Prego and the Phoenix 🐇↩️✔

Arabella - Twenty-Six

Describing love is like trying to describe the color blue to a blind person or what a song sounds like to a deaf person. There are many interpretations to it, many songs and poems attributed to it, but the definition is too far broad than words can formulate. It has so many forms and degrees and shapes, it is almost like putty. But love is definitely felt and definitely claimed. All you need is love...

******************************

Two days have passed and Bourne has not gotten better, nor stopped reverting and growing. I want to make it as easy as I can for him but there is only so much a person can do when their boyfriend is a phoenix. Lucky for us (right now we're taking anything) the spurts had slowed and were becoming more like when he phoenixed. He would stay at a specific age for a couple of hours now instead of just changing but the process still hurt and he was exhausted. If his body wasn't changing, he was sleeping. He hasn't eaten since we got here because he has been in so much pain and I feel like a jerk because I can't do a damned thing to help him.
I lay on the bed and watch TV as Bourne is snuggled up against me, looking like he is preteen. Right now he's calm and though he is hot and sweating, his breathing is steady and his face is serene. I think the baby makes him feel calm because whenever he is pressed up against me and he feels it, he seems to level out and right now his ear is right next to my gigantic stomach. Or at least it looks like it from the way I'm angled... But still, it's quite large... The phone rings and I reach over and grab it up.
"Hello?"
"There is a call from an outside line for you Mrs. Marquez, it is from an Alexis. Would you like us to put it through?"
"Yes please." I say, still blushing at the name.
Bourne had put us in under a married couple and so it was awkward when I got called 'Mrs. Marquez' since my last name is Rickward...
"Hola, chica;" Alexis says from the other end of the line. "How is everything?"
I look down at Bourne and touch his cheek lightly.
"Not as well as we would have hoped."
"Oh? Is there something wrong?"
"As soon as we got to the hotel, Bourne got really sick and then he started to have these spurts of growing and reverting... It was really bad for a while but he's calmed down now... Alexis, something is very, very wrong."
"Can he talk?"
"He's asleep right now. The changing has left him completely exhausted and if he's not changing he's sleeping off the exertion. He hasn't eaten in two days because he's been so tired and his fever hasn't knocked down either."
"Have you gotten a thermometer?"
"I've been afraid to leave him alone. I thought about that but..."
"The next he wakes you need to get one. Since he is phoenix, his temperature will always be above normal. A temperature of 100-101 degrees is normal for him. If he gets hotter and it's under 105 degrees, it's a fever but if he gets any higher, you must call me. That's phoenix level or worse."
"That's also a problem. He isn't phoenixing when all this happens. It's just... happening."
Alexis is quiet and she sighs.
"I do not know what to tell you..."
"It's alright. I'm watching over him like a hawk."
"I trust you, Arabella. I need to leave. Someone will call soon."
I nod, knowing she can't see me and hang up the phone.
Bourne shuffles beside me and he lifts his head slowly.
"Where am I?" he asks dazedly.
I smile and move the red hair from his sweaty forehead.
"Hey, welcome back..."
"I'm thirsty..."
I grab the cup of water by the bed and hold it out to him. He takes it, though his hand is shaking, and drinks the water down. He hands it back and looks at me.
"Who are you?" he asks.
I sigh sadly and just touch his face lovingly. "Arabella Rickward..."
"Oh... yeah... yeah..." he says sadly, looking down at himself. He finally turns onto his back and looks up at the ceiling. "I'm sorry I forgot you."
"It's alright. I know you can't help it."
In intervals, Bourne told me that since he doesn't really remember me when he turns into his five-year-old self and a baby, when he was turning so rapidly it made him start to lose his memory. Because it wasn't allowing the phoenix inside of him to gather all the needed information, his memory was still processing everything yet not. It is complicated but the only thing that matters is that he is looked after.
"There's no excuse to forget my girlfriend." He spats, his eyebrows furrowing. "Like turning into a child wasn't bad enough... now I'm forgetting you and you're stuck here..."
"I don't care about that stuff, Bourne. Don't exert yourself or you'll trigger another change. I have to go to the little store for a moment and I'll also order room service."
"You're going to leave?" he asks, sitting up on an elbow.
"For the thermometer..."
The sadness in his eyes is so heart wrenching that I almost want to cry. I sigh and pull him to me in a hug.
