Alicia simply smiled patiently at Oliver’s complaint. “That’s what I’m here for, love,” she informed him, while she placed the tray on his nightstand. Her nonchalant attitude, however, was replaced with one of worry as Oliver crumbled over coughing. Oh, she knew he wasn’t dying, it would take a lot more than a case of the Flu to wipe out Oliver, but it still pained her to see him being sick. There was just no way she was going to give in to his pitifulness and outright tell him that she felt sorry for him. Then again, it wouldn’t hurt to coddle him... a little.
Most of all Oliver resembled a lost kid as he sat there in his bed, which Alicia told herself was why she sat down on the edge of his mattress, rather than in the chair on the other side of the nightstand. “If it’ll ensure you coming back to haunt me, then I’m keeping that one as well,” she said with a small smile, about to reach out for his mug of toddy when he started coughing again. Instead, she reached out and rubbed his back gently until this bout of coughing had ended too.
Letting him rest back against his pillows she picked up the damp cloth she had brought in earlier, and gently wiped the cool fabric along his hairline, wiping off the small beads of sweat his coughing had brought forth. “Where does it hurt when you cough?” she asked him, checking to make sure that it was simply a cold, and not pneumonia. She put down the cloth and now went for the toddy. “Here, drink some of this. It’ll soothe your throat.”