@polysjmweek Day 4: Alternate Universe
Read on Ao3 // Fic Masterlist
Fic Summary: Prideful as it made her seem, Feyre had never been the type of girl to go around begging for help. Knowing her unexpected pregnancy would upend her life in a way there was no bouncing back from, she allows herself to accept the hand extended. The problem? Just as she starts to build a relationship with Rhys, her one night stand comes waltzing back into her life in a way she never expected. Seeing what that one night led to, he has no intention of walking away a second time.
Chapter Summary: Ruhn and Rhys come home to find Feyre sick and stubborn about being taken care of.
Chapter III
Ruhn
Ruhn found Feyre curled up on the couch fast asleep with the TV running on low volume, some Hallmark movie he vaguely recognized illuminating the dim room. There was a streak of paint across her cheek, so he knew she’d gone to the studio earlier in the day, but it was unusual for her to be home this early. More unusual still was for her to sleep so heavily she didn’t hear the door open.
He frowned, sitting on the edge of the couch and stroking her hair back from her face. She was burning up. Likely hadn’t taken anything for the fever, either. He didn’t know why she had such an aversion to medication, but just getting a multivitamin in her was a battle most days. She made a weak grab for his shirt and he frowned, kissing her forehead before standing to quickly check that Nyx was still with Mor and Emerie and not just napping in the nursery. They were going to be having an unpleasant discussion if Feyre had brought him home to try to care for while she was sick.
With a thermometer, glass of water, and medication in hand, he returned to the couch. “Feyre, sweetheart.”
She slowly opened her eyes, turning her face to the back of the couch when she spotted what he carried with him. “No medicine.”
“Feyre, I can tell you’re burning up without taking your temperature. Unless you’re goal is to land yourself in a whole lot of trouble, you’re going to take this medicine.” She pouted, even as he stuck the thermometer under her tongue and waited for it to give a reading. “You’re at 102, Feyre. That isn’t something to brush off.” Still frowning, he set the thermometer aside and shook two pills into his hand. “Open.” Scowling right back, she snatched the medicine and water from his hands, apparently unwilling to be coddled at the moment. Whatever got her to take them, he supposed.
“You can go.”
“I’ll leave you to sleep as soon as I’ve seen you take those.”
Huffing again, she finally obeyed, her irritation morphing to something strange a moment later. “It’s okay if you need to go back to work. I can take care of myself, you know.”
He pressed a kiss to her brow. “We know you’re strong, princess. But you don’t always have to be. Not anymore.”
She wriggled uncomfortably. “It’s probably a twenty-four hour thing one of the kids in the drawing class gave me. Really not a big deal.”
“Feyre.”
“Just don’t call Rhys, please. He’ll already be hovering when he gets home tonight and I don’t need both of you mother-henning me more than necessary.” He hesitated. “Please, Ruhn. Both of you are terrible. Just give me a few hours of peace.”
He chuckled. “Well, you’re really aiming to get on my good side here, aren’t you?” She pouted again and he shook his head. “I’m going to ask him to pick up Nyx on his way home. If he asks why then I won’t lie.”
“Okay,” she grumbled, laying down again. “How did you know I was home sick, anyways?”
“I didn’t. I was dropping by the apartment before I went to pick you up from the studio for a lunch date. Wanted to spoil my girl this afternoon.”
“Oh.”
She was quiet after that, letting him bundle her in her blanket again before pulling her into his lap to doze against his chest. It settled something in him. As stubborn as she may have been, she was letting him care for her now. That was a step in itself when her willingness to show vulnerability was so unreliable. Even a year into their relationship there were days she didn’t want them to help her bathe or dress. Days she was set on cooking and cleaning up without assistance.
“We all live here, Feyre. We all have a role in maintaining the place,” they’d told her again and again.
“Well, I made the mess. Just let me clean it.”
He understood and respected that need for independence. It wasn’t something they wanted to take from her. But it still hurt sometimes to be pushed away when it came to non-sexual intimacy.
They sat like that for hours and he let himself soak in every second of it. Rhys was home by five o’clock, his casual whistling slipping into silence as he spotted Feyre.
“Not feeling well, darling?”
“I’ll be fine.”
Frowning, Rhys laid Nyx down in his playpen, leaving a hand over his belly just long enough to soothe him after the transition. Crossing the short distance to the couch, he raised her chin to meet his eyes directly. She jerked away, rolling her eyes. “Oh, don’t start about me not calling you home. I’ve already had this one fussing the past few hours.”
“Little girl.”
“Spare me the lecture,” she huffed. Rhys narrowed his eyes. The conflict there was too easy to read. Feyre wasn’t feeling well, channeling her discomfort one of the few ways she knew how. But there was only so much bratting either of them would let slide. “Can you get her tucked in while I make dinner?” he finally said.
“I’m not—”
“Something light,” Rhys promised. “Go get settled in the bed. You’ll be more comfortable.”
Ruhn lifted her in his arms before she could protest further, carrying her back to the master. “Is it so bad, princess, letting us help you?”
She sighed. “It’s not like I’m dying. And you shouldn’t have to.” He kissed her head, but said nothing more, letting her settle with her back against his chest in the bed.
“This argument is getting old, kitten.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
~~~~~
“She might be right, you know,” Ruhn mused, hours later. Feyre was asleep again, curled up under one of his arms with a blanket drawn as high as gravity would allow. “You and I can be a bit… much.”
Rhys snorted from his place in the chair across from them, eyes only moving away from Feyre when he heard something over the monitor. “But she needs to learn she’s not alone anymore. When you get this far in life alone, it can’t always be a matter of easing into change. She needs security more than a smooth transition. We’ve long since passed that stage anyways, Ruhn.”
They both went quiet as Feyre shifted in her sleep, nuzzling in further before settling. And really, what more needed to be said?
~~~~~
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