Let me take care of you
Constance was woken on Saturday morning by Ocean, aggressively blowing her nose into a tissue. She sounded like a trumpeting elephant and Constance immediately knew one thing.
Ocean was sick again. And, as usual, she was not going to admit that fact.
So Constance was going to have to force her.
She’d always been good of taking care of people, especially Ocean, but unfortunately, her girlfriend was desperately determined to be independent, despite the fact that she was incapable of using a washing machine on her own, and if Constance wasn’t around, she was pretty sure Ocean would never eat a full meal.
“Are you okay?” Constance asked, already knowing the answer she would get.
“I’m fine,” Ocean nodded, sounding absolutely the opposite of fine. “My nose was just blocked.”
An obvious lie. But Constance was willing to pretend to believe it. She had a plan of action.
First, she had to get Ocean back to bed.
Fortunately, the fact that they were girlfriends now made that infinitely easier than it had been before.
“Come cuddle,” Constance requested, reaching out for her girlfriend, and surprisingly, Ocean didn’t take a lot of convincing. Of course she didn’t. To get better, she needed sleep and rest, and Constance was going to make sure she got it.
She also needed food, but Constance would sort that out soon.
Ocean climbed back into bed, and Constance held her girlfriend close. Even at the slightest touch, it was obvious that Ocean had a fever, and she was shivering. It took everything in Constance not to comment, but she managed to keep her mouth shut and just hold Ocean close until she felt her girlfriend’s breathing settle into a regular pattern, and her head snuggle down into the pillow. When she started to murmur incomprehensible nonsense, Constance was sure she was asleep, so she slid out of the bed as carefully and quietly as possible and crept down to the kitchen.
Constance quickly started running around, gathering things for making tea and soup. Sure, canned soup could be helpful when sick, but there was nothing like homemade. And Constance was committed to giving her girlfriend the very best.
She hadn’t made tomato soup in a long time, but she was pretty sure she remembered how. Ocean always used to love it when they were little. Yet another secret Blackwood family recipe from the cookbook that was hidden away on top of the kitchen cupboards.
A couple of hours later, Constance headed back upstairs to her girlfriend with a mug of lemon and honey tea and a bowl of creamy soup (it was perfect, Constance had tried it herself). Ocean was not going to be happy about this, obviously, but hopefully the food could win her over.
When Constance walked into her bedroom, Ocean was still asleep. She looked so sweet when she was sleeping, an obvious contrast to the usual tension she carried with her everywhere. The pressure she put on herself really started to show as she got older, and it was nice to see her not stressed for once. In fact, Constance would be happy watching her girlfriend rest all day, in the least creepy way possible, but Ocean’s eyelids were already starting to flutter.
“Connie?” Ocean said groggily, rolling over to look at her girlfriend. “Where’d you go?”
“To make you dinner,” Constance said, reaching over to prop up the pillows behind Ocean.
“I can sit up by myself,” Ocean mumbled, but Constance kept helping her anyway.
“I know, sweetheart,” she whispered, kissing her girlfriend gently on her burning forehead.
“What did you make?” Ocean asked. “It smells good.”
Constance knew that as soon as she showed Ocean the food, she’d go right into defence mode. But she’d never been able to resist Constance’s cooking, so hopefully, it would work out.
“Tomato soup,” Constance stated. “My old family recipe, from when we were kids. Remember?”
“Yes, I remember! It was really good!” Ocean exclaimed. “Your mom always used to make it for us whenever we got… wait. You still think I’m sick, don’t you?!”
“No!” Constance lied. “Of course not! Can’t I just want soup?”
“You can,” Ocean nodded, looking suspiciously over the things Constance had left on the bedside table. “But I need you to answer something honestly.”
“Okay,” Constance nodded, and Ocean pointed at the mug.
“Is that lemon and honey tea?”
Constance stared at it silently, trying to come up with an excuse.
“It is, isn’t it?!” Ocean exclaimed, and Constance rushed to defend herself.
“It’s good for your throat!” She tried, and failed to convince her girlfriend to calm down. “And the lead singer of the choir needs to stay on top of her game!”
“You know I’m not really the lead singer,” Ocean said, trying to get out of bed. She threw the blankets aside, and immediately, Constance saw her shiver.
“Absolutely not,” she said, pulling the blankets back over Ocean and tucking her in as best she could. When Ocean was sick she somehow managed to become more argumentative, if that was even possible, and essentially behaved like an irritable toddler. “You’re sick, and you have to stay in bed.”
“I’m not sick!” Ocean insisted, but she looked over to the soup on the table. “Do you have soup too?”
