It's No Big Deal! *Armistad*

Crimson stumbled up to her bedroom, clearly aware that it was four o-clock in the morning and she was supposed to be in bed several hours ago. She knew that she shouldn't have snuck out, and she knew that if Armistad figured it out she would be grounded until the end of time. And right now with how drunk and horrible she felt she did not want that kind of punishment looming over her head. Closing her eyes briefly she sunk down to the floor and used the bed as a back rest. She felt horrible, and drinking all of that fire-whiskey was just going to come back and haunt her the next day.

Pulling her knees up to her chest she sniffled and rested her head on them. She was not crying or anything, but she knew that she was coming down with something. She had been walking around London in the cold and she had wanted something to warm her up, so when the opportunity had presented itself she had gone to a bar and drowned herself in warm liquor. However the problem with drowning oneself in liquor was the fact that you eventually came up from air. And when you did it was like a glacier rammed into you at a million miles an hour.

Feeling her stomach roll slightly she cringed and closed her eyes. It was times like this when she wished that she had someone to take care of her. But she was too...independent...to ask Armistad to do it. So she just usually hid in her room and took care of herself. Closing her eyes she whimpered a bit as a sharp pain stabbed at her.

"Ugh," she snarled. "Damn it."

However, as quiet as she thought she had been, it apparently wasn't quiet enough to go unnoticed in the House of Calm. She heard the door to her bedroom open and immediately she froze in her spot.

Crimson

Crimson's Bedroom

Arimistad had been asleep at his desk when a noise over head woke him. He rubbed the grit from his crystal blue eyes and got up to investigate. He was pretty sure that it was Crimson, who he had been waiting for for the last few hours, ever since he'd noticed she wasn't in her room.

He left the office and padded, barefoot to the stairs. When he'd reached the top, he listened again. There was a little more noise, but not as loud as before. Well, if she wasn't home yet, he was going to beat the person that was in her room to a pulp with his bare hands. He'd told his cousin that he would take care of the house and keep out any intruders until Max was old enough to come and claim it when he left Hogwarts. Armistad didn't want to take Max from the first real home he'd known since he was four, and bring him back to this..... He guessed 'tomb' would be the most accurate way to describe the house.

He creeped along the corridor and opened her door. There she was, sitting on the floor and from the looks of her, completely and totally off her @#!*% drunk. He sighed as she froze and crossed the room to sit on her bed. He felt vaguely ridiculous sitting in the middle of a pink room. He personally didn't care much for the color. But it was her room, and if she didn't want it changed in the renovations his cousin was doing, then so be it. But he wasn't going to let his dislike of the color distract him from what he had to do now.

"Crimson, while you are here, you are my responsibilty. I'm supposed to be keeping you safe, and you snuck out to do Merlin only knows what. What if you had been kidnapped, or killed? I would never know unless I read it in the paper."

He sighed and moved to sit on the floor next to her.

"So what do you have to say for yourself?"

Armistad

Crimson glared and turned her head. She knew that she was going to get lectured tonight, but that didn't mean she was going to admit he was right. Armistad was just her foster parent, he didn't even really want her. He only took her in because he felt pity for her...they had dumped her at his house because he had applied for being a foster parent long ago. She was not going to say a word to him, despite the fact that she wanted to.

Her stomach rolled inside of her and once again Crimson found herself cringing in pain. She was going to throw up, the only question being when looming in her head. Closing her eyes she rested her head on the mattress of the bed and continued to ignore him. She wasn't going to utter a word, not a single word. He was already, no doubt, set on grounding her so she wasn't going to rock the boat or deepen her sentence by arguing.

Crossing her arms over her chest she pulled her knees up so that she was able to rest her head on their tops. Sniffling a bit she shivered involuntarily and felt her stomach lurch forward slightly.

"Ohh..." she moaned, quickly turning her pained expression into one of anger. She was showing him weakness again...something she did not like to do if she could help it.

Armis sighed when she didn't answer him. He should have been used to this, but it still got to him. He wanted to do what was right by her, but she kept fighting any attempt he made to get to know her! It was starting to seem that the only thing he was going to know about her were her name and the fact that she slept in a pink bedroom.

