Varian twisted the screws on his invention with a little extra effort. He was extremely tired and he felt like he was burning up and freezing at the same time. He knew he was sick, but he didn't want to say anything to Emma about it. She already worried about him plenty yesterday and he didn't want to snap at her again.

"I can deal with this," he whispered. "I'll be fine."

He continued to work under the impression that he might be getting nauseated as well. Regardless, he managed to pull through it. He refused to upset Emma again, even if it meant overworking himself in these conditions. He just had to pretend that everything was fine and she probably wouldn't notice.

As he worked, however, his symptoms were starting to get worse. His head was pounding, his stomach felt like it was going to explode, and he couldn't even tell if he was cold or hot anymore. Varian groaned painfully and kept constructing his project. He stood up for a moment to gather more tools, when he began to swoon. The dizziness overcame him and he collapsed onto the cold lab floor. What he remembered from his last moments of consciousness was Ruddiger squeaking fearfully beside him before running out of the lab.

“Oh, no…” he whimpered before passing out.

Emma was reading a Flynn Ryder book on the couch with Mercury when Ruddiger scrambled into the room, chirping frantically. “Ruddiger, what’s wrong?” She burst out of her seated position and raced over to Varian’s lab.

“Varian, what’s going on? Ruddiger is panicking a bit and I wanted to make sure that you’re doing ok.” She stopped in her tracks and froze for a split second before running to Varian’s side. He was laying on the ground and he didn’t appear to be moving. Emma lifted Varian up onto her lap and turned him over so she could see his face.

Varian looked terrible! He was even more flushed than before, sweat was trickling down his face, his breathing was shallow, and he was burning hot to the touch.

"Oh, V, what did you get yourself into?" Emma whispered as she wiped Varian's bangs out of his face. "Let's go to the couch, ok?"

She flung Varian over her shoulder and carried him to the living room. She laid him down on the couch and left to get him a glass of water for when he woke up.

Time Skip

Varian groaned softly as he opened his eyes. He quickly sat up and placed his hand on his forehead. Immediately, he noticed that Emma had fallen asleep in a nearby sofa chair.

Varian cursed silently for his recklessness, but his expression softened when he glanced at her again and saw how peaceful and perfect she looked even when asleep. A small smile formed on Varian's face as he heard the calmness of Emma's breath and how beautiful she was.

He decided to let her sleep as he stood up.

I gotta get back to work. Hopefully, she'll understand.

However, Emma heard Varian stirring and sat up fearfully.

"Varian, y-you're awake," she said as soon as she looked at him. "S-sit back down. You're not feeling well." She gently pushed him back down on the couch.

"I-I'm perfectly fine, Em!" Varian protested. "There's no need to- a… achoo!"

Emma set her hand on Varian's forehead. "You've got a really bad fever. You need to stay right here."

Varian grudgingly let himself fall backwards onto his pillow.

"I'm not sick!" He pouted.

"Yes, you are, V," Emma sighed. "Why else do you think you sneezed just a second ago?"

"Um… allergies?"

"Nice try, but you're gonna have to try harder than that. I'll be right back. I'm going to find a doctor."

Varian sat up frantically. "The doctor?! You can't get the doctor!"

"Why not?" Emma raised an eyebrow.

"There's… no need to, really."

"We need to know what you have and how to cure it."

"I just-"

"Varian, please don't be so stubborn!" Emma pleaded. "I'm trying my best to help you and I just… feel like you don't want me to help at all."

Varian averted his eyes guiltily. "I'm sorry. I'll do better."

Emma smiled big. "You don't need to worry about anything. I'll be right back. Try to get some rest please." She stood up again and left the house, leaving Varian with Ruddiger and Mercury. He then spotted a glass of water on the nightstand next to him. His throat was parched, but he didn't reach for the glass. Instead, he curled up into a ball and tried to sleep again.

Time Skip

"He has the flu," the doctor announced. "He might start to feel incredibly nauseated later. Just make sure he rests and gets plenty of water. Take care!" The doctor rose and set off to return to work.

"Thank you so much, Doctor. Take care of yourself as well!" Emma waved goodbye as the doctor left. She turned to look at Varian. "You heard what she said. Plenty of rest and water." She held the water in front of Varian.

Feeling embarrassed, Varian turned his head away and his ears began to grow hot.

