She walked into the living room to a sleeping form on the couch, tired, ill and burdened with labored breathing. As quietly as a mouse, she maneuvered herself around the couch and squatted in from of the angelic face. It was flushed and the lips were pale, and she had to smile with every mucus-induced sniffle that excused through her lover’s lips.

“Shane, baby… It’s time to take your meds.” Carmen said with a slight stroke to the forehead. It was still unnaturally warm, and she ran her hands across the cheeks to the flushed neck to have a better gauge of the temperature.

In a wispy groggy voice, Shane pleaded, “Do I have to? They taste really yucky.” That puppy dog expression, that child-like whimper, Carmen couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

Hurt. That was the look on Shane’s face. Her lower lip stuck out as far out as it could go and she turned her head away from her unsympathetic girlfriend. Carmen got off the floor and sat down at the edge of the middle cushion, running her hand through her girlfriend’s hair as a mother would her child. She leaned down and put her lips at the warm forehead, whispering in her most Shane-like voice, “Peach, you know you have to take the pills, come on.”

Shane let out a small moan of protest, hiding her face under her comforter. “I’m not gonna get off the hook with that, am I?” The words came out muffled.

“Nope. It’s my turn to mother my baby now.” Carmen smiled, lips still pressed on her lover’s forehead. “Come on, the pills made me feel horrible and I still took them. These…” Carmen jiggled the little capsules in her hand, “These make you feel better.”

“Fine fine…” Shane sighed as she attempted to untangle herself from the bulky comforter and sat up. She drew her hands out from under the covers and accepted the pills and the glass of water Carmen handed to her, grudgingly no doubt. With one quick action, she swallowed the pills and downed the entire glass of water, her face scrunched up with disgust. As soon as she was done, she handed her glass off and slumped back onto the couch.