That and that she lived to make his life Hell.

He was her guardian for as long as she lived in what he affectionately had named the Gallery of Calm, since he felt as if this house were a mausoleum. It was just too quiet and formal for his taste. He prefered things to be a bit more colorful. And he was sure that Max would feel the same when he took over the house. Armistad had two more years, that he knew of. He knew that the overhaul of the house would take at least that long, and Max had told him that he could stay there since Alice, Andrea and Millicent were no longer in the way with it being Max's inheritance.

Two years to get her to talk to him. Two years to get her to tolerate him. Two years to get her to even look at him without glaring.

Armistad sighed. He knew that she was only fifteen, and that she was angry about something, but she would not talk to him unless absolutely necessary. It hurt, but he wasn't going to let it show. One day, he would get her to smile, if it killed him.

He stood and pulled a rubbish bin closer to them, setting it next to her and left the room.

Crimson watched as her guardian left her and took the bin so that it was in front of her. She felt sick, abnormally sick, but she could take care of herself. Her parents had never coddled her, so she didn't expect it now either. Biting her lower lip she felt her body convulse slightly. Closing her eyes she retched loudly over the bin and let out a small, pained, cry. This wasn't normal drunkard vomiting, this was severe, sick vomiting. Holding her stomach as tears filled her eyes she coughed and retched loudly. This was just so horrible, and she almost wished she hadn't pushed Armistad clear out the door.

Pulling the bucket closer she closed her eyes and rested her head on the rim of the bin. She just wanted to sleep, bug she couldn't...not when she felt this bad. So she just sat there, submitting to nausea when it sought to attack her...and as it happened it did often. After several hours of vomiting she knew that this was more than just being drunk, she hadn't had so much that it was alcohol poisoning, but she had eaten at the bar at the time...and being the Hog's Head she knew that probably hadn't been the best idea.

"Ugh..." she moaned, vomiting once more.

Time must have been cruel to her, because when she looked back outside it was to see the faint pink that came when the sun started to rise ever so slightly.

Armistad went to his room and flopped on the bed. The room was a bit more comforting than he remembered, but not by much. He'd not spent much time here when he was growing up, since he'd been sent to Durmstang to learn magic. He knew that this had been his Aunt and Uncle's room when Charles had been living, but now it was his, if only temporarily.

He rolled over onto his side, trying to think of how to get her to respond to him. He'd done everything. He'd been nice to her, yelled, tried to get her involved in what was going on with the house...... So far, nothing. She simply wasn't..... She just didn't want him in her life, it seemed.

He rolled onto his back again and stared at the ceiling. If his mother could see him now, she would laugh and tell him to get off his duff and into that room. Then she would say to not come out until he had sorted this out with her. He knew that she was right, but he could only stand to be ignored so much, and then he would have to remove himself from the situation for a little bit, if only to get his head on straight again. He would be no good to her or himself if he were upset and about to yell at her again. Besides, yelling never accomplished anything.

But what was he going to do?

Armistad sat up and put his head into his hands with a sigh.

Crimson tossed and turned on her bed, she had decided to try and lay down for a bit, but it just wasn't happening. Her body was being ravished by fever and she just felt too sick to get up and make her way to the bathroom for medicine. So she tried to ignore the feeling, but every time she tried it just seemed to get harder and harder each time she vomited. Finally she just submitted to her pain and began to cry. She knew that it was okay to sob at the present moment, she was alone and so that meant no one would be able to see her at her weakest point.

Whimpering softly she squeezes her pillow and let out a small sob. Her stomach just hurt so much and the chills were driving her in sane. She had soaked her bed in sweat and several times had almost thrown up all over herself, God if there was a Hell it had to be more peaceful than this.

Crying out once more, this time regretting how loud it was she placed a hand over her mouth as sick threatened to stain her bed sheets. She needed help, but she couldn't go and get Armis...God, she wished she could have tried to confide in him just a little bit...but she never did...and she always waited for it to get to the point where it was so bad that she was literally in agony until someone came to save her.