"It's ok to drink water, Varian. I'm not going to judge you or anything like that. It's important to stay hydrated."

Varian gave in, took the water, and drank all of it in just a couple of seconds. Emma took it back once he had finished. "Thank you, V. I'll refill this for later."

While Emma was in the kitchen, Varian began stroking Ruddiger for comfort, which made Ruddiger fall asleep next to him.

As soon as Emma returned with the water glass and a small box, Varian broke out in a sneezing fit that lasted for about a minute. When he finished, Emma said, "Are you ok?"

Varian sniffled. "Yeah, I am now."

"Here you go." Emma set a box of tissues on the nearby nightstand. "I found these in one of the kitchen cabinets."

"Thanks." Varian grabbed a tissue and blew his nose.

"You'll feel better in no time," Emma promised. "Do you need anything?"

"Not that I know of. You can relax if you want. I don't want you to overwork yourself," Varian said softly.

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you overwork yourself this morning despite being sick? That's kind of a poor choice of words there, but I'll follow your advice." She hit Varian's arm playfully, then got herself seated on the sofa chair.

After moments of uncomfortable silence, Varian blurted, "Are you mad at me?"

Emma's eyes widened with surprise. "Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?"

"Last night, I was so inconsiderate that I made you cry, and now you have to spend so much time taking care of me because I was being reckless," Varian confessed.

"Wait, you knew that I cried last night?" Emma blushed bright red.

"No, no, no, i-it's ok!" Varian stammered. "It was my fault. You don't need to be embarrassed about it."

"It's fine," Emma chuckled sadly. She rose from her seat and walked over to Varian. "Trust me, I'm not mad at you. Just focus on getting better, ok?"

Varian gazed at her with bright eyes and said, "I'll do anything for you."

Time Skip

Emma had finally gotten Varian to sleep when she heard someone knocking on the door. She quickly dashed over to the front door and opened it up. Outside stood Rapunzel and Eugene.

"Hi, Emma! We got your letter about Varian. Is he doing ok?" Rapunzel greeted.

"I just barely got him to fall asleep," Emma sighed. "He's doing ok right now."

"I'm glad you're taking care of him, Emms," Eugene grinned. "I bet you're the only one that could persuade him to do anything."

"Yeah, you're the one person he trusts the most," Rapunzel agreed.

Emma nodded solemnly as she remembered Varian’s revengeful phase in the past.

"We still wanna help out, though. If that's ok with you, at least?" Rapunzel continued.

"Thank you so much!" Emma beamed. "I could really use the help. Varian is so stubborn."

"I know, right?" Rapunzel chuckled. "Anyway, we brought some things that might help." She held out a basket with supplies and goodies, which Emma gratefully accepted.

"Come on in! I'll make you some hot chocolate," Emma offered.

As soon as everyone got settled in the kitchen, Emma made sure to update Rapunzel and Eugene on everything that had happened. The two listened intently with concern.

“Ok, that makes sense,” Eugene muttered softly. “I remember something like that happening to me when I was young. I was a dumb kid back then. Not that I’m calling you guys dumb or anything like that!”

“It’s fine. I know you didn’t mean it like that,” Emma smiled sadly. She handed Rapunzel and Eugene a cup of hot chocolate each.

“Aren’t you going to have any?” Rapunzel asked with a worried look on her face.

“I don’t really have much of an appetite right now,” Emma sighed. “Too much on my mind.” Rapunzel and Eugene shared a concerned glance, but didn’t say anything about it. 

Once they had all finished, they made their way to the living room to make sure that Varian was doing alright. Emma placed a gentle hand over Varian’s forehead.

“He’s burning up more than before,” she whispered to the others. “You two can sleep in Varian’s room tonight. I’ll keep an eye on him down here.”

“Alright,” Rapunzel grinned. “Thanks again for the hospitality! Make sure you get some sleep, ok?”

“Good night, Emms,” Eugene said as he and Rapunzel climbed up the stairs to Varian’s bedroom. Emma let out a quiet sigh as she leaned back into the sofa chair. She knew she wasn’t going to get any sleep. She was just too worried about Varian with his fever going up.

“I’ll just have to pull an all-nighter,” Emma decided. “I can’t be asleep if anything happens to Varian.”

Word Count: 1676