"I'm not leaving, I'm just getting something to help you. I'm worried for you..."
He nods and then looks at me. "You know how I always know you?"
"How?"
"Memories fade..." he says, tapping the side of his head. He then puts his hand on my chest where my heart is. He looks up at me. "But the love you show and the safe feeling I get with you let me know that even if you are forgotten in here," He pointed to his head. "I will always feel you."
I smile and he looks away, clearing his throat.
"Well, who knew you were a romantic?" I say softly and he blushes even harder. I chuckle. "It's very sweet, Bourne."
"It's cheesy..." he mumbles, settling back down onto the bed.
"But sweet."
He rolls his eyes and breathes in deeply, looking at the ceiling.
I decide I'll just order room service and forget the thermometer for today.
"You're never going to graduate." He says suddenly.
"What?"
"The amount of time you've been out of school. You'll never graduate."
I wave my hand dismissively at him as I dial room service. "Who cares?"
I order the food and when I turn back, I find my Bourne staring at me.
"I'm serious, Arabella."
"Bourne, I'm pregnant, been married and divorced in a foreign country and my boyfriend and my ex-husband are both phoenixi. I think school is the least on my accomplishments list. If nothing else, I can get my GED. Sure it's different, but what the hell? Why's that important to you anyway?"
"Well... Lochner looked up your parents a long while back and he saw that your dad is a really good doctor and your mother was pretty prominent too... I just thought, ya know..."
I look at him sadly and he sighs, shaking his head and putting his hands over his face.
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't be. Look, we'll figure it out and combat it. I'll get you back and I won't leave you to deal with it by yourself. I'm not Gabrielle."
"I know... I can't keep up anymore and all this information and people... It's difficult."
"I'm sure it is." A knock on the door makes us both jump. "Eat some food and we'll see what the day brings, alright?"
He nods and I go to the door. I pay the valet and roll the food into the room. I take the plates to the bed and hand Bourne a fork. He nibbles at this food but he seems to be getting hot again for he keeps wiping sweat from his face and is starting to breathe more shallow again.
To my surprise and after a long period of time, Bourne eats everything off of his plate. At first I believe this is a good thing but about an hour later, he puts his hand to his stomach and moans. He then gets up and stumbles to the bathroom where I hear him vomit into the toilet. He flushes the toilet and I hear the water running to wash his mouth out but he doesn't come back after that. I get up to check on him.
I find he is sitting on the bathtub, breathing heavy and sweat is just pouring from him. When he hears the door open he looks up and I can see the pain and embarrassment in his eyes.
"Do you need help?"
"Don't... Don't touch me..." he says softly when I reach out. "I already feel like a complete fool. I don't need your pity to complete the process."
"I don't pity you, I'm scared for you. Please..."
Bourne just shakes his head and moans again, holding his stomach.
"That bastard isn't going to let me eat either... He's trying to make me suffer as much as possible."
With that, he pushes himself off the tub and promptly sticks his head into the toilet to vomit again. I leave, the smell making me nauseous and go back to the room.

******************************

Eventually, Bourne stops vomiting and comes back to bed but he's so hot that I can hardly be in the same bed with him. As he sleeps, I sneak down to the shop and purchase a thermometer. When I get back, I am not surprised to find him in a younger form. I pull the clothes away and find him as a baby, looking miserable and breathing heavily. I stick the thermometer into his mouth where he is breathing with it open. He doesn't stir and I wait. I grab it and it reads 103.2. For most it would be detrimental but for him it's just a fever.
Bourne opens his eyes at looks at me sadly so I go to the bathroom and get a wet rag for him. I come back and touch it to his forehead and all along his collarbone and shoulders. The coolness seems to help a lot and all he does is watch me intently, taking in everything that I do. Once the rag becomes the same temperature as Bourne, I set it aside and lay beside him. He looks up at me with those golden eyes of his and I begin to stroke his fine red hair, then decide that I will try something to calm him down a little.
"Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup. They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe..."
Bourne's eyes light up at the familiar song and I continue singing until he drifts back into a slumber, peace on his face.