Time passed slowly while Armistad thought of ways that he could get Crimson to talk to him. Nothing was coming to his head, and it just figured. He'd already tried everything. Maybe it was time to just go back to the first thing that he'd tried. He stood and looked at himself in the mirror.

He didn't see anything scary about his reflection. He looked.....well, normal. Armistad looked at the dark hair and pale blue eyes of his relfection and tilted his head. He wasn't a bad guy, but he just couldn't reach her for some reason. He wanted to be her friend more than anything, especially since she was going to be living in the house with him.

He sighed and turned away from the mirror. He went out the door, and across the hall, knocking on her door. He opened it without waiting for an answer. He knew it was rude, but didn't expect that she would have given an answer in the first place. She was lying on her bed, clutching a pillow, and she seemed to be in more pain than the alcohol would have caused. He crossed over to her bed and sat on the edge, looking down at her.

He reached out and touched his hand to her forehead. She was extremely warm, and he got up, hurrying to the bathroom to get something, anything for her to take to bring her temperature down. When he'd returned to her side, he brought the bin with him, just in case there was need for it.

"Crimson, why didn't you say that you were sick?"

Crimson sniffled and shrugged, she knew that she was approaching this the wrong way...and maybe just this one time she could be vulnerable for Armis...she did care about him. She had gone to many Foster Homes and not one of them had made her feel as welcome as his did...so maybe she could afford to be a little vulnerable and let him know that she did in fact like him...that...that she looked at him like the father she had never had.

"I didn't feel sick at first," she grumbled, moodily. "Just drunk."

She knew that wasn't the right tone of voice to use when it came to asking someone to take care of them. But she just didn't know how else to talk to him... she didn't know how to really talk to anyone. And Crimson knew that was her own fault, she had never taken the time to learn. But it still didn't change the fact that she was scared to let this man in...she was scared.

"Sorry," she whimpered. "Is it that bad? Can't...can't I just lay here and wait it out?"

That was what she used to do...that was what she had to do...the other Foster Parents just made her lay there and suffer while they went on their merry old way. She knew that no one would ever take care of her so she just took care of herself and stopped expecting people to do it for her.

Armistad stood and hurried to his room for a spare blanket. He didn't want to make her move from the bed if he could help it. It might make her even more ill. Going back to the bathroom, he rummaged around to see if there was a thermometer. He found one (very modern to his surprise) and took it back to her.

He covered her with the blanket and put the thermometer in her ear, waiting the few seconds for the beep. Her temperature wasn't overly high, but it was enough to concern him. He read the directions of the medication that he'd brought to the room and got out the recomended amount.

"I want you to take this," he said, setting it on the bedside table. He wasn't going to force her to do it if she didn't want to, but he knew that she couldn't be feeling the greatest at that moment. He tucked the blanket closer around her shoulders, wanting her to keep under it. Maybe it would help to break her fever. It always had for him, anyway. He didn't really know what else to do. This was new territory to him, but he couldn't just leave her alone. That would be cruel, and he thought that she'd been alone too much in her life as it was.

"Please, Crimson? Will you take the medicine for me?"

Crimson had been surprised when Armistad took her temperature and wrapped her up further in the blanket. She had to admit it was kind of nice to have him there, it was nice that he was trying to take care of her. Feeling tears prick her eyes she blinked them away and reached for the medicine with a shaky hand. They were pills, clearly he did not want to give her a potion when she had not eaten anything. Taking the medicine and swallowing them dry she laid back down. She was used to taking pills that way. Certain homes she had stayed in caused her to do a lot of things normal children would never have to do. Laying back down she whimpered and closed her eyes.

"M'sorry," she whispered. "For...for coming home so late..."

She knew that didn't justify other things, her constant attitude and how she pushed him away constantly, but she just could not help that. She knew that Armistad was a counselor, but sometimes she just felt that she needed more help than what he could provide and that it was better to push him to the point that he admitted he did not love her...or that he did not want her. She would never understand why he tolerated her, she didn't deserve it.