“I made extra, I can get myself a bowl if you like?” Constance asked, and Ocean nodded.
So, Constance headed downstairs to fill a bowl with soup. Just as she was grabbing a spoon and some bread, she heard a noise from the staircase and abandoned the food.
Sure enough, there was Ocean, wrapped in a blanket and trying to unsteadily descend the stairs.
“Ocean!” Constance called out. “What’re you doing?”
“Proving I’m not sick,” Ocean insisted, swaying as she clung to bannister like her life depended on it.
“You really aren’t making the point you think you are, love,” Constance said gently. “Now, go back upstairs before your soup gets cold.”
“I can eat down here,” Ocean stated, but she still looked unsteady.
It was time for the last resort.
“No, you can’t,” Constance stated, climbing the stairs and picking up her girlfriend. Ocean clearly didn’t have the energy to fight back, and so Constance thanked God that her girlfriend was relatively light, and that years of kneading bread had made her strong.
She carried Ocean back to bed and pushed her down, tucking the blankets around her again.
“You need to rest, Ocean!” Constance insisted, and Ocean pouted.
“That’s not fair,” She huffed, and Constance leaned over and hugged her.
“It’s very fair. Now, I’m going to go and get my soup, and I’ll bring us some bread too, if you want it. When I get back, you had BETTER still be here.”
“And what if I’m not?” Ocean asked, and Constance rolled her eyes.
“Then I’ll call Noel to come and look after you.”
That comment assured that Ocean wouldn’t be going anywhere. Noel cared about Ocean, of course he did, but he had a zero tolerance policy for her whiny bullshit, especially when she was sick. Where Constance had carried Ocean back to bed, Noel would have let her fall down the stairs. But he’d try to catch her at the bottom.
With Ocean suitably tucked in, Constance ran downstairs to grab her soup and bread and raced back upstairs, relieved to see that her girlfriend hadn’t moved yet.
They ate together, Constance feeding Ocean spoonfuls of soup despite the fact that she was perfectly capable of doing it herself, and she reminded Constance of that multiple times. Whenever she asked, Constance held the mug to her lips, offering her small sips of hot tea.
Maybe it was a bit excessive, but honestly, Constance loved taking care of people. It was just in her nature, and Ocean was her favourite person. Every spoonful of soup she managed to get her girlfriend to eat felt like an achievement, especially since Ocean was being obstinate, as usual.
“You’re a great cook, Connie,” Ocean complimented, curling up against her pillows. “I didn’t need the soup though, and you didn’t have to feed it to me.”
“I wanted to,” Constance insisted, trying to come up with an excuse. “It’s… romantic! And what are girlfriends for?”
Ocean didn’t look completely convinced, but she didn’t argue further. A blessing, really, because usually Ocean was willing to argue for hours and hours just to be right. She really was too stubborn for her own good. Especially today.
“Don’t move,” Constance told Ocean, grabbing the dirty dishes from their meals and rushing to the door. “I’m going to get ice cream.”
“Connie, wait!” Ocean called, stopping Constance in her tracks. She was lying against her pillows, head down, looking particularly pathetic. She wanted something, and clearly, she was hoping for Constance to not question it. “Can you bring me more tissues, please?”
“Only because you asked nicely,” Constance smiled, before getting down the stairs as fast as she could. She scooped ice cream into a bowl and grabbed a couple of spoons, then shoved a box of tissues under her arm and headed back upstairs.
When she came back into the room, Ocean was still in bed, looking tired and snuggled up against one of Constance’s many cushions.
“Connie,” Ocean whined, reaching out and making a grabby motion with her hands. “Come cuddle.”
“Still insisting you’re not sick?” Constance asked, and Ocean nodded.
“Just wanna cuddle my girlfriend,” she said, but she sounded both unwell and exhausted. So, Constance got in bed beside her and held her close, grabbing her tv remote and putting on the first Disney movie she could find. She and Ocean had seen them all a million times, so it was just something they could mindlessly watch. Constance let her girlfriend rest her head against her, offering her little bites of ice cream as long as she was awake, which wasn’t long.
“I love you,” Ocean murmured as she drifted to sleep, and Constance pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.
“I love you too.”
It was only about ten minutes before Ocean was completely fast sleep, and Constance smiled as she adjusted the pillows, laying her girlfriend down, making sure she was comfortable.
She escaped the bed as carefully as she could, careful not to wake the sleeping girl.
Ocean really did look peaceful when she slept.
Constance smiled as she sat down on the floor next to the bed. Ocean was a lot of work sometimes, but she was so, so worth it.