Sick

Toph reaches out, her knuckles connecting roughly with Sokka's arm. Once upon a time, it used to be squishy, but that was years ago, and now Sokka is all grown up. In fact, it probably hurts Toph's knuckles more than it hurts his muscular arm. But Toph keeps doing it; it's how she shows affection after all.

Sokka gives a distracted 'ow' but Toph has a feeling that it's a bit put on. There's silence between them for several minutes, but neither of them mind. It's been this way for years; they can spend all their time together talking about anything under the sun, or they can spend their time without a word and still be just as content.

Toph thinks the silence is because Sokka is watching the crowd for threats, something she's also supposed to be doing. But Toph isn't feeling the best.

Actually, that's a bit of an understatement. Her head is pounding and she feels like she's about to puke or pass out. She's been trying to appear like all is well, lest Katara swoop in and mother her.

She feels chilled to the bone, despite the fact that it's sweltering in the blossoming Republic City.

Toph shuffles closer to Sokka, who raises an eyebrow at the closeness, but says nothing about it. Toph is thankful for the small miracle.

Sokka elbows her in the side, not hard or anything, but it's enough to send her stomach spinning. It's taking everything in her not to throw up on him.

"I don't know what Aang was so worried about. It doesn't look like there's going to be any trouble." He tells her. Sokka turns, tilting his head to look at her, and he frowns. Toph is paler than normal, and sweat is beading on her brow. "You okay?" He asks.

Toph turns to him, prepared to make some cutting remark about him underestimating her strength, but she's pretty sure that if she opens her mouth, words won't be the only thing coming out.

There's a sudden clamor from the crowd beneath them, and Toph grips Sokka's wrist, pointing a shaking finger towards where three men are pushing around a couple fire benders.

Sokka slips his boomerang from his belt as Toph forms something of a slide to the men. She and Sokka rush into action, Sokka subduing two of the men without breaking a sweat.

Toph is engaged with the third, but she's having trouble staying on her feet. She's lightheaded as she struggles to pin the man down. She's straddling him, trying to pin his arms to the ground so she can hold him there, but suddenly he's bucking up and kneeing her in the stomach.

Toph coughs hard once before heaving the contents of her stomach on the man. He cries out in disgust, but Toph barely hears him. She's falling backwards and she thinks her heart is beating way too fast.

Aang and Katara have reached them, finally, and Aang quickly captures the third man. As soon as his sister reaches them, Sokka breaks away from them and rushes to Toph's side.

He crouches down beside her and touches her forehead, drawing his hand back at the heat. "Toph, can you hear me?" He asks.

Toph stirs, but doesn't open her eyes. Sokka hefts her small body into his arms and turns towards his sister.

Katara's eyes widen when she catches sight of the duo, and she hurries to them. "Was she hurt?" Katara asks, her hands already moving to her water pouch.

Sokka shakes his head. "No, I don't think so. She wasn't looking too great before the fight." He informs her. He shifts her in his arms, cradling her closer to his chest.

Katara runs her hands over Toph's forehead and then frowns. She pulls the edge of Toph's tunic up and runs her waters over her flat stomach. Katara guides most of the water back into her pouch before using the remaining bit to clean off Toph's lips.

Sokka shifts as he waits for his sister to weigh in on Toph's condition.

"It's just a cold." Katara says at last.

A laugh bubbles through Sokka's lips as he gives her a dubious look. "Funny. But really, is she going to be okay?" He asks, his expression turning serious.

Katara rolls her eyes at her brother before answering. "Sokka, she's not invincible, no matter what she thinks...or you for that matter. It's just the flu, she'll be fine with some fluids and rest. In fact," Katara adds, smiling mischievously at her brother. "Why don't you take her home with you to keep an eye on her?"

Sokka frowns, unsure why his sister seems to take such joy in him taking care of the younger woman. Then it clicks. "She's not going to be happy about being taken care of." He states.

Katara giggles and nods. "Mhm, enjoy your evening. Send a hawk if you need anything." She says, already turning to help her fiance with the rebels.

Sokka sighs and shifts Toph again, glancing down at her closed eyes, dark lashes brushing against her flushed cheeks. "Don't hate me." He mumbles.

Toph comes to without being entirely sure where she is at first, but she's too nauseous to care. She feels a little like she's sitting in the South Pole without any clothes on—which was one time and Sokka shouldn't have let her drunk ass leave the camp—but she doesn't remember ever feeling like this.

In addition to her chattering teeth, her entire body aches and her head is pounding again. Her throat hurts and her nose is running.

"Ugh," She groans, unable to come up with anything more eloquent. She's put together that she's at Sokka's house, in his bed, but she's not entirely sure where he is and if he can even hear her. Toph struggles into an upright position and waits, unwilling to risk venturing out of bed to find him.

To her relief, Sokka shuffles into the room, hesitating in the doorway. "Toph," He whispers. "Are you awake this time?"