Feeling her stomach roll a bit she moaned as tears pricked her eyes. And for some reason she found herself wanting her daddy...but he was dead...and he didn't care about her. Blinking she sent the tears down her cheeks and a lose sob left her diaphragm.

Armistad's eyes softened a little when Crimson started crying. He kenw that she was drunk, and that was her own fault, but drunk didn't give you a fever, and she definitely had one. He saw her tears and heard the sob. His heart went out to her, just as it had more than once since he'd met her. She seemed to live to make his life a living Hell, but he knew that she was just troubled. The problem was, he didn't know what to do to reach her. Except for one thing.

He pulled her up and into a hug. He didn't know if she would let him for long, but he wanted to at least make the attempt. That would be enough for him. To let her know that he cared enough to at least try to hug her.

"I'm sorry, if you didn't want me to do that. I just wanted to let you know that there is someone that cares about whether you are sick or not, and whether you come home by curfew. Which, by the way, since you weren't, you are going to be punished for, but I think that can wait until you are feeling better."

He stood and took the thermometer and medicine back to the bathroom and brought her a glass of water. If she got sick, the best thing would be for her to be able to rinse out her mouth and maybe take a few sips. She would need to stay hydrated, and he was going to be there to make sure she was.

"If you need anything, just yell, or throw something at the door." He laughed. "I'm just going to be right across the hall, and my door will be open, all right?" He smiled and went back to his bedroom to get ready for bed. It was so late, and he was exhausted all of a sudden.

Crimson, surprisingly, held onto him when he hugged her. It had been one of those rare touches she had never been able to experience when she was growing up and she almost yearned to feel it again. When he let her go and got her the water she almost felt like crying once more. He was going to leave her? But she didn't want him to leave, she felt a little better with him near to take care of her. Tears rolled down her sweaty cheeks as he left her bedroom and went across the hall. Sniffling slightly she snuggled back down under her covers and tried to go to sleep, only it wouldn't come. But that was to be expected. Sighing somewhat she sat up and took a sip from her water glass.

The cool liquid felt nice against her burning throat, only it did not last...for in the next second her stomach revolted and with a retch she ended up throwing the water up down her front and all over her bed. Whimpering softly she turned away from the sick, her body shaking violently. Crimson had never been able to handle looking at vomit. The smell and texture got her every time. Crying a bit she tried to gather her voice enough so that she could call Armistad, but every time she opened her mouth more bile and stomach acid left her...causing the vomit to take on a disgusting brown color.

"A-RMISTAD!" she sobbed, finally able to form a coherent sentence. "A-ARMISTAD!"

But at first it seemed like he could not hear her and she was talking to no one but herself...finally it just got to be too much...

"D-DADDY!"

Armis collapsed on his bed for a moment. He was so tired. He'd been up at the crack of dawn, working on files for some of the repairs that had to be done soon before any more of the of the renovations could be done to one of the rooms. And since it was an outside room, one that lay along the perimeter of the house, it needed to be finished quickly. Then he'd gone around the house working on what he could. He'd finished painting one of the window frames that had just been replaced, cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom, and assisted in replacing some of the pipes in the basement.

"It has been a long day," he yawned, sitting up so that he could get changed into something for bed. He got himself into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and was just getting settled into bed when he heard something. Or he thought he did. He sat up and listened more closely. Then he heard it.

"D-DADDY!"

Armistad was out of bed and across the hall in a shot. He expected to find Crimson in her bed, having a bad dream, but she was awake. She'd been sick. Repeatedly, it looked like, and she was covered in it.

"Oh, Crimson. Come on, let's get you out of there. If you want to go have a shower while I change your sheets, it'll make you feel a little better, I promise."

He didn't understand why she'd been calling for her father, but he wasn't going to question it. It was her business, and he didn't have the right to ask. But it had made him feel that she'd been calling for him for just a moment.

