Paul searched for Linda in the wet streets and splashed in the puddles on his way. He carried with him an umbrella and a coat for Linda.
Paul thought about where she might've gone and ran to the pier. He found her under the pier, crying and screaming.
"Linda! Oh Linda, thank God you're here." Paul cried tears of relief.
"Get away from me!" Linda shouted. "I thought you didn't want me to screw up your life any more than I have already!"
"Linda, I didn't mean it! I'm so sorry." Paul said as he wrapped the coat around Linda.
"Linda, you can stay mad at me but please come back to the house; you're gonna freeze out here." Paul begged her.
She agreed and the two went home. It was midnight and everyone else had gone to sleep.
Paul turned the lights on in their room and noticed there was blood on Linda's thigh.
"Did something happen?" Paul asked.
"I just scraped myself." She lied.
"Well let's get you cleaned up." He said and helped her to the bathroom.
Paul washed off the blood to find that there were little cuts all over her leg.
"Linda..." Paul began to say, astonished. "You've never cut before."
"That's cause no one's ever broken my heart before." She whimpered.
"Linda, I'm so so so sorry." Paul whispered in her ear and hugged her.
Paul put bandages on her leg and helped her to bed.
"Goodnight, Sweetie. I'll go sleep downstairs." He told her and began to leave.
"Why are you sleeping downstairs?" She asked from the bed.
"I assumed you wanted no piece of me for a good while." He said.
"Stay here." Linda mumbled to him as she pulled out the sheets so he could lay next to her.
Paul smiled and turned the lights off and got in bed. Paul gently rested his hand on Linda's stomach and could feel the baby kick.
"I promise I'll never yell at you like that ever again." Paul whispered to her.
"Okay." Linda whispered back and rested her head on Paul's chest.
In the morning, Prudence woke up with a fever and was getting sick constantly. George had already left with Julian to take him to his annual check up before he knew Prudence was sick. Paul and Linda were taking care of her for the meanwhile.
"Was it something you ate?" Paul asked her.
"I don't know...I don't think I ate anything out of the ordinary." She said.
"Is it cold in here?" Prudence asked.
Paul shook his head. "No it's rather warm, and you're burning up." He said as he felt her forehead.
Paul grabbed her a blanket and wrapped it around her.
"I'm sorry you have to take care of me." Prudence said shyly. "Probably had something planned."
"It's not your fault, Sweetie. You couldn't help it." Paul assured her and brought her some tea.
"If you and Linda had plans you can go. I'll be fine." Prudence lied.
"What are you talking about? I'm not leaving you home alone with a fever and you getting sick every five minutes." Paul told her. "Linda's at the store now getting you some medicine and a proper ice pack."
"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.