Toph turns towards his voice and nods. Her hair is clinging to her cheeks and forehead in sweaty clumps. "I woke up before?" She asks, not remembering the incident(s) in question.

Sokka nods as he heads to her side. "Yeah, you did, a couple times actually. The first time you thought that you were back in the South Pole, at Katara's 21st birthday celebration? You know," He tells her, the bed dipping with his weight. Toph rolls into his side and makes a happy noise at the warmth rolling off of him. "If Mai and Zuko hadn't snuck off to...well...you could have frozen to death." He reminds her.

Toph rolls her eyes. "Well I didn't, so." She sucks her teeth and scoots closer to Sokka, trying to leech away his warmth.

Sokka pulls her close, concerned about her chattering teeth. "I talked to Katara a little bit ago. She said that the best thing might be for you to try to sweat your fever out." He glances at Toph to see her reaction to his words, and she's giving him an irritated look.

"That would be easier if I wasn't freezing to death." She grinds out, worming her way closer to Sokka's warm skin.

Sokka decides to humor her a little and lays down beside her, tugging her body flush with his. "I promise that you aren't as cold as you think you are. You're sweating." He adds, rubbing her forehead with the corner of his blanket.

Toph reaches up and snatches the edge of the blanket, pulling the rest of it down over herself. "Oh am I?" She sarcastically asks him. "I never would have guessed what that weird wet stuff covering my body is. Thank you doctor Sokka."

Sokka flicks her nose in response, but wraps his arms around her. "It's blazing in here." He complains.

Toph shivers before speaking. "You're making it hard to sleep." She chastises. "You remember that time Zuko burned my feet?" She asks quietly after a moment of silence.

Sokka's grip on her tightens involuntarily and he has to remind himself that Zuko has proven himself countless times since then. "Of course." He replies, his words still sharp despite his reminder.

"You took care of me back then too." Toph replies, sounding as though she's putting something together in her mind. "And you take care of me when I drink too much, or get into fights and Katara says you can't let me sleep or I might not wake up..." She adds, squinting up at him.

Sokka feels a blush creep up his cheeks and rests his chin on top of Toph's head. "Yeah. What's your point?" He counters, feeling embarrassed. He didn't think Toph would ever notice just how often he was the one taking care of her. He couldn't heal her like his sister could, but he could watch over her, and he did often.

Toph doesn't respond for a long time, long enough that Sokka thinks she's fallen back asleep. He kisses her forehead before he attempts to slip out of the bed without waking her, noticing that she's not burning up anymore or shivering.

"Thanks Sokka." Toph says, startling Sokka. He's sitting now, his face red as he struggles to come up with a way to explain why he just kissed her forehead. He wasn't supposed to do that; he never did it before.

But Toph lets out a snore and Sokka counts himself lucky. He's still figuring out the particulars and he's grateful that he has time to figure things out before having to share his findings with the small woman.

He brings the blankets back up and tucks her in, making sure to keep his lips to himself this time.

Sokka pauses at the door, turning back to watch the subtle rise and fall of Toph's chest. The room is filled with her soft snoring and he can't help but think that he wouldn't mind if he had to listen to that during those times that Toph wasn't sick.

He only gets an hour of peace before Toph starts yelling for him, demanding soup. Sokka tries to tell her that he doesn't have the ingredients necessary for soup, but she's having none of it. He offers her some of what he'd intended to have for dinner; tender meat over freshly baked bread topped with gravy. Toph refuses of course.

"Toph," he says, plopping the blanket burrito that is Toph onto the couch. "I don't want to leave you alone to go to the market." He explains patiently.

Toph's bottom lip juts out. "Don't treat me like an invalid. Go to the market. Make me some damn soup. I'm sick." Toph gripes.

Sokka arches an eyebrow at her. "Uh, you can't have it both ways. You can be a sick invalid or you can be a healthy non… invalid." Sokka stumbles, scratching the back of his neck.

Toph snorts. "Nice vocabulary Snoozles. I'm saying that I need soup to get better. I'll be okay for ten minutes while you run to the market." She explains, her voice patronizing.

Sokka can feel his right eye starting to twitch. He throws his hands up and groans.

"Fine! I will. I'll go to the market and get stuff to make soup and I'll make you the best damn soup to ever exist!" He shouts.

Toph sticks her tongue out at him. "Good, I dare you! Do it. Make the best damn soup to ever exist." She taunts.

"I am! I'm going!" Sokka shouts, failing to realize that he's just been manipulated into leaving Toph.

In fact, it isn't until he's piling vegetables into his bag that he realizes what's happened.

Luckily the market isn't too crowded and he's able to get back to Toph fairly quickly.

He ignores her smug smile as he lays his spoils on the kitchen counter.

Sokka slaps the raw hippo-cow steak onto the counter with more force than necessary. He salts the meat and leaves it to rest while he digs out his stew pot, grumbling to himself as he goes.

