Request from liviotek

Small whimpering sounds came inside the cave, causing Ellie's ears to twitched up. Stirring awake and blinking her eyes open, she knew that sound was from her baby, Peaches.

The mama mammoth approached her calf, who scrunched their face in discomfort. She pulled her baby close to her, setting her trunk on Peaches's furry head. Her eyes widen what she felt her daughter's forehead was warm.

"Oh, wow! You've got a really bad fever, baby!" She said, upset, looking at her daughter, who couldn't glance at her mom as she was too tired. Her fur was a pale orange rather than the bright as the sun orange she was.

"What's wrong with Peaches?"

Peaches turned around to find Manny full awake, walking up to his wife when he noticed she was awake. His eyes were on his baby, concerned when he noticed how weak she seemed.

"It's a fever, Manny. She's burning up. I wonder how she came like this" Ellie explained, looking at the young calf with worry. Peaches coughed weakly as Manny gently ran his trunk through her small tuft of the dark red hair.

"I don't get it. She was alright before going to the bed" he exclaimed, gently taking her into his trunk as he softly rocked her. Peaches snuggled into her father's warmth, curling into a fuzzy little ball.

"Sneez-brr!"

She let out a sneeze from her trunk, promoting Manny to pat her head to comfort her. "Oh, boy. She's never had a fever before. What do we do?" He asked, starting to panick. This is has never happened before to him. As a first-time parent, it was nerve wrecking to watch your child catch a cold or fever and see that happy jumping child so drained, and weak.

"She's usually healthy, and eats wells...oh Ellie, what if we fed her something she wasn't suppose to eat? What if we food poisoned her? We need to find Peaches a doctor right away!!!!" He rambled on, going into full dad panic mode and starting to want to take out his daughter out of the den to get help. But before he could do anything drastic or make a big scene, Ellie quickly stopped him just as he was about to run out of the den.

"Whoa, Manny! Slow down! Let's dial down the panicked parent mode, shall we?" She suggested to him. While she was just as worried and nervous, she knew that one of them had to stay calm in the situation or else this situation was gonna get more out of hand than it should be.

Manny just stared at her, listening as he held his daughter close to him. He knew better than to argue with her. After all, she grew up with two annoying possums as her brothers, so she had more experience.

"Listen. Just gently set her down in her bed" Ellie instructed calmly. Manny obeyed and settled the calf on the leaf makeshift bed. The mama mammoth walked over to pond they drink from outside, dabbing her trunk into the water and coming back inside to wipe it across Peaches's forehead like a towel.

"Whenever my brothers get sick, I would wipe some cold water onto their foreheads to cool down their temperature. Then, I feed them some mint leaves so it will ease a sore throat, and reduce the fever" she explained, holding out some mint leaves she grabbed outside to her daughter.

Peaches sniffed it, her trunk shrunk back from the strong smell with a frown on her face. "Come on, baby. These gonna make you feel better" her mom assured her with a warm smile which motivated the little baby mammoth to munch on the mint.

Manny continued holding his baby as he watched curiously at his wife tending their child. Peaches glanced up at her dad, and smiled softly at him, snuggling closer into his fur as she started to slowly fall asleep. "Think she'll be alright? I mean, her fur is back to its normal color" he said, noticing her breathing has returned to normal.

"She'll be fine, Manny. The mint leaves will help. She just need a goodnight sleep, and in the morning she'll be good as new" Ellie assured him, gently running a trunk through her hair as they all lied down, both parents looking at their baby.

"Yeah, well what if she's not? What if she's still sick in the morning?" He asked her, feeling the fear rise again. A gentle trunk gently tilted his face so that he was looking at Ellie who offered him an assuring smile with her green eyes shining at him.

"Manny. Don't worry. She's got her dad's resilience, and my energy. She'll be ok. And if she's still sick in the morning, she'll pull through. We'll be there for her. Don't worry" she explained to him calmly.

Manny thought about it carefully as he took a look down at his daughter, fast asleep. One moment she was whimpering, and coughing. Now she was resting easy. He certainly has his resilience, and Ellie's energy. He smiled softly at her, pressing a small kiss on her head with his trunk.

He glanced at mate, both sharing smiles before they headed back to bed, ready to make sure Peaches pull through tomorrow.