[MillietheWarrior]

Shaking his head, Gene lamented the way doctors and nurses always took care of other people better than they did themselves; he was guilty of it too. “Well, Babe an’ I came to see how you was doin’, and he made ya some soup.” He saw her perk up just slightly, eyes brightening only a little, before her tiredness claimed her again. “You eaten anythin’ today?”

“Nyquil, Gene. I ate Nyquil.”

“Nyquil ain’t food.”

“It is when you feel like shit.”

“You are the worst sick person I ever met.”

Gene stood back up, smoothing his hand over her forehead and across her sweat-soaked hair, gently tucking the blankets around her. She immediately pulled them up closer, a smile curling over her face.

[MillietheWarrior]

“You can come to bed, if you want,” she muttered blearily, and he shook his head.

“I don’ think I should. You need to get better. Babe’s here. And I don’ wanna catch whatever ya got.”

“Come oooon,” Sam whined, and he knew her words were fever induced. She looked like she was on the verge of conking out any second. “You, me, PJ’s, bed. The PJ’s are optional.” She tried to waggle her eyebrows, but it looked more like a scrunched up sick face to Gene, and he held back his laughter for her sake.

“Temptin’ as that sounds, I think that is best saved for another time. You get some sleep, an’ when you wake up, you can have some soup. Sound good?”

“Yes, mother.”

[MillietheWarrior]

Gene scowled at her as she giggled sleepily, though his face smoothed into a fond expression as she drifted quickly off, her breathing evening out. He had to admit, despite his worry over her being sick, she was incredibly adorable. And her offer to come to bed was really, really tempting. But she needed her rest, and he gently patted her cheek, before he slipped out of the room and back into the kitchen.

Babe was lounging on the sofa, the TV already on and the volume down low as he flipped through channels.

[MillietheWarrior]

“What the verdict, doc?” he asked, glancing up. “She okay, or what?”

“She’s just a little sick,” Gene admitted, stepping into the kitchen and placing the thermos of soup in the microwave to keep it from getting cold; it was better than the fried when it came to hot things. “She’ll be fine with a lil’ rest and some medicine.” He looked torn as he went to settle next to Babe on the couch, chewing his lip thoughtfully. “I wish I had tomorrow off; she ain’t goin’ into work, but I gotta. I really wish someone could come check in on her.”

“’Ey, tomorrow is Saturday, so I ain’t got nothin’ goin’ on,” Babe informed him. “Well, nothin’ that can’t be canceled. I’ll stay with her tomorrow so you can go to work and not worry about your red-haired princess. Sound good?”

[MillietheWarrior]

Gene swatted his friend in the shoulder at the teasing, but nodded nonetheless, relief flowing through him. “Thanks Babe, I ‘preciate it.”

The two fell into an easy silence, absently watching some cartoon or other on the television, with Babe not too interested and Gene not really seeing it as he thought of Sam and fretted over her.

“Hey Gene.”

Gene rolled his head towards Babe, frowning, and raised a brow in question.

“You called me ‘Babe.’”

“I did? When?” He seemed genuinely surprised, and scowled when Babe laughed.

“Just now.”

“Babe…I guess I did.”

Babe grinned as he settled into the couch. A few seconds later, he gave his head a shake, imitating Gene’s accent. “‘Babe.’”

“Heffron, just watch the God damn cartoons, all right?”

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[MillietheWarrior]

Long shifts at the hospital were literally the worst.

Sam decided that, while she loved her job, she really hated getting random stranger's blood all over her when he decided that he was fine pulling the eight inch nail he’d accidentally punctured his upper bicep with out on his own, against her orders. And it wasn’t even one of those days when Gene could swoop in and save her from the utter bullshit chaos of the emergency room; that lucky bastard had the day off.

She knew that he was waiting for her back at her house, but she hadn’t known he was sleeping. So when she stepped through the door, her bones achy and her feet feeling like they were going to fall off, she scowled at his slumbering form draped across her couch. “God damn French asshole,” she muttered, though she didn’t really mean it. She was just pissed that he got Sunday off when she didn’t.

[MillietheWarrior]

Shuffling through the door, Sam dropped her bag beside it, trying to at least be a little considerate and not wake up her sleeping Soulmate. She edged around the house, towards the kitchen, and pulled open the refrigerator before closing it immediately with a sigh. Really, she just wanted a nap, no matter how hungry she was. She silently longed for Babe and his delicious cooking, wishing she could just phone him up and ask him to bring her food. The sweet man that he was, he would probably do it, but there was no way she’d bother him with her grumbling stomach and laziness problems.

[MillietheWarrior]

Although, the laziness was justified, if she did say so herself. She’d been working all night, and it was only one in the afternoon; no one, especially Sam, enjoyed the night shift in the ER. That song The Freaks Come Out at Night was more frighteningly accurate than anyone really knew.