He doesn't even hear Toph come up behind him, and he emits and incredibly many squeal when her small hand grabs his arm.

"Sorry," Toph mumbles, her expression contrite. "I do appreciate you making me soup." She continues, unable to meet his gaze.

Sokka's irritation fades and he brings a hand up to her neck. "Your fever is coming back. You should sit down. It will be a little while before it's done." He tells her, withdrawing his hand as her cheeks tint pink.

Toph nods and retreats to his kitchen table, wrapping his blanket tighter around herself. "My head hurts." She informs him.

Sokka pauses and looks up from the basin where he's washing the vegetables. "Katara said that's common, nothing to worry about." He reassures her.

Toph glares at him. "I never said I was worried about it. I said that it hurts." She snips.

Sokka rolls his eyes and returns to washing. "You'll be fine." He says simply.

He's cutting up the last of the potatoes when Toph speaks again. "My muscles ache too, like I trained too hard or something." Toph tells him.

Sokka drops the vegetables into the pot before he makes her an offer, already pretty sure of what she's going to say. "Would you like me to send for Katara?" He questions, stirring in some herbs before turning away from the pot.

"Absolutely not!" She protests. "I can handle the flu without anyone's help!"

Sokka doesn't even bother to point out that making her soup and looking after her probably counts as help. Normally he wouldn't mind some verbal sparring with Toph, but he doesn't think it's a good idea to get her riled up while she's sick.

"Why don't we move to the couch until the soup is done?" He offers.

Toph nods. "Yeah, okay." She follows him to the couch and curls into his side when they sit down. Her fever is nowhere near as bad as it was earlier, so Sokka feels okay about drifting off for a few minutes.

When he wakes up he doesn't think he's been out for more than an hour. Toph is drooling on his chest a little, and he's careful not to jostle her as he stands.

He goes to check on the soup and is practically drooling himself at the smell. It's perfect, probably the best he's ever made.

"Smells good." Toph declares, her voice husky with sleep. She comes in rubbing her eyes and shuffling her feet.

"Sit down and I'll fix you a bowl." Sokka instructs, hollowing out a large roll and pouring the soup directly into that rather than a bowl. He got the idea from a restaurant he'd been to with some councilman a few months back. The councilman was a bore, but the food was great.

He arranges the bread bowl on a plate and adds the innards for Toph's dipping pleasure and serves her with a smile. He's actually pretty proud of himself.

Okay, he's really proud of himself.

Toph takes one bite before frowning at him. "This is stew." She states, tilting her head to stare at him.

Sokka opens his mouth and flounders for words. "What… that's not… it's… ugh!" He sputters, unable to articulate his frustration. "Is there even a difference?" He demands.

Toph blinks at him, either not realizing that she's offending or not caring. He's not sure which. "Uh yeah, soup is runny and stew is thick. I think soup is usually made with some kind of bird too." She clarifies.

Sokka can feel his eye twitching again. "Just eat it. I don't care if you call it Appa snot. It's going to help you feel better." He snaps.

Toph makes a face. "How am I supposed to eat it now that you've brought up Appa's snot?" She asks.

Sokka reaches up and grips his hair, tugging to keep his hands from reaching out to strangle the small woman in front of him. "Just eat it!" He begs.

Toph shrugs and pulls the dish back in front of her. "The bread bowl is a nice touch." She says, her tone mild.

Sokka thinks that if he doesn't get away from her for a few minutes he's going to scream.

"I'm going to step outside. Holler if you need anything." He tells her as calmly as possible before rushing from the kitchen and into the cool night.

He kicks at a rock and gestures angrily at the sky while he mutters to himself.

Toph leans against the open door after she's finished her meal, a smile gracing her face.

"I'm done." She calls out, stifling a laugh when Sokka startles again.

He makes his way back to the house with pink cheeks and ushers her back to his bed. "Why don't you get some rest. You'll feel better in the morning." He says, practically dragging her to his bedroom.

He tucks her in and goes to leave when her small hand snakes out from under the blanket and grips his wrist.

"Can you keep me company? I'm cold again." She says, her expression more pitiful than the situation calls for. He thinks she might be milking it a little, but says nothing as he turns around and slides into bed with her.

"I'll keep you company if you promise to try to sleep." Sokka offers. He's exhausted. Toph with the flu is a lot different than Toph with a hangover… or Toph with a concussion for that matter.

Toph snuggles closer. "Deal." She agrees.

Sokka doesn't mean to fall asleep in the same bed as Toph, but he does.

So when he wakes up with a fever he can't really blame anyone but himself. At least Toph will be there to take care of him.

He's glad he didn't strangle her yesterday.

I'm not even sure how long these have been sitting untouched on my computer. This was finished at some point last year but never got posted. I'm dusting off a couple more and will try to get them up soon, but anyone who has been following this probably knows better than to expect anything at this point. Still looking for a Beta-reader as always. I reread this about three times and probably still missed something.