162 - Caretaker *Modern*

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The smell of soup rouses him from his sleep. He can smell the herbs and the spices, the saltiness and the sweetness of the carbs. He lets out a tired smile, allowing his fatigued eyes to flutter open. First, all he can see is the matter curls of his own hair, and the dark redness of the two pillows stacked on top of each other. The greyness of the overstuffed couch he was laying on as a makeshift bed. The softness of Mary's black blanket her father sent her last Christmas and the sweetness of the tea awakes him further.

He looks up, spotting Mary walking towards him. His wife has her hair tied up in a messy bun, she wears his t shirt and a pair of black leggings. She looks beautiful with the lack of makeup and oversized black glasses. The ravenette carries a white tray in her hands, he can see the steam rising from a few cylindrical crockery she carries. Her slipper boots pad against the pale wood floor as she comes closer. He smiles at her again, adjusting himself lightly on the large couch as she nears him, placing the tray on the table beside him.

"Hey," her voice is melodic and soothing, she runs her fingers through his tied back hair. Her fingers are cool, soft and so soothing that he closes his eyes. "How're you feeling?" she asks softly, checking his right ear.

Too tired to answer, Francis just scrunched up his nose. She seemed to understand, nodding as she placed the thermometer in his mouth. Mary checked his ear again, biting her lip lightly. "Well, there's no blood anymore," she says. "but you've got a ton of gunk." Mrs. Valois-Angulème says, gently pulling the thermometer from his lips. "Thirty eight point five." she says with a tut. "My poor baby," she kisses his head gently. Francis smiles again, opening his eyes as she sits back on her knees.

He makes a small noise, rolling onto his back, turning his head as she picks up a glass of water and his medication. His wife passes them to him, helping him to sit up straight. The blonde takes the antibiotics without question, draining the water with a sigh, before laying back.

"Good boy," she smiles lightly, running a cool cloth over his face lightly. He sighs, placing his hand on his stomach. "Come on, I've got some tea and soup for you. Rice and vegetable and some green and honey. How about we try and get some down you, hmm?" the young woman asks, cocking her head, placing her hand on his own. He grunts lightly, closing his eyes. Mary makes a noise of disapproval, taking the spoon out of his soup bowl. She wipes the bottom on the bowl, blowing on the hot vegetable broth with potatoes and rice.

He turns away stubbornly, but even when he had an ear infection, his wife always got what she wanted. Within a few minutes, the bowl was empty and her husband was tiredly mewling on the couch. Mary lets herself smile lightly at his cuteness, before plopping the metal straw into his mouth. Francis made a small, pleased sound, beginning to drink down the hot, sweetened tea.

"You're so cute." Mary murmurs, kissing his forehead and stroking back his hair until he was tiredly nuzzling into the pillows. "Try and sleep, my love. I'll be here when you wake up." she whispers, kissing him softly three times, until his head sagged to the side and his lips parted in slumber. Mary smiles sadly, hoping he'd feel better when he woke up.

~~

Francis is literally me in this one. I was briefly better, but I got hit with either another ear infection, or the same one wasn't cleared up as much as I'd thought. I'm gonna try and update as much as possible, but updates will probably be not very frequent until I get fully better.

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