Crimson sniffled and did as she was told. She went out into her bathroom and stripped out of her dirty clothes. The smell was horrible, but she knew that Armistad would take care of it and she would come back to a fresh smelling bedroom. Running the water she waited for it to get warm before stepping into the lovely bath. It felt so good against her skin, but she knew that the feeling would go away as soon as she gout out of the water. Still, it would not hurt to savor it as much as she could.

Leaning against the shower wall she closed her eyes and just let the warm water wash over her. It felt wonderful and took the chill of a bit as it tried and wash her fever away. Of course it was only temporary, after she stepped out of the water it stopped and she was back to feeling sick and nauseous. She didn't want Armistad to leave her this time, she wanted him to stay with her...either in her room or maybe he would let her stay in his room.

Looking to see that there was a clean pair of pajamas laying on the counter top she had to smile weakly. Armistad must have placed them there for her so she wouldn't have to go out in the cold. Taking the jammies she put them on and sniffled. She just did not feel good. Leaning against the wall, she decided that she didn't even want to walk.

"Armistad...Armis?" she whimpered. "Daddy?"

Moving several strands of, dripping, wet, hair from her face she whimpered once more.

"Daddy? I need your help."

Jammies

Armistad had just been passing the door to the bathroom with clean sheets for her bed when he heard her say that she needed help. He knocked on the bathroom door and peeked around it. He didn't see the pajamas that he'd put on the counter and looked around the door carefully. He was grateful to see that she was dressed and leaning against the wall, her wet hair sticking to her face.

He pushed open the door and set the sheets on the counter as he entered. He took a towel from the rack next to the shower and moved over to her, putting it over her hair to squeeze out the excess water.

She obviously didn't feel well, and he didn't have her bed finished. She needed to be in bed! Then it occured to him. He had a bigger bed than she did. There would be room for her in his room, and she probably wouldn't even know he was there. Plus, it would be better for her to be near him while she was sick. He was about ready to pass out and they both needed to get to sleep. He might not hear her if she called for him after he'd gone to sleep.

He didn't intend for the room to look the way it did for long, if Max would let him, he was going to redo the entire thing. He hated that blasted blue and gold decor, and didn't understand why there had to be two doors leading out of the room. And the thing that freaked him out the most, was that mirror on the closet door! It was very disconcerting to wake up in the morning or the middle of the night and see a reflection there all of a sudden! It freaked him out. But he was sure that Crimson wouldn't mind for one night.

He picked her up and carried her to his room, not even asking if she wanted him to make her bed. She was probably about to fall asleep anyway, and he wanted to get her into a bed before she fell over. He kicked his door open gently and set her on the covers.

"You're going to sleep in here tonight. I don't want to hear any arguments. You are sick, and I'm about to drop, so it would be better for you to be where I can get to you if you need me to."

Armistad's Current Room

Crimson didn't want to argue, at least not at the present moment. She was perfectly fine with being taken care of, before she probably would have fought him tooth and nail over this. But at the present moment she was perfectly content with just giving in and letting him take care of her. Sniffling a bit she nodded against him as he set her down on the bed. She really didn't like his room, but he was right when he said that there was more room on his bed. Even though the room was ugly as all Hell.

Sniffling she held her stomach as it began cramping up uncomfortably. She had nothing left to give when it came to throwing up, but her stomach still hurt. Wiping the sweat from her forehead she looked up at Armistad with tears in her eyes. She had never felt so sick before, and that was saying something. Or maybe she had and being with Armistad was just weakening her.

"I'm hot," she croaked, weakly. "I...I'm so hot."

It was quite unbearable, the heat that radiated off her body. She just wanted to sink into the floor and lose all sense of herself, just to get some relief from her discomfort. Taking his hand she squeezed it weakly.

"D-Daddy..." she whispered. "I...I'm sorry..."

It was now that Armistad understood. She'd been calling him Daddy. His heart swelled a bit, and it gave him a warm glowing feeling inside his chest. She was finally accepting him! She was starting to think of him as a father figure, which he supposed was what he was. That's what he wanted to be for her. It had taken so many previous houses, but maybe this time would be the one that she would finally get to stay with. And that would mean that Armis would be her real foster father, instead of just an acting one. That was what he'd wanted. That was all that he had wanted.

