. Be good.”

Vi hummed, her sigh vibrating gently against her chest where her face was against. “You like it when I’m good, don’t you?”

“I’m going to assume it’s the fever making you excessively horny.”

“Answer the question.”

She let out a loud exhale. “Yes. Fine, I do.” If this was what Vi wanted, then two could play at that game. She just needed to wield her cards right so they came out in her favour and she’d get what she wanted–which was for Vi to rest and recover. Slinking lower into the sheets so she was now nose to nose with Vi, Caitlyn pressed her fingertips to Vi’s lips. “Good girls get rewards. So go to sleep now, follow all my instructions to drink your water and take your medicine, and if you’ve recovered enough by tonight, maybe you’ll get to reap those rewards.”

Vi’s gray eyes darkened, shallow breaths hitching, and Caitlyn knew she had won. 

Caitlyn stared down her closing statement one final time. She’d been working on it since she detangled herself from Vi’s arms, who had maintained a vice-like grip on her waist despite being sick and literally unconscious, around 5 hours ago. Finally feeling as satisfied as she was going to get with her piece, she shut her laptop and collapsed on the couch. Caitlyn loved her job as a lawyer, enjoyed poring through every rule and clause in the book and transforming into weapons she could use to her advantage, but it was so exhausting sometimes. 

A noise rumbled in her stomach and she sat up in resignation, dragging her feet towards the kitchen to make some chicken congee for herself and Vi. It wasn’t anything fancy–Vi usually handled the food in their household, but it was good comfort food for sick people. 

As she let the rice cooker work its magic, she checked on Vi once more, armed with medicine, a plastic basin and wet towels. Vi was lying on her back, eyes closed, but no longer screwed up in pain, as if she was concentrating hard on thrashing against the grasp of an enemy trapped behind her eyelids. Her breathing was louder than usual, a tad rattly due to the stuffy nose, but otherwise her chest fell and rose in even, deep waves. Caitlyn pressed the back of her palm to Vi’s forehead. It was still hot, but not burning. She smiled to herself. 

Vi snuffled and rolled over to face Caitlyn, half burying her face into the pillow. 

“Darling,” she whispered softly, stroking through her hair. “Vi, it’s time for your medicine.”

Vi’s eyelashes fluttered, then opened a slit, just enough to see the steel grey of her eyes. “Again?” she said groggily. 

“Remember our deal?” Caitlyn reminded her. 

Vi groaned and stretched her hands in the air, straight as rulers, before bringing them backwards to thud against the pillows. “This reward better be really good,” she said.

“Ah-ah.” Caitlyn brandished a thermometer from where she’d stowed it in her pocket. “If your fever breaks before 10 pm, then we’ll see about that reward you’re so looking forward to. Now open up,” she instructed, and then placed the thermometer under Vi’s tongue. 

Outside, the rice cooker sang its familiar, upbeat tune, indicating that the congee was finished. “I’m going to finish cooking dinner. Take the thermometer out after 3 minutes, and then take your medicine. I can trust you to take care of yourself for just a little while, can’t I?”

Vi pouted, looking remarkably cute even with the silver rod sticking out of her mouth, but then nodded. 

Caitlyn went back into the kitchen and lifted the lid of the rice cooker, immediately hit by a rising wall of steam in her face. Recoiling backwards, she poked the substance inside tentatively. The consistency seemed to be alright. As the steam lifted, she could see the congee was a light yellow, probably from the chicken stock. She poked one of the chicken pieces with a chopstick. It went straight through cleanly. 

Not bad, she thought to herself. 

Having ladled the congee into two bowls, she returned to their bedroom, where Vi had cleverly pulled out the small foldable table they kept in between the side of bed and the wall and installed it on top of the mattress so they could eat in bed. 

“Wow,” Vi said, voice slightly muffled as she spoke around the thermometer. “This actually looks legit.”

“My cooking always looks legit,” Caitlyn argued.

Vi laughed, probably about to bring up the time Caitlyn tried to bake cookies and had nearly forced their oven into an early retirement, but then choked on the thermometer. 

“That was Janna telling you to shut up. How’s the temperature looking?” 

Vi handed her the thermometer. “37.8 degrees.”

“You still have a fever, then,” Caitlyn frowned, thinking to herself. She dipped the spoon into Vi’s bowl and lifted it to her girlfriend’s lips. 

Vi’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, cupcake. I have a cold. It’s not like I’m paralysed.” 

Caitlyn arched an eyebrow. “I did say I would take care of you. This is part of the deal.” 

Vi sighed and opened her mouth, allowing Caitlyn to feed her. She made a face as she swallowed it. “This is…boiling,” she remarked, keeping her head down so Caitlyn couldn’t see her expression. Even when she was sick, Vi was still terribly considerate. 

A pang of guilt washed over her. “Sorry, I didn’t realize,” she apologised. She dipped the spoon into Vi’s bowl again, but this time brought it to her mouth first, pursing her lips and blowing gently on it before offering it to Vi. 

Vi opened her mouth a little warily, but seemed to swallow a little easier than before. 

“How’s your throat?” Caitlyn asked. 

“Painful,” Vi winced. “But it doesn’t hurt as much as this morning.”

“That’ll be the ibuprofen,” Caitlyn nodded to herself. “That’s why I made the congee. Hopefully it soothes your throat on the way down, even though I know it must be a bitch to swallow right now.”

Vi fixed her with a playful grin. “You’re so sweet, cupcake. Always thinking two steps ahead for me.” 