Grumbling under her breath, Sam shuffled her way back over to the couch, standing over Gene with her hands on her hips. He looked so damn peaceful, she almost didn’t want to wake him up.

Almost.

Ignoring the fact that she had a perfectly good bed in her room that she was somewhat eager to get to, Sam placed her knee on the edge of the couch, just on the side of Gene’s legs, and carefully eased her weight down, before letting herself plop down hard across his body.

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[MillietheWarrior]

Gene woke with a startled cry and a violent jerk, nearly throwing his Soulmate onto the floor next to the couch before he realized what the hell had just happened. Sam propped her head up on her folded hands, resting comfortably against his chest, and grinned up at him.

Gene groaned. “Sam, what the hell? Yer lucky I didn’t throw you halfway across the room.”

“I’d land on my feet; I’m like a cat. A sneaky cat. You didn’t even hear me come in, did you, you sleeping Cajun jerk?”

“Hey,” Gene grouched, wrapping his arms around her and dragging her up his body so they could be nose to nose. “It’s my day off. I can do whatever I like, includin’ sleep. At least, I could before someone decided to tackle me.”

[MillietheWarrior]

“But I’m hungry. Can you feed me and tell me I’m pretty, Gene?”

Sighing, Gene leaned forward and kissed her nose, a grin winding its way onto his face when she scowled at him, obviously expecting him to get up and get her food. “I can tell you you’re pretty. But you an’ I both know that the only one with any cookin’ skill between us is you. I ain’t even gonna try.”

“I’m running off to marry Babe. You’re dead to me now.”

[MillietheWarrior]

Gene laughed as Sam dropped her head onto his chest, making a forlorn sound in the back of her throat. He squeezed her waist, mockingly remarking: “How will I ever survive? No one will feed me. I’ll starve.”

“Then starve, you jerk. Now you know how I feel.”

“Fine, fine,” Gene muttered, kissing the top of her head. She was amusing when she was tired, but he didn’t want to torture her. She deserved something to eat after such a long day. “Get up an’ I’ll go and try and make you somethin’ edible.”

“But I’m comfortable.”

[MillietheWarrior]

Rolling his eyes, Gene managed to shimmy sideways, letting Sam flop onto the couch where he’d been laying and lamenting his lost sleeping spot when she immediately snuggled into the warmth he was leaving and cuddled his pillow to her. “Ya know, you shouldn’t be able to have this both ways.”

“Fooooood.”

Gene chuckled as he headed into the kitchen, pulling out the ingredients to make her a sandwich; despite what Babe said of his abysmal skills in the kitchen, he made a pretty mean cheese sandwich (which was Sam’s favorite; she wasn’t a fan of meat, he’d discovered). “Let me guess; barbeque Lay’s, right?”

“Between the cheese and the bread!”

[MillietheWarrior]

She was really weird, and so were her tastes in food. He glanced over his shoulder to see her watching him with a tired smile, and felt his heart leap into his chest; he still couldn’t quite believe that she was his Soulmate. But every time he caught sight of the quicksilver words on his hip in the mirror, it reminded him that all of this was real. And every time Sam ran her fingers along those same words, it reminded him…

“You make such a sexy sandwich.”

Gene almost dropped the knife he was using to spread the mayo, and shot her a surprised look over his shoulder. Her eyes were closed, and there was a large, dreamy smile on her face. She was going to be out as soon as she ate her sandwich, he had a feeling, but in the meantime, her sleepy banter was amusing.

[MillietheWarrior]

“And you make a sexy sneaky cat,” he retorted, crunching the barbeque chips between the top piece of bread and setting it on a plate. He grabbed a soda from the fridge and headed back over, setting the plate and soda on the table while he moved her feet and plopped back down on the couch. Sam instantly draped her legs over him, and he found himself pinned. “Hey, you gotta get up to eat. Don’ be lazy.”

“But I wanna be.” Regardless of her words, Sam dragged herself up into a sitting position, feet still in his lap, and eagerly grabbed for her plate. Gene watched in mild disgust as she crunched into her sandwich, devouring it in only a few minutes.

[MillietheWarrior]

“I have no idea how you can eat that stuff. You’re so weird.”

“I like being weird. Weird is all I’ve got. That and my sweet style.”

Gene rolled his eyes.

“Careful; one of these days you’re going to roll your eyes straight into a different plane of existence.”

Giggling to herself, Sam popped the last chip into her mouth before Gene swooped over and grabbed her around the waist. “Gah!” she cried as he lifted her off the couch and into the air, dropping her over his shoulder. “God damn it, what are you, a caveman?”

“Maybe,” he replied, spinning in a circle.

“You’re gonna make me throw up.”

“You’d better not!”