He hurried around for a few minutes, getting her a rubbish bin, a glass of water from the bathroom, and an ice pack from the kitchen. He didn't know how much use it would be to her, but she had said that she was hot, and Armistad knew that a great majority of the body's heat left through a person's head. He returned to the bedroom and sat on the bed next to her with the ice pack.

"Crimson, could you lie down for me? I want to put this on your head and see if it can help lower your temperature. I'm afraid that if it gets too much higher, we may have to go to St. Mungo's, and I would like to see if we can get it down a bit before we do that." He held up the pack to show her what he was talking about.

Crimson did as he asked and laid back so that he could place the ice pack on her head. She really did not want to go to St. Mungo's. Crimson hated hospitals, needles, medicine, she really hated anything that involved medicine or the medical field. So she laid there, just praying that it would go down. If not she would have to fight Armis tooth and nail to keep her ass out of the hospital.

Holding her stomach a bit she cringed, she felt like she was going to throw up, but whenever she got close enough the feeling just went away. Sighing in mild frustration she tried to close her eyes and go to sleep. Armistad was there, so at least then she would have someone there to watch over her. She was always afraid of going to sleep when someone else was in the room with her, but with Armistad there she felt safe and...and loved.

Shivering a bit she knew that her body was trying to find a steady equillibrium. It just could not make up its mind. So with another shuddering breath, she reached out and took Armistad's hand. She just felt so sick and didn't know what could be done about it. Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them away.

"Don't...leave me..." she whimpered.

Armistad shook his head. He had no intention of leaving her. He wasn't going to go anywhere, unless it was somewhere in the house to get something for her. She was too sick to be left alone. He didn't know what he was going to do if she had to go to St. Mungo's. If he took her there, he was afraid that they might take her away from him. He didn't want that to happen. She'd just started to accept him!

"I'm not going anywhere," he whispered. He turned to a wardrobe that stood in the corner and pulled out a light blanket, taking it back to her and covering her with it. He checked how her temperature was doing, and was slightly discouraged. It wasn't any higher, but it wasn't any lower, either. So that was slightly promising, but he was still upset about it. However, the ice had only been on her forehead for a few minutes, so it hadn't really had time to start working.

He went around the bed and climbed under the covers, laying next to her. He wanted to sleep so badly, his pale blue eyes could barely stay open long enough to register that it was now five thirty in the morning.

"Crimson, if I fall asleep on you and you need me, please, don't hesitate to poke or shake me." He yawned hugely. "Besides, you need to try to sleep, yourself. That's the best thing for you when you are sick."

Armistad felt himself start to drift off, and was asleep the next minute.

Crimson saw Armistad fall asleep next to her and cringed a bit. She had hoped he would stay awake for her, she didn't know why...she just knew that she preferred him being awake and alert...however she knew that he deserved sleep and she needed it too. Snuggling farther into the blankets she moved closer into his chest and buried her face in his chest. She loved the way his shirt smelled, he smelled...like home. And it was with that thought that she drifted off into a deep sleep.

Crimson didn't want to wake up...she really didn't want to wake up...but when her stomach started to gurgle at her uncomfortably she knew she had to get up. She was going to throw up and if she didn't get up she would make a mess of her and Armistad. But her body didn't seem to want to listen to her and opening her eyes weakly she didn't even move as her stomach expelled itself all over herself and the bed.

Coughing softly she felt her eyes widen when she saw the color of what had crawled out of her mouth. It was all dark brown and looked absolutely revolting, she sniffled...but soon realized that blood was trickling out of her nose as well. Crying softly she tried to stop it with her hands.

Armistad woke up slowly when he felt something warm and wet seeping into his shirt. He opened his eyes, and looked blearily around. Crimson was next to him, and the bed and himself were covered in something brown. He woke up immediately after that. He shot up in the bed.

"Crimson, are you all right?" he blurted when he saw that her nose was bleeding as well. He reached over to his side of the bed and pulled a tissue from the box on the nightstand. He rolled her onto her back and proped some of the pillows behind her head so that she didn't choke.