Caitlyn flicked her on the forehead gently, returning the smile. “I have to because you don’t think ahead much, Vi.”

“How can you say that?” Vi pressed her palm to her chest, feigning a pained expression. 

Caitlyn laughed and presented her with another spoonful. “Eat your dinner.” 

At 10 pm sharp, Vi waddled into the living room in all her fluffy, blanketed glory with a newfound speed. Caitlyn watched her with a sort of exasperated fondness. 

She stuck the thermometer under Vi’s tongue and set the timer on her phone for three minutes. Vi, however, didn’t seem keen on waiting them out. 

An arm snaked across her back to wrap around her waist, gently trailing their way up the side of her hip to the periphery of her chest. Caitlyn gave Vi a weak glare, who just stared at her innocently, silver thermometer slipping slightly out of her mouth. 

“Why are you so intent on doing this today?” 

Vi shrugged, a wicked glint in her eye. “Just to prove that even though I’m sick, I still have the stamina to give you a good time.”

“This isn’t some kind of huge set up for when you tell me you have a terminal illness, right?”

“Of course not,” Vi said. “Why would I ever joke about something like that?” 

Caitlyn sighed as Vi’s other hand made its way under her shirt, burning imprints into her skin. “Ah, fuck it,” she huffed, wresting off Vi’s makeshift cloak. “You can be patient for 90 more seconds. If you don’t have a fever, then I’ll let you prove your point.”

Vi’s grey eyes darkened at that, and she pulled Caitlyn closer to her so she was almost straddling her lap. Caitlyn dipped her head so she could whisper in her ear. 

“Except you’re going to prove that you have the stamina to take everything I give you.”

“Everything?” Vi breathed. 

“It’s just that you’re always giving and giving,” Caitlyn husked, circling her arms carelessly around Vi’s neck. “But I know you have it in you to be a taker. Embrace it, darling.”

Caitlyn had had her rich history of sexual encounters with women, but Vi had been the only woman she hadn’t needed convincing to get under and enjoyed getting fucked by. She was an unstoppable force, vicious and unrelenting when she wanted to be, but there were gentler times when she steadily filled Caitlyn to the brim with warmth and tenderness until she was overflowing and pouring praise from her lips. In the first few months of their relationship, Vi had topped almost exclusively, but Caitlyn was wearing her down now, familiarising her girlfriend with how it felt like to be taken, to be able to let her guard down and unravel fully. She’d discovered several…preferences Vi had hidden from her since then, and Caitlyn treasured and remembered each one of them, keeping them locked like jewels in a box until the time came to bring them to the light.

And she just loved watching Vi get ruined with her fingers. That too. 

Vi let out a gasp and shifted so she was firmly under Caitlyn, the fluffy robes pillowing under Caitlyn’s knees. She tipped her head back just enough so the end of the thermometer wouldn’t stab Caitlyn accidentally as her hands explored freely under Caitlyn’s shirt, fingers teasing gently at the underside of her bra. Gently, she slipped in a finger, massaging a nipple until it hardened and Caitlyn whined sharply. 

The alarm rang then, and they broke apart, gasping. Caitlyn turned it off and Vi tore the thermometer out of her mouth like she couldn’t have done it fast enough. Grabbing Vi’s wrist, Caitlyn scanned the reading on the thermometer.

“Well?” Vi rasped. 

She leaned back, letting her eyes rake over Vi’s impatiently twitching body.  

“Congratulations. 37.1. A borderline pass.” 

“Literally all I needed to hear,” Vi said, voice so low it could have been a growl, then she picked Caitlyn up by the back of her knees so her upper body was slung over her broad back, walked swiftly across the room and into the corridor, then into their darkened bedroom. 

She set her down gently on the bed and placed a knee beside her, then bent down desperately for a kiss. 

When Caitlyn laid her fingers across her lips, Vi huffed impatiently, whining almost needily. 

"Caitlyn,” she said urgently. 

“Stop,” Caitlyn said, reinforcing the steel in her voice. “You don’t get to call the shots here.”

Vi let out a noise that sounded like a muffled sob. “Caitlyn, please.”

“I’m afraid not. There will be a few ground rules tonight.” Caitlyn pushed off the bed so she was standing upright, towering over Vi. “For one, no kissing, because I do not particularly want to get infected as well. There can’t be two sick people in the same house. Now strip. But leave your underwear on.”

She watched Vi’s chest heave as the pink-haired woman processed the command, then relished the sight of her tearing off her robe as if it was on fire, shucking off her trousers to reveal toned, strong muscled thighs, and then finally pulling off her cotton pajama shirt, slightly sheer from the sweat, leaving her in only a loose grey undershirt and her boxers. 

“What do you want from me, darling?” Caitlyn asked, letting her voice soften. “What were you thinking about when you were lying in bed all day?”

Vi bit her bottom lip, worrying her teeth against it in anticipation. 

“I want anything you’re willing to give me,” she said finally. 

“Oh,” Caitlyn smirked. “That’s a lot. Remember to call in sick tomorrow.”

Vi grinned. “I love it when you talk vaguely dirty.”

“I mean that,” Caitlyn said, dropping the act for a brief moment to put on her serious face. “Call in sick tomorrow. Your boss will make you leave anyway. Besides, after I’m done with you, your legs won’t be working very well tomorrow.”

“Oh?” Vi arched an eyebrow. “We’ll see.”