I'm A Loser

Treat Her Gently

"She didn't have to do that." Prudence said as she coughed.

She tried to stand up to go to the bathroom but got dizzy just by standing and nearly fell on the floor.

"You're okay, you're okay." Paul said as he caught her from her fall.

Her face turned extremely pale.

"Okay, let's get some food in ya before you pass out." Paul said and brought her some food to snack on.

Prudence nibbled on some of it.

She fell asleep again and Paul kept a bag of ice on her forehead while her body was wrapped in a blanket.

She woke up after an hour, sweating like crazy.

"Hey, Honey." Paul said softly. "Would you like some medicine?"

Prudence nodded, dazed.

Paul poured the medicine in a spoon and tilted her head back a little.

"Ready?" He asked.

She nodded sleepily and Paul poured the medicine in her mouth. She swallowed it and coughed.

"I know it tastes pretty awful." Paul told her and gave her juice to wash it down.

"Can you lay down with me?" She asked shyly.

Paul lied down next to her and she carefully lied her head on his chest. She fell asleep again and Paul tried to get her fever down. Prudence seemed so much younger than him since she was so thin and weightless on his chest. Paul realized she was sweating terribly and pulled the blanket off of her and unbuttoned her shirt.

He grabbed a paper from the bedside table and fanned her.

"Oww." Prudence moaned.

"Did I hit you?" Paul asked.

"No...it feels like someone punched me in the back of the head." She whimpered.

"Can you sit up?" He asked.

She managed to sit up but Paul had to keep her up by holding her back. He moved her hair out of the way to see if there was a bruise but nothing was there.

"Nothing there, Sweetie." He told her.

"Oh." Prudence said and lied back down.

Paul went to the bathroom to get her a cool washcloth. He carefully put it on her forehead and put another on her chest.

"I hope you don't get sick." She muttered.

"Don't worry about me, Love." Paul told her. "Just relax."

Prudence was gonna say something but she got dizzy again. She got sick again.

"I don't know how anything's coming out of you! You're like a stick." Paul tried to lighten the mood.

Prudence tried to manage a smile. Paul helped her into bed again.

"Try to get some sleep, Hun." Paul told her and put his hand gently over her eyes.

He kissed her and promised her she'd feel better soon. Linda came home and took care of her as well. Paul said he had to get something from the store even though Linda had just gone.

"Hey Prudence." Linda said.

She tried to wave but she was so tired she barely moved her hand.

"Here's some medicine I got you." Linda offered and helped Prudence take some.

Paul came home and asked Linda to get Prudence some water. Paul closed the door behind him so that it was just him and Prudence.

"I got ya a present." Paul said as he pulled out a little teddy bear from behind his back that said "get well soon" on it. He also gave her a card and some chocolates for when she became well enough to eat them.

"You didn't have to do that." She smiled and put the teddy bear next to her in bed.

"Least I could do." Paul said and kissed her again.

She blushed, bringing some color to her pale face and Paul checked her temperature.

"Hey, you've gone down a bit." Paul smiled.

"Yay." She said and curled into Paul.

Paul thought of her as like a little girl who wasn't able to take care of herself, and he had the urge to take care of her every need.

George came home and found Prudence and Paul in his room.

"Prudence, what's happened?" He asked.

"She's terribly sick." Paul said.

"Oh dear." George said as he went next to Prudence. "Hey, Love."

Prudence looked at him and George kissed her gently.

George told Paul that he could go spend some time with Linda and Julian while he took care of Prudence.