"Tilt your head back and pinch your nose tightly," he instructed, holding the tissue under her nose. He looked at the clock and saw that he had only been out for a few minutes. His body was totally protesting being awakened after that little sleep, but he knew that Crimson was more important.

He finally got her nose to stop bleeding and was able to concentrate on the mess on the bed. It appeared that she'd been sick again. He pulled off his shirt, which seemed to have been hit the worst with it, and used it to try and clean the bed. That proved pointless and he knew he needed to get her clean and find her a place to sleep as soon as possible. His head finally cleared enough for him to remember; he was a wizard.

"Damn we are so tired that I couldn't even remember I can clean the bed with magic. Honey, I hate to do this to you, but I need for you to go have another bath. I can run it for you if you want?"

Crimson cried and shook her head. She did not want to take another shower, she did not want to move, and she really didn't think she was able to move without someone helping her most of the way. She couldn't stand to take another bath and was so cold that she didn't want to even remove her soiled clothes. She took his hand, and could see how tired he was. She should have just toughed it out in her room...if she wouldn't have woken him up the first time he would have been well rested...this was all her fault.

She knew that Armistad just wanted to do what was best for her, but maybe it would be best for him to just leave her there. He deserved to be able to sleep and relax and she was just ruining that. She was ruining his life and taking up so much of his time. She wished that he would just leave her there to sit in her own mess.

"I...I can't move," she whimpered. "I...I'll clean up...just go...go to bed...You can sleep...in my room..."

She knew that Armistad would never leave her, but she had to at least try and push him away. He did not deserve this, he deserved to be able to come home and sleep in his own bed without interruption, and she was ruining that.

Armistad gritted his teeth. He knew what she was doing. He supposed it was a learned behavior, but he'd been taught to not let his clients try to manipulate him into doing what they wanted him to do. And besides that, he didn't want to leave her alone. She was sick, damnit! What kind of jackass would he be to leave someone that he cared about alone when they were sick?

"Now I don't want to hear that again. I'm not leaving you alone. I'm tired, yes. But so are you, and we both need to sleep. You especially since it will help you to get better. He reached over to his nightstand again and located his wand. Using it to clean the bed and Crimson, he smiled faintly. He ran a hand through his dark hair.

"I'm going down to the kitchen, but I will only be a few minutes. I'm going to look for something to settle your stomach, if we have anything. I promise I won't be more than ten minutes."

He hurried down to the kitchen and made himself some extremely strong coffee while he looked for anything that would help Crimson's stomach. He grabbed everything he could think of, and with a cup of the sludge he'd just brewed, he took it all back to his room. He sighed with a tiny bit of relief when he saw the bed was still clean and she was still in it.

"All right, I was able to find something, I hope." He'd poured a glass of the flat lemon-lime soda he'd been about to throw out that afternoon, but had kept. He hadn't known why at the time, but thought that he might need it. He set the tray down at the end of the bed and offered her the glass.

"Crimson, I know you don't feel like drinking or eating anything, but this would work for me when I was sick at your age. Maybe it will for you? Could you maybe just take one sip?" He smiled and added something that caused his heart to swell even more to say. "For Daddy?"

Crimson looked at the drink he brought back up and shook her head. She didn't want to risk throwing up again...she felt so awful, how could he expect her to eat anything? Shaking her head she laid back down. Even though he said that it was for her daddy that did not change the fact that she wasn't remotely thirsty. Wiping the sweat from her brow she sniffled and cringed. Everything smelled of blood and she just could not stand it without it turning her stomach.

"No," she said moodily. "I'm not thirsty...my stomach hurts...I don't want to drink and throw up more."

She was starting to get cranky, and she knew that Armistad would only tolerate so much before he lost his temper with her as well. But that wasn't the point, the point was that she was sick and she just hated feeling sick! She was so helpless and even though she loved how Armistad took care of her, she felt like she was inconveniencing him!

"I'm not eating! I'm not drinking! And you can't make me!"